by Misty Evans
“Vengeance is mine,” she roared through my mouth. A sudden silence descended in the area around us, all eyes on me.
With supernatural strength, I kicked the minion holding my ankle in the face, caving in his features. Then I tossed the minion riding my back at the one still on one knee in front of me. The two of them pencil rolled to a stop a few feet away as I staked the one with the caved in face first.
Jumping over to the minion sandwich, I raised my blood-soaked stake above my head. “Oh, look. A two-for-one special.” Bringing the stake down, I jammed it straight through one and into the second, feeling the familiar rush of accomplishment when their bodies exploded into ash anthills.
Then I was being lifted through the air by no visible force. There was a tight vise around my chest, crushing my lungs and cutting off my ability to yell. A bright light burned my eyes, pressure burst inside my head and the sights and the sounds of the battle now going on below me faded into nothing. Volante and my stake fell from my hands and I watched, helpless, as they dropped out of sight.
Blind and fighting an invisible enemy, I heard crunching noises and felt the snap of my ribs. I kicked out, tried to grab onto whatever was holding me. My demon roared and instinctively, I reached over my shoulder and clawed at the entity behind me.
My hand found purchase. Hair. Thick, kinky hair.
Vicky? Shit, I knew I should have tied her up.
Or was it Maria?
The hair in my fist felt pretty real for a ghost.
In my ear, a voice said, “You must not die on the battle field, bambina. I have plans for you.”
The hair might have been Vicky’s. The accent, not so much.
“Let me go, Maria.”
“Never, my pet.”
Her magic fell like a heavy, sickly sweet blanket over me, eating away at my protective bubble like acid. Lust and greed scraped against my skin, my hand lost its grip. I struggled to fight it, fight her, but the earlier exhaustion came back in a suffocating wave.
I gasped for air, willed my legs to keep kicking, my fists to find something to hit, but my movements were weak and she only laughed.
And then out of nowhere, a thread of magic that wasn’t mine nor hers tickled me. A warm finger of sensation sliding under my skin, entwining itself with my magic and fortifying it. But it wasn’t coming from outside me, it was coming from the pendant lying on my collar bone. “Rad?” I said softly.
The magic strengthened, the wind rose. Lightning flashed and thunder rolled as the wind gusted so hard, Maria and I spun in a circle.
“No,” she cried out, tightening her grip on me. “She’s mine!”
The struggle between all of the magics sent her and I tumbling and spiraling in a chaotic rotation of hands and arms, legs and hair. I reached out mentally and magically to draw more of Rad’s energy into my demon. If I gave her enough juice, she’d take care of Maria.
Sure enough, the monster inside me threw up a wall of magic a nuclear bomb couldn’t have penetrated. I’d never felt anything so fierce and unmovable come out of my demon except the last time she’d faced Maria. The instant it snapped into place, the force holding me let go.
The sensation of falling stole my breath as effectively as the crush of Maria’s arms. I spun, tried to orient myself, but all around me was a white fog. I couldn’t tell the sky from the ground, up from down. I closed my eyes and forced my body to relax. Not an easy thing to do when you’re parachuting without a parachute.
Just before I made contact with the ground, the white fog cleared, the storm stopped and my body punched into the top of a large Swiss International jumbo jet. The shock left me paralyzed for a few seconds, staring at the sky. The dark clouds were moving out and a ray of sunshine peeked through.
My body had hit hard enough to dent the plane’s exterior and make a bed for me. I considered laying there for a long time, but was afraid the plane might take off with me embedded in its roof. I like to fly, but not like that.
Literally peeling myself off the metal, I groaned at the searing pain in my body. For once, I didn’t particularly like the hard way.
Getting down off the roof was my next problem, but I was already so banged up, I figured what the hell and just slid over the side. I landed on my feet, but totally off balance, catapulting ass over tea cart. I ended up rolling across the tarmac until I came to an awkward stop at Damon’s feet.
