Goddess of Night (Amaranthine Book 9)

by Joleene Naylor

  “Are you okay?” she asked no one in particular, trying to come to terms with what had happened.

  “Fuck. I’m alive,” Micah muttered.

  Verchiel sat up with a groan, his forehead an open gash, bright blood as red as his hair. He lifted his foot off the gas. The engine dropped to an idle. “That was unexpected.”

  Loren untangled his limbs and wiped blood from his nose. “That’s one way to put it.”

  “Fucking stupid is another.” Katelina checked herself for broken bones. They should be dead.

  If we were human, we would be.

  Outside, the car was ringed in small burning trees. The fire twisted and writhed in the pluming smoke.

  “Don’t worry, we’ll be out of here in a jiffy.” Verchiel dropped the vehicle into reverse and hit the gas. The engine raced. Tires spun noisily. They didn’t move.

  “Um…” Loren wiped his bloody nose with his sleeve.

  “Yeah, yeah, hang on,” Verchiel said.

  Next to them, a slender tree snapped. It bounced against the car, splattering a shower of sparks and burning debris. Katelina and Loren jumped back with a cry.

  Verchiel shoved the car into drive. The car rocked, but didn’t break free. Another tree fell in a flaming burst that left bits of burning branch scattered across the windshield. Verchiel gave an irritated sound and snapped the wipers on. The blades swooshed across the window, leaving smears of ash. The glass flexed where Micah’s head had smashed it.

  Micah pressed back, away from the windshield. “Okay, Executioner. Enough fun, huh? Let’s get the fuck outta here.”

  Verchiel jammed the car into reverse and slammed the gas. The vehicle leapt, then dropped back again, tires spinning. “I’m trying. We’re caught on something.”

  Katelina met Loren’s eyes, as terrified as her own. Outside, another small tree cracked and landed next to the car in a puff of flames.

  Verchiel put the car in gear, back and forth, back and forth. It didn’t let go, didn’t budge. Seconds became hours. Katelina imagined the spinning tires melting to nothing, the flames sweeping into the car, devouring them.

  Burned alive, just like Velnya.

  “Fuck this.” Micah grasped the door handle, then let it go with a cry of surprise. “Fuck! That’s hot.”

  “It’s metal,” Verchiel snapped through clenched teeth.

  “No shit, Sherlock.”

  Katelina felt the stab of Micah’s determination as he grasped the handle again and threw the door open. Smoke and ashes billowed in. They ducked, covering their faces.

  “What in the hell are you doing?” Verchiel shouted.

  Micah’s reply was a wordless snarl, as he climbed out of the car. His bulky frame stood silhouetted in flames. He hopped over a fallen tree to land in a spray of sparks and ashes near the front of the vehicle. Fire licked his arms and the hem of his shirt.

  “Micah!” Katelina shrieked. “Get back in the car, you moron!”

  A tree cracked. Katelina saw the black blur drop toward Micah. She tried to scream. Before she could, it slammed into the windshield in a spray of glass pebbles and sparks, throwing the car with the impact. Katelina and Loren dropped to the floorboards, arms up to shield themselves.

  The vehicle bounced to a stop. A heartbeat passed. Though wreathed in smoke and heat that burned their skin and eyes, they were alive.

  Loren shoved himself between the seats, trying for the gaping door. “Micah! Micah!”

  The bulky vampire shoved into the passenger seat, kicking at the burning upholstery. “Fuck! Can we go now?”

  Verchiel stopped beating out the flaming seats to drop the car into gear. They took off, bumping over uneven ground. Chunks of burning tree bounced off them as they drove, scattering into the grass. Micah beat out fires on the seats, the dash, and even on Verchiel, while little pebbles of glass rained down from the broken windshield.

  The fog-like smoke parted ahead of them. The glow of fire disappeared, leaving only scorched ground. Verchiel gunned it. They sped through smoking grass, and finally skidded to a stop in a field of charred destruction. The four of them sat in their seats, eyes wide, hands clenched, still not sure they’d survived.

  The shock drained away. Katelina smacked Micah on the top of his bald, singed head. “What in the hell were you thinking back there? You could have died!”

