“No. I do not sacrifice members of my seethe.”
“Then why did you wish to meet with both of us, and before such an illustrious audience?” asked Orythyia. I noticed that her eyes ran to Periphetes.
“I asked you here to discuss why you are both working with the warlock Sedgrave.”
Both queens turned to glare at the other, and the air around us sizzled with power.
Chapter Twenty-Six
I clenched my jaw as I felt the power of the two queens crackle around us, and noticed everyone else begin to hunker down in preparation for a fight. The Winter Fae with the sword had already reached for it, ready to withdraw it at a second’s notice.
The Rottweiler growled and Hemera turned her sleepy gaze on it.
A second later the dog’s growl turned into a whimper of pain as it jerked backwards and cowered beside Orythyia’s red Dorothy shoes.
I saw Mikhail move, but it was too late.
I wish I could say that what resulted was a smooth, coordinated effort on the parts of all concerned, but considering that our group didn’t have a clue whose side we were on, it was kind of a disaster.
Periphetes rushed toward Orythyia, trying to keep her from retaliating to Hemera’s dirty trick against the Rottweiler, but the dog turned and clamped his enormous teeth onto Periphetes’ arm, just like a police-attack dog.
I didn’t have time to worry about his health. I ran forward, hoping to snag Chloe and get her away from the battle. I sensed, more than saw, Nik follow me.
Before I could take more than a step or two, the woman with the blood-red lips began to sing. It was the saddest song I had ever heard, even though I couldn’t understand the words. The notes were so low I felt them more than heard them. My footsteps slowed until I stopped all together.
Nik was beside me, fighting the effects of her music. He grabbed my shoulder and shook me until my teeth clattered together. It was enough for me to shake off the worst of her song’s effects.
We tried to run again, but just as we got moving, Hephaestus threw Chloe over his shoulders and put a few feet of distance between him and us. At the same time, the guy with the sword stepped in our way, his needle thin sword drawn and ready.
Other than our teeth, Nik and I were unarmed.
Nik feinted to the left, drawing the fae’s attention away from me long enough for me to try to race past him, but I wasn’t fast enough. The fae brought his sword around in a curving sweep and sliced me across the back. I arched my back in pain and fell to my knees.
I could feel warm blood covering my lower back and soaking my shirt. It wasn’t a deep cut, but it was long. I ducked as I saw his shadow move to slice at me again.
Just as I rolled away from him, Nik jumped forward and grabbed the fae’s sword arm.
I climbed to my feet and staggered toward Hephaestus and Chloe, but the old man had already dragged her over to the woman who was still singing.
Hearing her song again, I felt my movements slow and my heart give a great heave of desolation.
She had to be stopped or else all of her enemies would just give up, sit down, and cry.
I shook my head, trying to distract myself from her magic before rushing her. As I got near, Hephaestus handed Chloe over to the singer and began to transform. I had never seen him in his true form until that moment, and I wish I could say that was still true.
Periphetes’ father transformed into what appeared to be, essentially, a giant Neanderthal. He had a protruding forehead, long, shaggy brown hair, and a messy beard. He lumbered toward me, preparing to use his enormous fists to smash me into the pavement.
I decided taking him head on was a really bad idea, to say the least.
I turned to run toward the far end of the parking lot. My instinct said run as far and as fast as you can, but I quickly noticed while his strides were enormous, he couldn’t keep up with me when I was at my fastest. I tempered my speed until I stayed just out of reach—I didn’t want him to give up on me and turn to attack someone else.
I scurried to a row of parking-lot lights and began weaving through them, cutting it a little closer with each new post. Eventually, I feinted one way before jerking the other way and leading him directly into a lamp post.
I turned back to see the damage and burst out laughing, despite our current situation and the surrounding danger. He was stuck in a comedic pose, with an arm outstretched on either side of the lamp post, his hands wide as though he was trying to grab something. His forehead was smashed against the iron pole. Something smelled of burning flesh and I suspected his fae skin wasn’t responding well to the lamp post.
