Promise of Wrath (The Hellequin Chronicles Book 6) (39 page)

“I have grown weary,” she said, moving ever closer. “I am going to kill you now.”

Behind her Mordred rode a motorcycle toward the bridge. When he reached the part of the bridge closest to him, he used air magic to propel himself and the bike over it, landing on Tiamat’s back, where Mordred lost his balance, but I didn’t see where he ended up.

The riderless bike skidded up Tiamat’s back, impacting with the rear of the dragon’s head before bouncing off onto the ground nearby, where it touched the purple flame that had been smoldering away, and exploded. The light from the fire made the shadows flicker and appear as if they were alive. I made them shoot up from the ground, wrapping around the dragon’s head and neck, tighter and tighter, like reeling in a large fish. She used her flame once, but she couldn’t quite get the aim, so it sailed harmlessly over my head, missing the museum too.

“I am a god!” she screamed, and began moving closer to me.

“Not anymore!” I shouted as she came only a few feet from me. “You hurt my friends!”

Her eye was no more and blood trickled from dozens of wounds she’d sustained, but still she fought, as she got closer and closer until she towered over me.

“You cannot kill me with your shadow magic, sorcerer!” she snapped.

“I wasn’t planning on it,” I explained and removed the shadows. She reared back, which was exactly what I was expecting and I instantly created a soul weapon, driving the jian up into her exposed chest.

From above, Mordred wrapped blood magic around her mouth before using his light magic to blind her other eye. He dropped down beside me and we both ran until we were directly under the dragon. Mordred used his own air magic and sliced open her belly. He looked over at me and nodded. In a heartbeat, I removed my jian, put everything I had into two spheres of magic, and forced them both up into the sliced underbelly of Tiamat.

The magic tore her apart from the inside out. As my elemental magic destroyed her from underneath, we sprinted out from under the dragon, and I collapsed to my knees. Mordred knelt beside me, breathing rapidly. He was as spent as I was. But Tiamat still wasn’t dead.

I pushed myself off the ground, creating a sphere of power between both hands, pouring air, lightning, fire, and shadow into it. I ran toward Tiamat, who opened her mouth, the purple magic pulsating far inside her body.

I avoided the open maw, and drove the sphere toward her ruined eye. At the very last second, I changed it into a blade of brilliant white, crackling energy, and shot the merged energy into her eye. Once inside her skull the magic exploded, tearing the back of her head apart, and continuing on through the top of her spine, as if she’d been hit by a barrage of missiles. Magic continued to pour out of me, and for a heartbeat I wasn’t sure if I could stop it, but within seconds Tiamat’s entire body shuddered from the power I was pouring into her.

I collapsed to the ground, every ounce of magic inside of me spent. My body screamed at me in pain to let it rest. I put my head on the cool grass and concentrated on my breathing. It was then that I looked over at where Morgan had been thrown and forced myself to my feet. I needn’t have worried as she dragged herself onto the grass, looked over at me and winked.

“I’m not certain, but I think being hit by a dragon really hurts,” she said.

“I’m glad you’re alive!” I shouted back. “I need to check on Remy.”

I turned and watched as my fox friend walked out of the Tate Modern like nothing had happened. He brushed some dirt from his tail and waved.

“How is that possible?” I asked as he stood beside me. “You should be broken.”

“Yeah, thanks, Nate. Nice to see you too.”

I grabbed him and hugged him.

“You hug me any longer, you’ll need to buy me food,” he said. “Also, I got a bunch of lives from the witches who did this to me. I think I used a few up, but I’ll be good.”

Tommy walked over. He was drenched and had probably been dragging people out of the river. He was also only wearing a pair of red boxers.

“Mordred wants to talk to you,” he said, his voice tense. “He’s . . . different, isn’t he?”

I nodded. “I don’t exactly know how. He’s not the Mordred I grew up with, but he’s not the insane criminal, either.”

“Are you going to put some clothes on?” Remy asked Tommy. “You’re giving me envious thoughts here.”

“Hey, I’m proud of my body,” Tommy said.

“No shit. You’re wearing silk boxer shorts. Where did you even find boxer shorts out here?”

Morgan laughed and then yelped, before telling them both not to make her laugh.

I left them to their argument and joined Mordred, who was sitting beside Tiamat’s massive jaw. “We just killed a dragon-god. A dragon so old, and so powerful, that other dragons would have looked and gone, ‘Shit, dude. I’m not going near her.’ I think that makes us badasses.”

“That we did. I think the badass motherfuckery was in abundance today.”

He nodded slightly. “Let’s never do that again.”

“Agreed.”

“When we got back, there was something I wanted to tell you. Something I felt you deserved to know.”

I motioned for him to continue.

“Back in Acre: Isabel was my daughter. That’s why Siris went after her. She knew once I found out, I’d never really be on her side. I’d never allow Siris to use my daughter in the attack, so she killed Isabel before I could kill her.”