  He threw up an arm to protect himself. “Hey! Watch it, psycho.”

  “You were nearly killed!” She couldn’t reach his throat to strangle him, so she hit him again.

  “Yes! Saving you. How the fuck do you think we got unstuck?”

  “That tree—”

  “That tree didn’t do shit except break the damn windshield. We were stuck on a fucking stump. I threw us free. If I hadn’t done that, we’d still be there, waiting for another fucking tree to land on us.”

  When words escaped her, she settled for shouting, “You’re an idiot!” before she dropped back into the seat. “Fuck!”

  Loren wiped soot from his eyes. “Can we get the hell out of here?”

  Verchiel didn’t argue.

  Micah might have claimed to be valiant, but he was soon whining about his burns.

  “We’ll get a snack on the way back to the motel,” Verchiel said impatiently. “Look. I think that was the town.”

  He was right, but there wasn’t much left. The fire had devoured the buildings and moved on, leaving smoldering rubble and piles of ash. They climbed out of the car to pick their way through the destruction, stepping over heaps of twisted metal and blackened wood.

  Micah tried to use his shirt to dab at his blistered face. Burned full of holes, what was left of the material ripped to shreds in his hands. “Ah, fuck.” He pulled it free and tossed it onto a heap of blackened bricks. “Great.”

  “Hey, no stripping.” Verchiel shook bits of glass from his hair.

  “You’re just fuckin’ jealous.” Micah grimaced as he flexed. Despite his injuries, Katelina noticed his stacked muscles, like a body builder on a magazine cover.

  He caught her and grinned. “Enjoyin’ the view there, princess?”

  “Actually, I was admiring you without a goatee. Most of it’s burned off.”

  “What?” Micah touched his face and swore.

  “That’s what you get for being a cowboy.” She moved past him, leaving Loren and Verchiel to snicker.

  “I saved your ass!” Micah shouted.

  She ignored him and concentrated on climbing around the debris.

  The others caught up. Stopping now and then to kick some half burnt object aside, they moved through the remnants of several houses before Loren asked, “What are we looking for?”

  Verchiel rolled over a metal can. “I have no idea. I guess evidence of what happened before the Atormentadores torched everything.”

  “And what does evidence look like?” Micah kicked a charred beam in half.

  “Like Ohio,” Verchiel muttered.

  “Yeah? Thanks to the fire, it all pretty much looks like Ohio,” Micah said.

  Katelina kicked a set of handlebars that turned out to be a child’s bike. The truth of its owner’s fate weighed on her. She turned away, as if not looking could make it disappear.

  Micah pushed over a heap of bricks and picked up a pair of unbroken plates hiding under them. “I don’t get why some big bad vampire queen would want to attack this place? It’s some nowhere village in…”

  He kept talking, but the words ran together in Katelina’s ears. The world faded out, like ink pooling down the drain. Her attention moved farther down the street. A breeze stirred the ash into a swirling cloud. As it died down, a figure stepped out. Dressed in black, with a long coat, and long dark hair, Katelina knew who it was without seeing his face.

  Samael.

  She took a couple of steps forward, then waited as the ancient walked toward her. His voice rang through her head, like thunder and rain. “She was here.”

  “They-They think so,” she stuttered.

>   He came to a stop and lifted his head. “I can feel the remnant of her presence, like the stain after blood has been wiped away. She is near, no more than a day distant.”

  A noise came from behind Katelina. She looked to see Loren shying back. Micah stood hard and resolute, a low growl in his throat.

  Always trying to be tough.

  Verchiel crunched past him to face Samael. “You know where she is?” Samael’s gaze swung to the Executioner. Though Verchiel flinched, he didn’t back down. “Are you planning to attack her?”

  “I will destroy her.”

  “And anyone and anything near her?” Verchiel pushed. “There’s been enough destruction.”

  “No one will stand between me and the ruin of the great evil. If some flowers must be pruned to eradicate the disease, so be it.”

  “If you endanger humans or vampires, The Guild will have to step in.”

  Katelina felt the silken brush of Samael’s amusement. “You can try.”

  The heavy atmosphere thickened. She looked to Samael, a plea for him to stop, but his attention was locked on a partial stone wall.

