Page 29

O f course, our arrival was announced. There were sentries posted all around the perimeter of the sprawling camp in the desert and for miles beyond, seemingly behind every hill and outcropping, some of which were living and more of which were not. Zombies made fine scouts, as the sun didn’t bother them, the night’s chill didn’t affect them, and nobody could play dead any better.

Well, almost nobody, I thought, watching masses of ghosts hovering in the sky over the camp. They were drifting across the hills and the plains beyond like low-lying clouds and flying beside us as we jounced and bounced along on what was in no way a road. They were everywhere, darting like shadows in the night, but nobody saw them.

Well, nobody but me and some of the zombies. A few of the latter twitched a little whenever ghostly hands brushed them, and I thought I saw others following some of the more bloated spirits with hungry eyes. Probably because their bokors were skilled at the ghostly form of necromancy that my father had practiced, and they saw whatever their creatures did.

That was why the crowd of people—thousands of them milling about everywhere—opened up before us, and we were allowed to rumble through the encampment and up the side of the hill that we’d left only a day ago.

The group at the top had grown, morphing from a collection of misfits shooting each other hostile glances into the leaders of an army. I stared around as we piled out of the jalopy, witnessing sights I’d never thought to see in a million years. And still didn’t quite believe.

“The enemy of my enemy,” Mircea murmured, and yeah.

I guessed so.

There were a lot of former enemies encamped around here. The dark mages had taken up a large area of desert to the left, separated from their light mage counterparts by a river of zombies, demons, and golems mixing together pretty freely. That much I’d expected, more or less, just not the numbers, which had grown immensely as word went out.

But to the right was something I definitely hadn’t expected. And standing next to Jonas at the top of the hill, looking at some papers on a table they’d scrounged up from somewhere, was the last person I’d have ever thought to see there. Ever.

“This is the end of the world,” I said, staring at Zara.

With the black robes she had found somewhere and her salt and pepper hair fritzing out in all directions as if she’d recently been struck by lightning, she was the perfect example of a dark witch. Only there weren’t any of those. The covens didn’t believe in that nonsense; they believed in what worked. Which I guessed was why, in an encampment to the right, was every goddamned witch on the planet.

Seriously, there were thousands .

“It appears that the war party won,” Pritkin said, looking at them with slightly widened eyes.

“Well, if we’re ever going to do anything, now would seem the time,” Topknot said, coming over from the edge of the group on the hill. “You’re late. We were starting to worry.”

“You came with us to the city,” I said, confused.

“Yes, and left it shortly thereafter, once we’d had a chin wag with Devlin.” She harrumphed. “ Devlin . I might have known. May as well have called himself devil. Speaking of which, where’s the other one? The natives are getting restless.”

“In the other, um, Jeep,” I said, assuming that she was talking about Rosier because Pritkin was standing beside me.

And yeah, the “natives” were restless, I thought, as a demon the size of a house with a long tail and claws as big as me circled another of its kind in the valley below, obviously about to throw down. And they weren’t the only ones. It looked like half of Hell was here and not happy about it.

“Didn’t drive w’ him on the way back? Don’t blame you there,” she said, clapping me on the back. “Well, come on then. Time to join the conversation.”

“It isn’t,” I protested as the two Hell-beasts started savaging each other. Some of the dark mages seemed to be betting on the outcome as I saw money exchanging hands. “You have your part to play,” I told her, tearing my eyes away. “And I have mine. They’re not the same.”

“Oh?” She sized me up. “And exactly how do you expect to get into that city on your own?”

I started to answer, then thought better of it. “It’s complicated.”

“It always seems to be with you.”

“We should check in,” Mircea said smoothly, ever the diplomat. “Let the others know we’re about to start. They’ll need to coordinate their attack.”

Which was how I found myself pushing through the throng of evil-eyed Corpsmen toward the summit of the small mountain or large hill. I couldn’t be sure which, as I couldn’t see it too well since it was covered by people who hated me. But flanked on one side by a half-demon with glowing green eyes—Pritkin had gotten into it with dear old dad on the way here, and I guessed it had had an effect—and on the other by a master vampire, nobody so much as twitched a finger in my direction.

But if looks could kill—

Well, it would save Zeus the trouble.

