Ancient Blood: A Novel of the Hegemony (The Order Saga Book 1) (36 page)

He threw back his head and screamed at the ceiling. “Thy tainted blood shall spill into the mouths of warriors and hunters who will rise up and reclaim this world for the simple honesty of strength and weakness, human and Vampyr, predator and prey!”

“Sebastian.”

Any other voice would have been ignored but this voice belonged to Iago. They locked gazes.

“Your wrath is deep and justly come by,” the Judicis said, calm and without any hint of challenge in his posture. “But I beg you not to punish millions of blameless mortals in your desire for vengeance. Let this example be enough, Sebastian, I pray you. End this madness now, with no further harm and I make you a solemn pledge that I will allow no harm to come to you. Forfeiting your position as Hegemon of North America, you and any who would follow you will be given safe conduct to the Neutral Territory of your choosing where you will be free to live without interference from The Order. I offer you this in recognition and part compensation for the role I have played in bringing us to this moment.”

It was a damn good offer. As Iago spoke, I prayed to the Goddess for Sebastian to see the sense in it and allow the crisis to end without bloodshed. For a few seconds, as Sebastian twitched in indecision, it looked like it could happen.

I wasn’t too surprised though when Sebastian growled and put the point of his sword just under Iago’s chin. “Thy silver tongue makes such a poor bargain seem near to salvation, old snake, yet thou shall not make this man thy fool ag—”

“Majesty!” Wilkes cried, un-slinging his assault rifle and indicating the doors. “Flame units, about face!”

Sebastian spun to face the door, raising his sword. The two guards with the flamethrowers had already done likewise, stepping back to cover it. “The rest of thee, stay sharp upon the Hegemons,” Sebastian ordered. “Cut them down at first action!”

The Shen! This was it!

Caroline clutched me tight as I returned the favor.

Had my first attempt at magic worked or were we only trading one evil maniac for another?

Another second ticked by in silence and everyone froze in place, waiting.

* * * * *

I’ve had to watch this part of the footage in slow-motion to catch it all. In reality, it was over in seconds.

There’s a crack from the massive doors as they crash down onto the marble floor with a rumble like thunder.

One flamethrower blasts. A
Guaiwu
catches fire as it charges!

The second guard isn’t as quick. A
Guaiwu
’s first swipe tears his firing arm out of its socket while the second rips out the larger portion of his neck.

Wilkes fires a stream of bullets at the burning, still charging
Guaiwu
as it struggles closer to the retreating flamethrower guard.

Sebastian leaps at the unharmed
Guaiwu
. It turns but too late. Sebastian splits the creature down to its waist with his blade!

A genuine tiger crosses the fallen doors and takes stock of the situation. Wilkes shifts to fire at it but it dodges to the side.

The burning
Guaiwu
collapses at the same moment as its split brother.

The tiger tackles the flamethrower guard from the side, crushing his throat with a quick bite.
Yes!
I think, knowing the tiger form can only mean one thing.

Wilkes takes aim at it but Sebastian shoves him aside and tackles the tiger. The pair tumble and bite, Sebastian in full savage mode. It’s extraordinary to see a man, even a man as big as Sebastian, hold his own against the three-hundred pounds of solid muscle in a female Indochinese Tiger. It’s jaw-dropping however, to see the man gain the advantage!

Grabbing hold of both a front and back leg, Sebastian avoids a bite that would have taken out half his face and ducks his head beneath the tiger’s underbelly. The tiger clamps its bloody muzzle onto the forearm that holds its front leg, breaking the bones with a single wet crunch but Sebastian ignores the injury as he struggles to regain his footing. Everyone in the council chamber watches in undisguised awe as he does this and then climbs to his full height with the thrashing tiger draped across his shoulders!

With a hoarse cry through clenched teeth, he clutches the tiger by its throat with the hand of his bloody, shattered arm and lifts… The wild, struggling beast rises up and up, high above his head. Something like a howl comes from deep in Sebastian’s chest as he hurls the tiger through the air almost five feet.

