Worlds Apart 4: Ryan's Hope

by Bonnie Rose Leigh

  One of the delegates from Vestria raised her hand. A tiny sprite like creature with green skin and hair, she was eerily beautiful. “What are these Iblis?”

  “Humans throughout history have called them Vampires, my people have always called them iblisors, some have called them bloodsuckers, others vampyrs, others ostrys, and many other names. It all means the same. They survive on drinking the blood of their victim,” the Goddess Queen replied.

  Liana couldn’t help but think that they were dealing with a much larger situation than they had originally planned going into this thing. What would she do if something happened to Ryan? How would she go on if he didn’t come home to her? The others, they had children to help them cope, a piece of their mate to cling to, tell remind them of the time they’d spent together, but she’d had so little time with Ryan, certainly not enough time to make a little person to carry on if something were to happen to either of them.

  And why was this hitting her now, just mere hours before they were theoretically going into battle? He could feel what she was feeling. She needed to be stronger than this. She would not be weak any longer. She’d be a strong mate for her man. She’d be by his side, protecting his back. She didn’t know how, but she knew that she needed to be by his side today because something she saw, or something she did, was going to save his life, despite not being able to physically harm another during an actual attack.

  It will be okay, Liana. I trust you to guard my back. To tell me when to duck, when to turn and stab, when to run like hell. You’re job isn’t to fight, it’s to tell us when an enemy is approaching, and the safest way toward our target and the safest, quickest way out of the enemy lair. Just keep that in the forefront of your mind and you’ll do great. We’ll work on making those babies when we get back. A whole ship full if you want.

  You’d really have children with me, even with my curse?

  Baby, it’s not a curse. It’s a beautiful gift. Your compassion healed me of the poison the Black Rose infected me with during my capture, the hate and fear, the disgust and fifth that plagued me. You make me clean again. That can never be called a curse but a gift straight from the gods themselves, love.

  Now, it’s time to suit up. I want weapons grade leather armor on you. If you have to shift, tear through the material, don’t worry about modesty. If we’re somehow separated, you have a better chance escaping on foot as Lioness than as a woman when you can’t fight back. You promise me. If we get separated, then you shift, no questions asked.

  Liana sighed. I promise. She wasn’t stupid. She certainly didn’t want to die. She’d rather run around the planet as a lion. Shift once she reached the safety of the ship, and be nude the few seconds it’d take to cover up once inside, rather than stand around all human. It was better than being chopped in half by someone with a laser weapon just because her empathic abilities didn’t allow her to fight back even when her own life was in danger.

  Within fifteen minutes, the battle teams assembled in the transport room and made ready to depart. Only Brantiff, Luna and the Goddess Queen were staying on board the Retribution so they could direct movements from the images the ship was picking up from each of the away members. The goddess would do all she could to help, and she said she’d called in a few favors, but the majority of the work was up to those on the ground. Hand in hand, Brantiff and Luna attached their ear microphones, while the Queen Goddess Hermione closed her eyes. With his voice gruff with worry, Brantiff gave the order, “All teams move in.”

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Ryan Morgan stepped onto the transport pad with his mate, Liana Morgan wrapped securely in his arms.

  I don’t think I’ll ever tire of hearing that, even in your thoughts. Ryan shook his head, let out a low chuckle and pulled her in closer until he pressed her body completely against him, so that not even a single piece of paper could slide between them.

  This isn’t really acceptable for polite company.

  We’re newly mated. They can deal with it. Not too long ago, our people stayed naked the first twenty-four hours after mating.

  Thank the Goddess Eve did something about that atrocious law. The clothing for us women back then was a step below whorish.

  I think we need to focus on the matter at hand about now—that is, taking out the Black Rose and her minions so we can set up house on the Retribution and begin a family of our own.

  You really meant that, then.

  Ryan leaned down and pressed a kiss to Liana’s lush lips. He could never seem to get enough of kissing her. Yes, love, I really meant it. I can’t wait to see a little girl with your golden brown skin and long brown hair running through the ship, causing all sorts of hell as she drives Contessa and her daddy up the wall.

  Liana reached up, pulled Ryan down by the ears and placed a soft kiss on his lips just as the transporter began transporting their molecules to the suspected hideout of the infamous Black Rose. Ryan swore he could still hear Liana whisper through his mind that it could still be a boy. He almost cringed at that idea. He’d been a very naughty boy as a child.

  When the groups reappeared, they were in groups of four as agreed, a mated pair and two armed guards. Over the years, scientists had learned that the mates worked almost three times better as a team than working separately, their skills completely complementing each other. Ten Teams were sent in for the sole purpose of freeing any prisoners locked up in this encampment and another five Teams, of which all the royals were a part, were in charge of the search for Haeda Shi’Lan, the Black Rose, including Mikel Logann’s younger sister, Princess Valla. It would be up to the Royal Teams and their guards to take down the royal traitor to the Chantrean people.

  The Teams made a pact amongst themselves that no more innocent civilians would die and suffer in their place. Haeda had a problem with them. Now she could face them. Together, or one on one.

