Called by Midnight, page 12
The droid looked at her but didn’t move. Phaedra let out a curse and went back to pacing, her eyes on the vampire. “Why don’t they use their magic?” Hollie asked, confused. The cage didn’t look like anything special, so how was it holding three very dangerous women?
“It’s iron reinforced with a dampening field,” Windy said. “Sort of like a Faraday cage for magic.”
“They can’t use their powers?” Hollie shook her head. She remembered how the Fae had been weakened by their iron chains on Ahriman-abad. “Even the witch?”
“They aren’t affected by the iron bars, but the dampening field is strong enough that she can’t do much.” Cass was slumped against the bars, looking exhausted. Hollie knew the witch’s brush with death earlier was likely to blame.
The vampire was proving himself to be up to the task, however, as he hit upon a method that worked to fell the robots. He grabbed the closest one and positioned it so that he was standing between it and its fellow droid. When the robot fired at him, he teleported at the last second so that the laser beam hit the other droid, disabling it.
After taking down three bots, he ripped the weapon off the shoulder of the last and pointed it at the droid, aiming right between its round eyes. “Lights out,” he growled, then fired, dropping the lifeless scrap and dusting off his hands.
Windy made a series of beeps, and Hollie knew the bot was likely upset. “I’m sorry you had to see that,” she said, crouching beside him.
“I am not,” he said after a moment. “Security units are jerks.”
Hollie let out a burst of laughter. “Okay then.” She straightened, patting the little bot on the head. “Can you help us open the cage and let out my friends?”
“Affirmative.” Windy rolled forward and Hollie followed, watching as the little machine worked the lock until the door swung open. Phaedra made a beeline for the vampire, and Hollie managed to grab her arm before she reached him.
“I know you’re upset,” Hollie said gruffly, “but if we could please hold all revenge plots until we’re able to escape without alerting any more security units to our presence?”
“It’s a little late for that,” a voice called from the doorway. Hollie’s head turned to find Dallon scowling at her, Gresh beside him, what looked like a remote control in his hand. “Let’s make sure they don’t leave this room,” the imp suggested, and Gresh nodded, hitting a button on his device.
The door slid shut, an extra layer of metal as thick as a finger coming down the wall to cover it. Dallon strolled closer to the cage where the rest of them were still assembled. “I see you figured out where I was,” the imp said, his eyes on Maz. “What gave it away?”
“The fact that you attempted to abduct my mate and thought I would not come for her, no matter where you took her.” The vampire’s eyes changed, flashing red as he stared at Dallon in rage.
“Why are we wasting time on these acorn hoarders?” Phaedra said, lunging toward the imp with her sword drawn. Dallon teleported, appearing behind the technomage.
“Why don’t you show them why they’re never going to leave here?” the imp told his companion. Hollie watched nervously as the old man pressed another button, and a whirring sound filled the room. She looked up to see the ceiling sliding open and an axle filled with rotating blades began to lower itself into the chamber.
“That all you have?” Phaedra said, looking unimpressed. “You got this, Tayla?”
“I sure do,” the other Fae replied, flapping her wings to fly up meet the blades. Snowflakes shot from her fingertips as a sheet of ice started to cover the whirring blades, slowing them down until they lay frozen, unable to spin.
“What else you got for us?” Phaedra said, and Cass elbowed her. The witch was tired and not afraid to let them know.
“Enough of these endless villains and their goons,” she grumbled. “Can we just take these guys down already so I can go home and get some rest?”
“Your wish is my command,” Phaedra said, then pressed her hands to the ground, making the floor beneath their feet start to tremble. Hollie had been with the Fae long enough to expect vines and roots to burst from the ground beneath them, but instead, the floor stopped rumbling and went still again.
“You pesky magic users always think there are no defenses to your little spells.” Gresh took a few steps to the center of the room. “But you seem to forget that this is my workshop.” He pressed a button on his device, smiling widely.
