ImmortalIllusions: The Eternity Covenant Book2

by Immortal Illusions (lit)

  Another rumble, this one less potent, shook the floor. Raine ran through options, coming up short. Any movement on her part couldn’t outpace the speed of an ancient vampire. Even Jack couldn’t counter that. One wrong move and Raine would be given the kind of cut direct you didn’t recover from. Now would be a good time to know if she was immortal or not.

  “Take it easy, Gia.” Jack spread his hands in a placating manner and took a step that brought him forward and closer to Raine. “We’re not up to anything. We’re here to do business. When have you known me to do otherwise?”

  Raine read hesitation in Gia’s dead eyes. Beside her Jack was electric with energy. Gods what was he preparing to do now?

  Another explosion ripped off, throwing them off-balance. The blade bit into her skin and warm blood rolled down her neck. Immortal or not, she was going to take her best shot and kill this bitch. She had a long night ahead of her and work to do, and no vampire scumbag was going to get in her way. Raine prepared to summon her own blade, but never got the words across her tongue.

  At that very moment, a mammoth explosion tore through the complex. The lights flickered. There was a second of darkness, and then a brilliant, blinding flash erupted between her and Gia. The lights came back on, but Jack was moving, before anyone else could orient back to reality enough to do anything. He had a katana in hand, driving it in a death arc that brought the blade clean through Gia Malinov’s neck. The backspin he executed took the next strike through a moving Boris, beheading him as well. Both heads fell back, and rolled to a stop next to one another. Then Gia’s headless corpse and its missing part burst into black dust. The cutlass clattered to the ground and dissolved in a wave of purple heat.

  The security entourage of magicked-up zombies and ghouls looked at the remaining corpse, the pile of ash, then at her and Jack, disbelief etched on their twisted features. Stunned by the turn of events, they lost precious seconds. The vamp behind the desk cursed softly and dove for cover. Then the entourage reached for the heavily modified glocks.

  “Now would be a good time to pull out that gift you got from Seth.” Jack stepped into the thick of the crowd, gutting a ghoul and taking off another’s gun arm as he moved. A few swarmed him and he disappeared in the fray. Forcing them to fight so closely limited their options with bullets. They had to fight with blades, knives mostly, and were a poor match for the agile fury of Jack.

  Raine rallied and got the command word out. Pain surged through her arm, causing her to cry out. The blade appeared in her hand, and the energy of chaos swirled like a cyclone through her mind, body and spirit. Adrenaline hit her blood like rocket fuel dumping into the heart of the sun. She knew how to work with a regular sword. Wielding the soul blade was like trying to martial the perfect storm and make it do your bidding.

  A series of shots were fired her way. They hit her and she was thrown off-balance. The armor held true. The bullets flattened and were shed harmlessly to the ground. She pulled up the hood and it closed tight around her head. No more practice dummies, this was the real deal. She went two-handed and launched herself at the nearest target, closing the fight radius and forcing them to engage her like Jack. All the practice sessions her uncle had drilled her with kicked in, blending with the guidance of the blade. Wound first to slow, then work on finding a kill spot. Either a head strike, or culmination of serious wounds would do the job. The rage honed sharp, and she found a rhythm. Shots impacted but did little other than redirect her movements.

  She was a superhero. Invincible. Unstoppable. Costumed up and ready to deal out justice to the worst of fiends. She wasn’t sure, but either the sword clouded her mind beyond repair, or made it the most clear it had ever been. She could die. Armor or not, the creatures striking at her with blade and bullet, could do her in. She didn’t care. Between guts, glory, and frantic, ill-placed rage, she more than made a deadly match.

  Minutes seemed centuries, but it was no more than three or four, and the entourage was toast. She and Jack stood alone amongst the carnage. Raine sucked wind hard. She’d never felt more disgusted. Or more alive. She glanced at the ash pile as more explosions rioted through the club. The audacity and gravity of what Jack had done shook her just as hard.

  “You killed the Vampire Queen.” For me. To save me.

