Blood Finale (God Wars #5) (8 page)

"Pun?" Bill asked.

"Yeah."

"You made that lawyer nervous," Kathleen smiled at Bill. "He kept cutting his eyes toward you, and then he'd turn to Gavin and Merrill. I think he was sweating in that expensive suit."

"You know why the enemy didn't show up at a lawyer's office, don't you?" Gavin said.

"No, honey, why is that?" I turned to him—he'd remained silent and inscrutable during the meeting with the attorney.

"Professional courtesy," Gavin said. All of us burst out laughing.

* * *

Gavin actually told a joke?
Winkler sent. He was back in Texas, taking care of Packmaster duties. He'd been on standby, though, in case he was needed.

Yeah. I don't know what's gotten into him.

Don't make a big deal out of it—you'll scare it away. I like this Gavin much better,
Winkler said.

I think it's because of Breanne,
I returned.
Ever since she gave him what she did, he's been more human than I've ever seen
.

I hope he doesn't go back, then. A joke from Gavin now and then can't be a bad thing, can it?

Nope. It was so unexpected, and that made it even funnier
.

Lissa?

What?

You know I love you, don't you?

I do.

Don't forget that, all right?

I won't
.

* * *

Campiaa—present

Tybus' Journal

"Take a look," Astralan pointed out the image.

"That's Rezil." Kay held a hand to her mouth as she, Reah, Aurelius and the reptanoids watched the live feed from one of the casinos. Thankfully, it wasn't one that now belonged to me.

"I assume," Stellan said, "that the one beside him is Sirenali. Whatever the difficulty, it prevents us from getting a lock on either of them."

"Look, there are three more behind. They don't appear at first to be with them, but they are," Aurelius pointed to three men who walked casually along, seemingly unconnected to Rezil Foculis.

"You're right," I agreed. "They are together. We know at least one is Sirenali. We have no idea what the others are. Kay, do you recognize any of them?"

"That one," Kay tapped the desk screen, indicating one of the three stragglers. "That one is a wizard. I saw him a few times, but I don't know his name."

Kay's face was pale as she studied those who'd come for us. Since I'd made the engagement announcement, I'd been bombarded with requests for interviews—with my new intended. I'd brushed all of them off; Kay would never survive such scrutiny. I'd kept that information from her, too—it would only upset her more.

"Are you sure about this?" I asked her.

"I'm sure," she replied, her voice and hands trembling.

I admired her courage, because I wasn't sure at all.

* * *

Earth—past

Adam's Journal

"Have you watched any of this?" Kiarra tossed the television remote onto the coffee table in disgust after turning it off.

"The news?" I asked, surprised that she'd even bothered.

"Yes. Adam, I remember how everything was before. I have those memories. This isn't what I remember."

"What's going on? That didn't happen before?" I asked.

"Politicians and others in power are calling for a war on the poor. They're saying they're only parasites and deserve to die. They've already defunded programs to feed poor children. I suppose this was the logical next step."

"Politicians are doing that? Are you joking?"

"I'm not joking. Three people died yesterday in New York, because somebody took those words to heart. Three homeless people—two men and a woman, were killed. One was shot, the other two beaten to death. People watched, Adam, and nobody did anything about it."

"That's happened in the past," I sighed, realizing that this sort of thing upset my mate a great deal. "Is this all politicians, or only a few?"

"That's the trouble, Adam. When I go
Looking
to find the sources of this hate, the information is blocked."

"You're saying Sirenali may be involved."

"I'm saying that, yes. They're interfering with governments now, Adam. If they do that, there's nothing beyond them. I can only imagine that anyone from another country might become a target, or those from another religion—basically anybody who isn't like the one holding the weapon might be vulnerable."

"Kiarra, we're talking chaos. We know who wants chaos, don't we?"

"Saxom and his brother." Kiarra snorted in disgust.

"Then we need to find them fast," Merrill walked in. Kiarra had obviously linked him to our conversation.

"We have no real clues as to where to begin our search," I pointed out. "Martin sent mindspeech earlier—he says Shaver Lake has been abandoned by the enemy. He and several wolves from the local pack found the cabin where they were staying, but it's empty, except for the stench of Sirenali. He says he detected three distinct scents, and one of those was the creature I killed. Who knows where the other two are now?"

"They're causing trouble, you can bet your life on that," Kiarra snapped and stalked toward the bedroom.

* * *

Lissa's Journal

"Cara, this is wrong."

"What's wrong?" I mumbled. Gavin and I were in bed. I was half-asleep while he watched the late news. I'd placed a shield so I wouldn't hear it, but Gavin shook me anyway.

"I don't recall these events," Gavin muttered.

"Honey, things are changing." I curled into a ball and placed a pillow over my head. I was tired and Gavin wanted to talk.

"No, Lissa. Not like this."

"All right," I sat up in bed and blinked in an attempt to clear my head of sleep. At least enough so that Gavin might make a smidgen of sense.

"Politicians are behaving irrationally," Gavin said.

Yeah, I stared and shook my head. "You woke me up for that?" I squeaked.

"I realize that your opinion of any politician runs to the negative, but this is even more irrational than normal. They're advocating the killing of the poor. What might be next, Cara? Tell me."

"Have you
Looked
," I began.

"Cara, I found something blocking the information. You know what that means."

"It means chaos." I chewed my lip as horrifying thoughts chased one another through my mind. Moments ago, I'd been comfortable, warm and sleepy. Now, I was starkly awake and shivering.

