Wardbreaker: An Urban Fantasy Novel (The Lillim Callina Chronicles) (12 page)

My fingers wrapped around Set’s hilt, and I dangled there for a moment. I shut my eyes, willing the small sphere of light into my weapon, and as I did so, a small strain eased off my mind. When I opened my eyes, my wakazashi was glowing with soft red light, and from up here, it was enough to cast the whole room in reddish haze. There was still nothing here but bones, but unlike before, something about the darkness felt hungry and oppressive.

I needed to find a way out of here. I swung myself around and grabbed my katana before jerking both weapons out of the wall. I landed hard on the ground and agony ripped through my hurt ankle. This time, I didn’t bother to stifle my cry. Who was going to hear anyway?

“Lillim, I think you should look at this,” said a familiar ghostly voice from across the room.

I glanced in its direction to see a man standing there with short, spiked black hair. He was kneeling in front of a grate I hadn’t noticed. His back was to me, but even from here I could tell he was muscular beneath his thin white t-shirt and jeans. The sight of him came as a relief. This particular ghost almost never showed his face when other people were nearby. For him to appear to me now meant we were well and truly alone. And also that Luc was good and truly unconscious, but hey, everything can’t be all lemonade and sunshine.

“Nice of you to show yourself, Mattoc,” I said, ambling toward my ghost, and as I did so, a spot above my left breast throbbed with cold. Yeah, that’s right. I have my own ghostly charge. Hisen Mattoc had been a tough as nails assassin like fifty years ago, and somehow, he had grown rather attached to Dirge. Then, when I was reborn, he came along for the ride.

Now he was anchored to me, and it was just awesome. Especially because since he never really came out around other people, I almost always forgot he was around. When I remembered, it was usually while I was doing something I wouldn’t want him to see me doing. Like showering.

Still, having a ghost around was useful at times, like when you needed someone incorporeal to look through a wall and tell you what was on the other side or to distract a room full of bad guys with machineguns. It went without saying that bullets didn’t hurt him.

Mattoc tossed me a look that told me to ‘deal with it,’ and went back to running his insubstantial fingers along the grate so the tips vanished into the metal. “I think there’s a way out through here,” he said, poking his entire head through the grating so all I could see were his shoulders. His head popped back into view. “It looks like some kind of banquet hall down there.” He glanced around the room and stood up, shoving his hands into the pockets of his jeans as he strode over to me.

“What makes you so sure?” I asked, quirking an eyebrow at him.

“I think you might be where they keep the entrees,” he replied, ignoring me and pointing at the floor. “See how the floor slopes down toward the grate? I bet it’s so they can bleed people out in here, and the blood flows into the grate. It looks like there’s a funnel on the other side for the blood to flow down into one of those fountain things.” He crossed his arms over his chest, and it was then I realized there was writing on his shirt. It read, ‘I’m with stupid.’

I growled and trudged past him toward the grate. “So instead of a champagne fountain, the vampires have a blood fountain? Next you’ll be telling me there’s a whole bunch of empty glasses next to it.”

“You know, when you guess what’s down there before I tell you, it sort of sucks the joy out of it,” Mattoc replied before snapping his fingers at me. “Now get with the manhandling of the grate so we can escape. I’m not fond of the idea of my only anchor to the mortal world being consumed like a hors d’oeuvre.”

“I love you too, Mattoc,” I replied, fixing him with my best acidic stare before sheathing my swords and kneeling down next to the grate. As soon as I touched it, a chill washed through me. I snatched my hand back. “It’s cold…”

“Cold?” Mattoc asked, but before he could say more, the hatch above us opened, and he vanished from sight. I looked up to see the little girl standing there with a wry grin on her face. Next to her were a couple vampires that looked like they’d rather be anywhere else. Great, so she’d brought reinforcements. Here I was trapped in a hole, and she had brought friends. It didn’t seem fair.

The male vampire was barrel-chested with a girlish face. His fat, pudgy fingers played with the red and black beaded necklace around his throat. He clasped and unclasped an object hanging in the center, though I couldn’t quite make out what it was.