“Stay behind me,” Alphonse said, trying to shove me to the back.

“Leave her be,” Mircea told him sharply. We do not need to look weak—or divided , he added mentally. And loudly enough that it resonated along the bond.

But Alphonse wasn’t playing along. “She almost barbequed half the guys here. I don’t think any of ’em are mistaking her for weak,” he said aloud and didn’t bother to lower his voice.

Do not provoke them , Mircea thought at him, hard enough to make me wince.

“I’m not provoking anybody, and you don’t command me,” Alphonse said. “Nobody does anymore, and if I wanna guard Cassie, I’m gonna guard Cassie.”

“Yeah, only I can’t see where I’m going,” I said before Mircea decided to do more than talk.

Master vamps didn’t take that kind of defiance from a subordinate, especially not one who belonged to a master of his own family line. In the absence of Tony, Alphonse was Mircea’s unless he’d been emancipated because Tony had been Mircea’s. Or at least, that was how it used to work. I had no idea what the protocol was now.

“You don’t need to see. You need to live,” Alphonse told me. “Which you’re damned well going to, or I’m gonna start ripping off some limbs.”

Great.

You are going to remember your place , Mircea told him, and Alphonse abruptly dropped back.

“Mircea—” I began, twisting my head to see what he’d done to poor Alphonse, but the tall-ass fey were in the way.

He’s all right ,” Mircea assured me, “ and will be along pres —

The communication cut out as quickly as a radio going silent as the bond flickered hard.

We exchanged a look because that could be inconvenient on our upcoming mission, like trying to discuss our crappy bond in the middle of a crowd of enemies.

“It will be all right,” Mircea told me softly.

Yeah.

Sure.

Okay.

“How are they shielding so many?” Enid asked from somewhere behind me, sounding awed.

“They aren’t.” Pritkin stuck a hand slightly out from his side, palm down, and frowned. “There are no wards here.”

“Don’t need ‘em,” Jonas said, catching sight of us as we surmounted the hill and striding over.

The old man who walked stoop-shouldered and frail was gone, and in his place was someone who exuded primal energy. He no longer had the wild mane of white hair, but if he had, it would have been crackling around his head to rival Zara’s. He did have the disconcertingly sharp eyes, however, which felt like they were boring a hole through me.

“Don’t,” Pritkin warned him, something his old boss completely ignored.

“Come to your senses, have you?” Jonas demanded.

I decided to ignore that because obviously not.

I was here, wasn’t I?

“What is the plan?” Mircea asked, attempting to change the direction of the conversation. To my surprise, it worked.

“You tell me.” The gimlet-eyed gaze skewered him and then me some more. “I know you have one. Spill it. We’re your allies, Cassie, whether you believe it or not,” he added before I could say anything. “Help us help you!”

I glanced at my two companions, but Pritkin was still frowning at the non-wards, and Mircea looked noncommittal. It was up to me. “I don’t need your help getting into Vegas,” I said evenly. “We’re using... another path... into the city. I need you to pull whoever Zeus has sent to guard Rhea off Dante’s.”

“Yes, he has her well-guarded,” the old man confirmed, turning back and leading us to the table where maps of Vegas were scattered around. “That’s why we don’t need wards,” he added. “The bastards know we’re here but haven’t come out. They’re clustered in the city, waiting for us to come to them, where they have the upper hand. And, no doubt, some very nasty shocks prepared.”

He glanced up at me. “You’re walking into a trap.”

Yeah.

No shit.

“Is Zeus there?” I asked, not knowing if Jonas could tell.

“No. Or if he is, he’s keeping pretty damned quiet. We have our best telepaths, including fey ones,” he added, nodding at the small cluster of people behind me. “But they haven’t picked anything up. And considering how... antsy... the other gods get whenever he’s around, the odds are that he hasn’t yet shown his face. But that could change at any time.”

“He isn’t here,” Bodil confirmed as I shot her a glance. Her eyes were distant and unfocused, but her voice was sure. “But he is expected. We need to hurry.”

“ Can you?” Jonas asked, looking pointedly at me.

“If you’re asking about what happened before,” I began.

“Of course, I’m bloody asking about before! I need to know that we’re not sacrificing ourselves just to put a new god into power, one who won’t be any better than that fuckhead Zeus!”