  “She’s not my queen,” he quipped, wiping his blade on the coat of one of the dead henchmen. “I didn’t vote for her.”

  He leaned over the rim of the reception desk. “You okay down there, buddy?”

  “I didn’t see anything,” came the fearful response.

  “I’m sure you pressed the alarm, but most of the forces are occupied below, right?”

  “I could check for you, sir.”

  “Don’t bother.” Using one of the guns from the ghouls, Jack blew the desk computer to kingdom come. “When the boss man asks you what happened, make sure you let him know his sister drew first blood. For all I know that harlot’s the one behind that contract out on me. I was promised safe harbor if I came in person, and her actions looked an awful lot like a hit in disguise.”

  They took a moment to loot the dead of small arms weapons and ammunition.

  When they were armed to the hilt, Jack took off down the hall at a rapid clip.

  She had to double time it to keep up with his long strides. “Now what?”

  “Now we steal us a computer.”

  “The whole thing?”

  “You bet.” He turned a sharp corner into a hall without doors.

  “That’s not part of the plan.”

  “You might have noticed back there, we’re kind of off script at this point.” He slowed, studying the blank sections of mauve-colored wall to his left. “That laptop is our insurance. Malinov will consider coming after me. Any other time I’d be happy to tango with him. He’s a royal pain in my ass and I’d love a good excuse to erase him from this world. But we have bigger shit going on right now than dealing with some piss-ant Vampire Prime.”

  She processed this info. There were currently ten Primes in the world. They were the most deadly vampires in the race, some claimed as powerful as the Gods themselves. And Jack thought one was a piss-ant. Classic Madden. “Fine. We’re off-plan. Let’s grab the kids on our way out.”

  “They’re safe. It’s us I’m worried about.” He stopped and placed a palm against the wall. The sword in his other hand vanished into thin air, a show that Jack still had enough power to cause a lot of problems. For a lot of people, including the Covenant. “We have a good escape route, but this place is crawling with hostiles. Ever fought with a hellhound or a wraith?”

  Her mind and body were in overdrive, her thoughts in danger of leaping over the edge. And lust seemed to jump into the fray at the strangest times. Control returned for a fleeting spate of seconds and she grabbed hold, focusing on his question. “Only in simulations and never the two together.”

  “If you kill the handler, the hounds are easier to take down.” He flashed a cocky smile. “You’re pretty high right now, aren’t you?”

  “No.”

  “Sure you are. All that chaos and magic. I smell lust, too.” He grabbed her free hand. “You’re about to get higher. Do me a favor, lose the blade for a moment. I don’t want to fry you on your maiden voyage.”

  Raine was surprised how reluctant she was to release the sword back into its inert tattoo. But she remembered well what he’d told her about running too much magic through the lines. She didn’t want to fry either. She breathed the command and the soul blade vanished.

  Like he did back at the Covenant stronghold, he held his free palm forward, almost touching the wall. Then he started in with the mumbo jumbo. She didn’t get nearly as disoriented this time, but the level of intimacy made her hot and tingly all over. Stirring it in with the other forces inside her created a hot little cocktail that fired up her libido. This was a side effect no one warned her about. Before she could question, the wall disintegrated into a pile of white dust.

  A startled
woman in a suit stood by a desk. On it was a single, wireless, state-of-the-art laptop, compact enough to fit into a medium-sized purse. Files were askew on the desk, and the woman held a few in her hands. She was obviously packing to get the hell out of Dodge and shocked as shit that they’d found her in a room without a perceivable door.

  Before Raine or the woman could blink, Jack launched the freaky dagger. It hit the woman square in the chest. The visage faded, and she collapsed. By the time she hit the floor, the human cover was gone, and in its place laid the corpse of a blue-skinned demoness. Raine had never encountered this strain of demon, neither in life or in study. The scope of darkness that Jack seemed comfortably a part of was nothing less than shocking. The dagger faded from view, treated no doubt, with more magic, to return to him. He was a sorcerer, she reminded herself. His trade was magic. Even with his powers bound, he was drenched in the stuff. So was she. Still, it repulsed her.

