"From this point forward, we are at war with him," Erithia added, thumping a fist on the wide, polished wood table in her casino's attic.
Twelve of her obsessed sat around that table, listening raptly to every word she uttered. None thought to question her decision or subsequent actions. They were prepared to go into battle in any way Erithia desired.
* * *
"If they go to war, they'll pull everything else into the battle. My hope is that it will reveal at least one of the Three as well." He glowed with a malevolent ultraviolet light. Those around him reflected his light—pulsed with it. They were prepared to follow him, no matter what he asked of them. "Once that war is over, we can remake everything as we see fit," he glowed with a deeper malignancy.
"I look forward to the chaos," his lieutenant agreed.
* * *
Lissa's Journal
Lissa, I am in your study, Gavin sent. On Le-Ath Veronis.
I didn't bother replying, I folded space.
* * *
Breanne's Journal
The Comet's Tail was three stories of gaming, restaurants, laughter and despair. Eventually I had to put up my shield—I couldn't handle the readings any longer. Lives, all of them teeming with every emotion possible, overwhelmed me. Learning to shield was the only thing I was grateful to Kalenegar for. I had no idea where the sadistic Larentii was, but I didn't really care, either. If he'd been like Graegar—I had to shove that thought aside like so many others. I would always be a friend to that particular Larentii, and to his grandfather, Pheligar. I'd learned so much from those two, merely by reading them.
Realizing after a while that I wasn't obligated to walk through the casino, or attempt to push past employees to wander through the kitchen in my search for Erithia Cordan, I found an empty corner and turned to mist. That would get me past anyone and through anything. I misted through the kitchen and found nothing. With no desire to stay and watch a waiter get dressed down by the Master Cook, I left quickly.
Misting through security offices and administration came next, but still there was no sign of Erithia. Mentally sighing, I made my way to the last place to look in the casino before moving on the next one. I turned my mist upward—toward the attic.
* * *
Lissa's Journal
"Gavin, what the hell is going on? Did you really mean to let that asshole Skel Hawer get away with beating Breanne? Did you? Where's Norian, by the way? He almost let him go." I was fuming, and turning Norian out of the palace and my bed would likely be the least of my lion snake's worries.
"Lissa, I don't know," Gavin was worried, I could tell, and something wasn't right with him, that was easy enough to see.
"I hear you and Cheedas managed to make Breanne's life miserable at the palace. I haven't even been to my suite, to see what hasn't been done because they didn't do their job," I fumed. "Anybody should be treated as a respected guest while they're here. Cheedas and every other comesula who works here knows that. Tell me why you didn't remind them of their duty, Gavin." My eyes were likely turning red, I was so pissed.
"My Queen, I could not help but overhear," a comesula poked his head inside the door. "Would you like something?"
"No. Wait, I do want something. Haul Cheedas out of bed. Tell him I want to see him. Immediately."
"Of course, Raona." He bowed and left quickly, his footsteps fading on the marble floor.
"Lissa, I don't know what happened," Gavin turned away. "I realize something appeared irregular, but I did as I felt I must."
"Irregular is an understatement, Gavin Montegue," I hissed. "After I talk with my sister, I'll decide whether I'm speaking to you for six months. Maybe more."
"Your what?" Gavin whirled and stared at me.
"You heard me," I snapped. "She's my half-sister. I didn't know about her. Nobody did, until somebody from much higher up came to tell Belen and me. Somebody else was sent to bring her here, after I was given a discreet assignment. Yet I hear from Adam that somehow, she was mistreated from the beginning. Would you like to explain that to me?"
"Raona?" Cheedas stepped carefully inside my study. I frowned at him—something was wrong with him, too, I just couldn't fathom what that might be.
* * *
Breanne's Journal
Thirteen were in the attic. Twelve of them were seated at the table and obsessed by the one who stood before them. Erithia Cordan couldn't see me as mist, so I took the opportunity to read her. As much as I could, anyway.
Evil couldn't begin to describe what she was. The plans she was making with her twelve were nothing short of annihilation. That frightened me. It didn't matter—what mattered was how to take care of this situation so that these thirteen could never go into the outside world and wreak their havoc on the unsuspecting.