Lissa?
Mindspeech came from Kiarra.
Are you awake?

I am now,
I flung blankets aside.

Everything is going batfuckshit crazy
, Kiarra said.

I hear that
, I said and folded Gavin and me to Kiarra's house.

* * *

"Ah, Calhoun. What do you have for me today?" Senator Blake Folie asked. Folie sat in his office at the Hart Senate Office Building, waiting for his scheduled appointment with the one who simply identified himself as Calhoun.

Folie couldn't say why, but everything Calhoun said seemed to be a truth from God. Calhoun's assistant, whom Calhoun referred to as V'ili, walked in behind Calhoun and sat when Calhoun sat.

"As you know, the Senate election is coming up." A slow smile spread across Calhoun's face. "V'ili, tell the Senator what he should do."

* * *

"Rigo?" Kooper looked up to find the ancient vampire-turned-Mil'Karha in his office at Lissa's palace.

"I have information through my spy network," Rigo placed a comp-vid on Kooper's desk and sat on a guest chair with a sigh.

"What's this? It looks like financial records," Kooper thumbed through lists on the first comp-vid.

"It is. Lissa contacted me last night. I've been working on this since then."

"What do these have to do with anything?" Kooper asked.

"On Earth in the past, it seems the rogues are taking over governments in unusual and subtle ways. They're starting with a war on the poor and some minorities. Lissa asked me to check other worlds where I have contacts, to see whether the same thing is occurring during this timeframe."

"And is it? These seem to be reservations for large venues," Kooper scrolled through the second comp-vid.

"They are. So far, we haven't determined what the connection is, but on the worlds where the venues are reserved, there are also abnormalities occurring within the governments. The poor are targeted. The weak or those belonging to minorities are targeted. Those with ties to lesser known religions are targeted."

"There's a pattern on all these worlds? You have more than forty listed here," Kooper muttered.

"Those are the worlds where I have reliable contacts," Rigo pointed out. "There are many others where I do not have contacts or sources of verifiable information. Those worlds are where I've seen troubles arise in the past. I concentrate my efforts there. Who knows whether others might be targeted? This enemy is unpredictable, Director. I feel we must unravel this mystery before it is too late."

"I'm with you on that," Kooper agreed. "Will you transfer these records to me? I'll get someone to help me investigate. Trevor is out with Nefrigar's sons, looking for rogue gates with Elizabeth, Macy and Luanne. I've heard rumors of disappearances on several worlds, so they are investigating."

"I will volunteer, as will Anthony Hancock," Rigo said.

"Good. How soon can you be ready? Where do you think we should go first?" Kooper stood and stretched.

"Yalles would be first on my list. I haven't slept in more than thirty hours, Director. Give me six. I'll be ready to go after that."

"Good. Thank you, Rigo. Your help is greatly appreciated."

* * *

Noppen—present

Luanne's Journal

Jerigar had a large blue hand on Macy's shoulder as we stared at the rogue gate. It vibrated within a dangerous, purple cloud as we regarded it. Macy still hadn't recovered from Norian Keef's disappearance and death. I was grateful Jerigar stayed with her constantly—he cared for Macy; that was evident.

This gate had swallowed more than two thousand people—it appeared near a sporting event on a small planet located near Wyyld after the event started and before it finished. So many had been swallowed up as they'd emptied the arena afterward.

"This really sucks," Elizabeth told me quietly. Liz was so different from the person she'd been at sixteen. I suppose centuries of being dead had taught her a lot.

"Yeah. Trevor?" I turned to the one who'd been vampire for more than three thousand years.

"We've already tried putting the barbs around it. The gate expanded past them," Trevor turned to me with a sigh. "They've gotten wise to our tactics already, and they're taking steps to prevent us from doing the same thing again."

"How big do you think it will get?" Macy asked her Larentii guardian, peering up at his concerned blue face.

"My dearest, I know not. After learning of the energy expended upon Kifirin not long ago, I worry it could swallow the entire planet and we would be powerless to prevent it."

"All we can do at this point is put up normal barriers and hope the curious don't ignore them," Trevor shook his head.

"How stupid would you have to be?" Liz turned to me, her blue eyes puzzled.

"Liz, stupidity is more common than most people think," I replied.

"Bring the barriers," Trevor spoke into his wrist comp-vid. "Set them up in a click diameter around the site."

"What about the arena, sir?" a voice asked.

"Find another place for sporting events—this one will kill you."

"Local law has changed just this morning, sir," the voice replied. "All ASD commands must be approved by the legislature first before they can be enforced."

"Is this planet still a member of the Reth Alliance?" Trevor barked.

"For now," the voice sounded worried.

"Then the ASD commands the local constabulary until further notice. Do you want the Founder to declare this a rogue world and send in troops?"

"I'll pass that along to the president," the voice said and cut off.

"I will set up barriers," Jerigar sighed. "Kalenegar seemed concerned that something such as this might occur."

"I'll help," Trevor nodded. He'd been invited to join the Ba'Mirha and had power at his command. Raising his hands, Trevor set about putting up an outer barrier while Jerigar employed his power to set up a second inside it.

* * *

"Lendill?" Ildevar looked up from the comp-vid message he'd received from Trevor. Lendill Schaff, Prince of the Elves and heir to his father's land of Gaelar N'Seith, walked into Ildevar's study.