  Jack did more voodoo over the laptop, sprinkling it with a pinch of smelly green herbs, before he closed it up, and stuffed it into a hidden pocket inside that crazy frock coat he liked to wear. “I probably should have warned you earlier. All the magic’s going to put you in a state. You may experience dizziness, nausea, and heightened sexual arousal. Try not to fight any of it, it will pass. You don’t realize it, but you and I are both soaking up ambient energy that will help us retrieve the artifacts. The side effects are worth the price, don’t you think?”

  Fear made her mouth too dry to speak. Blatant lust made her blood thick. And her thighs wet. All he’d described so far had happened, but she didn’t think the sexual arousal was solely the fault of the magic. He bore the brunt of the blame for that. Jack chilling out was enough to set the world on fire. Seeing him in the thick of action, all wild and edgy, was pure sex.

  “How do you stand it?” she croaked.

  “How can you live without it?” he countered.

  She blinked and cleared her head. Gaining perspective was not easy, but time was marching on. The club continued to shake like a prolonged earthquake, while gunfire crackled ominously in the distance.

  “Let’s go.”

  She followed him to a second, less-decorative elevator. He pried open the doors and she glanced inside. The empty shaft dove deep down into the bowels of the earth.

  “Here’s where the fun begins.” Jack pointed his arm out and a tensile grapple shot out and locked around a cable attachment.

  “Where do you get all this stuff from?” she asked. The coat fit like a glove, and he’d so far pulled out everything short of the kitchen sink from its many folds and shadows.

  “I’m full of all kinds of tricks.” He grabbed her waist and pulled her tight against him. His thick erection was rock hard, pressing against her belly. He was everything bad, all rolled into one fevered promise. Desire surged through her, and she wrapped her arms around his broad shoulders.

  His eyes sparkled with wickedness. He leaned down and kissed her. Not slow. Not gentle. Without preamble, or permission. His tongue curled like a delicious treat inside of her mouth, bringing heat and spice, and long, velvet strokes that drove her into an equal response. The lights dimmed as they moved, then went black. Raine had never experienced the razor’s edge of need before. Her nerves came alive, as if waking from some kind of cold, empty coma.

  He tasted like life, and lust, and all kinds of forbidden dreams. Her belly tightened with anticipation. She could stay in this kiss forever, she realized, and never want for anything else. It was terrifying and exhilarating. The lights flickered and came on as auxiliary power kicked in.

  Smoke rose in plumes from below, and daisy-chain explosions rocked the shaft. Jack broke the kiss and stared down at her, heavy-lidded and dangerous. He was sexy as hell right now, she thought, and completely in his element. Gods she wanted him. With or without the magical-induced haze of desire, she wanted him, and she decided maybe she’d have him. If they made it out alive.

  “Hang on, it’s a long ride,” he said, and then took them down into the shaft.

  Chapter Seven

  Jack jumped into the abyss and rode the enchanted spider-silk grapple line down into the darkness with Raine clutched against him. The rush of magic burned through him. Tapping Raine was like reliving the glory days.

  And kissing her? Nothing in memory, recent or long past, could compare. Certainly his dick thought as much. It was ready to explode. Sex. Danger. Magic. Raine. He wanted more of it all than was smart. He wanted more of her. All of her. It struck him the very second he realized Gia Malinov planned to kill her. The adrenaline and fear mixed with a primal surge of protective energy that propelled him into summoning the last of his magical personal reserves. It had been ten years since he’d last pulled the sword out of the ether. Thank the Gods he’d remembered not only to pack that particular charm, but how to use the damned thing. He’d spent himself then and there, but the kiss made it worth the effort and risk.

  She clutched him tighter as smoke plumed up the shaft. The energy connection surged and his dick leapt with the thrill. He’d kill a thousand vampire queens for her, he realized. For the connection. And for the chances and the pleasures she promised. Just like the old days, he thought as they slowed in descent. But better.

