Lothaire shuddered, even as sweat broke out over his body.
"How long were you buried last time?" Tymur asked in a contemplative tone. "Or perhaps you can give me your legendary accounting book. The girl in exchange for the book, Lothaire."
My thousands of debts to save her? After all those years of toil?
Part of him burned to yell, "The book is yours, just let me have her back!"
Part of him was still . . . Lothaire. He told himself that he could trace from here, then find Elizabeth in the future, could retrieve her from his enemies.
But by all the gods, I want her now!
"Give me your decision. . . ." Tymur trailed off as a sudden mist blew in. The gang grew uneasy. He ordered, "Check the perimeter-"
Four males appeared-massive, pale-skinned swordsmen, each with his weapon raised.
Lothaire disbelieved his eyes. They'd come from the mist. Dacians.
When the demons and Cerunnos launched an attack, the Daci began cutting through them coldly, methodically. Fighting without emotion, only lethal accuracy.
And they were battling their way to Elizabeth.
"Seize the mortal," the largest Dacian ordered. "Return her to the castle."
Neither Lothaire nor those swordsmen would be able to reach her before Tymur traced her away from this place. Away from me.
As Lothaire thrashed against his captors, the vampire snatched Elizabeth by the hair once more, hauling her to her feet. She evinced no reaction.
Yet when Tymur tried to trace, nothing happened. Lothaire chanced a glance around. None of the demons or Horde vampires could trace in the mist.
That leader of the Daci neared Tymur, neared Elizabeth.
If the Dacian swordsman took her back to his hidden realm, Lothaire might never find her.
Panic redoubled. With all the strength left in his body, he surged against the demon guards' clutches, finally freeing himself.
He slew three foes, four . . . Only the Daci, Tymur, and two other guards remained.
Tymur pivoted to defend against Lothaire, releasing Elizabeth; she sank into the snow, her gaze still vacant.
What if she never recovered? Fury lashed him like a whip. "You've erred for ill, Tymur." Bloodlust boiled forth. "Now you get to die." Lunging into a trace, Lothaire plowed into the vampire, heaving him away from Elizabeth.
Bone-crushing impact. Tymur wailed in agony. Lothaire wrested his weapon free.
The vampire stared up at Lothaire, knew death had him; when Lothaire eased his lips back from his fangs and tossed the sword away, Tymur cowered.
"You'd make my Bride a blood slave?" Lothaire's voice . . . crazed, unrecognizable. "My female?"
My Elizabeth? Mindless with rage, he slashed his claws over Tymur, punched his fists through the male's mauled torso, collected handfuls of viscera. He bellowed with pleasure when arcs of blood sprayed across the snow.
When at last he wrenched free Tymur's bludgeoned head, Lothaire peered up through the haze.
All enemies had been felled but the cold Daci. They circled Lothaire and Elizabeth, their gazes watchful but inscrutable.
Bloodlust tolled within him, the ravening need for carnage. He locked his gaze on the blood still spurting from Tymur's savaged neck. Licked his lips for that steaming font.
The body flailed in death throes, exciting him. Lothaire groaned, claws sinking into the head he carried.
Would the Daci watch him fall upon his prey in a frenzy? Bloodlust, a fever undeniable-
Elizabeth's heartbeat?
Soothing . . . like waves. Like a beacon. Vision clearing, he saw her delicate form-amid the butchery he'd wrought.
He dropped Tymur's head, crouching in front of her to face off against the Daci.
The leader had eyes the color of glacial ice, and just as merciless. The color my eyes used to be.
In Dacian, he said, "So close to losing her forever, Cousin." He narrowed his gaze on Elizabeth's blank stare, on her blue-tinged lips. "You might still."
Cousin? With a brutal roar, Lothaire traced Elizabeth away.
Chapter 36
She heard Hag and Lothaire arguing, their voices indistinct.
But Ellie couldn't respond.
When she'd disappeared with Lothaire, she'd suddenly found herself transported to a freezing land, then abandoned amidst black, leafless trees that seeped blood. The "blood forest" he'd rambled about? Off in the distance, she'd spied the most haunting castle she'd ever imagined.
