by ST Branton
Joe blinked. “Sir…” He looked between us, rapid fire. It was clear I was missing some subtext, and I wasn’t sure I wanted to know what it was. “Yes,” he said at last. “Everything is fine.” He unhooked a walkie talkie from his belt. “I’ll tell the others to stand down.”
“Much appreciated,” Monk said. “I’d rather not be murdered at work.”
I eyed the back of Joe’s head as he hurried back toward the elevator, trying to decide if I should take him down or not. My instincts were screaming at me that the whole place stank of something fishy.
Leave him, Marcus said. But do not trust him.
Forcing myself to be satisfied with Marcus’s assessment, I turned back to follow Monk into the now-open vault.
Or him.
Monk shot a look over his shoulder from where he stood in the center of the vault’s opening. “Good news,” he said. “The LIGHT is right in front of me.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
I started forward, the cumulation of all my nervous excitement bursting in my chest. The whole ordeal in San Francisco thus far started to fade away in the brightness of this stroke of luck. I wouldn’t allow myself to hope that it was all worth it now, but it was a start.
Then Monk stepped aside, and the house of cards on which I’d built my hope came crashing down again.
That’s when I saw her.
If nothing else, at least he hadn’t exaggerated her height. She was even taller than the redhead I’d killed at Namiko’s house—and infinitely more striking. Dark hair cascaded down her back in a torrent, framing a face adorned with ruby-red lips and soft, hypnotizing eyes. The kind of face I could have stared at forever. The white dress flowed around her like it was liquid, pooling at her feet.
I stopped dead in my tracks, semi-aware that my jaw was in the process of unhinging itself. The logical part of my brain told me she had to be another hallucination. There was no way she could be real.
She put her hand on Monk’s shoulder, its weight creasing the fabric of his shirt. He looked up at her and slipped from her grasp, moving deeper into the vault. Her eyes settled on me then and turned me into a straight-up window. The red lips curved upward.
“So,” she said. “We meet at last, slayer of beauty. Do you know who I am?”
Just like Delano’s misty stare had left me powerless the first time I saw him, her voice stole the air from my lungs. All I could do was nod wordlessly, standing dumbstruck in front of the elevator. No part of my body worked until she beckoned me forward, giving me permission to move.
“Don’t be shy,” she said. “I won’t bite...unless you want me to.”
Shy or not, I had no choice. The woman was like a magnet, and she clearly wasn’t taking no for an answer. I wanted to ask Marcus what the hell was going on, but I suspected that every thought I had was an open book for her. And I’d already gotten the poor dude killed; I didn’t want to get him exorcised, too.
“Tsk, tsk.” She backed up as the distance closed, drawing me along with her into the vault. “There is nothing you can hide from me.” Her finger drew its way over the neckline of my shirt, brushing aside a loose strand of hair. “I know all about your beloved stowaway, but you don’t have to worry. He can’t help you now anyway.” Suddenly seizing the medallion’s chain in her fist, she tore it from my neck and tossed it away. “Let me free you from your burdens, Victoria. All of them.”
I flinched, already feeling the flesh bruising at the back of my neck where the chain dug in. Her hand came back toward me to caress my face. The pad of her thumb ran over my lips. “Do you want your voice back, my newest love?” she murmured.
My skin crawled. Mythical powers of attraction or not, something about this woman’s touch repulsed me despite my inability to resist it. It was clear she knew that—and enjoyed it immensely. I pressed my lips into a grim line and tried to pull away. One syllable dropped off my tongue. “No.”
She arched her eyebrows. “No? Then you must want me to rip that pretty tongue of yours right out of your mouth.” She laughed, teeth flashing. “I know your mind is troubled. You have been polluted by the influence of Kronin’s lackey soldier. Forget him. He is nothing. And Kronin is gone.” Her ample breasts hovered in front of my face as she leaned in toward me. “I am all you need.”
Her hand snaked behind my head, fingers plunging into my hair, and she pulled me against her like a fly in her web.
