Thalia muttered the beginning of a shielding spell. The final words of the prophecy reverberated in her head.
The ancient dead but living
shall attain great power
When the marked one dies
and a sacrifice is made
By one who rose long ago
from the grave.
If the prophecy were right, she wasn’t sure she wanted to find Akos at all.
She was in no hurry to die.
She wished she could conjure up courage as easily as her newfound powers. She placed her hand on Gideon’s arm, drawing fortitude from his potent aura.
“There’s one more thing I want to say before we go in.” She sighed and closed her eyes. “I don’t want you to think I’m asking for anything from you. You’ve made your feelings clear. I accept that. But if we should fail tonight,”—she put a hand on his mouth to quiet his automatic protest—“If we should fail, I want you to know that you can’t be all bad. Otherwise, I wouldn’t love you.”
Gideon stopped dead in his tracks and Thalia, in her teetering heels, almost tripped on the uneven pavement. There was some emotion she couldn’t read in his eyes. Shock? Distaste?
She swallowed the lump in her throat. Before he could speak she said, “We’ve got work to do.”
Gideon shot one last look at her and helped her up the cement steps. He opened the door to the Tomb, and Thaila stepped into the smoky room. The familiar surroundings calmed her nerves for a moment. Tom nodded to them as they approached the bar, no sign of recognition in his eyes. Gideon nodded back and ordered their drinks.
“Do you see him?” Thalia took her drink and leaned one elbow on the bar, casually surveying the room.
Gideon took a sip of his drink. “Not yet. Do you know any of the pettys here?”
Thalia let her gaze meander from face to face. The cops were easy to pick out. Their cheerful expressions and relaxed body language cried, “play”, but their serious, ever-searching eyes screamed, “work.” “I’ve met some of the cops in the course of my job. There are one or two others. But it’s late, don’t you think he’s already fed?”
“I’m sure he has.” Gideon’s mouth formed a straight, hard line and she could see a glimpse of his true self behind his disguise. “But he knows we’ll come here.”
Thalia turned back toward the long bar and used the aged mirror to examine the rest of the noisy throng that filled the large room. The women sported hectic flushes that had nothing to do with cosmetics or exertion; their eyes sparkled with some emotion, anticipation perhaps? The men tried to look cool as they swept passersby with a wary glance. Was this one a murderer? Would this one be a victim?
She could feel the electric zing of adrenaline in the air. Why was it people were so attracted to danger? Why weren’t they at home in bed as she almost wished she were?
Thalia threaded through the crowd, secure in her camouflage. She towed a reluctant Gideon toward the dance floor. “
We have to act natural
,” she said when he resisted.
Besides, she might never get another chance to dance with him. The reckless festivity of the bar patrons infected her. She danced onto the parquet floor with a shimmy of her hips. Gideon followed her lead, but his stiff, awkward movements, though appropriate for his façade, revealed his unwilling participation.
“Come on!” shouted Thalia over the blaring rock music with its driving beat, “put some soul into it!” Suddenly thirsty, she knocked back the rest of her screwdriver and held the empty glass up in the air, beckoning a waitress to bring her another.
When the drink arrived, she held it up in the air.
We, who are about to die, salute you,
she thought as she threw back the fresh contents of her glass. She was about to wave for another when Gideon, his false face like a storm cloud, dragged her from the floor and guided her to an empty table.
“What?” She clambered onto the high stool and put her elbows on the sticky table, trying to look serious. The alcohol coursed through her veins, making her joints feel loose. She welcomed the counterfeit boldness it provided.
Don’t lose your focus. I need you
. He wore a stranger’s face, but it was Gideon’s eyes boring into her, Gideon’s life that would also be lost, if she couldn’t find the courage to face Akos.
His words were all she needed to sober up. Her fear, notwithstanding, she wouldn’t let Gideon down.
Thalia stole a glance across the table at Gideon. They’d been sitting there pretending to be a normal couple having a conversation for more than an hour. And it had taken a lot of pretense on Thalia’s part.
Gideon, preoccupied by his own thoughts, had lapsed into a series of long, pensive silences. So far, Akos had failed to show.
“Where do you think he is?”
Gideon leaned in. “I’m sure he’s close by. We’ll leave, and if he doesn’t make his move, we’ll come back in different disguises.”
Thalia nodded. Her nerves were strung so tight a circus performer could walk across them. She stumbled as she slid from her stool, her legs tingling from being in one position for so long. Gideon caught her and piloted her through the crowd like an icebreaker clearing the way for a smaller ship. She shuffled behind him, trying to tap some sensation back into her numb feet.
