Tempest of Vengeance (36 page)

“Polar bear. And Alpha, I’m guessing,” Lash
said frostily. “I wonder what Ulysses promised him for his
help.”

“Money and revenge,” the bear snarled loudly,
hearing him. “I used to work for Ebediah, Lash. All of us polar
bears did. You should pick a master who has less enemies.”

“I’d rather pick one I can trust,” Lash said
easily. “Is your master ready?”

“Why’s she here?” the bear growled. “One
second only was agreed.”

“I’m not fighting,” I said, showing him my
hands. “Pat me down if you want to. But I am part of the spoils
going to the winner, as Devlin’s Oathed One. I deserve to know if
he’s fallen, to be one of the first to know.”

“Fine, but you are to stay back from the
fighting, and I’ll search you for weapons,” the bear said. He
proceeded to do so, and pronounced me clean.

We five went inside, and Devlin and Ulysses
proceeded to take off their armor. I hadn’t seen Ulysses since that
night I was his prisoner, and seeing him as vampire left me
unnerved. His green eyes were glowing bright as traffic lights, and
his skin shone as Devlin’s did.
He’s been training hard for
this, too.

An involuntary shudder of doubt slid down my
back, and I turned away, seeking a spot from where to watch at a
safe distance. I found a rough box that had contained brass handles
for the crypts, and turned it over near one cold granite wall,
fashioning myself a rough bench. I sat down and waited, anxiously
wrapping my long wool coat around myself.
It’s freezing in
here.

Lash and the bear took up watchful positions
by the door, as Devlin and Ulysses began circling. Surprisingly,
this was done without any words, or posturing by either of them,
something I found surprising, at least from what I knew of both of
them.

Devlin struck first, and knocked Ulysses to
the ground with a quick blow to the face. But Ulysses was up in an
instant, and he bloodied Devlin with two kicks to the face. It was
hard to see them move, as both of them were moving as fast as they
could, much faster than a human could move. Before long, Devlin and
Ulysses were both bloodied, but they healed almost as soon as the
blows were struck. I’d never seen vampires heal that fast, the
fight before me reminding me of some of the climactic battles in
recent vampire movies I’d watched, lending it a surrealist quality
that I tried to focus on to ease my quaking nerves.
He’s
defended his throne for two hundred years. Calm down. Wait for the
signal.

Maintaining their speed and the constant
healing was exerting an enormous strain on them both. Both of the
vampires began to falter slightly, their wounds ceasing to heal
completely. Ulysses launched himself at Dev just a little too
slowly, bloody fangs bared. Instead of sidestepping, Devlin
crouched and came up under him, slamming him down onto his back
with a crunch of breaking bone. “Now!” he shouted.

Everyone erupted into action. I bolted to my
feet, and ran toward Devlin. Ulysses was struggling hard, his spine
already healing, but Devlin was holding him down. The alpha bear
charged the grappling vampires, but Lash’s whip shot out, and
sending the bear sprawling. I reached out for Devlin, diving for
his outstretched hand. The instant I felt his fingers touch mine, I
teleported us to Hayden’s basement.

We landed in a heap, and Ulysses snarled at
me, lunging with his teeth to try to bite me. I scuttled away from
him, and into the arms of Titus, who shoved me behind him, baring
his rows of teeth at Ulysses. Devlin grabbed hold of Ulysses,
slamming him back to the concrete floor with another hard snap of
bone.

“How did you do this, make her both demon and
vampire, while still making her seem human?” Ulysses snarled. “She
is no faerie! We met on holy ground to prevent any
teleporting!”

“Bastard,” I said, glaring at him as I stood.
Then I disappeared, teleporting back to help Lash. I arrived to
find the mausoleum empty, and ran to the door.

Outside, Lash was fighting hard in the
gathering snow. Ulysses hadn’t planned for teleporting, but he’d
planned for Devlin’s ultimate destruction should anyone but he and
his bear come out of the mausoleum alive. There were ten dead bears
on the ground, most half changed with claws and fangs, flakes still
melting on their cooling bodies, and gaping holes where their
hearts had been. Lash was fighting the last two on their feet,
Ulysses’ alpha bear with Lash’s knife in his heart just to the
left, feebly trying to crawl away. I watched him but didn’t
approach him, because even mortally wounded, he was probably more
than a match for me.

