Unchained (Men in Chains Book 3) (29 page)

It’s off to the left, so be sure to position me on that side.

I’m going to move in now,
Marius said.

Go for it.

He shifted from altered flight to levitation and flew steadily toward the land bridge. Daniel held his arm up, a gesture that appeared to keep his force in check.

“I’m here to take the weapon, Daniel. I can’t let you keep it since I’ve already seen what it can do.” He landed on the thick stone bridge, still holding Shayna tight against him.

Daniel moved slowly in his direction, shifting out of altered flight. Quill and Lev, and the rest of his force, remained behind. His penetrating gaze moved from Marius to Shayna. When he held her gaze, she felt him reaching for her mind, wanting to talk to her telepathically, but she blocked him. A chill went down her spine. If evil could take a form, it would look just like Daniel Briggs.

“Hello, Shayna. I see you’ve been enjoying my son. He’s magnificent, isn’t he? Marius was my best creation, he just doesn’t know it yet.”

Shayna wasn’t sure where her boldness came from, but she said, “Are you sure this was your doing? I mean, I just don’t see the resemblance at all.” She glanced at Marius and back to Daniel. “I never saw his mother, of course, but I’m thinking he must take after her. I understand she was an exceptional woman.”

Daniel’s eyes narrowed. Shayna expected steam to start coming out his ears. Instead he shifted his gaze back to Marius. “You should discipline your woman, teach her not to poke the bear.”

Marius didn’t hesitate. “Shayna has a mind of her own and can say whatever she likes. It’s not my place to censure her on any level. Besides, I think what she’s said is true. I do take after my mother.”

“More’s the pity, son. She tried to make a weakling out of you, always coddling you and hugging you. But I made you a man.”

Shayna felt Marius stiffen, his muscles flexing and unflexing.
Hey, relax. That ego maniac is so full of shit.

Marius glanced at her quickly, then laughed.
You’re right.

“Isn’t this charming, but I should remind you that telepathy in company is very rude.”

Again, Shayna spoke boldly, meeting Daniel’s gaze again. “You think this is rude? Want to know what I think falls into the category of a social faux pas? How about killing off your female vampire slaves to test your extinction weapon? Yeah, I think that’s rude.”

Daniel stared at her. “So how did you know about that? Ah, of course, you had one of your visions. But I’m losing patience.”

“And you’re pissing me off.”

Daniel physically moved to place himself in a direct line with Marius, purposefully ignoring Shayna. He was now only ten feet away. “How about we have a little contest and the winner takes the weapon?”

“What do you have in mind?” Marius’s voice sounded dark to Shayna, full of intention.

“You split and each of your forms, primary and secondary, takes on ten of my men. You win, I let you cart off the weapon. You lose, well, you lose everything: You’ll join me in my new government, I’ll get the weapon, and Shayna, of course, will be sent to work in one of my clubs here. She’d do very well. And one more thing. While you’re battling, Shayna stands beside me.” He smiled, that horrible oily smile of his. “I’ll keep her safe if weapons start to fly.”

Shayna wasn’t sure how she expected Marius to respond, especially since his muscles were twitching and he ground his jaw. She also had no idea what Daniel meant about primary and secondary forms. She hadn’t come across that concept before. A dozen questions rose in her mind like a sudden burst of air bubbles rising to the surface, but she suppressed them.

“What do you say, son?”

“Agreed,” Marius said. “But I want Quill and Lev to remain at the far cavern wall.”

Daniel nodded, and his obedient sons immediately flew and hovered against the far stone wall.

Marius! What are you doing?

We need Daniel’s troops out of altered flight, and this appears to be as good a way to get the job done as any. I want you near the switch and ready for my order.

There really wasn’t time for him to explain further, she got that. So she responded,
I’m all in.

Good.

He released her and Daniel flew straight for her, grabbing her by the arm and dragging her off to the side. He pinched her beneath her arm so that she cried out.

“What the fuck?” Marius shouted. “What did you just do to her?”

Daniel apologized. “I must have caught her delicate human skin between my fingers when I took her arm. Just an accident.” He addressed Shayna. “Are you all right, my dear?”

