Initiation

by Paula Millhouse

  The goal was singular in purpose. They’d round up Rosencratz’s men, detain them for HWB questioning, and root out Kristoff, who’d paid her off to stop the HWB.

  Victoria took the stage and addressed the gathering. “Sisters and brothers, let your lanterns of light soar.”

  Excitement snapped through the air. Max watched as the first wave of lanterns lit up Central Park. Coupled with the full blue moon, it was practically daylight all around them, yet still dark in the shadows. His ultra-sensitive eyes focused on a tower near the podium. The dark wooden structure stood at least thirty feet tall, and a flash of flesh at the very top caught his eye. Wait. . . . What the hell? Had someone climbed up there?

  Rosencratz appeared, riding on the back of an enormous green dragon. She held a torch, and waved it back and forth, illuminating the emerald-colored oriental dragon. “Samhain greetings. I want you all to meet my familiar, Gesture. He’s come to add some additional light to the festival for all of us. His dragonfire will light the bonfire.”

  Max’s gut clenched. Holy hell. No, this couldn’t be happening. “There! I see Helmina,” he called, pointing to the top of the wooden structure. She hadn’t climbed up there. She was chained up there. “Caine! Helmina’s on top of that tower!”

  Max bolted forward, but Poseidon had already found Sam’s mom.

  Poseidon raced toward the triangular mound of wood, an expression of fear and fury on his face.

  Max ran forward too, keeping pace with Poseidon. The green dragon roared, and flame burst out of his jaws.

  “Sam, it’s your mom! She’s at the top of the tower!” Max put a hand up to shield his face from the dragon fire. Holy shit. The HWB had never documented a live dragon other than the familiar Solomon, much less the tools to combat dragon fire. How the hell were they gonna get to her? Where had Rosencratz conjured this demon?

  He knew that Poseidon was honor-bound to Zeus and Hades not to use his powers on Earth. Sam, however, was not, and neither was he. She raced toward the beast, right into the path of danger, and Max ran toward them too. Caine and his men ushered the covens and familiars back from the blaze. The dragon roared, an ear-piercing bray, then sprayed another blast of fire at the base of the wooden structure.

  Max clenched his jaw. Could his shield reach Helmina? Son-of-a-bitch! He rushed forward. Rosencratz had made Helmina a sacrifice on a funeral pyre ignited by the powerful magic of dragon fire.

  As he ran, he caught sight of Sam’s silvery robe, as she raced toward the dragon. Sam turned Atlantis on Rosencratz, and the two women faced off. Max bolted forward, leaving Caine and his men behind. No way in hell was Sam gonna face Rosencratz alone while he drew breath.

  Sam

  I HAD TO TAKE that damn dragon down.

  I sized him up as I ran toward him. He stood a story-and-a-half tall, and the beast was magnificent. Golden eyes, flashy iridescent green scales, and claws as big as spikes on a backhoe.

  He wound up with another blast of dragonfire, aimed right at my mother. I energized Atlantis, and blasted torrents of water at his mouth, intercepting the fire. It blew the bastard backward, and he tumbled down with a horrified, ear-piercing shriek.

  “Stay back, Samantha.” My dad used his golden trident to douse the blaze. As the waves he conjured surged and extinguished the dragonfire, he scrambled up the charred smoking wood to unchain my mother. I guessed breaking his pact with his brothers was nothing compared to losing her, and suddenly it struck me—true love can win, even for supernaturals.

  I wheeled into action, and turned on Rosencratz. “You summoned a damn dragon to kill my mother?”

  She laughed, her voice high, and joyous. “I couldn’t care less about Helmina anymore. I summoned that dragon to kill you. You’re a reminder of everything she took from me. Once you and the HWB are long gone, all the witches will worship me as their goddess, or else face my familiar.”

  So, she’s still having delusions of grandeur. “Too bad you won’t be around to answer Shade’s questions.” I blasted her with my trident, this time with electricity courtesy of Zeus, but the energy dissipated when it got near her. Damn! She was wearing some sort of cloak.

  Fine. There was nothing I liked better than getting up close and personal in hand-to-hand combat.

