James smiled. “You’ll leave for White Lake in fifteen minutes.” His gaze slid over the group. “Warriors will want to change into flight battle gear. Obsidian flame will serve in support of Alison.” He turned to Thorne. “You’ll want to have Colonel Seriffe shut down all the hotels and gardens for the morning. Declare a state of emergency.”
Thorne immediately whipped his phone from his tunic pocket. Turning away from the group, he let Seriffe know what was happening.
To Endelle, James said, “I’m not allowed to be present, but I will be watching.”
* * *
Endelle retired to her sitting room for a few minutes just to gather her thoughts, even to savor what was happening. My God, it looked like everything was all but settled, or would be within the next few hours, especially since Greaves would be denied his Third Earth death vampires.
After all these centuries, everything was moving so fast and at each step along the way, over the past few days, Greaves has steadily lost ground. Half his army was gone, and he’d failed to destroy either the colonies or obsidian flame. With the breach repaired, he would lose another part of his strategy as well.
Yet even as she wanted to exult in this turn of events, this narrowing down of Greaves’s chances to actually win this war, she couldn’t. The bastard had never fought fair, not one day of his fucking ambitious life. What if he’d saved his best for last, something unknown and therefore unpredicted.
Still, her adrenaline was flowing.
The end truly was near—or at the very least a major battle that would change the face of things on Second Earth.
She heard the door to her suite close.
She turned and there was Braulio, the vampire who had been her lover a few millennia ago, who had served once as the leader of the Warriors of the Blood and who had supposedly died in her arms but magically returned to chap her ass over the past few months. He was somehow connected with James in this whole mess with Greaves and more than once had tormented her by sinking his tongue into her mouth, which made her want him to sink other things as well.
He wore a dark blue silk shirt and tailored slacks. His belt had a silver buckle with a scorpion detail.
She smiled. An homage, no doubt. She rose to her feet.
He moved toward her, looking her up and down. “I thought you’d be wearing squid tentacles or clamshells today.”
“Sorry to disappoint.”
His smile was crooked and all male. “A snug black-leather flight suit becomes you.”
She reached up and touched the scars at the back of her neck. She saw his gaze follow the movement, and she got a sick-gut feeling. “Aw shit,” she said. “You’re here to tell me what you did to me.”
He nodded. “It’s time. Like everything else right now.”
He moved in close and slid a hand up and down her arm. “First, I want you to know that I’m sorry that I did this against your will. I hated doing it, but I was under orders. And in this case I actually agreed with the decision because I believe it will save your life.”
“Ominous.”
“It is.” He’d never looked more serious, which increased her uneasiness.
“Spill it, asshole. The suspense is killing me.”
“A lot of nasty shit has come out of Third Earth, including experiments with viruses built just for vampires. Greaves has that virus living in him. And now you do as well.”
She thought for a minute. “Are you saying you put a virus in me?”
He nodded. His eyes narrowed, but he didn’t add to his announcement.
Then she understood. “You gave me the virus by biting deep into my spinal cord.”
“It’s the best delivery method.”
Her breathing shifted, and her face grew hot. She listed on her feet.
He kept her upright, but she pushed him away and sat down again. She rubbed her neck and felt ready to weep like a baby. But something else occurred to her. She snapped her head in his direction.
He moved to sit on the coffee table in front of her and planted his hands on her knees. He met her gaze dead-on.
“If you gave me the virus,” she said, “then you have it, too.”
He nodded.
She sat back in her chair. “Before you tell me what the ramifications of this virus are, I need to know how you got the virus.”
“I volunteered. I wasn’t about to inject you with something that I didn’t understand.”
She put a hand to her chest. What the fuck had he done to himself? To her? And why was it so damn important?
Endelle had lived a long time, but everything that had ever happened to her had been her choice, not forced on her by another ascender. Even becoming the Supreme High Administrator of Second Earth had been an assignment she’d agreed to. Of course Luchianne had put her in a headlock, but still Endelle had said yes.
“So what does this virus do?”
“The upside is that you can shape-shift, or morph if you like, into any biological form you like, you can add appendages, you can change your DNA and grow things like claws.”
“Greaves has a claw he brings out on his left hand.”
Braulio nodded.
“Well, so far so good, but I take it there’s a downside.”
“A big one. Have you ever noticed that Greaves’s left hand is a just a little weak?”
“Yes, I’ve seen that. I figured it had to do with the claw.”
“It does. Changes become permanent.”
Endelle took a long moment to digest this aspect of the virus. She thought of herself, of becoming something different. She also thought of Greaves. “So is he some kind of crab monster because of that claw of his?”
“I don’t know. He may only have experimented with the claw.”
Endelle looked away from his dark blue eyes and the compassion she saw within them.
“Do you have changes that are permanent?”
“I have one.”
“Can I see it?”
“You’ve seen it repeatedly.”
She wrinkled her nose. “Is that a double entendre?” She glanced at his crotch—then her brows rose. “So you can change the DNA, huh?”