  “Show yourself!” He boomed.

  Rubble rolled away. A male stepped out into the open. Long black hair skimmed his shoulders. A thin beard peppered his chin. As with most ancients, it was his eyes that demanded attention. Orangey-brown, like dried blood, they glittered hard and cold with a fury Katelina’d never seen in one of the Kugsankal. Especially not their leader.

  “Ishkur,” she whispered, and unconsciously drew away.

  Samael’s expression was impassive, though Katelina felt his fury. “Her lapdog has appeared. How long did it take you to find me?”

  “You are not the one I seek,” Ishkur replied. “I look for Lilitu.”

  The name was similar enough that Katelina knew who he meant: Lilith.

  Verchiel drew his sword and imitated the salute they’d seen the Kugsankal’s underlings perform. “Excuse me, Master. I assume you’re here at the request of The Guild to handle Lilith and—”

  Ishkur turned hard eyes on him. “Silence! I am not summoned by your insignificant council. Your petty concerns mean naught to me, nor will I suffer to hear them. Be gone! All of you!”

  Loren drew back with a soft whimper, but Samael motioned them to wait. “They will come and go as I deem, child. Your claim of rule means nothing to me. Your commandments are like a breeze that whispers past unheeded. You will go, or suffer the consequences.”

  Ishkur growled low in his throat. “I do not fear you.”

  “Then you are both a child and a fool.” Samael raised his hand. An invisible ball of energy gathered in his palm, swirling a miniature tornado of ash. Without emotion, he flicked the attack at his enemy. Ishkur disappeared. The ball of energy slammed into the partial wall, shattering it into chunky shards.

  Katelina grabbed a twisted piece of metal, ready for the onslaught. Samael spun, gathering another attack, as Ishkur materialized near a heap of charred wood. The leader of the Kugsankal raised his hand. Katelina watched in horror as his own little swirl began, not as strong as Samael’s but still there.

  He flung the attack with a snarl. Samael easily blocked it. Ishkur disappeared and reappeared on the rubble near Micah. The bald vampire growled. Ishkur ignored him to hurl a twisted metal beam toward his enemy. Samael stepped aside. With a wave of his hand, he threw it back. The corner clipped Ishkur’s cheek, knocking him back into the ashes.

  Samael evaporated, only to appear over Ishkur, his hand raised. “You will not die here, but will take a message to she whom you seek. Her day has come. She will die in ways she did not know were possible. Go now.”

  Ishkur pulled up into a crouch. Katelina thought he was going to attack again. Instead, he snarled then disappeared. As the atmosphere lightened, she realized he was gone.

  Samael’s voice whispered through her mind. “I will follow him.”

  With Samael’s exit, Loren’s knees gave out. He dropped to the ground, his head in his hand. Katelina stepped toward him, but Micah beat her to it. “It’s okay, pipsqueak. They’re gone.” Despite the tough words, Katelina heard the shake in his voice, left there by the overwhelming power of two ancient vampires.

  Vampires who were old enough to have stood in ancient Babylon.

  Micah cleared his throat angrily. “Who the fuck was that guy? And what the fuck did Sammy-boy mean we come and go as he deems? We’re not his damn slaves.”

  “The other guy was Ishkur.” Verchiel sheathed his sword. “He’s the leader of the Kugsankal. He left to find Lilith after Malick was killed.”

  “Oh, yeah, in China,” Micah mumbled. “I kind of remember that.”

  “Ishkur and Lilith were a couple,” Katelina said softly. “Thousands of years ago, she got bored with Samael. I guess she ended up in Samaria, or whatever, and fell in with Ishkur, Inanna, and the rest of the True Council. Though I think there were a lot more of them back then. Anyway, eventually she came back to Samael, only Ishkur followed her. He was the one who helped drain Samael’s blood and put him in the tomb.”

  “Fuck, and Sammy let the dude live? I’d have chopped his fucking head off, not given him a message to deliver.”

  “Samael is odd,” Verchiel agreed. “Either way, we have our answer. Lilith was here. She’s the one who attacked, though I have no idea why. I guess we should head back to the motel?”

