“You’re really not a very impressive champion.” I shifted my sight to the ethereal plane and stared at him. My magical sight revealed the immense form of a dragon melded onto Logan. Logan had taken Valen’s blessing, and in doing so, had rooted Valen to this plane… for now.
“That’s why you needed the baby’s blood,” I said through clenched teeth. My hands were shaking with rage as I stared at the vampire. “You needed something living to act as a conduit for you to take the blessing. What better conduit than the first Dragon Knight? He was already attuned to Valen, anyway.”
“You got me, Lillim,” Logan said, “but there’s still time for you to join us.”
“Or I could kill you,” I said. Hot bubbling anger rose up in me. White smoke curled around the Demonslayer in my hand. I was going to burn him to ash. I was going to— a soft click thumped behind my ear, and the cold barrel of a gun pressed against my neck.
“Drop the weapon,” Danae said, grinding the weapon harder into my skin.
“I thought you were dead,” I said, wondering how she’d survived the werewolf attack. It didn’t seem possible…
“I’m a lot harder to kill than I look,” she replied. “You should know that.”
Before I could say anything, searing hot flame singed my back, and I dove forward in a desperate attempt to escape it. As I came up on my feet and spun to face the threat, I saw Danae along with several other vampires caught in the midst of a raging inferno.
They staggered as fire engulfed their skin like it was made of gasoline. Screams ripped through the air, and the smell of charred flesh lingered on the wind. As the din died down, Caleb stepped through the blaze and placed a single hand on Logan’s chest.
“They say life is all about the choices we make. Today you chose unwisely,” Caleb said, and I wondered if he was talking to me.
There was a flash of heat from Caleb’s outstretched hand, and Logan screamed. Blue-white flames leapt over his entire body. Lightning shot out of the cloudless sky and thunder echoed across the land as Logan’s body turned to ash.
“You probably shouldn’t have done that,” I said. Caleb narrowed his eyes at me and I swallowed before continuing. “Now the Owls will have no leader. Who knows what they’ll do now.”
He opened his mouth to say something then closed it and said nothing for so long I was sure I’d grown gray hair. Instead of speaking, he shut his eyes.
I wasn’t quite sure what his deal was, but when he opened his eyes again he looked sad. I had hurt him, and I didn’t even know how I’d done it. I started to say something, but he put a hand up.
“Just go kill your damned dragon.” He said it in such a way it made me want to hug him. I reached out a hand toward him, but before I could touch him, he vanished.
I took a deep breath and shook my head. I did not have time for this. I had to go stop a goddamned dragon, and he was… was what? No, this was the perfect time for him to be all cryptic and throw off my emotional state. He couldn’t have done this before Bob’s castle loomed in front of me? If I could have, I’d have hit him. Instead, I shoved the Demonslayer into my waistband and glowered at the castle.
“I sincerely hope your plan is significantly better than ‘go inside there and kill everyone until you find out where Valen is,’” Mattoc mumbled, and I turned and glanced at him.
“Oh so you’ve decided to show yourself!” I snapped. “You have any other shocking revelations to make? Want to mess with my head, too?”
Mattoc looked at me as though I’d slapped him. Honestly, I was used to him popping in and out, but he hadn’t said a word since Warthor had supposedly released him.
“If I find out you helped Warthor, I will send you back to Hell myself. And this time, I won’t be following you.” I glared at him as I spoke, but instead of flinching away, the ghost met my glare with one of his own.
“Look here, brat! You’re lucky I was able to find Caleb. Do you know where he was? In your apartment, trying to put together a spell to track you down. When I told him what had happened, he came to help, so the least you could do is be a little nicer to me.” Mattoc pushed me, but his hand just phased through my chest.
“Sorry,” I said, looking away from him as heat spread across my face. Caleb had been trying to find me? He had come to my apartment? I glanced at my feet, unsure of what to say.
“Fine,” Mattoc growled before heaving a sigh from his ghostly lungs. “I can’t believe you’d think I wasn’t on your side.”
“Kay,” I said, but the word seemed inadequate.
