by Faith Hunter
The humans smelled of uncertainty and curiosity.
Rising over the vamps’ natural scents was the tang of their desire. They wanted to taste my blood. Some of them wanted a full dinner; in vamp terms, they wanted sex and blood at the same time. Once upon a time, that would have offended me, maybe even frightened me. Now it was something I could use to avenge Derek and Storm. I stared them down. I smiled.
The vamps’ scents began to alter, morphing from desire to something more acerbic, resembling anxiety. Gently I began to draw on the power of the crown stuck to my head. The crown of power over vamps for the person who could use it. Smelling their unease grow, I stepped forward. They separated, leaving the way open to the main steps. I walked between them, letting them look. Letting them worry. I didn’t pull a weapon. I was a weapon.
Slowly I stepped up the stairs. At the top, I looked down at the foyer with my crest on the floor, exposed by the flood of people who had arrived and then stepped back. Wrassler was on his honeymoon. The woman standing in the security nook doorway was familiar, Sarah Spieth, a new former military person chosen by . . . Derek.
“Now,” I said.
She pulled a massive weapon, a GatCrank, forward and aimed it on the gathered. We had planned this on the way over. “Send the announcement. All the fangheads are to gather in the gym.” I swiveled my head around, taking them in. “All of them. Anyone who refuses to gather is to be staked with wood and brought down anyway.”
The smell of shock and anger began to rise on the air. Not unexpected.
Some of the vamps smelled like fear now too. I snarled, showing my fangs. “I am your queen.” Almost as if I knew what I was doing, using the skill I had learned healing Aya, I drew on the blasted crown, yanking the power into me. Gathering it inside myself. Holding it in a loose fist of my will.
So softly it was only a whisper, I said, “Kneel!” I shoved my power into the group.
All around the foyer, vamps fell to their knees. All except a select few. I memorized their faces and scents.
My personal security popped from the airlock into the foyer, vamp-fast, armed to the teeth. Thema and Kojo raced through the crowd, shoving the resistant vamps facedown to the floor. Staking them. I knew who my people were and who my enemies were.
Through the loudspeaker system, an announcement went out. “All Mithrans are to gather in the gym,” Sarah commanded. “HQ is in full lockdown mode. There is no way out. You have fifteen minutes.”
Satisfied, I turned and walked to my destination, showing them my back.
Leo had taught me well.
Koun was on my tail. He was wearing basic armor in a dull black and carried lots of weapons. And he had both swords out.
I wasn’t sure where Leo was, but in this form, I had a very good nose, and he wasn’t on the premises. I didn’t smell him anywhere. I had thought he might be hiding here and that perhaps I could smell him in this form. I was wrong.
I shoved open the door. It dented the wall where it hit. I was doing that a lot now. I strode into Raisin’s office, silent on my pawed feet, the scarlet armor a declaration of war. Two feet in, I stopped.
The old blood-servant was looking at me. Her eyes wide, her lips pursed into dozens of vertical crevices and wrinkles. One hand was beneath her desk. Before she could pull out her hand and aim, Quint flew under my arm and up into the room. Her body twisted in midair, somersaulting and uncoiling. Like a ninja in some old movie.
Time deescalated. I crouched.
The petite blonde crashed into Raisin feet first. A gun fired. Small caliber. It blew out a ceiling light as they disappeared behind the desk. Tumbling.
Quint stood, lifting Raisin by the hair and slammed her facedown onto the desk, breaking her nose. Almost as fast as a vamp, Quint yanked Raisin’s arms back and secured them with a supersized zip strip. She smashed Raisin’s face down again, leaving a bloody smear on the formerly pristine desktop. “My Queen,” Quint said. Not even out of breath.
It was pretty amazing.
Koun laughed in appreciation. He scented of sexual interest.
Raisin spit blood at me.
Quint wrapped a gag around her mouth before shoving her head back to the desk, her cheek pressed into her blood.