“I assume you can explain this,” he said.
“Of course,” I lied, breathing hard and trying to make his three faces swimming in front of my vision merge into one. “Just give me a minute.”
Chapter Forty-seven
In the aftermath, killing Toel and stopping the minions was somewhat anti-climactic. Maria was still running around, and I had no choice but to skip thinking about my awesome takedown of the asshat and move on. In reality, I wouldn’t have spent much time thinking about Toel anyway. While he’d colored way outside the lines, I’d brought him down just like I had hundreds of other vampires and supernaturals.
What I did end up stewing about were the bite marks on my neck.
Maddy retrieved my cape for me, snapped a picture of Toel’s head and sent it out over the Undead airwaves. The few minion stragglers faded away as Cole helped me limp off the concourse, but it was important the vamp grapevine had the details immediately.
Arman caught up with us at the Land Rover. The shifters wanted to throw a party and had sent Arman to invite me to be their guest of honor. Shifters throw parties for hangnails, so it wasn’t like they were bent on having me there. Sure, they loved that I’d killed off the big, bad vamp, but they were probably more excited they’d got to bag a few vamps themselves. I begged off, telling Arman I needed sleep and medical attention before I went hunting for Maria. He hugged me before taking off, promising to stop by Chloe’s for a bottle of my blood before he went out partying. All I needed was for my one reliable and fairly docile blood slave to get himself into trouble.
Damon opened the door to his big, black SUV and motioned me to get inside. “Let’s get you back to the Institute and check out your wounds.”
In Damon-speak, that translated to, I want a full briefing by the time we hit the interstate.
“We’ll follow you,” I said, but he shook his head.
“You’ll ride with me. Cole will drive your SUV to headquarters.”
Cole had a dislocated shoulder and a swelling lump on the side of his head. “Damon, I swear, I won’t run off. Cole needs a doctor worse than I do. I think I should drive.”
I was still seeing three of Damon every time I moved my head too fast, but I dreaded getting into the car with him. If the vampires all knew about my Jesus trick resurrecting Dru, Damon no doubt knew it too. I was in for an ass-chewing.
And maybe getting fired.
“I’m fine,” Cole said, ramming his shoulder against the SUV to snap it back into its socket. He tossed the car keys to Maddy with his other hand. “Maddy can drive us to your place where I’ll drop her off. Then I’ll head for the Institute.”
The traitor. Maddy gave me a big smile and did a little squeal, running for the driver’s side door.
Too exhausted and achy to fight, I blew out a breath that lifted my bangs. “But someone needs to retrieve Vicky from the plane.”
Damon barked orders at two Institute soldiers nearby and they jogged away. He motioned me into the car again, but I held onto the door for a minute until I saw the soldiers carrying Vicky out. “Just wanted to be sure she was still there,” I told my boss. “I want her placed in your solitary confinement cell.”
“Agreed.”
“And I need to take my trophy to Carpathia. Now. Before you put me under house arrest at the Institute.”
He opened his mouth to argue—and it was an argument I would have lost, because I was in no shape to actually make good on rash threats—but seemed to change his mind, giving me a short, irritated nod.
As I lifted a leg to climb into the backseat, I winced, and h
e put a hand on my elbow to help me up. For once, I accepted his kindness.
But the minute he climbed in on the other side and the doors shut, I felt claustrophobic. My vision was so blurry, I couldn’t make out the digital numbers on the car’s dashboard clock and when the driver put the car in gear and drove out of the parking lot, I had to grab the door handle to keep from falling over onto Damon’s lap.
A mob was spilling out of the hanger onto the curb of the terminal. “What’s going on over there?” I asked.
One of Damon’s hands came up to support my wobbly head. “Radison Beaumont helped divert attention away from what was happening outside with his presence. The crowd recognized him immediately, and as Maddy is fond of saying, went wild.”
