Blood Redemption (Blood Destiny #9) (24 page)

"Ask Drake and Drew to turn for you, sometime," I said.

"The Falchani? I didn't know they were shapeshifters." Norian put his arm around me as we both surveyed the gardens below. My suite was three stories up, with a lovely view. Ildevar, Ra'Ak that he was, seemed to appreciate flowers and ornamental shrubs just as much as anyone.

"They're not—not normally," I answered Norian's question regarding the twins. "Those dragon tattoos aren't just for show, you know."

"They turn to dragons? How?" Norian turned me to look at him, and I was folded into his arms, my hands against his chest. Green eyes studied my face while a whisper of a smile tugged at his mouth.

"It's what they are. I'll tell you about it soon, I promise."

"Lissa Beth, why do I get the idea there's more here than even I suspect?" He pulled my head against his shoulder.

"Because you're a smart man," My voice was muffled against his vest.

"Have dinner with me in your suite."

"All right. You just want me to feed you, don't you?" I pulled away to watch his face.

"You know it." A cheeky grin followed that remark.

"What are we having?"

"Lamb, I think."

"I hope it's cooked."

"It is."

"Good."

* * *

"Honey, I don't know that you can swallow this. Let me take it off the bone, first." Norian, in his lion snake persona, was impatiently waiting for me to feed him. I tore off pieces of tender lamb and fed him by hand. He kept his fangs back and ate what I offered. He was also dipping his forked tongue in a wineglass.

"What am I supposed to do with an inebriated snake?" I asked. He was getting into the wine pretty good. When he was finished eating and drinking, he draped himself over my shoulder while I ate.

"You're not finished already?" I'd pushed my plate away and now had a naked Norian Keef draped over my shoulder. His arms came around me as he kissed the side of my neck.

"I'm not very hungry," I said, attempting to shrug away from his embrace.

"Yes you are," he coaxed. He moved around until he was sitting on the small table I had inside my suite. I had to avert my eyes from certain parts of him. "I can feed you," he offered.

"Norian."

"Lissa Beth. Breah-mul. Cheah-mul. Deah-mul. If I don't take you back to Le-Ath Veronis in excellent health, all the people waiting for your return will have my head."

"I wouldn't want to be the one trying to take it," I answered honestly.

"Come on, eat a little more. Then I want to sleep with you."

"Uh-huh."

"You know I do. And sleeping isn't all I want to do." He was back to kissing my neck and trying to unbutton my blouse.

"What if I'm not ready?"

"I'll get you there."

"That wasn't what I meant."

"I know." His breath fanned my temple as he deftly unbraided my hair. "I think I'll have to feed you later." He had a hand on a breast, pushing my bra aside and stroking a nipple.

"Norian?"

"What, love?"

"If you're already undressed, what am I supposed to do?"

"Play with this." He placed my hand himself and kept on kissing.

* * *

What do you say when your Ra'Ak host is there, smiling as if he'd won the lottery the following morning at breakfast?
Hi, how are you
?
Yes, we fooled around
? Norian was piling a plate with food and shoving it in front of me.

"Honey, I can't eat all that," I protested.

"You didn't finish your dinner last night."

"I was hoping you'd forget."

"Lissa Beth."

"Norian."

Ildevar Wyyld faded from the room like a shadow at twilight. Norian was kissing me between feeding me rolls and bits of ham. He turned, allowing his clothes to drop away, and I was feeding him. He loved being hand-fed in his lion snake form. I wondered if that went back to his childhood, somehow. Did his mother feed him like that? Maybe I'd check on it, if I could get Norian to answer questions. I ran fingers over his head and down his body. He really liked that.

We were interrupted moments later by mindspeech from Lendill.
We know how
Trell was destroyed—it was a Ranos Cannon, held by the Liffelithi,
he sent.
The Agency located their ship as it was leaving the Alliance, and we have coordinates
. Norian turned in a blink, and I was standing, ready to go. Norian dressed quickly, and Lendill joined us in seconds.

