And still Greaves didn’t seem to care. He kept searching the room.
Then it dawned on Marcus what he was looking for: Thorne and Havily. But the hell if he was allowing Havily to be called back while Greaves was in the goddamn building.
Time to end this.
Marcus crossed the room and drew close to Endelle. He cried out in his loudest, most commanding voice, also splitting resonance:
“You’ve got your marching orders, asshole. Get lost! Now!”
More groans erupted from several quarters, but Greaves leveled his gaze on Marcus. He felt the punch inside his brain but Marcus pushed back with a powerful, effective shove. Greaves wasn’t getting anything out of this little show, not command of his mind, not clues to Havily’s whereabouts, and not the death of a Warrior of the Blood.
Hell. No.
Greaves backed down. He bowed to Endelle. “I shall see you tomorrow at the committee hearing.”
And that was that since Greaves lifted an arm, then he and his contingent, as one, disappeared.
Damn, that vampire had power. Bastard.
Endelle turned to Marcus then glanced at the body of the death vamp. She made a careful assessment. “So he was after Thorne.” Whatever her temper might be, her mind was quick.
“Yep.”
“And Havily has him.”
Marcus nodded.
“Well, if he wanted to make a statement, taking out my second-in-command would have done it. Thank fuck he failed.”
“You noticed Greaves looking around?”
Endelle nodded. “I saw.”
“Do you think he meant anything more by it than wondering where Thorne and Havily were?”
She sighed and shook her head. “Greaves is no fool. We both know Havily’s powers are emerging. He must have information about her from the future streams.” A soft stream of obscenities left her mouth. “And now he sure as hell knows about her darkening abilities. Goddammit.”
“I think I should get her back to the villa.”
Endelle nodded but frowned. “What about all this?” She waved a hand toward the line of ambassadors. Everyone was staring at Endelle, waiting, distressed.
Marcus had already thought this through. “Havily trained her teams well, and you need to continue honoring those ambassadors who have had the courage to show up for this reception and for the Festival tomorrow night.”
He glanced around. “As for this mess, Jeannie can do cleanup. If she does it in small increments, the flashes won’t do any damage.”
“Get it done, Warrior,” Endelle said.
Marcus drew his phone from his pant pocket then touched the screen.
“Good evening, Warrior Marcus. How can I help?”
“Hey, Jeannie. We need cleanup at the Bredstone at my location. Small doses. Just give me a minute to get this organized.” He lowered his arm and called out, “Eyes closed.” He repeated the command and waited until all necessary translations had been made. He brought his phone back up to his ear and gave Jeannie the command.
“You got it.”
Marcus closed his eyes as well. A series of small flashes of light ensued. He opened his eyes and
poof,
death vampire and attending debris gone.
Endelle met his gaze. “Good job,” she said quietly.
Marcus felt his future crowding him. His warrior instincts were firing off one after the other. He still held his bloodied sword in hand.
Something needed to be done about how this war was being managed, but what?
* * *
So far, by making use of his most powerful mist, Crace had been able to disguise his presence from the august gathering. He knew he didn’t have much time to figure out what had happened. There were too many powerful entities present who would eventually see his mist for what it was: a projected image of a palm tree.
He’d been watching the show with great pleasure, right up until the moment that Parisa had shown up with Warrior Medichi in full guardian mode. From that split second forward, his plans fell to shit.
Before the assassin could complete his assignment, both Havily and Thorne had disappeared simultaneously; then Warrior Marcus, having caught the death vampire in the act, had struck him down. He didn’t give a toad’s ass about the death vamp, only that his plan had fucking failed … again.
But where had Havily gone? Where was Thorne?
Once again, Crace hunted for Havily’s trace as well as Thorne’s but found nothing, which meant Greaves was right, the bitch had the ability to go into the darkening. She also had the capacity to take others with her. In this case, she’d just saved the life of the fucking leader of the Warriors of the Blood.
His first instinct was to report to Greaves, to tell the Commander what he believed had happened, but he belayed that impulse. The Commander wasn’t high on his list of must-grovel-to right now. He was still pissed at having been humiliated in the peach orchard and he despised that Greaves actually favored Rith-the-weasel. So, the Commander could go fuck himself.
He was also intrigued that the mortal-with-wings had somehow learned of the impending attack and had informed Havily of it. So the women were working together? There was that
convergence
theory again.
Whatever.
He just couldn’t work up a fly’s armpit of interest in the mortal-with-wings. He wanted his blood donor and he wanted her now.
His pecs swelled and flexed in anticipation. Yep, Havily was what he needed, but shit, darkening capabilities.
In quick stages, he became aware that if he intended to hold his blood donor for any length of time he would have to deal with her ability to disappear into the darkening. He knew next to nothing about this power, since it was primarily a Third Earth ability, but if she could remain indefinitely in the darkening—or worse, leave from one location into nether-space then move to another—he would have to find some way to immobilize her.
The next step in the process led him to consider the use of drugs. The mind guided every power. If Havily’s brain were melted down into a useless soup, she’d stay put. Besides, he didn’t really need her thinking.
Already his mind whirred as a new plan began to form, one he could execute in tandem with his fireworks display at the Festival tomorrow night. He smiled. Damn, he loved it when a plan came together.
As for the botched assassination attempt, he knew Greaves would be disappointed but right now he didn’t give a fuck. He thought about returning to his forge and getting started on what he’d need in order to contain Havily but he really wanted to see his suspicions confirmed. He wanted to see her bring Thorne back from the darkening.
