The Phantom King (The Kings) (21 page)

“You didn’t know,” Thane said.
One of his parents had been an Akyri
but the other had clearly been human, and that humanity had acted as a shield for the darker part of him all his life. 

“What just happened?” Siobhan whispered. She was standing beside the love seat,
her lovely face even more pale than normal. Her eyes looked like golden saucers in her head. She looked small. He wanted to hold her.

“
I’m… I’m sorry, Siobhan. He’s right,” Steven said, his voice quivering slightly. “I didn’t know.” He shook his head, a helpless
and shamed look claiming
his handsome face.

Thane could understand the sentiments. He could imagine what Steven Lazarus had gone through for the last thirty-some years. He’d probably always felt a little bit hungry and had no idea what for. Thane could see him burning his way through school and then through the police force
hierarchy
, always driven, always focused, and never feeling satisfied.

Until he happened upon Siobhan
– and her dark and pure magic.

Siobhan said,
“Would someone please explain to me…. I mean, what the hell is going –”

From o
utside came a low hum and the
sound of glass
shattering. Then another. The three of them silenced, six ears perkin
g to the noises
beyond.
Buzz-pop. Buzz-pop.

After t
he fourth, all was quiet again. A second later, their own electricity zapped out, leaving them in darkness.

Thane stood stock
still, his silver eyes flashing, his black clad form blending into the darkness
.
He listened. Mental feelers issued out from him in all directions.
I
t was clear
from the deeper blackness peeking through the curtains
that the street lights had gone out, and not in a gentle manner.
Something had taken out the
electricity
for
most of the neighborhood
.

By the door, Steven
Lazarus
reached for the guns he would have had
in a double holster at his sides
as a detective, but of course they were no longer there.

On the other side of the living room,
Siobhan’s
magic
was once more
responding to her newborn fear, heating up her palms and
illuminating them from within.
Outside, a wind picked up, causing the thorns of rose bushes to scrape along the window panes.
No one spoke.

And then Steven’s red eyes flashed, pulsing like flares in the shadows. “It’s him,” he said softly. “He’s here again.”

“Him?” Siobhan whispered.
“
Him who? The demon?
”

“The Akyri,” Thane
said, confirming her fears.
She looked up at him and he could feel his eyes going bright, lightening until they were glowing in his face. He knew how it looked: eerie, stark and unnatural. He didn’t want to scare her, but it was not the worst of his worries at that moment. “I don’t believe this,” he whispered.

“What?” Steven asked, his own whisper harsh in the darkness.

“It’s not just any Akyri.” He could feel the intruder’s signature just like he could feel any supernatural creature’s aura. It was erratic and jagged and filled with the green and red of envy and lust. He would recognize it anywhere.

“It’
s the Akyri King,” he said.
His
fangs had returned
. Normally, he’d be regretting that he’d wasted the magic he’d stolen
on Lazarus
. “Stealing magic”
was an ability he shared with the Akyri
and
a few othe
r supernatural creatures
. As a veritable “phantom,” he was immune to any direct effects of magic
, but
if he tried, he could capture what was cast at him
and save it for later.

He’d used
what he’d saved
from Siobhan’s blast
on the detective
and was now
without
a
weapon that would have any
kind of
an
effect upon
most creatures. But in this case, it didn’t matter. Because Marius
was an Akyri and he too
would only absorb a
ny magic used against him
.

“Another king?” Siobhan whispered. Her quieted tone was rising, as if skirting the edges of hysterics. “So it’s not just any demon that wants to eat me, huh? But the
king
of demons?”

Definitely nearing hysterics.

He had to get her
out of here. It was the l
ogical solution. Marius
was here for her, and Lazarus could clearl
y take care of himself. In fact,
t
here was something more to Steven Lazarus, something that Thane couldn’t put his finger on. He was only half Akyri, and yet he felt more massive with power than almost any Akyri he’d ever met.

It was a conundrum best unraveled at a later date.

“Siobhan, come with me,” Thane whispered, turning to her and holding out his hand.

She looked a
t him with wide, luminous eyes, then looked down at his hand,
and then looked back up again. Her mouth opened. And then closed.

“It’s the only way, warlock. We don’t stand a chance against someone like Marius. Not here, not now.”

“You’re right there,” came an entirely new voice, but another that Thane instantly recognized. He spun around as the air parted behind him and a portal opened up. A half second later, out stepped Jason Alberich, the Warlock King.

“Alberich!” Thane exclaimed, trying to keep his voice down, but a little too surprised to succeed.

“She’s one of mine, Thane,” he said by way of explanation. The tall blonde,
green
-eyed king looked from him to Siobhan. “Whether she knows it or not.”

Roman was right
, thought Thane.
The Warlock King
had come a long way.

There were only so many wa
rlocks in the world, a thousand
at most. Their magic was dark, but it was powerful, and a nation of a thousand warlocks was a powerful kingdom indeed. As their king, Jason Alberich had inherited the ability to detect a warlock anywhere on the planet. All that was necessary was the use of black magic for what it was intended –
that being
harm
– and Jason would know
of its user
and
where to find
them
.

When Siobhan had attacked Thane, even in self defense,
the magic she’d saved up her whole life
had finally been
put to the use for which it was meant
,
alerting Jason to her existence. T
he fact that she used it in self defense had no doubt triggered Jason’s
protective
instinct
s, bringing him here now.
As
did
most
of the kings at their table
, Alberich clearly took his responsibilities to his people seriously. Thane was impressed.

“Get her out of here,” Jason told him, nodding toward Siobhan, who was stari
ng at the three of them now in
nothing short of shock. Whateve
r happened, if they survived, Thane
was going to have to do a lot of explaining
to do
for her sake.

“You don’t have to tell me twice,” he muttered and strode toward Siobhan. Instinctively,
she stepped back, but his hand was
wrapped around her wrist before she finished the movement.

“We have to go,” he told her firmly. “
Now
.”

Outside, lightning streaked across the sky. A second later, the windows along the east wall of the house exploded inward with tr
emendous force. The sound was deafening, and it gave the world a surreal quality as Thane pulled Siobhan
to the side
with superhuman speed and bent over her. The glass sprayed across the living room, followed closely by the wave of force that had shattered it to begin with. Thousands of miniscule shards buffeted
everyone
and everything
inside
; Thane felt it slice across his leather jacket like hellish sand pa
per. His death grip on Siobhan tightened and he bent lower as the power hit him next, rocking him forward and washing over him, dark and hot and wrong.

That was what
black magic
taken to its limit
felt like. It was the difference between someone like Marius and someone like Siobhan. Two warlocks, one good, one evil, the separateness
of their respective magics elementally
tangible.
Though Marius’ magic moved over Thane and had no
real
effect upon him, he could sense the potential damage within it and had never been more grateful for his immunity
than he was in that moment. Especially since it protected the woman in his arms.

Time slowed
for him, despite the hectic thrust of reality. In
that space of stretched out
seconds,
as a furnace of glass and magic shot over him,
Thane
found himself blissfully distracted.
She was warm where her back was pressed against his chest. She smelled like
roses, potting soil, and a hint of lotion
. The skin of her arms was so soft against his biceps, it felt like satin, and the curve of her hip beneath his palms enticed
his fingers to curl and claim tighter purchase
.

And then the glass was sliding across the floor and someone was shoving him to the side, and he was turning, taking Siobhan with him as Jason Alberich raised his arms and began to cast a spell. The
re was a flash of red light and
to Jason’s left, Steven Lazarus spun to face the Akyri who popped into existence beside him.
Another flash – and another – and the livi
ng room was filling with Marius’ Akyri
lackeys.