Scarlet Night (Limited Edition) (32 page)

“If you fail,” Zane frowned, “we’ll be
dead
.”

Nikki smirked and patted his shoulder, “Like I said
; consider me settled up.”

Zane sighed as he stepped through the door to his and Serena’s room, grumbling as he locked up.

Serena smirked and looked up at him from the bed, her purple eyes meeting his mismatched bright gaze, “That didn’t take you long.”

“She broke a sandbag and told me to bill her…”

Serena giggled, “Well, at least she’s taking responsibility, right?”

Zane sighed and shook his head, “Yea…
if
we die!”

Serena cackled.

“Yea, it’s hilarious.” Zane sighed, “You and her are clearly
made
for each other!”

“Well, as true as that might be,” she smirked, “she’s missing a few things that I’m looking for in a lover.”

“Oh?” His eyes sparked and he studied her shape under the sheets with refreshed interest.

Serena smirked, seeing him stare and she shifted to give him a better view of her,
“Oh my, Zane. Are you ready for
another
go, again?”

“What? Is five times too many?” Zane gave a phony pout as he walked towards the bed.

Serena smiled and started to peel her shirt off, “Don’t worry, baby. I’ll tell you when you’ve had enough.”

“
And if you can’t stop me after that?” He smirked and leaned closer, kissing her neck causing her to gasp.

“
Mmm! I don’t know. I don’t think I could say ‘no’ even if I wanted to,” she confessed, smirking.

He smirked and continued to kiss lower, “Then I guess I have nothing to worry about.”

“You know me,” she groaned as his lips traced her naval, “I… I aim to please.”

Zane grinned
and reached down, “Oh? You too? Then maybe you can tell me how my aim is.” She moaned loudly as he found his mark and bit her lip, “Oh! Looks like I’m still an expert marksman.” He smirked.

Tired of the games, Serena pulled him down and wrapped herself around him
.

T
he forest was cold and quiet in the throes of dusk, even more so than usual. With a low-hanging cloud of mist turning the landscape into a haunted haze, Zane and Serena and the rest of their small, lackluster army of surviving Vail warriors marched together in the clearing.

There was no question if Keith and his group were there—of that they were all certain—but the atmosphere and his auric shields made knowing his exact location and intentions impossible.

Serena frowned as she felt the first wave of doubt rift through their ranks and she looked over at Zane. “Do you think this will work, Zane?”

Zan
e nodded, his familiar warrior swagger throwing extra power behind each step he took, “No worries, babe! We got this one in the bag!” he sighed and looked forward “It’s like Nikki said; we’re covered for the worst.” He lingered on that thought a moment before he looked back and smirked at her, “Besides, you
do
have your one,
unmistakable
talent.”

Serena smirked, remembering her discussion earl
ier with Zane pertaining to the skill that had rapidly made her an iconic force—one that trumped Keith, Zane, Devon, and
any
other who dared to try their luck with her—and made her nothing short of
legendary
in her applications…

Her uncanny ability to piss
anybody
off!

She laughed again and flipped her hair proudly as Zane reminded her of just how skilled she had become at getting under the skin of anybody in her path, and while she thought—hell, she goddam
knew
!—that Zane hadn’t simply agreed to this revelation for her sake, she hoped that the “gift” wouldn’t fail her when it counted for something more than a petty argument.

“Damn-straight, it’s gonna work!” Nikki
grinned as her tattoos began to shimmer with the promise of battle as she peered through the rows of trees and pulled out two Sais and rolled the forked swords in each palm to check their balance one last time.

At an unspoken cue, t
he group stopped their advance in the center of the clearing and prepared themselves for what was next. Isaac and the rest of the therions had already transformed and, as they saw the vampires give the signal and prepare their weapons their bestial forms shifted into view from the trees and surrounding landscape and they moved forward to join them.

“Well
well well, Serena!
This
is quite an unconventional way to begin a
negotiation
, wouldn’t you say?” Keith snickered as he stepped out of the fog ahead of them, arms held out and palms empty as he stepped confidently towards them, “Guns? Swords?
Therions
?” he shook his head and clucked his tongue, “If I was a less-trusting type I might be worried that I’d been tricked; maybe even go so far as to claim that I’d been deceived! This, however, would be
beyond
foolish and you—my dear, sweet, naïve bitch-of-a-sister—are certainly nobody’s fool.”

Zane bared his fangs and hissed angrily, “Watch your mouth, you bastard, or you can
watch
me rip it from you!”