I meandered closer. I bent and smelled Raisin, soft little fluttering sounds coming from my cat nostrils. Vamps. Several vamps. I dropped my head to two inches from Raisin’s eyes, opened my mouth, curled back my lips, showing her my fangs. I sucked in air through my mouth, over my tongue, across the scent sacs in the roof of my mouth. Raisin was older than a lot of vamps. She would have been around when Ka and Adan were here and when Immanuel became u’tlun’ta so long ago. And she had been drinking of Adan. Adan’s blood smelled of Monique, the not-yet-dead creature in the scion room.
“Ahhh,” I said. Adan had been part of the group I was unable to see while I was in Monique’s soul home. I stepped back and sat in the chair that miraculously appeared there, placed by a human, who whispered, “My Queen,” and darted out of the room. The chair was leather, comfy, and big enough for my new, wider shoulders. I could get used to this kind of service.
“Ernestine,” I said, using Raisin’s real name. “You have been accused of treason.”
Raisin shook her head so hard her hair smeared into the blood.
“Alex, please be so kind as to play the recording in question,” I said into my mic.
Raisin stiffened as if hit with a cattle prod.
“Yeah,” I said. “Your sanctuary, which you make certain is swept for devices every day, has been the subject of an internal probe.”
Adan’s voice came over the speaker system, saying, “There are many of us who will not have a beast as a queen. Many who feel that only a Mithran should have access to la corona. That only a powerful Mithran has the right to rule, not an aberration.”
“Many of us?” Raisin said, her voice tinny from the recording. “It takes only one brave soul to bring death to a fool. Amaury Pellissier drank blood from a whore who ingested colloidal silver and he died. It is not difficult to kill the powerful.”
My eyes narrowed at Raisin’s insult. She was talking about Bruiser’s mother. The audio continued.
“I always wondered how the human woman acquired colloidal silver to drink,” Adan said. The sound of a chair cushion exhaling came over the recording. “In those days it was difficult to acquire in good quality. I salute you.”
Raisin closed her eyes as her recorded British voice said, “Difficult. Not impossible for those with the resources. I have always had excellent resources. Leo’s uncle was vicious enough, but not wise enough for this city. Leo was much more . . . useful. He was not intended to die. The creature who has the crown was supposed to die in his place.”
“And yet she rules. You miscalculated,” Adan said. “This time one brave soul is not enough. We need more. Will you turn over your people to us and to the one who leads us?”
“You say us, yet I see only you. Who is this vaunted leader of whom you have spoken?”
On the desktop, Raisin struggled. Tears and bloody snot ran down her wrinkled face, adding to the smears on her desk.
In the recording, I heard a paper slide across the desk. “These are my people. Our master, the Heir, has been pulling strings for centuries, waiting for the time to be ripe, and though the creature killed many of his players since she arrived in this city, she and this one”—a grunt sounded. Pain. Muffled. Derek. Had to be—“opened the way at the end. We have Shaun MacLaughlinn to lead the attack and an amulet that gives him strength and speed. He will kill the creature’s protectors. We have a skinwalker to eat her and take her place. Our master, the Heir, will be revealed only after you have proven your worthiness to us, to our cause, and to Shaun MacLaughlinn’s power.”
“You will be pleased with the assistance that I can provide. The doors that I can open.” Raisin’s tone was like the snake in the garden, slithering and full of malice.
Adan said, “Immediately
Shaun can commit nearly-sixty Mithrans. Shaun is a leader who can destroy the creature. The master has many, many more. Together we can hold the States and take back the European cities from the fops who currently rule in the creature’s name.”
“I accept. You have my loyalty. I shall bow to your leader, Shaun MacLaughlinn, and this heir you speak of. My blood shall be his blood. I so swear.”
From behind me, Thema said, “So many Mithrans and blood-servants, each with so many agendas. The curse of our people has always been disloyalty.”
Into my earbud, Alex whispered. “Two intruders in HQ, passing laser alarms and cameras, hidden behind obfuscation workings, the old spell versions that still let us collect heat sigs. One fanghead, one human. Both are going up the back stairs. They’re converging on Ernestine’s office.”
Softly Alex added, “Another being, possibly human is in the scion lair, trying to free Monique Giovanni.”
