Wicked All Night

by Jeaniene Frost

  “Ian,” I said in a quiet tone. “Stand down.”

  Maybe he’d also realized all the reasons why we couldn’t attack Morana, because his power whooshed back into him, and he sheathed the sword in one swift, fluid motion. Then, he bowed in a courtly way to Marie.

  “Pleasure to see you again, Majestic.”

  Marie gave him a look that had me poised to rip all her blood out if even one of her Remnants twitched toward Ian.

  “You dare say that when the last time we met, you were blackmailing me with pictures you’d just taken of me?”

  Ashael’s palm slapped against his forehead. “You didn’t.”

  I hadn’t known this, either, or I definitely would’ve tried stopping Ian from coming in here. Then again, how could I? I wasn’t faster than teleportation even on my best day.

  “Did,” Ian said, flashing an unrepentant grin at Ashael. “Come, now,” he added to Marie. “You admire cunning, and that was cunning. Besides, you agreed with the cause behind the blackmail, or I wouldn’t have lived out the day after that.”

  “You’re fortunate that you’re correct,” Marie said in her frostiest tone. “Now, get out before I decide against forgiving you for trespassing, too.”

  Ian doffed an imaginary hat. “Ladies,” he said before sauntering out instead of teleporting away.

  Morana watched him leave, proving that my vampire side was back at the helm because I had the sudden urge to slap the lustful look off her face.

  “Do you know I recently discovered chocolate?” she said with a flirty little smile. “As it turns out, I love white, milk, and dark,” she added while looking from Ian to Marie to Ashael.

  The inference was obvious, and my hackles rose again.

  “Modern tip,” Ashael said in a genial tone. “Never compare black people to chocolate. That got old decades ago.”

  “Ah,” Morana said, nodding. “Thank you. There’s still so much I need to learn.”

  “Yes, like mass murder being wrong,” I almost purred.

  Morana only laughed as if I’d told a joke.

  “Ashael, did you have business with me beyond sneaking Veritas in under your plus-one marker?” Marie asked him.

  My brother’s brows lifted in feigned affront. “As if seeing you isn’t reason enough . . .”

  “I thought not,” Marie interrupted, though her tone was less sharp than her normal annoyed one. “Go. It appears that we three women have important issues to discuss.”

  “Men do tend to muck up the waters,” Morana agreed, though her instant grin added, But not you, I’m sure, to Ashael.

  I ground my teeth. She was flirty, charming, faery-queen gorgeous, and a homicidal maniac. If Hollywood knew about Morana, they’d sign her up for her own reality show on the spot.

  Ashael’s glance at me was casual, as if he weren’t looking for the barely perceptible nod I gave him. Then, he let out a defeated sigh and bowed low in much the same way Ian had.

  “With regret, then, I take my leave of you, ma belle.”

  I waited until Jacques closed the two sets of doors behind my brother before I spoke.

  “How did you know that I was the death demigod?” I asked Morana, using the words she’d chosen to describe me.

  “Your voice,” she replied with another musical laugh. “I was in quite the state when Phanes pulled me and Ruaumoko out of the netherworld, but you screamed at Phanes long enough and loud enough to be very memorable.”

  Marie’s side-eye had me inwardly cringing. My being in the netherworld when they escaped was a detail I really wished Marie wouldn’t have been informed of.

  “Yes, well, Phanes betrayed me and left me for dead when he broke you two out,” I said so Marie would know that I hadn’t been a willing participant in their escape.

  Morana’s cerulean gaze grew hard. “Phanes excels at lethal betrayal. You were fortunate to escape from the consequences of that very quickly. I, as you know, was not.”

  Oh, so there was trouble in god paradise? That was my first piece of good news tonight.

  “Where is Phanes, by the way?” I asked in a neutral way.

  Her hand flicked as if shooing an imaginary fly. “With Ruaumoko. I told them not to make a spectacle of our return, but did they listen? No. Some things, as they say, never change.”

  Marie was being unusually quiet. Probably sitting back and doling out rope to see if we hung ourselves with it.

