Blood Revolution (God Wars, #3) (36 page)

"Breanne is there, isn't she?" Adam walked in and nodded to me—he'd heard our conversation from down the hall.

"Gavin says she is."

"I thought it was bad enough when the army of rogue gods was destroyed," Kiarra sighed. Merrill pulled a barstool out for her and lifted her onto it gently. "All of us were holding our breaths, and at the time, we didn't even know why."

"Belen talked to you, didn't he?" I asked.

"Yes. We know about Breanne now, but we, Dragon, Grace, Devin and Conner are the only ones who know, besides some of the Larentii."

"I think the rogues are still trying to kill her, or maybe some others, to alter things in their favor," I said. "And that's terrifying."

"Lissa, we know about Gavril. Conner told us." Merrill came to me, now, while Adam moved to Kiarra's side.

"Merrill," I moaned. "How did things come to this? How?"

"Hush, my darling," he soothed as he pulled me against him.

* * *

Breanne's Journal

Just as I suspected, people across the country rose up in anger, saying they weren't going to allow anyone to steal their religion. Even the ones who hadn't been terribly religious before were up in arms. Flowers were appearing at churches everywhere, and not just at the ones destroyed.

Television talk shows were filled, not just with stories of the destruction and names of lives lost, but with declarations from those willing to "go to war," as they put it, to take down any and all responsible.

Yes, foreign countries and foreign terrorists were blamed, when they had nothing to do with it. Unless a Sirenali told them to, that is. As for going to war, the people spouting those words didn't have a chance. This Sirenali had vampires, chimeras, possibly more lion snake shapeshifters and who knew what else to fight his or her battles. Short of destroying Earth and making it uninhabitable for our unwelcome visitors, there might not be any way to get rid of all of them.

That's where I came in, I suppose. Sure, I'd gotten rid of half a million rogue gods, give or take a few, but I'd tricked them. I hadn't stood my ground to fight them, and this looked like a pitched battle. If more rogue gods were ultimately behind this mess (and let's face it, attacking the religious base would be right up their alley), then things might turn out badly for me.

"We have to find them," I said, startling everybody inside the media room. We'd gathered there to watch the televised reports, but I'd remained silent while the others pointed out flaws and ridiculed this pundit or that, for devising outrageous plans to defeat an enemy they knew nothing about.

"Bree, they're as insubstantial as smoke. If you can't find them, what do you think we mortals might do?" Opal asked.

"No idea." My neck and shoulders ached from the buildup of tension. I hadn't felt like eating anything, and lunch had come and gone long ago. Jimmy kept Kathleen consoled and fed everybody else—he was keeping busy and still grieving his loss, just not as much as before. A last conversation with Trina had done wonders for him.

"Let's go look at Hank's club," Bill stood and stretched. "I don't have to be at that meeting for another four hours."

"All right," I agreed. "Do the locals have it blocked off?"

"Yes. And we can grab something to eat there if you want."

"Maybe. Everybody ready to go, or do you want to grab a jacket? It'll be cool," I said. "I know I want one."

A flurry of movement occurred as everybody (except Gavin) rushed toward bedrooms to grab something to wear over shirts, jeans and slacks. In ten minutes, I folded them to San Francisco, leaving Trace behind to help Jimmy and to guard my sleeping sire.

* * *

"Is that him?" V'ili asked Janine. He gave her a sharp-toothed grin—he'd estimated that the missing owner would show up. He'd been so sure of it, in fact, that he'd set up hidden cameras across the street. He and Janine watched a live feed from those cameras now.

"Yes," Janine's head bobbed, much like that of a dashboard dog. She bore cuts and bruises from V'ili's attention the night before. He'd shown her a bit of what he was capable of doing. Today, she was barely able to walk and still stared at her master as if he were everything to her.

She hadn't understood what he might do to her—that her will would be eliminated completely and that he would demand things from her that she was too timid to do in her normal, human state.

None had ever defied V'ili. He held strong obsession, and even other Sirenali bowed to him. Last prince of a royal house before the fall of Sirena, he was determined to restore his race. He cursed the Larentii, too, who'd destroyed his world to begin with.

It didn't matter that the Sirenali had invaded the Larentii homeworld and attempted to destroy it. While they might breach the shields around the planet, they couldn't lay an obsession on even the youngest Larentii. They hadn't fully realized that until after the attack.

In the only known episode of Larentii violence, the Larentii Wise Ones, with the aid of many other Larentii, had gathered their power and destroyed not only the Sirenali attacking their world, but the entire planet of Sirena.

For whatever reason, a few with power had bent time to collect many of the strongest from V'ili's race before their deaths, and now they served those who'd rescued them, but were given a free rein and a promise that their world would live again. After the others had been destroyed, of course. V'ili looked forward to the destruction.

"My cousin is there," V'ili's grin became toothier. "He will make sure that Mr. Bell and his friends never trouble us again."

* * *

Breanne's Journal

The club was a wreck. It had burned, as had the businesses on both sides of it. The chimera hadn't cared about what might be destroyed past that, so anything farther away was damaged but not harmed beyond repair.

Just like the churches, it bore little evidence, and that had already been collected. I doubted anyone would get anything useful from any of it. The safe, however, had somehow survived, as Hank had installed it below the floor. The police had already removed it and taken it away after Terry told them where to look.

"Unbelievable," Jayson shook his head as we stared at the wreckage.

"Can you spare some change?" A man dressed in patched clothing approached. I watched him warily, but Hank was the one to go Thifilathi and grasp the Sirenali by the throat. Bill shouted for everybody to get back as the man turned into a scaled monster who struggled to bite the hand gripping his throat. We all watched as the Sirenali kicked and flailed before going still.