It was a fair question. I hated it, but it was. “What happened before,” I said evenly, “won’t be an issue with the Pythian power—”

“How can you be sure? It’s godly energy—came from Apollo himself, if the rumors are true.”

“They’re true.” I kept forgetting how little most mages knew about the court or what powered it. Even Jonas, who had been married in all but name to my predecessor Agnes for decades, still viewed us as a mystery. Which was probably why he was narrowing his eyes mistrustfully at me.

Well, that and the fact that I’d set half his men on fire yesterday.

“The Pythian power never overwhelmed me,” I explained. “Maybe because I couldn’t just take whatever I wanted whenever I wanted it. It gave me what I needed to do my job, but no more. I used to think it was my human stamina that gave out when I shifted too much, and maybe it was at times. Once the Pythian energy cut out, I had only my strength to draw from, and it didn’t last long.

“But other times, I think it was throttling the flow. That it had me on a leash this whole time; I just didn’t realize it until... until recently.”

“And thank God it did!” he said bluntly. “So what the devil is the plan?”

“I told you. I can get to Rhea, but I can’t talk to her with the gods sitting on top of her. I need them pulled off. They have to believe that I’m with you, trying to get into the city, not that I’m already there.”

“And exactly how do you plan to get inside the city without them seeing you?”

“That’s my concern—”

“Not if we’re buying you time with our blood, it damned well isn’t! I need to know—”

“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you,” I said, cutting him off because it was true. And because I didn’t have hours to spend trying to convince him. “You either trust me or you don’t. And keep in mind why that scene at HQ happened. Because you were going behind my back, intent on forcing me into something I could have told you wouldn’t work. I had already thought of and dismissed the idea, but you had to have your way.

“How did that work out for you?”

I don’t know where that voice came from, but it was strong, decisive, and Pythia-like. Enough that Zara gave a snort, and Topknot muttered some more. “Damned right. Telling a Pythia what she must and mustn’t do!” the old battleaxe said as if she hadn’t been doing the same thing since I met her.

“And I am Lord Commander!” Jonas raged.

“Yes, you are,” I agreed. “And a fine one.”

That stopped him, as I don’t think he’d expected me to see it that way. But while Jonas and I had clashed more times than I could count, there had always been respect there. At least, there had been on my end.

“You’ve done better than I could have dreamed,” I told him honestly. “Or that anyone could have expected. You all have. But this is my fight now. Help me or not, but either way, I will enter the city tonight. And the gods will not see me.”

Jonas stared at me for a long moment, and I could almost see the thousand questions wanting to burst out of him. But he’d been around Pythias his whole life. He knew better than to press.

“The dumber sort of so-called gods might take the bait,” he finally said, going back to our previous topic. “The ones barely clinging to some semblance of mind. But there are others in there, Cassie. Smarter ones; strategic ones. We’re not going to pull them all, no matter what we do.”

“I know,” I said evenly. “I’ll deal with the rest.”

Jonas had some colorful words to say to that, and I honestly couldn’t blame him. But there was no other way. I just had to hope that my plan would work once we got into the thick of it.

But then, when had one of my plans ever worked?

I saw Mircea shake his head slightly at me before I could admit to anything, and yeah. Telling Jonas that we still didn’t have full control would not be wise. But then, actually losing it would definitely not be!

Which was number 872 of the reasons why I was miserable. I didn’t like keeping things from an ally, especially not when he was offering to take the brunt of an attack by a few hundred gods on him and his men. Damn it, we had to hold it together.

I had to!

“Cassie will be fine; you have my word,” Mircea said.

“Yes, and the word of a master vampire is so reassuring to me,” Jonas retorted spitefully. But I guessed he didn’t have a better idea, and we were out of time. So it was agreed.

The different groups—Corpsmen, dark mages of all descriptions, witches, and the demons under Rosier’s control—would make a dozen assaults along different sections of the city’s perimeter, not giving the gods any idea which group I might be in and forcing them to divide to conquer. Our forces would use every trick in the book to kill, maim, trap, or otherwise seriously inconvenience the trash that would initially be thrown at them, forcing those with more of a mind to have to get off their godly asses and do some work.

It wasn’t mentioned that, once that happened, I would have a very limited window in which to reach my objective because that kind of opponent... well. Our forces wouldn’t last long against them. Not long at all.

