More mentions of Daniel’s benevolence and plans to improve the lot of every vampire in their world made her stomach turn. She had only to think about what existed in the Dark Cave system to know what Daniel’s world would actually look like on a global scale. He excelled at so many things, and “spin” would naturally be one of them.
The most telling aspect of the arena, however, was the circle of sunlight on the central stage that shifted slightly as the earth moved on its axis. She hadn’t actually seen what happened when a vampire got burned, but she’d felt Marius’s profound aversion to sunlight. And a sunlight-based killing zone in the arena was the perfect psychological threat to keep Daniel’s followers in line.
She’d soon realized that the visions she’d had early on, though marred at the time by the dark wavy lines, were of this space. As she looked around the arena, she saw one of the reasons for Daniel’s success. He paid attention to detail, from the use of symbols as a powerful promotional tool, to the careful engineering of the whole arena structure, the torch lighting that added a strong, wild tension, the branding colors of black and silver and a smattering of maroon reflecting power and strength. Daniel had clearly spent money, time, and considerable effort in creating an infrastructure for his ambitions, all built, of course, on the rape, torture, and murder of human and vampire slaves.
She wanted to reach out to Marius, to warn him about the pool of killing sunlight and the reach of his father’s plans. But she knew that despite Daniel’s outward focus on keeping his soldiers cheering and stamping their feet, he watched her closely.
Suddenly she knew that Marius had arrived, even though she couldn’t see him at first, because his power flared through her entire body. She was siphoning once more and it was all she could do to keep from crying out.
She took it in, breathing deep and feeling such a profound sense of relief that she swayed on her feet.
Still, she kept her telepathy shut down. Neither did Marius try to reach her.
But he was there. She could feel him in every cell of her body.
She looked around, trying to find him. But he could have been anywhere given the number of bodies in the arena.
* * *
Marius hovered behind a layer of disguise not far from Shayna, and invisible even to Daniel, something he would never have believed possible. He held himself in altered flight, fully aware of the changes in his physical body and in his level of power.
He sensed that Shayna knew he was there, but he didn’t dare try to contact her. And he had to spend a helluva lot of energy not reacting to how she looked or that fifty thousand men leered at her. All part of Daniel’s ploy, no doubt, to distract him when he arrived.
He streamed the images of what he saw, the arena and Daniel’s army, the deadly patch of sunlight and Shayna, all straight into Gabriel’s head. He could even hear, despite the enormous distance between northern India and Egypt, what Gabriel said aloud to Adrien, Lucian, and Rumy.
Gabriel had finally revealed that he and Rumy had been building a secret force for a long time, in various locations around the world. The Ancestrals in hiding had all agreed that one day Daniel and his forces, however big they might prove to be, would only be defeated by military action.
But these efforts had been the biggest secret of the vampire world, kept hidden even from Marius and his brothers. Because Daniel kept his sons as perpetual targets, Gabriel and Rumy had made the decision early on to keep this knowledge from them. Marius had concurred with the wisdom of this part of the plan. Daniel had many forms of torture and knew how to get information if he really wanted it.
Right now Gabriel streamed images back to Marius of each of five forces, from different parts of the globe, tens of thousands of vampire warriors, already in the air and headed toward northern India. Marius saw them like a movie inside his head. Because he knew when each would arrive at the Himalayan system, he could calculate the exact moment when Gabriel’s invasion of the arena would take place.
He couldn’t reveal himself until the precise moment when the invasion started, otherwise Daniel might be able to intervene with his enormous power and end the battle before it began. He could create layered disguises over his army, however, or even with a single order cause them all to disperse.
So Marius waited.
He had a full minute remaining before the first of Gabriel’s forces penetrated the arena. Marius had already created a path through the layered disguises that Daniel had put in place, more evidence that Marius’s level of power had gone into hyperdrive.
As he scoped the entire arena, he knew he had to make Quill and Lev a priority. If not, they’d do everything in their power to protect Daniel; Marius wouldn’t stand a chance.
The best and simplest solution possible came to the forefront of his mind. Prior to his confession to his brothers, he probably wouldn’t have thought to reach out to them; his guilt would have held him captive.
But now he didn’t hesitate. Adrien and Lucian hovered just outside the system, waiting for Marius’s orders. He reached for them both at the same time, and forged a telepathic conversation among all three of them. His powers truly had entered a new, incredible phase.
Adrien, I need you to take out Quill. Lucian, immobilize Lev. If either of them or Daniel has even a split second to act, we’ll lose our chance to end their reign once and for all.
Adrien said, We’re with you, Marius. Just waiting for your orders.
Marius felt Lucian’s telepathic stream kick in. Just tell us what, when, and where.
I’m going to stream the stage area for you both. Marius closed his eyes and did the impossible: He sent two sets of images flowing in different directions at the same time. Have you got the locations locked in?
Two affirmatives.
Lucian added, Clear as a fucking bell! Damn, Marius, you’ve got some serious chops.
The words, coming from his brother, pleased the hell out of Marius. In fifteen seconds, the first of Gabriel’s force breaks through. On my mark. Marius started counting down, finally reaching, Three … two … one … Go!
