by Stephen King
Conlan blew out a deep breath but then nodded.
"She knows this, though, and I don't. Tell me. Everything."
The door slammed open, and Ven ran into the room. "Sorry I'm late. Got held up. Erin is going to put me in an early grave."
Erin, walking in behind him, rolled her eyes. "I'm the most powerful witch in my coven. If I can't handle a little uprising from black magic wannabes, I deserve to be stripped of my wand."
"I thought you said wands were for Harry Potter," Justice said, tilting his head.
She grinned at him. "Figure of speech. 'Stripped of my wand' just sounds cooler than 'stripped of my elemental magic and the Wilding,' right?"
Conlan glared at all of them. "Can we focus? Now? Please? Consider this a royal decree, if that helps." He pointed at Ven. "You and I will discuss your lack of communication skills later."
Ven snorted and flung himself into an upholstered chair near the table, one long leg draped over the arm. Alaric told them everything. Everything about Ptolemy Reborn, the attack in Japan--all of it. Except for what had occurred between him and Quinn on the island, of course. Some things were meant to be private.
Conlan sat back in his chair, stunned, when Alaric finished his recitation. "The portal is alive? We guessed it had some form of sentience, but this is . . . surprising, to say the least. And now apparently the portal spirit is male, not female, if the voice we heard when Quinn spoke to it is an indicator."
"I think we have no time to concern ourselves with the portal just now," Alaric said.
"Yeah. It's worse than even you know. That blast, Alaric? The one Ptolemy blew up the hotel with? News reports are saying that the king of Atlantis announced his presence in the world by killing seventeen people," Ven said grimly. "Those Platoists and a few of the hotel staff."
Conlan's face turned to stone. "I have been preparing the way for Atlantis's arrival on the surface for months. Foreign dignitaries, heads of state, all of it ruined by this impostor."
Alaric's fury rose up inside him with the force of a typhoon over open ocean. "Yes," he snarled. "We wouldn't want the deaths of a few innocent humans to get in the way of politics."
"You know I don't mean that," Conlan shouted at him. "How long have you battled beside me? Has anything ever gotten in my way when it comes to protecting humanity? I take my oath as a Warrior of Poseidon very seriously and you should know that."
"He has Poseidon's Pride, Conlan," Alaric said quietly. "He's able to use it. And it gets even worse. I think he might be demon kin."
"Yeah, demon kin, whatever," Ven threw in. "You want worse? Anubisa is back. Archelaus wasn't just slinging rumors. She walked into the Primus today and destroyed every vampire member of Congress in one fell swoop. Told the humans who happened to be there to pass along the word that no vampire in the world was safe until they delivered the heads of the Atlantean royal family to her on a plate."
"She has always had a flair for drama," Alaric observed, mostly to give Conlan a chance to regain his composure. Anubisa, the vampire goddess, had held Conlan captive and tortured him for seven long years before he' escaped. Alaric thought that a bit of madness still lurked in Conlan's mind from the ordeal. How could it not?
"Good. Maybe she'll kill Ptolemy for us," Ven said.
"Why would she go after the vampires, though, is what I don't understand," Erin said. "They're her progeny, right? Why not threaten to kill humans instead?"
"Humans don't have the juice to find us," Conlan answered. "She knows every blood pride in the world will be after us now. One of them is bound to get lucky."
"Yeah, and we have an answer to your flying monkeys, too," Ven said. "Shape-shifter communities are going wild all over the world. Losing any vestige of civilization and turning feral. Interestingly enough, all of this started within a day of when those scientists in Turkey found Poseidon's Pride. The jewel must be driving them nuts somehow."
"The Trident may act as a stabilizing influence on its raw power," Alaric said.
"Which is why you need to go find it," Conlan said. "Take Ven, take everybody you need. I'd go, but I'm going to have to do a lot of damage control right now. When you find the bastard, call me, though. I'd love to face this man who would be king."
Alaric defied his prince only rarely.
This would be one of those times.