“Oh my!” Keith held a hand to his chest in mock-horror, “Such
brash words and barbaric threats! Perhaps I
should
reconsider my stance on how to deal with our father’s treachery and the blind support of the morons he kept company with!” He took another step forward and smirked at Zane, arching an eyebrow, “How well
did
you know him, Zane?
What
was it that Gregori told you that you’re so quick to accept at face value?” He snorted and shook his head, “Now,
I’m
willing to wager it’s something to the tune of: ‘Keith is mad with power’ and ‘he’s deceiving The Council’ and whatnot, am I right?” He smirked at Serena, “Do
you
think that they’re stupid, Serena? Would you say—here and now and with all of these witnesses to hear it—that
The
Mythos Council are
imbeciles
?”

Serena glared, “You know I wouldn’t!”

“Oh ho? You would be
right
about that, too! Because they
aren’t
idiots!” he laughed and turned his back on them, his voice echoing around them as he continued to rant like a lawyer on his closing statement, “So, now that we’re in agreement as to the credibility of my employers, is it fair to assume that
I
am the monster that you so obviously appear to be convinced I am? Or, and bear with me here, does it seem more likely that, upon my
leaving
our father’s clan—upon seeing his corrupt and foolish use of The Council’s support—that he would
lie
to his mindless drones to maintain their trust?” he paused and glanced over his shoulder at Zane, “So, my bestial bastard half-brother, just
how
well did you
know
my and Serena’s father?”

Zane’s eyes had narrowed into angry slits as his jaw shifted and clenched, his tattoos beginning to glow. Seeing this, Nikki’s tattoos flared as she began to chant under her breath and Serena watched as wisps of her pale aura began to work their soothing magic on him.

Frowning, Serena looked back and Keith and shook her head, “You always did love to talk.” She sneered, “But do you expect
me
—one who grew up beside you and knew him better than
anybody
else here could hope to!—to abandon what I
know
just because you can weave a fancy sentence and”—she glared and threw her aura out in a pulsing wave throughout the clearing and shattering his auric shields and, with them, his psychic influences on their group—“
fuck
with peoples’ minds?” She glared at him as the group began to realize their minds had been tampered with, “Now, Keith—my ass-kissing, limp-dick, parasitic
worm
and shitty excuse for a brother—if you’ll be so kind as to
repeat
your speech
without
your eel-like aura slithering through my friends’ minds?”

Keith hissed at her, “Bitch!”

Serena smirked, “I’ve been called
far
worse by
far
better, shit-stain!”

“How
dare
—” Keith stopped himself and breathed in, steadying his thrashing aura and calming himself before offering a solemn nod. “It can’t be said that I didn’t try with you, Serena.” He glared at her, “As much as I’m sure you’ll tell them otherwise when you’re suffering The Council’s wrath! I come here
alone
to peacefully negotia—”

“Oh, ea
t shit and rot, you lying cock-stain! I
know
you brought others!” Serena glared, stepping forward and swiftly drawing back and firing an auric bow in a fluid motion that caught Keith off guard. As the bright purple tendril cut through the clearing and slammed into Keith’s leg, knocking him to one knee, the blinding fog broke and revealed the waiting army that Keith had brought. She smirked, keeping her auric grip on her brother’s leg, “And now everyone else does, too.” She shook her head at him, “Are there any more lies you want to try to feed us before I wipe the woods with you?”

“Oh no, sis.” Keith laughed and wrapped a pair of red auric “arms” around Serena’s hold on him and easily crushed it. “I think it’s safe to assume that
everything worth saying has been said!”

Serena cried out as the energy backlash hit and she fell to the ground.

Zane’s eyes flashed and he snarled and shot at Keith, his aura beginning to shift from blue-to-red. Seeing his advance, Keith’s aura surrendered its hold on Serena’s and he turned to face him, his face twisting into an angry roar.

“TAKE THEM!”

Isaac howled out a warning as Keith’s army flooded into the clearing.

Serena pulled herself to her feet and fired an auric arrow into the skull of one of Keith’s vampires as it hurled itself at her. “Nikki! You’re up!”

Nikki smirked, her tattoos glowing brightly as she ducked below an enemy therion’s swipe and drove the handle of one of her Sais into her attacker’s windpipe. As the therion gasped and whimpered, staggering back and clutching its throat, she shouted to Zane; “Let them meet
Maledictus
!” She smirked, driving the point of her other Sais through the bottom of the gasping therion’s jaw and let it spear through its skull before casting her magic and hurling its corpse into an oncoming group.