Immortal Dynasty (3 page)

Darius didn’t wait for a response. He simply expected his demand to be followed. He kept his eyes fixated on the void and the three looming forms taking shape within it.

Two thin shapes slithered into the room and took up flanking positions. They looked almost like a couple of college guys, sporting name brand jeans and Harvard polo shirts. Until their cheekbones popped and stretched outward. Shiny fangs swung down from the roofs of their mouths. Forked tongues flickered between the dripping fangs. Sniffing the air, they seemed to be studying their surroundings.

Finally, the third form stepped from the void. This one exuded an air of authority.

Think!
Darius rubbed the back of his head. His mind screamed with questions that he dared not ask out loud. Not unless he wanted to give up their position before he made some quick plans. The black void now engulfed the hallway leading to the stairwell, the only way out of this office besides the elevator. Artie had slid to the floor, whimpering and sweating.

Darius glanced again at the security guard’s body. The gun. It was still in the guard’s holster. He wondered how he could get to it.

The lead demon didn’t have scaly skin like the others, but he sported the same set of drippy fangs. All of them panted heavily. Darius felt the temperature in the room drop severely, yet sweat trickled down his back.

“Mr. Arthur Johnson? Come out, come out, wherever you are,” the demon sang in a raspy voice. He strode forward, flicking back the tails of his leather trench coat. “It seems that you have been a very naughty boy. Snooping around her private collection. Shame on you. The Dragon Queen would like a word with you.”

Darius put his fingers to his lips to signal for his grandfather to remain silent.

“She demands it!” An impatient roar reverberated through the empty room. The demon picked up a television screen and threw it. It shattered on impact with the wall. Artie responded with a toe-curling shriek and renewed efforts at prying open the elevator doors.

Darius leaped over the desk, starting toward the growling demon. “Damn, you could win a door prize at DragonCon.”

A ragged, wet growling sound was his only response. It echoed off the tiled floors. The other two moved around him slowly, like snakes encircling their prey.

“Wow. What big teeth you have. How do I get a set of those?”

The demon laughed. “Well, come here, little human, and I will show you how.”

Darius launched toward him, covering the ground between them so quickly he knew he caught the thing off guard. It was only a momentary advantage, but enough to get a kick into the demon’s jaw. In unison, the other two sprang toward Darius. He used the back of the first one to springboard over the advancing pair. The moment his feet touched the ground, he spun to land enough kicks into their skulls to drop them too.

He started toward the frozen guard, leading the demons away from his grandfather. He just needed a moment to get that gun. Darius heard the blow from behind him even before he felt it. It came too quickly for him to avoid. Whistling past his ear, a demon’s fist slammed down onto his collarbone. Darius felt cold tile under his cheek.

Two of the demons pressed him into the floor. For once, Darius wished he had a full head of hair, because hot drool oozed across his scalp. He shivered with revulsion, as he realized it smelled nasty as well.

“Whew, what have you been eating? Ever heard of breath mints?” His stomach roiled from the stench. He felt a kick coming, but he curled inward to absorb at least some of the blow. He coughed and gulped for air.

Darius froze as he felt a slimy fang rub against his cheek. A breathy voice too close to his ear whispered, “Human, you smell like a tasty one.”

“Not now, you fools,” the commanding demon barked. “The Dragon Queen doesn’t like to be kept waiting. Mr. Johnson, it’s time to go now.”

Artie’s body twisted and arched on the floor. His eyes nearly popped from his face.

Papa Shadi stepped out from his hiding place. “Take me. Leave them out of this. I am the one who knows Lilith’s secrets.”

“
No
!” Darius struggled to get up, but he was slammed against the floor again. His grandfather smiled. Again, he wondered if Papa Shadi had been expecting this. The old man popped a flat wafer into his mouth before lifting his cane and launching toward the demon in charge.

Darius watched helplessly as his grandfather managed to land one blow across the demon’s shoulder. Roaring in outrage, the demon struck out at the old man, knocking him to the ground. Darius was horrified to realize that his grandfather lay unconscious.

