63. The End Is Here
Chapter 63
The End Is Here
Town hall—Moments later
T he doors at the rear of the council chamber flew open, banging against the walls. Henry, along with everyone in the room, turned to see the source of the disturbance.
A stranger strode to where Karen stood at the center podium. She wore a layered linen pants outfit, the textiles finely woven, the knee-length jacket heavily embroidered in copper-colored thread. Her walnut-brown eyes flashed darkly as she took in the room, her long, curled hair hanging down her shoulders.
“And what is this all about?” the stranger demanded, looking daggers at the council and the special prosecutor. She beckoned to Karen. “Come to me, my child.”
Rolf’s mouth dropped open, shock sweeping over his expression.
“Go,” Henry whispered. “This must be Inanna.”
Had Cerissa stayed away to keep from confusing Karen? He could feel his wife’s presence nearby, but she had the crystal muted, and from experience, she could be as far away as the lobby beyond the closed chamber doors, and he’d still sense her.
Karen took a step forward.
The stranger held out her arms. “Come to me, my child. No one will harm you. I will protect you.”
When Inanna’s arms wrapped around Karen, she relaxed, rubbing her face against the woman’s shoulder.
Rolf composed himself and bowed to Inanna.
“Hello, Mr. Müller. It is a pleasure to finally meet you. Your wife has told me so much about you.”
The special prosecutor cleared his throat. “Excuse me, madam. Please tell us your name for the record.”
Inanna huffed. “I am who I am.”
“That is your name?” Xavier asked.
“You put too much emphasis on naming things, young one. If you think you can name someone, you think you can own them. You do not own me, and you do not own my child. Anyone who even thinks of harming her will have to answer to me.”
Xavier scowled. “How did you meet Mrs. Müller?”
“What did Mrs. Müller tell you?”
“A Hawaiian cruise.”
Inanna gave a slight bow. “I have no reason to contradict her.”
“What community do you belong to?” Xavier demanded.
“I’m not a member of your communities .” Inanna said the last word with a sour look of distaste on her face.
Xavier swept his gaze over the audience. “Does anyone here recognize her?”
Tig would, and Henry looked around the room, but the chief was gone. He took out his phone and sent a text: We need you now.
A low murmur ran through the audience, but no one met Xavier’s challenge.
He turned back to Inanna. “And where do you come from, that the rest of us haven’t met you before, that you are not part of any North American community?”
“I am not from this country. I am a visitor.”
“And why would you care about a mortal who you only met once?”
“Who said I only met her once? But enough of your questions. I am here. Look at how she reacts to me. Is there anyone here who doubts I am her maker?” The room fell silent. “I believe you have your answer, young one.” Inanna continued to pet and coo to Karen, who clung to her like a life raft.
Xavier stepped closer and pointed at Henry, then Rolf. “But how do we know that neither of these two gentlemen coerced you into turning her?”
“Because they didn’t. I grow tired of you, young one.” Inanna hissed. “I don’t do what others want; I do what I want. And if it were not important to my child that your community accept her, I would demonstrate my displeasure.”
Liza banged her gavel. “No fighting.”
Inanna eyed the tribunal. “None of you on that dais are over four hundred. Do you think you could stop me?”
The power pouring off her scorched Henry’s skin, convincing him they were in the presence of an ancient vampire.
Inanna stared down the room. “No, I thought not.”
“Xavier, back up and sit down,” Liza said.
“Perhaps my child should find a better community if this is the best you offer.”
“Madam, please,” Rolf spoke up. “She is my wife.”
“So she is.” Inanna stroked Karen’s hair and kissed her cheek. “My child, go to your husband.”
Karen shook her head and clung tighter.
“Go.” Inanna peeled Karen’s fingers off her tunic.
With her eyes wide and her hands trembling, Karen backed away.
Rolf took her in his waiting arms. “Thank you.”
Inanna gave a slight bow. “My pleasure.”
Henry silently let out the tortured breath he’d been holding. So far, so good. This part was successfully concluded; all Inanna had to do was leave. Marcus would do the rest.
Inanna raised her chin, facing the tribunal. “Which of you is in charge? I want assurances my child will be safe here, or I’m taking her with me.”
“We need to talk.” Liza waved both hands to indicate the full tribunal. “Um, you changed her within our jurisdiction. You should have gotten our backing first.”
“I was not within your boundaries. But even if I had been, I am the mother of all vampires. Your blood is my blood.” She swept a finger pointed from one end of the tribunal to the other. “The world is my jurisdiction. You will not destroy my child, or I will destroy you.”