He rolled his eyes. “My cock is big enough as it is, as you well know.”
Yeah, she knew, and thoughts of that powerful aspect of his anatomy, despite the dark nature of their present conversation, sent shivers down her neck. “You’re right. You’re plenty big.”
He smiled and looked very male as he nodded.
“So, what’s this other form of yours?”
He didn’t say anything. He just changed.
Her mouth dropped open. “Shorty?”
Light blue eyes twinkled at her.
“Well, I’ll be damned. So you were serious that one time you told me you could be anything I wanted you to be.”
“Pretty much.”
A moment later, James began to disappear, and Braulio re-formed. James was Braulio, and Braulio was James.
“Holy shit. Well, this isn’t so bad. And, hey, Thorne can morph like this.”
“Unfortunately, there’s a big difference,” he said, sitting on the coffee table again. “I have to become James at least once a week to release that part of my altered DNA, or I start to go insane. This is always true, for me and for you. For Greaves as well.”
“So, if you don’t like the form you take, too bad, you’re stuck with it?”
“Exactly.”
“But why did you choose ‘James’ then, for an alternate shape?”
“A lot of reasons. James is a harmless persona and has served me well in approaching Alison, for instance, while she was in her rite of ascension. I’ve also served more recently as the gatekeeper to Third Earth in James’s form. Again, the less threatening shape has given me a strong advantage when challenged by powerful Third Earth entities.”
“You’ve battled on Third Earth?”
He shrugged. “Battled isn’t quite the right word since I’m not allowed to battle
. I argue and threaten, and when provoked, I offer a display of power that is sufficient to turn away any Third aggressor.”
“You’ve been busier than I thought.”
“I do my part.”
“But now I have this virus. I suppose next you’ll tell me this has something to do with the little peach.”
Braulio dipped his chin. “And the ability within the next hour to become whatever you need to be in order to survive.”
“The next hour,” she repeated. She didn’t ask him to explain. She knew. She felt it in her bones. She’d be facing off with Greaves over White Lake, probably not long after Alison worked her magic with the Third portal.
She stood up and held his gaze for a long moment. “You going to tell me how this battle ends?”
“We’ve seen several outcomes. But I’m not allowed to interfere and I won’t. Just take everything I’ve said into consideration. I’m sure right now Greaves is plotting what to do with his morphing ability.”
“Fuck.”
His expression grew even more serious. “Exactly.”
Then he smiled, and before she knew what he intended, he blurred toward her, took her in his arms, and kissed her. She didn’t fight him this time because she was a woman going into battle and she wanted the feel of his arms around her.
His voice was suddenly in her head with resonance. Endelle, Endelle, Endelle. He kept whispering her name until her lips parted.
He groaned heavily as he pierced her mouth and began plunging his tongue into her just the way she liked it, the way she remembered him doing all those millennia ago.
Sweet Christ, the vampire had her number. His hands roved her flight suit. She was just about to fold the suit away, or tell him to rip it off her, when Braulio drew back.
“Sorry, sweetheart. Time to rumble.”
* * *
Greaves stood in his peach orchard and flexed his claw. He held several Seers reports in his right hand and alternately moved from reading them to snapping his claw, then trying to figure out his next step. And back again.
He might not have Stannett’s help anymore, but the reports out of Mumbai and Johannesburg were similar enough to give credence that a war-changing battle would take place over White Lake this morning.
He had already informed his generals and ordered his special death vampire regiment to be ready to fold at his command.
These elements were clear in the future streams: an army at the ready, and a death vamp force poised to engage in battle. According to the Seers reports, he would soon be flying over the lake, with his death vampires supporting him, and engaging his number one foe all these years: Endelle.
Yet in the past several days, he’d lost so much ground that he felt as though the pavers beneath his feet were made of quicksand. He’d started sinking when Grace returned, and the more he’d tried to pull himself out of the quagmire, the faster he’d gotten dragged under.
He still couldn’t believe that he had failed to destroy the colonies. Somehow he hadn’t imagined obsidian flame being able to stop the burning away of Diallo’s interconnected mist—yet the triad had done exactly that.
He shuddered. The dark wave of his future was still pounding him, despite the care he had taken to gain every advantage in his bid for world domination.
He still had two serious advantages in hand. The first was his secret force of Third Earth death vampires that he would be moving very soon through the breach in the portal. The other was his ability to shape-shift. The latter, however, had a serious drawback in that whatever choice he made would be permanent. Whatever he decided to become in the next few hours, he’d be forced to continue each week for the rest of his life. Yet these two elements had the possibility all by themselves of wresting Second Earth permanently away from Endelle and her allies.
The claw had been an experiment, but it had fit with his lifestyle, since he liked to do a lot of hurting when he made love.
However, a claw was one small, manageable appendage. If he chose, during this battle to risk everything by engaging Endelle at last mano a mano, then he might just have to choose a larger form that guaranteed a win against her but would be an unfortunate choice for a weekly transformation.
