"Oh, yes," she groans. "Oh, I am going to enjoy this."
My heart hammers, searching for something to do. The level of power Morana just reached is beyond any vampire I've ever heard of. We can't let this happen.
"But it already has happened, my dear," Morana says . . .no, not says . . . but thinks, projecting it into my mind directly. She smiles at me, her eyes pure, burning light. She can read my thoughts.
"Treat," one of the vampires demands again, unimpressed. Morana laughs, stepping gracefully down from the dais.
"Very well," she says. "Your treat. Go down into that courtyard and kill anything that moves. You can eat and play as much as you like. Have fun, children."
The rabid vampires shriek with delight and hurry out of the ballroom. Horror grips my heart, thinking of Seamus, Emmett, Callahan, and the twins, with no idea of what's coming.
"What about your clan?" I ask, hoping she'll stop them for the sake of her own people.
"Expendable," Morana replies with a shrug. "With my children and this crown, they're entirely superfluous."
Jesse lingers, still holding me by the hair.
"You can go too, darling," Morana says with a dismissive wave. "I want to deal with these would-be queens personally."
Jesse hesitates for a moment, then releases my hair and retreats.
Morana watches her go, then smiles at me as I climb to my feet. Damon rises beside me, a low growl rolling in his deep chest. Aura and Carver stand on the other side of me, ready to win or die.
"What do you think of my new little pets?" Morana asks Carver, apparently unconcerned, her casual attitude at odds with the light radiating from her eyes and skin. "I'm sure you've guessed that your sister was the prototype. Hadn't quite found the right ratios yet, I'm afraid. But I think I've about got it down now. Jesse is almost coherent most of the time. Although, frankly, I prefer them a bit insane. Easier to control."
"What are they?" I ask, stalling as I try to think of a plan. Fighting her one on one seems like a bad idea.
"Vampires, of course," Morana shrugs. "Vampires force-fed a mixture of Fae blood, witch blood, and a few other little additives. The blood of children turned out to be a crucial catalyst. I assumed changelings could fill two purposes, but it turns out they aren't even good for that much. Luckily your werewolf friends had so many stray puppies running around."
Damon snarls, lunging at her, and in my shock and horror I don't even try to stop him. Morana doesn't even move until he's in arms' reach, and then backhands him so hard he yelps like a kicked dog, the sheer power of the strike sending him flying off toward the far wall.
"Damon!" I shout, horrified, and start to run to him, stopping cold when Morana raises a hand in his direction, her eyes on me.
"I could burn him to cinders right now," she says calmly. "I'd barely have to try. I think its more effort not to, honestly. What would that do to your prophecy, I wonder? And what would your face look like as you watched him burn?"
"Stop it," I snap. "Stop fucking showing off. Stop with the goddamn theatrics! If you're going to kill us, kill us. I'm not going to listen to you cream your own panties over yourself for another fucking second!"
Morana's smile disappears.
"Fine," she says, and from several feet away she is suddenly right next to me, her hand closing on the front of my shirt and lifting me like a ragdoll. Before I can even process what's happening, she throws me across the room, where I slam into Damon just as he's trying to get to his feet.
Morana laughs, looking at her own hands.
"God, it's so easy," she crows. "I could take you apart a piece at a time! I could kill your entire army without breaking a sweat!"
Damon and I help each other up, winded and bruised but not beaten.
"Damon, Carver," I say, my heart racing. "Get out of here."
"No," Damon says immediately.
"Take the balcony," I say, pointing at the windows. "Sound the retreat. I'm counting on you to get everyone out alive."
"And what makes you think I'd let them go, darling?" Morana asks with a poison smile.
"Because you don't give a shit about them," I tell her, my heart pounding in my chest. I'm thinking very, very hard about the lyrics to "We Will Rock You." "It's me and Aura you want. Queen versus Queen. That's what you're after, right? A big, damn, fancy showdown. High noon. And you're going to end the prophecy with your own bare hands."