She met his gaze, grimacing. “Don’t you ‘my dear’ me, you sick fuck.”

His nostrils flared. “You know I could destroy you with a thought.”

“Well, that’s what you’re good at: destruction. I’d like to see you actually build anything of merit.”

This time she watched Daniel grind his teeth. She knew he wanted to hit her or maybe even throw her off the land bridge, but he worked to control himself. After flaring his nostrils again, he nodded to Marius. “Now let’s see what you can do.”

“First, choose the men I’m to fight so that I can get a good look at them.”

Daniel lifted his arm once and the entire force moved from altered flight to levitation. After that, he made a few gestures and twenty warriors separated from the main force, ten grouping off to one side, ten to the other.

Shayna felt Marius’s sudden burst of excitement. He’d just accomplished the first part of their makeshift plan. But she wasn’t prepared at all for what he did next.

She felt a profound vibration flow through her blood-chain, then watched as Marius suddenly became two of himself.

She stared in utter astonishment, unable to believe what she was seeing. And the division of his physical self was completely equal because each wore the same clothes and had the same number of weapons.

She could tell that the Marius at the right was his primary self, though she didn’t know how exactly. He just felt stronger in some way, more present perhaps. But how was he doing something that seemed so impossible? Did he control the secondary Marius? Were they one consciousness but two bodies? Yes, lots of questions.

“We’re a much superior race,” Daniel said. “You should get used to that fact right away. Your days are numbered, Shayna. Human earth’s as well. It’s only a matter of time.”

She wanted to say something cutting again, but truthfully seeing two of Marius forced her to admit that Daniel, in this case, was absolutely right.

“My God,” she murmured.

“Precisely so,” Daniel responded. He sounded so self-satisfied that she wanted to kick him.

Marius glanced at her.
Just be ready, because I don’t know when I’ll want you to hit the switch.

I’m ready.

She grew very calm and focused all her attention on him, forcing herself to take deep breaths.

Both right and left Mariuses pulled out a long chain in one hand and a dagger in the next. Each dropped to a fighting stance, the long chains whirring.

What happened next gave her vision a workout. Marius moved so fast that at times he seemed to disappear. And twenty adversaries moved rapidly trying to keep up with him, often colliding so that the battle appeared to be nothing but chaos.

She wondered what it was like for Marius.

*   *   *

Marius had never been so in sync during a split-self battle. His consciousness had control over both selves, yet each operated independently. He moved as fast as he had in Sweden, whipping through the air.

The two long chains had already dropped two vampires down to the floor below, a good sixty feet. But it was his dagger and whip-like movements that cut throat after throat. His secondary self proceeded in the same way.

More bodies fell, one after the other.

He never stopped moving and watched especially for those moments when one of Daniel’s men would collide with another. Twice he cut two throats at almost the exact same time, taking full advantage of their momentary confusion.

When one of Daniel’s men sliced Marius’s arm, and sent his blade falling to the floor below, Marius drew two more blades out at the same time, flew backward ten feet, synced up with his secondary self. Each began throwing daggers at lightning speed. He caught throat after throat, a precision he hadn’t had before.

He was ramped up high, ready to take on the rest of Daniel’s men, when Shayna’s voice pierced his mind.
Marius, we’ve got to do this now. Daniel’s grip has slackened, something he doesn’t realize. I’m going to throw myself off the land bridge while hitting that button.

Give my about fifteen seconds. I need to reform first.

Got it.

Marius had no daggers left and drew out a short chain, as did his secondary self. Six vampires remained and while they waited for him to act, he reformed in a quick snap so that now he faced all six by himself. Even the process of bringing both selves together had speeded up.

He hung in the air, breathing hard, the remaining six of Daniel’s force doing the same. The rest of the vampires had started moving in closer, very slowly and probably on Daniel’s orders. He sincerely doubted his father would hold to the terms of wager.

He waited, shifting his gaze from one warrior to the next.

Ready?
he asked Shayna.