Then horned demons and Cerunnos had surrounded her. It was one thing to read about walking serpents, quite another to be captured by them.
The things she'd seen . . . things that couldn't be right.
And the things she'd heard, the hints about Lothaire's torture.
He'd told her he'd been buried alive for six hundred years. When in the grip of a grueling nightmare, had he unconsciously returned to his . . .
grave?
She'd only meant to recede a bit, to let Saroya suffer that horrible scene. But when the goddess didn't rise, Ellie had fallen into this stupor. She remembered little after that, had only remotely perceived yells, swords clanging, Lothaire's unholy roars.
And now Ellie couldn't snap out of it, couldn't speak. He'd sat her upright in a chair, but she couldn't move from it.
"Vampire, I warned you of this!" Hag cried as she tucked blankets around Ellie's shoulders. "Mortals can break."
"Then mend her!"
"How could I possibly know how to treat a mortal for shock? She's catatonic!"
"I don't give a f**k, you heal her!"
"Why would you take her to Helvita? What did you expect? You're lucky she didn't die from the elements."
"I sleep-traced. Must have grabbed her."
No, I grabbed you. Like an idiot.
"It doesn't matter, Hag!" Every word booming louder, Lothaire snapped, "Now, stop being a silly bitch and fix her!"
"I didn't think you cared about her mind, only her body. Correct? Saroya will be unharmed by this, vampire. So you can relax."
Good point. Why did Lothaire care at all?
"Silence! Let me think!" In a vague tone, Lothaire muttered, "I remember someone who went through this. Must recall who. Goddamn it, who was it?"
Both of them began pacing, talking at the same time:
-"He wants me to fix a human being! Should I reach for the whiskey? Or perhaps a Band-Aid?"
-"It was a male. He suffered this very thing! Who the hell was it?"
Then Lothaire said, "I remember!" and disappeared.
Hag sounded like she'd begun rifling through some spell book. "Elizabeth, the vampire will be killing mad over this. As he is unlikely to punish himself, you must wake!"
Must I? Ellie didn't think she wanted to live in a world like the Lore. Where a father would bury his son alive for centuries. Where monsters dwelled. The forked tongue that slithered across my cheek . . .
At the memory, her thoughts grew quiet once more. For how long she didn't know.
Suddenly Hag snapped, "Who is he, Lothaire? Is this some kind of a joke?"
Another male was here?
A deep voice said, "Name's Thaddeus Brayden, ma'am. But you can call me Thad."
Lothaire had snagged the boy straight out of the front yard of Val Hall, saying, "Need your help to fix Lizvetta."
The Valkyries had shrieked, "You can't take him! Leave him be, vampire!"
To which Lothaire had eloquently responded, "Go f**k yourselves!"
"Can you please explain what's happening?" Thaddeus asked Hag now. "Mr. Lothaire isn't making a lot of sense. And, uh, whose blood is all over him?"
When the fey glanced at Lothaire, he nodded, trusting the boy. To an extent.
Hag said, "This girl is new to the Lore and has just been amidst a Lore swordfight. Lothaire won, but she saw Pravus creatures."
Realization dawned on Thaddeus's face. "Gotcha. That's all it took for me to clock out."
And Thaddeus was a Lorean, even if he hadn't known he was at the time. Elizabeth was a mortal. She's so weak. Weak!
What if he never saw her stubborn gaze again? Felt her passion? You were going to end her anyway, his mind whispered. She might be my Bride, but she cannot be my queen.
Struggling to control his tone, Lothaire said, "Then what did it take for you to clock in, Thaddeus?"
"A few weeks, and the care of a nice Valkyrie and a fey."
"Weeks!" To Hag, Lothaire said, "It's back to you, Venefican."
She peered down at her spell book as if willing it for an answer.
"Uh, just a suggestion, Mr. Lothaire," Thaddeus began, "but shouldn't you be, like, holding Lizvetta or something?"
If I took her in my arms, I'd squeeze her so desperately, too hard.
"Wait!" Hag cried. "The ash vines help mortals as well. I could clear her mind with the potion I'd intended for you."
