Chapter 27
New Therian Palace, Tuesday, January 8, 2013
Kittania and Mikhail had herded the servants and the Therians who were unable to fight in a secure chamber. They listened to the battle raging outside. The frantic mutters of the people huddled in the room were a steady buzz, even though occasional explosions shook the palace to its foundations. Viktorija had refused to stay, insisting it was her duty to defend the palace. Kittania felt the same pull her daughter had.
Kittania raised an eyebrow. “Are you up for one more fight, old man?” she asked her father-in-law, her tone cajoling.
Mikhail laughed. “I’m not that old yet, little girl. Let’s get out there and show them how it’s done.”
Ordering the servants to barricade the door behind them, the pair slipped into the hall and made their way to the closest armory. They would need weapons if they were forced to fight before they could change. Kittania had never been so grateful for her daughter’s warlike nature. She’d insisted on placing caches of weapons all over the palace. They soon found an untouched stash and retrieved sharp dragon-forged blades.
Properly armed, Mikhail and Kittania cut through a swath of vampires and hostile Therians while they searched for Luca and Viktorija. As they prepared to move from one hall to another, Kittania caught the scents of more vampires. She rounded the corner first and saw a line of them moving down the hall just as she was tackled to the floor.
Kittania saw Ash on top of her, looking concerned. “Are you okay?” the girl demanded breathlessly, even though she didn’t need to breathe very often.
Ash stood and offered Kittania a hand. “I think so. Whatever was that for?” she asked. Her voice was testy, and she didn’t care for the vampire’s glare.
Glancing at the approaching vampires, who were fighting Mikhail and Luca, Ash pointed at the wall where the queen’s head had been moments ago. There was a battle axe buried in it, vibrations from the impact still shaking the handle. Had Ash not tackled her, her vision would have become a reality. Viktorija ran around the corner and jumped into battle with Luca and Mikhail.
“We now know how you would have been decapitated,” Luca’s voice was calm and cool as they finished off the wave of enemies. “Ash is here, and once again, she saved all our asses. If she hadn’t insisted she go ahead while we stayed to fight the vampires, you’d be dead.”
Kittania nodded. She had misjudged her son’s mate for the last time. Vampire, human, witch, or what else she was, Kittania was glad Ash was on their side. “I seem to keep underestimating you. I’m sorry for that, and thank you for saving me.”
Before they could say anything else, another group attacked. This time, Kittania was prepared. The queen mother smiled, and her eyes flashed. With the confidence and grace only a queen could manage, she stretched her arms to the sides, her fingertips brushing the walls as she called on her power.
A lightning bolt arced across her chest, then another. Dozens sparked and raced down her arms into the wall, jumping out where she willed them to. She too had the ancient magic of the high throne. Until Luca officially brought Ash into the Therian empire and the magic accepted her, Kittania would retain it. She had a few tricks up her sleeve that didn’t involve changing to her other form.
The lightning caused the vampires’ bodies to seize, and Luca and Mikhail finished them off. The queen heard rapid footsteps behind her and scented vampires coming from the other side. Calling the lightning back, Kittania turned and thrust her hands toward the new enemies. A thick bolt shot out of each hand, arcing from one vampire to the next. A moment later, their ashes covered the floor.
The group moved through the palace, watching each other’s backs as they cut down enemies. Luca spoke to his mate. “Can you see what Nadya is doing? I need to know where to go.”
She nodded, and Kittania watched in amazement as Ash’s eyes went blank and her body went rigid. A few seconds later, she grinned like the Cheshire Cat.
“She took a portal to some fancy room at the top of the palace. I could see the view out the window. She’s up there alone, monologuing.” Ash winked at Luca. “You ready to go take that bitch down for good?”
He laughed. “That’s my girl.” He took her hand, and they ran down the hall, leaving Kittania and the others to fight the rest. Luca and his mate would cut off the snake’s head.
