Betrayal (The Divine, Book Two) (29 page)

I fought to reign myself in. This could have gotten out of hand in a hurry, and it was the last thing I wanted. “I dare because I need you,” I said, my voice calm. “I need your help, and you need mine, and I’m going to the Intrepid Museum to collect Obi before Cho does. You can come along and help, or you can hang out at Starbucks and wait. Either way, I’m going.”

Her red eyes flared, but she smiled, her anger subsiding. “Okay,” she said, leaning up on her toes to press her forehead against mine. “I do need you, and I trust you. If you hadn’t found that hidden file, we’d be severely up the creek, instead of just treading water in it.”

I returned her smile, keeping my head against hers. “Thanks for seeing it my way,” I said. “I’m sorry for being an asshole.”

“You’re welcome, and I forgive you, asshole,” she replied with a smirk.
 

“If it matters to either of you,” Zeek said, “I’m in.”

 
I didn’t typically like to rely on cabs to get around the city, but we were on the upper east side, and the museum was to the midwest, resting on the Hudson. Our driver was a middle eastern man who drove with all the pizzazz of a legendary NYC cab driver, careening us through every back alley shortcut imaginable to get us to our destination in no time. There wasn’t much room in the rear, with Zeek shoved into the first half of the back seat, and Charis and I sharing the other half between us. We were squeezed in pretty tight, so it wasn’t all bad.

“Intrepid,” the driver announced, tapping his meter. “Twelve seventy five.”

I reached into my pocket and found a twenty. “Keep the change,” I said, handing it to him and pushing open the door. We spilled out onto the sidewalk.

The Intrepid towered above us, a hundred feet of American steel casting a long shadow on the seaport. I had been here once before, on a school field trip when I was a kid. It was my story about how I had wandered off into a restricted area and wound up getting booted off the ship that had probably given Obi the thought to meet up here.

I focused and reached forward with my Sight, in search of Obi’s familiar signature. I found him near the center of the ship, towards the flight deck. Thomas and Melody were with him.

“Up there,” I said, pointing. Charis nodded, she had Seen them too.
 

I looked around in search of any other Divine, not expecting to find anything. If Cho were here, he and his crew would be hiding themselves anyway, and we didn’t have time to do a careful recon. I had nearly finished my sweep when Charis pointed off to a restaurant across the street.
 

“Over there,” she said. “It’s small. A messenger, I think.”

I followed her aim with my Sight, feeling the light touch of heat that gave the demon away. I recognized this one too. “Could be a problem,” I said. “Wait here. Stay ready.”
 

The people parted around me as I jogged across the street, not even trying to disguise my approach. When Yuli saw me, he waved.

“Good evening mastersss,” he said, flapping his wings and bowing deeply in the air. “What bringsesss you to thisss part of the city?”

My relationship with Reyzl’s former familiar could only be called interesting. After the events under the Statue, the demon had sought me out, offering me his services in exchange for an occasional bit of raw meat and the promise of my protection. I had taken him up on it, and his status in the city had been a great benefit to keeping tabs on all of the potential Reyzl replacements. That wasn’t to say I trusted him though. I knew he would sell me out at the drop of a hat. If he was here, he already had.

“Just came to meet some friends,” I said. “What are you doing here?”

His lips drew back from his snout in a wide, leering smile. “Justsss came to meetsss your friendsss,” he said. “It’sss just businesss.”

“Cho?” I asked.

“Yesss. He promisesss Yuli twice the meat, and a girl if I tellsss himsss when you arrivesss.”

“Sounds like a good deal,” I said. “Is he here yet?”

Yuli cackled. “Maybe. Maybe notsss.” I reached out to grab him, but he swooped away with ridiculous quickness and started laughing. “Good luck. Call me if you needsss my servicesss again.”

I didn’t stand around to watch him fly away.
 

“Cho is on his way,” I said, grabbing Charis’ hand and pulling her behind me as I ran towards the Intrepid. “Obi doesn’t stand a chance alone against him.”

We burst up the ramp and onto the hanger deck. It was early enough that the museum was still pretty empty, with just a couple of local schools herding their students through the exhibits. I located the stairs up to the flight deck and focused, giving myself extra speed to sprint to the steps and glide up them. Charis was close behind, but Zeek just couldn’t keep up.