"Excellent idea, Hag. Only one problem-there were no f**king vines to be found!"
"There is one other source. I hadn't bothered to mention it because it's so impossible-"
"Tell me!"
"Nereus." She said no more.
The sea god. "He owes me a blood debt." But fearing Lothaire's arrival-no doubt assuming I'll come for his firstborn-Nereus had recruited guards to protect his lair, some of the most ruthless immortals ever to live. "Hag, get started on the potion once more."
"But how will you get past his sentries to collect your debt?"
"I likely won't." And with that, Lothaire traced to the edge of a mountainous, perpetually storm-tossed coast to confront a god.
Chapter 37
Where has Lothaire gone? Ellie wondered.
Was he in danger? She didn't know why she should give a damn. Apart from her catatonia, nothing had changed between them. Right?
That young man bent down in front of Ellie, then gently moved her head until she was facing him. But she still couldn't focus her eyes.
"So you're Lothaire's Bride. I knew he'd let me meet you! No matter what gruff front he put on."
I'm not his Bride, just a peasant pet he uses to get off with until he can kill me. At least, that's what she'd thought just hours ago as she'd cried in his arms.
But considering Lothaire's reaction earlier . . . ?
Now she didn't know.
"Lizvetta, is it?" the newcomer asked with a southern drawl. Not a mountain accent, but definitely from the South.
Hag said, "She prefers to be called Ellie."
"And you? I just can't call someone as pretty as you . . . Hag. Maybe you have a middle name?"
Ellie thought he was grinning when he said that.
"Lothaire wouldn't like you calling me-"
"You just let me worry about him."
"Very well. My name's Balery."
She'll tell him but not me?
"Nice to meet you, Balery."
"And what might you be, Thaddeus? You look mortal."
"Thanks. But I'm actually a vampire and phantom halfling."
Hag-Balery-sucked in a breath. Why?
"Yeah, I get that a lot." Again Ellie heard amusement in his tone. "Since I'm wicked powerful and rare and all." Then to Ellie, he said, "My name's Thad. I'm a friend of Mr. Lothaire's. And I'm going to help you through this."
Was this guy for real? His deep voice was filled with kindness, but if he was friends with Lothaire and part vampire, wouldn't that make him evil?
"Mr. Lothaire came and got me because I was human a little while ago. Or at least, I thought I was. And I went catatonic when I saw some of the creatures you met up with today. Creepy stuff, huh."
The things I saw . . .
Thad took her hands in his. They were big and rough, warming her own. "But you're safe now. No one will hurt you. We're gonna protect you."
Safe. Protected. How Ellie had longed for someone to tell her exactly that! At any time in the last five years.
But still she couldn't seem to focus her gaze, not even to see what he looked like.
"When I was out of it," he continued, "this really nice Valkyrie named Regin the Radiant and a dark fey called Natalya took me under their wings."
Regin the Radiant, the one Lothaire stalked? Oh, boy.
I hate this world.
"Every day the ladies talked to me, about normal stuff mostly. And after a while, I felt comfortable enough to peek my head up." He gave her hands a light squeeze. "So that's what I'm gonna do with you. Talk. 'Cause I got nowhere else I'd rather be. I'm hiding out from my adoptive mom. She's the greatest, but she thinks I'm in high school-and still
human-but I'm done with mortal school. So every day from eight to three, I gotta get lost. I hang with the Valkyries mostly, but not one of them plays football. They just like to get high with the witches, play video games, and shriek at stuff."
This is better than the Book of Lore. . . .
"Hey, if you surface, I'll tell you stories about Mr. Lothaire. About how he saved my life again and again."
Had Hag briefly stopped stirring her potion at that?
"So what should I talk about now?" Thad mused. Ellie heard him snap his fingers as he said, "Oh, I know. . . ."
His voice a soothing balm, he told her about the Valkyries giving off lightning with emotion, lighting up the sky like it was the Fourth of July. He talked about how a fairy-godmother-type Valkyrie named Nix had set him up with a vampire tutor, one who was teaching him how to trace-and to call for blood delivery. He told Ellie how he and his mom and gram were now living in a grand New Orleans mansion.