She wanted to say something cutting again, but truthfully seeing two of Marius forced her to admit that Daniel, in this case, was absolutely right.
“My God,” she murmured.
“Precisely so,” Daniel responded. He sounded so self-satisfied that she wanted to kick him.
Marius glanced at her. Just be ready, because I don’t know when I’ll want you to hit the switch.
I’m ready.
She grew very calm and focused all her attention on him, forcing herself to take deep breaths.
Both right and left Mariuses pulled out a long chain in one hand and a dagger in the next. Each dropped to a fighting stance, the long chains whirring.
What happened next gave her vision a workout. Marius moved so fast that at times he seemed to disappear. And twenty adversaries moved rapidly trying to keep up with him, often colliding so that the battle appeared to be nothing but chaos.
She wondered what it was like for Marius.
* * *
Marius had never been so in sync during a split-self battle. His consciousness had control over both selves, yet each operated independently. He moved as fast as he had in Sweden, whipping through the air.
The two long chains had already dropped two vampires down to the floor below, a good sixty feet. But it was his dagger and whip-like movements that cut throat after throat. His secondary self proceeded in the same way.
More bodies fell, one after the other.
He never stopped moving and watched especially for those moments when one of Daniel’s men would collide with another. Twice he cut two throats at almost the exact same time, taking full advantage of their momentary confusion.
When one of Daniel’s men sliced Marius’s arm, and sent his blade falling to the floor below, Marius drew two more blades out at the same time, flew backward ten feet, synced up with his secondary self. Each began throwing daggers at lightning speed. He caught throat after throat, a precision he hadn’t had before.
He was ramped up high, ready to take on the rest of Daniel’s men, when Shayna’s voice pierced his mind. Marius, we’ve got to do this now. Daniel’s grip has slackened, something he doesn’t realize. I’m going to throw myself off the land bridge while hitting that button.
Give my about fifteen seconds. I need to reform first.
Got it.
Marius had no daggers left and drew out a short chain, as did his secondary self. Six vampires remained and while they waited for him to act, he reformed in a quick snap so that now he faced all six by himself. Even the process of bringing both selves together had speeded up.
He hung in the air, breathing hard, the remaining six of Daniel’s force doing the same. The rest of the vampires had started moving in closer, very slowly and probably on Daniel’s orders. He sincerely doubted his father would hold to the terms of wager.
He waited, shifting his gaze from one warrior to the next.
Ready? he asked Shayna.
Three … two … one …
Marius flew back toward the weapon and just as Shayna whipped out of Daniel’s grasp, he watched as she flew sideways, hit the switch, then dove downward into the pit below, catching her levitation at fifteen feet. Marius, I can’t hold my levitation.
I’m coming.
The vibrations started up and his head immediately filled with incredible pain, something he might not have ignored, except that Shayna would die if he didn’t reach her.
By the time he turned in her direction, she was in free fall. Though the piercing sound waves made it almost impossible to focus, he forced himself to shift to altered flight, then shot after her, barely catching her in his arms. He stayed in altered flight because the weapon wouldn’t hurt him there. But what he saw with Shayna in his arms were the remaining vampires screaming and one by one falling to the stone floor below. The humans were still pressed up against the sides of the pit.
Even Daniel writhed, which stunned him. His father appeared to be incapable of switching to altered flight. Quill and Lev hovered over him but there was nothing they could do.
Daniel was caught in the grip of the sound waves.
For a long moment, Marius stared up at the land bridge, wondering if his father would die then and there.
“Marius, fly me back up to the weapon. This is our chance, right now. When I hit the switch, Quill and Lev will be tending to Daniel and we’ll be able to take the weapon away.”
He immediately rose to hover right next to the weapon.
Quill, still in altered flight, turned to glare at him. He couldn’t hurt Marius, not while in altered flight. “You’re killing him, you bastard.”
“I’m not sure I can feel bad about that.”
“Where’s your fucking loyalty? He’s your father.”
“He’s a psychopath butcher who gets off on it, nothing more.”
Lev turned toward Marius as well and each, enraged, suddenly split while in altered flight, so that he was looking at four opponents instead two.
“Your woman dies first.” Quill’s lips drew back and his fangs descended.
Marius knew that he couldn’t defeat both Quill and Lev if they chose to attack. Each was at Ancestral status, and if Daniel died right now they’d take vengeance on him and on Shayna.
He had a decision to make: Save Shayna and take the weapon, or let Daniel die. And how much he wanted his father dead. Daniel lay struggling to heal himself as the vibrations and decibel level from the weapon took its toll. He bled from ears and from his nose.
As though reading his mind, Shayna said, Just let him die, Marius. He’s the real problem.
He stared at Shayna. But we’ll both die in the process, and Quill and Lev will have the weapon.
This isn’t simple.
He felt her debate within her mind, feeling, as he did, that it would be hard to pass up an opportunity to take Daniel out.
In the end, she released a heavy sigh. They’d use the weapon right away, wouldn’t they?
Yes, they would.
All right, Marius, do what you think is best.