I spotted them as soon as I exited the stairwell, all three standing near the front of the Blackbird spy plane, one of the prizes of the museum’s collection. Melody saw me first, and she immediately grabbed Thomas and pointed my way.
 

“Landon, wait,” Thomas shouted as I ran towards them. “It’s a trap!”

I felt my body float into the air, vaguely aware of the heat and noise when the aircraft next to me exploded in a ball of flame. I heard the screams of the people scattered around the deck, smelled the sickly scent of cooked meat, and then landed perpendicular to my friends, face down on the smooth surface of the vessel. I knew by the pain that half my side had been ripped away, but I could already feel it healing.

Charis had been thrown by the blast too, and she shouted curses from somewhere behind me. I pushed myself up onto my hands and knees and tried to turn around, but before I could a thin wire dropped down over my head and tightened on my throat. I felt the serrated edges dig into my skin, and then I felt the wetness of blood running down my neck.

“It’s so good to see you again, Landon,” Cho said. He pulled on the wire so that I was forced to turn around to face him. He was still wearing that same fancy suit, clean and pressed and smelling like cologne. “It is especially wonderful of you to be so utterly predictable.”

“What B-movie did you steal those lines from?” I asked.

He laughed, and then spun me so I could see Charis, similarly tied, along with a small army of vampires who didn’t seem to mind the bright sunshine blasting them. Another benefit to feeding on my blood, I was sure. Zeek had also finally made it up the stairs, but he was powerless with both of us being held. He dropped his shotgun and surrendered without a fight.
 

“Now, I have to assume you wouldn’t normally be so stupid and reckless to rush to your friend’s aid without ensuring it wasn’t a trap first, so I must conclude that you’re in a bit of a hurry. Which means Rebecca has the Grail, and is on her way to meet our destiny.”

There was no point in denying it. “She does,” I admitted. “But it won’t do her much good when she doesn’t know where to take it.”

“I wouldn’t be too sure of that,” he said. He must have noticed my shocked expression, because he laughed again. “Ah, I guess you weren’t expecting that little tidbit. Not that it will do you any good in your current situation. I guess there’s just one more loose end to tie up, and we can get on with changing the world.”
 

He reached forward, sticking his hand in my left coat pocket, and then my right. “Where is it?” he asked.

“Where is what?”
 

“Avriel’s Box,” he hissed. “What did you do with it?”

I didn’t have it. Charis did. “Sorry,” I said. “If I had known you needed it, I would have brought it with me.”

That smart-ass remark earned me a punch in the face, and the wire noose tightened enough to cut into my trachea. I could feel the blood pouring down my neck.
 

“No matter,” he said. “I can adjust.” He pulled me along with the noose, leading me to where Obi, Thomas, and Melody were standing. He motioned for his cronies to bring Charis and Zeek over too.

“Hey, boss,” Obi said when we approached. “A little help?”

“I would love a little help, thanks,” I said. He smiled. Even in the face of death, he kept his sense of humor. His eyes shifted to Charis.
 

“Man, you get all the hot girls,” he said.

“She’s hotter than you know,” I replied.
 

“Enough,” Cho said, tightening the noose even more, opening my neck wide enough that I couldn’t get any air to speak. “Such a brave soldier,” he said to Obi. “A joker right to the end.” He reached behind me with his free hand, taking hold of the cursed dagger. He held it up to Obi’s face, trying to get him to flinch.

“I’m not afraid of you, man,” Obi said.
 

“You should be,” Cho snapped. He took the dagger and jabbed. I winced at the pain as it sunk into my flesh. “Be a good man, and hold that for me while I drain your sidekick.” He smiled, his eyes flashing black and his teeth elongating.

“Who, whoa, whoa, hang on one second,” Obi said. “You can’t suck my blood!”

Cho’s laugh was throaty. “Why not?” he asked.

Obi glanced at me, and winked. “Because you don’t have any teeth,” he said.
 

I saw the glint of light reflecting off the dagger an instant before it smashed into Cho’s face, shattering his jaw and teeth, the force of the throw dropping him and causing him to relinquish his hold on the noose. I didn’t waste any time getting my hands on it and pulling it off my head.
 