Morana narrows her eyes but doesn't object.
"Like. Hell." Damon clenches his teeth.
"Do it," I order him, looking hard into his eyes. "Stay alive."
"Not without you," he growls, and my heart skips a beat.
"There are people down there depending on me," I say, though it hurts. "That's more important than either of us. I need you to do this, Damon."
Damon closes his eyes, but I know he's accepted it. We were ready to die tonight before we stepped through that portal.
"Stay alive," he says, because it's easier than saying goodbye, and I love you is too much like goodbye. But even so, it sounds like a plea. Like he's begging me.
"I will," I promise, and the sight of my smile makes a flicker of understanding show in his eyes. I can tell it takes effort for him to pull away from me, but he does, striding toward the window. Morana watches him go but doesn't stop him. Carver kisses Aura hard, then throws me his rapier.
"You know how to use that, right?" he jokes.
"How hard can it be if you figured it out?" I tease him back. The levity makes it feel less like we're all about to die.
Carver looks at Aura one last time, then joins Damon at the window. They both jump off, leaving me and Aura alone with Morana. Aura takes a deep breath and comes to stand beside me, her knives in her hands.
"All right," I say, thinking about nothing but the stomp-stomp-clap of my favorite song. "Let's rock."
"Finally," Morana says, rolling her eyes, and comes at us both at like a lightning strike, the air crackling at her passing. We dive out of the way and the crash of her fist shatters the tile of the ballroom floor into dust.
I barely have time to recover from the dodge before she's on me again, her claws raking at my face, sharp and searing hot. They gouge burning lines across my cheek before Aura leaps at Morana's back, burying a knife in her shoulder. Morana doesn't even scream, only laughs, and grabs Aura, throwing her over her shoulder and into me. We crash together into the far wall.
"I really hope you have a plan here," Aura groans as we scramble to disentangle ourselves and stand. I don't have time to answer before grabbing Aura and throwing us both out of the way as Morana leaps at us, leaving a crater in the floor as she lands where we were a second before.
"Knife," I say as we roll to our feet, frantically thinking about the guitar solo from "Freebird" as loudly as I can. Aura holds up the knife in her hand, perplexed, and I shake my head. "Other knife!"
She points at Morana, who is coming at us at again and laughs as we scatter. Aura's knife is still sticking out of her back, and she barely notices.
"Come now!" she scolds like a disappointed mother. "You can do better than that! Stop running around and fight me! This is your moment of glory!"
"No offense," I say, tapping my foot in time to the song which is all I am thinking about as I take a defensive stance with my rapier. "But I kind of feel like this is more about your glory than ours."
"Fair enough," Morana agrees, turning her back on me to wander back toward the dais, the knife still buried in her shoulder. "But you know this would feel much more dramatic if you would stop thinking about that tedious song."
"You expect me to have an epic battle without a soundtrack?" I say, thinking about the guitar solo even harder as I glance at Aura and look pointedly at the knife.
"Yeah," Aura chips in. "Honestly, this whole thing desperately needs music. I'm surprised you didn't think of that with as much effort as you put into these tacky decorations. What, you couldn't afford a string quartet for your little fake corona
tion?"
"Ugh," Morana groans, yanking the knife out of Siobhan’s chest. She gestures at us with it incredulously. "Is this your plan? Annoy me to death?"
"Whatever works," I reply, grinning and thinking about nothing but the most kick-ass solo known to man. I lunge at her with the rapier, going low to take advantage of her position on the high ground. She parries easily with the short blade of the dagger and advances, pushing me back and I let her, pulling her into the rhythm of parry and counter-parry. Despite the disadvantage of the short weapon, she counters all my moves easily with pure speed and probably a good dose of mind-reading powers. I'm thinking so hard about killer guitar riffs that I can only move on instinct. I can't risk thinking about strategy or technique, all I can do is lean into the decades of muscle memory from training in Le Tireur and with the twins.