He settled in for the wait until he felt a sliver of energy pierce him, a little zing that burned like hell. His whole carefully constructed shield of mist started to disintegrate, and now he stood exposed in his leather kilt and battle sandals for all to see.
He turned and sought the author of his shield’s disintegration. Just in time, he caught Endelle’s hostile glare and her upraised hand, palm aimed at him.
Aw fuck, the bitch was about to throw a hand-blast.
He lifted his arm and got the hell out of there. However, when he arrived back in his forge, a portion of his side was burned all to hell. Shit, she’d hit him.
He started to shake. That was a close one. If he hadn’t escaped when he did, he would be a collection of charred carbon all over the wall of the Bredstone. Shit.
Expanding awareness,
Opens the universe.
—
Collected Proverbs,
Beatrice of Fourth
CHAPTER 20
Havily went with her instincts and waited to be recalled. Both Endelle and Marcus were present, and she knew that either ascender was powerful enough to communicate with her in the darkening. They’d certainly done so before.
“Havily,” Endelle barked within nether-space. “Please return with Thorne.”
Havily glanced at him and dipped her chin. “You ready?” she asked.
Thorne smiled. “You’re fucking amazing, Hav.” He nodded in return.
Havily couldn’t help but give him an answering smile. She closed her eyes and thought the thought. The swishing began.
When she opened her eyes, she stood near Endelle with Thorne right next to her.
Marcus moved in close. He slipped his arm around her waist, tighter than before. She leaned into him. His body was a rock wall of tension, which for some reason eased her. “You okay?” he asked.
She nodded.
Thorne took a moment to scan the entire room. When he was satisfied, he turned to Endelle. “So, what the fuck was that all about? What happened? I take it Havily just saved my ass.”
Endelle jerked her head toward the side wall in the direction of the palm trees. “Colonel Seriffe is collecting the evidence right now. A death vamp would have had you if our girl, here, hadn’t taken you into the darkening.”
Thorne glanced at the Militia Warriors clustered around the dagger. One of them had a plastic Baggie, and another wore gloves. He whistled then turned to Havily and clapped her on the shoulder. “Thanks, Hav. Well done.”
“My pleasure, boss.”
He chuckled. “You’ll do.”
“There’s more,” Marcus said. “Crace was here.”
“Crace?” Havily cried. A shiver went down her back, and she couldn’t keep from also taking a quick look around.
“Shielded,” Endelle explained. “But I felt him, felt his presence. He has a lot of power. When I located his mist, I sent a little gift package. He folded at the same moment but I might have winged him.”
Havily shuddered. “Are you sure it was Crace?”
“I recognized him,” Endelle said. “And Morgan … good job.”
“Thank you.” Her fingers trembled. Too much adrenaline. She glanced toward the center of the room. “I see the party left.”
“Yep,” Endelle said. “He didn’t have the balls to stay and fight even though I offered. One day I’m going mano-a-mano with that bastard.” She blew the air from her cheeks. “Well, I guess we’d better get on with the show, but as for you, Morgan, I want you back at the villa. That’s an order.”
“May I ask why?” She hated the thought that she might have let Endelle down in some way, but she honestly didn’t know how she could have prevented an attempted assassination, not with Greaves and his generals able to get into the building despite all their security precautions. That Crace could get in as well was equally alarming.
Endelle shifted her gaze to Marcus then back to Havily. “I have reason to believe that Greaves was hunting you. Your powers are emerging, which means that you’ve probably been lighting up the future streams and God knows Greaves has turned enough High Administrators to have access to any number of Seers Fortresses around the globe, the prick. That’s the why of it and for fuck’s sake don’t read anything else into this.”
Well, that changed things. “Okay, but please call if you need me.”
Endelle smiled. “Damn, Morgan, you just keep disappointing my
lousy
opinion of you.” She laughed at her joke. “But believe it or not, we can see a goddamn reception through without your help. Now get going. I’m sure you’ll figure out something to do with your time.” She threw a knowing glance at Marcus then turned on her heel and headed back to her throne.
Thorne fell into step beside her as if nothing untoward had just happened. However, his right hand flexed as though he felt the need for his sword. He followed Endelle up the steps and flanked her as he had before, his arms crossed over his chest as he once more surveyed the crowd.
He was all man, all warrior. He carried the lion’s share of the burden for the Warriors of the Blood.
“What are you looking at Thorne for?” Marcus asked, his arm tightening around her waist.
“I really admire him,” she said, completely without thinking. But she understood her mistake when she heard a low growl right next to her ear.
“You admire him?”
Havily couldn’t help but smile. Maybe she shouldn’t have, but she loved that he was jealous. “I admire him as a leader,” she stated in as cool a voice as she could manage. “He’s carried the load more than any other warrior here on Second Earth.”
* * *
Marcus turned slightly to watch Thorne. He could have been killed tonight. Instead Havily had saved him so that he could keep on keeping on. Christ, he even shared a telepathic link with Her Supremeness. Havily was right: Thorne carried the load.
Guilt pounded Marcus. He’d been gone for two centuries while Thorne and the warriors took care of business. If he was coming back, he had a lot of making up to do, and he could begin right now by doing everything he could to keep Havily safe.
He took Havily’s hand. “Ready?”
She nodded.
He thought the thought. He felt the blinking out then sudden hard awareness. When his feet touched the planked floor of Medichi’s villa, he still had hold of her hand. She gave it a squeeze and smiled at him.