Phaedra and Tayla let out twin screeches and fell to the ground, covering their ears as tears started to stream down their cheeks. Maz’s face was a rictus of pain as well, and Hollie could see a trickle of blood start to seep from one ear.
Hollie could hear nothing, but it seemed she was the only one. “Stop it!” she shouted, rushing toward the technomage.
“Oh no you don’t,” Dallon said, intercepting her. “You know we’re nearly late for our little rendezvous.” He clamped a hand around her arm. “Let’s go.”
“No!” Hollie shouted, but she knew her protest was in vain when she felt the ground whoosh away from her. The last sound she heard before the blackness swallowed her was the anguished howl of the vampire.
Chapter Seventeen
THE IMP WAS STILL GRUMBLING when they arrived at their destination. Hollie’s eyes took a moment to adjust to the gloom, the world around them bathed in darkness after their sudden departure from Gresh’s workshop. Anger boiled up inside her, as well as frustration and fright, and she debated wheeling over and socking her abductor in the mouth.
Not again! Every time she seemed to get anywhere, Dallon came along and messed things up. This was the third time the imp had dragged her off-world for his own selfish scheme, and she was tired of going along out of fear.
She took a step forward, then froze, looking down to find a familiar translucent dome pointed back at her. Windy had managed to tag along again, his protocol still driving him to latch on to Hollie and follow her everywhere. Relief that she wasn’t alone with the imp helped mitigate some of the anger she felt. That is, until her captor spoke again.
“Let’s get a move on,” Dallon said. He was little more than a darker shape against an already dark background. “Ahriman doesn’t suffer tardiness.”
“Ahriman doesn’t suffer tardiness,” she mocked in a smarmy tone. “You know what, I really don’t care what Ahriman likes and doesn’t like.”
The imp shook his head. “That attitude is going to change quick once you’re back on Ahriman-abad.”
“Until then, don’t expect me to be a cheerleader for my own demise,” she said, her chin jutting out in defiance. “You’re going to regret this ridiculous plan once you end up betrayed yourself. Then we’ll see how you feel.”
“Less talking, more walking,” Dallon said, then set off down the small hill they were standing on. When Hollie didn’t move to follow, he sighed, teleported behind her, and gave her a shove.
It was slow going since Hollie couldn’t see where she was stepping. Windy seemed to sense the issue and assisted, a small light appearing from a chamber in his metal torso. It provided enough illumination for her to see the path beneath their feet. “Would it have killed you to bring a lantern?” she griped at the imp.
She saw him shrug his shoulders. “I can see in the dark.” As they walked, he indicated the sweeping vista before them. “Creatures with night vision are better off on Nyxx, also known as the Land of Night.” His hand swept across the sky above them. “There is no sun on Nyxx, only three moons.”
Hollie followed the direction of his gesture, taking in an ink-black sky devoid of stars. Three celestial bodies hung in the firmament above them, all moons in varying stages of fullness. She shivered, something about the sky freaking her out. Gee, I wonder why I’m not exactly feeling my greatest. Maybe it’s a lightless world, or the fact that I’m about to be traded to some evil prince to be locked away for the rest of my days.
In the distance, a series of bone-white ruins seemed to gleam with a light of their own. Tumbled columns and steps that no longer led to anywhere put her in mind of a photograph she’d once seen of the Roman Forum. A bustling city center two thousand years ago, the marble ruins were now only reminders of their former glory, and the ruins of Nyxx had much the same vibe. Whatever they’d been used for in the past, those times were long gone.
They were much closer before she could make out the figure standing on a raised dais surrounded by intact columns near the center of the ruins. The imp picked up his pace, racing toward the dais, an ingratiating expression on his face. He gripped Hollie’s arm and pulled her forward, barreling up the steps. Dallon made a wide bow, then shoved Hollie to her knees in front of their appointment.