"Are we going?" Lendill asked. He was ready to go; I saw that right away. He had a weapons belt strapped around him and looked to be all business.

"Let's go," Norian nodded to me. We went.

* * *

The Ranos Cannon was carried inside a monster-sized ship, which was making its way toward Liffel as quickly as it could. The ASD had located the ship as it was speeding toward home, and I'd folded us to it after Lendill showed me where it was on his handheld. The three of us stood inside the ship's cargo hold, which had been renovated to contain the nastiest weapon ever.

While we stared up at the huge cannon that could obliterate an entire planet in seconds, Norian explained conversationally that there was an old saying about Liffel—that two Liffelithi couldn't get along for more than two ticks. After that, they were enemies, until other enemies came along.

Lendill then did his best to describe ranos technology to me—how it worked, who'd invented it—all sorts of things. I was only interested in one thing, though. I was about to take it apart. Then we'd deal with the ones who'd blown Trell to bits. As it was, the ship's sensors had finally discovered us and sirens were going off everywhere—that meant the security team was on its way. I had the three of us shielded quickly and was prepared to turn to mist if necessary.

Shots were fired initially as a horde of Liffelithi dwarves descended on us, but the laser blasts were ricocheting off my shield and bouncing into the hull, which didn't do it any good, actually. I was proud of Norian and Lendill—they hadn't drawn a weapon and stood calmly beside me, cool as the proverbial pre-pickled vegetable while chaos occurred outside my shield.

Somebody was shouting for weapon-toting dwarves to stop shooting in less than a minute. I watched the one who'd shouted the command—a rather short Liffelithi dwarf, wearing a very large hat. Napoleon came to mind as he swaggered toward the perimeter of my shield and poked it with a finger. Norian glared at him as I moved to the inside of my shield, standing opposite the captain.

"Can you hear me?" Napoleon poked my shield again.

"I hear you, all right," I said, crossing arms over my chest.

"Good. Come out of there, give yourselves up and we'll consider allowing you to live."

"I could say the same to you, except I don't want to lie," I told him. "I don't intend to let you live."

"I don't know what's holding this shield up, but it has to run out of power eventually," Napoleon said while running his hands across the invisible barrier. "We'll have you then, and since we're being truthful, you won't live either." His teeth were good—I saw that when he offered a nasty grin.

"Well, gee, that's too bad, huh?" I snapped. "Before I kill you, I want to know who's behind the Trell massacre. Go ahead; tell me it was Black Mist." I somehow had the idea that Black Mist had provided protection or shields on the way in, and then canceled their efforts on the way out. It was a signature move for them.

"I won't divulge any information to you," Napoleon huffed.

"You will tell me everything you know," I commanded, compulsion thick in my voice. The schmuck should have known not to stand so close—he got hit with my compulsion from close range.

"Black Mist offered us a great deal of money. The head of my clan made the deal and didn't tell me how much. I merely carried out his orders."

"So, somebody else to go after," I mused, watching Napoleon. Norian and Lendill came to stand beside me and Norian wanted to turn to his lion snake so badly I could feel him vibrating. "What's his name?" I asked. "This dwarf who took Black Mist's money?"

"Giryoth," Napoleon muttered. That information hadn't been given willingly at all. Of course, he didn't have a choice.

"We'll pay a visit to him presently. In the meantime, I'm destroying your toy." I went to energy and gathered light around me. The Ranos Canon melted. Liffelithi were running and screaming; the heat I gathered was melting the walls and the floors of the ship. Napoleon ran away with his crew—I hadn't told him not to. I then disabled every escape pod on the ship with a thought. Norian, Lendill and my body remained inside my shield, which was as cool as a spring day as we watched the ship fall apart around us. Napoleon's men screamed and died—either from the heat or by exploding as they were sucked through holes forming in the hull of the ship. Once outside the pressurized ship, their bodies flew apart—they no longer had anything to hold them together. I think Lendill went to his knees at one point, his mouth hanging open in shock as he watched. The whole thing took ten minutes, after which I slipped back into my body and folded the three of us to Giryoth's palace.