At the same time that the first massive force pierced the cavern above the arena, Marius watched Lucian and Adrien bust through.
Marius turned all his attention to the man who had caused endless pain, death, and destruction through the vampire and human worlds for centuries. He whipped in Daniel’s direction, leaving altered flight and dropping his disguise barely a split second before he plowed into his unsuspecting father.
Off to his right, Adrien and Lucian did the same with Quill and Lev. Several rounds of battle cries flooded the air above the stage as Gabriel and Rumy’s men engaged Daniel’s army.
Game on.
Marius’s momentum took him and Daniel to the arena floor, ten feet away from the patch of sunlight. He landed on top of Daniel and delivered three quick blows to his face.
Daniel used the force of his power and threw Marius into the air, adding a blow to the chest at the same time. The air rushed from Marius’s lungs and he hung in the air working to recover.
Daniel didn’t immediately attack. Instead he stood in the center of the arena floor looking all around him, his lips parted, his eyes wild. He reached for the robe at his shoulders and unclasped it, letting it fall to the floor, the breastplate with it.
To Marius’s right, Adrien and Quill battled high in the air. On the ground, Lucian had his long chain spinning as Lev circled him with one of his own. But his brothers were both Ancestrals, like Quill and Lev, meeting the half brothers with equal power.
Recovered, Marius dropped to the floor twelve feet away and waited for his father to face him.
Daniel moved slowly in the direction of the pool of sunlight. Marius got the point and didn’t care. One of them would end up frying, as good a plan as any for ending Daniel’s miserable life. Marius had waited a long time for a chance to battle his father and because he’d embraced all that he was, power flowed through him as never before. He was something new
and something more.
Like his father.
Against the cacophony of the battle raging through the upper reaches of the cavern, and as more of Gabriel’s troops arrived and tens of thousands of men battled in the air, Daniel’s voice entered Marius’s mind. I see you’ve embraced your power at last. Do you see what you are, know what you are now? What I created you to be? I foresaw this transformation.
Marius began moving closer, slowly, watching the smallest flick of Daniel’s fingers, the slightest shift of his feet or twitch of his eye.
Marius responded, You’re a liar, Daniel. You didn’t foresee anything, or you would have been prepared for this attack. I think you hoped that I might reach, possibly even exceed, your power, but you didn’t foresee it.
And you’ve your mother’s weakness. She had so much compassion but not enough sense. Try to break free of that right now. It’s not too late to join me. Together—here he swept an arm to encompass the arena—we can rule everything.
Marius felt Daniel’s power begin to pulse all around the arena.
Suddenly the battles that raged around him and Daniel slowed, then halted, fists and chains in mid-strike, bodies prone and dying, others gone.
Marius saw what would happen next because he couldn’t move. Daniel launched at him and caught him around the neck, flipping behind him so that he had one hand pressed on the side of Marius’s head.
Marius knew that in this moment, he was dead.
Daniel would snap his neck. He had more power than anyone knew and Marius’s power, so recently arrived, was untried, unproven, undeveloped. He had raw power, but Daniel had been building his for centuries, well beyond Marius’s age, taught by even viler creatures than he himself had proved to be.
This was a pattern in Marius’s family, sons killing their evil fathers. In this case, it would be the other way around.
His gaze strayed to Shayna and he realized she wasn’t immobile like all the others. Her gaze was fixed to his. He didn’t attempt to touch her mind, to communicate; Daniel would know.
She began to levitate. Marius shifted his gaze straight ahead and focused on Daniel. “What do you want?”
“You know what I want: you and your abilities. I’ve always known you could do what I do. One day, with practice, you can do more.”
Daniel released him, sweeping a hand over the still-life battle. “I want you to take charge of my army, to serve as my right hand. I would let you do whatever you wanted—and not just in a military sense. If you wanted control of the courts, I would grant you that. You could write the laws I know you value. We’ll need laws in this new world of mine.”
“But you’d have the veto vote.”
“Of course.” Daniel smiled. “But I don’t know what you think your woman can do. I can feel her now, just inches away from me.”
But Marius knew. Back up, Shayna, now!
The moment Daniel shifted his attention to Shayna, intending to hurt or possibly kill her, Marius flew at him and whipped his blade over his throat. He cut deep just as Daniel swept backward attempting to strike Shayna down. But she’d already shifted to altered flight.
She reappeared and grabbed Daniel by the arm. Marius stayed where he was because right now, she siphoned most of his power as she dragged him toward the pool of sunlight.
Blood poured from Daniel’s throat. He clutched at his neck, spending his energies on self-healing instead of getting rid of Shayna. Marius moved in their direction, knowing that Daniel was self-healing faster than ever before. The wound was already half sealed.
Marius withdrew another dagger and let it fly. This time he’d aimed for the heart and knew he’d succeeded when Daniel arched, his mouth opening wide.
He made a halfhearted attempt to throw Shayna aside, but he was too late. She dragged him into the pool of sunlight and Daniel screamed.
Hold him down. Keep him in place.