I had been told several times to end her. I should have listened. “Send a stealth team to the intersecting hallways of Raisin’s office and one to the scion lair.”
“Closest team has Aya on it.”
I sighed softly. “Do it. What’s Raisin’s full name?” Alex told me. I stood and gestured Koun forward. My Executioner. I had never given him a job like this before. Tonight was gonna suck.
Koun stepped between us, one sword high, the other still sheathed. Behind him, Thema and Kojo turned to face the hallway, guarding us from attack. “Ernestine Frida Bisset. You have been accused of treason. You have, by the words of your mouth, consorted with our enemies. You have admitted collusion in the death of Amaury Pellissier, Master of the City of New Orleans. We hereby condemn you to death, according to the Vampira Carta of the Americas.” To Quint I said, “Remove her gag. Sit her up in her chair.”
Quint jerked the old blood-servant upright. Removed her gag. As Quint moved, Raisin spat again. This time something flew from her mouth. Midair, it glittered.
“Down!” Koun screamed. With a single downward cut, he batted the thing back at Raisin. With his other hand, he lifted the heavy desk on its end and yanked Quint and me down. His body moving vamp-fast. The desk still rocking over us.
The glittering thing hit Raisin in the face.
An explosion ripped all sound away.
The office shook. Dust and debris flew.
I crawled to my feet. Trying to figure out what had happened. Blinking against the dust and the blood in my eyes. Deaf. In my pocket, the Glob was hot, as if it had pulled energy from the air. So . . . magic?
The memories were splintered and confused but . . . Raisin had spat something from her mouth and Koun had batted it back, yanked up the desk to protect us, and shoved us down. Vamp-fast. Right?
Ernestine’s head was gone, nothing of her left above her shoulders, Koun’s blade had buried itself in the desk edge and both were still rocking. Koun nodded to me. He was okay. I checked on Quint who was trying to get to her feet. We were all covered in blood, but not our own. Quint and I were coughing against the dust and the stench of whatever had been used in the physical part of the explosion. Koun wasn’t breathing, so he was fine. And none of us were dead, thanks to Koun’s vamp reflexes.
Time solidified and stabilized. I shook my head as my brain started to work.
Raisin was no vamp. Her body had contained a lot of blood. It still pulsed from her headless neck, though weakly now. It had splattered everywhere. Koun shoved the headless body onto the floor. The blood had drenched everything and everyone in sight. Quint dragged me toward the door. My people had ducked away at Koun’s warning. They were racing back. They grabbed at me, searching for wounds. Koun said something and they stepped back. I looked at myself. I was . . . a mess.
That might be a good thing. The blood of the lynchpin between two factions could be a powerful token to vamps. I looked back to see Koun levering the blade out of the wood. He placed it on the desk, palmed a different, smaller blade, and turned to face the door. I touched my crown, and thought about my damaged ears, and how I needed them right away. I felt a tendril of healing flow to them. A hum was followed by a roaring and then by voices as if from a distance. I was able to hear some. That was fast.
Gesturing my people away from the opening, Quint led us into the hallway.
Adan shoved past us into the room, fast, with a little pop of air that sent the dust soaring again. He stopped. His wild hair was flying and patchy. His eyes went wide. This was one time that not having to breathe worked against a vamp. He hadn’t smelled the blood in his wild run. Or me.
He saw the body, slumped and headless. Adan reached for his weather magic, but before he could gather it, Quint threw a small blade. It buried itself in Adan’s throat.
Adan, who had killed Derek. Derek. Who had just become a friend.
In one swift move, I pulled my vamp-killer. Stepped to Adan’s side. In a single backhand strike, I took Adan’s head. The cut was so powerful his head spun into the air, leaving his body standing.
Quint caught the head. The body crumpled.
From behind Adan, a woman screamed.
CHAPTER 17
Bloody Diminutive Blonde, Dangling Two Heads by the Hair
Ka N’vsita and an unknown vamp stood in the hallway, Ka’s amber eyes wide with horror and shock. The vamp old and powerful. I pulled the Glob. It was still hot in my hand.