I knew it. I knew I’d felt him tapping into my magic and helping me with Maria. My fingers played with the pendant around my neck. “What about the rest of the humans? The staff and passengers who did see what happened on the tarmac?”
His hand was warm and comforting at the base of my skull, his skillful fingers massaging my tense muscles. “I’ve already persuaded the staff and local news organizations that it was a scene for an indie movie. One featuring monsters, of course. That it was all fake. There were a few dead bodies, but they’ll be cleaned up in a matter of minutes.”
Damon could persuade a mother to sell him her first born son. “Quick thinking.”
He smiled, bracing me as the car swerved around a corner and merged with oncoming traffic. Several traffic jams had occurred on the streets heading in and out of the airport, but the police directing traffic waved us through. Damon magic at work again. Archdemons, can’t live with ’em and can’t fight a mob of minion vampires without ’em.
I expected the interrogation to begin at any moment, but he remained silent, so I did the same. His fingers gently massaged my neck and soon my eyes drifted shut. Next thing I knew, my head was in his lap and we had arrived at Carpathia House.
Damon had called ahead while I napped, so the gates swung open and we were waved through by the guard. I managed to climb out of Damon’s lap and wipe drool from the corners of my mouth—that would teach him to put me to sleep with his magic hands.
Nearing the front porch, I righted my cape and blinked my blurry eyes into submission. If I blinked enough times, my vision cleared. Good enough.
The front door of the House opened, but instead of Oliver, Brianna stepped out to greet me as I carried Toel’s kabobed head up the steps. Damon had offered to accompany me in, but I didn’t want him anywhere near the vamp brothers or my new master. Even though Bri was as stunning as ever, her face was tight, her movements weary. Her ponytail had slipped a notch. Her lips were naked instead of glossed. She hadn’t slept and it looked like it was taking its toll. Or maybe Dru drained more of her blood than normal.
I mentally smacked that image right out of my head. So not going there.
Hoisting the stake a little higher, I started to limp past her into the foyer. “I brought Dru a present.”
“He’s not here.” She followed on my heels. Dozens of vampires milled around, most of them ones who’d been on the tarmac with me. They were drinking and laughing and telling stories about taking out minions. “I thought he was with you.”
“With me? I didn’t see him at the airport.” Didn’t feel him, either, and I would have. He would never be near me again without me knowing it.
“At your home. A woman came here and talked to him. She wanted him to go to your house with her and he agreed. He refused to let me or any of the bodyguards go with him.”
My insides went still. “What did this woman look like?”
“I’ve seen her before, but I can’t place her. Red hair, green eyes. She had on enough sparkly eye shadow to blind me.”
Miss Sparkles. Maria had taken over the witch’s body again. “Did she touch him?”
A hard light appeared in Brianna’s eyes. “She stroked his face and ran her hand down his neck and chest. He responded like nothing I’ve ever seen before. For a minute, I thought she might be a succubus, but Dru—I mean, Master Alexandru—is immune to them. She practically threw herself on him and fucked him right here on the foyer floor. I about gagged.”
My gag reflex sympathized. “She’s a witch who’s carrying a revenant, which is a form of an exceptionally strong ghost. That ghost happens to have been one of the most powerful succubi I’ve ever encountered. I know this is asking a lot after what you’ve already done for me today, but would you come to my house with me? I’ll explain what’s going on in the car.”
“I did it for Cole,” she said. “Not you. And if Master Alexandru is in danger from this revenant succubus, I’ll do whatever it takes to secure his safety.”
Okay, then. Glad we had that straight about her loyalty to the War demon versus her loyalty to her queen. “Where are Stephan and the others? Sleeping?”
“Actually, they’re having a secret meeting in the library.”
“A secret meeting you know about.”
“I know everything that goes on in this House.”
“Will you escort me to the library? I have to return a book.”
She lowered her gaze in a show of acquiesce. “My pleasure, Queen Kali.”
Her tone was mocking but not overly rude. In truth, I understood her dislike of me. I could feel it in the air between us. But there was grudging respect as well.
