But while the ring looked innocuous, the smile on the vampire’s face was anything but. His sick joy radiated out from him, and a shower would be nowhere enough to make her feel clean again.
She ripped the ring off her finger and threw it at him. “There. Whatever you needed to know, you know.”
“Yes, I do, Miss Miller. You are perfect for what we need.”
“Shove it, I’m not helping you. I know what you are trying to do, and I will not take part in that.”
The vampire sneered at her. “You think not, a pitiable excuse for a human like you?” He laughed, contempt in the sound. “You amuse me. You espouse such grandiose statements, but at the first pressure you’ll break. All your kind do.”
“Go fuck yourself. No matter what you do to me, I’m not helping you.” Brave words, but the more he spoke, the smaller she collapsed inside. Gods, she wasn’t a warrior. How was she going to stay strong?
The vampire smirked at her. “You think we’ll hurt you? You are mistaken. We would not touch you. We need you. This one, though,” and he grabbed Taneasha by the hair, making her cry out as he dragged her beside him. “We do not need her.”
There was no sly creature here. Now all that was before her was a scared girl who had tried to break away from her family in the stupidest way possible, and was now confronted with the price.
Taneasha held out her hand toward Larissa. “Miss Miller!”
“Get away from her!”
The vampire regarded her coldly. “If you do not do as I say, I will skin this girl alive before your eyes. And if that does not make you change your mind, I will capture another of your students and do the same thing tomorrow. And the day after. And the day after. And I will continue until you agree to help.”
Taneasha was screaming, spittle dripping down her mouth. Cold sweat broke out over Larissa’s skin as nausea threatened with every breath she took. “I’ll do it. Please don’t hurt her.”
“That easy?” He threw Taneasha into the arms of a waiting male. “And here I thought you weren’t going to help us. So you’ll sacrifice the entire realm for a few pathetic brats. Or maybe you’ll sacrifice the realm to appease your own conscience, so instead of feeling like a murderer, you can cry and wail about how you were tricked.” The vampire smirked. “Pathetic.”
To the men, he said, “Get ready.”
Chapter Thirty-Three
‡
Wulver strode down the corridor to the meeting room, stopping inside the doorframe as Fallon’s raised voice filtered into the corridor. “Next time I see the Oracle I’m going to take one of those spiky shoes she likes to wear and nail her in the throat!”
Fallon and Aislynn were both present. Aislynn noticed him first, shaking her head as well as a small shrug to her shoulders, a What can you do? move. For her part, Fallon was standing in the middle of the room, hands on her hips and posture as aggressive and aggrieved as it got outside of a battlefield, that sword of hers looking as if it was practically vibrating on her back. He might need to order her to the sparring rooms tonight. Maybe Rorth would be brave enough to partner her.
Wulver leaned against the door. Might as well get comfy while dealing with the seething swordswoman. “Kyo’s not too happy with the circumstances, either.”
Fallon’s gold eyes were hard behind narrowed eyelids, her mouth a compressed line so tight there was no delineation between lip and jaw. “Then he should have had the balls to deny the Oracle. Larissa Miller was here. We had her safe, we could have figured everything out, and instead we had to play games.”
In her naiveté, in her constant fight against the powers surrounding them, this was where Fallon’s weakness lay. While Wulver had a few moments when he envied her fight, times like this weren’t among them. “When don’t we play games? When aren’t we at the whims of this god or that force? You talk like this is a rare occurrence.”
A muscle ticked at where her jawline met her throat, but she didn’t answer. Aislynn jumped in, no doubt to calm the negative energy vibrating in the room. “What are we going to do about Larissa Miller now?”
Wulver shook his head. “We are not to go near her unless it’s a direct order from Kyo.”
That started Fallon up again. She threw up her hands in a violent motion and started pacing again, though this time she kept her focus fixed on him. “Fuck, Wulver! She needs to be here! I don’t know how the hell she fits into their plans, but they want her bad. I don’t want to be sitting here while she plays ga-ga eyes with a gargoyle!”