Before Liza could reply, the opening creak of the chamber doors alerted Henry, and he glanced past Inanna’s shoulder. Was Tig finally joining them?
His jaw dropped and his heart thudded. A doppelg?nger strode into the room. A perfect twin. And if the woman who came through the doorway was Inanna, then the first one was—
Madre de Dios , he had to stop this. But how?
“Who are you?” the real Inanna demanded. She wore a deep scarlet full-length bias-cut dress with a swirling skirt and matching leather gloves.
Cerissa blinked, still wearing Inanna’s visage. “I—”
“You’re one of them .” Inanna raised a crossbow, previously hidden by the skirt of her dress and secured with a long, woven leather strap. She popped out the crossbow’s arms, drawing back a silver stake in the track. “You’re a deceiver.”
“Deceiver? I don’t understand,” Cerissa said.
“The fallen angels who made me. Your people condemned me to walk the earth forever, to never see the light of day, to watch mate after mate die. I’ve been looking for your kind for millennia.”
Henry whooshed in front of Cerissa. How had Inanna put together so many pieces about the Lux? He lifted his hand, gesturing for calm. “We will explain everything. Please, lower the bow.”
“Step aside, vampire, or you’ll be nothing but dust.”
“Inanna.” He remained in front of Cerissa, pulling to his full height, his arms stretched out to protect every inch of her. “Please. Let us speak.”
“You know my name.” She cocked her head to the side. “How is that?”
“The cruise ship—”
“Aha. Now I recognize you. You’re the one who locked Jill in the storage container. The mate of Cerissa—”
“Yes. I am her mate. She called you for help. That’s why you’re here.”
“Wrong. I’m here to stop the deceiver standing behind you. The one pretending to be me. Step aside. I will not ask again. Move now.”
“If you would listen—”
Inanna’s eyes narrowed.
“Henry, no!” Cerissa spun around his body and stopped in front of him.
The click of a trigger.
The twang of the bowstring.
The swoosh of the arrow-like bolt.
As he heard those sounds, Henry’s heart screeched to a stop.
The bolt hammered through Cerissa’s chest, the point sticking out her back. She staggered backward into him.
The crystal transmitted hot agony along his spine and out to his fingertips and toes, mirroring Cerissa’s experience. Her body folded, but he caught her by the arms, keeping the silver point away from his chest. “Cerissa, no!” He reached around to grab and remove the bolt. “Cerissa!”
B efore Henry’s hand made it past Cerissa’s breast, dizziness overwhelmed her. The world spun, and her knees gave out.
Can’t let him touch silver.
She dropped to the floor and took Henry down with her, his arm hooked under hers. He landed on his back beside her. A shiver ran through her. A hot and cold shiver she couldn’t suppress. A shiver that preceded a forced transformation.
She couldn’t stop the process. She’d tried once before when she was working undercover, posing as Karen, and almost died when she waited too long to heal a stab wound. Now, her body took control, instinctively reacting to the life-ending damage, and she morphed to her true self, dropping the bolt to the floor with a clang . Her wings flung wide from her back; the joint bone loudly ripped through the fabric of her tunic; her ivory feathers smashed into the people sitting on both sides of the aisle. She gripped her spindly six-fingered hand around the silver stake and rose to her knees.
“He called you Cerissa.” Inanna’s pupils expanded, and she reached for another stake on her belt to reload. “So you are Cerissa. I thought it might be you. On the beach, your blood smelled wrong, so I had it tested. Your DNA is like my DNA.” She lifted the crossbow. “That’s why I showed up armed.”
Cerissa tilted her head to the side, and her straight hair, the color of raw silk, swished across her shoulders. How did the ancient vampire steal her blood for testing?
Inanna drove out a curt laugh. “The glass you broke. I touched my shawl to the bleeding cut on your leg.”
The memory came back in a rush. How had she missed that? She should never have allowed Inanna to leave with the blood-dotted shawl. Not when specialized labs existed that could sequence the Lux genome.
Now, the entire community knew the truth. Still on her knees and in Lux form, Cerissa arched back, her arms and wings spread wide, and released a single, high-pitched note of frustration.
Everyone ducked and covered their ears, especially the vampires. Even Inanna flinched.
Out of the corner of her eye, Cerissa caught the motion. Jayden eased away from the wall he stood against, something in his hand. He’d been right when he first found out about her Lux origins. Fear of the unknown would breed panic. Secrets would breed distrust. And the Hill would reject her.
The only problem was, she’d expected that moment to be a hundred years in the future. Only recently had she thought it might be as soon as forty years, or even ten, given Ari’s revelations. But she’d thought she still had time to prepare the community, and she didn’t think she’d be without Lux support when they found out.