Erithia had already placed obsession on all her disciples, and I couldn't risk any one of them getting away. They'd already been programmed to carry out her slightest whim, so I had to think quickly to deal with this. I had to make all of them dead simultaneously, and therein lay the difficulty.
* * *
"Trev, whatever happened to that girl—you know—the one Skel Hawer almost killed?" Kooper set a cup of coffee on the edge of Sheriff Trevor's desk.
"Last I heard, she was engaged to Casimir." Trevor pulled a bottle of blood substitute from the cooler beside his desk and flipped off the lid with a short claw.
"Was it willing—on her part? I hear Gavin has his elbow on her neck," Kooper sipped coffee and watched Trevor.
"No idea. Maybe I'll ask around."
"Let me know. At least Hawer got what he had coming."
"I hear Ildevar Wyyld had a hand in that. Just rumor, mind you, but that's what I hear."
"Do you hear that?" Trevor stood. Screaming had come to his ears, and that shouldn't be. It appeared to be coming from several blocks away, but his enhanced hearing ensured that he'd hear it easily from that distance. "Koop, how fast can you run?" Trevor grabbed Kooper's arm and hauled him out the door.
* * *
Breanne's Journal
Nobody will ever accuse me of not having a sense of humor. A twisted sense of humor, but a sense of humor all the same. When I'd left Earth behind, there'd been a resurgence of zombie interest. There were zombie movies, books, gifts, T-shirts, blogs, advice columns, you name it. Anything anyone might imagine. Everybody was either frightened or titillated by zombies.
In my experience in the Reth and Campiaan Alliances, however, nobody had zombie experience. I did. I also knew how the Larentii could create three-dimensional figures and make them act and sound real. It only required a bit of Larentii power to scare the bejeezus out of a casino filled with gamblers.
Zombies, hundreds of them, now chased visitors through Erithia's casino, while all the humanoids ran for the doors, screaming their heads off. The grimly funny thing? I had Erithia and her twelve shielded against sound so they wouldn't hear. I had plans for the Comet's Tail Casino, and none of her guests figured in all that. I wanted all of them out, and this was the best and easiest way I knew to accomplish that goal.
Zombies chased full-grown adults; their filth-covered arms held high, their melting and decomposing body parts creating horror as their victims ran as fast as they could to get away. Some casino visitors were helping others who didn't or couldn't get out quickly enough. I was grateful that anyone who couldn't walk had a hoverchair, and had already zipped through the exits.
Satisfied, I watched the last guest run screaming through the door before removing images of chasing zombies. They faded into the nothing from which they'd been created. Now, all I had to do was destroy Erithia and her flunkies.
* * *
Lissa's Journal
"Papa Cheedas, do you have any idea how disappointed I am with you?" I stared at him. He'd been more of a father to me through the past few years than anyone else.
"Raona, I know not what came over me," he walked toward me, stopping only a foot away. "It has never been my desire
to disappoint you."
He'd been pulled from his bed, just as I asked, and wore a long robe over dark pajamas. Nervously, he stuffed a hand into a robe pocket. When he lifted his eyes, they'd gone red—something I'd never seen before. Then, moving with the swiftness any vampire has, he staked me in the chest before I had time to scream.
* * *
Breanne's Journal
I felt her die as I wound my mist tightly, preparing to release it. I'd have to control the explosion so nobody would get hit outside the casino. I felt her die. My sister. The Queen of Le-Ath Veronis.
Somehow, Cheedas, who would never harm her, had done just that. He'd killed the Queen—the one he considered his adopted daughter. I turned to Erithia, who was still plotting a war and the destruction of everything.
"You—die," I hissed, becoming corporeal for only a moment. Who needed gathered mist? I could blow the entire planet apart with merely a thought. Who knew it would take extreme anger to come to that realization?
"You will do as I say," Erithia snapped at me, pointing a powerful obsession in my direction. I laughed.
"Fuck you," I shouted and loosed power.
