Balance (The Divine, Book One) (20 page)

Rebecca’s
iron grip relaxed. “A vampire can rightfully seize control of their house by
disposing of the patriarch. It is the normal means by which we rise and fall
from power. Until that time, we are bound by our honor to show respect, even to
those we despise. I am powerful for a vampire because of my mixed heritage, but
I am not strong enough to defeat Merov Solen, and so I’ve had to endure his
story of how he murdered my mother for much of my life.”

“He
seems to care for you,” I said. At least he had claimed he did.

“In
his own
way,” she admitted. “He has provided me with
everything I have ever asked for, anything I could ever want. But there are
strings. Always strings.”

I
could see the sadness in her eyes, and I wanted nothing more than to be able to
help her. “I’m sorry,” I whispered.

She
gave me a look of strange fascination, and then she kissed me.

It
was a short, soft kiss, but it sent a wave of energy rolling from my head all
the way down to my toes. I could feel the tips of her fangs brush up against my
lip, the sharp edges threatening to puncture the skin. I could taste the cold
moisture of her mouth, blood and iron and lipstick. My entire body turned to
jello.

“Thank
you,” she said in a hoarse whisper. She pulled back and helped me resume the
dance. My rubbery legs fought to comply.

We
finished out the song in silence, our hands and eyes staying locked together.
My mission. I hadn’t come here to flirt with the birthday girl, regardless of
how much I was enjoying it. I was here to get information about the source of
the very thing that Merov had gifted to his daughter. It was only logical to
think that Merov knew the origin. My mind went back to the room with the
fingerprint lock. I was willing to bet anything that the answers I sought could
be found in that room. The real question was how in the world was I going to
get inside? The answer - I wasn’t; at least not tonight. I needed to beat a
hasty retreat while the going was still good.

“Thank
you for the dance, Lady Solen,” I said to Rebecca in my Sir Giovanni voice
while letting go of her hands. “If you’ll excuse me, I need to go downstairs to
make a phone call. I would be honored if you would offer me the opportunity to
speak with you further about your scientific achievements. I believe they are
most fascinating.”

Rebecca
smiled. “Perhaps we can continue the conversation after you complete your
call,” she said. “I can escort you down to the lobby.”

“You
are very kind,” I replied, holding out my arm for her again.

She
wrapped her own arm in it and started walking me towards the stairs as the band
began playing another tune. I glanced around the crowd looking for Merov,
finding him back at the Fresh Fleshette. He noticed me with Rebecca on my arm
and smiled his approval. I could imagine what he’d be thinking if he knew what
I was intending to do.

“Leaving
so soon?” Rebecca whispered to me as we ascended the stairs to the elevator.
“You couldn’t possibly have gotten what you were looking for from me.”

“I
got something better from you,” I replied, causing her another round of
embarrassment. “What I was looking for, I got from your father, although he
doesn’t know it yet.”

We
reached the top of the stairs and stepped out onto the landing. It was clear
except for the band and another pair of weres who were guarding the elevator. I
had almost made it out without a negative incident.

“Sir
Giovanni needs to go make a call,” Rebecca told the guards. “I’m going to
escort him down.”

The were
on the left held up his hand. “Just one
minute Lady Solen. The elevator is on its way up. You’ll never believe who
decided to come to your party.”

I
looked at Rebecca. She shrugged her shoulders. “Who is it?” she asked.

The
timing was impeccable. The elevator dinged, the door slid open, and out of it
stepped pure evil.

Reyzl.
I knew it was
him
the moment the elevator doors
finished opening. He was resplendent in crisp, fitted tails, complete with top
hat, gloves, cane, and fur lined cape. He was dark skinned, Indian maybe, tall
and bony with boyish good looks. The kicker was the eyes, huge solid black orbs
that absorbed your soul, stole your will, and reflected you back as no more
than a puppet on a string. They were empty, expressionless eyes, creepy and
powerful and impossible to penetrate. He radiated total domination in the form
of an unfeeling coldness that left no question that was the superior. It was
the power of pure hate, greed, and evil resting just below the surface of the
human facade he had wrapped himself up in for the occasion. It was my first
glimpse at what a true demon was, and the hopelessness that followed was almost
enough to crush my soul right then and there.