He’d already had enough crap dealing with Kyo this morning. He didn’t feel like going through everything again because Fallon couldn’t accept reality. He growled as any alpha answering a challenge would. “It’s over,” he said, and even to his own ears his voice was deeper, with an echo of a wild animal running through it. “And you will not touch her. Am. I. Understood?”
Fallon’s jaw worked as she stared down Wulver. Something flickered behind her eyes. It reminded Wulver of a lizard, that inner eyelid they had that would close and reopen. It was so fast it barely registered in the conscious mind, but it left him unsettled. Abruptly, Fallon relaxed her shoulders and took a step back, her arms coming to hang beside her body. “Yeah. I understand.”
Wulver breathed deep, relaxing his own muscles that locked during the argument while he struggled to control the alpha roaring in his head to pin her into submission, bare her throat and feel his teeth digging into the soft flesh, taste blood on his tongue. He turned his attention to Aislynn to help gain control. “We have other problems to deal with now. Merc took the job and the spellbook is under his control.”
Aislynn’s calm acceptance went a long way to help him regain control. Her jaw tightened for only a moment, but her voice was even when she spoke. “This is unhappy news, but not a surprise. It was a matter of when, not if. What of Rhaum and the Dream Crafter?”
Fallon must have decided to keep a lid on any more emotional displays to keep tension levels at bay. She replied, “Inara tells me that he expects to have her in a couple weeks and to be ready for his mini-majesty’s summons when the time comes.”
If Rhaum said he would have her, it was as good as done. “I’ll want you and Laire to meet with her and explain the situation.”
Fallon’s mouth quirked, but her eyes still held that unsettling flicker. “Sure. Why not? I always enjoy playing puppet master to someone’s life.”
Before the conversation could go any further, the building shook violently motions, which had the three of them scrambling to stay on their feet. “What the-”
The shaking stopped and deep bellows sounded from the corridors, followed by the clang of sword on sword and high-pitched screams of pain.
Wulver spun away and ran toward the sounds of fighting. Before him, orcs and goblins overran every free inch of space, their mottled green-skinned bodies blocking exits and using swords, axes, and bows to strike down anyone who came out to fight them.
As soon as he was close to the main section Wulver leapt. The shifting pain within was dim, far away, easily ignored. Bones lengthened and teeth sharpened and senses magnified. With a hungry growl he crashed into the largest of the orcs. His jaws clamped over the creature’s face, tearing away skin and bone before he ripped into the thing’s throat, disgusting sludge coating his tongue and sulfur clogging his nostrils.
Aislynn’s arrows whizzed by his head as the archer stayed back to rain down death. Fallon took up position beside Wulver and in concert they destroyed their enemies. Orc after orc stepped close to the fighting Fallon, only to have Aislynn’s arrows bring them down. Fallon twisted Tenro and plunged the sword into the chest of the creature in front of her. Before she could yank her sword back out an orc attacked from behind. She kicked back to hit the creature in the knee, bringing him down. Freeing Tenro, she sliced the orc in half and used the momentum to get the orc who came at her next.
Aislynn’s arrows flew past, striking some of the orcs in the distance. Pandemonium erupte
d across the control room. For every enemy brought down, three more took its place.
Darkness swirled across the floor and Shadow rose to join the fight, taking out a goblin at Aislynn’s back. The elf tipped Wulver a quick smile but did not stop her assault on the advancing hordes.
A ball of fire erupted in the middle of the latest group of goblins, creating piles of flame and ash and the explosion knocking down several nearby.
Fallon turned. “Dammit Laire, what took so long?”
Laire shrugged. “Had to find my shoes.” Motioning with her fingers, she brought down bolts of lightning from the ceiling and fried the orcs in front of them. “The whole place is in chaos. Everywhere needs help.”
Laire began to say more, but a large orc came behind her. Fallon grabbed a long dagger from her waist and threw it, piercing the orc in the eye. The dead creature would have crashed into the mage if Fallon hadn’t pushed her to the side.
