Green Flame Assassin (Demon Lord series, book 2) (48 page)

I wanted to win on mental strength.  Were things to go physical, her dhampyr
speed and strength would give her an edge.  She’d end me before I had time to warm up a tat for
Vampire Speed
, or draw a weapon.  And I think she knew better than to temporarily give me stone in order to shift to a physical attack.  With her mental resistance out of the way, I’d use the stone and dream her into a puddle of green slime, or maybe make a mindless sex kitten out of her.  Honestly, no one should ever trust me with this kind of power.

She was old as a dhampyr, but not vampire-old, spanning centuries.  She didn’t have their mind powers, their focus.  Isolated in
Sacramento from challenges to her power, until recently, she wasn’t honed.  She’d actually grown soft by being deferred to way too much.  I had every reason to believe I could take the relic from her.

Until, somehow,
Kimberley stepped into our little pocket and the stone wrenched itself free from both me and Brielle.  It flew to Kimberly, and she caught it, her face lighting up like a mother greeting her child.

No longer fighting for the stone, and quite furious, Brielle smashed an elbow across my face.  I went down, my head fuzzy, but able to reason.  I yelled at myself, trying to whip up my best speed. 
“Pull your gun!  Pull your gun!!!!!

I did, sweeping it out, tracking for Brielle.  Losing interest in me, Brielle had lunged for
Kimberley, only to be stopped by a dream of gravity so strong it crushed her to the floor in front of me.  Under the carpet, I heard the concrete groan and crack.  Brielle couldn’t lift a finger, straining for each breath.

             
Our side had won.  Beyond the zone I occupied, I saw a distorted view of the club.  Our table was shattered.  Kat’s face was reddened from a blow, probably the one that had knocked her back and put her on her ass.  Osamu leaned down, checking on her, his demon sword in hand.  Josh had gone liger.  His clothes hung in tatters.  He held Roma by the throat, dangling him in the air.  Roma had his sword out, but Vivian had latched onto his sword hand, immobilizing the weapon. 

Roma stared into Josh’s bestial eyes, trying his Jedi mind control stuff.  I could tell from the liger’s unrelenting rage that Roma wasn’t being effective.  That made me happy; Roma needed a swift kick in his pride.

My stare went back to Kimberly.  I smiled at her, hiding the unease I felt.  My gun was in hand.  I didn’t point it at her, but it wouldn’t take much to bring the muzzle in line if she decided to keep the stone, and become a hella powerful diva.

I saw clouds in her eyes.  Stirring shadows.  Anyone would think of keeping such a prize.  Hell, after taking the stone to our client, I might well go back and steal the relic myself.  A grim look settled on
Kimberley’s face.  She stared at the dhampyr.  “You like playing with vampires?  Be one.  Humanity is wasted on you.”

The pastel blue-green glow of the stone brightened.  A matching glow surrounded Brielle, lifting her, as the gravity trap shut down.  A shudder went through Brielle.  She gasped as if multiple blows were landing.  The glow died and Brielle fell into a crumpled heap.  She growled, holding her stomach.  “What have … you done to me, you bitch?  The hunger, never been this bad…”

“Better go buy a coffin,” Kimberly said.  “You’ll need one by dawn.  You’re full vampire now.”

“How dare you?” Brielle said.

I laughed at her.  “What?  Vampires are good enough to fuck, but you don’t want to be one?”

Kimberly was looking at me now.  “You know, I did see
Haziar’s death coming.  I could have warned him, but I thought I might get an opportunity like this, and I knew his allegiance to his queen was stronger than his feelings for me.  Letting him die seemed a good idea.  I didn’t realize how much I’d miss him.”  She stared into the pulsing dream stone.  “Do you think I can bring him back with this?”

I shook my head no.  “
He would be a walking dream, solid, obedient, living for your will, but not real.  Anything he offered would be illusion, and you’d always know that.”

She looked back at me.  “I think you’re right.  You know, it’s funny what we think we want, until we get it.”  She held out the stone.  “Here, you better take this.  I’ve decided I don’t want to be a monster.”

She’d been riding the border on that decision for a while.  I remembered how my protective shield had flickered when I met Kimberly in a dream and she’d told me she was coming to Sacramento.  My shield had been as uncertain of Kimberly as she was of herself.

I stood up and pumped several shots into Brielle’s head.  She’d heal the damage in a bit, but for now, I didn’t have to worry about her.  I walked past her, reached out, and took the dream stone from Kimberly.  There was still pain in her eyes.  I knew she was still thinking of Haziar.

“Go kill a few people,” I advised, “the pain will go away.”

She smiled weakly.  “I can’t, you see, I’ve decided not to be a monster.”  She looked down at Brielle, whose face was swiftly pulling back together.  “There are too many of them in the world as it is.”

I decided not to take that personally.

             
With the stone in hand, I felt tendrils of power writhing through me.  The relic combed my thoughts, my heart, looking for dreams needing life.  I felt my desires flow into the stone where they were categorized and filed, waiting only for my command to launch them into reality.  With a thought, I banished the bubble around us, rejoining reality.