If Jayden was to have any chance of quelling Inanna, another sacrifice was necessary. And Henry was wrong—he wasn’t the one to make the sacrifice. Cerissa was.
She couldn’t hide anymore.
She morphed to her human form just as Jayden reached Inanna. A collective gasp rose from the crowd. The loud snap of an electroshock gun sounded as it was stabbed into Inanna’s ribcage, and she staggered, falling to one knee, Ari at her side. He locked arms with her, and the two instantly disappeared.
“What the fuck?” someone yelled.
Distinctive sounds came from the audience: a dozen gun safeties being flicked off, handgun slides being pulled back, revolvers being cocked.
Cerissa froze. She didn’t need to look around the room to know what was happening.
Dammit! Why in the Goddess’s name were weapons allowed at a public hearing? Or had everyone sneaked them in?
Too late now. The barrels were all aimed at her.
“Where did they go?” Haley gasped from her aisle seat.
Henry rose to his feet and lifted his arms, his hands open in surrender and free of his own Beretta, which he carried in his shoulder holster as a reserve officer. “There is no threat. Lower your weapons.”
“What the hell is she?” Vishon demanded from behind them on the dais.
“She is my wife. Please, put the guns down. Now.”
With Inanna gone, Jayden stepped in front of Cerissa. “Let’s talk this out, people. If you shoot her now, someone will get killed in the crossfire.”
Gun barrels swung to Jayden. No! Where was Tig? Cerissa couldn’t let them hurt Jayden, but stood motionless as she debated whether he was safer if she didn’t move.
Then Ari flashed back in, and some guns swept toward him.
“How the fuck are you doing that?” Mitch shouted, pulling a handgun from his back harness. He’d accused her of killing the mayor and never made amends for his bullying. “Where did you come from?”
“You don’t have to do this,” Cerissa whispered to Jayden. Was he wearing the protective bodysuit she’d given him? “You don’t have to take a bullet for me.”
“Yes, I do. That’s my job.”
“But they fear me now.” She opened her watch crystal to flash them to the Enclave. “We’ll have to leave, anyway.”
He gripped Cerissa’s wrist, closing the crystal. “I warned you,” he whispered.
“Then just let us go.”
“No. This is the part where you convince them. They know a half-truth now. They need to hear the whole thing, or the community will blow apart.”
Nicholas jumped from his seat in the front row and came around to Cerissa’s side. “I don’t care what you are. You saved Marcus’s life. I want to hear the full explanation. Besides, we live by the rule of law. We don’t shoot people in council chambers.”
Haley scooted out from her row and took the side next to Karen. “Nicholas is right. This isn’t justice.”
Karen shoved her away. “You testified against me. You tried to get me staked.”
Cerissa stiffened at hearing that. Haley had testified against Karen? She twisted around to see the two women.
Haley was facing Karen. “Yeah, I know I did. I don’t expect you to forgive me, and I’m not asking for forgiveness, either. What I saw at the hospice, I thought you’d broken all the rules we live by. I thought you were spitting in our faces. But I assumed a lot. I’m not making the same mistake twice. Whatever Cerissa turned into, I’m not assuming the worst. I’ll hear the explanation this time.” She lifted her chin and looked in her boyfriend’s direction. “I won’t condone all of you being killed just because we’re afraid and don’t understand. So stay behind me. Vishon won’t shoot me. I think.”
Gaea strutted over, hooked an arm around Ari’s elbow, and dragged him to the circle, shoving him behind her.
“Hey,” he yelled over her shoulder, “why did you pull me over here? Now we’re all in the line of fire.”
“You’ve been lying to me, young man.” Gaea’s condescending sniff echoed off the walls, and Ari gulped loudly. “You forget who I am. But this community is going to listen to your explanation together.”
In the back row, Zeke shot to his feet, swiveling his head back and forth at the showdown, like he was trying to decide which faction to join, and at his side, Christine squeaked, “Do something! Protect them!”
“Officer Cannon,” Jayden shouted over the rumbling noise of other voices. “Your duty.”
Cerissa peered through the group surrounding her to see Zeke march over to where Rose Haber stood with a gun drawn. Rose was one of the mean vampires who, like Nellie, hated strangers.
Zeke aimed his oversized revolver at the woman’s heart. “Anyone fires and you’re a corpse.”
Rose’s eyes rounded with terror.
Then the truth dawned on Cerissa. The mean vampires. Fear drove their cruelty. Fear of the unknown, of the stranger, of losing their perceived status in life.
