Blood Flows Deep in the Empire

by N. Isabelle Blanco

  Nylicia!

  Ismini shot up off the bed fast. Too fast. She almost flew right out the entryway and had to catch herself against the frame. Her entire body jerked from the sudden stop. Her fingers dug into the stone, making Ismini go wide-eyed as she saw it crumble as if it were nothing.

  As she stared, she heard an amplified “Oomph!” followed by a slapping sound. She dropped to the ground, turning her head from side to side and trying to locate where the noise had come from.

  She found it. Evesse was plastered to the canopy of the bed they’d been on. The stone the canopy was made of had cracked, as well, and Evesse was glancing all around her with an expression that screamed, “What the fuck?”

  Her eyes locked on Ismini just as Nylicia groaned. Nylicia leaned against the wall on the other side of the bed, her form flickering in and out. Vedlyl hovered nearby, appearing concerned.

  “Nylicia . . . are you all right?” Vedlyl asked.

  Ismini loosened her iron grip on the doorframe, seeing it re-form out of the corner of her eye. She was freaked out by it, but was more focused on Nylicia who was trying to stand upright.

  “I’m fine.” She seemed to be forcing herself to stay there with them. Her normally golden-tanned skin was several shades too pale, her form more transparent than Ismini had ever seen.

  Still, she seemed determined to finish what she started. “Don’t worry about me. I’ll be fine.”

  “Nylic—”

  “No, listen to me, Vedlyl. I managed to perfect the design of the terets. Bring them here. Please.”

  He hesitated a moment, then disappeared.

  “Now, you two . . . do me a favor.”

  “Anything,” Evesse and Ismini said.

  Evesse had to pretty much peel herself off the canopy. She fell down onto the bed. The canopy re-formed right behind her.

  Nylicia lowered her shaking hand away from her face, and the hardness of her expression made Ismini take a step back. “Kick some serious ass. Destroy everything you can. The beings that did this? I have a personal bone to pick with them.”

  Chapter 15

  -Earth. Astoria, Queens, NY. (USA)

  “Here? You traced the rip to this part of the planet?” Cy asked right after they had flashed into the alleyway between two buildings. “Why here?”

  “I don’t know,” Xreak said. “The actual rip happened closer to the water. Right by the bridge.” He walked closer to the end of the alley and stuck his head out to look around. “We’re going to have to throw up a Gnetica en masse.”

  Ian walked closer to Xreak, his sword in hand. “How much of an area do you think we have to encompass?”

  The others passed Dyletri, each one throwing him a curious look. He avoided their stares, unwilling to let them see any hint of what was going on in his head.

  Zen walked up behind him. “Your tranquility grid is shot. Nonexistent. Completely destroyed.”

  He was whispering, but it didn’t matter, Dyletri knew the others could hear him anyway.

  “Shut it, Zen.”

  Xreak was kind enough to ignore them. “I don’t know how much of an area we’ll have to cover yet. I can’t sense anything other than the rip.”

  “I don’t sense anything, either,” Ian said, and the rest of them agreed in chorus.

  Dyletri fought the urge to support his weight against the brick wall as he approached the others. His limbs were so twitchy he felt like his ass was about to take off into flight.

  Zen stared at him out of the corner of his eye. Dyletri gritted his teeth and fought to keep a calm façade.

  Because that was working. Yeah, that was really fucking working.

  There was some sort of danger threatening the human world, but all Dyletri was focused on was how a certain girl’s blood had rushed against the surface of his tongue. Or how her skin had tasted. Sweet and musky and so much like sex that his body was still aching.

  What the fuck?

  You want her.

  But why?

  She’s delectable. How dare you even ask that?

  Dyletri flipped the mental finger at the asshole inside him. He restrained himself from doing it for real at the risk of pointing it at one of his companions and opening a can of worms. They were already having a hard enough time holding back their questions. One wrong move from him and the danger out there would be forgotten in favor of the “Dyletri-interro-round.”