             
The fight went out of Roma when he saw I had the stone, not that he could match the liger’s raw power.  The liger spoke rough, gravelly words, an action that sounded painful and difficult, “I am no one’s beast to call.  You will leave my city.  If more of your kind come here, they will die—then I will seek out vampires in other cities, killing a great many of them.  I will let them know that you are the reason.  Then they will spend a great deal of time hunting you.”

I said, “In other words, don’t piss him off.”

Roma nodded.

The liger set him down on his feet.

Roma caressed his throat, clearing it, seeing if it was back in shape yet from getting mangled.  Silent, he strolled over to Brielle who was standing now.  He held out his hand, staring into her eyes.  His voice was rough, “Interesting, a vampire with no sire.  If you understand how temptingly vulnerable that makes you, you should stay with me.”

Hah!  That will be so much better.

She gave him her hand.  He drew her close.  “Come, I will show you the new world that opened up to you.  There are dark pleasures that none but the damned may know.”  As they started to walk away, Roma called over his shoulder, “Keep in touch, Princess.  I’ll want an invitation to the wedding.  You’ll need to hold it at night, of course.”

“Of course.”  She smiled at me.

“Don’t get any ideas,” I said.

I noticed the bartender at my elbow.  She was eyeing the humongous liger with a great deal of trepidation.  Her voice quavered, “I’m sorry, but we don’t allow pets in here.  Only service animals.”  Her stare took in the broken table.  “And you’ll have to pay for that.”

I smiled, handing her a wad of cash.  “We were just going.”

We approached the door, the few patrons in the club giving us plenty of room.  From the ammonia smell in the air, I knew someone had pissed their pants as the liger passed with a coughing grunt.  I walked arm in arm with Kimberly, just to piss Vivian off.  Walking behind me, she growled softly in her throat.  Kat and Osamu brought up the rear.

With a dozen steps to go, Kimberly froze up, stopping cold.  Her eyes went wide as she pointed at the closed door through which Roma and Brielle had gone.

Kimberly said, “Hurry, you must kill him at once!”

“Kill who?” I asked.

The door opened.  My fey nemeses from the Autumn Court stood there, elfin clothing making him look like an escapee from a renaissance fair.  “Found you at last.”  His gaze dropped to the dream stone that shimmered in my hand like a magical ostrich egg.  “The dream stone.”

He spun and ran out of the building, desperate to get away with this intelligence.

“I told you to kill him,” Kimberly complained.

The liger sprang for the door, smashing it to pieces as he squeezed out.  I ran outside before someone asked me to pay for that damage as well.  The liger had stopped on the sidewalk, and was returning to human form.

There was no sign of the fey.  “He probably opened a portal back to Fairy,” I said.

Kimberly glowered at me, hands on her hips.  “He’ll tell them the Mistress is vulnerable.  They’ll march on her, and try to take her out before we can the get the dream stone back.”

“Worse than that,” I said, “they’ll be laying in wait, trying to ambush us and get the stone for themselves.

“You’ve made a real mess of this,” Kimberly said.

“Like you could have done any better,” I said.

“Food.”  Josh was mostly human, but his face looked like he’d barrowed it from the Lion King.  “Need lots and lots of food.”

Kat tugged him toward the VW.  “C’mon, love, I know of a good place nearby for pizza and calzones.”

“Works for me,” I said.

“Same here.”  Vivian grabbed my arm and jerked me toward the Mustang. 

I called back to Osamu.  “You’re off the clock.  Rent a car and take Kimberly back to L.A.”

“You will need me for the coming battle,” he said.

I paused to call back, “I need you to protect Kimberly in case the Autumn fey decide to grab her as a hostage.  I’m trading you in for Izumi.  Her contacts in Fairy are going to make the difference.”

Kimberly screeched, “Why are all of you wasting time?  Speed is vital now.”

“So is lining up the help I’m going to need.” 

I longed for the good old days when I could run wild.  And I hated playing ambassador for Old Man.  Getting along with idiots was proving much harder than I’d thought it would be. 
Totally cramping my style
. 

I waved
Kimberley off.  “Go away and leave this to professionals.”

“Professionals,” Vivian said.  “Where do you suppose they are?”

The homeless dude shambled over from his shopping cart as we stopped by the Mustang.  “I kept an eye on everything.  Did a good job.”  He held out a cupped palm for payment.

Remembering the damages inside I’d paid for, I turned to Vivian.  “Umm, can you take care of this for me?  I need to hit an ATM.”

“All right,” she said, “but I’m charging you interest.” 

She turned away, and it looked like she was reaching into her bra.  She turned back around and handed the vagrant a twenty.  He snatched the money before anyone could change their mind, and faded into the night.

Vivian and I settled in the Mustang.  I revved it to life.  The VW Beetle chugged off with us right behind.  On the way to pizza, I pulled out my phone and punched in Izumi’s number.  She picked up on the third chime.