Lash broke the neck of one bear with a hard
snap, and the other, realizing he was the last one left, ran. Lash
tripped him with the lash of his whip, and dragged him backwards,
screaming.

With a sharp crack, Lash broke his neck,
too.

He looked up at me, and I motioned to the
alpha bear. Lash bared one fang in a grin, and strode over to him.
The bear swiped at him with a hand grown into a claw, but Lash
stepped aside, evading him almost effortlessly, and deftly pulled
out his knife. The bear gasped in a single breath, but never had
time to scream as Lash severed his head from his body.

I felt my stomach turn, but forced my bile
down. There was still much to do. There was no time for getting
sick. The snow was coming down faster and faster now.

Lash reached into a leather pouch on his
belt, and pulled out a piece of paper and a vial. He read it, while
pouring a tiny bit of the powdered mixture into his hand. A second
later, a small ball of blue fire sprang into life in his hand. He
threw it on the alpha bear’s body. Seconds later, there were only
ashes. He did that over and over, until the only evidence left were
the two weremen with broken necks, and rapidly disappearing ashes
on bloody snow. Lash tossed the two weremen in the back of the
Hummer, and after checking it over for traps, we both got in. As
agreed, I teleported it to Hayden’s gate, and then did the same
with Ulysses’ car, a black Pathfinder. Something nagged at me, but
I couldn’t think what. I had too many other things to think
about.

Leaving the two cars and prisoners in Nick
and Keith’s able hands, I teleported Lash and I back to the
basement just in time to see Devlin sink his fangs into Ulysses’
neck, and began swallowing him down. Ulysses screamed, and tried to
fight him off, but Devlin held him almost effortlessly.

Devlin reared back, and turned to Lash and
me, his face a mask of blood. “Bring Danial!” he said loudly,
holding a struggling Ulysses in his grasp. Then he sank his fangs
in again to the hilt, and Ulysses screamed once more, still
fighting hard, though his efforts were weakening. I shivered,
backing away, remembering being under those fangs myself, years
ago.

Lash was up the cellar stairs in a moment. I
just watched, telling myself this wasn’t murder, it was justice,
that Ulysses had hurt Danial, and he deserved to suffer for it, to
die as he had planned that Danial would die. Devlin continued to
drink from him, and Ulysses still tried to fight him, but soon, he
was only struggling feebly in Devlin’s grasp.

Lash came down the stairs, carrying Danial in
his arms.

“Lay him down here,” Devlin said, rearing
back again to sink his fangs in a third time.

“No,” Ulysses said weakly. “I’ll not end like
this. I can’t! My sister, she—”

“Your sister got what she wanted,” Devlin
said, his voice hard, but without malice. His golden eyes burned.
“If you knew her at all, you knew Heather was self-destructive. I
knew when I turned her years ago that she wasn’t going to be one of
the ones that made it. Just as you aren’t going to make it,
either.”

Devlin sank his fangs in one last time, and
then snapped his head backward, ripping out Ulysses’ throat.
Ulysses’ eyes bulged, and his hands went to his throat, but Devlin
grabbed them, twisting them behind his back with one hand and
grabbing Ulysses by his hair with the other. Then he lowered him
over Danial’s prone form, letting the blood drip onto Danial’s
face.

I didn’t want to see this. Lash put his hand
on my arm, and squeezed gently. I turned and buried my face in his
chest, hugging him, glad the worst was over.

“Most new vampires don’t last,” Lash
whispered to me. “They get drunk on the power, or forget what time
of night it is, and they get destroyed. There are more than a few
hunters who target new vampires exclusively, Sar, ones less than a
year old.”

I was going to ask him why no one had sent
hunters after Devlin, since Ulysses had, but Lash saw my look, and
answered before I had the time to ask it.

“They usually won’t go after Rulers, not of
any territories. Vampires don’t work together, save for one thing,
and that when they feel personally threatened. Rulers are
untouchable, so far above regular vampires as to be almost Gods.
You remembered what happened with Samuel and the others, when
Danial was drained. Ulysses was declared persona non grata. He
would have been killed on sight by any vampire anywhere who saw
him. He only challenged Dev because he had to become a Ruler, to
save himself. As a rule, Rulers don’t kill each other, or even
fight, though as you’ve seen with Devlin, sometimes it happens. And
there are no rules for that, just survival of the fittest.
Treachery is normal, even expected. I know Samuel and the rest will
be relieved to hear Ulysses is dead, just as I know Dev’s standing
with them will increase, since he killed Ulysses when none of them
could.”