  I bolted for her, and the stark raw hatred in her eyes urged me forward. I slashed my trident across her face, cutting three deep gashes into her skin. She wailed and drew back, her hand swiping blood from her cheek. “You little bitch!”

  She pulled out her gnarled wand and blasted a surge of green power my way. I deflected her magic with Atlantis, and it tinged off my trident in a starburst that lit up the night. Screams from the witches sounded behind me.

  I eyed the dragon. He was coming back to life, lifting his body up, shaking off the effects of Atlantis, and flapping his wings. I’d deal with him later.

  She shot another bolt of magic at me, and while I parried to disable the blow, Rosencratz pulled a silver dagger, and threw it too.

  Atlantis hummed, and a snake of electricity zapped the dagger in mid-air. Not even close. I circled around, but she edged away, toward the dragon. I couldn’t let her get back to him. Together, they were a formidable pair.

  She bolted toward him, and I ran like hell to stop her.

  “Gesture, kill her,” she screamed.

  Those were Francesca Rosencratz’s last words.

  I leapt forward, and buried the crystal forks of Atlantis deep into her chest, piercing her black heart.

  My father climbed down the charred tower with my mother in his arms. Safe. She was finally safe. I sucked in a deep breath of relief, twisted Atlantis one final time in Rosencratz’s chest, and she fell limp at my feet.

  “Sam, behind you!” Max was there, screaming at me, spreading his hands to cast his shield. I glanced over my shoulder and saw Gesture swing a clawed wing at me. I didn’t have time to get out of the dragon’s way.

  The pain in my chest didn’t even really register until I was airborne. And then everything went black.

  I was floating, sailing back to the ground, my chest burning. The last thing I saw was the damn dragon going for my trident with his teeth, wrestling Atlantis out of Rosencratz’s chest.

  I remembered what had happened when the mermaid went for my weapon, but I didn’t warn the dragon not to touch Atlantis.

  Familiars always tried to protect their owners, but no one else on Earth was ever supposed to touch my trident.

  Good. At least there was that.

  Chapter 31

  Max

  “NO,” MAX WHISPERED.

  No. No. No. No. No! He fucking couldn’t fix this. Sam had seriously screwed up, and totally taken the mission out of his hands. Why? All she’d had to do was wait for him, but she refused to listen to reason. Damn hard-headed woman!

  He tried, but his shield wasn’t strong enough to stop the inevitable. “By the power of Ra, I beseech you, protect my love.” His shield fell short. He couldn’t get it around her. Moonlight glinted off the curved dragon’s claw a split second before it lanced Sam’s chest. Fuck me! He’d failed her, and Sam fell back toward the ground, mortally wounded by Rosencratz’s dragon.

  “No. By the gods, no!”

  The dragon reared back, roaring when it spotted Rosencratz dead at Sam’s feet. The familiar went for Atlantis, but didn’t touch it. Oh, shit . . .

  Max turned back to the crowd and screamed for everyone to take cover. All the witches and familiars backed away, terror filling their expressions.

  The second the dragon touched Atlantis, and tore it out of Rosencratz’s chest, the giant familiar exploded into oblivion.

  Everyone covered their faces with their arms, shielding themselves from the blast.

  But Max’s eyes were only for Sam. He ran to catch her, sliding under her b
ody, breaking her fall.

  Blood was everywhere. No, there’s too much blood. God, how could she survive this? She dragged her hands through the hot sticky wound covering her chest, and moaned. “It’s bad, Max . . .”

  The flash of Poseidon blowing past them to rip Rosencratz’s head from her body meant nothing to Max. Rosencratz dissolved into a pile of ash a few feet away. Max held Sam’s gaze. “Baby, no. Talk to me, Sam. We can fix this. You need a surgeon. . . . Shade will help us.” His hands shook so badly, he couldn’t seem to stanch the flow of blood. His expression turned grim. “You will survive this.” He glanced around the Great Lawn but saw nothing that could help him. He called for the vampire. “Shade! Shade! I need your help. Sam needs your help!”

  He pulled her body to him, and held her tight.