The other vampire was a shorter woman with hair so dark it was nearly black and skin the color of milk. Her ruby-red lips were quirked into a disinterested smile as she absently buttoned and unbuttoned the top button on her white button down shirt. So, they both had nervous tics. That wasn’t good since both of them seemed old and powerful. It meant someone was making them uncomfortable, and I was willing to bet it was the little girl vampire. Was she stronger than the two of them?

“See,” the short blonde Luc had rescued cooed, pointing at me like I was exhibit A. “I told you we caught a Dioscuri.” The way she said the words made me think of a little kid catching an insect and wanting to keep it as a pet. An icy shiver crawled down my spine as I stared up at them, hoping she wouldn’t actually try it because something about the look on her face made me think she could do just that if she wanted.

Her companions nodded in unison. “Seems you were right, Ariel.” The voice boomed through the tiny corridor, and before I could do anything, something seized me by the scruff of the neck and hauled me into the air.

“The sooner you realize I’m always right, Bob, the sooner we’ll be done with this business,” the little girl said, and a horrible feeling settled over me. Surely it couldn’t be them. Surely this was two random vampires who shared the names of the two most powerful vampires on the planet. Surely this couldn’t be
the
Bob and
the
Ariel. No, there was no way the founders of both castes were here and in the flesh. That was just silliness.

It was the last thought I had before my consciousness faded into inky blackness, and I’ll admit, it was a little naive.

I woke up flat on my back with the weight of the world on my chest. I tried to crane my eyes downward to see what was holding me down, but found I couldn’t move at all. Not even an inch. The only thing I could see besides a rather innocuous cement ceiling with a single light embedded into it was a vague outline of glowing purple light.

“Well, this is awesome,” I muttered, somewhat surprised I could speak when I couldn’t even turn my head.

“So you’re awake,” a husky, melodious female voice whispered in my ear. Warmth rippled along my skin as she spoke, and I suddenly had some very uncomfortable thoughts enter my mind. I tried to swallow as my heart started pounding in my chest. I normally wasn’t attracted to girls, especially when I hadn’t so much as seen them so that meant one thing. The woman in here with me was a succubus, and if she was in full charm mode, I was in real trouble here.

“Yes,” I replied, putting as much bite into the words as I could, which admittedly, wasn’t all that much. Normally, I could fend off succubian advances with my magic, but for whatever reason, I couldn’t call upon my powers. I suspected it had to do with whatever was keeping me immobile. Even still, I tried to take a deep breath and concentrate. Sure, I was trapped with a succubus and unable to move or fight back, but things could be worse, right?

“How interesting,” she cooed, and I felt a finger trail along my cheek and settle on my collarbone. “You weren’t out for long. You must be strong.” Her face loomed over mine. It was the same female vampire from earlier. She pursed her ruby-red lips as she studied me with her dark eyes. “I bet you taste delicious.” She licked her lips and a little tremor went through me.

My cheeks burst into flames as I tried to look away, but couldn’t. She grinned at me and shook out her hair so it fell about her shoulders in a dark wave. “I’m going to ask you this once,” she purred, leaning down toward me so her lips were just above my own. “Would you be a doll and answer for me?” Her tongue flicked out of her mouth and touched my lips. Electricity shot through my body, tightening things low in my body.

“Maybe,” I whispered, unable to take my eyes off her lips. The brief touch of her tongue had felt so good, nearly everything in me wanted her to do more. Intellectually, I knew I shouldn’t want that, knew she was using her magic to charm me, but that was the thing with succubae. They could make you do things you didn’t want to do and be happy about it, and when it was over, you’d beg for more.

Even worse, I got the feeling this one was particularly powerful. So what was such a strong vampire doing here?

“Why are you here?” she asked, breathing the words into my slightly parted lips. Her magic rolled over my skin like silk and made me shiver. “What is your objective, Dioscuri? Why do you interfere in our plans?”

I swallowed and shut my eyes. As soon as I did, some of her power over me seemed to diminish. A little shocked gasp exited her throat. Was she surprised? Why? Was I not supposed to be able to shut my eyes? Either way, I was glad because it let me think, at least a little bit.

“The vampires in this city are being too open about their existence. The humans cannot know about the supernatural. That is the
first
law.” I swallowed again, and as I did so, some of the pressure in the room eased. Well, that was good. If they were less concerned, maybe they wouldn’t try to eat me. “Your kind knows this, but they are not complying. I need to know why.”