  “So, you disagree with the earthquakes in Iceland and New Zealand, and the volcanic eruption in Athens?” I asked.

  “Athens, too?” Morana said with a ladylike snort. “Busy bees.”

  “You didn’t know about Athens?” Marie asked, brows raised.

  Morana gave her a languid look. “Should I have?”

  “Since they tried to murder the entire vampire council there, yes,” I said, watching her carefully.

  Morana only laughed again. “Ruaumoko must still be angry at vampires for our deaths. Your people helped, too,” she said to Marie, as if the ghoul queen might feel left out otherwise. “They trapped us in that gorge, but flesh eaters can’t fly, so it was vampires who swept in with the final killing blow.”

  “And Ruaumoko can’t let that go, but you’ve gotten over it?” I asked with open skepticism.

  “Thousands of years to think can reset your priorities.” A diffident shrug. “I see now that I was too ambitious before. Ruling the world is . . . unnecessary. Now, I only want my lands. Ruaumoko of course wants his, and Phanes wants that wretched little stretch of the Mediterranean, which he’s welcome to.” She paused to shudder. “It’s so hot there. It’s so hot everywhere now. How do you people stand it?”

  “You learn to adapt,” Marie said. “Tell me, what is your land, Morana? Russia?”

  Another shrug. “That, and the rest of the upper half of the continent they now call Eurasia. Ruaumoko is claiming Oceania and the neighboring islands. Once sea levels drop, Zealandia will reemerge, too. We were both shocked to discover how much of our world has been overtaken by the waters. I’ll fix that.”

  Dear gods. She was discussing divvying up a quarter of the world with the casualness of slicing a pie thick or thin. Worse, Marie didn’t look appalled. Instead, she looked intrigued.

  “You intend to lower sea levels by drastically cooling the earth to rebuild all the melted glaciers and arctic ice, yes?”

  “Not immediately,” Morana replied, a touch of frustration entering her tone. “My powers have not yet fully returned. It could take me the better part of a year to accomplish this.”

  I couldn’t hold back my horror any longer. “Such cataclysmic climate change would kill millions!”

  Morana looked bored. “Mortals’ lives are so short that ending them a few decades early hardly matters. Most vampires would survive. So would most flesh eaters. In fact, flesh eaters would flourish, since large parts of the world would be, what is the expression? Ah, yes. Freezers full of meat.”

  “How dare you?” My voice shook. “Yes, mortals only live for a scant collection of decades. That’s why it’s abhorrent to cut even one of their years short. Only monsters take all from those who have little. Vampires and flesh eaters might be creatures from their mythology, but we are not monsters.”

  The temperature abruptly dropped until ice crystals formed in the air around us.

  “How interesting that you mention monsters.”

  Morana’s voice was almost lilting, but the new iciness in the room told a different story about her mood.

  “At first, I was dazzled by the advances mortals had made. From flying machines to transplanting body parts to landing on new planets . . . I thought such wonders meant that mortals had truly changed.” Her voice darkened. “Then, I realized only their achievements had advanced. Mortals themselves are the same. The strong still oppress the weak, and those with too much amass even more while taking no pity on those struggling to survive. You speak of monsters?” Now her tone was scathing. “That is more monstrous than the culli
ng I will do in order to finally set things right again.”

  I gripped the cuffs beneath my sleeve and tried to hold back the river of darkness that almost burst out of me.

  “I won’t let you. The moment you leave this city, Morana, the ‘safe passage’ requirement that protects you now will be fulfilled, and I will hunt you down and stop you.”

  She only smiled, and turned to Marie. “You’re already queen of the flesh eaters. Not nearly enough, in my opinion, for a person of your caliber. How would you like to be queen of everyone residing in North and South America, too?”

  Ice rippled up my spine, and not from the new, frigid temperatures. From how Marie tilted her head with interest.

  “Go on,” Marie said.

  Chapter 36

  Morana clapped with delight. Meanwhile, I had to fight against the bile rising in my throat.

  “I told you, I don’t want to rule those continents,” Morana said, as if she were being very magnanimous. “I do, however, want someone I can trust to rule them. You would be that ruler, Marie. Think about it.”