He nodded. I’m getting you out of here. To Quill he said, “Leave us in peace and Shayna will shut off the weapon, just long enough for you to take him out of here.” He lowered them both to the side of the weapon with the switch. She held out her hand. “She can move from altered flight to levitation all by herself so don’t think for a moment that I’ll leave this state.”
Blood started flowing from Daniel’s eyes.
Quill glanced down at him. “Agreed.”
The brothers reformed, then drew close to Daniel, ready to haul him away as soon as Shayna shut off the machine. Marius gave her the go-ahead.
He felt her shift to levitation and flip the switch. As soon as the weapon wound down, she slipped back into altered flight.
At almost the same moment Quill and Lev moved out of altered flight, grabbed Daniel, moved back in, and took off. They were gone in a flash.
Just for good measure, Marius had Shayna flip the switch once more. He was glad he did, because a new set of vampires flew back into the cavern, probably on Quill’s orders. But each headed straight back out when the vibrations hit the air.
Marius let the weapon run for a full minute, then with Shayna in one arm and his hand gripping the hook on the top of the weapon with the other, he signaled for her to shut it down.
As soon as she flipped the switch, he hauled both Shayna and the weapon into altered flight and headed west, back to Egypt.
* * *
As Marius approached the Pharaoh Cavern system, he sensed that Gabriel, who owned the system, had added a new layer of security disguises. Despite his increased level of power, Marius could barely feel the presence of the caves below even though at least five thousand vampires lived there.
The weapon was heavy and he needed to set the damn thing on the ground, but he wasn’t about to do that outside a well-protected cave. Daniel would no doubt have sent his men in pursuit; they could easily be following by only a minute o
r so.
Still in altered flight, he levitated above the system and pushed hard to reach Gabriel telepathically. Can you hear me, Gabriel?
Marius! Where are you?
Above the Pharaoh system. I’ve got the last extinction weapon with me, and Shayna.
A split second later an inbound path opened up and he slipped through. He could feel the disguise close up behind him equally fast. Gabriel, his surrogate father and the primary reason Marius had even one brain cell intact, was an Ancestral of tremendous power.
Marius penetrated a partially cleared-out cavern of immense size and a few remaining stalactites. As he set the weapon down, he saw the charred, melted remains of several pieces of machinery, no doubt the detritus of several similar weapons.
He released Shayna and she stepped off his foot, glancing around. “Are these what I think they are?”
“Yep.”
The next moment Gabriel arrived with a security team of a couple dozen men. The latter spread out around the perimeter, daggers and chains drawn.
Gabriel grabbed his shoulders and hauled him into a quick, hard embrace. “How the hell are you, son?”
Gabriel represented everything good in this world as well as the hoped-for future of the race.
“I’m better now that we got the weapon. But listen, we left behind about two hundred women in the Dark Cave system. Is there any chance you have a security team that could try to get them out?” He then outlined how the battle had gone and that, in addition to the women, they’d find fifty dead vampires.
He glanced at Shayna for a penetrating moment, then back to Marius. “I’ll take care of this right now.” He drew his phone from the depths of the long, woven robe he wore and made a call. He spoke quietly and when he was done he nodded to Marius. “They’re on the way.”
“How? Don’t you need the location?”
Gabriel glanced at Shayna. “I picked it up from your woman, sort of an afterimage of the entire journey. I’ll keep you informed.”
Marius stared at him for a long moment. Gabriel had always kept his cards close to the vest and he suspected that the man he called his surrogate father had a number of quiet ways he’d been working to undermine Daniel. That he had the power to simply order one of his teams, over the phone, back to the Dark Dave system, and to be so confident of success, gave Marius a hope he hadn’t had in a long time.
He nodded to Gabriel, then gestured to the weapon. “I’m hoping this is it, the last of the experiments from the 1950s.
“But let me introduce you to the woman who made this possible. Gabriel, this is Shayna Prentiss from Seattle. Shayna, this is Gabriel, one of the leaders of our world, though currently lying low.”
Shayna extended her hand and Gabriel took it in both of his. “Welcome to the Pharaoh system. From the depths of my soul, thank you for your willingness to help us. My people will sing songs about your sacrifice for years to come.”
“That’s very kind, but it hardly feels like a sacrifice. More like a mission.”
Gabriel smiled. “Yes, it was that. Whatever brought you here and gave you the courage to face so much horror, I’m grateful. And this last one, gaining control of the weapon, has saved our people an enormous amount of suffering.”
“I saw it in operation, in a vision. It was horrible.”
Marius saw the shadow cross over Shayna’s face and knew she was thinking about the female vampires in the cage who had perished. He quickly slid an arm around her waist.
Gabriel grew very solemn, his lips pressed into a grim line. “Visions of any kind can be a difficult burden to bear. I hope in time that what you saw will be eased from your memories.”
“I hope so, too.” Her gaze shifted to the weapon. “But at least we got it.”
Both Gabriel and Marius turned their attention to the weapon as well.