He
knew me too, or at least he knew who I wasn’t. He was emotionless as he stepped
off the elevator and looked at me for the first time. I saw nothing in his
eyes, but his lip curled at the edge in a rough snarl. He lifted the hand with
the cane towards me, and every muscle in my body froze stiff, as if I had been encased
in ice.

“Diuscrucis,”
he said with a perfect, flat calm, as if he had been expecting the encounter.

I
struggled against myself, trying to will my body into motion. I could feel the
tug in my mind, could feel my power butting up against his. It was no contest.
“This is going to be quite an entertaining night after all, isn’t it,” he said
to no one in particular. “Merov,” he called out.

I
continued fighting the invisible bonds, even though I knew I wasn’t strong
enough to break them. Rebecca had backed away from me towards Reyzl when he had
called me out. I didn’t blame her for choosing his side. I was a mouse with my
tail firmly caught. I couldn’t turn my head to look, but I could hear Merov
Solen running up the steps to answer to his master.

“My Lord
Reyzl,” Merov said, reaching the landing and dropping to his knee.

Reyzl
didn’t even look at him. He just raised his cane and motioned towards the
guests below. Merov got back to his feet and went to the edge of the platform.

“Ladies
and gentlemen,” he cried out to the assembly. The band stopped playing and the
quiet din of so many conversations all hushed at once. “All hail the power and
glory of Lord Reyzl the Dominator,” he said, turning and dropping to his knee
again.

Everyone
else followed suit, including Rebecca, who looked at me as she did so, her eyes
apologetic. I would have told her I understood, that it was okay, but I was the
one still standing, stiff as a board and one hundred percent incapacitated.

Reyzl
motioned for Merov to stand, which was the queue for the rest of the
congregation to follow. They stood motionless, waiting for their master’s
command. “Now Merov, will you please explain to me how you allowed a diuscrucis
into your home unchallenged.”

Merov
turned to look at me. “Sir Giovanni?” he asked. “I... I’m sorry my Lord. I do
not understand.”

“Do
you question me?” Reyzl asked, his voice still calm and emotionless.

Merov’s
face turned bright red. “No, no my Lord,” he replied, bowing down to the demon.
“I cannot see what you see. I see only a vampire. He told me his name was
Stefan Giovanni, from Venice.”

I
noticed the minutest change in Reyzl’s expression. It was as if his body had
attempted to feel mirth, but it had been crushed in an instant.

“Of
course,” he said. “Reyka, my dear. Tell me, what do you see?”

She
didn’t hesitate, and I understood why not. “He is a diuscrucis, my lord. His
name is Landon. I have been befriending him, in order to learn his secrets, to
learn what the Outcast and his servant are plotting.”

As
she spoke, her pale blue eyes were replaced with the same cold black orbs that
I had seen the first time we met. They were expressionless eyes, used to hide
from me. I had expected her to identify what I was, but I hadn’t been expecting
her complete betrayal. If I could have moved, I would have kicked myself for
being so stupid. She didn’t need to possess me with the power of a succubus.
Her natural beauty had been more than enough to seduce me into trusting her.

Reyzl
fixed his attention back on me. The only way I knew it was because he said my
name. “Landon. I’m going to ask you a question. You’ll need to be able to speak
to answer it.” I felt my head regain mobility.

It
was tempting to say something stupid and pointless, but it would have looked
panicked and weak. I was both, but I wasn’t about to let him have the
satisfaction of forcing it out of me. I said nothing, waiting for his question.