Hank had crushed his throat. Yes, I read him before he died. I couldn't get to his obsessions—those were always blocked. I saw he had Sirenali friends, however, and that definitely wasn't a good thing.

* * *

Janine was terrified. She'd seen Hank become something she didn't recognize. If she could get her mind to work on its own (she couldn't) she might have guessed that he was a demon. Instead, she turned a blank gaze to V'ili.

"High Demon," V'ili said, before cursing in his native language. This was the one other race the Sirenali feared. They couldn't place obsession and they couldn't defeat them. Had the High Demons policed the dark realm as intended, the Sirenali would never have approached the Larentii homeworld. They'd fallen lax after Kifirin's disappearance, and the Sirenali did as they pleased. They'd paid for their greed, however, and their desire to control Larentii. "I will see that this one dies," V'ili hissed and sent mindspeech to Acrimus.

* * *

"He wanted to place obsession on all of us," I said. Hank pushed a plate of cheese, grapes and melon in my direction. I'd hauled everybody to my house in San Rafael after Bill's locals came to collect the Sirenali's body for study. "And there are four more here," I said. Hank, Opal and Trajan set about making sandwiches for the others after a quick trip to the nearest grocery store.

"So there were five," Bill shook his head. "Instead of just one."

"They could all have different assignments, and be screwing all of us," Jayson said.

"Jayson, you just gave me a headache," Weldon growled.

"Regardless, he's right," Bill agreed. "We have four more targets to worry about, and that doesn't include all the fire-breathing things and the poisonous things."

"What are we going to do?" I moaned. If Hank hadn't jumped the Sirenali, he might have placed obsession before I bothered to lower my shield and read him. I'd have to lower my shields and go back to reading everybody, as much as I hated doing that. I shuddered at the thought of it.

"Baby?" Hank set a sandwich in front of Winkler and walked around the kitchen island to get to me.

"I'll have to read everybody from now on," I hid my face in shaking hands.

"No," he pulled my head against his chest and rubbed my back gently. "Just for a little while, I think. We'll get through this."

"I sure hope you're right," I said.

* * *

Hank took Bill to his meeting, with Jayson, Winkler and Opal going along as bodyguards. At least I knew Hank would recognize a Sirenali if he saw one, and knew what to do to keep him from talking to lay an obsession.

Charles and Trajan stayed to guard me, Kathleen and Weldon, so Trace and Jimmy could get some sleep. They'd have to rise during the night and take over guard duty for the rest of us.

"You need to sleep," Charles said. He'd herded me into the bedroom I shared with Hank, and settled in beside me so I could lean against him.

"Yeah. I feel tired and wound up at the same time."

"I hate that," he leaned in to kiss me. "Close your eyes. I'm right here."

* * *

"Asleep?" Gavin asked as Charles closed the bedroom door softly behind him.

"Yes. Finally."

"Shall we discuss what happened today while I slept?"

"Of course."

* * *

"Thorsten?" Kiarra looked up from her tablet—she'd been keeping up with current news on the church bombings that way. Fresno was hot this time of year and she really wasn't in the mood for an unannounced visit from Thorsten.

"What is this I hear about Saxom's return? I thought Adam killed him. Yet you did not see fit to inform me of this?"

"Thorsten, we think it may be a prank, but I'll admit, I can't find anything by
Looking
, and you understand how unusual that is."

"Where did you get this information?"

"From the Vampire Council. It came from a U.S. security agency before that. They found a suspicious vehicle, with the license plate registered to Saxom Meletius."

"Then it likely is a prank," Thorsten muttered. "Although it does seem suspicious that the name was available. Was other information gathered?"

"They found nothing. The records have been wiped, if they ever existed at all."

"Highly irregular. Perhaps I will investigate this myself."

"Go ahead," Kiarra shrugged.

"You merely tolerate me, don't you?" Thorsten's voice was cold.

"I think you are a little too involved with some things," Kiarra said.

"By that you mean?"

"That it's your job to supervise," she said. "You are to report to your superior if you find wrongdoing."

"It is not my job, as you describe it, to hand out punishment?"

"That's what I was told. That you would monitor our work and report to those above you. A decision would be made at that level."

"You're accusing me of interfering?"

"I never said that," Kiarra closed the cover on her tablet with a sigh. "I'm sorry. I'm just upset that all these murders have happened, and we can't do anything about it."

"It would be interference," Thorsten replied haughtily.

"Exactly," Kiarra replied. She watched as Thorsten disappeared. "Exactly," she repeated to the empty space he'd occupied.

* * *

Breanne's Journal

"Now what?" I stared at the television in disgust. The new church built near Winkler's house between Dallas and Denton was advertising.

"You're safe here," the paid actor announced. The commercial had been filmed in the church's parking lot, as the actor waved a hand grandly toward the huge, modern building. "We built this to be fireproof, and we'll have armed guards stationed everywhere, to protect you while you pray to the true God."

The commercial cut to the huge, LED sign that flashed
The Church of the True God
, interspersed with images of people singing and a Christian rock band playing. "Come on in Wednesday night for our grand opening, and get treated to great music. Bring your friends, too! We guarantee you'll be safe while you worship with us."

"Well, that's timely," Winkler said sarcastically. "No time like the present to take advantage of frightened people and pull them away from their regular churches."

"How many do you think that place might hold?" Bill frowned at the screen.

"Probably several thousand, easy," Weldon observed.

"There's a new development, too," Bill announced.