  Ice suddenly formed into a globe that floated between Marie and Morana. More ice formed into familiar-shaped continents and islands, with frost serving as oceans, seas, lakes, and rivers. The globe spun until North and South America faced Marie, with the words “All Yours” forming across it.

  “Think about it,” Morana repeated in a seductive whisper. “You wouldn’t only be queen of the flesh eaters. You would be queen of the entire western hemisphere. Mortals, flesh eaters, vampires . . . all would bow down to you. Enact any laws you desire. Mete out whatever punishment you deem fitting. All will be yours . . . if you and your people refrain from joining in her foolish, doomed rebellion against me.”

  “Marie,” I began.

  Her hand sliced the air. Remnants followed, surrounding me until I could hardly see through their endless loops around me.

  Oh, shit. That looked like a “yes.”

  I started yanking power from the water that thankfully was all around New Orleans. I’d use every ability necessary to stop this, barring only one.

  “You would give me this?” I heard Marie ask.

  “Gladly,” Morana crooned in response.

  “But it isn’t yours to give.”

  The Remnants snapped back from me to swirl around Morana, their mouths open in silent, ravenous hunger.

  “What?” Morana asked, sounding wary now.

  “I said, you can’t give me what you don’t own,” Marie replied in a flinty tone. “Those lands were already stolen once, at irreparable damage to the people they belonged to. I’ll have no part in such evil again, nor will I partner with anyone who would. Leave now, Morana. Our meeting is concluded, and your invitation to my city is hereby revoked.”

  Morana’s voice hardened. “If that is your answer, allow me to leave you with a parting gift.”

  Instantly, I was blind and every nerve ending screamed as ice replaced blood and tissue. I tried to move and couldn’t. I couldn’t even speak, and my mind felt dangerously sluggish.

  She did not just flash-freeze us! my other half thought.

  She’d been quiet for a while, but now she was back, and her incredulous rage felt like a tiny fire within.

  Bitch sure did, I thought hazily. Gonna stand for that?

  No we are not, she replied, and detonated with power.

  Morana didn’t know it, but she had made a critical error. Ice was made of water, and water was my—our—specialty.

  Ice smashed within and without. Agony dropped me to my knees, but I was moving again, and after blinks that felt like someone held a blowtorch to my eyes, I could see again. Piles of ice shards were now at my feet, glittering much like Morana’s stunning wings had.

  Ian and Ashael appeared before my next blink. Ian’s aura was so charged with power that being near him hurt, and Ashael’s shadows billowed like dark thunderclouds behind him.

  “Are you hurt?” Ian asked, grabbing me.

  Yes. All over, and his aura stabbing the air like thousands of tiny knives wasn’t helping.

  “No.” My voice was raspy. Vocal cords must still be in the process of healing. “Morana?”

  Ian and Ashael blocked most of my view. Still, the supernatural cuffs sliding back into my skin seemed to indicate that she was now gone.

  “Vanished.” Ian’s tone turned savage. “Don’t know where to. Ashael felt the ice blast the instant before it hit, and teleported us away.”

  “Smart,” I murmured.

  “Wrong because it left you helpless,” Ian countered, with a furious glance at Ashael.

  “Clearly not,” Ashael responded, with a meaningful glance at the melting ice around me. “Besides, you and I becoming popsicles like those two would not have helped Veritas, either.”

  Those two? I turned around, and then almost slipped on the wet floor as I staggered toward Marie, who was frozen solid inside a thick pillar of ice.

  Ian caught me, holding me against him. “Take a moment first. You’ll be stronger for it.”

  I sagged against him, letting my body catch up to my mind. Being a vampire, it didn’t take long. Still, I didn’t move away. Even the stabbing force of Ian’s aura wasn’t enough to make me want to leave him as I focused my power on Marie first, decimating the ice within her and around her.

  She came to with a gasp that immediately turned into an impressive curse in Creole. Then, Marie sliced her finger on a hidden razor in her ring. At once, more Remnants tore into the room with the force of a tornado. They skipped over Ian and Ashael to rush through the house, obviously seeking out Morana.