Since Kittania and Mikhail could handle the fight inside, Viktorija and Niletean left the palace to fight the attackers in Jules’ forces. Having Therians attack the palace made Viktorija sick. There had never been fighting among their people until Nikoli. After Luca was forced into exile, there were rumors of an uprising, but they hadn’t become a reality until recently.
Vik was well aware of how dangerous the enemy Therians were. They had come to win, so they didn’t fight in the usual style. She watched new friends and people she cared about ripped apart. She took one attacker down after another, but her newer soldiers fell to the ruthless warriors.
The fighting was brutal, but unlike their foes, Viktorija and Niletean had a real cause to fight for. For them, this wasn’t about greed or power. This was about the survival of the family they had left and defending their home from invaders. She trusted them to take care of themselves. Ash had stopped the vision from coming true, and now she and Niletean had to stop this attack.
“Cover me!” Vik shouted. “I’m going to change and fuck them up.”
Her cousin nodded. “Be careful. They have rockets.”
Nadya paced in the chambers reserved for the king. She enjoyed desecrating Luca’s space with her presence, and she would have liked it more if he’d stayed in the palace where she’d driven Nikoli to madness. She listened to the battle around the palace as she wandered through the room. Her eyes gleamed and her smile was sadistic as she knocked objects off shelves and tables like a cat.
“Do you see me in here, you old bastard?” Nadya growled. She hoped Nikoli could hear her in whatever hell he’d been sent to. “I’m pleased that you get to see me victorious in the king’s chambers. I’ve succeeded. You’ll have to watch as I kill your last son and his little bitch vampire. We both know you don’t care about that. It’s the shame of it you won’t be able to stand. I might as well take care of the rest of your family while I’m at it. End your bloodline since you even failed at that.”
She was proud of herself, and her laughter echoed off the walls. Her mirth cut off abruptly when the door flew open, revealing Ash and her blazing red eyes. Luca loomed behind her.
“For fuck’s sake, woman. Would you just get over your hard-on for the dragons? This war has made you as crazy and reckless as Nikoli. Or were you always a psychopath? Your children are being slaughtered by the dozens. Doesn’t that mean anything to you?”
Nadya sneered. “No. Why would it?”
“Mother of the Fucking Year right here.” Ash shook her head in disgust.
Nadya shrugged, letting the insult slide over her. “You’ll see after the bloodlust takes you. You won’t be innocent forever.”
Ash smiled. “Even at my worst, I’ll be better than you.”
“Would you like some tea?” Luca asked. “Or can we get this show on the road? I have shit to do.”
Nadya laughed. If he wasn’t on the opposing side, she’d like him. “Very well. If you’re that eager to die…”
Luca was a blur as he attacked, but she was ready. Shadows leaped from the floor at her gesture, latching onto him and throwing him back. He recovered faster than she had imagined and jumped up to punch her in the jaw.
She stumbled back, grabbed a solid-gold candle holder off Nikoli’s bedside table, and swung it at him. The corner struck Luca’s temple, disorienting him. They all heard his skull crack under the blow. He fell back, and Nadya had her shadows pin him to the floor. “Down, boy. You’re not the one I want right now.”
Worried, Ash was watching Luca. At Nadya’s words, the girl turned her angry blood-red gaze on the vampire queen. “That is my mate, you miserable bitch.”
Floor-to-ceiling windows covered the exterior wall of the king’s chamber, and the sun’s rays shone through, making Ash’s hair shine like gold. Frustrated, Nadya wondered how such a young vampire could withstand the light when she’d spent five thousand years in the darkness seeking a solution. It must have been the witch who’d turned the brat.
“How are you walking in the sun?” Nadya demanded. Ash didn’t respond, just circled the vampire queen like prey. “My, someone’s confident today.” Under other circumstances, Nadya thought she might like the ballsy fledgling. The girl was fearless.
Ash shrugged. “I’ve seen how this ends.”
Nadya grew tired of the banter and lunged at her. Four of her children ran into the room, flanking the Therian king to ensure he would neither escape nor interfere. Ash and Nadya traded blows, both dodging most of the hits, though they each landed a few. Nadya was surprised by how quick the younger vampire was.