“Interesting,” she said, and her voice was very near my ear lobe. “If we agree to stay hidden, to rein in those who would seek to reveal us to the humans, will that be sufficient?” Her words seemed strange to me. Was she using vampire speak and trickery to get me into agreeing with her? It sure seemed like it, but why? Was she trying to get me to sanction what they were doing? Why would she care? Unless… unless they weren’t supposed to be doing whatever it was they were doing?

Was that why they hadn’t just killed me? Were they worried I was just scouting them out? That I was the first in a long line of Dioscuri coming to crush them? If that was true, they were definitely up to no good, and I needed to stop them.

“When I bring my report to the Dioscuri high council, they will have to decide,” I said, and the succubus huffed in frustration. She was so powerful even that tiny sound made me ache with the need to console her.

I slowly opened one eye, risking a glance at her, but she wasn’t looking at me. The vampire was looking beyond me at someone else and part of me was disappointed. She shrugged her shoulders, and her tiny movement made me realize just how sheer her top was. If she’d move just a little to the left…

The male vampire from earlier stepped forward, distracting me from the thoughts I really shouldn’t have been having. His sudden presence was even more unnerving because I hadn’t known he was there.

“Look,” he said, voice strangely scratchy and high-pitched. “By the time your people come here to stop us, we’ll be done.” He waved his hand dismissively. “As for the newbies, we’ll relocate them to Alaska or something. They like it there. It’s cold and dark. All you have to do is let us finish.” He gave me a look that made me realize it was the best deal I was probably going to get.

“I don’t have the authority to make a deal like that,” I replied, hoping the lie wouldn’t make them think I was useless and kill me outright, but would buy me time to think of a plan.

“When you lie to us, it makes me unhappy. Do you want to make me unhappy, Lillim?” the female asked, leaning down and grabbing my chin. She squished my cheeks together so my lips puffed out. “We know who you are Lillim Callina, Hyas Tyee of the Dioscuri. You have more than enough rank to agree to our terms.” Her words sent a chill running through me. So they did know who I was, and if they did and were still holding me here, trying to make an agreement, what they were up to was likely very, very bad.

“Because you’re up to something, and I don’t know what it is.” I tried to nod toward the weight on my chest. “You have me trapped here, and I get the distinct impression you want to drown me like a bag of unwanted kittens.” I exhaled sharply. “Those things make me think I shouldn’t help you. Not even a little. You know, ignoring the fact that you’re monsters.”

“What if we showed you what we were doing?” the male asked, arching one dark eyebrow at me. “Would that be better?”

Honestly, I wasn’t sure. On one hand, they were vampires, but on the other, if they were willing to show me what they were up to, how bad could it be? Maybe not that bad since the Dioscuri had a very low tolerance level for shenanigans. Then again, it could be a trap. They were evil after all.

“It’d be a start—” I started to say when the succubus cut me off.

“We’re not authorized to do that, Logan,” she said, looking up from me and glaring daggers at her compatriot.

“Danae, we don’t have a choice. Ariel wants a signed and delivered contract.” Logan the vampire gestured at me like I was exhibit A. “We have to do what Ariel says, or well, I don’t want to think about what she’ll do.”

“There’s no way…” Danae trailed off and shook her head. “If she gets free, it’s on you.”

Logan gritted his teeth but didn’t say anything else. Instead, he reached down and pulled something off my chest. The weight of the world eased. The necklace he’d been wearing earlier was in his hands, and without another word, he fastened it around his neck and tucked it under the collar of his black button up. Watching him put it away made me uncomfortable. Not just because he’d used his magic to bind me to the table really easily, but because he was making a point of keeping it hidden. What was it?

“Let’s go, Dioscuri.” Logan crooked a smile at me. “Time’s a wasting, and before you get any bright ideas, yes, when I said Ariel, I meant
the
Ariel.”

I know a name shouldn’t make me shudder and my knees tremble, but that one did. It was stupid. I know. But Ariel was one of the scariest vampires on the planet. She was the founder of a caste of vampires specializing in blood magic, and I’d been out of commission for more than enough time for her to have gotten her hands on some of my blood. If she had, she could turn my blood into acid, or worse. I didn’t even want to think about what the worse would be. Use the blood in my veins to walk me around like a puppet?