Alliances (Guardians of White Light, #1) (21 page)

“I need you to subdue the ivory witch.”

Orion stopped short. “You have my attention.”

“She has openly allied herself with my enemies. She murdered dozens of my men to protect them. I know it was she who brought the darkness today. I need her gone.”

“You know where she is?” he asked, incredulous. She was impossible to locate with magic thanks to the powerful field of protection that she enveloped around herself.

“I know where she’s
going
to be thanks to a defector from their inner circle.”

Orion grinned. “Point me in the right direction and I’ll take it from there.”

CHAPTER TWENTY

“Here,” Jenna said, holding out a stake for the General. “Just in case. We're at war with Silas. He could be tracking us and one may not be enough to get the job done.” She pointed at the single stake holstered at his hip.

“Thanks,” he said, taking the stake from her. He returned his attention to watching Alna and Mathias up ahead. They stood in the shadow of the night talking. Alna had both hands held before her, seemingly feeling something that was invisible to the rest of them. It was the supernatural barrier that protected the facility from vampires.

“How long is this gonna take? We’re exposed out here.”

“Our tactical gear blends into the night,” Jenna assured him as she flexed her glove-covered fingers and proceeded to crack her knuckles. “These are better than my usual gloves.”

“Kevlar,” the General said. He studied her, watching as she did a quick weapons check while they waited for Alna to break the barrier. “You’re bleeding,” he told her, pointing to her neck.

Jenna reached for the choker wrapped around her throat. She felt the stickiness of blood around it. Her neck felt tender. The leather had chafed it, causing the wounds to reopen. She removed the choker and reached into a pocket of her cargo pants for some gauze.

“Bite marks!” the General commented with disdain.

Jenna ignored him and concentrated on taping the gauze over the wounds. She reattached the choker, using it to hold the bandage in place.

“Looks like a fresh bite to me. A day old, if not less,” the General said, eyeing her with suspicion.

“It’s just a graze,” she said, dismissively.

The General stepped towards her, his hulking figure the essence of intimidation. “Vampires don’t graze. They rip flesh apart and devour every drop of blood in your body until you’re just a dry corpse.” His voice had become a haunting whisper.

But Jenna wasn’t intimidated. Imminent death hanging over her head had that effect. “They’re not all like Silas.”

The General scoffed. “They’re
demons
. I can’t believe I’m having this conversation with a slayer—The Hunter—of all people.” He saw her glance unintentionally fall on Mathias. He watched as Mathias seemed to sense her eyes on him; then his gaze snapped to hers and he smiled at her. Indisputable evidence! He’d suspected as much before, but now he had no doubt.
Mathias has taken her.

“When he became involved with my daughter, I looked into him, pulled everything on him. He has a predilection for human women, Jenna,” he whispered. “And every one of them has perished. You think you'll be any different?”

“I am not merely human.”

“You’re mortal.”

“I'm a warrior. Death is my destiny.”

“It will be if you involve yourself with him.”

“It already is! I’m dying!” she blurted out, raising her voice.

Mathias turned his head at the sound of the commotion. He and Alna made their way back to them.

The General grabbed Jenna’s hands urgently and lowered his voice to a whisper. “Vampires—especially ones as old as Mathias—have extremely powerful seductive powers over humans.”

Jenna met his concerned eyes. “I'm immune to it,” she whispered.

The General released her, shocked. “If you continue this
relationship
, I cannot protect you.”

“That’s right, you can’t.
I
protect
you
. I am stronger. We are allies. Your mistrust is unfounded. Take my word for it. He will not betray you.
But
you must not betray him either.”

The General took her words in, searching her eyes for any indication of insincerity. But there was none.

“Is everything okay here?” Mathias asked as he and Alna reached them.

Jenna and the General exchanged a glance.

“Fine,” the General responded.

“My patience is waning. What’s the deal with the barrier?” Jenna asked.

“It’s different,” Alna reported.

“Different?” the General asked.

“I’ve breached it before, but there seems to be an additional layer of magic fused to it now. It’s
black
.”

“You can’t breach it?” Jenna asked, worried.

“I can breach anything. It’s just—”

“Someone knew that we were coming here,” Mathias cut in.

“If I breach it, it will alert them that we've arrived.”

“There’s no record of Silas having witches on his payroll. Generally, witches detest vamps,” the General said.

“In essence that's true,” Alna agreed. “But the magic I felt was beyond the abilities of any normal witch. They also know
me
very well. They know my
issues
with black magic. This is pure black.”

“What issues?” the General asked with concern.

“It’s becoming more and more difficult for me to control it,” she said, lifting up her tactical vest a little to reveal her stomach.

“Holy shit!” the General exclaimed as he took in the sight of the hundreds of black veins running through her body.

“Death,” Alna said.

Mathias looked away and rubbed the stubble on his chin. “Outside of the four of us, only Legion, Jax and Valta knew of the lab’s existence.”

“Tanya,” Jenna exclaimed.

“Yes, she’s betrayed us to Silas,” Mathias realized.

“Great. So, now Silas knows all about the lab and Liquid Death,” the General realized aloud.

There was a pause as they all took in the situation before them.

A familiar voice cut through the night. “In a few hours, everyone will know.”

A few feet away from them stood Arthur with two dozen Immortalia soldiers flanking him. He made a gesture behind him for someone to come forward. Fiery red hair lit up the darkness of the two dozen ebony-cloaked soldiers. Tanya. Arthur snaked his arm around her waist and pulled her close. His mouth devoured hers. When they pulled back their faces had taken their demon form and there was blood on both their lips. They smiled viciously.

