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Events in this book take place shortly after Vampire Love.
Alexandru and Zari play minor roles in the story.
The city of Asphodel glowed like a brilliant diamond in a sea of emerald fields, with the noblemen’s mansions and townhouses ablaze with lights. Everyone who was anyone had either thrown a ball or was attending one, and these were expected to last until dawn, much to the chagrin of the aristocrats’ sleepy and overworked coachmen.
Laughter and music played by the orchestra streamed out of the balconies, entertaining the peasants below. As they had no means to have parties themselves, they had taken to hanging outside the grandest mansions, doing their best to catch a glimpse of the well-dressed couples waltzing inside.
Past the main neighborhoods of Asphodel, the sound of gaiety faded, and the streets became emptier and narrower. At the edge of the city was an abandoned keep, its crumbling roofs crowned by low, stormy clouds and its grounds seemingly shrouded in a mysterious fog.
Locals thought it haunted, and so it was...as of ten minutes ago.
In the keep’s basement, a squad of less than twenty of the city’s human defenders had just finished barricading the main doors of the dungeons, thus trapping the imps that they had seen crawling out of a hellhole.
But the danger wasn’t over, and no one knew this better than Soleil Orpheline, the squad leader.
Not wanting her soldiers to witness her disquiet, she turned her back on her soldiers and faced the doors of the dungeon once more.
Let’s consider the facts, she told herself.
Tonight was supposed to be a simple cleanup operation, meant to teach rookies about getting rid of pranks left by otherworlders. They ranged from a witch’s spell for diarrhea to a wizard’s one-day curse of selfie madness, in which a human being would find himself addicted to taking as much selfies as a celebrity. They were frequently irritating, moderately harmful at times, but that was it.
The mission wasn’t supposed to put her recruits’ lives in danger.
And yet here they were, about to go against the forces of Hell, literally.
Granted, imps were the lowest forms of demons, with sub-zero IQ. But they were still demons and thus inhumanly strong and, worse, soulless.
Another loud, powerful thud hit the basement’s walls, the sound underscoring the peril they were in. It had no effect on Soleil, but the squeak of terror from one of her rookies made her mentally flinch.
Dear God, I hate asking You for anything, but I think I’m going to need a miracle right now.
The imps were head-butting the doors, literally throwing their lives against it. At the rate they were going, she would have less than three minutes before confrontation, and that was putting it lightly.
Panic clawed at Soleil’s throat, but her concerns were all for her team. The youngest of her squad was just fifteen years old – the same age she and the others had been when they first had their field assignment. Then, they had only gone against possessed humans, and they had still come back bloodied and bruised.
But kids pitted against imps?
It would be a massacre, and their blood would be on Soleil’s hands.
Another thud resounded through the basement, running through the walls of the keep, and a rookie cried out, “I don’t think the doors are going to hold that much longer.”
She turned to her squad immediately, saying, “It’s okay.” Soleil managed to keep her voice calm even as whips of her terror flayed her body. She was ready to die, had been so for quite some time. But what she would never be ready for, never take lying down, was letting her team die without a fight.
She reached into her pocket, digging out her Bluetooth earpieces, and only sheer experience enabled Soleil to keep her hands from shaking as she plugged her ears. The shock of her young soldiers was palpable, and one of them blurted out, “Is s-she doing what I think she’s doing?”
When Soleil didn’t seem to notice them, the rookies turned in unison to the slim, brown-eyed redhead standing next to their commander.
Seeing all eyes on her, Aurora deadpanned, “Nope. She’s just cleaning her ears.”
The rookies didn’t laugh at all.
Right. As second-in-command, Aurora knew she had to do a better job at keeping the rookies from pissing in fear. So she tried again, this time with the truth. “Commander Soleil is most likely listening to La Vie En Rose,” Aurora relayed. “The How I Met Your Mother version, just in case you’re wondering.”
The rookies looked at her like she was crazy.
“It means we’re in Code TARFU territory,” she explained. Fighting under Soleil’s command for almost a decade had made Aurora familiar with all the telltale signs concerning their leader. Listening to the nostalgic, bittersweet notes of her favorite song was Soleil’s last-minute aid for strategy planning, which meant it was her job to keep the rookies distracted.