As they neared the door, her eyes caught sight of a familiar man at the bar.
Heath.
“Gideon.” She nodded in Heath’s direction, then headed there, towing Gideon behind her.
“Heath.” She placed a hand on his back.
He turned around. His face twisted as he penetrated her glamour. “It’s the Champion everybody!” he announced to the bar in general. Thalia looked around to see who had heard. A few people glanced her way, but the police had no idea who or what the Champion was, and she relaxed.
Heath raised his glass. “Long live the Champion.” His words slurred, and the last one was buried in his drink as he took a long swallow. Despite all he’d put her through, she felt for him. It must have shown in her eyes because Heath said, “Why are you here? I don’t need your sympathy.”
“I can see how much you wanted to be the Champion, Heath. What I don’t understand is why?”
Heath turned back to the bar. “I’ve wanted to be the Champion since I was a child. My grandmother was a Champion, you know.” She hadn’t. “But my mother was born without the mark. And so was I. And because of an accident of birth, I was denied my heritage.”
Thalia was stunned.
She’d never seen it from the other side. As a kid, she’d often wished her mark gone. As a teenager, she’d wished it smaller or anyplace other than her face. But she‘d never really considered the implications of the mark.
What would it be like to be raised in a family of Champions and have all the powers of the Champion, but be denied the opportunity to fulfill that destiny because of the absence of a patch of crescent-shaped pigment?
She thought of Lily. Born in a family of witches without a smidgen of magical ability. It was a wonder she’d never been bitter.
All Thalia could say was, “I’m sorry, Heath.”
He snorted into his drink.
She raised helpless eyes to Gideon, and he shook his head, drawing her away. “Give him some time. We still have a job to do.”
They left the bar and walked back toward the car. They’d parked Mina’s car on a side street several blocks from the Tomb, so it would be out of sight of the police that surrounded the club.
As they neared the Cadillac, Thalia was abruptly reminded of the night they’d met. Streetlights sliced luminous circles into charcoal shadows. Food cooking, car exhaust, and cigarette smoke thickened the humid air. Music trickled from nearby doorways, as if seeking other songs with which to spend the lonely night.
The sound of flapping wings intruded on her reverie, and drew closer.
A bat. The creature dive-bombed over their heads and flew off. They exchanged pointed glances.
Akos.
Gideon knew they were being led into a trap, but it didn’t stop his body from springing into action. The killing stopped now.
His jaw clenched. Akos had stolen his last life.
He sped after the bat, careful not to outdistance Thalia. It would be just like Akos to circle around behind. He abandoned his disguise as he rounded the corner. The bat flew into a nearby warehouse through a broken pane in its expansive windows.
Gideon approached the double door. Peeling, gray enamel disclosed dark spots of rust in a pattern that looked like bullet holes or drops of blood. A chain hung useless, its lock broken, from one massive metal pull. An invitation from Akos, no doubt.
He waited for Thalia to catch up.
“Are you ready?”
Her eyes were huge in her small face, but she nodded. He reached out and squeezed her hand.
She whispered a word, and a glowing blue shield sprung up around her. “I can’t cover us both. The shield goes both ways. Akos can’t get through to me, but I won’t be able to strike at him either. I’ll dissolve the shield when I need to jump in.”
Gideon nodded. He wished there were no need for her to dissolve the shield. Damnit, he wished she weren’t here at all. He’d gone over the plan a thousand times in his mind, trying to find a way to exclude her, to keep her safe, but Akos would never approach him without Thalia. Gideon might have tracked a younger, less powerful vampire, confronted him on his own terms, but Akos was an ancient, he could cloak himself even from Gideon’s powerful senses.
He reached out and threw open the heavy steel door. It opened in, leaving a yawning black hole. He stared inside, but all he could see was one vast empty space.
They entered. A rush of stale air and the stink of decaying flesh warned Gideon of an attack, and he stepped to the side. The black object hit Thalia’s shield with a sickening crack. She stepped back, unhurt.
The golem that had assaulted them staggered back, lost its footing, then fell to the cement floor and split into rotting pieces.
“Welcome.” Akos’ voice echoed through the cavernous warehouse, startling a flock of pigeons that had been roosting on the rafters. With a rhythmic beating of wings, they darted around the warehouse and out the broken window in a move so reminiscent of the final act of the ritual of power, a deep shudder of foreboding rippled across Gideon’s rigid back and up his neck.