  She said his name once more, and crimson blood drained from her beautiful lips, her blue eyes wide with shock. Her body seized once, then went limp.

  “No. I love you, Sam. No! You can’t leave me like this! I told you not to go without me! Oh, gods, please, baby, no . . . !” He stroked her beautiful face with bloodstained hands.

  Could she hear him? She didn’t move, didn’t respond, didn’t breathe.

  “No! This isn’t how this ends,” Max whispered into her ear. He’d never find the strength to live without her. Fury took hold of his soul, and he said, “They will not take her away from me while I draw breath. Hell, no! By Bast, By Isis, and by Ra, send me the power to bring her back to me.”

  He caressed her limp head on his shoulder, and pulled her body to his, refusing to believe his heart’s greatest fear. There was nothing he could do now. He’d failed her. She didn’t answer him.

  “Sam . . .”

  This isn’t the end. It can’t be. By the strength of the gods that flowed through his veins, he would not let this be the end of her. No world without her in it made any sense to him.

  Max dragged her up, and cradled her limp in his arms. “Help me,” he screamed, with such anguish every soul on the Great Lawn turned to them.

  “By the power of Ra, I beseech you. Save her, Poseidon. Save my love. I give up my life for hers.”

  Poseidon approached, wiping the remains of Rosencratz from his hands. He pinned Max with beams of blue light from his eyes. “You give up your life for hers?”

  “Yes,” Max screamed.

  “So be it, Guardian.” He lifted his hands and turned to the crowd, searching their faces. “Who among you would lend your magic for the life of my daughter? For the request of her one true love?”

  Max searched the nameless faces. The familiars they’d saved came forward first. The wombat, the kittens, the monkey, the fruit bat, the dragonlet, and all the others from their menagerie. The litter of puppies yipped, and danced in circles on the tips of their toes.

  Other familiars followed them, and they nodded in agreement to Max’s request, and Poseidon’s entreaty. They targeted Sam with their magic. Max swallowed hard as the waves of magic engulfed him, burning him with the light of a thousand spells.

  His knees buckled, but he held her up tight, praying the magic would work to save her.

  Helmina strode up to the crowd of witches and lifted her arms to draw everyone near. “Your familiars see the value of their love. Will you help them, sisters? Help them save my child?”

  At Helmina’s call, four thousand witches followed their familiars’ lead, and cast their magic of light to lift Sam’s soul from the darkness of death.

  Max held Sam’s broken body up to them, and the black of night was banished by the light of magic, by the ethereal light of love, by the collective magic of good.

  Poseidon stared Max down with a serious gaze. “I’ll take your life now, Guardian. You should take care, though, Maximillion Ra. You only have eight of those lives left to give.”

  The blast of energy from Poseidon hurt, but Max stood up strong. He would gladly give all of his immortality to have her back in his arms for just another moment—safe, breathing, her warm body clinging to his, her laughter filling his heart.

  Sam’s body rose above him on the wave of light, and she spun around in the multicolored glow of the magic of the Blue Moon Festival of Light. Helmina’s face burned bright with the magic of love, and Max reveled in her smile. Sam’s wounds stitched back together. The blood that marred her body evaporated. She writhed and coughed, and turned as the magic did its work.

  A moment later, she floated back down into his waiting arms.

  Sam

  I WOKE TO THE blue-green eyes of Max peering down at me. My body ached, and my limbs were stiff and sore from the fighting. I reared up, struggling to see where Rosencratz was, but a searing pain shot through my chest. “What the hell . . .?”

  “Easy, Sam,” Max said, pulling me into his arms with trembling hands. His face was awash with terror, and it was like he was looking at me for the very first time.

  “Where’s Rosencratz?”

  “She’s gone. Dead. You stopped her with your trident.” He kissed my forehead, and smiled as if he’d never seen me before. This smile consumed his whole body. I could feel it in the way he hugged me.

  It was such a gentle kiss, it surprised me, as if he thought I might break or something. Still, I was so damn glad to see him. I snuck a little peck on his generous lips, because all day long today, I’d missed him in a way that made me cross.