“What’s TARFU?” another rookie asked.
“It means ‘Things Are Really Fucked Up’,” Fleur, the third-in-command, answered as she ran back to rejoin the squad, having finished sending out a message to her network of spies. Or at least she had tried sending it. Everything was really TARFU right now, so there was no telling if her SOS call would push through.
“It could also mean,” the curvy brunette continued thoughtfully, “Totally And Royally Fucked Up—-” She looked up, saw the rookies gazing at her in horror, and behind them, Aurora was hastily shaking her head and drawing an imaginary line across her throat.
Oops.
“Just joking,” Fleur said quickly. “Actually, let Aurora tell you guys the real meaning of TARFU.” As the rookies then turned to Aurora, she mouthed, Sorry, before coughing, “Sesquipedalian.”
Aurora mentally let out an unladylike swear. Basically, Fleur wanted her to confuse the rookies with long, complicated words. Clearing her throat, she said slowly, “TARFU means...Tacent Auxiliary Request for Ultion.” That could work, she thought, considering their probabilities of surviving tonight was 22.4%.
Fleur blinked. “Exactly.” What did that even mean?
The rookies nodded uncertainly, none of them having the courage to ask for a clearer explanation. But they forgot all about it soon enough, seeing their commander opening her eyes and putting away her earpieces.
Soleil smiled at them, her dimples flashing, and the rookies relaxed.
“That’s enough with the joking,” Soleil censured them.
The rookies happily murmured their assent, a combination of wishful thinking and awe allowing them to take comfort in the gracious, dulcet tones of their squad leader.
This was the famous Soleil Orpheline, they assured themselves. A stunning, voluptuous, blue-eyed blonde, she was society’s reigning belle during the day and the dangerously skilled leader of Trois Belle Lames at night.
If Commander Soleil wasn’t nervous about the imps, then they, too, had nothing to worry about.
Behind Soleil, the walls continued to shudder and crack.
Soleil continued to smile, and Fleur and Aurora, taking their cues from her, kept smiles pinned to their lips. Unlike the kids, they knew they were in a life-and-death situation, but if Soleil wanted the kids kept in the dark, then it would be so.
They trusted her to do what was right...no matter what.
Soleil cleared her throat delicately. “Here’s the plan...” The walls started to crumble as Soleil made a series of gestures, a sign language known only to enforcers.
Fleur and Aurora concentrated on Soleil’s instructions, their expressions remaining calm as they read between the lines.
The plan was...that there was no plan at all.
Soleil was totally lying about help coming. Everything about this had the rotten scent of betrayal and ambush, and it had been executed perfectly. If help did come, it would be too late.
Soleil continued to sign, and Fleur and Aurora struggled to stay expressionless.
“Are we all clear on this then?” Her dimples flashed again, and the rookies’ anxiety lessened even more.
“Ma’am, yes, ma’am,” they roared energetically, their confidence restored by their leader’s calm manner.
Totally clear, Fleur thought, her mood turning unnaturally grim. Soleil was telling them that as the city’s last line of defense, they had to place duty above all else.
Aurora didn’t answer right away. Soleil’s plan was to detonate her grenades, which all officers were trained to use in case they were compromised.
The grenades would take out the commander, but it would also get rid of a large number of imps, maybe just enough for them to have a fighting chance for survival.
But Aurora didn’t want a fighting chance for just them, and as the supposedly ‘brainy’ one of their group, she pressured herself to come up with an alternative.
“Aurora?” Soleil needed both officers’ cooperation for her plan to work.
“I’m thinking,” Aurora mumbled.
Soleil shook her head. “We don’t have time—-”
A narrow section of the dungeon’s wall collapsed.
“Take your positions,” Soleil commanded, and the rookies, resolved looks on their faces, followed right away.
A handful of imps burst out of the hole.
“Engage.”
The battle ensued, and Soleil bided her time while keeping an eye on her team, making sure that no one was taking any unnecessary risks. She slipped her hands into her pockets, her fingers finding and wrapping around the twin grenades.