  Verchiel wisely went the long way around the fire. When they stopped at a pine forest for Micah’s promised treat, the redhead enchanted several squirrels. Katelina drank one, and quickly poked the body into a tree. Micah went through three of the animals. Though he was healed, the missing goatee still amused Katelina.

  The car made funny noises and lurched all the way back to the motel, but they made it.

  In the parking lot, Verchiel poked what was left of his windshield and looked sadly at his sooty, paint bubbled, smoke blackened car. “It’s brand new.” A chunk of pebbled windshield dropped into the driver’s seat. “I guess I’ll have to get her fixed.”

  “That’s an understatement,” Loren said.

  Xandria popped out of a motel door. She looked at the teen and exclaimed in a foreign language. Though Katelina didn’t know the words, she understood the meaning. It was something like, “Oh my God, Loren! What have you done?”

  Verchiel caught Katelina’s arm to tug her toward the building. “Now that she sees him like that, she realizes she could have lost him, and will soon be examining her feelings.”

  “They’re not a couple I want to talk about,” Katelina mumbled.

  “You better get used to them, at least for the time being.” They reached the room the Executioners were in. Verchiel pushed the door open. “You guys still here?”

  Jorick stepped up. “Where else—” He took in Katelina’s blackened appearance and Verchiel’s scorched clothes. “What in the hell happened?”

  Katelina felt him in her head, but she wasn’t in the mood. She imagined a brick wall clamping down. His growl said it worked.

  “Katelina,” he warned.

  Verchiel grinned giddily. She smacked him in the arm. “You can tell him all about it. I just want a shower and some clean clothes.”

  “The proprietors have been evacuated.” Jamie looked up from his crossword puzzle. “Get a key from the office and take a room. Everyone else has.”

  Katelina waved her thanks. As she left she heard Jorick threatening Verchiel. “I swear to God if she’s been hurt…”

  She fetched her suitcase from the van, then trudged into the open motel office. Like an old movie, the keys hung on a pegboard behind the counter. She nabbed a set and headed to the corresponding room.

  Inside, it looked much like the Executioners’ suite; the same pale blue carpet and painted walls. The bathroom had a pink tub and toilet, both tiny. Katelina hoped the shower at least had decent water pressure.

  She stripped off and climbed inside, pulling the shower curtain closed. The water took forever to war
m up. As she bounced in and out of the cold stream she thought of the movie Psycho. Sans the giant, spooky house, the place had that kind of retro serial killer vibe.

  As if from her fears, the curtain was suddenly jerked open. She screamed and threw her soap at the lurking shape. She grabbed the shampoo bottle, ready to fling it, when Jorick shouted, “It’s me!”

  She felt first relief, then anger. “What in the hell are you doing?” She threw an arm over her breasts. “You scared the hell out of me!”

  “Then we’re even. How do you think I felt when I saw the pair of you at the door, covered in soot? Then you closed your mind.”

  “Oh no you don’t. Don’t you act like that was some kind of betrayal. My thoughts aren’t public property, Jorick. They’re mine. Remember when you used to respect that? If you want to know something, you can ask, like a normal person.”

  He ground his teeth. “It’s faster.”

  “And it’s rude.” It was hard to be taken seriously naked. She pulled the curtain closed, until only her head stuck out. “I assume Verchiel gave you the details?”

  “No. Micah did. When I catch the redheaded idiot…Do you not understand how dangerous fire is to our kind? You could have been killed!”

  The desperation in his eyes quashed her smart ass reply. “I know. It wasn’t our plan to get stuck, and it wasn’t anyone’s fault.” She relented and let the curtain go to reach for him. “We’re all right.”

  He pulled her wet body to him. “Thankfully. But next time…”

  “There won’t be a next time.” She nudged herself free. “You’re getting all wet.”

  “I can change. Or join you.”

  The gleam in his eyes made her stomach clench in anticipation. He peeled off his shirt. As he reached for the button on his slacks, someone pounded on the bedroom door. Oren’s voice followed, “The Mexicans are here.”

  Jorick swore and pulled his shirt back on. “Later.” He gave her a heated kiss, that left her reaching for him, then hurried out.