  But Ryan was hopeful, with some divine intervention from The Retribution and whomever else Hermione called in, serious damage would be done to the person backing the Black Rose and her endeavors. Whoever this Iblisors leader is, he had a rude awakening coming, and Ryan couldn’t wait to give it to him.

  Hey, you, we can’t wait to give it to him. We’re in this together, remember? Liana whispered in his mind through their link. Though he heard the humor, he also heard her fear. She was picking up some intense emotions and they’d just barely entered the cave systems these blood-drinking creatures called home.

  Are you okay, moya?

  I will be. This may sound strange, but I really, really think we need to take the next tunnel to the right.

  Why do you say that?

  Liana looked at Ryan, her eyes full of worry, her mind positive he would condemn her, but still she spoke her thoughts. The walls are telling me what I’m searching for most is in that direction.

  Ryan looked at his mate one moment longer. He lost her once for not trusting her. He’d not do so again. Besides, this was why he’d insisted she’d come, some gut instinct of his own insisting she’d be necessary for their success. Then let’s go. Pressing the microphone on his neck, he whispered into the com link. “I need the four other groups searching for the target to lock on to Liana’s and my Bio Signals and follow our path. She has an emotional lock on the proper direction. Maintain radio silence from here on out to prevent premature announcement of our arrival if at all possible, but if those blood drinkers are in here with us, and are in any way threatening, shoot to kill. I repeat, if they attack first shoot to kill. We do not know what kind of defensive or offensive capabilities these creatures have, only that daylight is their greatest weakness, so keep your solar lights burning at all times and aim it at their eyes when you can.”

  Ready to go, love?

  As ready as I’ll ever be, my mate.

  After taking her hand and dropping a quick kiss on her palm, Ryan gave her a hug of encouragement, then stepped behind her to guard to back. I know you can do this. You were born to do this. I know for absolutely
certain you were meant to be on this mission, for this very thing. Now go carry out you duty, love. I have your back. We all do.

  Taking one deep breath, Liana closed her eyes and let the whispers in again. It was so strange, listening to the feeling of not only the people around her but the things as well. The dirt she was standing on, the carved wall, dug by hand by slave workers, the pebbles and rocks on the cavern floors smoothed by the bare feet of the slaves, feet that had worn the rocks smooth over thousands of millennium.

  Urgency continued to build in Liana, forcing her to pick up her pace recklessly, but she didn’t dare slow or she’d be too late. The sword is calling for me, Ryan. The sword needs me, now. Now, Ryan, now.

  You can’t wield a sword, without hurting yourself, Liana.

  This sword just needs rescuing and it can wield itself. It will choose its own champion. The Sword of Nuada once belonged to the king of the gods and it’s been waiting for someone to hear it for all these thousands and thousands of years. The sword tells me it glowed with the light of the sun and was irresistible in battle, having the power to cut his enemies in half.

  So you’re picking up all that information and emotion from the sword itself? Ryan asked.

  I guess my near death experience made my empathy stronger, or when the Goddess Alana healed me she knew what was coming so she made me strong enough to face the coming challenges. Does this new stuff upset you, Ryan?

  Hell no! I just think it’s even more cool than before. Imagine all the things our kids are not going to be able to get away with when they’re older.

  Down one tunnel after another, they twisted and turned, their pace, out and out running now. Stealth went out the window long ago, but it was if they were wearing some sort of invisibility cloaks because no one stopped them, or even sensed them nearby.

  Was it the work of the Goddess Queen Hermione on board Retribution? Could it be her colleagues, the rest of the Gods and Goddess that, as Liana put it, took great joy messing with our lives from time to time? Or was it the Sword itself lending Liana the power she needed now to find the sword and defeat the Black Rose so that it could finally choose its own champion? There was only one way to find out who was truly pulling Liana’s strings, and that was by finding the Sword and the Black Rose. And Liana knew just where to do that.

  If you all are ready, a few more hallways, a couple more locked doors, and we should be where we need to be if you’ll follow me.

  Now it wasn’t just the walls calling to her. It was the rocky floors, the reset lights, the trembling wood beams overhead, all giving warnings of danger. “Stop,” she called out when she reached the end of a hall facing a double set of doors that looked like they led deep into a mine. “It’s a trick. No mine. Just a big room. Lots of mirrors. A ballroom. Lots of men, sharp teeth, guns, ambush for you. You must have ship bore a hole through the roof and send sunlight down into the room. It’s noon outside now. They won’t be ready for that. It’s the only way. The only way.”

  Ryan relayed orders. “It’s a trap in there. Dozens of blood-drinkers and the Black Rose. They’re loaded down with guns and fangs. We go in there, we’ll be slaughtered, but if Retribution bores a hole straight down the center of that room and floods it with natural light, that should incapacitate a large bunch of them. Several other Teams should transport directly inside the room while the light is flooding the room to shoot to kill whatever is standing. Unfortunately, Liana and I will also have to be the first ones in that room. We must get the Sword that’s in there. It’s of the upmost importance, and the Black Rose has been wearing it for months as her battle sword. It needs to be returned to its rightful, honorable, owner, whoever that might be.”