Marius let go of Shayna and moved to slide a hand down the angled red roof. “We need to deactivate this thing right now, but you should clear the room. The lower casing has been retrofitted with a battery pack so that it can be fired up anywhere. One flip of the switch”—he rounded the machine and pointed it out—“will send out killing sound waves that would take us all down within seconds. Although the waves can’t penetrate altered flight.”
Gabriel called out, “Disperse to altered flight.”
The response of his team was almost instantaneous. The men levitated as one and shifted to altered flight, each hovering in place. Impressive.
Gabriel, however, remained standing stoically nearby but Marius refused to do anything until his good friend was safe. He remained staring at him resolutely, until Gabriel’s lips quirked and he joined his security force.
Marius carefully tilted the weapon on its side to expose the lower casing. Flipping a compartment with a simple mechanical slide plate exposed a battery pack. He reached in and within a few seconds, he’d disabled the machine, removing eight packs all linked together.
He was about to set it upright again, when Shayna caught his arm. “Join Gabriel and his men and let me test it out. We don’t want an accident because we’ve been tricked.”
He held her gaze, frowning slightly. “What made you say that?”
She narrowed her gaze. “Because Daniel is devious and this would be right up his alley.”
At that, he smiled. “You’re absolutely right. We’ll err on the side of caution.”
“So good ahead, shift.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
Shayna grinned, which made her look like she was about sixteen. But he obeyed and shifted to altered flight. When she flipped the switch, the damn thing went off, the vibrations of the weapon shaking the ground and trembling through the air. She hit the switch immediately, shutting it down.
“That bastard,” she shouted.
Marius dropped out of altered flight. He asked for a sledgehammer, intending to pulverize the weapon then and there, but Gabriel, on solid ground once more, intervened. “I’ve got a better idea. Let me get my detonation squad in here. They’ll be fully protected and I think our best course will be to blow this damn thing up.”
Marius thought it was the best idea he’d heard yet. “Let’s do it.”
But he couldn’t leave. In fact, everyone stayed while the team was brought in and the explosives rigged.
Shifting to altered flight with Shayna held tight in his arms, he took her away, moving past a wall of stone to hover in a nearby unimproved cavern as he mentally did the ten-second countdown.
The explosion rattled through the immediate cavern surroundings. After a couple of minutes, the squad gave the all-clear and everyone moved back in.
Marius thought he’d always remember the burnt, chemical stench of the space as one of the best smells in his life since the last remaining weapon lay scattered in smoking ruins.
“Are we sure this is the last one?” Shayna asked.
Gabriel turned toward her. “Why don’t you do a search? From what I understand, now that you’ve had so much contact with this weapon, you’d be able to find even the smallest part of one.”
“I will.” Then she did something that surprised Marius. She moved close and took his hand. Will you support me right now? I mean, with your power? I’m afraid I’m still shaking.
God, yes. Whatever you need.
For some reason, his words caused her lips to part as she stared at him, searching his face.
What? For a moment, he thought he might have offended her somehow, but he wasn’t getting that through the chain-bond they shared.
You have no idea who you are, that’s why I’m amazed right now. You’re one of the most supportive men I’ve ever known.
He was taken aback. Okay. Thank you, I guess. But why wouldn’t I be when you’ve helped us all so much? My God, it seems like such a small thing.
At that, she smiled. Maybe.
He moved in close, sliding an arm around her waist. Ready when you are.
She closed her eyes and he felt her begin her locating searc
h. He also sensed the clarity of that search, that her skills had improved tremendously. Between the visions that were no longer marred with dark waves and what he sensed right now, he knew that Eve’s experiment had proved exactly the right therapy for Shayna. Her abilities felt solid in a way they hadn’t before.
Of course, she was siphoning his power, a steady stream that flowed out of him, something he loved. But Shayna had changed.
She took a long time as she extended her locator ability, and the minutes piled up.
Everything okay?
I’m trying to be thorough. I’m going continent by continent. The Western Hemisphere is clear.
He shared that with the group and a cheer went up.
He felt Shayna falter for a few seconds because of the noise, but she quickly put herself back on track.
A few minutes later Shayna sagged against him as she opened her eyes. “I didn’t find anything and trust me, I cruised the entire globe. There’s nothing there.”
Gabriel smiled. “While you were doing your search, I had another locator do her search—Adrien’s woman, Lily. She didn’t find anything, either. I think we’re good to go.”
The cheer that went up this time shook the air.
A wave of something Marius didn’t recognize at first flowed through his body and he kept cheering. The biggest, most dangerous obstacle his world had ever faced no longer existed.
He immediately called Rumy, who communicated the news to his security team. More cheering resonated through his phone.
Gabriel finally quieted everyone down and added another bit of information. “The team I just sent out, a hundred of my best men, got the slaves out, the ones living in squalor beneath the land bridge. No sign of Daniel, either. The women are safe.”
“Thank God,” Shayna murmured as another cheer went up.
When everyone had once again grown quiet, Gabriel dispersed his team but gave permission at the same time to spread the news far and wide. The latest threat to the peace and safety of their world had just ended.
Turning to Marius, Gabriel clapped a hand on his shoulder. “Well done. Now I have something I want to give Shayna with your permission, but it’s something of a surprise. Will you allow it?”