I ran. For Nepal and the spire castle and the soul of the oldest vampire in the plane. Not of my own accord. I’m a bit ashamed to admit it likely wouldn’t have happened if I’d been left up to my own devices. But I wasn’t given a choice.
My vampire persona took hold of me and threw me bodily through the veil and into Moa’s bedchamber, déjà vu a momentary blip of disconcertment as I staggered to a halt at the sight of the slight, trembling vampire mother wavering as black fought to devour her.
Syd. Mom’s voice sounded level in my head, but with an edge of fear I recognized as pure terror. My spirit magic is gone.
I know. I grit my teeth against my vampire’s desperation while she reached for Moa and tried to hold her. I’d only ever once before felt the undead creation of Iepa take full control of me, and was so surprised by her actions I let her.
But even she wasn’t strong enough, not with all the power I had at my disposal, to hold Moa safe. The only thing that snapped me out of my complacency was the tug of the void, familiar by now, but stronger than ever as Moa cried out, hands outstretched toward me, vanishing into the black.
Pulling the vampire essence within me along with her.
Oh, hell no. My demon snarled her denial and latched onto my vampire, Shaylee grounding us deep within the mountain for support. I wrapped all of us in white sorcery, sweat leaping out onto my skin, body shaking as my vampire began to slip away.
No. Not today. Not on my watch and never if I could help it. I’d chosen to give up my drachness to save her once. I wasn’t about to let her go now.
But the void, the pull, the power… so hard to resist, and my vampire was losing, I was losing. Until the black ribbon on my wrist, sleeping since our previous encounter with the darkness, snapped awake and, with an audible snarl, reached for Moa.
And in that instant, in probably the only act of selflessness she’d ever made, the Empress of the vampires cut the tie between herself and my vampire and pushed us free.
The void opening snapped shut. I stood there a long moment, panting and trembling while the ribbon settled, its power still diminished but satisfaction radiating from it while my demon and Shaylee hugged my vampire close.
That, she sent, was interesting.
I snorted, a kneejerk reaction to the stress. Understatements, I sent. Your favorite.
She grunted and shrugged the girls off when we all realized she wasn’t going anywhere. It’s quite possible, she sent with sadness in her mental voice and touch, I’m all that remains of spirit power on this plane.
Max stepped through the still gaping hole in the veil and settled one hand on my shoulder. “In the Universe,” he said, his own sorrow lingering. I felt his power, diminished and no longer a vivid rainbow. Even the drach were affected?
This was terrible news. We needed the strength of the first race to combat the Order if they somehow managed to break through. I had feared even before now Dark Brother’s soldiers were stronger—at least in numbers—than Max’s people. Now?
I didn’t want to think about what might happen now. Not when this plane, this place where I’d always felt at home, suddenly seemed empty and dull. It took me a moment to realize the lóng had gathered, a dozen or so men and women, a pair of kids that had to be Jiao’s brother and sister, staring at me without a trace of hope.
“Your time here is done.” Max gestured at a new slice he made in the veil, the Stronghold appearing on the other side. “It’s time for your race to know the truth about your past and to join the fight against Dark Brother.”
One of the men, a bodyguard I recognized as a well-known face at Moa’s side, shook his head, backing away. “We will remain and wait for the return of our mistress.”
Well, that wasn’t going to happen any time soon. Instead of arguing, I whispered a request across the veil and was unsurprised when Jiao appeared almost immediately. She ignored me in favor of her people, black bob shining around her olive cheeks, dark eyes cold and uncompromising.
“Moa will not return,” she said and I wondered at her harsh tone. But they seemed to expect and welcome it, focusing on the young lóng like they hadn’t with Max. “Our time is now. And Doombringer is our new mistress.”
I wasn’t sure that was the right way to go, but they turned to me as one and bowed. Great, just what I needed. I’d had enough issues breaking my werefriend and the queen of the werenation, Charlotte, from her bond to me when she’d decided she owed me her life. The last thing I wanted was a bunch of evolved drach thinking I was their messiah.
“Doombringer.” The leader—he must have been, looking enough like Jiao I wondered if they were related, “what will you have us do?”
Sigh. “Go with the drach,” I said, pointing at Max’s Stronghold portal. “And do as they tell you.”
They marched without further question. I caught myself grinning as my demon spoke up.
Now, if only everyone else would just do what they’re told, she grumbled.
I closed the way back to the vampire mansion, Piers and Varity joining me momentarily in Nepal then passing through to the Stronghold. There was a time when this place would have been full of Enforcers from the North American Witches Council, and another when my coven and refugees of the ill-fated Brotherhood/Witch alliance were welcome. But the betrayal of Erica Plower changed all that. When the Enforcers joined forces with the Brotherhood, the Stronghold’s fury at the alliance meant the end of their habitation. If the Stronghold’s soul was still present, he would have prevented Varity from passing into his plane. As it was, the theft of the heart of Creator, taken by Trill Zornov at a time I still trusted her, meant this place was no longer awake and aware. I still missed his deep, graveled voice and depth of spirit. Had to do something about getting him back, if I could.
I still felt saddened by his loss, my sneakers squeaking softly on the polished floor of the Stronghold’s main foyer, glitter of the portal mirror on my far left. He might not have been much of a conversationalist, but I longed for the weight of his presence if only because that would mean the heart was in the right place.
No metaphor there or anything.
I opened my mouth to ask Max what his plans were for the lóng a faint smile on my face as Jiao hugged the two kids, when yet another blow hit me so hard I stumbled to my knees in shock.
SHAYLEE. Oh no, not again. And not the Sidhe, not this quickly. Everonus just mentioned it and the vampire disappearance had taken months. But as my Sidhe princess soul reached for her mother I realized what Max had been trying to tell me, something I’d lost sight of in the last few hours of lights, camera, action.
The disintegration of the Universe was speeding up.
***