“Mathias, quite an asset you’ve lost here. Have you tasted her?”

“No,” Mathias seethed, “but she will taste death for her betrayal.”

Arthur snickered. “Of course, you favor the company of human women. Isn’t that right, General?”

The General’s insides burned with a rage that he could barely suppress.

Arthur paused in his attack as his vamp senses were drawn to something else. He scrutinized Jenna for a few seconds. Her blood wasn’t the same. It had lost some of its potency. It could only be the result of one thing.
Dammit!
That bastard had taken what he’d coveted for so long. Enraged, he took a step forward, yelling, “Or do you just fuck slayers now? Do you know how twisted that is? You’re drawn to the people who hunt us, whose job it is to
murder
us?”

He turned his vicious tongue on Jenna. “Don’t kid yourself, it’s just your blood that gets him off.”

“You seem a little emotional,” Jenna mocked.

“Let me rip her throat out,” Tanya said, breaking from the pack of soldiers.

Arthur gripped her arm and yanked her backwards, causing her to stumble into the soldiers. “You wait for my orders!” he reprimanded.

“Your father has paid someone to boost the barrier’s strength?” Alna asked.

Arthur nodded but didn’t elaborate. He had his own agenda to concentrate on. Enough playing.

“There are videos of the Liquid Death experiments in this very lab. By tomorrow, they will be made public to the entire vampire community. They will all know the extent of the human threat and they will join our cause.”

Mathias ripped his broadsword from its sheath. “They will never know, because you won’t live past this night.”

Jenna and the General readied their stakes.

Arthur grinned and in a fraction of a second his men encircled them.

“Together!” Mathias yelled.

The four of them hurried together, standing back to back so, between all four of them, they could see Arthur’s entire army.

“Rules of engagement?” the General asked Mathias.

“Don’t fire until fired upon.”

The General nodded. Despite being a vamp, Mathias knew how to speak his language.

“Attack!” Arthur bellowed.

Immortalia's soldiers charged. Mathias, Jenna and the General braced themselves.

Alna threw out her right arm and a split second later a shimmering blue dome appeared, encasing the four within.

“A force-field?” the General asked, looking to Alna.

“To sci-fi fans, yes,” she answered with amusement.

“How long can you hold it?” Mathias asked.

“Indefinitely of course!”

“Silas thought you might interfere, ivory witch,” Arthur called. “We brought a friend along to keep you busy.”

Before Alna could respond, a deafening thunderous crackle ripped through the sky. Seconds later a fusillade of shimmering black lightning bolts sped towards the barrier. She braced herself as they hit, one after the other, each impact more brutal. Just as her hand started to shake, the assault stopped. She felt his energy before she saw him materialize on the other side of the barrier.

“Orion,” she breathed.

“It’s taken me a century to find you, ivory witch. Silas told me about your black veins of death, but don’t worry. All that pain will end tonight, my sweet.” He blew her a kiss and eyed her lewdly.

It was no secret that Orion had always wanted her ever since their
indiscretion
years ago, despite her making it clear that it had been nothing but a mistake.
“How did you escape the hell dimension I banished you to?”

“It appears the strength of my rage yielded a power stronger than the binds of that place.”

“You internalized black magic, let it consume you?”

“Precisely. And, now, my sweet, I have come for you.”

“This is not your fight,” Mathias said.

“Mathias. It’s been a while. Oh—are you two—?”

“No,” Mathias interjected quickly. He eyed Jenna and shook his head dismissively.
Ignore him.

“You are a fool to think you could defeat
me
,” Alna hissed.

“I don’t plan on defeating you. I don’t need to. Your magic is unstable. You will destroy
yourself
. I’m just here to help it along.”

Mathias’ eyes widened in horror. “You'll destroy us all. Walk away, Orion.”

“Old scores must be settled. You know that better than anyone, Guardian,” he said, gesturing to Arthur and his soldiers.

“Not this night.”

“She's fading. This is my last opportunity. Besides, Silas has promised me a bonus—
her
,” he said, gesturing to Jenna. “A human that poses quite a challenge if it's true that she's immune to the seductive powers of vampires. I'm bored. No challenge from any of the humans I've ever come into contact with. What's existence without a challenge?”

“He promised
what
?” Arthur murmured angrily.

“She is not for bargaining,” Mathias told him. “She's with me.”

“I see. Then, I'll go through you after I've finished with Alna.”

“Alna?” Mathias whispered, “…can you hold this barrier against him?”

“I don’t know.” She eyed him worriedly.

Before anything further could be said, Orion’s hands touched the barrier, causing Alna to scream in agony.

“How do you like my power now, Alna?” he said, relishing her pain.

His hands emanated red fire that quickly spread over the entire barrier, making it appear as though it were engulfed in flames.

Alna gritted her teeth and flipped her left palm up, mumbling something incoherent to everyone else. A clear shimmering orb materialized. She lobbed it at the barrier. It passed through with ease and struck Orion in the chest, exploding into a zillion fragments of light. Its power blew him backwards and ripped his magic from the barrier. He lost his balance and hit the sodden ground hard.

Hurriedly, Alna addressed the group. “General, I cannot breach the barrier to the lab while Immortalia is here. It will allow them passage as well. When Luke enlisted my help to breach it last time, I got a good look at the blueprints of the facility. I can plant you in the control room where you’ll be able to destroy the electronic records of the drug. But you must give me your complete trust or it could upset the magic.”