The animal smacks hard into one of the room’s marble columns, breaking its spine (to judge by the way it twitches and slides around on the floor) before flowing back to the shape of Jade Tiger.

* * * * *

My first thought was:
I did it! I actually used the power of my will to wake her up!! Oh, thank you, Goddess, thank you for answering my prayer!

My second, watching Sebastian drag Jade Tiger’s paralyzed body over to her chair and set her in it, was:
But it didn’t work.

“And now … all are … accounted for,” we heard Sebastian gloat between gulps of air.

I felt Caroline’s hopes blow out of her body on an exhale. She tried to hide her eyes from me but I could see the tears. I took her into my arms and rocked her back and forth.

“So, I guess that’s it,” Ash said for all of us.

I heard Wilkes assure Sebastian that everyone else had been “pacified,” including Draco’s Revenants, before the assault on Jade Tiger’s suite had begun and that her attack represented the last possible resistance. Sebastian ordered Wilkes to go begin the missile launch.

“It’ll be all right,” I told her. “It always looks hopeless for the heroes before things turn around.”

She was too weary to argue. Good enough for me.

I had no reason to believe things would be okay but for some reason, I did. It made no sense but some combination of newfound faith in the Goddess and my lifelong belief that true heroism will always triumph over the schemes of madmen, made me certain that human civilization couldn’t end before we got our last shot at stopping it. After all, why would any self-respecting deity step in to answer the prayer of an ordinary schmoe like me (Vampyr or not) and help me wake Jade Tiger up if said deity knew she was gonna fumble the play?

That’s when I heard a thud at the end of the hall.

The next sound was unmistakable, a key unlocking the prison gate at the end of the hall and that gate rattling open!

Caroline jumped out of my arms and pressed herself against the bars of our cell. I did the same just in time to see Flea come into view holding the guard’s keys.

You go, Goddess!

“Oh, thank God,” Caroline said. “You’re just in time!”

Flea gave me a sullen glare. “Mistress, send me free you. Wake up too early.”

“Was this right before Sebastian’s people came to fight?”

She tried the first key on the ring but it wouldn’t fit. “No. Early. Mistress, have to make pretty first.”

Jade Tiger delayed her attack until she fixed herself up?

Ash approached the door as Flea went for the second key on the ring, saying, “Here, let me—”

That’s when the little Shen noticed Jade Tiger sitting under guard with the rest of the Hegemons. Following her thinking, I leapt toward her, sticking my arm through the bars to grab for the key ring but she was faster. With a malevolent grin, Flea flew backward.

Giggling, she did a happy dance there in the hall. “Mistress fail! Jean-Paul win!” Valmont’s name came out ‘Jom-Paw’ in her fractured English.

“Wait!” Caroline said. “Please, just let us out of here! We have to stop the missiles!”

Flea stuck out her tongue and turned to watch the events on screen. “Piss on all you! Missile launch and Jade Tiger go to Hell and Jean-Paul love Flea and rule world!”

That did it.

We were too close to let ourselves be stopped by the Vampire Princess Miyu here. I held Caroline back and stepped forward. “Listen to me, you disgusting little insect!”

Her head snapped over to face me, her mouth opening to object.

“Shut up,” I continued. “I’m gonna lay out the facts for you and then you have thirty seconds to make a decision, got it? Jean-Paul isn’t gonna win, even if Sebastian’s missile attack succeeds. While I was bargaining with your Mistress, Caroline here made contact with DeWinter, a very powerful lord of Sebastian’s and warned him what Sebastian was planning. They can’t stop the first missiles from being launched but they’ve already put the word out to stop the other Domains from firing back. The only Domain that will suffer if those missiles launch is yours. That powerful lord is on his way here with his soldiers to kill Sebastian and save the Hegemons. Our job is to stop the missiles in case he doesn’t get here in time. If you stop us from completing our mission, I will tell your Mistress about how you could have saved China but didn’t. She’ll also hear about your affair with Jean-Paul and the things you do to her when she sleeps. Now, you have thirty seconds to give us those keys.”

