“Hallo yourself, Mencheres,” Ian said. “See? I’m safe and sound, just as I promised.”
“Yes, but if all was well, we wouldn’t be here,” Mencheres said while nodding to Bones, Spade, Cat, and Denise. Spade had cleared out the rest of his house, giving his servants the night off. The last one had just left minutes before Ashael returned.
“Let’s get to why we’re here,” Ian said, and filled them in about Phanes, Morana, and Ruaumoko. He left out how Phanes had tricked me into thinking I was rescuing my father when I was aiding in their prison escape, and also left out how me using my power had weakened an untold number of veils between this world and the netherworld.
The omission felt like a hole that the truth was being buried in, and I couldn’t bury it and ask for their help at the same time.
“I opened the veil that Phanes used as an exit to break Morana and Ruaumoko out,” I said, to Ian’s instant groan of, “Can’t bloody help yourself, can you?”
“They need to know,” I insisted to Ian. “I had no idea what Phanes was up to,” I said to the rest of them. “I thought he came into the netherworld with me to curry favor with my father, and to break our engagement.”
“Engagement?” Cat repeated in disbelief.
“Yes, my father set it up before I was born, and only he can break it, but back to the point. Phanes nearly killed us, and while we were saving ourselves, he broke out the two gods.”
“What an asshole,” Denise said in a flat tone.
“Couldn’t agree more,” Ian said, giving me a look that said, Done spilling your guts? Or do you have more?
I held up my middle finger at him.
He grinned. “Promises, promises. Now, these gods might have powers we haven’t faced before, but they are not unbeatable,” Ian summarized to our audience. “Long ago, vampires and ghouls banded together and defeated Phanes, Morana, and Ruaumoko when they ruled parts of this world. If they did it, we can, too.”
Silence followed. I didn’t know whether everyone was still processing the information, or if they were just thinking of all the different ways that we were probably fucked.
“So . . . different gods really exist,” Cat finally said. “All that time I spent praying to one feels like a waste now.”
Ashael smiled. “Of course it wasn’t. There are many other worlds outside of this plane of existence. Every so often, beings from those worlds break through into ours. ‘Gods’ is what we call them since compared to us, they are. Still, they didn’t create this world or any of the others. Something far beyond them did. So, keep praying; beings like Phanes, Morana, and Ruaumoko are no threat to your faith or anyone else’s. They’re only a threat to your life.”
Cat laughed. “Oddly enough, I find that comforting. Who knew a demon could make me feel better about my faith?”
Ashael grinned with enough charm to make Bones bristle. “I am a man of many, many talents.”
Bones gave Ashael a look that said, Don’t even think about it. Then, he said, “Yes, well, we might all need to pray, because getting vampires and ghouls to suddenly forgo their enmity and join forces is near impossible.”
He wasn’t wrong. Our races had been in conflict since their creation, when our side claimed that Cain was the first vampire, after God cursed him to drink blood in retaliation for killing Abel, and ghouls claimed that Cain was the first ghoul, because he’d eaten his brother after he killed him.
I didn’t know who was right. That was well before my time. I only knew that vampires and ghouls had vacillated between a wary peace and the occasional mass slaughter ever since.
“We have a plan B if ghouls refuse to ally with us, but we’ll need the vampire council’s help,” I said.
“You mean the same council that branded you a fugitive?” Denise asked, before muttering, “Good luck,” under her breath.
Denise was right. At best, I had an “arrest on sight” edict against me. More likely, it was “kill on sight.” But if I had any chance at convincing the council to overturn thousands of years of settled law, I couldn’t do it by text or Zoom meeting.
“My father said that Morana and Ruaumoko’s reign ended ‘before the Great Flood.’ Magic was flourishing among vampires then, so our ancestors had to have used it when they fought them.”
Mencheres rubbed his chin. “You think enough magically powerful vampires can make up for the loss of ghoul allies, if they refuse to join us?”
