“Remember, I’ll focus on Phanes,” Ian said, equally low.
I gave a sharper nod. It was agony not to watch Ian’s back while he went up against such a formidable foe, but only I had the cuffs that could send Morana and Ruaumoko back to the netherworld. Plus, more practically, only Ian could match Phanes’s teleporting skills, and we had to keep Phanes from teleporting Morana and Ruaumoko out of here at all costs.
Ashael had another job. One that was equally important.
It would have saved us so much trouble if we could’ve cast a spell over this area to prevent anyone from teleporting out of it. However, those spells took time we didn’t have, and this place was so wide open, we’d be spotted before we set even half of the ten necessary anchoring gems.
No, we had to do this the hard way.
Ian tensed right before I felt prickles against my skin, like I was being hit with an invisible, sand-filled wind. I recognized the type of power at once, even if its source was unfamiliar to me. There was another vampire on this mountain, and he wasn’t with us. Yonah hadn’t arrived with our backup yet.
Before I could react, another wave of power rolled over me, even stronger, and it left a sour taste in my mouth. Not just another vampire. A vampire who practiced dark magic.
Looked like we were doing this the really hard way.
“Where’s the bloody ghost?”
Ian’s growl barely disturbed the air since there was at least one creature nearby with hearing as great as ours. If we hadn’t tamped down our auras to barely detectable levels, we would have announced our presence to this unknown vampire via our power level, too. The good news was, this vampire must not know we were here, to flaunt their aura that way.
“He’ll be here,” Ashael whispered.
Separating them before Phanes teleported Morana and Ruaumoko away required a surprise precision strike. That required knowing exactly where to strike, and for that, we needed intel. The same ghost who’d notified Cat’s specter friend, Fabian, about the trio of gods being here was also supposed to tell us which ruin they were hiding in. We were in our predetermined meeting spot, in the clump of trees just south of the newly rebuilt museum. Where was he?
A few minutes later, Ashael frowned. “Perhaps he meant that other patch of trees,” he murmured, and teleported over.
Power immediately snapped around me before pulling tight like a snare net. I tried to run and couldn’t. Flying didn’t work, either. It only tightened the net. At once, I knew what had happened. We hadn’t had time to rig a magic trap over this place, but someone else had, and we’d just activated it.
Ian grabbed me, and then rage flashed over his features.
“I can’t teleport both of us out.”
I cursed as I looked around. I could feel the net, but I couldn’t see it. Why? My other half should be able to see the magic in it, and my father had made sure I was immune to illusion.
“Ashael?” Ian called out softly.
No answer. I craned my neck as far as the trap would allow, but I didn’t see him.
“Maybe he made it out,” I whispered.
“Perhaps.”
Ian wasn’t looking at me now. His attention was fixed on the steeper terrain above us. Power began building in him, so intense that the air crackled and my skin ached.
“Don’t,” I said, realizing what he was doing. “We don’t need that, and if the others feel it, it could ruin our chance. Let them get close.” I tapped my arm for emphasis. “Real close.”
He ground out a curse, but that deadly spike of power diminished until he felt like a normal, albeit very pissed off, Master vampire.
My sigh of relief was interrupted by infuriating laughter that still managed to sound as bright as the tinkling of bells.
“Welcome! I hope you enjoyed the surprise. You didn’t think killing me would be that easy, did you, little demigod?”
I turned toward the sound.
Morana hadn’t been there moments ago, but now she was standing near the lowest of the ruined temples, her sapphire hair a vivid splash of color against the faded beige blocks. She wore a pearl-encrusted corset over a black velvet dress that was more suited for a formal ball than hiding in this desolate patch of mountainside, but far be it for her to wear sand-colored camo gear to blend in with the landscape like Ian and I had.
“Only one person gets to call me ‘little’ anything,” I replied, raising my voice so she’d have no trouble hearing me. “And that isn’t you, you blueberry-headed bitch.”