The last ace she had up her sleeve, Soleil thought, but in this case it was in her pants. If things weren’t TARFU, she would have laughed at her own quip.
Aurora suddenly appeared by her side, grabbing Soleil’s arm as she muttered, “I’ve thought of something.”
“I’m all ears.”
“Call your heartkeeper.”
Soleil didn’t even hesitate. “No!”
Half of the wall crashed.
Her time had come.
Soleil prepared to run, but Aurora’s grip on her arm tightened, and the other woman insisted in a yell, “Call him! Your plan might work, but it’s not going to be without casualties, and you know it! But if you call him—-”
Soleil whitened.
“Call him!” Aurora pointed at the rookies. “If you care for them—-” She knew she was being heartlessly manipulative, but she didn’t care. “If you want to give them the best chance for surviving tonight—-”
“I hate you, Aurora.”
A whisper, but Aurora knew she had won. Thank God.
Soleil gently pushed her hand away, and Aurora let her.
“I’ll call him.” Soleil backed up a step. “But I’m also not going to wait for him to answer because...” Her upper lip turned up in an unusually mocking smile. “I do want to give everyone the best chance of survival.”
Aurora’s eyes widened.
No!
But it was too late, and Soleil had run past everyone, heading straight to the horde of imps.
“NO!” Aurora screamed and tried to run after her friend, but there were too many imps between them now, and she finally had to admit defeat.
Fleur reached her, demanding, “What’s the plan?”
“Help Soleil get to the center,” Aurora answered tonelessly.
Pain flashed in Fleur’s eyes.
Aurora furiously blinked back her own tears.
But they only allowed themselves a nanosecond of grief before throwing themselves into battle, knowing that it was what Soleil would have wanted.
****
SOLEIL WAS ABOUT THREE-imp-layers deep into the horde when she realized that her plan just might not be good enough.
A middle-level demon stood next to the hellhole, and as it locked gazes with Soleil, she knew there was a very good chance it might tear her throat out before she could even detonate the grenades.
The demon charged towards her with a roar, and Soleil’s reflexes kicked in. She rolled, crawled, and twisted, everything purely guided by her instincts. And all the while, she called to him, the man whose heart she was fated to keep in exchange of her soul.
Can you hear me?
Please come.
Please help.
Soleil called out to him with her mind, with all her heart, even thought the tiniest part of her thought it was too late.
The demon caught her just as she ran out of bullets. Its claws raked her body and pain engulfed her, but she managed to kick it away, the silver-coated soles of her boots leaving burning marks on its face.
The demon screamed.
What a baby, Soleil thought dizzily as she managed to pull the grenades out of her pockets.
The demon snarled at her, hitting Soleil with its tail and breaking her ribs in the process.
She snarled back, thinking absently that death was the only thing that could make her act this...childish. She was suffering from internal bleeding, with possibly severe injuries to a vital organ.
She calculated the time it would take her to die, and it wasn’t that long.
If you can hear me, please just save my soldiers.
Please.
Soleil closed her eyes as she started to unclip the grenades.
But nothing happened.
Instead, she felt wind so strong blowing over her, stinging her face, and somehow that wind managed to snatch the grenades out of her fingers. She heard it explode in the distance, and her eyes flew open.
Oh!
The grenades had been thrown into the hellhole, and it vanished a moment later, Hell protecting itself from more attacks at the expense of its spawn. Placing her hand over her wound, she looked around dazedly as she heard a tremendous cry of pain. Following the sound, she saw the demon that had attacked her falling to the floor, its decapitated head rolling towards her before it was crushed under the weight of stampeding...imps.
The imps were running away – from what?
She tried to see what was after them and caught sight of a streak of white, too fast for her eyes to follow as it slashed its way around the room.
Oh.
He had come.
A cacophony of cries and squeals filled the basement hall, imps dying left and right—-
Then she saw her soldiers breaking inside, fighting—-
Nausea hit her, and she fell back to the floor.
Thank you.
She closed her eyes.
And almost right after, she found herself being lifted and cradled in powerful arms—-
Pain pierced her throat, and she choked.
Blood filled her mouth.
Nooooooo——-
In her mind, she heard his voice for the first time.
Why have you only called for me now?