Betrayal (The Divine, Book Two) (19 page)

“Well,” said a voice from the edge of the elevator. “Are you going to stand there, or are you going to escape?”

I was going to escape. I ran to the elevator, bending down and grabbing the box on the way. When I reached the doors, a meaty hand grabbed my shoulder and threw me inside. Two more rounds fired from the shotgun, peppering the vampires with more of the buckshot.
 

“How?” I asked. The shot was only slowing them, but it was working a lot better than the silver had. The elevator began its descent.

“Plastic shot,” he said, “filled with holy water.”

I looked up at my rescuer. Way up. He was a monster of a man, at least seven feet tall, with thick arms, thick legs, and a round middle. His long wool overcoat made him look even bigger, hanging from broad shoulders down to his size twenty something combat boots. He had long brown hair with huge sideburns and a heavy goatee that made his eyes look tiny and lost on his face. He was holding the shotgun in one hand like it was some kind of toy, using his other to reload it.

“We’re not going to make it,” I said. I focused my Sight above us. The vamps were forcing open the elevator door and starting to come down.

“Take a look around, Landon,” he said.
 

I looked down. The Divine I had Seen earlier were encircling the base of the Tower. Touched, but not like any Touched I had ever met before. Just like the behemoth in the elevator with me.
 

“If you could get me a clear shot, I’d appreciate it,” he said.

I focused, ripping the metal around us away so that he had a good view of the vampires crawling down the side of the Tower. He fired again, and the lead vamp stopped moving as its face was shredded. A moment later I heard an even louder pop, and the demon was ripped from its perch and tossed aside like a rag doll.

“You know my name, but I don’t know yours,” I said.

“Ezekiel,” he said. “You can call me Zeek.” He held out his massive ham hand. I took it and gave it a strong shake. “You’re lucky m’lady has been keeping an eye on you.”

Two more pops, and another scream as a vampire was blasted from the Tower. A shout sounded from the ground, and I looked down to see that Cho had skipped the climb. He was already earthbound, finding the shooters and tearing them apart. The moment our ride touched down, I made to head in the archvampire’s direction. Zeek grabbed me.

“I said escape,” he said, pointing across the street to a plain grey van.
 

“They’ll die,” I said, throwing his hand from my shoulder.

He nodded. “They’re ready to die. I don’t like it either, but there’s no other way. You can’t beat Cho right now without bringing the world down around you.”

I knew it was true, and it wasn’t time to bring the world down around me. Not yet. I let him lead me to the van. I could see Cho watching us as we pulled away, his mouth covered in the blood of Zeek’s allies, that damn smile still on his face.

We drove in silence for the first ten minutes, Zeek’s mind surely on the fate of his comrades, my mind reeling from the discoveries I had made. The biggest one, the one that was twisting the knife in my gut deeply enough to be twisting Josette too - Rebecca was fighting for the wrong team, and Sarah was with Rebecca. No, that wasn’t it. Sarah was helping Rebecca. I had no proof, but I was sure of it.
 

I could have agonized over what I had done wrong in watching out for her, and helping to raise her. Too much ‘ninja training’? Not enough attention? Not enough affection? I knew it was none of those things. She was a real diuscrucis, and like it or not evil was in her nature. So was good, which meant there was still hope. Just as much as I was sure she was helping Rebecca, I was just as sure that the new Demon Queen had manipulated her into doing it. Maybe all it had taken was to put her in front of Gervais with the opportunity to get even.

Still, I longed for a minute to breath, to try to relax and close my eyes, to get back to Josette so we could work our way through everything together. I’d even welcome Ulnyx at this point, to lend me his demonic perspective. There had to be some benefit to having his soul mixed with mine beyond an enhanced sense of smell and the ability to shift into a huge smelly monster. I had a feeling minutes to breath would get harder to come by, not easier.

“Where are we going?” I asked Zeek, breaking the silence at last. I could see the guilt and pain written on the man’s giant face. I could smell the intensity of his emotions.

“I’m taking you to m’lady,” he replied. “Two hours to the airport, another two to Zurich. We’ll be there before dawn.”