The only question that remained was simple: How badly did he want to win this war?
When he folded back to his Estrella Complex, he found his generals clustered around the largest screen at the end of the room.
Greaves got an uneasy feeling. “What’s going on?” he called out.
His aide moved toward him quickly. “We’re not sure. Parts of White Lake have disappeared from view.”
Mist. Then he felt it. Endelle’s mist. Fuck.
He glanced at the papers in hand. Nothing had been prophesied about this. So what the hell was going on that he didn’t know about? What critical information had Marguerite’s teams blocked from him in the future streams.
He felt the quicksand around his ankles again. Maybe he’d been hasty in killing Stannett after all.
* * *
As Alison floated in the air just above the blue-green waters of White Lake, she realized that the dreams she’d had of the lake had shifted over time. But perhaps that was a reflection of the nature of life. Paths were chosen and discarded. The journey branched and new roads were taken.
One dream had showed her backed by nearly twenty women; opposite the women were almost twenty warriors at Warrior of the Blood status.
But in recent days the dream had changed to involve obsidian flame, one of the most powerful elements to have emerged in Endelle’s administration ever.
As she flapped her emerald wings and set her gaze above her, the blue vortex appeared. Kerrick floated opposite her, a protective presence, her original Guardian of Ascension. His white wings were magnificent in the midday light. Imagine vampires living fully beneath a strong desert sunshine.
Leto floated beside Kerrick, ready to assume his duties as the new gatekeeper to Third. Her throat grew tight looking at him, so different now. He was deeply fulfilled and more powerful than ever. She knew that look. Kerrick had become this man when he’d completed the breh-hedden with her, more determined than ever to do his duty and to be all that he could be.
She remembered her battle with Leto, how frightened she’d been at the impossible task of fighting a Warrior of the Blood with three thousand years of experience. Kerrick had downloaded his battle memories—that was one of the reasons she’d won the battle. The other reason had been more complex: She had relied on her own gifts and abilities so that in the end she had defeated Leto and saved his life, by reversing a pocket of time and creating shields that his sword could not penetrate.
Now she was here, a vampire and a breh, executive assistant to Madame Endelle, and saddled with the ominous task of opening the gateway to Third Earth. She was a healer of the mind and had been during her adult years on Mortal Earth.
She could see the blue vortex now swirling above her, calling to her as though from the time of her ascension the portal had been living inside her, a task to fulfill when the time called.
James had explained what needed to be done, yet how strange to think that she was the one to do it, of all ascenders, the youngest, the least experienced.
Her nerves, however, felt like a car with the revs too high. She took numerous deep breaths.
Behind her, obsidian flame waited to support her.
Finally, she felt the timing was exactly right. She turned and nodded to Grace.
This was it.
Grace had already dipped within Endelle’s soul and acquired her levitation ability.
Alison felt obsidian flame’s power come to life behind her. She rose in the air and a moment later she was speeding toward the vortex, a stream of power lifting her up and propelling her at the same time.
She opened her mind, focusing on the portal to Third. She spread her arms wide and, as though the portal had always been part of her, she held her power open.
She then invited Grace
to enter her soul and to acquire the same ability to connect with the portal.
Grace dove within, which made Alison smile because the woman had incredible gentleness as her blue flame power slipped into Alison’s soul. She could feel the slight pressure deep within as Grace found the lock to her portal ability, inserted her preternatural blue flame key, and acquired the same ability.
A moment later, Grace departed, leaving behind a strange emptiness. Grace then sent, What would you have us do?
Alison took a deep breath. She knew instinctively what needed to be done, so she returned, Do what you normally do. When the triad feels the need to connect with the portal, just let the power flow.
Understood.
Alison waited, but it couldn’t have been more than seconds before she could feel the rumbling beneath her. The obsidian power began to stream like a vast wave of energy, moving through Alison and past her, amplifying the connection to the portal until a slivery stream of light shot in the direction of the gateway.
The result was music, like a heavenly choir humming the most beautiful harmony she had ever heard. The music swirled around her and through her. She cried out in a kind of spiritual ecstasy.
The blue vortex spun faster and faster and suddenly blossomed, for she could describe it no other way. She could feel that the portal was opening—and at the same time she could also see the breach that Greaves apparently had created to bring his Third Earth death vampires through.
Though it has not been my privilege to travel to either Fifth Earth or Sixth, it has been the experience of my several millennia as an ascended being that the truism The grass is always greener has never been more accurate than in our dimensional world.
—Memoirs, Beatrice of Fourth
CHAPTER 21
Greaves reached White Lake in time to see Alison, supported by obsidian flame, open the portal to Third. He saw the breach he had created with his own substantial power now fully exposed.
He tried to fold his death vampires through at that moment, but he couldn’t reach them.
Then the worst happened as the breach sealed itself, re-forming with the now open portal, a beautiful blue blossoming aperture ready to move ascenders freely between the two dimensions.