  Dyletri could already imagine them manifesting flashlights and aiming them at his face.

  “We haven’t had to use a Gnetica on this planet in centuries.” Nythi stopped next to Xreak, peeking her head out. “The human world has electronics covering every inch of it now, especially here. We’re right next to Manhattan for Our sake! How do we know we can even generate one strong enough to hide what’s happening from the humans if something does go down?”

  Nythi had a point. Even in ancient times there had been instances of humans who were strong enough to see right through their shields. Yeah, most mortals were easily controlled or straight-up fooled, but every once in a while there was that one strong-willed mortal who had the power to see through any ruse.

  Including the gods energy veils—mirrorlike barriers designed to reflect any part of the surrounding area they needed to hide.

  And hold in anything they didn’t want getting out.

  The problem was, as with anything energy related, modern technology interfered. If something went down, they ran the risk of some real pain in the ass complications. Either the Gnetica wouldn’t work and the humans would see what was happening, or they’d end up shorting out all the power to that side of Queens and part of Manhattan, as well.

  Good luck hiding that one, oh ye powerful Gods.

  Well, it could be done, but that one would be a headache, too.

  “There’s fucking people everywhere,” Sil complained as they all stepped out of the alley.

  She wasn’t mistaken. Down by the water, Dyletri saw dozens of cars parked with their lights on and people just milling about. This was a popular hangout for the humans. Even worse, there were cop cars patrolling off in the distance.

  It didn’t occur to him the area was familiar until he took another couple of steps out of the alley and he looked up, seeing two massive bridges right overhead. He spun around and came face to face with the restaurant Ismini’s friend owned. The very one she used to work at.

  “Wait,” he said, holding a hand up. “This place . . . that’s the place Ismini worked in . . . Her home is around here somewhere. This is where Enteax and Lisrn were chasing her the night I came for her.”

  Silence.

  No one in the group made a sound as they turned to look at Dyletri. He stared at the sidewalk, his mind rapidly putting two and two together.

  “Xreak!” His voice left him on a growl. Rage pounded through him at the conclusion he had drawn. And he didn’t like it. Not one damned bit. “You never told us who you suspect of ripping open the Kystm.”

  “The Aviraji.”

  “What!” Several voices called out at once.

  Dyletri was the only one not surprised.

  “Xreak, why didn’t you tell us?”

  “Seriously, dude. How could you not tell us?”

  “Xreak, what the fuck?”

  “Silence!” Xreak bellowed out. “I have yet to confirm it, and jumping to conclusions wasn’t going to do anyone any good. Then again, if you’re telling me you saw those two following the girl . . .”

  “I fucking did. I plucked their likeness right out of her mind.” Livid didn’t even begin to describe what Dyletri was feeling. No, all his protective instincts were flaring again, manic and out of control.

  It didn’t matter that the girl was back on Enzyria, safe. He was ready to bite someone’s arm off and use it to slap the shit out of them. The mere idea that the Aviraji wanted something with Ismini was more than his mind was capable of handling at the moment. He was teetering on a biological edge as it was. His body was going to snap,
taking his mind with it.

  “Has Zex been informed?” Dyletri asked in an effort to distract himself. If the Aviraji were breaking a peace treaty that had been in place ever since the end of the last war, then Zexistr had to know. His longtime lover, the mother of his daughter, had been involved in some shady shit with the Aviraji once before.

  “Yes,” Xreak said. “He’s on his way to her realm to investigate.”

  Liz scoffed. “A lot of good that will do. The asshole is pussy-whipped and therefore blind to who she really is. Even if she were guilty of anything, do you think he’d stand up against her?”

  “Zex cares more about the fate of the Universe than he does her,” Cy said in a hard tone.

  Liz pursued her lips and rolled her eyes at him. “Yeah, okay. And I’m Cleopatra reincarnated, and all that shit.”

  Xreak opened his mouth, about to say something, but a blast of dark energy ripped through the air and cut him off. As one, the gods stiffened, sending out an energy wave of their own and willing it in a one-mile radius around the bridge and the surrounding area.

