Black City (30 page)

A second tentacle followed the first. The majority of Alerian’s body was still far from shore. That’s how big he was. His tentacles were slapping up on the beach and most of him was still submerged several feet out in the deeper water. He stopped moving as Lucifer and Puck approached.

Nathaniel and I moved forward again, cautiously.

Then two things happened at once.

Therion came flying out of the darkness, fangs bared, obviously intent on me.

Alerian coiled one huge tentacle around the vampire king and squeezed. There was a sickening
pop
as Therion was crushed into two pieces. Alerian threw Therion onto the beach. The upper half of Therion tried to turn over and crawl away.

“He’s a vampire, you idiot,” Puck said. “You’ve got to behead him or set him on fire.”

In response, Alerian grabbed Therion around the neck with one tentacle and around the remains of his waist with the other and pulled the vampire king’s head off like a cork.

“Ah,” I said, feeling sick to my stomach. “That takes care of that problem, then.”

The tentacles receded into the water, and the fog dissipated. For a moment I hoped that Alerian would go back to sleep, having woken just long enough to save me from the belated vengeance of the vampire king.

But my luck didn’t run that way.

A moment after the giant squid arms disappeared, a third figure stood on the beach with Lucifer and Puck.

I dropped Nathaniel’s hand, moving closer so I could see Alerian clearly.

He had blue-green hair, like seaweed, drawn back in a long queue. His eyes were the same color. His face was handsome, and he wore a suit that looked as though it had been tailored for him. There was none of Puck’s impishness about him, nor of Lucifer’s smooth control. Even with the trappings of civilization on him, Alerian seemed wilder than the other two. More untamed. More dangerous.

And according to Puck, Daharan was worse than all of them put together. I definitely did not want to meet Daharan. Ever.

“Brothers,” Alerian said formally. The ancient siblings stood on the sand like three points of a triangle, a precise amount of distance maintained.

“Alerian,” Lucifer said. “You have decided to wake from your long sleep.”

“What my brother wants to know is
why
you have chosen to wake,” Puck corrected. “And I want to know that, too.”

“What I would like to know,” Alerian said, looking at
Nathaniel and me standing just outside the circle of their conference, “is what the two of you have been doing while I have been asleep.”

“There’s so much to tell,” Lucifer said. “We should adjourn to my court where we can discuss it.”

“He’s not going with you so you can poison his mind with your serpent’s tongue,” Puck said.

“Too bad you do not have a court to offer,” Lucifer said. “Pretending to be Titania’s servant does have its disadvantages.”

“I do not wish to go with either of you, anywhere,” Alerian said. “I wish to know what you have been doing. And then I wish to spend some time with my kin.”

Alerian waved his hand in the direction of Nathaniel and me.

“Um,” I said. I couldn’t imagine putting Alerian on the futon in the living room.

“Come forward, my niece,” Alerian said imperiously. He held out his hand to me.

I didn’t want this. I definitely did not want to be on the radar of another of Lucifer’s relatives/enemies.

But Alerian had just saved my life. And everyone was watching me, waiting to see what I would do.

I lifted my chin. I wasn’t afraid of anyone, not even a giant squid–sea god–thing. I took his hand.

He drew me close to him, stared deep into my eyes, and I was drowning.

I could taste the salt of the ocean, feel the freedom of the water, the pressure of its depths. The waves crashed against me, crashed against the shore.

Someone was pulling me, tugging me out of the water.

I stumbled backward, Nathaniel’s hands on my shoulders, gasping for breath.

Alerian stared at Nathaniel. His face was impassive. I couldn’t tell whether he was shocked or impressed that Nathaniel had pulled me away. Puck and Lucifer both appeared stunned.

“Yes,” Alerian said finally. “I will be spending some time with the two of you. But for now, I must speak with my brothers.”

We were dismissed. I can’t say that I was sorry to go. I wasn’t sure what had happened there with Alerian, but it was as if I were being drawn inside him, smothered by the sea.

Nathaniel was quiet as we flew home. I wasn’t feeling particularly chatty myself. We had been through a lot in the last few days, even for people who were accustomed to being in constant mortal peril.

We landed on the front lawn. I looked at him, and he at me.

“Now what?” I said.

“Now we eat pancakes,” Nathaniel said.

“You can cook pancakes?” I said as we walked inside. There was no noise from Samiel’s apartment.

“Who said anything about cooking them?” he said.

I gave a short laugh as we climbed the stairs. “That’s not usually the way you ask a woman to cook for you.”

He stopped me with a tug on my arm. His eyes were full of heat. “I could convince you, I am sure.”

“I’m sure you could,” I said breathlessly. “But if you do that, I’m not sure how much cooking would get done.”

“Oh, there would still be pancakes,” Nathaniel said. “Eventually.”

I tried not to be sad, not to think about Gabriel, not to think about the fact that Nathaniel didn’t smell like Gabriel, that cinnamon sweetness that was always in the air around
him. Couldn’t I forget for a little while? Wouldn’t that be all right, for me to stop hurting every second of the day?

I pulled Nathaniel up with me, almost broke down the door trying to open it. We had just stepped inside when the phone rang.

“Let it go,” Nathaniel murmured.

“It might be…”
Samiel. Beezle.
I didn’t need to say it.

Nathaniel nodded, and I went to the side table to pick up the phone.

“Maddy,” J.B. said. He was breathless. He sounded like he was running.

“What do you want?” I said.

“You have to get out of the house—now,” he said.

“Why?”

I was facing the front window, the portable phone tucked under my ear. A strange black shadow slid across the surface of the glass, like an oil slick.

“Sokolov has sent the Retrievers after you,” J.B. said. “You have to go. You have to go now.”

The side window in the living room was drenched in the same shadow. So were the ones in the dining room. I ran through the house, looking for an escape, but there was none. The things looked like nothing more than black liquid, but I could feel their hate. They wanted me, and they would not leave without me.

“It’s too late,” I said, backing into the dining room. I felt Nathaniel’s arms close around me.

“They’re already here.”

*   *   *

Click here
for more books by this author.

Ace Books by Christina Henry

BLACK WINGS

BLACK NIGHT

BLACK HOWL

BLACK LAMENT

BLACK CITY