  “She iced us and left,” I said.

  Marie flung her hands out. Even more Remnants appeared before vanishing in a rush through walls and doors.

  “They’ll search the city in case she didn’t get far,” Marie said in a crisp voice. “If she’s here, they’ll find her.” Then, she turned to Ian and Ashael. “Which one of you freed us?”

  “Neither,” Ian said, kissing the top of my head.

  Marie gave me a raking look, and then pointed at Jacques. “If you would?”

  “Of course,” I said, and ripped away the ice that both trapped Jacques on the outside and froze him within.

  Her gaze narrowed as she watched. Seeing it, I realized her reason for asking me had been twofold: to get her butler free and to see my abilities in action. Now she knew that I could decimate a Jacques-sized ice block and unfreeze a person with my mind alone. Maybe I should’ve waved my arms around and made up a fake magic chant first.

  “My queen!” Jacques said, rushing to Marie as soon as his limbs worked again.

  She let him kiss her hand, and then said, “Gather my lieutenants and bring them here, Jacques. We are at war.”

  He left. Marie and I faced each other across her living room. Morana hadn’t stopped at turning us into ice sculptures. She’d also iced the entire house and exterior gardens, too.

  “Thank you,” I said very quietly to Marie.

  The look she gave me was harder than the ice that now blanketed every centimeter of her home.

  “My decision to war with Morana and her allies has nothing to do with you. If I refuse to trust vampires with my people’s liberty, I certainly won’t trust an egotistical god who intends to murder millions simply because they’re an inconvenience.”

  Not a friendly alliance, but the ghoul race would now fight against Morana, Phanes, and Ruaumoko. That was fucking great.

  “To kicking their asses,” I said, and held out my hand.

  Marie didn’t move. “You know how to defeat them. Tell me.”

  I wasn’t about to play coy when she’d just committed her entire species to this fight.

  “Netherworld handcuffs,” I said, pulling my sleeve higher so Marie could see the supernatural restraints etched into my skin. “The Warden himself gave them to me. I put these on Morana and Ruaumoko, and they get a one-way ticket back to their prisons. As for Phanes . . . we’ll figure
something out.”

  She stared at me. “You had these, and didn’t use them on her when you could have.”

  I let out a short laugh. “Regretting that a bit now, but you were emphatic that Morana was under your safe passage rule, so I didn’t. I don’t want war with your people. I never have.”

  Marie finally took my hand, her grip strong and sure. “You should have shown me the real Veritas long before this. I don’t trust vampires, but I might one day trust you.”

  “My queen!”

  Jacques ran back into the living room, startling all of us.

  “What is it?” Marie asked him.

  His expression alone said that it was more bad news. I braced, and Ian’s arm tightened around me.

  “Morana did not attack you and your residence alone. She froze the entire Garden District.”

  I started to run for the door, but Ian hauled me back.

  “Wait.”

  His voice was so urgent that I stopped. “What?”

  “Didn’t notice it before because I was too focused on you.” Ian lowered his voice as if someone outside this room might be listening. “Now, I’m certain of it. Someone else’s scent is here, and it wasn’t before when Ashael and I left.”

  I sniffed, but all I smelled was ice, our scents, and Marie’s delicate, floral perfume that was light enough even for a vampire’s oversensitive nose.

  “Phanes,” Ian suddenly spat.

  I stiffened. I didn’t smell him, but my senses still felt off after being flash frozen, so I didn’t trust them over Ian’s.

  “I still have to help those people,” I said.

  “I’ll go,” Ashael replied. “My power over anything liquid-based is greater than yours, and I’m much faster, too.”

  Both true, except for one large drawback. “You can’t get inside homes that you haven’t been invited into.”

  “I back the banks that finance every loan in the district,” Marie said in crisp tone. “Therefore, technically, I own these houses. Ashael, I hereby invite you inside every home in this district. Go. Save all who can be saved.”

  He bowed to Marie, gave me a look that said not to worry, and then vanished.