  “Anyone noticing any power issues yet?” Zen asked.

  From where they stood on the corner of a regular city block, the Gnetica pulsed and grew. It expanded out past the park, past the public pool, past the myriad of people who were oblivious to it, and past the bridge, pulsating upward until it surpassed the tops of the buildings and even the bridges high above them.

  Dyletri could see every detail, down to the small geometrical marks within the molecules of the field. Each one was like a handprint with its own energy inside it. He felt it, too, the hum of power resonating in his ears and on his skin.

  A roar filled the air that was ear piercing and familiar—in the worst way possible. Dyletri hadn’t heard that sound in thousands of years, but nothing could ever come close to the ear-splitting aggravation of that screech.

  Sil gasped. “CeFtuts.”

  Dyletri groaned. Dealing with those nasty motherfuckers was the last thing he wanted to do. His lip curled, his eyes shooting to a spot by the bridge in time to see the first portal spiraling open.

  Fucking hell. The ceFtuts were one of the most powerful and monstrous things Dyletri had ever encountered. Early on in the last war, the Aviraji had decided to experiment with creation. Hello, gene-splicing. They’d created a whole new species by pouring together the DNA of every vile creature in existence and combining it into a genetic cesspit of fuck-ugly.

  The result had been the gigantic, four-legged, lumbering pieces of rotten flesh that were storming out the open portal, their massive heads thrown back as they let out brain-shredding screeches.

  “Keep them contained!” Dyletri screamed, barely able to hear himself above the creatures’ shrieks. “Don’t let them out of the Gnetica! They’ll run straight for the humans!”

  Not that his command was necessary. He knew damned well that they all remembered what those creatures were capable of. What their insatiable hunger would drive them to do.

  Taking off at the same time, several of the gods went one way while the rest went the other. Dyletri jumped across the street, over a line of the parked cars, and landed at edge of the park, where he saw the rip in the Kystm.

  It was next to one of the massive columns of the bridge nearest him. A dark, small spiral, it was no bigger than a child, and yet large enough for whoever was behind this to shove enough energy through to open the portals.

  Another one opened to the left of where Dyletri stood, right on the street in front of a block of homes. At least eight more ceFtuts came barreling through, three of them heading straight for the edge of the Gnetica. He pushed another wave of energy out and into the shield.

  Three of the franken-mutts ran into the reinforced Gnetica, their massive bodies crushing their faces into it. The sounds they let out on impact were strangely doglike and satisfying as hell. The growling whimpers made Dyletri curl his lip. Zen and Liz came up on either side of him, and together they stormed straight toward the animals.

  It was clear the beasts were trying to get through the shield so they could attack the homes in front of them, and the gods would be damned if they let them kill the humans in those houses.

  Or any humans at all.

  Dyletri ripped his sword out of its harness, arching it through the air and willing the blade to slide out to its full length. It had been a long time since he’d had to wield the weapon, but his soul recognized it immediately. The energy he consisted of latched on to the sword and melded with it once more. His blade widened and morphed, extending until it was four feet long and at least two feet wide. No human would ever have been able to wield it.

  Not just because of its size, either. It wasn’t made of normal metal but a titanium-looking amalgam that was as much energy as matter. It fused itself with Dyletri’s will and only remained strong as long as he did.

  And Dyletri was never stronger than when he was furious. Considering how his body was still roaring and these things were the reason he’d been pulled away from Ismini’s luscious little—

  No, I just didn’t . . .

  Yes, we just did.

  With a roar, Dyletri dematerialized and shot across the street, reappearing right above one of the ceFtuts. He landed on the fucker’s back, his sword sliding three feet into the thing’s huge, ugly head. It bellowed, rising up on its hind legs and thrashing around, trying to dislodge Dyletri.

  Unfortunately, a sword to the head wasn’t going to be enough to kill the ceFtut. The only way to kill them was to flip them over and stab them under the chin, but that didn’t mean Dyletri couldn’t make its life hell before doing so.