Back the way I had come. We’d likely be flying over Gervais’ chateau, where Izak and Lylyx were waiting. “I need to make a phone call,” I said, reaching into my pocket and pulling out my cell.

It rang twice before Lylyx picked it up. “Lylyx, it’s Landon. You’ve got to get Izak, and you’ve got to get out of the chateau. Tell him to take you somewhere safe, I’m sure he knows where.”

“Landon, are you okay?” Lylyx asked. Her concern was sincere.

“I’ve been better, but I’ll survive,” I replied. “I want you to survive too. Where’s Izak?”

“He’s still down in the basement with Gervais, but at least the screaming stopped a while ago. I came upstairs. I can be evil, and I can be cruel, and I can kill anything that tries to stop me from getting what I want, but this was something else. What’s going on?”

I couldn’t imagine anything that would rattle a Great Were. It made my skin crawl. “I don’t have time to explain. Just get him and get out. I’m pretty sure there are some nasty demons headed your way, and I don’t think even Izak can take them all. I’ll call you again when I have more time.”

“Okay,” Lylyx said. “Stay safe.”
 

I looked over at Zeek. Something told me that was going to be a hard request to grant. “You too,” I said. I hung up.

“Lylyx is working for them,” Zeek said.

“Not anymore,” I replied. “That’s why I need to get her someplace safe. Once Rebecca finds out I took over the pack, she’s going to be out for blood.” Not to mention, she had been surprised that Izak was still alive. There was no way she wasn’t going to try to rectify that miscalculation.

He raised his eyebrow. “You took over the pack?”

“I absorbed the soul of their former alpha, a Great Were named Ulnyx. He told me about some loophole that let me challenge for position.”

Zeek’s laughter boomed and echoed in the van. “M’lady is going to love that one,” he said. His mirth spent, he returned to glowering. “You said Ulnyx?” he asked after another breath. “I knew a were once who went by that name. It was a long time ago.” His small eyes rotated towards me. “Ulnyx is a pretty uncommon name, even for a demon. Maybe he knows me? I went under a different name back then. They called me Tobias the Grand.”

I felt Ulnyx kick, hard. Zeek smiled, a friendly but malevolent smile. The demon’s power surged in me, and I sensed the memory flooding forward, overwhelming my defenses, and dropping me towards darkness. Zeek’s smile faded, his brow furrowing. I heard him say my name, but then he vanished in the present.

“Uncle, look!”
 

Rolix is excited when he sees the red flag raised high in the center of the village, a signal to the outlying properties that the King’s Fair is in town. I look over at the pup and smile, the fair always means good hunting.
 

“Do you think they’ll have acrobats, like the fair back home?” he asks.
 

At nearly sixteen, Rolix is barely a pup any longer, the time for his first hunt upon him. It’s the reason we’ve travelled so far, from the familiar humidity of the Delta to the coldness of the west. Along the way I have taught him all that I know about survival, and some of what I know about thriving in our world. It’s rare for the alpha to embark on a First Hunt with any of the brood, but Rolix is his father’s son, and his father is the only one in the pack I can trust. This is the depth of our bond, forged in the blood of our enemies and strengthened by domination. Rolix is also the closest I’ll ever come to offspring of my own.
 

“You are a pup still, Rolix,” I say. “But come nightfall you will have outgrown acrobats and magicians. If you haven’t, you won’t survive for long.” It’s a cold reality, one that all of the pack must be prepared for if they’re to survive.

 
Rolix growls and nods in agreement. “I know that Uncle. Since it is my last day to enjoy it; I want to savor it one final time, before I cast it from my mind forever.”

I fear for the length of his life, the way he clings to his childhood. My own First Hunt came when I was only seven, when I demanded the right to kill for myself. I know he’ll never be an alpha, and that he’ll never take a mate. It’s better this way, I tell myself. I will never have to defend myself from him. I will never have to kill him.

“Fine,” I say. His fate is not my fate. “Let’s see if there are acrobats.”

