left sleeve a bit to reveal the hilt of the
sheathed knife. At Chiyoko’s raised
eyebrow I opened my blazer enough to
let her see the holstered gun and the
small loops that held my squirt guns.
“What are the empty loops for?” the
queen asked.
“Stakes, usually. I’m not wearing any
because there’s never been a vampire on
Serenity.”
“Until you.” She smiled like butter
wouldn’t melt in her mouth.
“I … am … not … a … bat.” I spoke
softly, almost gently, but enunciated
every word past smiling teeth. She
obviously wanted to provoke me, was
counting on my getting angry and saying
or doing something that would cause
trouble. I wasn’t going to oblige her.
“And yet obviously not fit for the
throne.”
“Very true. I made that clear the last
time I was here. I don’t want the throne.”
She smiled again, and this time it was
the cat that ate the canary. “Then your
aunt, Queen Lopaka, has neither heir, nor
any prospect of one.”
Aha. There it was, out in the open. I
smiled again, and this time I made sure
my expression was every bit as
predatory as hers had been. “Oh, I don’t
know.” I looked at Adriana to confirm
whether my suspicions about her vision
of the other day were correct. “My
cousin is a prophet, and I believe she’s
seen who the new heir will be. It isn’t
me.”
The
car
turned
and
stopped;
apparently we’d reached the gates to the
queen’s compound. Perfect timing. I
couldn’t wait to get out of this car, but
Chiyoko needed to hear about the future
High Queen of Serenity from the
princess who had seen her.
“It’s true, Aunt.” Adriana used the
familiar term that I suspected was more
a tradition between the royal houses than
a fact of biology. “You should check
with your own prophet. My sister-to-be
will someday look remarkably like
Celia, but without the fangs, tattoo, or
scarring.”
“You lie.” She spat out the words,
glaring at each of us in turn.
“Be careful, Aunt. Do not assume I
will not call for a duel. Or Celia, either.
She’s quite the fighter, as I’m sure you
remember from watching the two of us
duel.” Adriana kept her tone light, but
her
green
eyes
were
flashing
dangerously and there were spots of
color on her cheeks.
Oh, hell. I didn’t say anything, but I
thought at her, hard. Don’t drag me into
this. Yeah, I’d fought a duel with
Adriana—I’d had to. But I did not want
to fight another one, thank you very
much. And against Chiyoko? Unh-unh.
Nope. No way.
Adriana smiled without mirth. “You
needn’t worry, Aunt. My mother will
bear a suitable heir before I, myself,
have children with Dahlmar. This I
swear.”
I wondered a moment at her wording.
Was she preggers? Oh crap. I mean, no
big deal to the sirens. But Rusland’s
ultra-religious types might have a fit.
I’m not pregnant yet, Adriana
admitted in my mind. We have abstained
by our own choice. But I will be, soon
enough after the wedding that they’ll
be counting on their fingers.
The car had started up again,
apparently we’d cleared security. Just
another minute or two and we’d be
pulling up to the main building.
Um. Congratulations?
This time the smile lit Adriana’s face.
Thank you.
I glanced over at Chiyoko, trying to
see if she was listening in or not. She
probably was. Most sirens do. They
shouldn’t; even they admit it’s rude. But
they do. The queen’s visage might have
been carved from granite. “We shall
see.”
The Secret Service agent opened the
car door. I got out so fast it made him
blink. Adriana announced that she was
going to her office to take care of some
business. She said that she’d be under
guard and occupied until dinner, and
suggested I go unpack.
That sounded like a great idea to me. I
got as far as my old rooms in the guest
house before Queen Lopaka’s assistant,
Hiwahiwa, appeared at my door. She
wore a green lavalava and would’ve
looked perfectly elegant if she hadn’t
been so obviously upset. While I didn’t
know exactly what her relationship was
to Laka and Okalani, I was betting there
was one and it was close.
“Princess, please, can we talk?”
I wanted to say no. I really did.
Instead, I stepped aside, letting her walk
past me into the living area.
My suite in the guest house is very,
very nice. It takes up most of the top
floor, and since the security was so
good, I felt perfectly fine about opening
the French doors to the balcony off of the
living room so that I could listen to the
waves and smell the ocean breeze. I
could feel the sting of spelling at the
edge of the balcony but it was so
elegantly done that I wouldn’t have
noticed without my vampire blood.