The demon shrugged and picked up the old man, tossing the frail body over his shoulder. “Bring him, too. She’ll want to handle him personally,” he commanded before stepping back into the black void.

Darius managed to get his palms beneath him against the floor, and he shoved with all the strength he had left. Caught off guard, the creatures fell backwards. Darius dropped low and swung his foot out, swiping one of them off its feet. A sickening thud echoed as its head connected with the floor.

Darius doubled over as pain knifed through his shoulder. Something hit him on the back of the head, and his vision blurred. Darius waited for the next blow that would send him into darkness.

No!
He refused to let this happen. His grandfather needed him. Darius looked around. Just on the other side of the demon’s feet, Papa Shadi’s cane lay on the floor.

 
Darius grabbed the cane and yanked it toward him, sweeping the demon off of its feet. The two picked themselves off the floor, snarling for another fight. Darius sprang toward the dead guard, whipping the gun out of the holster. He checked the chamber.
No fucking bullets?

The demons tackled him from behind, but Darius managed to roll out from under them. He raced back to the broken television screen and ripped off a wickedly ragged piece.

As the first demon approached him from behind, he twisted and shoved the glass shank into the demon’s scaly forehead. Darius watched in awe as the creature stumbled backward for a moment, and then its head disintegrated. Blown clean off of the neck. The headless body writhed on the floor. With a final twitch, the headless body burst into a blue flame. Only the makeshift weapon and a small pile of gray ash remained.

Darius caught the other creature retreating quickly toward the void. He snatched up his makeshift shank again and threw it at the demon’s back. He was a bit rusty on his throw, but it still managed to lodge behind the demon’s ear. It was close enough to accomplish the job.

Darius started running toward the void. “
Papa
!”

What is this thing? What’s on the other side?
He had to find out. He had to save his grandfather. If only he’d paid better attention all these years. Maybe then he would have a clue. Still, he was certain his grandfather had never mentioned anything like this.

A thought halted him. The demons came through this thing like a door. A portal. If he stepped through that doorway, he’d be stepping right into their turf. He suspected that he wouldn’t like the odds.

His best move at this point would be to find another way into the demon nest. He just prayed that his grandfather was right. He was going to break into the Troy Estate, and he had to do it fast while he could still have an element of surprise.

Darius remembered the cane. Picking it up, he inspected it for scratches. He would take good care of it for Papa Shadi. He wished to God that Papa was here now, poking him in the ribs with the damned thing. He felt like that glass shank was shoved through his own heart.

Behind the desk, he found the leather satchel which contained the proof of his grandfather’s life-long obsession. Draped deliberately across it was the gold necklace Papa Shadi always wore. Darius had never seen him without it.

The medallion was engraved on one side with old hieratic writing, which read
Brotherhood of Karnak
, one of the early names for the Illuminati. A pyramid was embossed on the other side, with an eye symbol centered inside it. He knew it to be a symbol of the brotherhood his grandfather belonged to.

Darius draped the necklace around his own neck and kissed the medallion. He swore to whatever god was listening that he would get his grandfather back, even if from hell itself. In a moment of pure rage, Darius picked up the wicked glass shard again, and threw it straight at the black void. Silently, it sliced into the dark oblivion.

The world around him pulsed violently. He felt vibrations thudding against his skull. Slowly, the void retreated. A rush of air nearly blew Darius into the swirling fury. He grabbed for the nearest chair and held on tight. Thankfully, it was bolted securely to the waiting room floor.

He would go to the demon’s lair, but only on his own terms. Not theirs. The void swirled slowly shut, like watching a black hole disappear.

Warmth returned to the room.

Exhausted, Darius crawled over to the limp body of Artie Johnson. Fright permanently pasted across his face and sightless eyes stared upward from sunken sockets. Ironically, the elevator finally chimed.

The metal doors swooshed open to reveal an empty shaft. Darius grabbed the satchel and ran down the hallway leading to the stairwell. As he passed the spot where his grandfather had disappeared into the evil, black hole, his skin shivered from the icy air that remained.