* * *
"Lissa, cara mia?" Gavin held Lissa's body in his arms. She wasn't breathing. Her heart had stopped. Gavin pulled the stake from her chest and tossed it aside while he wept. Cheedas, held by Rigo, stared in fright at the blood around the Queen's body.
"No!" Gavin's voice could be heard by every vampire in the palace. "No!"
* * *
"What the hell?" Trevor, who'd had to slow down to allow Kooper to catch up, watched as debris exploded high into the sky, followed by the loudest boom he'd ever heard.
"What is that?" Kooper, winded from attempting to keep up with the vampire at his side, blinked in shock as the Comet's Tail Casino was reduced to rubble and blown skyward at an accelerated rate.
"Maybe that's why all those people were screaming and running. Call for backup, we may need it for casualties," Trevor muttered. "Kooper, this isn't meant as disrespect, but I'm about to give you a lift." Trevor lifted Kooper one-handed and raced toward the explosion.
* * *
Breanne's Journal
I gazed briefly at my reflection in a casino window across the street. I'd never seen my eyes do that before. They were a solid cobalt blue and stars fell through their depths. I had no idea what that meant, but I knew one thing; Erithia and her twelve were dead, and so was my sister. Hunching my shoulders, I did what I'd promised myself I wouldn't and folded space to the palace.
* * *
"Lissa's dead. I'm going to Le-Ath Veronis," Dragon appeared beside Kiarra.
"I know." Kiarra's eyes were filled with tears. "I heard that Winkler's wolf is howling beside her body, and Gavin won't let anyone else touch her. Go, I know your boys are probably going crazy with grief."
"They are. They can't even send coherent mindspeech," Dragon muttered, wiping moisture from his face. "I have to go."
"Let us know if you need anything," Kiarra called out when Dragon disappeared.
* * *
Breanne's Journal
I was glad her study was so large—so many people wouldn't have fit if it weren't. I didn't know her—not really, so mine were the only dry eyes in the place. Elbowing a few mates aside, I stared at Gavin, who wept and clutched Lissa's body against his. A very large wolf howled and cried with grief beside them.
Lissa was covered in blood—it soaked her clothing and stained the rug beneath her. What a horrible way to die. Sighing as those around me grumbled and muttered at my presence, I lifted my hands. People started backing away when I began to glow. And then I Changed What Was.
Chapter 16
Breanne's Journal
Only one big problem remained, and honestly, I considered leaving him where he was. Cheedas sat on a bunk in the Queen's dungeon—someone had sent him there shortly after he'd stabbed Lissa. I stared at him for moments before he raised tear-stained eyes in my direction.
"Fuck," I sighed. Cheedas loved Lissa, with a father's love. I'd seen it the first time I'd read him. He'd never had love for me after Gavin spread his poison, but I wasn't sure I could blame him completely for that. Erithia had accomplished one of her goals, at least for a short while. She'd managed to kill the Queen of Le-Ath Veronis. Somehow, nobody had counted on me coming in to change that.
"Well, Master Cook Cheedas, we have to take a little trip," I said, shaking my head at him.
"Who are you?" he asked, staring at me. I blinked at him in shock. A part of him had changed, and I realized after a moment that he'd had a cloud about his mind, just as Gavin did. Somehow, that had been removed. He—in his mind, anyway—was seeing me for the first time. Yes, he still held the obsession, and if he ever saw Lissa again, he'd attempt to kill her again. I had to deal with that, and it involved something I'd read from the Larentii but hadn't attempted because it frightened me. I gathered Cheedas into my mist.
As it turns out, bending time was easy.
"Who are you?" Erithia hissed as I stood inside the kitchen of the Hurricane Casino hours earlier. The Cheedas she'd obsessed was already on his way back to the palace. I dumped the Cheedas I'd taken from the dungeon in front of her.
"Nobody," I stared at her, unblinking. "Well, maybe not. I hear I'm the Vhanaraszh, whatever the hell that means."
Erithia's eyes flew wide and she drew in a sharp breath. "Kill yourself. Immediately," she placed obsession on me. I laughed. I'd attempted suicide in the past, but had failed miserably. Now wasn't the time.