I’d considered the idea that she was Mordred’s daughter for many years after Acre. “I’m sorry, Mordred. I really am. Thank you for telling me.”

“I’m telling you for two reasons. One, it’s time you knew the truth. And two, I’m going to kill Siris. I’m going to tear her in half. I’m not going to stop until it’s done. So if you need me, that’s where I’ll be: hunting her down and killing everything between me and her. I owe Isabel that much. I wasn’t exactly much of a father. Her mother had been human and had no idea who I was. I liked her, though, genuinely liked her, even in the haze of insanity.” He turned his hand over to show me he’d created a truth rune on his hand. “Just so you know.”

“Can I ask you something while you have that on your hand?”

He nodded.

“How’d you survive the shot to the head?”

“My magic healed me. There was a blood-magic curse mark on me that activated when my heart stopped beating. It used my nightmare, or whatever you want to call it, to keep me alive. The nightmare is gone now, and my magical power has increased in the process. I don’t think the nightmares were ever meant to be something we should be afraid of.”

“My nightmare said the same thing. He said that the magic is our birthright, not our enemy.”

“That’s the impression I got. All I know is that my nightmare cocooned me in magic for the better part of three months while my injuries healed. Physically healed, anyway. And I doubt I’m lucky enough to have the only beneficial nightmare.”

“It’s a lot to think on.”

“This whole thing is a lot to think on. I think I’m going to buy a bottle of Scotch, the world’s biggest bag of fish-and-chips and drink and eat myself into a coma.” He hummed the
Mario
tune again. “I’m not sure if I want to stop having these little brain things. I quite like having my mind always on the move.” He smiled.

“Good luck, Mordred.”

“To you too, Nate. We’ll be seeing one another soon enough.”

“I’m not going to let the Fates’ prophecy come true. Whoever is pulling my strings, they’re not going to get me to become someone I’m not.”

Mordred shrugged and got to his feet. “Maybe the Fates were wrong, Nate. Either way, I don’t feel like killing you these days. I feel like making things right, you know?”

I did.

“The Fates aren’t always right, and frankly they tell you what they want to tell you half the time.”

“That’s very true.”

“I really hope it doesn’t come to that, Nate. I really would like to see if we could be friends instead.”

I stood and offered him my hand. He shook it without hesitation. “It’s been so long since I’ve been able to call you a friend, Nate. I’m sorry for all I wronged you.”

He turned and walked away, humming the
Mario
theme tune to himself.

“Mordred,” I called after him, and he stopped, looking back at me. “Don’t be a stranger.”

He smiled, it was warm and reminded me of simpler days. “You too, Nate. You too.”

And then he was gone, leaving me to deal with several dozen tons of dead dragon.

CHAPTER
42

T
urns out getting rid of a dead dragon was a lot easier than I’d expected. Mostly because it soon became apparent that it wasn’t our problem.

The entire group had gathered together outside the Tate Modern, comparing war wounds and trying to figure out where to go from there, when a helicopter buzzed overhead, landing just beyond the nearby wall.

“Anyone else notice it was a Black Hawk?” Irkalla asked. Like everyone else who’d arrived with Diane, she’d gotten drenched saving lives.

No one said anything.

Licinius was the first person I saw, wearing a clean suit and looking like he’d spent more time getting ready than he had pulling people out of a partially destroyed building. Zamek, covered in dirt, stared at the dragon then walked over to us.

“That’s a dead dragon,” he said.

“We’re thinking of keeping it as an ornament,” Tommy said. “It’ll make the nice beginnings of a flower bed.”

“A shrubbery,” Remy corrected. “Gotta have a shrubbery.”

“You need to talk to Licinius,” Zamek said. “And I don’t think you’re going to be happy with what he has to say.”

“What do you have to say, Licinius?” I called out to him.

The sorcerer walked over to us. He didn’t look thrilled to be here, but then it had been a rough night for everyone. “Hera has taken control of the city.”

“
What?
” Diane shouted. “She’s in control of the city? She helped murder Brutus!”

Licinius nodded. “I know.”

Hera was the kind of woman who, while beautiful on the outside, was so utterly poisonous and vile on the inside, that it made you think you needed a wash any time you met her. With bleach. Time spent with Hera would be only slightly less preferable than having my limbs sawn off with a rusty bayonet.

“She couldn’t have waited a few days to step in and throw her weight around?” I asked. “At least try to make it look like she cared?”

Licinius removed a piece of paper from his pocket. “The official answer to why she’s involved is:
I graciously stepped in to help oversee the transition of power from Brutus, who was a long-time power in the region, and his death will be keenly felt. While his loss is great, we cannot allow this great city to fall to ruin without a hand to steady it
.”

“Why are you working for this harpy?” Diane asked Licinius, barely keeping her anger in check.

Licinius took a deep breath, but with no immediate answer, Diane’s anger flared. “You traitorous little shit!” she snarled and started toward Licinius, but I stepped between her and her would-be victim.

“Explain quickly,” I told him.