Shayna’s eyes were wild as she planted a foot on Daniel’s wounded chest. Even so, Daniel started to rise in the air, levitating with the power he had left.
Marius, I can’t hold him!
Marius fell as he released the rest of his power to Shayna. She stood with one foot on Daniel’s chest and pinned him to the stone floor. The sunlight kept burning through Daniel’s clothes and started eating away at his flesh.
Shayna’s hair came undone and flew in a wild mass around her shoulders. Only a human could have put Daniel in the light and let the sun do its work. She looked like something from her human mythology, her hair moving as though on fire, all around her head, her stiletto on Daniel’s chest, holding him in place, her arms spread wide.
Stay with him until he’s gone.
Shayna didn’t look at Marius, but kept staring down at Daniel’s dissolving face. I won’t let him up until there’s nothing left. Ashes to ashes.
Marius, weak from having turned over his power, sat on the stone floor several yards away.
The air battle had resumed the moment he’d cut Daniel’s throat.
Quill lay gasping for his last breath, Adrien’s chain around his throat. Lucian had beheaded Lev and flew toward Marius, a dagger in hand. He stood over him, waiting, moving in a protective circle. “I can feel that you’ve sent her all your power.”
“She’s keeping Daniel in place and the light is doing its work.” Marius couldn’t take his gaze off her, in part because it helped to keep the power flowing. And right now, Shayna was doing the most important job in this entire cavern.
Daniel’s body twitched now and then but otherwise he’d stopped moving. And still Shayna kept her foot in place.
“Lucian, I need to stay focused on Shayna. Tell me how Gabriel and Rumy’s troops are doing?”
“They’re steadily tearing away at Daniel’s army. The northern section is completely subdued and a portion of the eastern part of the arena. Another of Gabriel’s regiments just came in. And another. This will be over soon.”
CHAPTER 16
Shayna didn’t take her eyes off Daniel, even though the sight and smell nauseated her, and she kept her foot hard on his torso.
But though she watched Daniel disintegrate, her inner gaze looked well beyond the emerging skeleton to the women who would soon be set free from the Dark Cave system and one day hopefully returned to their lives.
Marius’s power was like a wind inside her, blowing constantly and filling every part of her with strength. Daniel had tried several times to rise up, but her foot, and the power she streamed, was more than enough to keep him in place.
At last she felt Daniel’s life force completely fade, like smoke disappearing into the air.
Still, she held her position, holding him down even when his bones appeared. What did it take to truly destroy evil? If she lifted her foot, would Daniel rise suddenly, despite the fact that his bones were beginning to crumble? Could he even bring his ashes back to life?
Since she didn’t know, she wasn’t taking any chances.
And still she waited.
She waited until she began to feel Marius’s power shift direction. And even then, she waited until she felt his arms surround her. “You can remove your foot now.”
Nothing remained beneath her stiletto except a thin layer of ashes. “Are you sure? Once I’d taken in your power, I could feel what he was. He would have succeeded if not for you and your brothers.”
“And you.”
She glanced up at him, turning slightly. He levitated her into the air, moving away from the sunlight. “Wait, you were standing in the sunlight for a couple of minutes just now, when you were holding me?”
“I felt I was safe because of our bond. Apparently, your humanness protected me, which isn’t the usual case.”
She searched his eyes for a long moment. “Is it over, Marius? Really over?”
“What do you hear?”
She realized the arena had grown completely silent. She turned, casting her gaze in a circle as Marius turned her so she could witness the aftermath of the battle.
/>
Gabriel and Rumy were in the center of the arena stage, standing beside Adrien and Lucian. Shayna saw that there were an awful lot of dead warriors everywhere, but new forces entered the building, many of them with white medic vests. The cleanup had already started and the dead were being carted away on stretchers, thousands of them.
She moved with Marius to stand with his brothers and Gabriel and Rumy, the latter of whom took one look at her chest then surprised her by removing his black shirt and handing it to her. He then got on his phone and requested a new shirt for himself.
“Thanks,” she murmured, putting it on and quickly buttoning it up to hide her exposed cleavage. She also worked to smooth down her hair, knowing that something about the experience had caused it to fly around. Glancing at her feet, she reached down and unbuckled the uncomfortable stilettos then kicked them off.
Marius brought her close again, and she shifted to slide her arm around his neck. All the men were now watching the patch of sunlight.
Together they’d accomplished the impossible and she’d been a big part of it, something that pleased her human soul more than she thought she’d ever be able to communicate to Marius.
I get it. His voice was a quiet, soothing sound within her mind. Remember, I can still feel what you’re feeling and I understand completely.
She kissed his cheek. And you’re feeling the same way.
I am. I feel …
Honored?
Marius squeezed her waist. Exactly. Honored to have been able to finally rid our world of this monster.
Shayna waited in the arena with Marius. Cleanup continued with precision so that corpses left in a steady stream and the cavern slowly emptied out. The familiar steam-cleaning happened at the same time, purifying the bloodstains from the stone.
She wasn’t sure why, but she wanted to stay until the very end, a sentiment Marius shared with her.
Occasionally, she’d glance down at the pool of light and watch as even the ashes continued to be eaten up by the light.