"I will not leave Quinn. Didn't you hear what I told you? He announced her identity to the world. Every vampire, rogue shifter, and any of a dozen other shapes and sizes of big and bad will be after her." Alaric called to his magic until his body glowed bright blue-green from head to toe and he held so much power inside him that one simple flick of his fingers could have leveled the palace. "I will never leave her side, or allow her to be in danger again."
"She's safe in Atlantis, and you know it. No vampire or shifter can enter through the portal," Conlan said calmly. "And turn down the lights, my friend. We get that you're scary. We get that you have an insanely overprotective need to make sure Quinn is safe. We'll find a way, but we have to stop this man, or demon, or whatever in the nine hells he is. Now."
A quiet voice came from the doorway, and they all turned to see Quinn standing at the open door, sheer rage stamped on her delicate features. "Perhaps the next time you decide to discuss my future, you might remember to include me in the discussion. Especially when the future of the whole damned world is at stake."
Chapter 11
Abandoned subway tunnel, New York City
The one now known to the entire world as Ptolemy Reborn slouched insolently in a chair while Anubisa, goddess of Chaos and Night, matriarch to all vampires, supreme ruler of the dark, vibrated with fury as she hung floating in midair, halfway to the ceiling.
Frankly, she was boring the shit out of him.
"Yeah, yeah, I get it." He finally interrupted her tirade. "You'll help me in my quest to take the throne of Atlantis, and I'll deliver the current royal family to you. Do you just want the two and a half princes, or do you want the women and the baby, too?"
She froze, mid-rant, and stared at him, then levitated back down until her silk slipper-clad feet touched the floor. "Baby? Did I know there was a baby?"
She flung her arms out and did her best impression of a mad ballerina as she capered and twirled around the room, her hip-length black hair floating around her like a cloak of spider silk. "Oh, I don't remember, my time in the Void was so long and so dark and twisted, with lovely, broken creatures. Did I know there was a baby? Did I?"
"Whether you did or not, there is one. Conlan's kid. Heir to the throne. Do you want him?"
She smiled at him in a grim parody of happiness, and her fangs sliced into her lips and chin, gouging flesh and blood that ran down her face.
"Oh, yes, I want the baby," she whispered. "I must have the baby, I will count his little fingers and his little toes, and then I will bite them off and drink every drop of blood in his fat little body, and finally, finally, that will be the end of those hideous Atlanteans."
Ptolemy was a little skeptical about her calling anybody else hideous, seeing as how she was a few dozen bricks short of a load, but as they liked to say in his world, "Evil plans make a bad day joyous."
He planned to have a very joyous day.
"I'll deliver them to you, and you'll hold up your end of the bargain. The vampires will recognize me as the true king of Atlantis and uphold my sovereignty."
She levitated again, cackling, still chanting about the baby, but then a look of sly calculation swept over her face. In spite of the gore and madness, it was still the most stunning face he'd ever seen; she had a deadly dark beauty that would cut and bleed any who dared come close.
Good enough. He had no plans to get close to this crazy bitch. Soon he'd have Quinn. He thought about all that would entail, and he finally smiled. Anubisa mistook his smile for appreciation of her wonderfulness, apparently, because she glared haughtily down at him from a few feet up.
"The likes of you will never h
ave me, demon," she hissed.
He yawned. "I am no demon of your realm to be cowed by you, vampire," he said. "My Atlantean mother bore me to the Higher Demon who stole her from her home, and their blood, combined, will make me the most powerful ruler Atlantis or this world has ever seen. Join in or be left behind. It matters little to me now, and will mean even less when I use the power of Poseidon's Trident to open the doors between worlds and allow my brethren access to this garden paradise of a planet."
The vampire started laughing, chanting a nonsensical song, and Ptolemy laughed right along with her. It was going to be a very, very joyous day.
Chapter 12
The war room, Atlantis
Quinn sat in the chair the farthest away from anybody who'd recently pissed her off, which included everyone except her sister, so the logistics were tricky unless she wanted to move out into the hall. She put her empty plate down on the table next to her and considered going back for more roast chicken. She might be angry, but long years of fighting and hardship had taught her that you ate when there was food, slept when there was a bed, and felt grateful for either or both.