Chapter 11
 

Giryoth's assistant cursed us and the seemingly useless guards outside Giryoth's private quarters when we appeared inside his office without warning. "How in the name of revenge did you get in here?" he shouted. He could have been Napoleon's brother—he was short, too, maybe weighed a little more, with hair dyed a dark green. It matched his uniform—a dark-green jumpsuit with gold doo-dads on the left breast.

"We folded space," I answered truthfully. "We're here to see Giryoth."

"You will not get in to see him," he pulled a laser pistol from a side pocket and aimed it at us. Well, too bad for him. He was headless in less time than it took to draw a breath. He'd forgotten the first rule of attempted homicide—never bring a gun to a vampire fight. I stepped over his body, heading for the doorway that lay beyond his desk. I took a brief look around me—judging by the opulence surrounding us, Giryoth was extremely wealthy. I figured Black Mist had made him a lot wealthier, after they'd blown Trell away. Well, he wasn't going to spend that money if I had anything to say about it.

"Norian, what does the Alliance do with the money and assets seized from criminals?" I asked calmly as we stepped inside Giryoth's private study. He wasn't there but I heard noise just beyond—somebody was having sex, I could tell.

"They take the funds into their coffers and pay restitution to those affected by crime," Norian replied as we walked toward another door. It was locked, so I kicked it in, hard enough that it broke from its hinges and crashed into the opposite wall.

"What in the name of the blood feud is going on?" Giryoth thundered, leaping out of bed. Well, somebody had a bedroom installed behind his office. Made it easy to sexually harass the secretary, I guess. It's difficult, too, to appear serious and menacing if you're not very tall, completely naked and purple with rage. Giryoth's companion was cowering in the bed, the sheets gripped tightly in her hands. She was pretty and Giryoth was wealthy. Go figure.

"How much did Black Mist pay you to kill six-hundred-million people?" I asked as politely as I could. I was doing my best to reel in my temper. Norian and Lendill stood at my shoulder and Lendill had one of his laser pistols out. He wasn't going to need it.

"How the hell did you get in here?" Giryoth shouted. "Windon! Get in here, now!"

"Windon will have to pull himself together, first," I purred, allowing my claws to slide out.

"Who are you?" Giryoth was only now beginning to worry. His companion was far ahead of him—she was already making breathy, shrieking noises.

"I am the Queen of Le-Ath Veronis. Six-hundred-million people died on Trell because Black Mist was aiming at me. Too bad you missed, huh?" I took a step toward him. Giryoth shuddered and took a step back.

"And I am the Director of the ASD," Norian was right beside me. "I can only imagine that I was supposed to die as well. As you see, you failed to kill me, too. Shall we leave you here and let Black Mist know?"

"No," Giryoth whispered, backing up a little more, his eyes widening in terror. Yep—death was right in front of him and he was still more frightened of Black Mist.

"What are you going to do, Lissa?" Lendill muttered. I turned to look at him.

"I have an idea," I said, and folded Norian, Lendill and Giryoth to Wyyld.

* * *

"Are you sure this won't upset you?" Ildevar Wyyld asked as he eyed Giryoth, who had no idea what was coming. Ildevar had sent Norian and Lendill off to research the whereabouts of Black Mist. That was a ruse—he'd told them he and I would take care of Giryoth. Ildevar was going to do the honors, and I was going to watch.

"I've seen it before, remember?" I replied with a shrug.

Giryoth was looking from Ildevar to me and back again, fear plain on his face. Well, he should have thought about consequences before killing Trell.

"I must thank you for providing for me," Ildevar bowed slightly in my direction. Giryoth didn't have time to squeak before Ildevar was his lengthy, coppery self and had Giryoth swallowed in less time than that. It's a little disturbing, knowing that it's a humanoid sliding down a Ra'Ak's throat instead of an animal or cooked meat of some kind, but Giryoth had it coming.