She laughed again, and Phanes appeared next to her. His large wings seemed to attract the moonlight, making them look ethereal as those pale silver beams shone through his golden feathers. He wasn’t wearing a shirt—again—and only had swaths of purple silk crisscrossed in an X pattern over his bare upper body while black trousers and boots covered his lower half.
“This looks familiar,” Phanes drawled. “When I last saw the two of you, you were also trapped and about to die.”
“How did that work out?” Ian asked in a contemptuous tone. “Think this will fare any better for you?”
Phanes smiled. “Let’s find out.”
“Bring them in!” Morana sang out.
The magical net I still couldn’t see tightened until Ian and I were mashed together. Then, we were hauled up toward Morana and Phanes, each bone-jarring bump no accident. If someone had the power to rig this kind of trap, they had the power to glide us over the steep, rocky terrain instead of having the magic drag us like a proverbial sack of potatoes over every rut, boulder, and crumpled ruin along the way.
When we were finally in front of Morana and Phanes, my clothes were bloodstained and torn in places, and my lip bled from how hard my teeth had repeatedly clanged together. If we’d missed bumping over a single stony obstacle on the way up the kilometer-long trek, I’d be amazed.
A third figure joined Morana and Phanes. My gaze skipped over them to study him. Even though I’d only glimpsed him once before from far away, I knew this had to be Ruaumoko.
No surprise: the god had also transformed his host’s body to reveal his true form, which was eye-catchingly handsome, with a wide, full mouth, high cheekbones, rich brown skin, and teak-colored eyes, now that they weren’t lit up with that unique orange glow. His full facial tattoos were inked in patterns reminiscent of the Maori culture, where his legend was still celebrated. Half of Ruaumoko’s black hair was up in a bun while the rest trailed down past well-muscled shoulders. Unlike Morana and Phanes, whose loud-colored clothing jumped out from the landscape to announce their presence, Ruaumoko dressed with a warrior’s mindset of blending into the terrain, wearing tan trousers and a pale yellow shirt that matched well with the dried grass and weathered stones from the ruins.
As if I needed more confirmation that he was the smartest one among them, Ruaumoko also never looked away from me and Ian, even though Morana and Phanes kept exchanging self-congratulatory glances.
If I get the chance, he dies first, I thought.
“Impressive trap,” Ian said. “Who do I compliment for it?”
“That would be Genghis,” Morana said, waving forward a thickly built vampire with light brown skin and purple streaks in his short black hair. “He flocked to my side when he heard what we were offering.”
“Our side,” Ruaumoko said pointedly.
“Yes, of course,” Morana replied in a soothing way.
Ian’s gaze raked over the vampire, who grinned at us the way hungry fishermen grinned at a large catch.
“Genghis? I think not,” Ian said, dismissing him.
I had no trouble seeing the magic that sparked around his hands as he glowered at Ian. “It isn’t wise to anger the Great Khan.”
“You’re a poser, not the Great Khan,” I said bluntly.
Morana cocked her head. “No? He said he was.”
“I am,” Genghis insisted.
I snorted. “You’re absolutely not. I met the real Great Khan once. If he were still alive, he’d sla
ughter you for the comparison. He founded the largest contiguous empire in history, and you’re slumming for scraps from these three.”
Genghis smiled. “I will have far more than scraps soon. I set the traps that caught you, earning me my promised reward.”
“Your magic was unusual,” I allowed. I still couldn’t see the net around me, but I could feel it, and if I tried, I could squeeze a hand through it in places.
“It wasn’t his magic,” Morana said, her voice turning to a purr. “It was mine. He just fashioned it into the trap we used.”
That’s why I couldn’t see it! My father gave me the ability to see through Phanes’s illusions, which let me see normal magic, too, but Morana was, to put it mildly, not from around here, so her magic was far from normal.
“Trapping us isn’t the same as keeping us,” Ian said in a light tone. “Even in this net, two against four are odds I’ll take all day.”
Morana smiled. “Not two against four. We aren’t alone.”
Ruaumoko held out his hand. The ground shuddered and parted, revealing a network of hidden tunnels filled with scores of vampires and at least as many ghouls.