All my senses filled with her scent, her touch, and the lusty beat of her heart inside her chest. She overwhelmed me, leaking into every facet of my being. Marcus had called it brainwashing, but this was a bigger experience than that. My will was being smothered out of existence.
The one word I’d managed to speak came back to me with the intensity of a lightning strike. I forced my mouth to open, even though she had me pinned against the razor-sharp definition of her clavicle.
“No,” I mumbled again. More energy gathered behind it. “No. No!” I threw my head back. Her grip faltered. “No!”
She released me, her gaze colored by a mix of surprise and bitter offense. “Well, well. It’s been a long time since I last encountered a will like this. You’re lucky I enjoy a challenge.” Again, her thumb touched my mouth, the nail digging not-so-gently into the flesh. “But I would very much appreciate it if you learned another word.” Her grip tightened abruptly on my chin, the bones crushing the sides of my jaw. The bitch was elegant, but she held on like a vise. “Say my name.”
I stayed silent. The goddess, if that was really what she was, applied more pressure. As a counterpoint, I clenched my teeth, making sure she felt the resistance. Her eyes turned cold and cruel. “I can play your silly little games for eternity, street harlot. You dare display such flagrant hubris before me? I will make you kneel.” She dropped my chin and turned away to compose herself.
My tongue moved in my mouth, working to gain back its independence. When Eve had almost charmed me into giving away the Gladius Solis, it was because she made me see her side of things. She’d made me share her desires.
Lysiani wasn’t doing that for me. There was too dark an edge of inhumanity beneath her perfect exterior, boiling just beneath the surface.
I’d seen far too much of that already, far too close to home. No matter how she tried, nothing could cover it up.
“Perhaps,” she began, feigning an air of contrite boredom, “I should learn from you and exercise a rare hint of humility. Let me take a step back and explain my reasoning. I should not have expected you to rise to the level of a queen.” She circled around me, approaching slyly from the back, a predator I could feel but not see. “Doubtless you have heard from my sisters how we aspire to change this wretched place for the better. From good and evil, we will create Eden.
“However, not all of our contemporaries share our vision of harmony for the future.” She ran a hand through her gleaming hair, letting it cascade across her shoulders. “Gods are brutish beings, my love. A damn foul lot. Sometimes they must be corrected. And sometimes, that correction must come through force.”
“Kronin,” I whispered.
Lysiani’s glance was full of knives. “Oh, child. Your delusions fill me with sadness. I only wish I had reached you before that sniveling armored servant. Kronin was a tyrant who only sought to secure power for himself. He saw no distinction between a queen’s great vision and the heinous machinations of demons. None of us mattered to him, you see? He loved humanity above all else. And ultimately, it was his failure that sealed your fate. It takes a stronger love than he had to offer. A mother’s love, that knows when to bless—and when to punish.”
She paced a few feet away from me, gesticulating with her slender hands. “I have spent more time than is necessary or fair contemplating how Kronin came to be blessed with the Gladius Solis. For all the time during which he ruled from cursed Carcerum, the odds have been stacked against those of us who were considered lesser than the hero-king. Now, at last, we have a chance to make things right.”
&nb
sp; She stopped pacing, swooped in, and grasped my face in her talons, digging tracks in the skin of my cheeks. “You are chosen to bear witness to the final delivery of justice.”
A familiar voice emerged from behind her. “Your Majesty, the LIGHT is ready.”
“Ah, yes. Thank you, my beautiful gift from the cosmos.” She touched Monk’s cheek, and a crimson bloom erupted beneath her fingers. A goofy grin spread across his face. She was the world to him. There was nothing else. “Let us show our guest the future.”
As soon as he regained command of his faculties, Monk strutted to the center of the room where the drill, now free of its protective glass case, sat embedded in a square pedestal. His smile widened as he reached out and thumbed a heavily wired button in the base. A low frequency permeated everything. The air seemed to vibrate around every solid object in the room.