CHAPTER TWO

“Must beauty come with a temper?” Therion Troy leaned idly on the mantel of a fireplace almost big enough to stand in. He closed his eyes, savoring the delicious aroma of his brandy.

Her response came swiftly, shattering the snifter he cradled in his palm. He grumbled with annoyance as a wet, brown stain spread across his crisp white linen shirt. What a waste of good liquor.

One by one, glass fixtures popped and exploded around the room. The source of his annoyance, the beauty, flopped herself into the nearest chair, fury vibrating off her in near visible waves. She looked like a super model having her little diva tantrum. He chuckled.

“What’s so funny?” she snapped.

“If those demons were still alive, you’d probably fry their asses on the spot yourself.” Therion didn’t share his mother’s disappointment in losing a few demons. There were plenty more where they came from. He recalled the slick sound as a piece of glass flew out of the portal and knifed into the demon’s skull. Fascinating.

“How hard is it to capture one pathetic human and bring him to me?” Her tawny eyes blazed.

“I’m wounded, Mother.” He feigned a hurt expression. “I
am
one of those pathetic humans.”

“Not for long, my son. We are so close to finding that amulet, I can almost feel its power reaching out to me.” She flipped her long golden hair across one shoulder.

Lilith Helene Troy was absolutely one pissed off immortal, and Therion knew better than to push her buttons at the wrong time.

Even the black house cat seemed to know it was time to retreat. Therion grabbed the nervous feline just as she tried to slink past him. Ignoring the threatening growls, he cradled her firmly across his forearm. Curious, he spun the fat, studded collar around her neck. “Didn’t know punk was in for cat accessories.”

He tossed her roughly over the couch toward the door. She twisted, landing squarely on all fours, but paused to hiss at him before disappearing.

He should do the same…beat a hasty retreat. He should give his mother a little time to let the froth settle. But he didn’t like doing what he
should
.

“They brought back the wrong man. He’s not the Customs director who was sniffing around your private collection.” He found a new glass and poured himself a fresh drink.

U.S. Customs usually wasn’t a problem for them, but the Art Fraud Investigations department had influence with government agencies across the globe. They had the power to really disrupt their import and export operations.

“Fools,” she sneered.

“I recognized him, though. He’s that antiquities broker, the one who hires out his grandson to find stolen artifacts.”

“Amazing. Maybe those foolish demons did something right after all. He may be the man who’s responsible for Mr. Johnson’s snooping in the first place. What I don’t know is why. I want to know what he knows about me.” Lounging across a red velvet sofa, she looked as dramatic and tragic as a painting of Cleopatra.

 
“Why keep him? He’s just a trinket broker.” Therion noticed the renewed flare of anger in his mother’s eyes. He hated to drink fast. Brandy was supposed to be savored. He drained the crystal snifter in one gulp before anything could happen to it, frowning at the empty glass.

“They are not trinkets, Therion.” She bolted upright, excitement sparkling in her tawny eyes. She giggled wickedly. “But we do have our own artifact to locate. His grandson will find it for us.”

“I think Darius’ reputation is highly overrated.” Therion pictured the scrawny little street thief who couldn’t throw a punch to save his life. Although that was long ago, he figured Darius would remember their last meeting in bloody detail. “And I’m certain he would never work for us.”

“Oh, I don’t agree.” She hugged him from behind. “We have a bargaining chip. We have his grandfather.”

“The old man’s half dead.”

“He’s in a coma. Darius
will
bargain for the man’s life.”

“What if he goes to the police instead?”

“That would be most unwise.” Lilith paced around the sofa. “I need to speak with him quickly, before he decides to talk to the authorities. We cannot afford to be investigated by Customs or any other agency right now. The gala is almost here, and I can’t waste time dealing with interruptions between now and the unveiling of this year’s product line. The new formula must be tested.”

“So, you’ll give him a choice then? Help us or your grandfather is toast?”

“I will not phrase it so callously. Good night. I need to think this through for a while, and you need to go change out of that filthy shirt.” Lilithface radiated with a glow of anticipation. She relished a good challenge.
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