She went down hard, a shock of pain pulsing from her knees. Gritting her teeth, she looked up at the imposing figure towering over her. She’d gotten a glimpse of the Prince of Darkness during his call with the imp in Gresh’s workshop, but seeing him in person, she was struck by a powerful animal magnetism radiating from him.
He was regal in bearing, his angular face and strong jaw reminding her of a hero on the cover of a historical romance novel. She could easily see him under a jolly roger, white shirt open to the waist, exposing a muscular chest, damsel swooning in his oversized arms.
Ahriman looked her over, his gaze piercing. “This is Mazik’s mate, eh?” His expression said he was skeptical. “And yet, there is no sign of the vampire. How did you manage to spirit away his mate without him raining hell down upon you?”
Dallon straightened, a smug smile on his face. “I’ve given the leech the slip on several occasions,” he said, his demeanor like a kid who thought he was too cool for school. “He won’t trouble us.”
That’s what you think. Just wait until he shows up to rescue me and wipes that self-satisfied expression off your face. Hollie no longer wondered whether the vampire would come for her. She knew it was just a question of when, especially after the bite he’d given her.
I guess this is our test run, to see if my blood actually did the trick. It was surprising, the shift that had taken place inside her. For so long, she’d thought about nothing but escaping the fanged creature that seemed obsessed with terrorizing her, hoping that Cass’s ritual would rid her of the vamp permanently. But now she was starting to wonder what her life would look like without the handsome Maz always around.
Ahriman continued to question the imp, wanting assurances that Hollie was what she said he was. “What proof have you that this human belongs to Mazik?”
“I was there when he first saw her. He’d been sent to bring me back after another one of my escape attempts. The moment he noticed her, his entire attention was on the human. He’d had me cornered, and with her as a distraction, I was able to escape him. You know how single-minded that one is. But when she’s around, the human is all he thinks about.”
Hollie had heard similar things about vampires and their mates from others, but hearing Dallon lay it out like this had her insides icing over. Knowing that she was the object of obsession made her feel ill. Isn’t this kind of relationship the definition of ‘toxic’?
Ahriman listened as the imp went on to recount a portion of their adventures, emphasizing how Maz was always searching for Hollie, always attempting to return to her side. The prince eyed her during the recitation, and she didn’t like the way his gaze made her skin start to crawl. After several moments, the prince raised his hand to cut off the flow of Dallon’s words.
“You’re telling me that the vampire had multiple opportunities to claim his mate and yet here she is, helpless and unguarded.”
His words rankled, and Hollie had half a mind to kick him in the shin just to prove that she wasn’t entirely helpless, but she knew it would do little good. The guy probably wouldn’t even feel it, any more than I notice the buzzing of a gnat. By far the more annoying issue was the fact that these men were discussing her love life like a pair of farmers might talk about a bull and his cow.
Dallon nodded. “I can’t tell you why, other than she’s got a few friends who manage to keep Maz busy. I’ve had a difficult time keeping a grip on her as well.”
“Friends?” the prince asked, his expression hardening. “What sort of friends would a human have that could trouble an imp or a vampire?”
“Magical ones,” Dallon explained. “A pair of Fae, one especially ruthless, and a witch with a knack for getting them out of scrapes.”
The prince’s eyes widened. He turned his gaze to her again. “The vampire’s mate is friends with Fae? That is interesting...” Hollie yawned, not bothering to hide her boredom with the conversation. They aren’t talking to me, they’re talking about me, deciding my fate without so much as an opinion from me. This is the opposite of interesting.
“If she is unclaimed as you state, then I will agree to your trade,” the prince said at last. She didn’t bother to gauge Dallon’s expression because she knew the imp would be celebrating his victory. When Ahriman turned his gaze in her direction, she met it without fear.
“Tell me, little human,” he said, looking down at her, “how does it feel to be the mate of a monster?”
Feeling sassy, Hollie said the first thing that popped into her mind. “Why don’t you ask your wife?”