There was a flash of heat, and another explosion as a second plane went up in flames. The force blasted a couple of the vampires and threw us all to the ground. I was on my feet in an instant, and I rushed to Charis’ side, decapitating her captor before he could get his hands back on her noose. I looked up at the ship’s island just in time to see a Great Were make the thirty foot leap to the deck, landing almost gracefully and charging a pair of vamps. They didn’t stand a chance.

A hand touched my shoulder, and I whipped around, coming face to face with Izak. Where the hell had he been hiding? He greeted me with a feral grin, and then reached out and put his hand on the face of an incoming enemy. The vampire cried out as the flesh and bone rotted and collapsed below Izak’s touch, leaving a disintegrating, headless corpse behind.
 

“An ambush of an ambush,” I said. “I love it.”

The flight deck erupted with the sounds of growling, and hissing, and the clang of steel against steel. These weren’t the meat that had greeted us at the transport rift. These were the Beast’s true soldiers.
 

“Landon, look out,” Charis cried.
 

Izak and I both turned. The dagger cut deep into the fiend’s neck, and the follow up kick sent him tumbling away from me. I barely got my own sword up in time to block Cho’s attack.

“She wanted you alive,” he said, his blade and claws almost too quick to follow. He reached past my defenses and dug into my side. “Forget that. I want you dead.”

I twisted away, taking him on from the side to reduce the size of his target, following the muscle memories that I had inherited from Josette. Cho came at me, his assault a frenzy of steel and bone, his mouth wide in a toothy leer. Josette was the best, but he was an archvampire, and he was fast, insanely fast. I struggled to keep up, until I couldn’t anymore, and his blade sliced deep into my jaw, disabling one of my eyes and cutting off half my face.

I jumped back, landing a dozen feet away, and focused, trying to keep an eye on him through the blood and pain. His approach was intercepted by a jet engine, slamming into him and throwing him away. I focused again, healing myself and enhancing my strength, leaping to him in one step and bringing the sword down. Somehow, he managed to wriggle just out of the path of the blade, and then the engine came up and hit me, sending me to the tarmac.

“I’m not just some prissy vampire,” Cho said, getting back to his feet. I rolled and stood, facing off against him again. “I’ve been to Hell, just like Rebecca. I learned some things there too.” He held his palm out, and a jet of hellfire erupted towards me. I had fractions of a second to try to evade the flames, and fractions weren’t enough.

“Ullie!”
 

The cry came from my left, and I was shoved aside just in time, Lylyx’s massive form taking the hit. She howled in pain, her fur catching fire. Her screams were torture, and she dropped to the deck engulfed. She was ash within seconds.

“
Noooooo
,” Ulnyx cried, his energy exploding with such strength that I couldn’t hold onto him. His power overwhelmed me, furious and feral and unstoppable. My body changed and grew as he pulled me into his Great Were form.

“
Josette, help me
,” I said, trying to focus and regain control.

“
This one is mine
,” Ulnyx growled, his voice dripping with rage. “
Don’t you dare take this from me.
”

I felt Josette in my soul, ready to challenge the Were. I gave her pause with a thought. “
Fine
,” I said. “
But you’d better win.
”

He roared, a massive sound that vibrated the steel we were standing on. Cho gazed at him, unconcerned. He crinkled his brow and put his hands forward, prepared to send another round of flame towards us.

Ulnyx was ready for it. He rolled to the side, bunching his hinds and pouncing. The move was fast, but Cho was faster, skipping away with ease. At least, he would have, but I used the opportunity to pull some of the spilled blood below his feet. He slipped on it, teetering over and landing on his back.

We turned on a dime and reached out, great claws raking the archvampire across the chest. He cursed his pain and shoved himself backward, sliding along the deck away from us. Ulnyx followed at a charge.

“
Ulnyx, wait
,” I cried, guessing the move before it came. A wall of fire sprouted up right in front of us, too close to avoid. We tumbled through it, the hell-birthed flames scalding us with intense pain. I focused, trying to heal it, or at least reduce the pain. Ulnyx didn’t even seem to notice.