“Hera, Ares, and several of her . . . friends arrived at the building about an hour ago. It was explained in no uncertain terms that I either work for her as the new king of London, or she would replace Brutus with one of her close friends.”

“You could have had her marched out by her ears,” Diane snapped.

“I made some calls after she arrived, talked to a few friends in Avalon. It took every favor I’ve ever managed to acquire, but I found out that this takeover was signed off by Merlin. It’s not official, and there’s no paper trail, but he’s definitely involved. I was also given a very strong sense that if I didn’t agree to this, everyone in Brutus’s employ would be dead. After some checking, I found out that several of the higher-ups in Brutus’s organization had already made deals with Hera for her to take over. This might be Hera doing it, but it’s Avalon-backed.”

“You’re sure?” I asked.

Licinius nodded. “Merlin’s hands are unofficially in this. I don’t know what game he’s playing, but he’s helping Hera play it. When Brutus allowed Ares to put Mars Warfare in London, Avalon used it to keep an eye on him. I’m hoping that by taking this role, I can do the same with the rest of them.”

“If they find out, they’ll kill you,” Diane told him.

“I know. But the alternative is to allow them to destroy everything Brutus worked for. I can’t allow that. That tablet Siris sent you; I had one just like it, but after you used it and vanished, I decided that I probably didn’t want to use mine. I started looking into them, and then Brutus got killed and Hera turned up. She told me that I was lucky not to have gone with you. It meant she could offer me a job.”

“I couldn’t work there,” Diane told him, her anger all but gone. “I’d do something stupid, like tearing her arms off.”

“Hera has told me to tell you that she’ll give you twenty-four hours to get out of London.” Licinius removed a USB drive from his pocket and passed it to Diane. “This holds Brutus’s entire files on everyone he ever had dealings with in Avalon. Also, your files are on there. I scrubbed them clean afterwards.”

“Twenty-four hours is quite reasonable for Hera,” I pointed out.

“That’s officially. Unofficially, she has jack-booted assholes ready to start roaming the city looking for you in the next hour. You all need to leave—now. Something is happening, and this is the first part. You need to get out of London and not come back. She doesn’t care about legalities: not now. And whatever Merlin or Avalon once offered in terms of protection, I’d say those days are over. They went for you before and screwed it up, and you managed to hurt them. Badly. Next time, it won’t be some stupid plan led by an arrogant Kay. It’ll be Hera herself. And she’ll just go straight to the nuclear option.”

“She’s working for whoever is in control of this group,” I told him. “A group that apparently involves Merlin after all. You need to be careful.”

Licinius turned and walked away.

“Why would Merlin want to help take Brutus down?” Diane asked. “Why would he want to ally himself with people who want to overthrow Avalon?”

I honestly had no idea.

“Brutus has several files on prominent members of Avalon,” she continued, holding up the USB drive. “I have no idea how long his encryption will take to get through, but when I’ve cracked it, I’ll send them over, Nate. Maybe it explains why Merlin is involved.”

I turned to the group. “I just wanted to say thank you. None of us would be here today without us all working together. Get out of London and watch your backs. This isn’t over.”

The group separated, with Remy, Tommy, Diane, and Zamek coming with me back to my hotel room.

“I’m going to talk to Avalon,” Remy said. “I want a transfer.”

“To where?” I asked.

“Your house. You’ve just painted a big target on your head, and they’re going to come for you. You’re going to need protecting.”

I opened my mouth to argue.

“He’s right,” Diane said. “Anyone who was watching all of this knows you and Mordred were able to talk without killing one another, knows you killed Kay, a dragon, and helped the dwarves.”

“About that,” Zamek said. “I’m staying. I know I could go back, but you need me here, and Jinayca would be perpetually angry with me if I just left you here. Although if we can use the tablet to let her know I’m okay, that would be good. I know we’ll have to figure out how to change the runes so we don’t end up in the citadel again, but I’d be appreciative.”

“I’m sure we can manage that,” Tommy told him.

“We’ll figure out a way,” I promised, “even if we have to send Remy back.”

“That’s right, pick on the little fox guy. It’s not like I’m small and quiet and can turn up in unexpected places with a knife or anything.”

“Have I ever told you how much you worry me?” Diane asked.

“Probably. Everyone else has.”

There was laughter in the air as we walked through London toward the hotel room I’d rented. I hoped my car was still there. Then we all had to leave. London was Hera’s. And at some point whoever she worked for was going to make sure I was the target they put the most effort into. I’d managed, with help, to screw up their plans this time. Next time I might not be so lucky.

I would have to explain Mordred to Olivia—probably several times. And I would certainly have to deal with Elaine and tell her of Merlin’s unofficial endorsement of Hera. Neither were going to be fun chats, but for all the horror and evil I’d witnessed over the last few days, I’d also seen a lot of hope. A lot of goodness.

We hadn’t stopped the cabal, or whatever they wanted to be called, but we had hurt them. I wondered how long it would take before they decided to return the favor.