The shaft of moonlight shining through the broken windowpane illuminated a tall figure standing on a flimsy, heavily oxidized catwalk that spanned the width of the warehouse.
Akos waved a hand. Bright florescent lights flickered on and the door slammed shut. “We want the Champion to be able to see what’s happening, don’t we?” Akos leapt to the ground and landed neatly on his feet like a cat.
Thalia’s heart thudded inside her chest. She fought the impulse to run. Sudden rage took the edge off her panic.
This creature had killed Lily and countless others, stealing their lives without a second thought.
He had used her cousin and discarded her with as much regard as a paper cup. He deserved to die a slow, painful death. Fury boiled up from deep within, urging her to disperse her shield and attack, but she resisted. As much as she yearned to personally deliver the justice of her people—the prophecy made one thing very clear, Akos needed her death before Gideon’s. As long as she lived, Gideon was safe.
“You’re late this evening. I’ve already claimed two more lives, that female bartender of yours and a vampiress wannabe.” Akos made a clicking sound. “One would think you didn’t care. Finally showing your little friend your true colors?”
Gideon circled Akos without answering, obviously looking for an opening. Akos turned as Gideon changed position, keeping him in eye contact, but his hands were planted in his pockets.
His arrogance pissed her off. “Gideon is a better man than you’ll ever be.”
Akos tilted his head toward Thalia, acknowledging her for the first time. “Have you told this young lady about our history together? Does she know what kind of an animal you really are?”
Gideon growled and attacked so swiftly he blurred. Akos disappeared. He reappeared back on the catwalk. Gideon now stood where Akos had been.
“You’ll have to do better than that. You had no problems killing me the first time around.”
“Apparently, I did.” Gideon flew up to the catwalk. The ancient supports groaned under his added weight.
Akos took an exaggerated step backward, taunting Gideon. “Luckily for me, Inanna turned me just as I was about to breathe my last breath. Gods, she was beautiful, wasn’t she? Like these, what do they call them? Supermodels. I wonder what you see in the Champion? She’s got your scent all over her, but she’s not much to look at, is she?”
Thalia sucked in a pained breath and her concentration wavered, but she re-focused, angry with herself now. He was probing for weaknesses, and for a second it had worked.
Gideon lunged for Akos, but caught only empty air. He reappeared, standing on the concrete floor and waved one long finger at Gideon, who stood on the catwalk, his face an illustration of thwarted rage. “Ah, ah, ah. I want to have my say first.”
He pivoted toward Thalia.
What was he up to now? She reinforced her shield.
“Inanna was amazing, but when a mortal falls in love with a vampire, he has to ask himself, is it really love or just that incredible magnetism vampires possess?” His tone was smooth and sincere.
How many times had she asked herself that question? Akos smiled, as if he knew he’d gotten under her skin.
This was the first time she’d seen him in good light. Like Gideon and the other vampires in town, he was almost painfully attractive, but he had an oily, insinuating quality about him that made Thalia feel dirty. When she didn’t answer him, he continued, “Then there’s the beauty factor. Really, my sweet, do you think you measure up?”
Before Akos could say anything else, Gideon struck. He plunged an iron rod into Akos’ chest. Akos threw back his head. His scream echoed through the metal building. He grabbed the end of the rod and yanked it out, dropping it on the floor. It clanked as it hit the hard floor. “Missed my heart. Next time, aim a little more to the left.”
He vanished once more to reappear on the catwalk. Gideon followed. The catwalk began to sway. Thalia stifled a cry as the rusted bolts of the supports gave way, snapping with a harsh moan.
Gideon grabbed Akos by the arm. “Where is Inanna?”
His question drove the air from her body. Her gaze flew to Gideon’s face. Was he still in love with his former wife?
“You see my little dove,”—Akos threw his words at her like a weapon—“Now we know where his priorities lie.” With that, he seized Gideon by the biceps and flew up to the rusty ceiling, ramming Gideon into the unyielding metal of the roof. The force of the impact drove them apart, and Gideon fell to the ground. Thalia moved to go to him, but he held up a broad palm.
Akos touched down gently in front of Gideon. “Did you expect to see her?” He shook his head mockingly. “I hate to crush your fantasies, but she’s dead. One more death on your oh-so-convenient conscience.” Akos swung a fist at Gideon. Gideon blocked it and hit air with a strike of his own as Akos leaned away. “It’s a pity,” he continued. “I think she really loved me, but she made one mistake. She turned you.” Hatred made his final words a venomous snarl. “She said it would make you suffer. Unfortunately I see no evidence of that.”