The cabinets, dresser, and built-in
desk were solid oak. The desk held a
top-of-the-line computer. The curtains
were dark gold, the color a perfect
match for the carpet, and both had been
color coordinated with the cream, gold,
and brown checked comforter on the
bed. There were half a dozen throw
pillows in brown and gold, although at
the moment most of them were piled in
the far corner of the room rather than on
the bed. I didn’t like throw pillows
much.
A conversational group was arranged
at the other end of the room, all of the
furniture
equally
expensive,
comfortable, and color-coordinated. The
final touch was a beautiful, abstract oil
painting that used all of the colors in the
room. It was huge, taking up most of one
wall. But it was gorgeous, the kind of
thing I could stare at for hours while
noticing more and more details.
Hiwahiwa walked straight over to the
conversational
group,
waiting
expectantly for me to join her. I tried not
to sigh as I took a seat, which gave her
permission to sit down. The sooner we
got through this, the better it would be.
“Laka sent you?”
“Yes, Pri
ncess, she did.” Hiwahiwa
looked at me with sad eyes. “Okalani
hasn’t returned. Not knowing what else
to do, Laka sought the advice of a
prophet.” The tears that had been
brimming in her eyes spilled over. “In
the vision, her captors said they had to
keep her alive for now, but she is
terribly injured.”
Captive? Was that even possible? I
mean, Okalani was the strongest
teleporter I’d ever even heard of. I knew
she could teleport through shields. What
could possibly hold her?
I should have known Hiwahiwa
would be listening to my thoughts. I
simply had to learn shielding if I was
going to spend any time on this island.
“There was a demon.”
I didn’t know what to say. Demons.
They are the worst of the monsters. Fully
evil,
frighteningly
intelligent,
and
literally hell-bent on the absolute
destruction of humanity. I’ve run into
them before, even had one specifically
targeting me for special attention. There
is nothing in this world that is worse.
Then again, they’re not from this world
—they have their own dimension. They
can only come through here and wreak
they are, dangerous and evil as they are,
there are idiots who will call them up.
With the right protections, they can
sometimes be trapped within a casting
circle. But get one thing wrong … I
shuddered, my flesh crawling with goose
bumps.
Emma had been captured and abused
with the aid of a demon. Her father and
brother had betrayed me in order to save
her. In the end, I’d helped them
willingly. We saved her, got her out. But
she’d had to have the memories
magically wiped to stay sane.
“I’m so sorry.” I was. More than I
could say. Because Okalani wasn’t just
in physical jeopardy. She’d done things
that could damn her soul. Unless
something was done, she could be the
demon’s plaything for all eternity. I
didn’t know if hell was real, but souls
most certainly were and demons could
claim them, leaving the body an empty
shell. I’ve been told by priests that it’s
worse than death.
“So am I.” Hiwahiwa was actually
wringing her hands. “Laka is … not
right. It’s as if she’s lost her mind. The
doctors have her sedated.”
I could see that. How bad would it be,
knowing the child that you loved was in
such danger and that there was
absolutely nothing you could do to save
her? Worse, Laka probably blamed
herself. Although there was no way she
could’ve stopped this from happening.
“Princess, before she passed out,
Laka gave me a message for you. In the
vision the men controlling the demon
were talking. They said that you had
been captured, that they were going to
use cameras to film them feeding you to
that thing and broadcast it on the
Internet.”
I managed to make it to the bathroom
before I threw up.
I took a few minutes to clean up, brush
my teeth, and try to pull my thoughts
together. It was hard to do. My emotions
kept getting in the way—foremost among
them panic. I forced myself to take deep,
soothing breaths. I could do this. There
were no demons here, now. I was fine.
The future isn’t set in stone. Every
choice we make can cause changes,
ripples in time and reality. Visions show
probabilities, not facts. Even Vicki, who
had been one of the most powerful
clairvoyants born, had admitted that.
This could change. I could change it.
Sometimes, just the knowing of the future
is the changing event.
When I managed to get myself under
control, I went back into the living room.
I found Hiwahiwa standing at the French
doors, looking out at the ocean.
She spoke without turning around.