My teeth ground from how hard I clenched my jaw. Genghis might be a fake Khan, but he wasn’t as stupid as we’d thought. He’d only let us feel his aura so we’d underestimate their numbers, when there were many vampires here and that same number in ghouls.
Wait until I saw the ghost who’d told us that the gods were here! He’d left out a lot of important information.
“Mind if I crash the party?” a familiar deep voice said.
I tried to turn around, but only ended up seeing a very close view of Ian’s shoulder.
“Kill the demon!” Phanes hissed.
Genghis lunged forward, and Ashael appeared in my view.
“Oh, you don’t want to kill me,” Ashael said, with a wag of his dark brows at Morana, Phanes, and Ruaumoko. “After all, I’m the person who activated the trap that caught them.”
Chapter 41
The stunned silence was broken by Ian’s snarl.
“You scurvy son of a bitch! That’s why you went to that other patch of trees. You knew where the magic trip line was!”
“Guilty,” Ashael said, with an apologetic look my way. “I really am fond of you, but the chance to rule the entire western hemisphere was too good to give up. You understand?”
I let all the hatred I was capable of fill my voice. “I understand that I should never, ever have trusted a demon.”
“I know!” Now Ashael laughed. “And now you know how demons trick people into selling their souls even though everyone knows that doesn’t work out for the seller. We tell you what you want to hear, all while pretending that we’re making exceptions to the rules for you because you’re so special to us.” Another laugh. “Works every time, be it human, ghouls, vampires . . . or other.”
Morana came closer, an interested expression on her face.
“Don’t.” Ruaumoko’s voice was hard. “We don’t know him, and he just demonstrated what happens to anyone who trusts him.”
Once again proving you’re the smartest, I thought.
“You don’t need to trust me,” Ashael replied with a grin. “I already proved my worth by delivering your enemies to you, and by giving the other demon the wrong location to show up at with their reinforcements, so now they’re all alone.”
“I will rip off your limbs and use your own bones to stab your eyes out,” I said, darkness pouring out of me.
Ashael jumped out of its path. “Don’t let that touch you, either,” he said to Morana and Ruaumoko. “Getting any of that on you is like a bad acid trip combined with a paralyzing agent.”
“He’s right,” Phanes said, looking at Ashael with surprise.
Everyone now gave the roiling darkness a wide berth. I tried to stretch it further and couldn’t. Dammit.
Ashael winked at Phanes. “I’m always right, and if your friends don’t renege on my reward, I’ll even throw in how Ian beat your pet Minotaur. Spoiler alert: he used secret magic.”
“I knew it!” Phanes said, pounding his fists on his thighs. “How did he do it? How did Ian trick me?”
“Shut it, demon,” Ian said in a deadly growl.
“Annoying, isn’t he?” Ashael said, flicking his fingers in Ian’s direction. Then, he danced them along the edges of Phanes’s wings until the other deity gave him an aggravated look. “But, annoying or not, Ian carries incredible magic within him,” Asahel went on. “You must not be able to see it, or you’d know that. Probably because that magic predated even you. Pity you don’t see it, because if you knew how powerful it was—”
“Ashael, don’t!” I said, straining against the net.
“—you’d want to use that delicious ability of yours to rip spells out of people to take it for yourself,” Ashael went on, ignoring me as he walked past Phanes.
Phanes stared after Ashael with the intensity of a denied child watching the neighborhood ice-cream truck pull away before he could get his favorite treat.
“What kind of magic?”
“What kind, indeed,” Ashael said in his most caressing tone. “You already know it can turn a mere vampire into a Minotaur-defeating badass, so imagine what it could do for you?”
“Give him the prize, Morana,” Phanes said hoarsely.
“That reward is mine,” Genghis hissed. “I set the traps.”
“Traps that would still be empty without me,” Ashael replied. “Which is worth more to you, my gorgeous trio of gods? Empty traps, or full ones?”