By letting my anger out in such a measured way, I was trying to take advantage of the submissiveness she’d been conditioned for as a Chinese servant. I watched her expression crumble as my barrage of harsh words sank in. Her eyes scanned the floor and her tiny frame began to tremble.

“If I give keys, you p-promise no matter what you not tell no one of Flea and Jean-Paul?” I could hear her holding in sobs.

Yes, she was a vicious, conniving bitch but she was also a young girl in love. I couldn’t help feeling just a little bit bad, having been a victim of such tactics myself.

“Yes,” I said. “We all promise not to tell your Mistress about you and Jean-Paul.” Caroline and Ash quickly nodded their assurances.

Flea peeked up at me and I saw the tears spilling down her face. “And Jean-Paul. You promise no make trouble for him with Judicis?” When I hesitated, she dropped to her knees. “Please! He only try to love worthless Flea! Please no give trouble for him!”

I sighed, turning away. I wonder if there’s anything in the world that a crying girl can’t make me do. “All right, we promise. We won’t get Valmont in trouble. Now, hurry up!”

Jumping up, she handed the key ring to Ash, who unlocked our cell. Caroline looked impressed but didn’t want to say anything with Flea still there. It didn’t matter. That look alone made up for everything I’d ever felt bad about in my life.

“C’mon,” said Ash.

“I go back, get
Guaiwu
. Help save Mistress, yes?”

I stopped. “Didn’t Wilkes’ men kill the other two?”

Flea smiled. “Sleep to heal, no dead. Men so stupid.”

With that, she ran at the solid cement brick wall and
vanished through it
. Caroline’s mouth dropped open but no words came out.

I had nothing.

* * * * *

The guard Wilkes left to baby-sit us was dead, his body face-down on the linoleum floor beside his desk. Killed by Flea.

Ash knelt, grabbed his rifle and tossed it to me. I managed to catch it without being too clumsy. “Take that, keep it on semi-auto. Aim low until you get used to the kick.” He yanked the pistol out of the dead soldier’s holster, sticking that into the back of his waistband. “Caroline, take the stunner.”

The stunner lay across the desk along with one of those mini flamethrowers. “Wait,” I said. “I’ve never shot a real gun before. Shouldn’t I take the stunner?”

Ash stood, tossing the keys onto the desk while Caroline picked up the shotgun-looking weapon and a belt of extra stun charges.

“Stunner takes aim, which Caroline’s got. You just fire bursts in the general direction of the enemy to cover her. Caroline, grab yourself a rifle or a shotgun ASAP.”

She nodded.

“Maybe I should take the flamethrower, then.” I imagined chasing Sebastian down the corridors of the house, scaring him with quick blasts of flame.

“Do not even touch the flamethrower.”

I rolled my eyes as he drew his pistol and led us through a couple corridors and up a flight of stairs. “We’ll be on camera the entire time we’re in the bunker,” Ash reminded us. “So assume we could be approaching an ambush at any time.”

We passed another guard that Flea took out on her way down to us. “That’s some personal assistant Jade Tiger’s got,” Caroline said. “It would make sense for her to eliminate the guards in the main control room before coming down to free us.”

“Possibly,” Ash allowed. “Assume she didn’t, though and keep your eyes open. This intersection up around the corner is where we’ll split. I’ll continue down toward the Command Center and prevent the launch. You and Avery get back to the house and—down!”

He dropped to the floor and before I even heard the shots, I felt something hit me in the shoulder like a baseball bat. I fell backwards as the echoing
burrrt
of the bullets caught up and there was the
pap-clang pap-clang
of Ash’s pistol and then Caroline dragged me back around the corner.