by Karin Harlow
Paymon grabbed Nikko with his teeth. Crashing through the door, he flew with him down the stairway and out onto the catwalk circling the second floor. Selena flew after him but abruptly halted in midair.
A grotesque specter floated in the air before her, Nikko’s limp body dangling from Paymon’s regenerated hand in the middle of the club two stories high. In Paymon’s other hand, a fiery sword.
“Your lover for the stones,” Paymon taunted, pointing the tip of his devil sword at her neck.
The stones flared white-hot. Though the heart stones had once belonged to Hellkeepers, they recognized Selena as their mistress now. They were in tune with her thoughts, knowing her next move before she did. She launched at the daemon prince. Paymon laughed and flung Nikko across the room.
Selena dove after him. But amazingly, Nikko halted his descent with his own power, halfway down. Their gazes raked each other for damage. Nikko?
I’m okay, he said, shaking his head. He looked up at Paymon, who hovered above them. Selena followed his glare.
I’ll take him from behind, you go for his chest, Selena said as she shot up into the air behind Paymon. Selena banked away as Paymon twisted around going after her. Anticipating his move, she stopped short, then drove her sword into his back, slicing him wide open.
Paymon screeched hideously, hovering between the first and second floors. His yellow eyes burned molten red now. His teeth had elongated, saliva dripping onto his chest. Selena shuddered to think such a disgusting creature was her father. But father he was, and there was at least one part of him she was grateful for.
“You forget my power, Paymon!” Selena said, perched atop the large chandelier that hung from the three-story-high ceiling. “My heart may be half-human, but the daemon half holds the power of a dark prince!” She dove again and skewered him in the gut. Yellow blood oozed from him.
Selena corkscrewed in the air away from him; Nikko launched up and stabbed him with Selena’s dagger. Paymon roared, spewing yellow fluid from his mouth.
Nikko stabbed him again. Paymon flung him away, but Nikko slowed himself before hitting any walls. Her focus on Nikko, Selena moved around Paymon for a better vantage point. Nikko turned and slammed into the daemon, pushing him toward the railing, but Paymon was too quick. He whirled and slammed Selena into the second-floor railing instead. The velocity of the hit loosening the sword from her hand.
The instant she hit, Selena felt it: the harsh burn of the metal spindle through her heart. The stones around her neck flared in protest, infusing her with power. Yet she dared not move, afraid she would sever her damaged heart in half, and with that, she would die. Her world went dark for a moment before it was light again. She dropped her swords.
Nikko. Help me.
Selena!
Paymon’s demonic laughter reverberated around her. “The princess warrior is not immortal after all!”
Paymon rose above her, holding Nikko by the neck. Nikko’s eyes widened when he saw how she lay still and broken on the metal spindle where Paymon had flung her.
“The necklace, Daughter! Give it to me!” Paymon raged.
Nikko, she gasped spitting up blood. My heart, it’s broken.
Selena— He reached out to her face.
“The necklace for your lover!” Paymon roared.
“Go back to Hell, you motherfucker!” Nikko shouted, and sank his fangs into Paymon’s forearm. The daemon screeched and furiously shook him.
“Come to me, Father,” Selena called in a weak voice, “and I will give you the necklace.”
“No!” Nikko shouted.
Let him come to me, Nikko.
Subduing Nikko with the fiery sword to his neck, Paymon came to her.
“Closer,” Selena enticed, stroking the white-hot stones.
Paymon’s red eyes glowed as he approached. When he stopped, Selena swallowed hard. She needed him closer.
“They call for you, Father. They recognize their place is with you, a true prince, not me, a half-breed.”
Paymon reached a hand out for the necklace. “Give it to me.”
Selena made a show of trying to move her hands, pretending she had no strength left. “My hands are numbing. I cannot unclasp the hook, help me,” she hoarsely said.
Holding Nikko out to his side, Paymon lowered himself closer to her. His sulfurous breath rasped fast and furious in the air with his excitement. Do not forsake me now, Selena called to the stones. They flared so hot her skin sizzled.