I turned away from him to check on my allies. It was a nightmare come true.
While everyone was fighting, I could tell our people were trying to stop the fae, whereas the court fae were trying to do serious damage to each other. It was like watching children try to break up a bar fight.
The guy with the enormous wings was flying from battle to battle, grabbing the enemies of the Summer court—whether they be Winter, vampire, or wolves— carrying them up to a great height, and dropping them. Thankfully, it didn’t look like he had tried this on the wizards. As humans they would not be able to survive the fall. From where I stood, I could see Samuel struggling to get up on a broken leg.
Nik was still battling the guy with the sword.
Mikhail was dodging attacks from both Hemera and Orythyia, though it looked like the attacks were meant for each other and not for Mikhail.
The wolves appeared to have just finished transforming themselves into their wolf shape, in fact I could see scraps of clothing stuck to their fur—they hadn’t bothered taking the time to remove their human clothing before changing. Travis ran forward toward one queen, while Shawn ran toward the other.
But where was Josh?
I frantically looked around until I spotted him sneaking up on the woman singing.
I breathed a sigh of relief as I realized no one had died, yet. But that wouldn’t last long.
I raced in Mikhail’s direction, noticing the wolves had nearly ducked and dodged their way up to the queens.
“Restrain the queens,” I yelled to Travis and Shawn. I was glad to see the other wolves, who had taken longer to complete their change, were following. It would take all of us, and a bit of luck, to get the queens to stop long enough to get them to talk again.
Travis jumped on Orythyia, narrowly avoiding a chunk of flying ice. He took the slight woman down, cracking her head against the pavement. I wasn’t too worried. I’d seen Periphetes heal quickly; it seemed safe to assume the queen would do the same.
At the same time, Shawn rammed into the Rottweiler, knocking the dog off his feet. I had totally forgotten about the Winter queen’s pet.
But this left Hemera, who was still trying to attack Orythyia despite Mikhail’s efforts. By the way, Hemera may look drowsy, but she fights like she’s on three energy drinks.
I let my primus distract her as I ran far enough away that I could come at her from behind. As I ran, I decided this was not a situation for finesse. Instead I barreled into her—full-vampire-steam ahead. I plowed into her, knocking her to the ground. My momentum was too great, and I was unable to pin her to the ground. Instead, I went down with her and rolled a few feet away.
Thankfully Mikhail was a better fighter. He dodged her last attack and dove on top of her, pinning her to the ground with his weight. Sadly, unlike Orythyia, the fall hadn’t disoriented her. From where I lay sprawled out, I could see that Hemera was doing something to Mikhail as he lay on top of her.
I scrambled to my feet, noticing as I did so that Josh had snuck up on the singer and clamped a hand over her mouth.
“STOP!” I shrieked at the top of my lungs. “We’re here to talk!”
To everyone’s surprise, the noises of battle ceased. I glanced at Helen and spotted her chanting something. I suspected the sudden silence, despite the continued fighting, was her doing.
“You are all ma
d, understandably so. But fighting isn’t solving our problems. We are not each other’s enemies. Sedgrave is our enemy. Save the fight until we can take it to him.”
As I spoke, the different battles slowed until finally I saw that even the queens had stopped struggling against those that pinned them to the ground.
I felt bad for Travis, whose fur was covered in ice crystals. His breath came out in steamy gasps.
“Your majesties,” I said to the cranky, over-reacting bitches, turning to each one. “Will you call your troops back and allow talks to resume.”
I was trying to be deferential to them, and hating every minute of it.
Much like Periphetes and Aeson, the two queens eyed each other, waiting for the other woman to be the first to concede. Slowly they both started nodding.
“Please let them up. Vampires, wolves, and wizards, please retreat to our vehicles. Winter court, convene in that corner, and Summer court that corner over there. We will take twenty minutes to recoup and calm down before beginning talks again.”
