“Then what are you here for?”
Just hearing Vlad's voice made my skin crawl. It was good to know that I wasn't attracted to every male vampire. Just most of them. Go me.
Vlad materialized out of the darkness in the same way that I assumed Zane could do. Dark tendrils of smoke coiled together to create a vampire out of pretty much nothing. Vlad formed a moment latter, wearing a blood red top with frills around the neck and cuffs, a long black jacket, and pants that looked nearly painted on. He should have looked horrible, but he made it work. He kept a safe distance away from me. He was wary, I liked it.
“We are going to assault the temple, I'd like the help you and the rest of the vampires. Then I am going to fulfill the prophecy.”
He raised his brow. “You will accept my offer?”
“I didn't say I was going to do it with you,” I pointed out. “But here's the thing. I want magic in this world. I want it more than I can tell you. Ever since I was a kid I wanted to live in a world with dragons, and vampires and everything else. Blame it on the video games, or the comic books, or whatever you want to. I wanted it so bad that I used to cry about it. I dunno, make of that what you will. You aren't my therapist. But we are going to attack the Temple, and all of you are invited to join us.”
“And what will you offer me?”
I laughed, and even to me it sounded derisive. “Dude, I'm going to be giving you back the ability to create more vampires. At the end of all of this? You will owe me.”
A hand curled over his arm. Anja stood there with her wise dark eyes. She reached up and tucked his collar around his neck. It was a wifely motion, an affectionate one. He turned his gaze on her, and they shared a silent conversation. A moment later he bowed his head.
“We will join you.”
“Good,” I said. “Then pack up.”
“You will make war now?”
I shrugged. “I've put this off long enough, and I don't know how much time Wei still has. Let's go make a battle plan.”
~~
It sounded like the beginning of a really bad joke. The witches, the vampires, and a prophecy girl approached the temple at midnight. A year ago, I would have thought it was a joke, but today? It was just my life choices.
I had traded in the ruined robes of my grandmother for a tank top and a leather jacket. My dad had inscribed mathematical symbols into the jacket to protect me. I liked it. It went better with my boots. He'd done the same for a pair of wristlets he'd found, wearing them made me feel kinda like Wonder Woman. What more could a girl want in life?
There were a little over a hundred of us. Witches from every walk of life, dressed in every style of clothing a person could imagine, all shoulder to shoulder with one intent in mind. To help me take back the magic that they had lost, or had never been able to gain. The vampires were a dark shadow, save for Genevieve and Alan, who both looked like angels. They formed a semi-circle around Marco and I, and my magic was so ready that it itched at my skin. My dad stood just behind them, he hadn't been willing to stay behind this time. I wasn't going to tell him no. This was his fight too.
The temple looked more like a fortress, but I expected no less from the Order of the Loyal Hermit. It was all gray stone and barbed wire. The wire had been formed into symbols, I didn't know them, but I knew that they were protective in nature. It took Reikah, and her knowledge of the Order, and my dad, with his knowledge of inscription to take it down.
Before they were done a blast of sound hit our gathering. It was so loud and so unexpected that nearly all of us crumpled to our knees. All save for the deaf witch. She looked around at us and understanding crossed her features. She threw one hand into the air, and a moment later the sound dissipated. By the time that had happened, however, faces appeared at small slit windows around the temple.
“Margot,” I called.
“Best to look away,” Margot smirked.
I had not understood the term “charming” before Margot. It was hard not to look at her, it was harder still to look. Her robes were a flutter of golden silk. It brought out the warmth in her skin, making her look softly pink. She laughed, and the sound rolled over the crowd.
Then she began to sing. I didn't know the song, it was in a language I'd never heard, but it made me think of all the things that I wanted. I wanted Wei back, safe and happy. I wanted my dad to not worry about me anymore. I wanted Jenny and Reikah to live a long life together. I wanted the child that everyone told me was going to bring magic into the world. I wanted Zane to get over my sister. I wanted so many things...
A pair of hands clapped over my ears and I found myself looking up into big golden eyes. They were so bright, and so easy to give into. Zane's eyes.
“Stay here,” he said, “a Siren's song is not easy to ignore.”
I blinked, and now that I knew what it was, it didn't have nearly as much effect on me. I shook my head and gave his lips a light kiss. I don't know who was more surprised him or me.
“What was that for?” he asked.
I shrugged. “Maybe you'll second guess yourself before the inevitable betrayal.” I gave his cheek a pat. “This probably is the worst possible moment for this, but I gotta say, I don't think you love my sister.”
He frowned at me. “Is this another tactic to assuage me?”
I don't know if I actually understood what the word assuage meant, but I was going to guess it meant “turn.”
“No,” I said, “You can love someone who doesn't love you back, that's fine. But I don't think you can love someone who doesn't even respect you.”