Paymon’s eyes flared with flames, mesmerized by the fiery spectacle around her neck. “They are ravenous for their true master!” he cried, reaching out a hand for them.
“Yes,” Selena said as she turned her head to the side, exposing her neck. “Come closer and take them.”
Paymon leaned down until his face was only inches from hers. Selena’s right hand slid beneath her hip; her fingers tightened around the hilt of the second dagger hidden there.
“Father?” Selena gasped. He dragged his blazing eyes from the stones and locked stares with her. “Would you use your power to save me?”
His lips thinned into a nasty smile. “You had your chance, Daughter. But do not despair, little Marisol will reap what you have so thoughtfully sown.”
“Where she is, no daemon would dare to go.”
“With the necklace, I will be king! I will have the power to go anyplace in heaven or Hell or on earth!” Paymon moved closer and touched the necklace, his fingers curling around the front stones. They sparked in protest. “Release them to me, Daughter, and I give you my word, no harm will come to Marisol.”
Selena inhaled a deep breath, the pain of her injury intensifying. “I would release the stones to you, Father—but—”
Selena exhaled, and stabbed the dagger deep into his chest. Paymon cursed, twisting away from her hand. With her other hand, Selena grabbed the closest metal spindle, yanked it free, and plunged it like a stake into his chest on the opposite side.
Paymon screamed the fury of ten thousand daemons. Selena shoved the dagger deeper into his chest. So deep, the knuckles of her fist scraped against his beating heart. Releasing the dagger hilt, Selena turned her hand and reached for the heart.
The shrieks of a thousand daemons reverberated around them, each one dying as their master’s heartbeat slowed. Selena pushed deeper into Paymon’s chest, all the way to his heart. Her fingers opened and she grasped it! With the force of a lightning bolt, its power infused her. A loud roar filled her ears. A scream tore from her lips. Her body jerked and convulsed. Molten hot, the energy filled her veins, her organs, her muscles. Every cell, every molecule. Down to her soul, her body exploded with it.
With her free hand, Selena grabbed the metal spindle sticking out of her chest and yanked it. She screamed as it passed through her damaged heart. But in its wake, the power of the black nanorian healed her.
“Selena!” Nikko yelled from beside her, looking up. “We’ve got a bigger problem than Paymon!”
Selena followed his gaze. The chandelier hanging from the high ceiling had begun to shake and sway, thousands of fine crystals shattering, dropping to the floor like raindrops.
“Daemons! Thousands of them!” Selena pulled her hand from Paymon’s chest, and placed his black heart in the platinum setting. When it clicked into place, she squeezed the prongs tightly around it. The necklace lit up like a circle of fire.
A cacophony of screeching swirled outside the building. “What’s going on?” Nikko demanded.
Selena stood. With her arms straight out, she pushed him back against the wall.
“Apollyon has come to collect his henchman’s body.”
“Holy Hell!”
Selena looked over at Nikko’s anxious face and smiled. Slowly, she traced a finger along his bottom lip, then leaned in and kissed him. He pulled her hard against his chest. “Selena, God knows I love you. But we kind of have a crisis going on here!”
She threw her head back and laughed. Her heart swelled a thousand times
over. She had never loved him more than at that moment. She looked up at him and smiled. “Apollyon is going to wish he’d left well enough alone.”
Hot air swirled wildly around them. Led by the heavy chandelier, the ceiling came crashing down. It hit the dance floor below with a thunderous roar. Thousands of daemons poured in through the ragged opening. Selena leapt to the top rung of the railing and flung her arms forward, palms out. The swarm consolidated and smashed into the opposite wall, destroying the railing, rooms, and the wall itself. In a wide arch Selena pushed her hands up, and with the force of the air she disturbed the broken swarm flew out the hole through which they had just descended.
“Show yourself, Apollyon!” she challenged.
“Selena!” Nikko called out. She turned, but he wasn’t there.
“Looking for this?” a deep voice roared from behind her.
