Unleash the Storm (26 page)

“I can’t begin to imagine why you’re back,” Lilith continued, bitterness mixing with her singsong tone. “There is no one here to rescue this time. The only daemons who remain are not planning to leave.” She raised an eyebrow at Piper. “Unless you’ve come to repay your debt.”

“I need a favor,” Piper said, seeing no point in skirting around her objective.

The bitterness twisted Lilith’s face. “Of course. Why else would you visit me? Somewhere along the line, you mistook me for a generous woman, Piper.”

“There’s a chance we can save the city from the Hades war,” she said neutrally, resisting Lilith’s verbal bait, “if you can help us.”

Lilith’s lips curled. “A chance to save the city.
So
tempting. Forgive me if I have little faith in your ability to deliver on that promise.”

“It’s not a promise. It’s a chance.” Piper studied Lilith in the dim light. The succubus was tired, worn. She’d lost almost everything since Piper had met her, starting with the truth pendant she’d lent Piper.

Dismissing her hesitation, she began to unlace one of her armguards. “The pendant I lost in the Underworld was a priceless tool and I know I can never make up for its loss. It helped me find and save Ash, and it saved my life too. In that way, it’s even more invaluable.”

She slid the armguard off and tucked it against her side, holding it in place with her elbow. Beneath it, a small dagger in its dark sheath was strapped to her inner arm. The small, smooth hilt shone like mother of pearl. She unbuckled it, ignoring the twang of regret in her chest.

“This was a gift to me from the ryujin.” She pulled the blade from its sheath. Instead of steel, shimmering dragon scale formed a short, lethally sharp blade. “It’s not your pendant and probably not as valuable to you, but it’s rarer than any Ra spell.”

She held it out to Lilith. The succubus accepted it, turning it carefully in her hands. She slid it from the sheath, turning it to watch the light shine across the blade.

“What is this material?” she asked.

“Dragon scale. It will cut through almost any armor, it’s magic resistant, and it can pierce spells and wards.”

Lilith’s gaze rose to Piper, disbelief touching her eyes. The succubus had to appreciate the value of a weapon made by the ryujin—a caste feared throughout the Overworld that typically killed anyone who entered their territory uninvited. Ra spells could be bought but this dagger was truly priceless.

“This was gifted to you?”

Piper knew what Lilith wasn’t saying: How could she offer up such a valuable gift? She smiled as she pulled her armguard back on and laced it up. “The pendant saved my life and Ash’s. Maybe some day that dagger will save yours.”

Lilith’s hand tightened on the sheath. “I haven’t agreed to your favor.”

“I know.”

The succubus relaxed slightly and gestured to the bar, where a few metal stools with cracked leather seats were still standing. “Let’s sit. We will discuss this favor.”

They moved to the chairs and sat, Piper in the middle between Lilith and Calder. Lilith laid the dagger carefully on the bar top as though it might break if she set it down too hard.

“I’m surprised Ash didn’t come with you.” She smiled as she looked up at Piper through her long eyelashes. “He has always been overly confident in his ability to get his way with me.”

Piper gritted her teeth at the double entendre. Though she couldn’t prove it—and really didn’t want to—the circumstantial evidence suggested that Ash had slept with Lilith at least once before he met Piper. She didn’t appreciate Lilith’s reminder or the timing of it. She wondered if, after accepting Piper’s gift, the succubus felt like she had to regain the upper hand in their conversation.

“Ash is busy … preparing.”

Lilith’s eyes sharpened as she dropped the coquettish demeanor. “Preparing for what?”

Piper pressed her folded hands on the bar top. “To end this.”

“To end Samael,” Lilith breathed, her eyes widening as she put the unspoken pieces together. “I see. Tell me about this favor.”

“I need to get a message to Miysis.”

“Miysis? The Ras are little better than Hades. You would have them be our conquerors?”

“I don’t want either of them, but we can only deal with one at a time. The Ras have already lost their heir and they’ve been one step behind Hades for a long time. I’ll take Miysis over Samael any day. Miysis may be ruthless but he isn’t evil. Is he at the embassy?”

“I believe so.” Lilith drummed her fingers on the bar in front of her new dagger, the red polish on her nails chipped and ugly. “Most of my contacts have fled the city. I don’t know how to reach Miysis, not while he is barricaded behind a mass of soldiers in their embassy. With his elder sister dead, he is next in command beneath his mother; he will not be venturing out where Hades snipers could kill him.”

“The Ra family is matriarchal,” Calder put in. “Miysis can’t actually inherit command, can he?”

“He cannot head the family unless his younger sisters also die, but they are safe in the Overworld.” Lilith shrugged lightly. “Though he can’t take his mother’s place, he can still lead beneath her and will continue to do so until his sisters are older.”