He gave me a look, and I didn't need the tether that still held us together to know that he was angry with me. He could be angry. Hard truths pissed a lot of people off. But we could deal with that later.
The front doors were opening on the temple, and a slew of people clad in gray robes were coming out. Their arms stretched out as they tried to get to Margot.
That's when the first volley went over. Spells of every variety slammed across the wide expanse between us and them. People flew backwards, and the Siren spell was broken.
“Go!” Marquessa called out. “It's your time!”
I wasn't part of the main attack force. The plan had been fairly simple, and Vlad had been the one to come up with it. I guess all those years in the military had been helpful.
The hardest part about getting into the temple was the fact that it was so closed off. It was right up against a mountain which meant there was only one direction that we could come from. The front. So we had to draw the cult out, and there was no better way to do that than Margot. Now that that was done, and the doors were wide open, Me, Zane, Alan, Dmitri, and Genevieve were going inside. This way both necromancers had some vampires with them.
Jenny had wanted to come, but I needed her with the main forces. Her stone magics were much better on large forces than smaller ones. An opinion made valid by the way the bedrock shook beneath us, scattering group of cultists as me and my coterie of undead charged inside.
“Okay, Maahes,” I said, “let's find Wei.”
The inside of the temple was as gray and lifeless as the outside. Jeez. What was it about these people and their monochrome color scheme? I followed the tabby cat as he went around from room to room, looking for the vampire that he liked best.
I knew something was wrong when my tabby cat froze. Maahes wasn't your normal cat, what with him being dead and all, but he wasn't prone to going vampire still either. I held up a hand and before I could say anything Maahes was dragged across the ground, towards a room that seemed like it was more central to the temple than not. He howled in feline pain.
“Maahes!” I screamed, charging after him. I was dimly aware that the vampires were following me.
I didn't know that a ghost could feel pain, but I felt Maahes. His claws dug into the concrete, and he struggled to keep from whatever was pulling him down the corridor. His eyes were big in his head and his stripped tail was poofed out.
H
e disappeared through a door, and it took me one terrified kick to charge in after him. No one hurt my kitty.
I came to a halt just inside the door. There was a short set of stairs that gave us just enough room to gather on.
The room was massive. Like, half a football field large. It was a perfect octagon, and looked more like a temple than anything else that I had seen in this fortress. Nine-foot-tall pillars, Greek in style, held up the ceiling. The ground was made of black marble, so shiny and perfect that I could see myself reflected in it.
And in the very center stood Connie. She was wearing her gray robes, but the hood was pulled back so that I could see her freckled face. It had been a long time since I had seen her in the flesh. We were the same height, and had similar builds, but that was about where the similarities stopped. Her hair was a riot of curls, in shades of red and blonde. She had constellations of freckles across her face, neck and arms. She carried a pot in her arms, as long as her torso, and her eyes were filled with disgust.
“So it's true,” she sneered. “You are a necromancer.”
I blinked. Really? That's what she was going to open with? “Well, yeah,” I said. “You got a problem with that?”
Her sneer deepened. “The undead are lesser creatures.”
“Whoa.”
“Connie,” Zane's voice was breathy and strangled.
She looked at him, almost as if she had just realized he was there. I don't know what I expected to see. If it had been mean I'd have apologized for saying something like that. She barely bothered to give him a millisecond of her attention before she turned back to me.
“I should have known you'd be so pathetic.”
“What the heck.” I shook my head. “Okay, we are going to have to school you in rudeness another day. Where is Wei?”
She laughed, and it was a bitter sound. “By now? Dead. You took too long big sister.”
“Liar.” I surged forward.
She shrugged. “Even if he's not, by the time I get done with you he will be.”
The door slammed shut behind us, locking us in the room. I had just long enough to muse over the concept of epic boss battle before she lifted the jug over her head and poured it out. It was blood, and it sloshed over her Carrie style. Gross.
She threw her arms into the air and a hundred symbols that I hadn't seen flared to life. They were carved into every available surface, the floor, the walls, the pillars. Even the ceiling was blanketed in them. I recognized plenty of them, most were summoning magics, some were protective, some talked about beasts and stars. But I couldn't put them all together, and by the time I was sure they meant something bad for me, the ground was beginning to warp beneath my feet.
Strong arms hauled me away from the black marble, and back unto the entryway stairs. Dmitri put a protective arm around my middle and hauled me against his chest while Zane, Genevieve, and Alan stepped in front of me. It was strange to feel so protected.
My sister’s eyes found mine anyway and we shared a look filled with knives and meaning. Her lips curled into a knife sharp smile and I was reminded a little of Dora, the Swamp Witch. Magic pulsed through the room, beating down around me. It smelled like blood and wood and starlight. The hairs on the back of my neck stood up.