Ka screamed again. The stink of liver-eater flooded out through her open-mouthed cry. And then she was gone. Simply gone. Holy crap, she was fast. And healed.
The vamp drew two longswords and charged me, screaming something, rushing into the small space. Koun stepped in front of me. Batted the opponent’s swords away. And in a graceful, single cut, took his head. It flew into the air, blood pumping.
Great. More blood on my clothes and pelt.
In the hallway, three security members raced past, others lying on the floor where Ka had tossed them in her flight.
The Glob cooled in my hand. The blood dripped. Blood spatter was everywhere.
“Nice beheadings,” Quint said to us without emotion. “Economical.” It sounded like high praise.
“Thanks.” Belatedly I said, “Ernestine killed herself in a failed attack on the Master of the City, Jane Yellowrock. The Dark Queen pronounced judgment and punishment upon Adan Bouvier for treason and the death by murder of Derek Lee, that murder committed within sight of the Queen. And the other one . . .” I frowned and looked to Koun.
“He attacked the Dark Queen and drew swords without challenge. It was necessary to take his head.”
“Yeah. That.”
The security team gathered in the open door, figures in black on black, weaponed and armored up like a SWAT team. The three who had given chase ran back and joined the group, Aya among them; Aya sniffing, frowning, as if he smelled the same liver-eater stench I did.
Sarah Spieth’s voice said into my earbud, “Ka vanished from the cameras, the lasers, everything.”
Koun said, “Institute a full search and clearing of the entire building.”
“Wait,” I said, holding up the dripping vamp-killer.
No one moved.
Ka disappeared? I plucked at the memory of Ka escaping, almost as if she was moving out of time-sequence. Had Ka just done a form of timewalking? The way I used to? And . . . If she had, did Ka begin to eat people as a way to stave off a magic cancer? Ka who was a skinwalker, an Onorio of some kind, and had eaten a red-headed vamp I didn’t know and had also eaten the Firestarter.
She had eaten alive multiple kinds of sentient beings and gained their magical gifts. I closed my eyes, remembering the image of Ka stabbing Storm. In her other hand was something else. A cup. Ka had collected Storm’s blood.
Seemingly unimportant events clicked into place, and my entire body tightened in something that felt like fury and battle readiness but was more than both.
Long ago, Ka had stood in a witch circle formed of iron, set into the floor, holding a large iron spike. Ka had been ki
lled. Forced through a transition that went beyond mere Onorio. All that took place while Sabina watched. Sabina who could timewalk too, though in a different manner from the one I had used. Sabina with a winged lizard-shaped amulet that incorporated arcenciel blood and scales. Holy moly.
At that one single origin point of time, long ago, Sabina, Bethany, Adan, and Ka had been in the same space. They’d had the spike in their possession. Ka had been trying to bend time before Adan stabbed her with a sword.
And then there was the Rule of Three. And we had Monique in the basement scion lair.
“Belay that order, Koun.” I pulled my mic back to my mouth and said, “Sarah, tell me what you see on the scion lair cameras.”
Sarah cursed and said softly. “The woman in the lair is gone, My Queen. The crew just got there. Checking back over footage and readouts.”
I waited. The security crew waited. Blood dripped.
“My Queen,” Sarah said, sounding pissed off. “She vanished into thin air.”
Crap. “That’s what I figured.” Ka had timewalked from here to the lair and had taken Monique. There were again, two of the needed Onorios for the Rule of Three for whatever Onorio magic thingy they had planned. All they needed was Bruiser or one of the B-twins. “No one’s fault. She used magic. Think of it like a Star Trek transporter.” Because no way was I announcing to the entire security team about timewalking. “Ka isn’t here. Institute internal electronic search, just in case, and check the cameras on the street outside to see if she reappeared there. We need to deal with traitors before I do anything else.”
I wiped the blade of my vamp-killer on an upholstered stool in the corner and sheathed it. When I looked up, Aya’s eyes were tracking from me to Quint to the bodies and heads. His expression changed from security to law enforcement and back, leaving him looking weirdly indecisive.