“Let us go,” I said. My voice was stronger now, more demanding. It caught Lysiani’s attention right away
“You poor thing.” She pressed her lush lips to my forehead, the tender, kind façade back in place. “I have been brutish to you, haven’t I? I have stooped to the very level I condemn. For that hypocrisy, I must offer atonement. Be free.”
Her hold lifted from me. I stumbled under my own weight but caught myself before my knees hit the floor. Lysiani stood over me, her face shadowed. Behind her, the drill’s core was glowing. The room blazed in high contrasts, a sterile hell lit by destruction.
“It won’t save you,” I said. “The drill isn’t enough to beat all the other gods. They will tear you down.”
Lysiani gazed at me inscrutably. Her eyes were made dark from the harsh glow of the drill; bottomless hungry pits. “This is why I have not killed you,” she said softly. “This is why I have allowed you and the sword, which is not even yours, to hew ragged slices in the bodies of my tribe. This is why I met you here instead of simply absconding with this jewel of destruction.” She licked her lips. “Because I want you for my own.”
I backed away toward the curving wall of the vault. At first, Lysiani stayed where she was, but when I strayed too far from her reach and too close to the drill, she began to prowl after me. I could feel myself returning with greater and greater presence as the remnants of her touch released their hold on me. Monk could be enraptured by a harpy’s gaze alone. Not me. Not anymore.
“I would die before I joined you,” I said.
“Then you will. And what a senseless waste of potential it will be. You could become the greatest apprenti ever created, Victoria, the demigoddess who utilizes her omniscient power to infuse whole galaxies with gracious compassion. I offer you the solution to all strife, all violence, all war. But you would rather die.”
I scoffed. “It doesn’t work like that. Trust me, I’ve been carving a path of vengeance across New York City for half a decade, and you know what? My parents are still dead.”
“Ah, but so is their killer, isn’t he?” Lysiani eyed me keenly. “As I am sure you have long since deduced on your own, Lorcan’s abominations came to the west coast. They were sent to infiltrate us, to filch what data they could on our weapon. Instead, they died. Well, at least the ones who were sent.”
“So much for harmony, huh?”
“Of course not. A being which cannot exist in harmony with others may be justifiably eliminated. Lorcan’s feckless minions conducted all their business by means of blood and violence, and in the end, we were forced to reciprocate.” The goddess shrugged. “Unsurprising, if you ask me. The apprenti Delano is his only half-decent servant. Now that one could be something, if he would only step out of Lorcan’s shadow. But I digress.”
She lifted her chin. “The natural order always wins out in the end. Your parents are dead, but they can only die once. The vampires can kill again and again and again. How many lives like those of your parents have you saved with each vampire you destroyed? Surely, the number is countless.”
I wanted to recoil, to keep putting distance between us, but she had struck on the one line of reasoning that had comforted me many nights. The notion of justice was one I had clung to for so long that it became my only truth.
Yes, there were casualties in this fight. Yes, some damage was collateral. But at the end of the day, I was saving more lives than I lost. And if that were extrapolated to the level of a goddess, maybe Lysiani was right. Maybe I was too small-time to end the cycle of violence enveloping my own mortal life, but risen beyond my limits, there was so much more at stake.
I didn’t trust Lysiani. I doubted I would ever trust her. But if she became my equal and my ally, I could mitigate her mercurial passions, shield worlds of innocents from her wrath.
Wouldn’t that just be fast-tracking me to the end of the mission I had been given? What better way to stop the war from happening than to become a key player in its development? Having been an exceptionally stubborn human, I could stand my ground no problem. Plus, I had the Gladius Solis on my side.
“You have nothing to lose,” Lysiani was saying, “and so much to gain.” She gestured toward the LIGHT drill, now a radiant eye of steadily building energy. “Is that not the most beautiful thing you’ve ever seen? If it were yours, you could wield it only as you wish. To protect the weak. To punish the cruel. To heal the myriad wounds on your planet’s once-beautiful face.” Lysiani stepped close. “Imagine it. I beseech you.”