Slowly, Selena turned and faced the King of Hell himself. She bit off a cry and checked her impulse to reach Nikko. His skewered bloody body hung from the Daemon of Death’s burning lance. If Nikko was dead, she could not help him; if he lived, she could only help him by destroying the devil who had him. Either way, Apollyon would pay!
Selena calmed her racing heart to listen for life sounds. Faint though it was, Nikko’s heart still beat. It was enough.
Selena raised herself up to eye level with Apollyon. His spiky black hair sparked with fire. His red eyes drilled her with laser intensity, but she was too powerful now to be scorched by them. His thin black lips pulled back, exposing bright white teeth. His pasty skin covered a muscled humanlike body. He was naked save for the swarm of locusts encompassing his legs and groin.
“Paymon tried that trick.” Selena looked down at her father’s rapidly decaying body. “You can see how well that worked.”
Apollyon hurled his javelin with Nikko on it straight at her. Selena caught the sharp tip with one hand, pulled Nikko off with the other, then turned and hurled it back at the King of Daemons, all in the space of half a blink.
Carefully she laid Nikko on the floor. “Let’s get this over with, Appy.”
Selena lunged, shoving her hands in front of her, wildly disturbing the air. Apollyon shoved back with tidal-wave force, sending her careening backward. Selena caught herself before she hit the wall.
Apollyon flew around her so fast he was just a blur, and she could not get a shot at him. The force of his movement created a funnel cloud in which she was trapped. And coming fast and furious at her, he pummeled her with sulfuric fireballs.
Selena dodged them instinctively, so quickly her eyes blurred. Sulfurous smoke clogged her lungs. Heat seared her chest when a fireball hit her with the impact of a meteor. The necklace flared. Selena shook off the hit and changed tactics. She spun just like Apollyon, but in the opposite direction. In seconds, her velocity matched his. Seconds later, she broke free of his gyroscope hold.
Selena dove toward the dance floor and grabbed her swords where they had fallen. As she launched upward, Apollyon dove down at her. They crashed onto the floor in a furious fiery clash, he with his burning lance, she with her mighty swords.
“You are more worthy than I anticipated, slayer,” Apollyon said, moving counterclockwise around her. He lunged.
Selena somersaulted out of the way of his burning lance. “You aren’t,” she said, and launched a sword at his chest. It struck dead center. The necklace lit up.
Apollyon stood rooted to the floor, staring at her with such a shocked look that she laughed. She grabbed the hilt of her sword before he could get his grubby hands on it. As she extracted it, she ran him through with her other sword.
She pushed it all the way through his chest to the hilt. It brought her face-to-face with him. “You’re lame, Appy. It’s why all you pricks resort to cheating to win.” She pulled slightly back, put her foot on his chest, and, as she had done to Balderama, kicked him backward off her sword.
He didn’t go down. Indeed, her attack had only pissed him off more. He spewed a terrible litany of curses.
“You have awoken Hell with your destruction and thievery, slayer! You will pay with your life and the lives of those you have fought so valiantly to protect!” He raised his hands above his head. “Even your power is not enough to stop my plague of locusts! They will descend upon you and every person you love. Inch by inch, they will devour you!”
Apollyon raised his arms higher and called for his plague. The sound of millions of dry wings fighting for airspace filled the room.
Selena! Nikko called to her. We need to get the hell out of here!
Can you move?
Yes.
Drop down here. Now!
“You are wrong, King of Daemons! I have the power!” As the last word was spoken, Nikko dropped down behind her.
Watch my back, she said.
His back to hers, Nikko wrapped his right arm backward around her waist, holding her tightly against him. His trust in her fortified her. Any fear she felt, she locked away. She would live happily ever after with Nikko and their daughter. She was hell-bent on it. Selena tilted her head back and raised her hands to the sky. “I dare you to attack!” she challenged the devil.
Noise boomed around her. The wings furiously vibrating above created a vacuum so powerful it lifted Selena and Nikko off the floor. She pushed against it, her building power formidable. Nikko pulled them back to the floor. And then the locusts descended, swirling thickly around them. So close the tips of their brittle wings scraped against their skin, but not close enough to do damage.