I didn’t reply. Some of this I’d heard
before, that day with Devlin and Steven back months ago. The rest
I’d surmised.

There was sudden movement, and Ulysses let
out a sharp cry of pain. I looked to see Danial holding him
tightly, swallowing him down in great draughts. Devlin had released
Ulysses, and was standing over Danial, watching in pleasure, blood
still on his smiling lips. For a long time, there was no noise,
save the sound of Danial’s drinking, and Ulysses’ soft cries.
Finally, those died off, as Ulysses slipped into
unconsciousness.

“No more,” Danial said, his voice raspy from
months of disuse. He pushed Ulysses off him, and lay back on the
floor. I noticed that he looked like his old self again, no longer
a statue. I wanted to run to him, but stopped myself. It was
possible he was not the Danial I had loved, and Devlin had warned
me to be careful of him, not to go to him until Devlin had made
sure it was safe.

“Take it all,” Devlin said, bending down
beside him. “You need to be as strong as you were, even if
you—”

“I don’t want the power again to be Ruler,”
Danial said.

Devlin gaped at him in shock. “What are you
talking about, Danial? You need to be Ruler again.”

“No,” Danial said, sitting up. “You are most
likely Ruler of the States again now, Dev. And it’s past time for
me to admit I’m not the vampire you are.”

“Danial—”

“No, Dev,” Danial said firmly, wiping some of
the blood off his face. “I was careless, and I almost lost my life
because of it. I’ve had enough of playing in my brother’s shoes. I
only want to go back to my company, be with my son. I’m not cut out
for this—”

Devlin grabbed Danial by his hair with a
snarl, and shook him hard. Danial hissed, and his eyes went
red.

“You are going to take his blood,” Devlin
growled deeply. “You are going to drain him, as he drained you,
until his heart stops. We are going to rule North America together,
Danial, because I need to know there is someone ready to protect
Sar, should something ever happen to me!”

“You know I’m not your equal!” Danial
shouted. “Everyone knows it, Dev!”

“You are going to learn to be,” Devlin hissed
back. “Whether you like it or not, you are going to learn to be,
Danial. As you said, it is far past time you did.”

“No,” Danial growled. “No, I’m not—argh!”

Devlin had pulled Danial to his feet by his
hair. Danial staggered, having not stood for so many months, but
the blood he’d taken from Ulysses was already working, already
revitalizing his systems, and though he swayed, he didn’t fall.

“Theoron has taken over your company,” Devlin
went on. “Theo and Terian are helping him. He’s an adult now,
Danial. They don’t need your help, having had to go it alone so
many months. But Elle is still recovering, from what she went
through at Ulysses’ hands. She needs you more than ever. Venus
needs her uncle, she’s hasn’t seen you not ‘asleep’ in months, as
we told her you were. And Sar needs you too.”

Danial looked up then and saw me. “Who are
you?” he said.

I swayed and almost fell over, but Lash
caught me in his arms.

“You know who Sar is,” Devlin said sharply.
“She is our Oathed One, and the mother of your child.”

“She does not look like I remember her,”
Danial said slowly, staring at me. “I remember Sar, remember her
dying in my arms even as that demon who killed her laughed.”

I shot a worried look at Devlin. He ignored
me, gazing at Danial with puzzlement.

Danial noticed Lash beside me, and gave him a
rueful smile. “But you I unfortunately know, Lash, though you look
younger than I remember you being. Where is Theo? And if this is
Sarelle as you say, why is she here with you, and not with her
husband?”

Devlin came to stand beside Danial, and put
his hand on his brother’s shoulder. “Many things have changed,
while you were apart from us,” he said gently. “Sar, come to
Danial, let him taste your blood. He will remember that, even if
your form is unfamiliar to him.”

I walked over to Danial and hugged him, not
caring that I was getting blood all over my shirt.
It’s enough
that he’s awake, and talking again
. Danial hugged me back, the
familiar feeling of his arms around me comforting.