Mona Lisa Blossoming

Chapter Seventeen

The smell of blood gave me the first inkling that something was wrong. My sword and dagger sang from their sheaths and flew into my hands as I stepped in front of Blaec. There was only time to realize that there were four Monère warriors in front of us, and that they weren't mine, before a heavy net woven with the same dark alloy that comprised demon chains was descending on us. I caught the net with my sword before it could touch us and used its momentum to heave it over and past us.

Terror slashed me like a knife, sped up my heart. The blood. Whose blood had been spilled? Would I find a scattering of ashes somewhere near the mouth of that dark alley?

Two of the warriors I recognized. Gilford and Demetrius. Half of what I had once called my Four Colors for their various shades of hair. If I recalled it right, Gilford was the brunette and Demetrius had the jet-black hair. They'd been part of the four betraying guards loaned to me by Mona Louisa once upon a time. The other two of the original quartet were dead. Just two more to go.

I bared my teeth and stepped forward only to come to a sudden halt as Demetrius held up something in his hands. Silver moonlight glinted off a gold medallion chain, unmistakable in its uniqueness and symbol of power.

"Come with us quietly or Lord Gryphon will die," Demetrius said.

Gryphon had waited for me. Alone, it seemed.

"Where is he?" I demanded.

"With Mona Louisa." Demetrius leered. "We will be happy to take you to your lover. In fact, we must insist."

I took the opportunity to quickly scan the rest of the alley beyond them. No scattering of dust. No empty clothes. A passing quaver of relief weakened me for a moment.

"You are a fool, Halcyon, to have returned," said one of the warriors I didn't recognize.

Halcyon? Could they not tell the difference between father and son? I shifted a little so I could glimpse Blaec from the corner of my eye. Then was so surprised that I turned and looked fully at him, keeping my other senses attuned to sound and movement.

Gone were the white wings at the temples. And bronze had lightened to a golden hue. Blaec even gave out a sense of weakness, his face drawn and haggard, looking exactly like Halcyon had with a few exceptions. There were no chest wounds and he wore a black shirt instead of white. But even I would have been fooled were I to come upon Blaec as he was now.

I shivered. It had to be some sort of glamour or mind control. But for the life of me I couldn't sense it. I whipped my attention back to the four jokers.

"You should go back, Halcyon," I said with clenched teeth.

"When they wish to take us to Mona Louisa?" the High Lord of Hell said smoothly. "How can we decline their kind invitation?"

I hoped to hell Blaec knew what he was doing. In fact, I was betting our lives on it. I sheathed both sword and dagger in a smooth, abrupt motion. "All right, we'll go with you."

Gilford approached with demon chains in his hands. I tensed and the dagger was back in my hand. "No chains," I said.

"You have no choice, bitch," Gilford said with venomous hatred.

I drew the sword. It slid free of its scabbard with the joyful ring of steel. "I have every choice, you stupid fool, or have you not learned that yet."

"We'll kill Gryphon," Demetrius threatened.

"Go ahead. And your Queen will probably kill you for failing to bring us in. Would you like to put that to the test? Would you like to see who prevails? Two against four. How shortsighted of you. If there were but two more of you, it would have almost evened the odds."

"Bitch," Gilford spat at me.

I flashed him a cold smile. "Always."

"You must surrender your weapons if we do not chain you," Demetrius negotiated. "And give us your sworn oath that you shall come with us peacefully."

I hated the idea. But our hands would be free. "Agreed, as long as you keep your hands off of us."

I tossed them my weapons, blades naked, keeping the sheaths buckled at my sides. "Don't worry," I said. "I'll get them back later." The sword and dagger weren't mine, after all, just loaners. Had to make sure I returned them to their rightful owners.

Gilford glared at me, clutching the surrendered weapons in his fists like he wanted to run them through me.

I smiled sweetly at him, knowing he wouldn't dare. "After you," I said. "Or should I say: 'Cowards first. »

"Gently," Blaec cautioned quietly. "No need to tweak their tails further."

"Oh, but it's so fun," I whispered back, eyes glittering. I was furious at Blaec for stubbornly coming with me. Furious at the whole goat-fucking situation. Furious at Gryphon for having waited for me. Furious at him for leaving himself vulnerable. I even knew how it had happened. Gryphon would have sent the other men back home to protect the others, in case Mona Louisa decided to retaliate. Instead, she had somehow tracked Gryphon here and had taken him. But beneath that white, cleansing fury was the sour taste of fear. Gryphon could have been killed instead of captured. Might still be.

A dark minivan was parked at the curb, probably stolen because their damaged cars had to still be back home. Nothing opened. No place to have changed their slashed tires at this time of night.

The warrior who held Gryphon's medallion got behind the wheel.

Demetrius opened the front passenger door. "Prince Halcyon," he said politely.