Riley leaned over and handed Quinn a chocolate cookie. "Are you going to even look at him? Poor man is dying over there. He's the scariest guy in the world, and yet I think he's a little bit afraid of you."
Quinn scoffed. "I don't know what you're talking about. He's not afraid of anything, although you'd think the size of his over-inflated head would be terrifying as it crashes into walls."
She crammed the cookie in her mouth and tried not to bliss out too obviously as the melted chocolate and spices exploded on her tongue.
"He's worried about you," Riley murmured. "And he doesn't know how to worry about anyone. His life has been all about power and command; balancing the demands of a capricious god with the bleak reality of his loneliness. For Pete's sake, Quinn, you should have seen him when I was pregnant. He practically set a peacock on fire for daring to walk across my path in the garden one day."
Riley screwed up her face into a fierce scowl. "It might have tripped you and damaged your womb or the heir to the throne, Princess," she said gruffly, clearly imitating Alaric.
Quinn started laughing. "Damaged your womb? Oh, no, he did not!"
Riley handed her another cookie and sat back in her chair. "Oh, yes, he did, and I could tell you worse stories. Let's just leave it at this: Alaric has never been in love in his life and he's head over heels for you. He has been since that first day we found you on the ground, with a bullet in your shoulder, and now he thinks he might be able to do something about it, thanks to Keely. Can you blame the poor man for losing his mind?"
Quinn shook her head. "I can't quite wrap my mind around the idea of centuries of celibacy," she whispered. "Even if Keely is right--and that's far too big of a chance to take--what if he doesn't remember how?"
Riley rolled her eyes. "I imagine it's like riding a bike."
The sisters both froze and then looked at each other and cracked up.
"Riding a bike," Quinn gasped out. "Can you imagine?"
"Doing--doing wheelies," Riley said, which set them off again.
By the time they caught their breath, every other person in the room was staring at them.
"Care to share the joke with the class?" Erin said, grinning.
And that started them off again. They were both gasping for air by the time they could regain control and stop laughing.
"Dinner at your house must have been very interesting," Ven said.
"You have no idea. Two emotional empaths during puberty? It was hell," Quinn said.
The men winced, and Erin laughed.
Just then the door opened and a tall, athletic redhead walked in. Justice jumped up and pulled her into his arms, so it must be Keely.
"We have been alone for too long today," Justice said firmly, but Keely just laughed.
"Hey, relax. I'm starving after a long, dusty day translating scrolls from the library of Alexandria. Thank goodness Eleni is having a sleepover with one of her many friends tonight."
"It is good she finally has friends, after what she endured," Justice said grimly.
Their gazes met in a glance of shared understanding, and then Keely leaned down to grab a slice of bread from a basket on the table, tore a piece off, and ate it.
"Now I need a plate full of whatever smells so delicious, and a hot bath, and, oh, hey, we have company," she said, as she finally saw Quinn in the corner.
"That is not company, that is family," Justice said. "Keely, my love, meet Quinn Dawson."
Keely whistled, her gaze quickly snapping to Alaric and then back to Quinn. She dropped the rest of her bread on a plate and quickly crossed the room, hand outstretched. Quinn stood to shake her hand, but at the last minute, Keely pulled her into a hug.
"Family, right? Hey, I am a big admirer of yours," she said seriously after she released Quinn. "It takes a lot of courage to do what you do every day, without special powers or magic. Thank you for making the world safer for the rest of us."
Quinn shuffled her feet, uncomfortable with the expression and even more so with the honest sincerity of emotion the woman projected. "Yeah, it's nothing. I mean, I'm just one of many, and we all do our part."
"Untrue," Alaric said. "You are first among many, and you do far more than your part."
"Jack was first," she fired back at him. "And I left him, trapped as a tiger forever for all I know."
Riley took her sister's hand and squeezed it. "We were all so sorry to learn about Jack. We've been praying that he finds his way back."
Quinn couldn't bear to take comfort she knew she didn't deserve, so she snatched her hand away. "Praying to which god? Because from what I've seen of Poseidon, he isn't much of a bargain."