Undaunted, Laire looked at the dead orc and shivered. “That would have been ugly.”
“That’s why mages stay at a safe distance. How are you on spells?”
“Medium.”
There were still large groups of enemies. Fallon hefted Tenro. “Stay back and save power for the big stuff. Tell us what happened while I’m kicking some ass here.” And with that, Fallon charged back into the melee and dragged a goblin away from a young female healer who was being pulled out of a nearby room. “How the fuck did they get past the barrier?”
Laire crossed her arms and leaned against the wall as Shadow vivisected a particularly ugly specimen ten feet in front of her. “Suicide onslaught. There were so many who hit at once the barrier was overwhelmed.”
Aislynn frowned before she let loose an arrow that brought down a hanging screen, killing several things that were under it. “It would have taken hundreds to do that, perhaps thousands.”
Laire’s expression was uncharacteristically somber. “Yeah.”
Aislynn shook her head in disbelief, risking a glance away from the battle toward the mage. “What are they after? What can they expect from this?”
A fresh batch appeared in the doorway, and Laire groaned. “Gods, how many are there? Can’t they stop coming? Hang on. Fallon, at the entrance!”
At Laire’s scream, all eyes turned toward the gathering across the room, to see Larissa Miller in the middle of the pack of enemies. Fallon yelled, “Time to use magic. Laire, get her.”
Laire created another ball in her hands that looked like an overgrown soap bubble. She aimed it and threw it at Larissa, hitting the woman dead center of her torso.
Nothing happened.
Laire stared at her hands, then at Larissa. Laire’s mouth moved, though no sound came out. Then her eyes widened, and all color fled to leave nothing but a chalky residue behind. “Oh gods.” Laire voice was low and terrified.
“Laire?” Aislynn’s voice held uncertainty, seeing their normally unflappable mage become this upset.
“She’s a null. That’s why they are after her. She’s a null!”
Fallon got knocked over and fell to the ground. Before the orc could land another blow, she flipped over in a handstand and brought Tenro up to slice the orc between his legs, from crotch to brainpan. Without pausing she pivoted to bring the sword down and cleave another orc in two.
Aislynn let loose several more arrows to take down the creatures around Larissa. The arrows struck true, but as soon as one orc fell, another took his place. Whatever Larissa was involved in was their primary goal. “Laire, what do we do about Larissa? What the hell is a null?”
Backing into a corner, Laire muttered to herself before crying out, “The vault! They’re using her to get into the vault!”
Aislynn could see it wasn’t orcs and goblins that surrounded Larissa. A necromancer and his acolyte were behind her. They made their way to the elevator that led to the vault, unconcerned with the battle that raged around them.
Laire darted across the battle scene, her focus on Larissa and the necromancer.
“Laire, wait!” Aislynn cried out. The mage didn’t stop, so Aislynn followed. An orc appeared in front of her. Aislynn jumped onto its shoulder, aiming an arrow and firing into his forehead before catapulting over him.
A troll tore across the floor and headed straight for Laire. She turned and cast a quick barrier in front of her, but the troll threw himself against it and hurtled the mage across the floor.
Wulver jumped on him, his claws tearing a hole into the troll’s chest. While the creature was trying to throw Wulver off, Aislynn drew back and shot an arrow into that hole. The troll howled in pain, and Aislynn fired off several more.
Suddenly, as one, the orcs and goblins lifted their heads. The next moment they disappeared, magic letting them escape the building faster than the speed of thought, leaving blood and chaos and the bodies of their dead behind.
Wulver turned back into his human form, blood-drenched and eyes blazing as he came to stand before Laire. “What the fuck happened?”
Aislynn helped a shaky Laire onto her feet. “Laire, what were you saying before?”
“The vault.” Laire brought her hand up to her bleeding head and winced. “They wanted the vault.”
Wulver and Fallon took off, while Aislynn helped Laire before they went down to the vault as well. The mage and the elf entered the vault area in time to hear Wulver yell, “Gods damn, how could they have done this?”