"Honestly, I don't even need the mind-reading powers to stop you," Morana says, sounding almost bored as she counters another thrust. "You're so slow. Are you even trying?"
Yes. I figured out that even working together, Aura and I aren't a match for her around the time she started casually destroying the architecture with her bare hands. Every time she parries, the sheer power behind it vibrates up my sword and makes my entire arm ache. She could crush me like a grape. She just doesn't care. She's having fun. I think harder about music, letting that solo build within me, matching my racing heart.
"You ever learn fencing?" I ask, a little breathless, as I dart backward away from her advancing steps. She strides forward, casually knocking my sword aside with her dagger, a smile on her face.
"Never bothered," she replies. "A tedious sport. Useless unless your partner is also a fencer."
"Ah, then you've missed the point," I say, backing up farther, slashing dramatically at her face. There's not much space left for me to retreat. She deflects me easily, again. "A duel with another fencer is about demonstrating mastery of the technique. But the technique is what matters."
"And what technique is that?" Morana asks, amused. A little banter is exactly what she wants to make this feel like a proper showdown before she slaughters us. She's so up her own ass about the drama of it all, she doesn't even realize that I'm not thinking about "Freebird" anymore.
"The technique is knowing your opponent," I answer. "It's observation. Giving them the lead and letting them show you their strengths, the skills they've mastered. And where they've fallen short. With mastery of the technique, you don't need telepathy to know what your enemy will do."
"Really?" Morana says sarcastically, like I'm getting too hammy even for her tastes.
"Really," I reply, slapping her dagger away with the flat of my sword hard enough to make her flinch. "For example, I know you're a dumb, narcissistic bitch who's so arrogant you forgot you were fighting two people!"
Morana's eyes widen just before Aura grabs her by her fancy updo, drags her head back, and slices her throat. I pull Mab's pendant out from under my shirt and shove it into the waterfall of blood that pours from Morana's throat. It burns with cold light and ice races through my veins and freezes my lungs, like breathing in on a cold winter morning. I am suddenly more awake than I've ever felt. Power races under my skin. My injuries heal all at once, and I feel a strength in my arms that could topple armies.
Morana's fist slams into my head, knocking me away. She grabs Aura and throws her again, then stumbles away, clutching her bleeding throat.
I only got a tiny portion of Morana's power, but it was enough to keep that strike to the head from feeling like anything worse than a normal punch. I reel, but keep my feet, and pull Aura back to hers.
"Nice one," I say, feeling slightly lightheaded with power. "I mean, I just wanted you to get the knife out of her back so I could use her blood on the pendant, but damn. You really went for it."
"Of course I went for it," Aura replies, stunned. "I didn't know what the fuck you were doing! I thought she was about to kill you!"
An enraged scream interrupts us and we look up. Morana's throat has already healed, the crown's power accelerating her healing to insane speeds.
"How dare you?" she hisses. "That's my power!"
"Mine now, bitch," I reply, opening my arms. "Come and get it!"
She throws herself at me with a furious scream and all bets are off now. She wants me dead. Our weapons are forgotten as we struggle with bare fists and claws, tearing at one another like animals. Our wounds close as quickly as we can open them on each other, and I'm filled with a sense of elated power. But I won't let it turn me stupid. She's still stronger than me. I only took a part of her power, and I've got a feeling it won't stay this intense forever. I guard the pendant and try to put some space between us, but she won't let me get clear, at least not until an explosion rocks the building. We both stop, watching the fading bloom of what looks like a firework going off in the courtyard outside. Aura runs to the balcony and laughs.
"We're winning!" she shouts back. "The Fae figured out how to kill the rabid ones!"
"No!" Morana screams, pushing me away and running at Aura. I sprint to get there before her, putting myself between them, but Morana is distracted by the sight of the battle below.