  Then I pulled back and stared into his turquoise eyes. Eyes I knew. Eyes I loved. Eyes that had seen me naked at least a thousand times. I wrinkled my nose. It smelled like the New York rats were shirking their garbage duty. “And just what is that horrible smell?”

  “Pretty sure it’s dragon guts you smell,” Max said, his gaze fixed on mine. He flicked a random green scale off his thigh. “Her familiar went for Atlantis, and well, you know what happens when someone else touches your trident.” Max kissed my cheeks, and hugged me close.

  My eyes widened. I blinked, trying to remember. “Mom? Where’s my mom, Max?”

  Dad ambled over to us with my mom at his side. He cuddled her close to his big body, then held out my trident.

  “You used your powers to save us, Dad.” I couldn’t stop smiling.

  He shrugged, and kissed Mom on the side of her head. “My brothers will likely be furious, but we’ll deal with that later,” he said, his smile catching fire, and brightening his face.

  “Baby, are you okay?” Mom knelt beside us, and searched my body for injuries. “Dear gods, can’t Shade find you anything less dangerous to do?”

  I glanced down and saw the source of the pain in my chest. A flesh wound was knitting itself back together. It had clearly been a kill shot, and it fit the size of the enormous dragon’s claw. My head tingled, as I’d been exposed to some pretty potent magic. “What exactly happened after I stabbed her?”

  Mom pulled me into her arms, and it felt so damn good, I didn’t really need an answer. The fact that we were together again, that Mom was safe, that Max was at my side, and that Dad was here too, well, that made all the details not so important after all.

  But wait just a damn minute. Had all the threats been neutralized?

  “Looks like Kitty Ra-Ra saved the day after all.” Shade walked up, his hands on his hips, and stared down at us. “He might want to be a little more careful with those lives of his. He only has eight left now.”

  “What did you do?” I asked Max, curious as to why everyone was gathering around us, their eyes seeking a glimpse of me. I hated to be on display like this. “What did I miss?”

  “He traded one of his guardian lives for yours. For that, Maximillion, I will be eternally grateful.” My dad touched Atlantis to both sides of Max’s shoulders, as if knighting him. I scratched my head. Could he do that? “You’ve proven your status as guardian over my princess, and you’ve earned my permission to date her.
Your ancestors would be proud, son. And you’re always welcome in my kingdom.”

  “What is it with your family, Samantha?” Shade asked, stomping up to us. “You’re always vaporizing my suspects. I could have learned tons from Rosencratz about Kristoff. Now there’s no one to question but the monks.”

  Mom stood up, satisfied that I wasn’t in mortal danger, and spun on Shade. “They both could have been killed!”

  “Rosencratz was using some pretty powerful mojo, Helmina. I’m a vampire, not a wizard.”

  Commander Caine edged up to us in his wolf form followed by all the familiars we’d saved. He morphed back into his human body, dressed in full HWB uniform, and waved to his soldiers. “We got all the monks, Shade. You were right, Max. They were all in it together. Rosencratz promised them all sorts of bullshit magic to back her, but some of them were pretty tight with her, if you know what I mean. The chief financial officer behind them got away.”

  Shade inspected the prisoners. “Take ’em to headquarters, boys. Interrogate them until we find out where Kristoff went.”

  Mom grasped Shade’s forearm. “He was her contact in this underground ring to stop our shifters, but I overheard them talking about you. Apparently, this conspiracy runs pretty deep. Are you at risk from this man?”

  He nodded. “Let’s just say he’s on my Most Wanted list.” Shade stopped talking, and took an incoming call on his phone. He grimaced, hung up, then turned back to us. “He may have eluded us tonight, but I just got a call. He’s been spotted down on the docks, on a freighter bound for Europe. I hate to leave you like this, but I’ve got to go.”

  “No, go. Catch him. Nail his ass to the wall, Shade,” I said.

  He turned to my father and shook his hand. “I’ll let you know how the next year works out, sir. I appreciate what you’ve done for me.”

  “As do I, Shade.” The two men shook hands, and Dad nodded, then whispered something in the vampire’s ear.