The vault door, one of the most magically protected items in the entire world, was hanging off its hinges. Items were scattered in sparse clutter while row upon row of shelving was empty. While not everything was taken, even someone with no knowledge of the contents could tell it was sacked.
Wulver hit a comm panel. “Tec, talk to me.”
A posh British accent replied. “Fully half our people are damaged, over fifty confirmed casualties, which includes several of our healers. I’ve made the call for back-up, but that will not be a quick process. I’m compiling what has been taken from the vault and will be finished shortly.”
“Get down here as soon as you have that list.” Wulver turned to Laire. “How did they get into the vault? A hundred mages working together shouldn’t have been able to break it open, and a lone vampire waltzes in here and does just that?”
“Larissa Miller. She’s a null. Magic has no effect on her. Walking into that vault was as easy for her as walking into a grocery store.” Laire began banging her knuckles into her forehead. “I should have caught it. I should have thought.”
Fallon grabbed Laire’s hand. “Stop the crazy. How could you have known?”
“She was born at the Great Collision. I concentrated on the fact that magical powers never materialized, but the ability to not be affected by magic is also a power. It’s just so much rarer I overlooked it.”
“But you put a shield on her and that worked,” said Aislynn.
“No, I didn’t. I put a shield around her. She only affects magic she comes into contact with. If I bothered to look into it, I would have found dozens of examples of how magic items broke around her.”
“And she didn’t know this about herself?” Aislynn asked.
“She lives in the most perfect place to not know it. Think about it. The least amount of magic they can get by with, no interest in pursuing magic, and while powers materializing would have made an impression, how do you figure out you cause the absence of something?”
“Yet the vampires knew about her when we didn’t.” Anyone who knew Wulver knew that tone of voice did not bode well for anyone in his path.
Before any response could be made the elevator opened and Tec walked out, his gingery curls sticking up at all angles. “Three-hundred and forty-seven items,” he said, the list in his hands grabbed by Laire before he came to a standstill.
“Almost half gone,” Wulver said, voice low. He scratched his cheek, fingers curled against the angry-red scar. He stopped and he looked up, his eyes on Laire. “They didn’t spend all that effort to get h
er solely to break into the vault. They need her for something very special. Search the list. What is big enough to start the rip and specifically needs a null?”
Laire was the embodiment of concentration, her eyes flying over the list. Her eyes stopped their movements and she jerked back, her mouth forming an O. “What day is today?”
“Tues-” began Ais, but Laire pulled out her phone and scrolled through the calendar function. Her teeth ground together when she found what she had been searching for.
“Well?” demanded Wulver.
Laire’s eyes were wide, horrified. “They have the Stone of the Four Souls and the Dagger of Kerith Tay. They’re going to use her to release the Four Demons.”
“The demons the gods themselves had to band together to trap?” Aislynn’s voice shook. “There is no way a necromancer could control them. Not even to rip the realms asunder would they chance bringing them into this world.”
“I might not have any love for fangboy,” Laire said, her lips giving a little twist. “But I can admit how powerful he is. If any necromancer ever had the ability to control them, it would be Reign.”
“And he’s arrogant enough to be willing to try,” Fallon finished. “When?”
“Tonight,” responded Laire. “Tonight is a blue moon. It has to be tonight, when the moon is at its zenith. It’s the only time.”
Aislynn spoke. “It’s impossible to go against them tonight. Even if we knew where they are. Our forces are decimated. The mages used most of their spells to fight the invasion, the healers are overwhelmed, and our warrior strength is cut in half.”
“We can discover where the ceremony will be held.” Shadow stepped through the wall and pulled someone behind him. It was an acolyte, the one who walked with Larissa and the vampire, his hands bound behind him. “I caught him on the way out. I’ve already blocked his link with his master.”
“I do love that freaky shadow magic stuff you do,” Laire said, normal smart-assy coming back into her voice. Shadow tilted his head toward her, the only concession he heard the praise.
Entwined Realms Volume One Page 25