Dallon hissed, but Ahriman burst out in laughter. “I like spirit in a female,” he told her, his grin making him even more striking. “That spirit will serve you well. It is not easy being a vampire’s mate. Especially for a human. They’re so fragile, not at all like their supernaturally strong and immortal mates.”
He crouched beside her, his face level with hers. “Tell me, little human, would you be willing to give up your old life, to give up ever seeing the sun again, to be turned and face an existence gorging yourself on blood? Because that it is it takes to be a vampire’s mate.”
“I gotta be honest with you,” she answered truthfully. “None of that sounds particularly appealing.”
Ahriman laughed again. “Then it is a good thing that I’ve taken a liking to you. You shall be a fine addition to my collection. You will not have to worry about being tied to a leech for eternity.”
What he didn’t say was what she’d be subjected to as a part of his famed collection. It doesn’t matter, she told herself, because it won’t happen. Maz will come for me. She was in full denial of what was happening, considering herself just biding time until the vamp appeared to take her away from this mess.
The imp brought Ahriman’s attention back to himself. “Now that we have a deal, how about breaking this unbreakable bond and severing my connection to your hateful brother?”
“That was our bargain, wasn’t it?” Ahriman said, his face impassive.
“It was,” Dallon said, shifting his weight from one foot to the other in his impatience. “I’m eager to be free.”
“Indeed you are.” There was something about the prince’s voice that raised Hollie’s hackles. Ahriman took a step in Dallon’s direction, a fierce look in his eyes. She held her breath, unsure of what would happen next.
The ground started to rumble, and at first, Hollie thought it was part of the deal, part of the bond being broken, but she caught a look of surprise on the prince’s face. The ground underneath her knees started to crack, and Hollie skittered backwards, bracing herself at the base of one of the columns, Windy joining her. His arms extended and wrapped themselves around the column, holding on for dear life.
The cracks expanded, the ground shaking like a strong earthquake. The ruins around her started to cave in on themselves, and she was certain they were all about to be pulled down into darkness when a sinkhole opened and swallowed the whole group.
Instead, a burst of heat blasted from the largest crack in the center of the dais. From the depths emerged a monstrous figure enveloped by broad wings of black smoke. The wings opened, revealing a corpse-like creature, all bones and rotting skin, towering over them, his skeletal grin full of menace.
Hollie folded in on herself, fear filling her bloodstream with adrenaline. The massive undead creature let out a shriek like she imagined would come from a banshee, robbing her body of breath. She closed her eyes and prayed, certain that she’d finally encountered a situation she couldn’t escape from.
Chapter Eighteen
THE NEXT SOUND SHE could make out made her shake her head, wondering if she’d heard what she thought she had. No, that’s definitely a slow clap. The applause picked up speed, and Hollie’s eyes shot to the prince, whose face showed how unimpressed he was by the new arrival. “Bravo, brother.”
The hulking wings of smoke began to dissipate, the figure shrinking in on itself rapidly. The hanging strips of decaying skin knitted themselves back together to cover the exposed bone, and a few moments later, a pleasantly handsome male stepped past the crack on the dais, wafting away a stray streak of remaining smoke before taking a mock bow.
“You always did know how to make an entrance,” Ahriman told him by way of greeting. The stranger picked a piece of debris off his tailored suit and smiled. He cut an attractive figure, slender but strong, with chiseled features and carefully mussed platinum blond hair. “To what do we owe this visit?” the prince asked in a neutral tone.
Dallon, meanwhile, was less than ecstatic to see the gentleman. He’d moved to the edge of the dais when the rumbles had started, and now he was inching closer to Hollie, his eyes fastened on the new arrival. Fright made her tremble. If the imp is worried, I should be terrified.
“It’s the Angel of Death,” Dallon whispered in her ear when he reached her side. “Samael himself. I don’t know how he knew we would be here.”
“It seems like the imp’s secret is no secret after all,” Ahriman said when Samael reached him. “You clearly already know that your pet leech has a mate.”