Councilmember Luis left the dais and joined them, too, though Karen glared at him the entire time. Cerissa frowned at what that meant.
What had happened while she was gone?
“Nellie, put that down!” Liza shouted.
Cerissa spun around to see the barrel of Liza’s service weapon shoved against Nellie’s ribcage. Standing next to the vice mayor, Nellie aimed a derringer at the circle of mortals and vampires.
Liza grabbed Nellie’s gun wrist. “You pull that trigger, and it’s the last time you serve on a tribunal. Permanently. We’re gonna hear this out.”
Shayna and Mikhail slid in to close the circle on Rolf’s side. Henry’s sister, Chen Méi, her mate Razi, then Gavin and Evelina and Wolfie added another layer. Marcus, Christine, and Father Matt crowded the aisle as well.
Everyone Cerissa had helped and befriended since arriving. Tears fell from her eyes. Her husband had tried to save her. Now all her friends were putting their lives on the line to shield her.
F rom the lobby, Tig opened the doors at the back of the room and strode in. “What kind of clusterfuck is this? Where’s Inanna?”
“Uh, chief,” Ari said, cringing, “I took her to the Enclave.”
A shock buzzed through Tig. He’d openly mentioned the Enclave. The shit had truly hit the fan, then.
Well, it wouldn’t implode on her watch.
“Okay. Sorry I didn’t get here sooner—she knocked me out when I tried to stop her from entering.” Then Tig did a three-sixty, taking in the entire room. “I don’t know what happened, but everyone has one second to lower their weapon or there’ll be fines—and if even one gun goes off, I’ll hold all of you accountable for the results.”
Mitch shook his pistol in Cerissa’s direction. “But chief—she’s a shapeshifter…or something.”
“I don’t give a damn what she is. She doesn’t have a weapon trained on you. Put yours away.”
“How do we know what she can do?”
“If she meant you harm, she would’ve done it already rather than let you point guns at everyone she cares about.”
“Yeah, but better safe than—”
“Do you really think killing her is going to solve the problem?”
“Enough bullets might. A stake through the heart didn’t.”
“Um—” Tig choked on the word for a moment, her gaze landing on the stake Cerissa held clutched at her side. “Someone shot her through the heart?”
“Yeah. The second woman who looked just like her. Before she changed into an…angel, then shifted into Cerissa.”
Damn, I missed a lot.
“Well, fuck. Can’t you see how stupid it’d be to shoot her? There are others like her. I guarantee you—where there is one, there will be more. You try to hurt her, you kill anyone standing with her, and you’ll start a war you won’t ever live to finish.”
“But chief—”
Tig snarled at the crowd. “Enough arguing. You, Ora, drop your gun.” The small Glock was lowered. “And Troy, you too.” He did. Then she caught a movement from the dais. “Vishon, put that away before I ram it up your ass. Think , people. We’re in a small room with lots of mortals. This could be a massacre. Back off. Now.”
“You heard the chief,” Zeke said to Rose, at whose heart he still aimed point-blank. He whipped off his black cowboy hat, the one with stainless-steel diamonds circling the brim, and held it out like a donation plate. “Drop your weapon in there.”
From the front row, Abigale shot to her feet, flicked her wrist, unfurling a telescoping baton, and aimed the woven leather rod at the inner elbow of the special prosecutor, who pointed a gun with a gleam in his eyes. His arm folded on impact, and she took the weapon from him, then smacked his stomach. When he bent forward with an oomph , she spanked his rump. Everyone around her backed up and gave her room. She swung the rod in the air. “Anyone else want a taste?”
Xavier collapsed onto the desk chair Marcus usually used during meetings and kept his mouth shut.
Tig suppressed a grin. She should add one of those rods to her police kit. “Jayden, help Zeke collect all the guns in the room. We won’t have mob violence or collateral damage from this idiocy.”
Liza leaned into the mayor’s microphone. “And if any of those are loaded with silver, there’s gonna be jail time dished out.”
Nicholas grabbed his leather briefcase bag, unzipped the top, dumped out the paperwork, and followed Jayden around, holding the handles spread wide as gun after gun dropped into the bag.
“All right, everyone,” Tig said. “We’ll fingerprint the guns and return them to their owners—if the weapons don’t have silver ammo in them. Cooperate, and the fines won’t be too high.”
One last holdout, Mitch, raised his gun and pointed the barrel at the ceiling. “If she’s a shapeshifter, where’s the vampire who made Karen? The one who disappeared?”
Tig strode to him, gripped the barrel, and plucked the gun from his hand. “Let’s get everyone settled in their seats, and then we’ll sort out the facts.”