Miysis commanding the Ra forces in Brinford was a big help. Piper would only have to convince him and not his mother or some other family member.

“Is there a safe way to approach the embassy?” she asked. “A—a white flag or something?”

“Even if the Ras were willing to let you inside,” Lilith said, “Hades would not allow it. They would kill you on the approach. They appear to have the embassy surrounded, though one can’t tell at a glance. Too many places for soldiers to hide.”

Piper pressed her hands to the bar top. “I need to speak to him. There has to be a way.”

A soft footstep crunched on the dirty floor behind them.

“I could reach the gates.”

Piper turned sharply. Ether stood with his hands in his pockets, blue eyes drifting between the three of them.

“You—you could?”

He nodded. “I am familiar with the sewers beneath the city. I could get close enough to get within the Hades’ defensive circle and leave a written message for the Ras to find.”

Right, Ether was a kelpie—an amphibious caste. He wouldn’t have any problem in the water, just like her. But she also knew he hated the Ras after they’d held him prisoner in their embassy for weeks. Could she trust him to deliver a message?

“Could you take me?” she asked. “Dropping a note that they may or may not pick up leaves too much to chance and our time is limited.”

“I will not take you,” he said, his soft tone somehow broking no argument. “I will not be responsible for your life.”

“We can make sure they find the note,” Lilith said. “There are spells that turn objects into magical beacons that no daemon within a hundred yards could miss.”

Piper frowned, thinking it over. Dropping a note with some kind of beacon just outside the embassy was probably the best they could do, but what if the Ras assumed it was a Hades trick? What if the note never made it to Miysis? What if it took too long for him to see it and respond?

“Let’s do it,” she said. “We can try to come up with other ideas in the meantime, but whatever we can do now is better than nothing. What should we put the note in? I don’t want it to blow away or something.”

Lilith smiled as she leaned over the bar and reached under it. She pulled out a small, empty vodka bottle and held it up, a wicked little smile tweaking her lips.

“A note in a bottle. That feline curiosity of theirs won’t be able to resist it.”

P
iper paced
the width of the sanctuary and back again, staring down the rows of pews every time she made a turn. Nervous energy kept her moving even though she was exhausted. She hadn’t slept since making the trip from the draconian city to the ley line. She needed to rest, but she couldn’t sleep. Not until she knew whether the note had worked.

It had taken them about an hour to get the note ready and in the bottle, including asking one of the more skilled daemons hiding out in the club basement to spell it so it flashed like an invisible beacon for the Ras to find. Then Ether had taken it and left. Lilith had seemed almost as nervous as Piper as the minutes dragged into an hour and then another. The embassy was on the border of downtown—the opposite border to the Styx—and wasn’t a trip Ether could make that quickly.

Nearly three hours had passed before he returned, reeking water dripping from his clothes onto the floor. He’d thrown the bottle over the embassy fence before getting the hell out of there. He was certain they’d seen it even without the beacon spell. Piper had thanked him profusely and she might have even hugged him if he hadn’t been drenched in sewer water.

With nothing left to do but wait and see if Miysis responded to her note, she and Calder had left to return to the church. On their way out, Piper had glanced back in time to see Lilith take Ether’s hand as she reached up with the other to touch his face in concern. Piper had hurried away, surprised and a little embarrassed. Plain and soft-spoken Ether with the stunning, bold succubus businesswoman? Not a combination she would have predicted, but it explained why Ether was still at the club.

Another three hours had come and gone with no sign of Miysis. Her note had asked him to meet her at the church. She hoped that revealing the hiding place of the “Consul resistance” would convince him that it wasn’t a trick and how imperative it was that he meet with her.

Would he? She’d never been good at predicting his actions, but she was even more out to sea after the complete shattering of their uneasy friendship. After he’d ordered his men to kill Ash and then tried to kidnap her, she’d done her damnedest to kill him on that cliff in the Overworld. After that, she’d killed his sister. If she weren’t so desperate for his help with her plan, she would have been quite happy to never see him again.

Exhaling loudly, she stopped pacing and clenched her hands into fists. “He won’t come. I should have written a longer note.”

“I don’t think he can resist,” Calder said from where he sat on a front pew. “Had you given him too much information, he might have made a decision without talking to you first. On top of that, the two of you have a history. I’m sure he’ll come.”

Unclenching her hands before she strained a muscle, she managed not to flinch. Her father and uncle knew that she and Miysis had last parted on bad terms, but they didn’t know that she’d killed Maasehet. Then again, there was a chance Miysis didn’t know she was responsible either, especially if the Gaian facility had been razed to the ground. She kind of doubted it though. Daemon and haemon magic had different signatures, and the Sahar probably left its own unique mark.