"I still believe the same things and pray to the same god," Riley said softly. "My worldview has expanded, that's all."
Keely headed back to the table and quietly began arranging a plate of food. While she ate, Conlan and Ven ran through everything that had been discussed, but Alaric sat silent and brooding. When she, Quinn, and Riley were up to speed, Keely nodded and put her fork down.
"I don't know if this is a good time for this, then, with the impostor and the danger to Quinn and Anubisa and everything else. But I have confirmation about Zelia and Nereus, Alaric. They were definitely married. I know why the ruling king at the time and the Elders implemented the new rules about celibacy, too."
She looked at Quinn and then returned her gaze to Alaric. "It's absolutely definite. Nereus went insane when Zelia died, and he almost blew up the entire dome."
Alaric sat back in his chair, a mask of implacable calm on his features, his emotions shut down behind an impenetrable steel wall. Everyone was staring at him--everyone but Quinn, who looked anywhere else but at him. He felt like someone had torn out his guts and put them on display for everyone in the room to pick over and examine.
"I have no interest in this story at this time," he lied.
"Oh, no, buddy, you can bet we're going to hear this," Quinn said, addressing him for the first time since walking into the room more than an hour earlier. "After what happened on that island today? You bet your sweet ass we're going to listen."
"On the island?" Ven said, looking back and forth between Quinn and Alaric as if he were at a sporting match.
"Sweet ass," Justice repeated, grinning like a fool. "Oh, this is going to be good. We knew we liked her."
"I will strike both of your personalities dead," Alaric told him in an ice-drenched voice.
"Not with me in the room," Keely said cheerfully. "I'm pretty good with a shotgun, and I always get my man, big boy, so why don't you hush and I'll tell this and get it over with?"
"What is your source?" Quinn demanded. "Anything beyond your so-called touchy-feely crap?"
"Quinn," Riley chided her, but Keely just smiled. "It's okay, I'm used to that. Although someone who is a verified aknasha shouldn't be the first to throw the touc
hy-feely stone, but whatever. Yes, there is more. I read about it in a hidden set of scrolls, which somebody shoved deep into a niche in a wall behind a thousand-pound statue a very long time ago."
"Hidden scrolls?" Alaric was interested in spite of himself. "Behind which statue?"
"The one of Poseidon, ah, enjoying himself. With himself," Keely said, blushing scarlet.
Alaric nodded. "Ah, yes. The Elders must have had a sense of humor, back then."
"Or the statue was later moved in front of the niche, who cares, get on with it," Ven urged.
"It was actually a narrative history sealed inside a case with a copy of a proclamation," Keely said. "The librarians verified my translation, and they're making a copy for you, Alaric, and another for the Elders and--"
"What did it say?" Quinn cut in, unable to bear it for one moment longer.
Keely blinked and then grinned. "Sorry. Scientist's curse, we blather on. Anyway, here's the headline: after Nereus almost destroyed Atlantis and everyone in it, the Elders proclaimed, on behalf of Poseidon, that every high priest from that time on must swear a vow of celibacy, in order to decrease their power. That way, nobody could ever be as powerful as Nereus again and thereby endanger Atlantis."
Everybody in the room started talking at once, but Alaric ignored them all and stared steadily at Quinn. She looked back at him, and she didn't look happy, either.
"So it's all a lie," Conlan said. "You don't need to keep to that stupid vow."
"I feel like we should not be discussing such personal matters about Alaric," Riley said, and Alaric nodded at the princess, appreciating that at least one person respected his privacy.
Quinn's voice cut through the general chatter. "It doesn't matter. What a few scrolls might say, what Keely might have felt--none of it matters. This was how long ago?"
"Nereus was high priest around eight thousand years ago, give or take," Conlan said.
"Exactly. Even if that's true, your insane dictator of a sea god has had thousands of years to turn it into a real rule. There is every likelihood--and a pretty damn good probability, I'd say--that breaking the vow today does exactly what the Elders say it does. Alaric would lose his magic and his ability to protect you just when you need him most."