  After going over all contingencies, the plan was a go. While the other Teams that had rescued survivors prepared to make a second trip into the room full of bloodsuckers, Liana closed her eyes and called to the animal deep inside herself. It had been so long since she’d been able to frolic with her beast, but it was vital that they wrestle the weapon away from Haeda today, even if that meant causing unimaginable pain unto themselves. Her Lioness agreed. The Black Rose would be stopped, here and now. No one would suffer again like their mate had suffered, and if they had to hurt in the process of seeing that never happened again, Liana’s lioness and she were in perfect agreement.

  Walking around the corner, out of sight of the others, Liana quickly stepped out of her leathers, and took a deep breath to center herself. Holding her arms out to her sides, she smiled and greeted her Lioness first in her mind, let their magick meet and play in their memories first before allowing the white-hot magick to spread over her body.

  From an outsider looking on, it would probably appear as though a million fireflies had landed on Liana’s skin at once and then flew off just as quickly leaving a huge, ferocious mountain lioness in its place. Except this Lioness understood everything she did as human, retained all her human knowledge, and even kept her Lionese memories once she shifted back to human. She knew right from wrong, but she was more durable in the feline form. Liana and her Lioness knew that Haeda, or the Black Rose, wouldn’t give up quietly.

  Walking back from around the partition with her leathers in her mouth, she set them down on a conference chair then went to stand by her mate. I have a bad feeling Ryan. I feel more comfortable going down in this form now. Have your weapons ready, and if I tell you to do something even if it is bizarre, please do it. Okay?

  Absolutely, baby. You’ve earned my trust. I give my word. I’ll follow your instructions to the letter out there today.

  Okay. I’m nervous enough. Let’s get this show on the road.

  “Begin drilling through the top dome of the antechamber now, Contessa.” Ryan ordered. “Once completely through send concentrated bursts of magnified sunlight at 1000x normal through the opening, then begin transport of as many able-bodied guards through the opening three minutes after operation sunburst commences. The rest of us will wait approximately thirty seconds after the others transport in with exception of Liana and myself, before entering. Liana and I will enter as soon as operation Sunburst begins. We will hopefully use the sun as a distraction to sneak in unnoticed as we search for the Sword of Nuada.”

  “From all of us aboard Retribution, Adventurer, Victory, you do us all proud today in all our home worlds. This day all your names will go down in history.”

  “Contessa, start drilling.”

  Outside in the hallway, dirt from the ceiling began to fall in steady clumps. They were fortunate no one ran out while they were all tossed on the ground buried in rubble. They would have been shot where they lay. Standing as quickly as silently as they dared, they waited for the second signal, the one to tell them that the light had been turned on,

  When the agonized, gasping screams started, Ryan and Liana eased into the room. The carnage that met their eyes was much more than they expected, much more than what they themselves had created. Apparently, they’d interrupted a feast, an orgy of food and blood. Bodies—whole, and in parts—were scattered across tables everywhere, while still smoking vampires quivered in the corners where they’d run to when the attack started.

  Pushing against the neck mike, Ryan spoke again. “Widen that light beam by five hundred yards and 1000x normal again. Our job here is nowhere near done.

  Ryan, Haeda is hiding amongst the dead bodies on the table in the center. If we approach their food, the vampires will attack. That’s been their plan all along if someone found this hiding spot. Apparently someone discovered just what the weapon will do if it’s wielded by someone with skill in swordplay. But it can only be wielded by a woman’s hand, hence the reason it needs to escape, and needed me.

  But you can’t fight.

  What else can I do? For her, I can do this.

  You’ll be naked in front of vampires.

  Then have your goddess come down here and fight in my stead. Match her with the blade. They’ll suit each other.

  Pressing the microphone once
again, he said one last thing. “We need the Princess to make herself presentable. Valla will have to be the one to fight, then. She is excellent in a swordfight, having fought all three of her brother and her father and beaten us all in an effort to prove she could join the ranks of the palace guard. It’s why we brought her along. I had another gut instinct she would be needed on this mission. It’s why she’s out in the halls changing into leathers she can move freely in; those are lightweight yet protect just as well as regular armor. It will give her an extra edge if she needs it.”

  When the next wave of attack happened, the hole in the dome almost tripled in size, and the searing white heat almost blinded those not already wearing protective eye gear. After blinking several times, Valla Logann, High Princess of Manruvia was standing next to him and Liana, awaiting her chance at fighting their people’s enemy.

  Thirty seconds later, Haeda, the Black Rose, rose from the dead bodies like a macabre scene from a horror movie, covered in gore and blood. From behind her back, Valla pulled out a long clean stick made out of ancient wood, something used in some form of martial arts. As Haeda, the Black Rose came in to attack, her sword raised above her head, Liana swore she heard the sword say, “Don’t make me kill her. She doesn’t deserve to die, you evil cow,” but the witch just cackled in glee.