The sound of a door opening made her spin toward the front of the church, but it wasn’t the main entrance. The side door had opened and Randy stood in the threshold, squinting at them. Jerome looked over his shoulder.

“What are you doing up, you two?” Calder asked sternly.

“We heard voices,” Randy said as his eyes landed on Piper. “It’s the middle of the night.”

“You’ve learned to tell time, congratulations,” Piper said, rolling her eyes as her nerves settled again. Stupid Randy showing up and making her think it was Miysis arriving.

“Nothing for you to worry about,” Calder said. “Back to your room, please.”

“Who’s not coming?” Randy asked. “What note were you talking about?”

Calder rose from his seat on the pew. “Consul business, Randy. Back to your room.”

Randy took a couple steps into the room and Jerome followed hesitantly. “Is it that draconian again? We have a right to know if you’re bringing daemons in here while we’re asleep.”

All traces of good humor vanished from Uncle Calder’s face. “You have a right to know whatever I decide to tell you, and right now I have nothing to share with you.”

Quinn turned on the two boys with his glower that could stop daemons in their tracks. Randy and Jerome shrank back.

“If you both aren’t immediately out of my sight, you will—”

In a rush, Melonie and Lee burst out from the same doorway, almost colliding with Randy and Jerome. When they saw Piper, Calder, and Quinn already in the sanctuary, they skidded to a stop. Both had the expressions of frightened rabbits.

“Consul Calder!” Melonie gasped. “There are daemons outside!”

Piper jerked straight. Was it Miysis? Had he come?

“Where?” Calder demanded.

“Everywhere!” Lee blurted. “I heard a noise and looked out the basement window and I saw them. Dozens of them on the lawn. Daemons with—with wings.”

“Griffins,” Piper said, her voice going bleak as she faced the main doors of the church. If the Ras were out of glamour, there was a good chance they hadn’t come peacefully. Crap crap crap. “You four need to go into the basement and stay there.”

Randy spluttered in affront. “Don’t tell me what—”

“Go!” Calder half-shouted. “Right now!”

“But what—”

Magic crackled across Piper’s senses a moment before the arched roof of the church exploded.

A truckload of stone plunged down to the floor in the center of the sanctuary. She staggered back, throwing an arm over her face as dust billowed out. Shadowy figures with outspread wings dropped through the brand new hole, landing among the pews and aisle. As the dust settled, the yellow light bulbs along the sanctuary walls gleamed on a dozen shining halberd blades.

A thirteenth griffin dropped through the opening to land in the center of the aisle. Golden hair brushed across his face, most of it captured in a thick braid that hung down to his waist. Topaz jewels on fine white gold chains had been woven through the plait, making it glitter. His clothing was a mixture of rich red silks and light armor, as beautiful as it was functional. He held a long sword in one hand.

His eyes, normally a bright yellow-green, were black as pitch as they locked on her like a lion stalking an injured gazelle.

“Miysis.” She couldn’t help the cautious note in his name.

He lifted his blade out to one side of his body, a casual but attack-ready position.

“Piper. Draw your sword.” The words were an icy croon in his melodic voice, almost as beautiful as Lyre’s incubus harmonics.

Oh shit. It was pretty safe to say he knew
exactly
who had killed his sister and he intended to kill Piper for it in a formal execution of justice.

“Miysis—” she began.

He gave the tip of his sword a little flick—some kind of signal. His soldiers surged into motion, moving blindingly fast. In seconds, they had surrounded her and Miysis, creating a circle around them. She was trapped inside with Miysis, and her father and uncle were stuck outside the circle of warriors. Randy, Jerome, Melonie, and Lee had retreated to the doorway to the basement, but the fools hadn’t actually left.

“Piper!” Calder yelled frantically, rushing toward the Ra soldiers.

“Stay back!” she shouted, throwing up a warning hand in his direction. “Just wait!”

Miysis glided a few steps closer to her, his black eyes not shifting from her face. His golden-brown wings were folded behind his back and his tail, shorter than a draconian’s, swished slowly behind him, the end flaring in a fan of feathers.

“Miysis, can we—” she tried again.

“Draw your sword.” He lifted his, light sliding across the shining steel, and she knew that was her last warning.

Heart pounding, she drew the sword at her hip, gripping the unfamiliar hilt tightly. She lifted it into a defensive posture. His stare cut through her, his face familiar but strange. She had no choice but to fight him; her uncle and father couldn’t take on this many Ra soldiers. She should have met Miysis somewhere else, somewhere with no potential casualties besides her.

With a slight narrowing of his eyes as her only warning, Miysis sprang at her.

She got her sword up in time to block his blade. The force of his charge knocked her clear off her feet and she crashed down on her back. His blade flashed for her and she rolled fast, barely escaping it. Jumping to her feet, she whipped her sword around to force him back, but he parried it and lunged in. She twisted away and the blade scraped across her pants, a cut that would have sliced deep into her thigh without the protection of the dragon scale.