Mikhail, as a sign of faith, climbed off Hemera. The Summer queen climbed to her feet and began brushing the gravel off her night gown. Travis and Shawn jogged to my side, leaving Orythyia and her Rottweiler to recover themselves.
I glanced back to the corner where Orythyia’s woman still held Chloe. She was no more hurt than she had been when they arrived.
Slowly, other members of the fight released their victims and began meandering to their own corners, including the woman who held on to Chloe. Mikhail took my by the hand and started guiding me toward our vehicles. I wanted to stay and make sure Chloe was okay, but it was my place to obey my primus. For once I did so.
“I hope I didn’t overstep any boundaries,” I whispered as quietly as I could.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Mikhail shake his head.
For now, a war had been diverted, but how were we to convince them to fight together against Sedgrave?
I closed my eyes and rested my forehead against the window of one of the SUVs, content to just stay here for the rest of the talks. My back ached and my thirst could no longer be ignored.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
We convened at the SUVs and Jim scurried to the vehicle full of humans. They piled out and joined us. It was then that I spotted Danielle for the first time. She came up to me and held out her wrist. I swallowed, glancing around at the other vampires feeding to heal the wounds they had taken.
Josh came up to my side. “I’ll be here with you. Try to be gentle.”
I nodded slowly before taking her wrist in my hands and lowering my mouth to her skin. I tried my best to sink my teeth gently into her flesh, remember what Nik had said about the less it hurting the stronger our bond is with the human. Also, there was the simple fact I didn’t want to hurt her.
I drank while counting to thirty in my head, then I released her.
“Very good,” said Josh. He was already pulling the protective paper off the sticky stuff on a bandage. He pressed it to Danielle’s wrist. “You need to tell her to go back to the car.”
I glanced up at Danielle’s face. She was looking at me a though I’d saved an orphan or adopted the ugliest puppy at the pound. “Danielle, I’d like you to go back to the car and rest. Thank you.”
She smiled at me before turning and following the other humans.
“That was creepy,” I said as Josh and I joined Mikhail, Nik, and the fae who were still on our side.
“You did very well. She wouldn’t have been so besotted with you if you’d caused her pain. You’re gonna have this down before you know,” he said, clapping me on the shoulder.
Without meaning to, my eyes flickered up to Nik who was staring at Josh’s hand, still resting on my shoulder. I shrugged away from both of them under the pretense of speaking to Lauren.
“Problems?” asked the wizard as she glanced at Nik and Josh.
“Shush,” I whispered to her, and gave her a glare that said: “Shut your trap, you idiot!”
She grinned down at me and winked.
“Which you gonna choose?” Lauren asked, ignoring my glare entirely.
“Maybe I’m not gonna choose either!”
“Uh-huh. Sure.”
“It’s time,” Mikhail said. We all turned back to the parking lot.
There was some awkward jostling as people took certain positions, but when each person reached their designated spot, I could see the wisdom behind it.
Mikhail, of course, took the front position, flanked by Aeson and Periphetes. Behind the two fae, Josh, Nik and I stood. Some distance behind our line were the wizards, wolves and other vampires, including Jim. I noticed Aeson’s twin bodyguards were nowhere to be seen—had they been hurt or had they abandoned the fight?
I also noticed that the fae courts took up positions considerably farther away from us and each other. If someone were watching us, they wouldn’t have thought the three groups were having a conversation.
I wanted to hide behind Nik as I realized Hephaestus had peeled himself off the lamp post and regained his glamor. Now he stood behind Orythyia, glaring at me. If we hadn’t been in the middle of peace talks, I would have feared for my life. What, who am I kidding. I was piss-my-pants afraid, despite the continuation of peace talks.
“Are we ready to continue?” asked Mikhail.
“Tell us what you want and be done with it,” demanded Orythyia. “I’m tired of your pleasantries.”
“For once, Queen Orythyia and I agree,” said Hemera.