“I think it’s worth a shot,” I said in a steady voice. “I still want to reach out to the ghoul queen, though. Perhaps Marie will agree that three power-hungry gods with conqueror complexes running loose here is a problem that needs to be dealt with. But it’s only been a few years since the last ghoul uprising against vampires, so . . .”
“Tensions are still high,” Cat said, her lip curling. “Yeah, I know. Sorry.”
“That’s not your fault, Kitten,” Bones said at once.
“It isn’t,” I agreed. “I was there during the prior ghoul uprising in the fifteenth century, remember? Warmongers look for any excuse to flare tensions.”
I should remember that when guilt struck me over Phanes, Morana, and Ruaumoko. I wasn’t making them do anything they didn’t want to do. But oh, I still felt responsible.
“I’ll call Marie and set up a meeting,” Cat said.
“I could speak to Marie,” Ashael offered.
Cat waved him off. “A demon presenting this might make Marie less receptive toward helping. No offense,” she added when Ashael opened his mouth to speak. “Marie’s very prickly. But, she and I left on semi-good terms, so I have that in my favor.”
It sounded like Ashael stifled a laugh, but then he simply said, “As you prefer.”
“Get Fabian involved, too, Kitten,” Bones said. “Might be that some of his people could be persuaded to join us, too.”
“Yes, we should rally the ghosts, too,” Cat said, sounding much more hopeful. “Some of them have incredible power.”
Some did, indeed. “I’ll summon my friend Leah,” I said. “She can assist with any plans for recruiting ghostly help.”
Ashael rose. “Then I’ll see if there’s any chatter among demons about these gods. Maybe one of my kind has seen them.”
The word “seen” gave me an idea. “Can’t you find out where they are with one of your blood-spying spells?”
That garnered several interested looks, but Ashael was already shaking his head.
“That doesn’t work on gods, demigods, lesser deities, celestial creations, or anything else that didn’t once begin as a human. If it did, I would’ve found our father right away, and we wouldn’t have wasted all that time trying to summon him.”
Of course. I wasn’t thinking clearly. Maybe I was more tired than I realized.
“I also would have found you, as soon as I heard rumors of a Halfling with silver eyes who ripped people’s blood out,” Ashael said in a softer tone. “But that ability doesn’t work on you either, sister, because you were never human. Not fully.”
I was about to reply to that when a mechanical ping drew my attention back to the laptop. BREAKING NEWS, a new banner read. DEVASTATING EARTHQUAKE ROCKS NEW ZEALAND’S SOUTH ISLAND.
“Oh, shit,” I whispered, grabbing the laptop.
“What?” several voices asked at once.
“New earthquake,” I said, clicking the link.
Cat, Denise, and Bones pulled out their mobiles. Spade turned on the TV. Ian moved closer, reading over my shoulder.
Early estimates ranked the earthquake at a catastrophic 8.4 on the Richter scale. It also appeared to involve all four major fault lines in the Marlborough Fault system. Many buildings had collapsed, and rescue groups were rushing to the scene . . .
“You think this is them?” Denise asked in a hushed voice.
New Zealand hadn’t been hit with an earthquake like this in over a century. Ruaumoko’s origins were in New Zealand. If this wasn’t him, it was a hell of a coincidence.
“Those poor people,” I whispered. Trapped under buildings because Phanes had duped me into helping his lethal friends escape. How much blood was on my hands?
I stood. “Ashael, take me to the epicenter. I can help with rescue efforts.”
“No,” Ian said, holding out a hand to ward off Ashael. “Others can do that.”
“A vampire can do what human rescuers can’t,” I snapped with all of the guilt eating at me.
“Yes, they can,” Ian said in a patient tone. “But it doesn’t have to be you. I have vampires under my line in New Zealand. Charles will contact them and send them to help.”
With a nod of assent, Spade left. Bones exchanged a look with Mencheres, who pulled out his mobile.
“Between my line and Bones’s, we have many people there, too. They will also assist.”
