Dark Heiress, page 23
part #5 of Ema Marx Series
Another cry of hysteria erupted from a soldier who stood at the top of the foyer stairs. He sounded pissed and was waving a club as he descended the steps.
“I’ll handle that one,” said Naamah.
Jesu gave him the broadsword, and Naamah bounded up the stairs.
“Be careful!” I pleaded as Jesu followed Naamah, but then a third and fourth guard appeared in the foyer, each of them holding a stun gun. “Look out!”
Dad pulled another dagger from a hidden pocket, and Jesu backtracked to my father’s side.
The soldiers stopped in their tracks and raised their hands in surrender. The one on the right said something in German. Jesu uttered something in return.
Jalmari appeared behind them and stabbed one Alpan through the back. The other screamed out in horror, and Jalmari snapped his neck. Both Alpan soldiers dropped to the ground in an instant. “What the hell are you standing around for? Get the mother of my child out of here!”
“Those were innocent kings’ men!” said Jesu.
“Sorry, I don’t have time to question every man with a weapon, brother, but Alpans are killing Alpans back there. It’s a bloodbath.”
My breath hitched as Jalmari came closer. Alpans killing Alpans. The Rebels were just civilian vampyres and vampires who had been gullible enough to rally behind Victor. This wasn’t like fighting the Saga-giga who weren’t a part of this world, but some necromantic monstrosity created by a mad-man. Nor was it like hunting Lilith, who’d lost her empathy eons ago, if she ever had any to begin with. This was raw, brutal, man on man combat.
And we were right in the middle of ground zero.
“Brinnon,” I said as Jalmari grabbed my upper arm and manhandled me toward the castle doors. “Did you see Brinnon?”
“Not my problem.” The brute paused long enough to open one of the castle doors and received a gunshot wound to the shoulder. The bang and blood splatter caused my heart to jump into my throat. Surprise widened Jalmari’s gaze as he released me. I staggered back a step, still choking on my own shock.
Jesu gripped my shoulders. He stood directly behind me, and somewhere behind him, Mom released another shrill scream.
There was no time to react. The five of us staggered toward the stairs as a wave of men and women alike—all in civilian clothing, brandishing any form of weapon; crowbar, kitchen knife, big stick—flooded the foyer and ran into the main corridor. A handful of them noticed us and bravely approached, their golden yellow gazes ripe with adrenaline and anger.
What did we do to them?
Didn’t matter.
Jalmari, having left his knife in a corpse, fought with his fists. Jesu hacked into them with his dagger. The Rebels were quickly cut down, but there were so many. For each body that fell, three more took its place. One was bound to get the upper hand eventually.
“Get your parents upstairs!” Jesu hollered. “Find somewhere safe. Naamah, go with her!”
Naamah finished disposing of his own opponent and joined us near the bottom of the steps. “Go on,” he said as Dad guided my mother up. I clung to the wooden handrail and climbed backward, one careful stair at a time. I didn’t want to go. I didn’t want to leave Jesu. But we were all being forced to retreat. The mob of Rebels advanced. Jesu and Jalmari found themselves with no choice but to carefully climbed the stairs with us, fighting back as many as they could so my parents and I could get to safety. But where was that? The foyer staircase was double-sided, and a group of Rebels had already climbed the other end. They were making their way across the landing to my parents.
“Naamah!” I shouted.
Naamah followed my line of sight and realized the danger. Dad was near to the top, my mother close behind. Naamah rushed past her and joined my father’s side, ready to fight the Rebels together.
Mom clung to my arm. “Stop this! Stop fighting!”
My gaze went around the room. It’s no use. We’re trapped. They’re closing in.
This stupid castle doesn’t even have windows! Wait ... yes it does.
The crack of bone and shifting of cartilage drew my attention as several avian creatures took flight, cawing as they circled the ceiling and divebombed us, reaching out with razor-sharp talons. Mom screamed as I yanked her down with me, narrowly avoiding a vulture.
“Mom, look at me.” I pressed both hands against either side of her face and commanded her attention. “I’m going to get you out of here, okay? But you have to trust me and do exactly as I say. Can you do that?”