“Now, we have it on good authorities,” and here Mikhail motioned toward Periphetes and Aeson. “That you are both working for Sedgrave.”
“I work for no one!” snapped Hemera, her eyes opening all the way for the first time.
“Nor do I!”
“My apologies. I understand that both of you are working with Sedgrave,” Mikhail corrected.
“He is helping us,” said Hemera.
“It is a lie!” argued Orythyia.
“See what he has done? Sedgrave has worked you two against each other.”
“We have never been for each other,” said Orythyia.
“No, but you’ve also never been anyone’s puppet.”
Wow. Mikhail has got balls!
“I am no one’s puppet,” snapped Hemera.
“Then prove it. Work together, work with us to end this warlock who threatens all of us.”
“You’re just trying to take him for yourself,” said Hemera.
“No. I have no need of a warlock. I’m trying to save all of us. If we don’t end Sedgrave, he will not stop until we are all slaves to his will. He is too powerful to be left to his own devices.”
The two queens glanced at each other, neither wanting to admit that they might just be in over their heads. I was about to yell at them as my patience dwindled, but finally Orythyia looked straight at Mikhail.
“What do you suggest?”
“I suggest that until we have destroyed Sedgrave, each supernatural faction agrees to a peace treaty. After Sedgrave is dead you two can go back to trying to kill each other; but for now, we need to work together.”
Reluctantly, both queens nodded.
Mikhail let out a deep sigh of relief. “Thank you. I hope we can work quickly to kill him.”
“As do I.”
“And I.”
“Now,” continued Mikhail. “We need to discuss the release of Chloe Lee. She belongs to one of my vampires.”
“She is Hephaestus’ prisoner,” Orythyia stated. “It is not for me to say whether he returns her or not.”
I was just about to tell her what I thought of her pathetic authority when Nik grabbed my arm and squeezed until I winced.
“Let’s not do anything we might regret,” said Mikhail, his eyes flickering to Hephaestus.
The old man grinned at me before, in a blur of motion, he grabbed Chloe by the head and snapped her neck. The only sound I heard was the soft thud of her body on the pavement as I rush
ed toward him. Multiple pairs of hands grabbed me, holding me back.
I growled at them, trying to extract myself from their grasp. The murderer had to die! They dragged me back, a number of feet away from where Mikhail stood. Some small piece of my brain noticed that he was glaring fiercely at Orythyia.
“Let me go!” I screamed.
They dragged me another couple steps back.
“You will die!”
“It seems she does know how to hate,” chuckled Hephaestus.
My screams turned into guttural noises as I clawed at the hands that held my arms.
“Is this the sort of control you have over your court?” Mikhail demanded.
I wish I could say Orythyia’s look of shock and disgust was a comfort to me, but it wasn’t. Like Hephaestus, she needed to die, and someday I would see it happen.
For the first time, I knew what Nik meant about supernatural beings holding on to grudges. I would wait until the very end of time, if I had to, to see them both pay for Chloe’s death.
“I assure you, Hephaestus will be punished,” said Orythyia.
We all heard Hephaestus laugh quietly behind his queen. In a lightning quick motion, Orythyia had dropped her glamor and grappled the old man.
Orythyia, when she wasn’t dressed up as Dorothy or in a poodle skirt, is one scary-ass lady! She had powerful horns that wrapped around her head like a crown and poked out the back. If she jerked her head backwards at an enemy, she could easily skewer them with their sharp points. She wore plate armor that looked like it was made of black obsidian. Even in the dim light of the nearby street lamps, I could see the faint shimmer on her armor. Two delicate wings draped over her shoulders, looking very much like a cloak.
She extended the wings, and in a heartbeat was aloft, carrying Hephaestus with her. From about fifty feet up, she flung him at the lamp post he had run into when chasing me. The old man hit the lamp post, his glamor fading, and slid down to the pavement. The enormous Neanderthal lay unconscious on the pavement.
The Series that Just Plain Sucks: The Complete Trilogy Page 47