He slid back, putting a couple of feet between them as he re-evaluated her entire outfit—he probably wouldn’t waste another strike on her protective clothing. He would be aiming for bare skin now.

“Miysis, please, can we—”

With a snap of his wings, he jumped for her, cutting off her plea. The only way she could talk to him was if she defeated him.

She whipped her sword up and braced herself. His strike slammed down on her blade, almost buckling her legs. He pressed hard, leaning into his sword as their blades scraped together. Her arms shook. His daemon strength was too much. She couldn’t hold it and she couldn’t push him back.

She locked eyes with him, her teeth bared with the effort of resisting him. He gazed back at her, his eyes like black ice, and she realized he wasn’t even using his full strength. He could be crushing her, but he wasn’t. Why not?

Dread rushed through her as her arms shook harder and she slid backward a few inches on the stone floor. Her sword dipped closer to her face, his right behind it as he added more pressure. She couldn’t fight him like this. He was too strong. She needed her daemon form.

As soon as she thought it, she realized that’s what Miysis was waiting for. But her father and uncle were right there, watching. They didn’t know about her daemon form. And Melonie and the other apprentices—

Miysis shoved harder and her arms gave out.

Strength surged through her as tingles rushed over her body. She slid sideways as she spun her sword, forcing his blade away from her body and down toward the floor. Both steel points hit the stone tiles, sending sparks flying. She dropped the hilt and leaped for him, grabbing his shoulder to propel herself over him and onto his back. He snapped his wings out, flinging her away before she could get a hold of his throat.

She landed on her feet and drew two short swords from the sheaths on her thighs. He kicked her longer sword out of the circle so she couldn’t reclaim it. Her eyes met his and she let it all go, allowing the shaded calm to rush through her. She forgot about her father and uncle. She forgot about the apprentices. Her world narrowed to her opponent.

Holding one sword low and the other at shoulder height, she sprang for him. At the last second, she ducked, coming in low. He danced aside, sword flashing past her face. She whirled away and spun back at him, swords twirling in her hands. Her blades crashed against his as he deflected both in one swift, angled stroke. They broke apart.

He smiled coldly and raised his free hand toward her. Magic sizzled the air.

She crossed her swords in front of her and channeled her magic into the blades—a skill Seiya had spent a full week teaching her as they travelled through the Underworld mountains. His blast shattered on her shield and she sprang through the crackling light. Her left sword hit his again as she whipped her right one toward his belly.

Magic burst out of him, throwing her back before her blade could connect. She landed on her feet, balancing on her toes. If he wanted to bring magic into this game, then so be it. She extended one sword and called on her power. Twisting blue and purple light flashed down the length of her blade. She flicked it toward him and a whip of magic snapped at his face.

He cast a shield and her magic hit it. Orange light burst from the point of contact—but his shield didn’t break. The golden barrier pulsed strangely as she yanked her magic back. She bared her teeth in frustration. After she’d broken his shields in the Overworld, he must have found a new technique to counter her hybrid magic. Natania had warned her that her magic wouldn’t always burn away daemon spells.

Dropping into a half-crouch, she angled her swords and leaped for him.

They crashed together, swords spinning and magic flashing. He shielded and she smashed her sword into it, blasting it apart with her own magic. His retaliating blast flew over her head as she ducked. They danced across the floor, blades crashing together, magic erupting out of them. She fought as she never had before, casting and defending with magic as fast as she was lunging and parrying with her swords. Everything she had learned while training with Seiya and the other draconians was all that kept her alive in the face of his strength and skill.

He swung his sword across her path, forcing her back. She cast a magical attack that he batted aside with a shielded hand, but she was already leaping in for the opening beneath his left arm. The gap closed as he spun—a trick! She dropped, hitting the floor as his blade missed her head. She rolled but his boot thumped down on one of her swords, wrenching it out of her hand.

She twisted on the floor and kicked his ankle, knocking him briefly off balance. Then she sprang halfway up and threw her full weight into his knees. He staggered, wings flaring, and she grabbed his sword wrist with her free hand as she shot up. His other hand clamped around
her
sword wrist. They strained against each other, his greater weight and strength pushing her down.

Ducking, she shoved his arm away as she twisted out of his grip. He lunged for her at the same time and then he was right behind her—too close. He grabbed her by the hair and his sword flashed toward her neck. With a gasp, she yanked her arm up. The deadly blade hit her armguard instead of her throat, but the blow was so hard it jarred her remaining sword out of her grip.

He still had her by the hair. She was trapped, too close, couldn’t retreat. It was impossible to defend against him and she couldn’t stop his sword a second time.