Mattoc shook his head. “I’m going to drop it, but I’m not really the one you should apologize to. I know you know that.” The look in his eyes made me feel very small. “Now then, how exactly do you propose to kill a dragon?”
“If I’ve learned anything, it’s that you can kill anyone if you have a big enough fly swatter.” I placed one hand on the Demonslayer and the other on the doorway. The Demonslayer throbbed, burning beneath my grip with rage and hatred. I shut my eyes for a moment, drawing power from the ravenous sword and sending it out with one purpose, to destroy.
The castle’s huge doors exploded in a burst of shrapnel and debris. The telltale clicks of automatic rifles echoed all around me, and as the smoke cleared, I saw numerous men pointing the weapons at me. Behind them, Bob watched me with cool, calculating eyes.
“Hello,” he said.
“Where’s Valen?” I asked and the room tensed, if only because I hadn’t regarded the many gunslingers as a threat. In truth, they’d probably kill me before I could throw up a shield, but I didn’t want them to know that.
“Not here.” Bob’s voice held that edge of finality I associated with the words “time’s up.”
I took a deep breath and drew Haijiku. “This is Haijiku, known to be inhabited by The Emissary of Tragedy. Right now, he is begging me to let him out to play. You have to make a choice. You can choose to not tell me where Valen is, or you can choose to tell me where Valen is, in which case I won’t let my sword eat you.”
“You are making a poor choice.” Bob’s facial expression hadn’t changed from one of indifference. “But since I don’t really want you to huff and puff and blow my house down, I’ll show you where Valen is.”
“Thanks,” I said, somewhat surprised at how easy that had been. Sure I’d gone toe to toe with Bob, but let’s be real, he’d probably win on a second try because on a second try, he wouldn’t be messing around.
The floor beneath me opened up, and I plunged downward into the darkness. I looked desperately for something, anything to grab hold of, but every which way looked pretty much the same.
I slammed into the stone with a bone-crunching thud. The light at the top of the hole above me looked very far away. As I struggled to pull breath into my lungs, thankful I hadn’t decided to remove my magical chain mail, the stone closed above me. I was left in darkness. A tingling sensation ran down the back of my neck as the stench of old copper and sweat filled my nostrils.
“You killed my knight,” Valen roared in a voice that rubbed against my soul like sandpaper. I took a step back, and my breath caught in my throat. The sheer power in his voice made my stomach hurt. If just hearing him talk did that to me, what would happen if he, I dunno, snorted in my general direction. Oh, man, I really needed a better plan.
I stopped. This was what he wanted. He wanted me scared and off balance. Well, I wasn’t going to give it to him. I was going to beat the ever-living daylights out of him. I just wasn’t sure how yet, but hey, I was great at improvising.
“Most mortals know not to meddle in the affairs of dragons, Dioscuri.” The creature snorted again. “But since you took my knight off the board, you’ll have to take his place.”
“Yeah, that’s not happening,” I replied indignantly. I pointed Haijiku at Valen while my right hand gripped the hilt of the Demonslayer. Haijiku glowed with soft blue light, illuminating him before me.
A single red eye blazing with white flame sta
red at me as thick purple veins pulsed along his mottled flesh. Along his back twin rows of razor-sharp spines forked off onto twin tails. The ridges above his eye twitched and a deep chortling rose in his throat. He was in full dragon form now. Well, that was good. I liked bigger targets.
“Fortunately, you do not have a choice.” Valen stood back on his spindly, spider-like hind legs, and his jaws twitched into a smile. The chill of his power slid over my skin like an arctic wind, slamming into my senses like a blizzard and numbing me down to the core.
“Why is that?” I asked, while wondering what was I doing here? Was I really this stupid? This was a dragon, and I was trying to… what? Stop it?
“I am not anchored to Logan. I am anchored to that sword, and now you have taken possession of it.” With the flick of one clawed hand, he used his power to send me flying backward into the wall behind me. I crashed into the stone like a lopsided doll. The pain of it reverberated through my bones as I hung there, suspended by his will. His eyes narrowed into tiny slits as he stomped toward me, strangely delicate and forceful at the same time. “It is why you are not yet dead, Dioscuri.”