  It was the vengeance, he reasoned. Had to be that. It made everything sweeter. More intense. He’d had women by the score, but this one, tied as she was to his retribution, made it crazy better. It explained the protective urges, too. Any threat to her was a threat to him and his plans. He liked the neat package. It explained all these weird, uncomfortable emotions she seemed to dredge up.

  The spider silk wound down, leaving them hanging in front of the doors to the third lowest level, the staff’s quarters. It would be mostly deserted at this point in the assault. Perhaps they’d pass a roving patrol, but the majority of forces would be concentrated up top and in the two lower levels. Minus the ones dispatched on the auction floor to find him and Raine, of course.

  He tapped Raine’s seemingly endless supply of juice. Lust and magic made him dizzy. He’d pay for it all, probably sooner than later, but right now he gloried in the magnificence. Beneath the simple sorcery, the doors parted. Jack swung a bit on the spider silk and was able to propel them both into the shadowy landing. Raine broke free of his hold and her absence left a keen longing. The fatigue from using his own meager internal supplies of magic hit him like a brick to the skull, and he staggered.

  “You okay?”

  Her soft, throaty voice, full of concern, rallied him. He couldn’t let her guess the extent of how little of his own internal source he had to use, and how much he depended on the external magic of the items he constructed with spells and rituals and rudimentary wizardry in his laboratory. All his parlor tricks were now the paltry sum of who he was. The true days of sorcery were lost to him. Except with her, it was as if they never left. She knew he was tapping her magic, but she had no clue how dependent he really was.

  “That kiss was killer.” He straightened and drew two of the stolen modified pistols. The truth was always better than lies to distract. Besides, she was way too smart to be taken in, even by him. “Promise me there’ll be more.”

  She sized him up with a dark look, a mix of suspicion and speculation. “You always want more.”

  “Of you, yes. Does that worry you?”

  She opened her palm, spoke the words of summoning, and the soul blade appeared. She angled it toward the ground, then reached out and brushed a stray lock of his hair back behind his ear. He shivered from the contact. The picture of her, powerful, brave, terribly female, was beyond arousing. She’d be the ride of his life.

  “You’re the one who looks bothered, Madden,” she whispered.

  He wanted to throw her to the ground and show her just how bothered. Patience, Jack. Timing is everything. He smiled. “I think I like you, Raine Spencer.”

  A maniacal howl echoed from deep within the staff quarters. “Guess this place isn’t as empty as I’d hope
d.” He tuned into the finer sounds audible to the keener part of his senses. “Three hellhounds, two wraiths. One is probably the handler. The other’s a foot soldier.”

  He set off into the dark corridor. Raine was light on her feet, and right behind him every step of the way. Jack used his hearing to help them navigate the maze of catacomb-like corridors that riddled this level, and to avoid hitting the patrolling wraith. He wouldn’t mind a fight right now, but he knew they had better odds of survival by missing the party this time. He kept a fast move, though. Their ride wouldn’t wait for them. They had to be at the pickup on time, otherwise they’d be left to their own devices to put distance between them and Orpheus, and that was way more risk than Jack was willing to assume.

  After a bit of ring-around-the-rosy, they reached the door to the mechanical access passage where all the vents, conduit and plumbing were housed. He handed a pistol off to Raine and tucked the other one in his coat, then set about picking the magically trapped locks. He’d learned the art from a footpad in the slums of London, but had refined it to a mastery level under the instruction of Ramon Salazar.

  He sprung the locks and led her into the access passage.

  “There’s a door that leads into one of the subway tunnels that served to bring presidents and other dignitaries in and out of New York without exposing them to scrutiny. They were built around World War II but haven’t been used ever since.” He carefully picked his way around conduit snakes. “There’s this alchemist I know who runs a traveling rave inside an old train. It mostly runs on those tracks, and through some of the abandoned lines. You can only get entry by being between subway stops. Part of the schtick. The best part, though, is the enchantments that make it all but invisible on the magical and normal grid. It will give us a chance to disappear. I got us an invite, but we need to boogey. The train to nowhere waits for no man.”