Ash disappeared, then popped up behind Nadya to land a crippling punch on her spine. Nadya’s legs crumpled beneath her, and she couldn’t move or feel anything below her waist. Always opportunistic, she grabbed Ash’s leg and bit into the vein in her thigh, then drank what she needed to heal her spine. No newborn would defeat her with a cheap shot! Climbing to her feet, Nadya tossed Ash into the wall. The girl’s head hit with a hollow thunk, and she blacked out.
Nadya took the opportunity to imprison her foe while she was incapacitated, sending tendrils of darkness to pin Ash to the floor before she regained consciousness. Nadya studied the girl, trying to figure out what had given her the ability to walk in the sunlight. If she could sabotage or remove it before Ash woke, she’d die a fiery death.
Seeing no other option to discover what she needed to know other than feeding her darkness directly into Ash’s body to find the source, Nadya doubled the bindings holding Ash in place and sent a tendril of her dark magic burrowing down her throat. Almost immediately, Nadya was pushed out, but she’d been there long enough to learn what she needed to. Ash woke, struggling against the binding as she glared at Nadya.
“Stay the fuck out of my body, you venomous bitch.”
Nadya chuckled. “Technically, you’re a venomous bitch, too. Your fangs carry as much as mine do.”
“Are you going to let me up so we can fight like adults? This is pathetic,” Ash growled, struggling against the vampire queen’s tendrils.
Nadya’s cruel laughter filled the room. “I don’t think so. I will wait for your mate to wake up so he can watch me end you.”
Ash heard Luca struggling on the other side of the room, but her attention was on Nadya. The older vampire ripped Ash’s shirt off and exposed her bare skin. She flicked her wrist. Ash felt a stabbing pain in her abdomen as Nadya sliced her flesh with a blade forged of darkness. She could resist the questing magic that sought her secrets, but this was a raw, brutal force.
Grinning in victory, Nadya forced her hand into the wound, wrenching agonized screams from Ash’s throat. She’d felt the bright power in Ash’s chest and realized it had to be the source of her sun tolerance. Nothing else made sense, and none of her vampires carried the light of the sun within their bodies.
Ash’s screams were a symphony to Nadya’s ears. She wished she could linger over the torturous task. The vampire queen located a small stone wedged between Ash’s heart and lungs and gripped it with her blood-slicked fingers. “Oh, my. Guess what I just found?”
Ash’s life was slipping through Nadya’s fingers. Ash couldn’t move. She also couldn’t breathe, which would not matter if she didn’t figure this out. The pain was unbearable, but their lives depended on her. She could smell Luca’s fear and agony because he couldn’t help her over the sharp scent of her blood.
“Who’s pathetic, little one? It seems to me that…”
Ignoring the vampire queen’s taunting, Ash fought through the pain to call on Eiko in the mental space that was the witch’s alone.
Oh, no!Eiko sent. You’re in trouble.
Help!Ash shouted. I don’t know what to do, and I can’t break free.
You need to promise me that after this, you will train with me day and night. You must learn these spells, and you are years behind schedule.
Yes! Ash shouted. Please! The sun is everywhere, and if she pulls the stone out, I’ll die.
As before, repeat everything I say.
Time moved differently in the real world. When Ash went back, Nadya was finishing the sentence. “…the one lying captive on the floor is more pathetic.”
When Eiko chanted, Ash coughed, forcing air through her larynx, then repeated the words that Eiko spoke in her mind.
Nadya’s eyes widened. “Stop that!”
Ash chanted louder.
Nadya grimaced. “No!”
Nadya squeezed Ash’s heart, and she cried out, then resumed chanting. She wouldn’t stop. It was hurting Nadya, and she needed to get free.
“If I go down, you’ll go down with me,” Nadya choked out.
Ash gasped and stopped chanting when Nadya yanked her hand back, gripping the orange stone. The younger vampire screamed as her skin burned in the sunlight, crisping and fluttering away.