I almost did, but then my foot came down on an object that warmed the sole through the bottom of my boot. Jolted from a near fugue state, I glanced down and saw a golden aura battling with the bluish shine of the drill.
“Don’t you dare,” Lysiani hissed. She’d recognized the medallion, too, and her rage seethed to the surface. “We are so close, Victoria. So close. You would forsake all potential for nothing?”
In one swift motion, I bent down and snatched the length of chain from the floor. As soon as the gold touched my skin, Marcus erupted in my ear.
Fight, Victoria! Fight! Resist her!
My eyes met the harpy queen’s one more time. “You wanted me to call you Lysiani.”
FIGHT!
She scowled.
I said, “Don’t fucking call me Victoria.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
“I am a goddess! I will call you whatever I please.” Her expression hardened into a mask of wrath and vengeance. She jerked her hand away from me, baring her teeth with in a sneer. Backed by the bright, burning light of the drill, her beauty, still great, became terrible.
“I’m going to make this very clear to you,” I said calmly. The storm in my mind and heart was gone, replaced by a serenity that would have been eerie if it wasn’t so comfortable. “Call me Victoria again and I will carve you like a Christmas goose.”
“Weakling whelp!” Lysiani raised the point of her chin. “I would love to see you try.”
I summoned Kronin’s blade so close to her face that its sudden blast of heat rippled the hair away from her skin. She gasped, flinched backward.
“What’s wrong?” I asked. “Are you scared?”
Her eyes burned with undisguised hatred. “Let this be a lesson to you, ungrateful human swine. Everything I have was yours to take, yours to conquer. Now I have no choice but to follow through on the philosophy I foolishly believed you’d understand. All sources of imbalance must be eliminated.”
Mimicking her stance and her previous challenge, I answered, “I would love to see you try.”
She snarled. “As you wish.” Bracing myself for a screeching charge, I was a little surprised to see her step back. She held her arms out and dropped gracefully to her knees. Her lustrous hair fell over her face in a shining curtain. Had I not known how much she wanted to kill me, I might have thought she was an angel. The wings that burst from her back told a different story.
They curled around her like a shield of dove-grey feathers, their tips brushing the floor. Judging by the show she made of her extra appendages, air combat was Lysiani’s specialty. Sure enough, instead of simply standing back up
, she launched herself up toward the ceiling. Her wings snapped open like the arms of a kite.
“Crazy bitch,” I muttered.
She banked to the left and sped toward me, setting up for a fly-by. To me, that just made her an easier target.
I spoke too soon. She came at me like a ballistic missile, her huge wings set to dive. The rake of her talons nearly dragged me off my feet.
“Son of a bitch!” I shouted, mostly to mitigate the spread of white-hot pain that came a moment after she struck. Whirling around to track her, I held the Gladius Solis high and horizontal, like a samurai’s blade.
She rushed at me again and again with remarkable speed.
Lysiani was a force unlike any I had known. Even the harpies were little more than pigeons compared to the eagle like ferocity with which she cut through the air.
So it was time to even the playing field.
I waited for my moment, then as Lysiani went streaming by, I sidestepped her trajectory and slashed to the side. A cloud of feathers exploded along the sword’s cutting edge.
The goddess wavered in the air, shrieking with rage. She’d intended to pull up after buzzing me, but the hit on her wing devastated her balance. I got to watch her crash land on the hard marble floor of the vault, narrowly avoiding the pedestal and the drill.
Now that she was no longer fully in control of the LIGHT, she seemed to fear it. It was a weakness I intended to exploit to the fullest. As she struggled to regain position, I ignored her in favor of a closer inspection of the pedestal and the drill, as much as I could manage with all the glowing.
“This doesn’t look very sturdy,” I remarked. I swung my sword casually at the pedestal, taking a large chunk out of the bass. The drill teetered slightly.
“Don’t touch it, you fool!” Lysiani’s voice was shrill with tension and unspent rage. She readjusted her wings, and I saw that one of them was now missing a fair slice of its feathers. “You are ignorant of its strength. Step away.”