Three … two … one …

Marius flew back toward the weapon and just as Shayna whipped out of Daniel’s grasp, he watched as she flew sideways, hit the switch, then dove downward into the pit below, catching her levitation at fifteen feet.
Marius, I can’t hold my levitation.

I’m coming.

The vibrations started up and his head immediately filled with incredible pain, something he might not have ignored, except that Shayna would die if he didn’t reach her.

By the time he turned in her direction, she was in free fall. Though the piercing sound waves made it almost impossible to focus, he forced himself to shift to altered flight, then shot after her, barely catching her in his arms. He stayed in altered flight because the weapon wouldn’t hurt him there. But what he saw with Shayna in his arms were the remaining vampires screaming and one by one falling to the stone floor below. The humans were still pressed up against the sides of the pit.

Even Daniel writhed, which stunned him. His father appeared to be incapable of switching to altered flight. Quill and Lev hovered over him but there was nothing they could do.

Daniel was caught in the grip of the sound waves.

For a long moment, Marius stared up at the land bridge, wondering if his father would die then and there.

“Marius, fly me back up to the weapon. This is our chance, right now. When I hit the switch, Quill and Lev will be tending to Daniel and we’ll be able to take the weapon away.”

He immediately rose to hover right next to the weapon.

Quill, still in altered flight, turned to glare at him. He couldn’t hurt Marius, not while in altered flight. “You’re killing him, you bastard.”

“I’m not sure I can feel bad about that.”

“Where’s your fucking loyalty? He’s your father.”

“He’s a psychopath butcher who gets off on it, nothing more.”

Lev turned toward Marius as well and each, enraged, suddenly split while in altered flight, so that he was looking at four opponents instead two.

“Your woman dies first.” Quill’s lips drew back and his fangs descended.

Marius knew that he couldn’t defeat both Quill and Lev if they chose to attack. Each was at Ancestral status, and if Daniel died right now they’d take vengeance on him and on Shayna.

He had a decision to make: Save Shayna and take the weapon, or let Daniel die. And how much he wanted his father dead. Daniel lay struggling to heal himself as the vibrations and decibel level from the weapon took its toll. He bled from ears and from his nose.

As though reading his mind, Shayna said,
Just let him die, Marius. He’s the real problem.

He stared at Shayna.
But we’ll both die in the process, and Quill and Lev will have the weapon.

This isn’t simple.

He felt her debate within her mind, feeling, as he did, that it would be hard to pass up an opportunity to take Daniel out.

In the end, she released a heavy sigh.
They’d use the weapon right away, wouldn’t they?

Yes, they would.

All right, Marius, do what you think is best.

He nodded.
I’m getting you out of here.
To Quill he said, “Leave us in peace and Shayna will shut off the weapon, just long enough for you to take him out of here.” He lowered them both to the side of the weapon with the switch. She held out her hand. “She can move from altered flight to levitation all by herself so don’t think for a moment that I’ll leave this state.”

Blood started flowing from Daniel’s eyes.

Quill glanced down at him. “Agreed.”

The brothers reformed, then drew close to Daniel, ready to haul him away as soon as Shayna shut off the machine. Marius gave her the go-ahead.

He felt her shift to levitation and flip the switch. As soon as the weapon wound down, she slipped back into altered flight.

At almost the same moment Quill and Lev moved out of altered flight, grabbed Daniel, moved back in, and took off. They were gone in a flash.

Just for good measure, Marius had Shayna flip the switch once more. He was glad he did, because a new set of vampires flew back into the cavern, probably on Quill’s orders. But each headed straight back out when the vibrations hit the air.

Marius let the weapon run for a full minute, then with Shayna in one arm and his hand gripping the hook on the top of the weapon with the other, he signaled for her to shut it down.

As soon as she flipped the switch, he hauled both Shayna and the weapon into altered flight and headed west, back to Egypt.

*   *   *

As Marius approached the Pharaoh Cavern system, he sensed that Gabriel, who owned the system, had added a new layer of security disguises. Despite his increased level of power, Marius could barely feel the presence of the caves below even though at least five thousand vampires lived there.