Making our way through the milling vamps, I received many bowed heads and verbal acknowledgements of a job well done. A few of the resident Undead stood in the background watching me carry Toel’s head up the main stairs and not lowering the gazes when I looked at them. A direct challenge, but I didn’t have time to reprimand them, and I was about to resign as their queen anyway. Vampires. Too much goddamn work.
Brianna seemed to relish busting through the library’s locked doors and announcing my presence. “Queen of the Central United States, Kali Sweet.”
I limped to the Undead kings sitting around the long table. At the sight of me and Toel’s last remains, their faces went from annoyance to surprise. Stephan, who sat at the head of the table, rose abruptly to his feet. “How dare you…”
“How dare I what? Take out your psychotic brother? Interrupt your secret meeting?” I laid Toel’s head on my end of the table and gave the stake a shove so the trophy slid across the polished surface like a shot glass to the other end. The brothers reared back as the gruesome souvenir slid past them, and one of the nagging ideas I’d had surfaced once more.
I’d intended to hand over my resignation, but as the idea seemed more and more logical, I decided to pursue it. “Who exactly nailed Dru with a stake at Chloe’s? Was it really a Noctifector, or was it one of you?”
Stephan blubbered and his brothers’ gazes turned to him.
My suspicions somewhat confirmed, I set my fists on the table and let my demon peek out at him. “I’m calling for a complete investigation into Dru’s staking and once I prove that you intentionally tried to kill your brother so you could take over North America for yourself while he was dutifully fighting Toel and protecting this House, I’m going to take revenge for him and see that justice is done.”
I turned to walk out and saw Brianna smiling at me from her post in the doorway. “If I were you, Stephan,” I said over my shoulder. “I’d pack my bags and go back to France. And take your brothers with you.”
Bri and I jogged back down the stairs, my ribs crying out in protest. My body was healing at a decent rate, but because of the earlier blood loss and the chronic exhaustion I’d been fighting all day, the healing process was slower and more painful than normal. Even with the naps, it wasn’t enough.
My stomach growled. Brianna, at my side as if she were ready to catch me if I fell, looked at me from the corner of her eye. “You’re really pale. When was the last time you fed?”
It seemed like a week. “I can’t remember. A while.”
We made our way back to the foyer and through the crowd. She grabbed h
er coat, took my elbow as we descended the outside stairs. Damon waited at the car, the door open. When he saw Bri, he gave her a welcome smile and a small bow. “Brianna, so nice to see you again.”
Gag.
“Archdemon Damon.” She returned his smile. “We need to get Queen Kali food and then we must stop at her house.”
The Undead bodyguard was giving commands to my boss. How…interesting. My respect for her climbed a notch.
Damon helped both of us into the car and took the front passenger seat for himself. “Why do we need to stop at your house, Kali?”
“Maria has kidnapped Dru. We believe she’s taken him to my castle.”
“For what purpose?”
The question of the hour. “It’s me she wants, so I’m not sure.”
Damon’s dark eyes met mine over the seat. “She wants to bend you to her will, like she did before, yes?”
“Yes.”
“What better way to do that than blackmail?”
My stomach twisted. “Threatening the people I care about is damn good blackmail.”
“Then, most likely, Dru is not the only one she has kidnapped.”
Images of Neve, Di, Maddy and Rad flashed in mental movie across my brain.
I’m going to kill that bitch once and for all.
Worry creased Damon’s forehead. “Torturing your friends is also the best revenge she could take on you, Kali.”
I leaned forward, hugged my stomach. “Forget the food. Get me to the church.”
Chapter Forty-eight
I didn’t wait for the car to come to a full stop in my parking lot before I bolted for the church. On the way, I’d dialed Dru, Maddy, Di and Rad on my cellphone…and none of them had answered.
Bri jumped out at the same time, running with me. Seemed I had a new bodyguard, even if she did hate my guts.