“I’m sorry for my indiscretion, Princess.
I shouldn’t have upset you. You won’t be
able to save her. No one can. Her body
is broken. She will … die.” Her voice
broke on the last word. She gave a harsh
gasp. “But she repented what she did.
She was trying to make it right. If you
kill her … her soul…” Hiwahiwa
couldn’t finish the sentence.
Her soul might be saved? Maybe. I
didn’t know. I’m not religious. I’ve had
exorcisms performed on me to remove
demon taint. I’ve received last rites from
a warrior priest, even though I’m not
Catholic. I’ve had rabbis, imans, and
monks pray over me. I didn’t know for
certain
if
Hiwahiwa
was
right.
Redemption is a tricky thing. But I
believe in God. I believe he/she forgives
us if we truly regret our sins and try to
make amends. I believe. But I don’t
know.
“Please, Princess. If you get the
chance, please.” I tried to stop her, but
Hiwahiwa actually dropped to her
knees, begging. “You have to kill
Okalani.”
How could I say this without insulting
her? “Hiwahiwa, I wasn’t raised here.
I’m not a siren by birth. I was raised in
Honor killings are still murder there.
Suicide is a crime in many states, no
matter the reason. Please understand that
because of my beliefs, which are every
bit as important to me as your beliefs are
to you and Laka, I cannot … will not
intentionally take a life unless I’m trying
to save my own or someone else’s.”
She stared at me for a long time. I let
my mind go blank, just feeling the pain I
knew she was feeling, both at Okalani’s
situation and the choice I had to make.
Finally, she stood, smoothed her
lavalava, bowed her head as she’d been
trained to do when in the presence of
royalty, and backed away until she could
turn and leave. Not a word was spoken,
but I could hear heart-breaking sobs
erupt from her on the other side of the
door after it had closed.
Crap.
I sat and got more and more bummed
the longer I was alone. After nearly an
hour of wallowing, since I was already
depressed, I tried calling my gran.
Don’t get me wrong. I love my gran.
She’s good and kind—but hardheaded as
hell. When my mom disappeared into the
bottle and started sleeping around, Gran
was the one wh
o made sure there were
groceries in the house, that Ivy and I
made it to school. She’s been a font of
love and wisdom my whole life. But at
the same time, she’s always enabled my
mother’s drinking. It was her car my
mother was driving the last two times
she was picked up for drunk driving.
Now my mom was in prison on Serenity,
and she’d made it very clear she never
wants to see me again. She cut me out of
her life, and I’m all for it. But that
destroyed my relationship with Gran,
who blames me.
But Gran isn’t the only one who is
stubborn in the family. I keep trying,
keep hoping that we can work something
out. Besides, what with the press
coverage of all the bullets and bombs,
she had to be worried. Maybe this time
she’d take my call.
“Hello?” The voice on the line
sounded both older and feebler than I
remembered. My grandmother had
always been a ball of fire, with enough
energy for two people twice her size.
Not today. That, more than anything,
frightened me.
“Gran, it’s me.”
“Celia! Oh thank God! Sweetie, are
you all right? I’ve been watching the
news. They said you were all right,
but…”
“I’m fine, Gran.” Tears stung my eyes
at the sound of her voice, hearing the
words that made it clear she really did
still care. I tried to pull myself together
as my grandmother said soothing things
to me.
“I love you so much, Gran. I’ve
missed you.”
“I’ve missed you, too, sweetheart.”
There were tears in her voice now; I
could hear the thickness in her words.
“I was wondering … would you
maybe like to have dinner when I get
back to the mainland? We can go
wherever you want. My treat.”
“On the mainland? Where are you?”
Her voice was odd. It was the tone of
voice she always used when she’d done
something that she knew I wouldn’t
approve of, usually something for my
mother.
Hearing
that
was
oddly
reassuring in an “oh shit, here we go
again” sort of way. It gave me something
familiar to cling to.
I forced lightness into my voice that I
didn’t really feel. “I’m on Serenity for
the wedding. I’m the maid of honor, if
you can believe that.”
“Serenity? Oh.” Now she definitely
sounded weird. And worried. “Well,
I’m sure they’re keeping you much too
busy to see me. You’re probably staying
in the royal compound, too, what with