The floor was shifting everywhere but the stairs and the spot where my sister stood.
“Don't do this,” I didn't know exactly what she was doing, but I knew it couldn't be good. Magic that required so much blood didn't seem like it could end well.
“Come to me, Beast!”
The floor surged up like a waterfall going the wrong way. I tried to take another step back but Dmitri held me close.
The floor, which looked more like a night sky, wrapped around my sister like a wave, and then it took shape. Four legs, a long powerful body, and head that looked like something between a bear and a pitbull, broad and flat and powerful. Fur grew across its body, rippling like starlit shadows. It threw back its head and howled. It wasn't like an animal’s howl. It was like the lowest note on a very long electronic keyboard, with the bass turned all the way up. It made my teeth ache.
It took me a moment to realize what she had done. The creature swam around her protectively. My sister had a talent for beast magic, and blood magic and she had managed to combine the two. She had bonded herself to them. It was a hag's trick.
“You can't do that!” I cried out.
“You would bring magic to everyone!” She snapped back at me. “I will do whatever it takes.”
“Connie, please,” Zane's deep voice was filled with a plea.
She rolled her eyes in response. “You, you are even more pathetic than she is. What are you hoping? For my love? My attention?” She laughed like it was the worst joke ever. “You are so stupid. Haven't you figured it out yet? I don't love you. You don't love me. My mother magic must have worked way too well.”
Zane's face filled with shock. He probably understood what she was saying better than I did. My mom was a mind mage, given enough time she could brainwash them into thinking whatever she wanted them to. Zane had a similar power, but his wasn't so long lasting. One time he told me to relax and it felt like I'd had a ten-hour massage.
“It's...not...real.”
Connie sneered. “A vampire isn't capable of love.”
Well, that I knew wasn't true. Alan was in love with Dmitri, and Wei was in love with me and there was absolutely no magic involved with any of that. But it was clear by the look on her face that Connie believed it.
“But...” Zane slid to his knees and my heart went out to him, but there was no time to offer comfort now.
“Beast! Get them!”
The creature howled that terrifying howl again and charged at us. I didn't have time to think I threw my power into the vampires and they drank it in. They were already strong and fast, I made them better.
Dmitri jumped in front of me, taking the brunt of the hit. Alan and Genevieve darted to the left and the right, flanking the great creature. Zane was still kneeling on the ground, looking like he had been kicked in the gut.
The fight was too fast for me to follow. Alan and Genevieve took turns lashing at the creature from either side, their claws digging into star speckled fur. It snarled and snapped at them, But Dmitri, who shifted into a beastman himself, was there to take every hit. When he weakened, I threw my magic into him, reinvigorating him, making him like new. We were unstoppable. At least we were until Connie attacked me.
I went tumbling to one side, and she snarled at me.
“You will destroy the world!”
“Nope,” I said, even as her blood-soaked hands went around my neck. “Just you.”
I hadn't realized how angry I was at her. I had thought that I didn't really care all that much about her doing our mother's bidding...but I was pretty pissed off. I had always wanted a sister, almost as much as I wanted magic, and this one was the worst one that I could even think of. She could have been my friend, she could have stood with me, she could have taken the time to see things from my point of view, but instead she betrayed me and that just hurt so much. Then, the fact that she had known about the magical whammy put on Zane and had taken advantage of it? Man, that just made it worse.
I used my hips to tumble her off me and we crashed down to the steps and onto the marble floor. It was far more solid now, but the blood that had spilled on it made it slick. She threw her hands at me and raw magic sent me flying backwards, slapping into one of the pillars. I was going to have some pretty impressive bruises on my back, that is if I survived long enough to bruise. Life goals.
I threw magic back at her, it wasn't half so strong, since my magic was already being split four ways. It was enough to disrupt her and then I tackled her to the ground and pinned her arms above her head, keeping her from casting spells.
“Why do you hate me so much?” I growled. “What did I ever do to you?”
“You were born.”
“Oops,” I said, maintaining my title as q
ueen of comebacks.
She tried to get up, but she couldn't, not with me weighing her down.
“We could have been friends.”
She gave me a look that told me I was an idiot. “You killed my dad.”
She jerked her hands out of my grip, a move made easier by the slick blood, and hit me so hard I saw stars. My head rocked to the side. She kicked me across the jaw and I tumbled back. Then she was on top of me, a blade held high in the air. It had a ribbon like look to it, like a wave, with a perilously sharp tip.
“You killed him!”
“He started it!”
Yeah, I know. I could have said pretty much anything else, but apparently fear of death reverts my brain back to that of a kindergartner. I had killed her dad, and he had started it, but it sounded like a childish excuse even to me.
House Of Vampires 3 (The Lorena Quinn Trilogy) Page 15