Genghis barreled toward Ashael. “I won’t let you—”
Ashael’s hand flashed out. Genghis fell backward, the hilt of a silver knife buried in his chest. Ashael gave a cool glance at the scores of vampires and ghouls in the tunnels beyond him.
“Who wants to die next? Or, who wants to be smart, and I’ll appoint you overseer of areas I don’t particularly like?”
“Overseer sounds good,” a redheaded, ivory-skinned vampire with an Irish accent said.
More murmurs of assent, until the tunnels began filling with the sounds of vampires and ghouls backing Ashael.
I struggled against the net. It held with impressive strength. Morana watched, a smile playing about her lips.
“I offered you peace under my rule. You chose war. Now look at you. With all your power, you’re helpless. You can’t rip another hole in the netherworld to throw me back down; that will only crack the veil wide in hundreds of places and let more of my allies free, my little, deluded demigod.”
Phanes met my widened gaze with a nasty smile. “Yes, I told her about the cracks. I couldn’t only see into the netherworld. With enough power, I could speak into it, too. I told Morana and Ruaumoko that I’d be coming for them ever since your power put the first crack in the veil. Now, you die.”
“Yes,” Morana purred. “I won’t even bother doing it myself. You don’t deserve the honor of me killing you. Instead, I’ll let one of my vampire or ghoul followers send you back to that miserable piss river you call a father.”
The ground suddenly trembled. Morana glanced at Ruaumoko as if to ask, Did you do that?
He shook his head, his dark eyes narrowing as he looked past us down the mountain toward the Manjusri Monastery remains.
Morana followed his gaze. “What?” she breathed out.
Ashael vanished and reappeared next to Ruaumoko, grabbing him before they both vanished. I yanked out the cuffs that had been burning beneath my sleeve this whole time. Ashael reappeared in front of me. He shoved Ruaumoko against me, and I slapped the cuffs on his wrist through one of the net’s holes.
Ruaumoko’s scream was echoed by Morana’s roar of rage as fire swept over Ruaumoko’s body, until his skin glowed as orange as his gaze. That fire turned into liquid that disappeared into the earth like water sucked down into an endless hole.
Ian teleported out of the net, confirming my suspicions that he’d always been able to leave. Before
, he’d only said that he couldn’t teleport both of us out. He reappeared by Morana and grabbed her. I ripped out the next pair of cuffs, stretching for her . . . only to have Phanes appear between us before Ian could shove Morana within my reach.
I felt another, stronger vibration as hundreds of sets of feet took another step forward.
“Guess what, Morana?” I said while still stretching for her through the net. “We didn’t come alone.”
Chapter 42
Bitter experience had taught that even the best-laid plans could get ruined by a clever trap. That’s why Option B was Ashael’s fake betrayal, if we failed to take Morana and Ruaumoko by surprise. I thought that Ian and I did well with our acting, but Ashael had been a bit over the top. Still, he’d succeeded in getting Morana, Phanes, and Ruaumoko to trust in his greed . . . and, more important, to trust in their superiority over the situation to let Ashael maneuver Phanes away from them.
Turns out that Phanes wasn’t the only one with a massive ego that could be used against him.
But Phanes was using all his strength as well as the great expanse of his wings to keep Morana out of my reach. Only Ian’s grip on his hands kept Phanes from teleporting Morana out of there, too.
Ashael tried to grab Morana and instantly froze into a tall, wide block of ice. Another freeze blast caught me in it, instantly blinding and immobilizing me. I used my power to force the ice away, regaining my vision to see that Morana’s latest blast had been so intense, it had frozen both Ian and Phanes into solid blocks of ice next to Ashael.
“Whoever kills her wins the western hemisphere!” Morana shouted as she ran away.
The vampires and ghouls began pouring out of the tunnels, and I couldn’t run because I was still stuck in this damned net.
I used my power to unfreeze Ian, and Ashael blasted out of his ice prison himself. Morana had been so panicked that she’d left Phanes frozen on the ground behind her. I soon lost sight of her as my attackers swarmed me, and I cursed freely as they stabbed me with silver knives through the net.
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