  He was determined to take out the rage, the fury he was feeling on something. So he pulled the sword out and plunged it in again, this time between its eyes. Twisting the blade and gritting his teeth, a wave of raw energy pulsated from his hands and down the sword’s length.

  The freak beneath him made that odd whimpering sound again and ran around like a fucking bronco while trying to buck Dyletri off its back.

  Dyletri held on, digging his boots deep into its side. For the hell of it, he materialized titanium spikes on his boots and dug in even deeper. The ceFtuts weren’t capable of speech, but the sound it let out sounded suspiciously like “asshole”.

  Chapter 16

  Dyletri caught a glimpse of Liz wrestling another ceFtut to the ground and flipping it over. The moment she stabbed the right spot, its legs all kicked out at once, and one last screech was ripped from its throat before it blew apart, its form dissipating into a black swirl.

  Unwilling to let go of his plaything so easily, Dyletri stabbed the ceFtut under him again. He kept going, each stab punctuated by the motherfucker inside him that was laughing and having a blast at his predicament.

  Aren’t you at least a little worried that you have a hardon while riding that thing?

  Dyletri growled, partially in disbelief that his psyche had split so profoundly—that there was another entity inside him, mocking him and having fucking fun while doing it. An entity that had once been one with him.

  Was this what Zeniel had to deal with when it came to his other half?

  “Dyletri, there’s more of them! Kill that shit already! We have portals opening up all over the place!”

  Zen’s words reached Dyletri just as he stabbed the ceFtut he was riding. The blade slid through what seemed to be its ear. It was desperate, trying to stretch a neck it didn’t have to bite at Dyletri’s arms. Each snap of its teeth unleashed a wave of toxic air in his direction. Had Dyletri not looked around right then and realized that Zen was right, he would have decided to kill the thing anyway just to save his lungs the torture.

  In one swift move, he jumped off the ceFtut and used the sword in its body to lift it over his head. It kicked its legs as he flipped it through the air. He slammed it onto the ground, not giving a rat’s ass about the fissures left in the concrete, and pulled his blade free.

  He jumped on the ceFtut, punctu
ring the soft flesh under its chin before it could do anything else. Just like all the others, it disappeared in a puff of black smoke, its last screech echoing into the night. The sound mixed with the two dozen other screeches rending the air.

  Four more portals opened around them, waves of ceFtuts pouring through.

  “There’s no way!” he screamed. “No way the Aviraji aren’t behind this. They’re the only ones with enough power to do this!”

  “I know that now!” Xreak stormed past Dyletri and slammed his spear right through two of the creatures. With a roar, he spun around, flinging the ceFtuts off his spear and into the fence blocking the entrance to a public pool.

  The metal bent in before straightening again at Xreak’s will. Reminded, Dyletri looked back the sidewalk and willed the cracks left behind by the ceFtut to disappear.

  “Kill as many you can. I need to try to close the Kystm before more of these portals pop up!” Xreak destroyed the two ceFtuts he’d just flung off his spear and jumped up into the air, zooming over to the other side of the park. He landed on his feet in one lithe move before taking off and heading straight for the Kystm.

  Dyletri unsheathed a second sword, extending it to its full height and merging his energy with it. An image of Ismini flashed through his mind unbidden. All he could see for two seconds was her skin. The blood that rushed beneath it. Her pussy, spread for him, wet and ready for his him. For his tongue. For his cock.

  Imagine her soaked. At your command. Spread wide as you take her with your cock, drench her with your cum . . .

  Motherfucking shit!

  Another roar broke out of him, the sound rivaling any the ceFtuts was capable of putting forth. Desperate to eradicate the images and the voice tormenting his brain, Dyletri ran face first toward six of the beasts, his body lighting up from all angles as he pushed forward with everything he had.

  Or everything he could spare, rather, because half of him was still very much back in his bedroom wrapped around that tempting little body. The same body responsible for the reappearance of his powers.