I hadn’t thought of sending other vampires. Then again, I had no line of my own like they did. How could I? Any vampire I created could feel my feelings through the sire connection, which would’ve posed too great of a risk to me, with my secrets.
“You see?” Ian said in a soft voice. “As I’ve reminded you, you’re not alone anymore, Veritas.”
Yet once again, I’d acted as if I were. Would I ever unlearn nearly five thousand years of my solitary mentality? Or was it more than that? Was it that wonderful things, like having people to genuinely trust and rely on, would always be harder for me to adjust to because I knew how rare they were?
“Thank you,” I said, my voice huskier from emotion.
“Don’t worry,” Cat said, giving me a sympathetic look. “You’ll be at bat for other stuff, but this part, we’ve got.”
I had to change the subject before I did something disgraceful, like burst into tears at all the unfamiliar love and support.
“All right, if Ruaumoko and Morana are behind this, maybe we’re lucky and they’re not smart,” I said in a brisker tone. “Showing off in such big, seismic ways before they’re up to full strength must be burning through their limited power reserves. Unless,” my voice trailed off as an awful thought hit me.
“Unless what?” Cat pressed.
“Unless doing these things doesn’t drain them.”
A chill raced up my spine when I thought of what happened after I ripped Dagon’s soul out and threw it into the netherworld. I hadn’t felt drained after using my most formidable ability. Instead, I’d never felt more powerful.
“Morana and Ruaumoko might be doing these things to power up,” I said, my chill increasing. “If I’m right, and this is what they’re capable of when they’re at the weaker end of their abilities, we don’t want to know what they can do when they’re at full strength.”
“No, we don’t,” Cat said, rising too. “I’ll call Marie to set up the meeting, and then I’ll call home to have Tate send Fabian here so we can get the ghosts in on this.”
“I will reach out to my allies,” Mencheres said. “Many of them have exceptional abilities even without magic.”
“I’ll call mine as well,” Spade said, coming back into the room. Then, he turned to Ian. “Going to let your people know you’re back and resuming Mastership of your line?”
My mouth dropped. “What do you mean, resuming? You gave up control of all the vampires and humans in your line?”
No one else looked shocked, even though such a thing wasn’t done unless a vampire believed they were about to die, and didn’t want to leave their line unprotected.
“Helm it a little longer, Charles,” Ian said, his voice casual despite the seriousness of the topic.
I rose. Everything else could wait another hour. I had to find out what Ian had done to himself now.
“Would all of you excuse Ian and me?” I said in my sweetest tone. “We’re overdue to have a private conversation.”
“Oh, we are indeed,” Ian said, with a glint in his eye that reminded me of lightning strikes during a storm. “Groom’s quarters still next to the stable, Charles?”
“It is—”
That’s all I heard. Ian took my arm, and everything slid into chaos.
Chapter 24
The world righted moments later. Ian and I were now in a small room with a slanted roof. The wooden floors, walls, and ceiling beams were aged but so well cared for that their rugged appearance added charm to the otherwise Spartan space. One combo desk and bookcase with a chair comprised the makeshift office next to a small, empty fireplace. A tiny table for two next to a set of cupboards was probably the former eat-in kitchen, and the single bed in the corner needed no explanation.
Groom’s quarters, Ian had called this place. Soft neighs coming from nearby would’ve told me we were next to the stable even if the faint smell of horses didn’t permeate from the very walls. But no groom had lived here for a long time. I knew that more from the feel of the place than the dated furnishings. A fastidious cleaning service might’ve kept the room dust free, but abandoned places all had a certain stillness to them, as if their space grieved the loss of those who’d once lived there.
Ian pulled out the chair from the tiny office, turned it backward, and straddled it while facing me.
“We’re down the hill from the manor, so we should have relative privacy here.”
Good, because I might scream from everything I’d been holding back. Judging by the still-dangerous look in his eyes, so might he.
I went first. “How do you have new scars when that should be impossible for vampires?”
“Used a relic with side effects,” he replied dismissively.