"You wish," I hissed, showing Erithia red eyes and fangs. "Remove your obsession from Cheedas, here," I ordered, "or I'll kill you the same way I killed your brother." Who knew she'd be so frightened? She backed away, hands and voice trembling.
"I remove my obsession," she quavered to Cheedas.
"Good," I said before hauling Cheedas into my mist and taking him back to the dungeon.
"They'll discover you really didn't have anything to do with Lissa's attack," I sighed, staring at Cheedas, who sat on his bunk again, completely dejected. I hadn't removed his memories of the attack, I'd just gotten the obsession removed. I'd had to butt two timelines together to do it, but as it turns out, it was tiring but not debilitating. It might be debilitating to do it on a much larger scale, but at least I knew it was possible.
"Well, Cheedas, I wish I could say it was fun, but we both know it hasn't been anything close. You won't remember I was here." I misted the hell out of Lissa's dungeon.
* * *
Lissa's Journal
All of them remember. As do I. I'd died. My other self—the Nameless One that I was, had hovered over my body, watching my mates grieve. A part of me wanted to comfort them, while another part of me wanted to fly away in freedom. I was grateful, too, when Breanne appeared. I was frightened for her as well, as she still didn't realize what she was. As a Nameless One, that information came to me easily. My sister. Vhanaraszh to the Larentii. Q'elindi to Karathia. Mighty Heart to all of us.
How had this happened? That she would be all those things? I wanted her back, but hesitated to attempt mindspeech. I knew how she'd been treated, and I wanted to weep. She had no love for me, and that was the most distressing thing. How could she have anything other than resentment for me? I'd been instrumental in placing her in an untenable situation, and nothing had been done to alleviate her pain and difficulty.
"My love, you should rest," Reemagar, Connegar and Karzac all stood beside my bed after forcing the others back. Everybody was inside my bedroom, including Norian. My talk with him would have to wait. A meeting with Griffin was added to my plans as well, and I wondered briefly how that might go. The fourth person who stood at my bedside, however, was the biggest surprise.
My sister, when she Changed What Was, didn't only bring me back from death. Had she planned this when she held her hands over my body and became so bright none of my mates could look upon her?
It didn't matter—the moment I'd awa
kened, he'd been there. Nobody else thought to stand in his way, either, and he'd already told me—aloud and in mindspeech at least a dozen times since then, how much he loved me. The funny thing? I felt exactly the same. I stared into Merrill's piercing blue eyes and he winked at me as Karzac placed me in a healing sleep.
* * *
Breanne's Journal
Corent wasn't in the groves when I landed there; he'd gone to the palace. It was just as well. He was the one who deserved something from me, and I intended to see that he got it. Drawing in a breath, I bent time.
I now stood on Le-Ath Veronis in the past and stared at bodies—so many bodies—they littered the ground like crumpled and forgotten dolls. The Green Fae and their half-Fae children—all dead. Even the crystal they called Indis-Banuu was laid in a pile at the center of the bodies, all of it drained, blackened and cracked.
They'd emptied every bit of energy they could lay claim to, and it still hadn't been enough to seal the leak. One of their own had tapped the core of Le-Ath Veronis, causing an energy leak that spelled doom for the planet.
I knew, too, that these bodies would be discovered in a very short time. I had to work quickly to accomplish what I'd come to do. No—I wasn't going to fill the core with new power, like another could. That one wasn't old enough yet, where and when I stood. I was about to Change What Was—again. But first, there were two who might fade beyond my help if I didn't act quickly.
Corent looked as if he were sleeping, as did Willow, who lay nearby. Both were dead. I reached out my hand. "Live," I told Corent and Willow softly, touching each forehead gently. Corent drew a breath and rolled over in his sleep, still exhausted. Willow moaned. Without much thought, I sent Willow where he'd ended up; Morningsun. I touched Corent again, brushing dark-blue hair away from his face. He could rest while I repaired the evil done to my sister's world.
Then, I gathered power about me, smiled into the wind and reversed time for Le-Ath Veronis.
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