This is it, I thought blankly. If we failed, there wouldn’t be a second chance. I had to reach Rhea and hope against hope that she had a way to help us, or else the only other choice would be to go hunting. And without Pritkin’s incubus, getting enough power to take even me back in time was likely to drive me completely mad.

I wouldn’t care about what happened to everyone after that. I wouldn’t care about anything but the hunger. And gaining enough power to meet Zeus head-on when he returned, and fight to unseat and replace him.

And if I succeeded, to become even more of a monster than he had ever—

“Cassie.”

I realized that I’d moved without realizing it, away from the knot of leaders and off to one side. They were still close enough that keen ears, or ones helped by a convenient spell, could overhear us, and Pritkin did nothing to interfere with that, possibly because a silence spell would have raised suspicion. And because he didn’t need it.

He, Mircea, and I had already said everything there was to say back in town and knew this was the only plan. I was just losing it at the last minute, and I couldn’t do that. I had to project strength even if I didn’t have any left, had to look confident even if I didn’t feel it, had to be Pythia instead of the scared, overwhelmed girl I’d once been.

I already know, I thought, looking up at him angrily.

And was enfolded in arms that were everything I needed right then. Mircea was there, too, standing off to one side and gazing at me with a confidence I completely lacked. Our small group of fey was also drifting over and towing a dazed-looking Alphonse along with them.

And finally, one more addition: Zara, sweeping down the incline to where my little group stood and getting in my face.

“I know,” she told me, low and even. “If anyone ever has, I know . It doesn’t matter, do you understand? What that old fool thinks, what anyone says, none of it. You have this responsibility and you alone, and you can handle this . If there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s don’t underestimate a witch with her back to the wall. And whatever else you may be, you are a witch, Cassie Palmer, and a good one.

“Go in there and prove it.

“She’s waiting.”

And yes, she was. Rhea was waiting, and she couldn’t come to me. I had to go to her, and there was only one way to do that.

“Come closer,” I told them, and the group moved in. And to my surprise, that included Zara and her little knot of witches.

“We’re coming,” she told me stubbornly. “The others know what to do; the war party has waited for this, lived and breathed and dreamed about nothing else for years. But I’m doing what I’ve done for years and protecting my coven.”

“But... I’m not your coven,” I whispered.

“If you’re not after all this, I don’t know who is,” Gray Curls said testily. “Now, what’s all this about another path?”

Everyone looked at me.

“Come close,” I told them again. “And stay close. Do not get distracted by anything you see or hear. Stay with me, and don’t use magic . It’ll only attract them.”

“A-attract who?” Enid said nervously, looking around.

“Ghosts,” I said, and grabbed Hansen.

It wasn’t hard, as he had been right on my ass this whole time, he and a mass of his friends, like a cool, vaguely clammy mist. Not because I was a ghost magnet or because I was Pythia, a human designation that the dead could give a shit about. Not even because Billy Joe had told them to before leaving with a smaller group for the city and Rhea earlier.

But because there was a reason that some spirits hung around after death.

In fact, there were thousands of them, each as unique as the spirit itself. Lost loves, old regrets, children they wanted to watch grow up, or, as had been the case with Billy Joe, ambitions left unfulfilled. But one overriding reason showed up more than all the rest combined.

It was one that these spirits knew better than any other, having been thrown into the afterlife in a torrent of godly rage that was nothing compared to the one they felt now, haunting the desiccated corpse of the world they had once called home.

Revenge whispered through the air all around me.

Revenge burned in a thousand thousand ghostly eyes.

Revenge thrummed in dead heartbeats and then howled through the air so suddenly and so loudly that even the group at the top of the hill heard it, as the countless ghosts in the skies over the camp all fell on us all at once. Causing Jonas and company to look around in confusion as a sudden windstorm sent their maps and papers scattering on the breeze. And then obscured my view entirely, the mass of spirits around us so thick that they blotted out the stars.

REVENGE!

It was a roar to me, although I couldn’t tell if the others heard it, although they looked spooked enough. Yet, it was the sweetest sound I’d ever heard. It was the sound of hope.

“Then take us there,” I whispered back. “And you will have it.”

And then we were gone.