She nodded.
“Okay. I need you to close your eyes, take a deep breath, and hold it. Don’t open them until I say so.”
She looked at me, horror-stricken. “What?”
“Just close your eyes, Mom!” I grabbed her wrist as the vulture landed on the railing beside us. I didn’t wait any longer than that. I phased my mother into nothingness, sucker-punched the bird, and then launched myself over the handrail. I flew us through the corridor, over the heads and weapons of the angry mob, across the ballroom, and into the dining hall. Several winged creatures came at me with sharp claws and even sharper beaks. They scratched and pecked, drawing blood. I used my free hand to punch as many as I could. The large ones I instantly phased and threw across the room. All the while I kept advancing toward the window in the vaulted ceiling in the dining hall. It was just large enough to squeeze through. I pried the leaver from the pane and turned it quickly. The glass opened like a door, and I flew outside.
Moonlight lit a path along the ceramic shingles. I took quick stock of the layout of the roof—all pitched angles and crumbling chimneys—and went to the largest flute knowing Mom would need something to cling to and hide behind.
I released her phased molecules slowly, allowing her to take in her surroundings as her full weight came back into being. Her gaze popped open without my permission and she startled, clinging to me. “Wh-what?”
“Shh.” I kept my arms firmly around her, steadying her balance as her footing struggled to find purchase along the slanted shingles. She looked down as if only now realizing that yes we were on the roof. She found her balance but only clung to me harder, her face white as a ghost in the sheen of the moon. “Mama, I have to go get Dad. You need to stay here until I get back.”
“Ema,” she whimpered, her gaze wide.
“Listen, Mama, you’re doing great.” I drew a breath, fishing for a way to explain the unexplainable. “You know that terrorist group I’m helping the FBI with?”
She swallowed and then nodded.
“They’re here, Mama. They’re attacking the castle. I need you to stay hidden and quiet. Can you do that for me?”
Mom’s brows slanted upward. Her gaze went everywhere—then suddenly rolled back into her head. She went limp in my arms, and I almost lost my balance with the extra weight.
“Great,” I said, straining to not drop her as I used a combination of levitation and brute strength to sit my mother down with her back braced against a brick chimney flute. “You just wait here and take a nap. Good idea.”
I quickly checked her for wounds but couldn’t find any. She’d only fainted from the shock. That was fine with me. I peeked past the roof to get an idea of what was going on outside. Rebels were patrolling the grounds, and they had guns.
I drew another breath to calm my nerves. Alpans could shift and fly, but with all the commotion going on inside, I didn’t think anyone would notice Mom up here. As long she didn’t roll over, she would be okay for a minute while I got Dad and the others out, right?
“Ugh!” Someone grunted a split second before a gunshot went off.
Startled, I looked over the edge to see what had happened. My gaze went wide. Three of the ten or so Rebels patrolling the grounds had fallen with grave wounds bleeding out onto the grass. The rest gathered around their dead, murmuring nervously as they looked for the culprit. Two more Rebels fell in a flash. Shots fired in belated reaction. The Rebels had no idea what they were shooting at.
I had no idea what they were shooting at either.
My gaze narrowed. Zip, zip, zip. A blur of motion zig-zagged between the Rebels, and four more died before the creature killing them darted into the woods and out of sight. Five more Alpans came out of the castle to see what was going on. The creature zipped between them. It was only with very careful and very keen eyesight that I noticed it wasn’t just one creature but two. Two phased vampyres severed the spines of their enemies very, very quickly.
A hand touched my shoulder, and I jumped out of my own skin. Thank God I was already levitating. Jesu took my hand and pulled me against him, chest to chest, my fingers splayed over his heart. His gaze was dark, like a summer storm, his brow slanted in a piercing protectiveness. It took a moment before I realized how a vampire who couldn’t fly managed to get way up here: An elongated tree branch that I swore wasn’t there before now reached all the way across the roof and held firm beneath Jesu’s booted feet.
“You are bleeding.”
“I’m fine,” I whispered, my breath stolen by my fiancé, the freaking woodland god. “Shallow cuts. Already healed. Is that Jalmari and Naamah down there?”