I wasn’t sure if what he said was true or not, but it gave me an idea. “Have you met Haijiku, Valen?”
“You dare come after me with that toothpick?” Valen shook his head. I struggled to move as he held me against the stone with unseen force of his mind. “It’s not like I’m some pathetic bag of flesh and bones like you.” His voice changed into a perfect imitation of mine. “I’m an ancient, unstoppable drake.”
“You know.” I struggled to force the words out of my mouth, and he regarded me very carefully as though wondering how I was able to speak. Hmm, well that was interesting. If he expected me to be more out of it, I had an advantage. Now, I’d have to make good on it. “You left out the most important part.”
“And what have I forgotten?” Valen sneered.
“The immortal part.” I forced my will into Haijiku. The blade lit up with brilliant blue fire as I yanked every last ounce of destructive force out of the Demonslayer and jammed it into Haijiku. The mighty blade seemed to warp under the pressure as the Demonslayer crumbled into dust. The Emissary squealed in delight. “Hitobanurei,” I croaked.
Thousands upon thousands of hellfire butterflies exploded into existence. They flitted through the air like tiny burning stars. There was suddenly too much stuff in my head for everything to fit. It didn’t seem to matter though; The Emissary had gotten the idea. It was going to eat the dragon, and now that it had eaten the Demonslayer, it had his scent.
The butterflies circled through the air like a mass of frenzied sharks. Everything they touched burst into green hellfire and from those flames even more butterflies rose. They descended, all at once and quite suddenly, on the massive dragon. Valen’s skin erupted in blue-green flame as the magical insects slammed into him like crazed kamikazes.
Valen’s eyes widened, panic evident on his face as the butterflies forced him back into the corner of the enormous room. He snarled and leapt upward, his gigantic wings beating the air with such force that even the butterflies were pushed backward.
“What have you done?” he snarled, bursting through the stone above us. “I will visit such revenge upon you that you will wish you’d just laid down and died!”
“Funny,” I said as I watched him go. “Threats work a lot better when you aren’t running away.”
36
The butterflies followed Valen out of the hole in one seething mass of Hellfire and death. Screams echoed through the air as the sound of explosions filled my ears. Valen’s hold on me loosened, and I collapsed to the ground. I wiped my mouth, and my sleeve came away crimson. I grabbed hold of Haijiku with both hands and concentrated, willing myself to my feet.
I murmured a quiet word and butterflies swarmed around me. I leapt, allowing them to carry me upward. I landed softly on the chipped marble floor amidst a zillion flitting insects.
Butterflies swarmed over Bob’s men, reducing them to piles of glowing green ash, and with every one that fell, a wave of power surged through me. The rest of the creatures slammed mercilessly into a wall of force in front of Bob. Behind him, Valen was tearing off in a direction that could only be classified as away. It would only be a few minutes before the butterflies pounded down Bob’s defenses.
“Goddammit!” I muttered as Bob fell to one knee. Valen was going to escape long before The Emissary overwhelmed Bob. I needed Valen to come back if I wanted to take him down, and there was no way he was going to do that while The Emissary was consuming everything in sight. I had to call off The Emissary. I raised Haijiku and tried to will the butterflies away.
“No!” The Emissary spoke directly into my mind, and it was like being run over by a tank.
“Yes!” I yelled. Sweat started to run down my face as I yanked all the power back through the blade.
“I will have them all! I will have the dragon and the vampire. I will feast on their power, and I will share it with you!” The Emissary cooed in my ear.
I swayed, falling to my knees. “Valen will escape unless we draw him back. You must relent… for now.” I sent the image of my plan to the blade.
Just like that, the butterflies vanished. The room was quiet. Fatigue swelled inside me as I took a step toward Bob.
Bob’s face was impassive despite the lines of fatigue worn into it. “We are enemies. You should have destroyed me.”