“No
doubt the Outcast and his Collector have sent you on this fool’s errand. Tell
me, are they aware of the Chalice and the work we have being doing with it?”

He
stepped closer to me as he spoke, his mere presence overpowering my senses. He
was Commanding me, I knew, though he was much more subtle about it than Merov
had been. Worse, it was a struggle to resist compliance.

“No,”
I said. “I was here to find out about the Exchange. To find a way to shut it
down.” I figured I’d try, but I had no doubt he would be able to see right
through the lie.

“Reyka,
is he telling the truth?” he asked.

“He
wouldn’t tell me what his goal in being here was, my Lord,” she told him.

At
least I had done something right, not telling her everything. He seemed to be
going for the lie.

“No
matter,” he said. “No harm has been done. Goodbye, Landon.”

He
showed no outward sign of effort in causing every single nerve in my body to
feel as though it were exploding at once. The agony of the event was
indescribable, like a paper cut on every single cell that made up my living
flesh. As each cut was made my body would heal in time to be cut again,
multiplying the sensory pain a hundredfold. I would have passed out, would have
welcomed it in fact, but my Divine being wouldn’t allow it. I experienced a
hundred lifetimes of pain each instant, all the while knowing it was just a
prelude to my final fate.

I
kept my eyes as focused as I could on Reyzl as he stepped forward, lifting the
cane and pulling from its base with his free hand. The cane doubled as a sword,
a cursed blade that would put me out of my misery. The demon’s expression
didn’t change the entire time. It was lifeless, soulless. Not even my tortured
pain was able to cause any sort of reaction. The complete ambivalence was the
most frightening thing of all.

Before
he could finish me off, the entire world erupted into a mess of chaos and
frenzy. Reyzl’s perfect ensemble was ruined when a clean silver blade burst
from his heart, the blessed runes etched on its surface glowing red with heat.
I felt the pain stop, felt my limbs regain their flexibility. I stumbled and
fought to stay on my feet.

I
heard Merov shouting his daughter’s name, and then I saw her charging me, her
eyes still black, her fangs bared. I couldn’t recover fast enough to defend
myself. She slammed into me, lifting me over her shoulder. With one motion she
planted her foot on the top of the railing and carried us both off of the
landing and down into the waiting crowd below.

We
hit the ground hard, the momentum tossing me away from her. I had gone from bad
to just as bad, because now I was lying in the middle of over a hundred angry
vampires.

I
leapt to my feet, getting into position to defend myself the way Obi had shown
me earlier. Rebecca had regained her footing as well, coming at me from my
left. I turned to defend myself from her when I saw a brown shape hurtling down
from the landing above. She crouched low and kicked up with her foot, making a
solid connection with the incoming missile, sending it careening off into the
crowd. I stood there dumbstruck. The missile had been Merov.

“Move
it, worm,” she said, reaching out and grabbing my arm. “I’m trying to save your
life.”

The
pain of her grip snapped me out of it, and my brain did the math. She had
stabbed Reyzl from behind with a blessed dagger. Where she had gotten it, I had
no idea, but she had saved my life for the moment at least. Her betrayal had
been a ruse. She had chosen a side, and it was mine. The sum of that equation
was the hardest kick in the ass I could have imagined.

I
looked up at the landing, where Reyzl was working to get the dagger out of his
chest. I was going to assume if Ulnyx had possessed an amulet, his boss would
have one too. That meant we had about twenty seconds to find a way out of this
mess, maybe less. The guests had overcome their surprise, and were turning
towards us, their eyes going black, their fingernails and fangs elongating. I
looked around the room in search of something, anything I could use. My eyes
settled on the fountain of blood.

Blood,
water, they weren’t that different, and I had practiced making it rain for
hours. I reached out and focused my will, pulling the fluid from the fountain
and yanking it over to where Rebecca and I were standing. It splashed through
the crowd in its haste to arrive, then circled around and spread over us like a
plasma cocoon.