Another firework explosion goes off, reducing several rabid vampires to ash. Seamus and the other Fae have enchanted the weapons of the ranged units somehow. They kill every rabid one they hit and occasionally erupt into those explosions. But it's more than just that. Morana sent the rabid ones after everyone down there indiscriminately. My army and the Kresova and Aspen vampires both came under attack and found themselves fighting on the same side. With their numbers plus ours plus the Fae's magic, we are clearly, unmistakably winning.
Morana hits the stone banister of the balcony so hard it crumbles. She glares at us, her face nearly purple with rage.
"You can probably kill me," I say, heart racing. "But it won't be fast. And every second you waste trying, another of your army dies."
Her lip curls, shaking with rage because she knows I'm right.
"I will kill you," she whispers. "And it will be slow. I will spend a thousand years killing you."
"Looking forward to seeing you try," I say, not flinching.
Morana, to her credit doesn't try for the last word. Instead, she draws the elegant drapes of her dress around her and a second later spreads them open as massive black wings. I stumble backward in shock, hanging on to Aura, as a monstrous bat the size of a bus raises its foxlike head to the sky and screams. In that scream I hear the echoes of a telepathic command.
"To me, children!"
She dives from the balcony, swooping low over the courtyard to a chorus of screams from the people below, then rises over the roof of the house and away. The army of rabid vampires runs after her, leaping and scrambling over the buildings with all their terrible agility to keep up with her. I watch Morana vanish into the light of the rising moon and fight a brief feeling off loss.
"It was supposed to be over tonight," I say, regret making me feel heavy despite the power coursing through me.
"Hey, I think we did pretty damn good," Aura says, leaning against the unbroken part of the banister with an expression of exhausted exhilaration. "We chased her out of this castle for one thing. The vampires she forced to work with her are on our side. Even the ones loyal to her have got to be thinking about how she tried to feed them to her pet mutants and then abandoned them. And you literally stole a chunk of her power with that necklace. And hell, we don't even have all our consorts or the third Dria yet! We kicked some serious ass here!"
I smile at her, the feeling of loss easing.
"You're right," I say, and raise my hand for a fist bump. Aura rolls her eyes, but taps her knuckles against mine obligingly. "We are the fucking champions."
Chapter 15
I started celebrating too early.
By the time Aura and I make it down into the courtyard, the little burst of celebration is already dying off. Now people remember that half of them defended this castle earlier while t
he other half attacked them. Everyone eyes one another warily, unsure where they stand.
"Oh boy," Aura says, seeing the same thing I do. We share a glance, and I point out a raised flower bed we can stand on.
"All right, everybody stay calm!" Aura shouts as she climbs up onto the flower bed and pulls me up beside her. "I think we've had enough dying today."
"In case you missed the big fuck-off bat monster a minute ago," I added, "that was Morana running away. She's abandoned this place, and everyone who served her."
"She was also perfectly happy to let those rabid mutants of hers eat all of you if they took out some of our guys in the progress," Aura chimes in.
"So, like, if you're still loyal to her after all that," I say, shrugging and pointing off toward the moon, "she went that way. You're welcome to follow her."
There are a few murmurs and some awkward shuffling. No one takes the offer.
"This is my home," one of the Kresova vampires, an older man, declares. I vaguely recognize him from my time at court. "I've lived here for centuries! I don't care who sits on the throne, you can make me leave when you drag my corpse through the gates!"
There's a small cheer from some of the other vampires who had supported Morana. The Aspen vampires who'd been forced into Morana's service hover between both groups, unsure which one will accept them.
"This has been the home of the Kresova since the beginning!" another adds. "You can't take it from us!"
"No one's trying to," Aura says before I tell them what idiots they're being. "Practically every vampire here is Kresova! Morana has done nothing but turn us against each other from the beginning for her own selfish ends. She slaughtered three Kresova elders up there to increase her own power! She has to be stopped for the sake of all Kresova and all vampire kind. But we can't stop her until we stop letting her divide us."
Fury : The Kresova Vampire Harems: Lyra Page 11