“Yes,” he answered flatly. “They are buying us some time to escape. Phase your mother.”
“What about Dad?”
“He is waiting for us near the road.”
I nodded, then touched a fingertip to Mom’s shoulder. She shimmered into oblivion, the molecules of her body ripping apart into a gaseous state that wound securely around my arm. I nodded at Jesu to indicate I was ready, and he helped steady me as I stepped onto the perch.
Chapter 20
The splintering of wood echoed across the forest as oaks, elms, and hornbeams rose twenty feet high. Their branches reached out to receive Jesu like a magical drawbridge bending to his will. I flew beside him, holding Mom’s invisible essence in one hand, and Jesu’s tightly threaded fingers in the other. He stepped from branch to branch without taking his eyes off me, completely confident that the trees would not allow him to fall. If any of the sparrows or chipmunks scurrying from his path were Alpans in disguise, they did not stop us. More likely, all the loyal soldiers were inside the castle fighting off Rebels.
We crossed the forest canopy with ease and in a matter of minutes, reached the main road that stretched along the sleepy German countryside. The sounds of battle faded behind us, but the screams could still be heard if I listened for them.
Brinnon. Sara. Cecelia. Lupa. Rudo. Snow and Rick. All the maids and butlers and grounds folk. They were still back there, fighting for their lives or perhaps already dead.
Jesu clung to the trunk of the final tree; an aged maple. I lowered with him as the tree shrank down to the size of a footstool, and Jesu stepped off. Dad emerged from behind a thick shrub, sporting a single-handed sword.
“How many of those do you have?” I asked while pulling Mom’s molecules back together. I rested her unconscious body against the summer-sweetened grass and checked to make sure she was still breathing. She was.
“Grabbed this one off a body,” said Dad, his brow furrowed in concern as he watched Mom. “What happened?”
“She fainted. I think being attacked by shape-shifting vampires and traveling while phased was too much for her.”
Dad crouched and lifted Mom’s upper body to lean against him. He patted her cheeks. “Come on, Helena. Wake up, my beauty.”
Leaving Mom in Dad’s capable hands, I sidestepped over to Jesu. He stared in the direction we came from, and I knew he listened to the battle we’d just left. I flattened one hand against his upper arm to get his attention and then peered into those grim green eyes that had depicted a hurricane on the warpath a moment ago but were now just the windows to a troubled man. My heart broke knowing what I was about to do next.
“Go,” I said. “Help as many as you can. But come back to me, Jesu.”
He touched the side of my neck and cupped my jaw before kissing me. Overhead, a dark shadow blotted out the moonlight and thunder cracked. The unexpected sound shook me, and I gasped up at him. A storm raged in his dark gaze, and the flash of lightning reflected in the green embers of his irises. “Stay safe.”
My love shot into the sky, propelled by the very ground he stood on. Clumps of dirt rained down two seconds before the clouds ripped open and the real storm drenched my clothes and hair in seconds. I didn’t turn away from the pebbles or the rain. I watched him go like some kind of elven prince dashing from tree to tree until he was a dot in the distance and then nothing at all.
Mom coughed, and I spun to find my father helping her to her feet.
“We need to find shelter,” said Dad.
I glanced around, getting a sense of our surroundings. Just ahead of us was the road, empty at this late hour. The air had been warm before the storm, but the rains came forcefully, and Mom’s teeth chattered. She stared wide-eyed and her fear was palpable.
“Wh-where are we?” she asked. “Wh-what happened? Th-those creatures!”
“Shh.” Dad peeled wet locks of hair from her face. “We were hiking the woods, honey. This storm made our path slippery. You fell and hit your head.” Dad helped Mom over to a tall spruce tree. They ducked under the vast sweep of branches and huddled together.
I followed, somewhat amazed and slightly unnerved that Dad could lie on the spot like that. I knew it was for Mom’s own good, but damn.
“I’ll keep a lookout,” I said. Then, for Mom’s benefit, added, “In case help comes.”
“I don’t remember hiking.” Mom touched her head as though searching for a wound.