“That’s an understatement.”
Both our heads swiveled to the chimney, where Ashael popped out of the fireplace as if he were a demon version of Santa Claus.
“Get out,” Ian said at once.
“Only after you tell my sister what you really did,” Ashael countered. “No? Then I will. This numbskull—”
Ian’s fist swung. Ashael teleported away before it connected with his jaw. Ian teleported after him, still swinging. Ashael avoided him again. Soon, they were both teleporting in and out so fast that I could hardly track them. All the while, Ashael never stopped speaking.
“—talked me into letting him see my relic vault. I told him not to touch anything because all my relics are powerful enough to be deadly. I intended to trade some for information on how to turn one of Phanes’s people against him—”
“Which would’ve taken too long,” Ian snarled.
“—but this numbskull refused to listen, and what did he do with the most ancient, deadly relic this world has ever seen—”
“Shut your bloody face hole!” Ian shouted.
“You should have shut yours!” my brother roared back. “But like a naughty toddler sticking everything into its mouth, you took the most dangerous relic ever and ate it!”
My hands clapped over my face in horror. “What?”
“Ate it!” my brother repeated.
Ian swung again. Ashael teleported away at the last moment, leaving Ian’s fist to smash into the antique desk instead. Books and wood littered the floor.
“Too slow,” Ashael taunted as he avoided another swing. “What’s the matter? Have an upset stomach? You should considering that no man since Adam has been reckless enough to eat that fruit, and here you swallowed it without even chewing!”
No man since Adam . . . No. Ashael couldn’t mean that fruit?
“Didn’t need to chew such a little piece, though it’s clearly larger than both your balls combined,” Ian snapped.
Ashael shoved him. “I am not a coward because I sought a less suicidal way to save my sister!”
“Stop!”
Shadows erupted behind me and darkness spilled out of me in liquid rivers as my other half registered her anger and disbelief over what Ian had done, too. Ashael teleported onto the bed before any of the growing inky substance touched his shoes. Ian spun around, saw me, and let out an exasperated sigh as he slogged through the now ankle-high puddles toward me.
“Put the netherw
orld theatrics away. You’re not ripping out anyone’s soul, and we both know it.”
“How are you moving through that?” Ashael asked, stunned.
“How are you cringing on the bed?” Ian retorted. “Half of that same power runs through your veins.”
Ashael stared at Ian, now calf-deep in the pools of darkness that had swelled within the confines of the small room.
“Yes, we share the same bloodline, and yes, I can manifest darkness, but I cannot summon the river.” Ashael’s voice was almost reverent. “Only she and my father can, and anyone caught in it should be filled with all the panic of impending death.”
At that, the inky substance snapped back into me so fast, it splashed my face before disappearing beneath my skin.
“Are you all right?” I asked Ian at once.
He snorted. “As if any part of you, even the scariest ones, would ever frighten me. But check on the horses, Ashael. Charles will lose his mind if they break out and run off because some of that leaked through the walls and touched them.”
Ashael either loved horses, or he’d had enough of this, because he vanished without another word.
Ian and I were now alone in a room filled with broken or toppled furniture. Not the first time that had happened, but this time, I hadn’t enjoyed any of its destruction. At least none of the netherworld “river” had stained the floors or walls. When I pulled that liquid darkness back into me, all traces of it somehow vanished.
Good thing, since it was apparently dangerous . . . except to Ian. I must be able to control the terror aspect of it on a subconscious level. I should have realized that before. Ian had been covered in this same liquid after Helena had stabbed me, and he hadn’t suffered any ill effects from it.
But Phanes had backed away from it. Both times, now that I thought about it. He must know what it could do.
The irony of it all pierced me. Even my darkest parts had found a way to avoid hurting Ian, but the rest of me had still been responsible for him doing something lethal to himself.
“Ashael had a piece of fruit from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, and you ate it because you thought it would give you the power to break into Phanes’s realm,” I said, stricken.
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