Selena pushed back harder. To prove her power over Apollyon, she would have to disperse the entire plague!
Harder! she demanded of the flaring necklace. The stones swelled. The black one in the middle burned viciously into her neck. She cried out, the pain more intense than any she had ever experienced. “You must obey me, Father! You cannot win!”
The black stone flared again, this time infusing its heat into the two stones on either side of it. Those in turn infused the ones beyond them until all of the stones had swelled to twice their size.
Hands still outstretched, her palms open and forward, Selena took a step forward. “Begone!” she commanded the locusts.
Apollyon’s furious screeches penetrated the cacophony of sound. Selena smiled confidently, and took another step forward. “Now! Before I burn your wings from your body!”
The brittle sound rose to the sky and then—was gone. A deep, eerie silence followed in its wake. Cautiously, Selena scanned the destroyed club for Apollyon. His sulfurous scent was gone; his once-burning lance lay smoldering in the rubble.
“We did it!” Selena cried. Turning, she flung her arms around Nikko’s neck. “We did it! Paymon is dead! Apollyon beaten! We can go home, Nikko!” His arms wrapped around her waist. He pulled her into his chest and his lips lowered to hers.
“Who then would pay for your misdeeds, slayer?” a deep voice asked from the double brass doors behind them.
Selena’s skin frosted as every hair on her body stood straight up.
Rurik, Nikko said.
Selena stepped back from Nikko and lifted her gaze to his. His deep blue eyes screamed his love for her. For their daughter. But past that, she recognized his fear. It matched her own. I will kill him if he tries to separate us, Selena said.
“You do not possess the power to slay me, daemon,” Rurik said, reading her thought.
Selena bristled and turned toward the vampire king. She caught her breath, speechless. The tall, half-naked king of vampires and all-powerful leader of the Order was an awe-inspiring sight. He strode into the middle of the dance floor as if he walked on air. His long, dark hair waved behind him. Deep, dark eyes flared red. His muscled chest was bare except for a dark tribal tattoo that began on the right side of his chest and twisted up and around his neck. With each stride, long, lean muscles bunched and gathered beneath his low-slung jeans.
You can stop looking now! Nikko said.
I’ve never seen him before. . .
.
You don’t have to stare.
Selena smiled at the absurdity of their quips when she stared death in the eye.
“Would you like to find out if I have the power, vampire?” Selena taunted the king.
Rurik gazed at the damage to the club. It was totaled, from the ceiling to the dance floor. When his penetrating gaze returned to Selena, she stiffened. “I don’t need to find out. I know,” he said. His dark eyes flared. “As do you.”
He might be able to best her, but she’d make him earn it.
“You are aware of our laws, yet you broke them. Repeatedly. What made you think you were above our laws?”
Selena shrugged. “I guess the human part of me thought I’d get away with it.”
“That is the trouble with humans—they think too much.”
“We might think too much,” Nikko said, stepping past Selena, “but it was Selena who learned of Apollyon’s plot to overthrow the Order. And it was Selena who waylaid that plot. Apollyon was going to use a cask of enriched uranium to begin polluting humans, with the goal of wiping out humanity—and ultimately, the Order. That has to count for something.”
Rurik looked pointedly at Nikko. “What of you? You are human but smell like a vampire. How is that?” His tone was rhetorical.
“You know about the Rev,” Selena said. She stepped up beside Nikko. “What do you want in exchange for you walking out the front door and Nikko and I out the back?”
“For starters, who produces the Rev?”
“I don’t know.” And she said that honestly. She assumed Joran did, but she had never witnessed him doing it and he had never admitted to it.
Rurik smiled a deadly smile. “Let us not play a game of semantics, slayer. Answer my question.”
“I said, I don’t know.”
Tell him, Nikko said.
No.
Rurik snapped his fingers. Three dozen black-leather-clad vampires materialized out of thin air and formed a half circle behind him. “We can do this the easy way, or the hard way. Which way matters only to you,” Rurik drawled.