“You’re probably concussed.” Dad held her close and ran his hands swiftly over her arms as if rubbing some warmth into them. Mom pursed her lips but didn’t argue.
We waited for what felt like hours. I kept my senses on alert, inspecting every sound and motion with phased fingertips that I kept hidden from Mom. The three of us didn’t speak a word as we waited out the storm. Mom must have been miserable and confused, but she just hugged herself and stared at the ground, her brow pinched. Dad held onto her; his arms folded across her back. He watched me. I knew because I could feel his vision on my spine, could see him staring from the corner of one eye. I didn’t ask why. I didn’t want to talk. Not when Jesu was back there fighting. Not when I couldn’t breathe until I knew if he was okay.
For a long time, all I could hear was the storm: The rapid tip-taps of rain pelting the ground. The icy wind as it howled, making entire sheets of the deluge fall sideways. The sizzling crack of lighting was the only source of illumination, casting the forest in a neon hue of purple and white. The heart-stuttering thunder boomed.
The spruce tree offered very little protection against the elements. The ground turned to mud, and my shoes sank an inch into the earth as the cold nipped at my bones. If I’m chilled, then my parents must be freezing. I dared a look over my shoulder. They huddled together, the two of them breathing hard and trembling. Dad’s eyes were closed, and I wasn’t sure if he was just conserving strength, or if he’d passed out with exhaustion. Shoot. I made my way over and hugged them both, hoping my body would shield them. I was small, but vampyres were still warm-blooded, and it would be better than nothing.
Eventually, the storm broke and with it came twilight. Pink and orange hues chased the dark clouds away and sunshine peeked over the horizon, casting a glittery sheen across the many remaining puddles. A relief, but also a curse as the blinding light grew less and less tolerable to my delicate vampyre vision.
“Dad,” I whispered, reaching over to shake him. It took a minute to rouse him, and even then it was obvious that he was not coherent. His eyelids were puffy and failed to stay open. “Dad,” I said a little more sternly. “Do you have any sunglasses?”
“Mm?” He muttered before his head lulled back.
“He’s exhausted.” Mom stifled a yawn of her own. “We should go to the road. Now that the storm’s passed, someone will come.”
I bit my lip. Someone would come, be it friend or foe. The storm only broke because Jesu allowed it. Which either meant the fight was over—or he was dead.
No, no, no, I refuse to be negative. But I also couldn’t be naive. If we returned to the castle and the Rebels were victorious, then they would spot us and kill us.
“No,” I said to my mother, sounding as confident as Dad did when he blatantly lied. “The first rule of survival is always to stay put. Wait for someone to find you.”
Mom rolled her eyes. “I’ll go. You stay and watch your father.”
She started to rise, but I gripped her shoulder and shoved her down. “I’m not kidding, Mom.”
She looked at me, and venom narrowed her gaze.
Oh great. This is not the time for a mother-daughter power struggle.
“Ema, you could catch your death out here. Think of your little ones.”
I blinked at her and scowled. “I was thinking of my little ones when I got us the hell out of Dodge.”
“I’ll just go to the road and flag down a—”
I was this close to shoving her ass into the mud when Dad put a hand on her shoulder. He was still resting against the rough bark, his eyes hardly open, when he said, “That’s enough, Helena. She knows what she’s doing. Come catch some shut-eye with me.”
“Humph. People with concussions aren’t supposed to sleep.”
Dad cracked a sly grin. “You’ve always been the exception, baby. Now come here.”
I didn’t realize how tense I’d become until Mom finally seemed to give up. She tip-toed to Dad’s side and crouched down, refusing to actually sit in the mud. Dad wrapped a strong arm across her shoulders, then nodded to me.
“I’ll hold down the fort,” he said. “You go find your man.”
I released a sigh of relief, feeling my shoulders sag, and my gut untwisted for the first time since the initial bomb detonated somewhere inside the castle. I nodded to Dad, then left the cover of the spruce tree. I squinted as the bright white light of the rising sun slashed across my pupils, drawing my lashes together. I lifted my hands and searched around blindly for a while, hoping I was far away enough from my mother’s view before I shifted my eyes.