The fair is crowded with peasantry, all centered on a simple wooden stage that has been constructed in the center of the town. Spread around it are hastily constructed booths of all kinds, the mortals selling their hot pies, streamers, baskets, and any other random trinkets they have the limited skills to create. We push our way through the crowds. At first getting looks for our foreign appearance, but I’ve learned the simplest ways to manipulate the fear of the sheep, and within a few steps we are strange no longer. I take a deep breath, ignoring the stench of the grime that covers the skin and clothes and picking out the warm blood beneath it. A feast tonight. It makes being here to watch the fools dance bearable.

“Uncle, this is incredible,” Rolix says, his eyes wide to take in the bustle and energy of the crowds. He points up at the stage, where a monster of a man has made his appearance. Dressed in a long blue velvet robe hanging open at the waist, with a bare chest and simple leather pants, he is easily the largest human I have ever seen, not just in height but in sheer mass, with enormous muscled arms and a wide barrel chest. Not just a human, I can taste it in the air. Divine. I see his eyes dance our way, and I give him only a slight nod of understanding. I know what he is, and I’m not afraid.

The man doesn’t flinch, doesn’t react. His eyes work their way across the crowd as though he had seen nothing he wasn’t expecting. The meat still moves around me, unaware of the newcomer. Until he speaks.

“Ladies and lords.” His voice booms across the crowd, stopping all of the conversation, all of the motion. They are like rabbits frozen by an oncoming fox, still and attentive in their surprise.
 

“Ladies and lords,” he says again, more quietly. “It is my humble honor to be here before you today. My name is Tobias the Grand, master illusionist and strongest of the strong, and I’d like to tell you a tale.”

“Let’s get to the front,” Rolix exclaims, pushing his way through the crowd towards the front of the stage. I’d rather keep my distance from this Divine, but I won’t let the pup too far from my sight. I too approach the stage.

“This is a tale of good and evil, of the world above, and the world below.”
 

He moves his hands, and flames puff out in the air in front of him. Another motion and wisps of clouds twirl around him like a cobra. The crowd ‘oohs’ and claps, and I see they are regaining their minds, shifting themselves for a better view of this Tobias.
 

“There are monsters that walk Britannia my friends,” he says, his voice grand and overemphasized. “Monsters that would eat your soul and burp up dung.”
 

His illusions follow his speech - casting a shadow of a were, and having it double over to expel something from its mouth. This gets a laugh from the gathering, but I don’t react. There is no mistake he looks at me before beginning his next sentence, and I see the challenge for what it is. Not here, not now. Tonight. There will be no dining on sheep until the shepherd has been dealt with.

“He is a fool,” I say to Rolix. The pup is enamored with the show. He seems unable to understand how the hulk on stage is mocking us.
 

“His tricks are amazing,” he replies.
 

Tobias continues his show. He brings out puppets, a man and a wolf. The man tricks the wolf and destroys it, much to the amusement of the crowd. He laughs along with them, taking the wolf puppet and throwing it in my direction. Rolix catches it, laughing, oblivious. I’ve had enough. I grab the pup by the neck and pull him from the crowd. I can hear the ‘oohs’ and ‘ahs’ behind us as we retreat away from the gathering, reaching a small alley between a smithy and an apothecary.

“Do you understand nothing?” I ask, ripping the wolf puppet from Rolix’s hands. “Do you not see what this Tobias is?”

Rolix backs away, his head down in submission. “He is Divine,” he says.
 

“What kind of Divine?” I growl, throwing the wolf puppet out of the alley and into the small thoroughfare.

He looks up at me with dumb eyes. “I do not know Uncle.”

I’m tempted to cut his throat right there, to spare his father the embarrassment of this imbecile. I had thought I could bring the pup to his senses, but I had been wrong. I snarl and raise my hand, changing it to a sharp set of claws. Rolix’s eyes widen, and he drops to his knees.
 

“Please uncle,” he says. “I don’t understand.”

I want to do it, but I pause. I can’t return to the Delta alone. A fool the pup may be, but he may still have use. I lower my claws and reach out with my hand. “Come,” I say to him. “Put your childhood aside Rolix. Tonight we hunt.”

“Today you die,” the voice says from the mouth of the alley. I recognize the sound, and I recognize the scent.