“Yeah. I should do a lot of things.” I tried to smile at the vampire because he was right. I should have killed him, but I hadn’t. Mostly because if it became known I’d killed Bob, I was pretty sure someone would come along to reap horrible vengeance upon me. I did not like having horrible vengeance reaped upon me.
“Indeed.” Bob ran his tongue over his lips for a moment, and I wondered just how hungry he might be from expending so much energy. He took a listless step toward me, and the temperature in the room increased a few degrees. I slapped him. It was the only thing I could do. He staggered backward.
“I am not food,” I said, placing the point of Haijiku against his throat. “Why are you here, Bob? Why are you helping the dragon?”
“Because I want your master to lose. There is no other reason,” he croaked. His eyes were swollen with exhaustion, and I bet I looked pretty tasty. “The others had reasons. Power, glory, childish conquest. I am merely bored.”
The left side of the castle burst into flaming rubble, and as stone crashed down around us, I dove to the side, grabbing Bob by the arm as I did so. I hadn’t meant to save him. It was just something I had done without thinking. Still, maybe it’d be a good thing because Bob looked pissed and Valen was glowing brightly. Smoke streamed from the dragon’s snarling lips as he flapped his massive wings high above us.
“You dare attack me?” Bob thundered, and the earth trembled. “How dare you attack knowing I was here!”
Instead of apologizing, Valen spat another fireball at us. Man, with allies like that, who needed enemies.
Bob must have agreed because he looked like rage given form. Though I didn’t doubt Bob could ward off dragon fire at full strength, I didn’t think he could do it now. Not after withstanding The Emissary’s attack.
No, if Bob was going to survive, I had to do something and fast. If I didn’t, I’d probably still get blamed for his death, especially if Valen wound up having a horrible accident, like I don’t know, accidentally getting himself stabbed in the face by my sword.
Besides, the last time I’d dethroned a vampire founder, put Logan on the throne, and we all saw how well that worked out for me. No, in Bob’s case it was way better to have the devil I knew as an adversary.
I took a step in front of the ancient vampire and held Haijiku in front of me, bracing myself for what I knew was a vain attempt to stop the attack with a shield. Bob put his arms around me, and I shrieked but not in pain, rather, in a sort of strange euphoria. Energy emanated from where he touched my flesh, and my knees went a little weak as t
he Bob’s power flowed through me. His other hand reached out and intertwined itself with mine as I held Haijiku.
“Come on, Emissary,” he cooed, his voice a hot rasp in my ear that tightened things low in my body. “Show me why you are the deep dark secret of the supernatural world. Show me your power.”
The golden dragon fire struck us, and Haijiku erupted into black flame. An inferno raged around the blade as it twisted and warped under the strain. Bob yanked hard, pulling the defiant energy through Haijiku and me. It was like nothing I’d ever felt before, like every cell in my body became supercharged. I could be faster than a speeding bullet, be more powerful than a locomotive, and be able to leap tall buildings in a single bound.
Bob’s other hand lashed out and fire exploded into the ceiling above Valen. Chunks of superheated stone burst outward like shrapnel and tore into the dragon. Blood rained from the sky as the dragon howled in fury and dove toward us.
“Good luck,” Bob whispered before turning and vanishing through the stone beneath our feet. His power left me in an instant, and admittedly, I almost wanted it back.
“This would be a very good time to run away!” Mattoc yelled at me, actually yelled at me.
I was inclined to agree, and as I fingered my ring, I seriously considered tearing it from my finger and going home. I thought about hiding from this thing, but come on. This was a dragon. It could probably find me anywhere. So I was going to finish this fight one way or another. I was not going to run away. Not this time. Not ever.
I sheathed Haijiku, and my hands whipped out to the side. I stretched my fingers outward and closed my eyes. This time, instead of trying to bend the energy around me to my will, I began to flow with it until I was one with it. Sweat broke out on my brow. The onrushing wind from the dragon’s steep dive caused a shiver to run down my spine. I didn’t move.
The Lillim Callina Chronicles: Volumes 1-3 Page 22