Blaec slid into the seat without demur, like a welcomed guest instead of a prisoner.

Not a bad seating arrangement, splitting us up, the High Lord in front, me in the middle row. The fourth warrior sat in the third row. Demetrius moved to sit in the far corner of the second row. "Milady."

Reluctantly, I sat next to him. Gilford entered last and shut the door, sandwiching me in between the two of them. But having an angry, armed Gilford sitting beside me was far better than having him sit behind me where I couldn't see him. That I would have protested. Demetrius was smarter than he looked. He hid his dislike and fear of me rather than show it like his bristling friend. It took more deviousness in a person, more smarts, more control to do that.

I breathed easier when we got on the interstate and headed east toward Mississippi. Nothing would have changed had we gone west toward Belle Vista. Yet at the same time, everything would have changed. I'd have sat there, let them take me there. But something inside me would have been died a little knowing that they had taken over my home, conquered my people. And more guilt would have been loaded upon me. East told me that Mona Louisa hadn't made a move on her old territory yet. She was hoping to take out the new Queen first and reclaim her old Queendom. A simple, elegant plan, actually. And she knew me well enough to bait her trap with a lure I could not resist.

So I sat there docilely, surrounded by enemies, and let them take us where we wanted to go. Blaec was my hidden ace. I prayed that he knew what he was doing. I prayed that his strength did not ebb. I prayed that we even reach our destination faster. Time, now, was our ticking enemy. The night was passing quickly and the coming of dawn could destroy us.

Mississippi did not seem much different from its bordering sister, Louisiana. We passed patches of marshy wetlands along the highway, drove past rolling farmlands, and finally pulled into a long drive. The house was a two-storied, pillared affair, but not as grand, not as big as Belle Vista. A lovely old property, but not a mansion. Not something meant to be the opulent residence of a Queen. How being forced to come here must have eaten away at Mona Louisa's pride. The crumbled wall where we had burst free was a lovely eyesore, as were the deep, slashing tire tracks ripping up the immaculate lawn.

Gilford leapt out of his seat as if sitting beside me had burned him. I scooted over and pulled myself out of the van. Blaec and I stood there surrounded by a score of men—a little less than twenty. We'd killed several in our last skirmish. Too bad it hadn't been more. The ones we had injured were healing or already healed.

I glanced at Blaec. His camouflaged appearance still held, and he looked uncannily weak. I prayed that it was mere illusion and not truth. If it was his true state, we were in big trouble. I was good, but not even I could take on seventeen men alone and hope to win.

The group welcoming committee was nice and flattering, and all that, but they weren't who I wanted to see. I unfurled my senses, let them fly free.

Inside. What I sought was inside. A Queen's presence and a second slow heartbeat that I knew as well as my own, the smell of my mate.

We moved as one up the stairs, as if Blaec and I were the core, and the ring of guards the outer steel rim. They kept a respectful barrier of space around us. It might have been because of me. The natural attraction between a Queen and a male, any male, was felt more strongly with close intimate contact. Then again, it might have been who they thought was the Demon Prince, moving free of chains. An unbound demon dead, even weak and injured, was still someone to be greatly feared.

Without direction, I entered the spacious receiving room to the left. Mona Louisa reclined on a plush butter-leather couch, a pleased cat-that's-caught-the-canary look on her smooth porcelain face. Evil was worse, somehow, when it was so beautiful. Gryphon sat beside her, bound in silver chains, his arms behind him and his mouth gagged. She stroked his bare chest unthinkingly, the way one would pet a dog, not caring for the body she stroked, but keenly intent, rather, on my reaction.

I kept my face inscrutable, my reaction blank, even though I raged inside with fury and relief.

Gryphon was injured low in his left side, as if a sword had been thrust through him there. It was almost the exact spot where he'd once rotted from silver poisoning. It was a gut wound that would have killed a human, but Gryphon was already beginning to heal it. The sword hadn't been silver.

Gryphon held obediently still under that insulting, caressing hand. But his eyes were most eloquent. They were frightened and urgent, desperate almost, as if he were trying to convey an important warning to me.

"My dear Halcyon," Mona Louisa exclaimed with saccharine delight, her eyes glittering with that same heated fervor. The feel of her, though, was oddly less abrasive. "How nice of you to join us once more. Although it was very, very foolish of you to return. It is truly a wonder that you ruled Hell for so long."

Blaec didn't respond. She didn't seem to expect him to. I wondered for a fleeting moment if the High Lord hadn't spoken because he couldn't disguise his voice. Father and son's tonality was the same, but Blaec had a slightly more arcane rhythm and flow to his words, reflecting his greater lifetime of existence.

"How stupid of you to fall so easily into my little trap, my dear," Mona Louisa sneered at me. "It is almost beyond comprehension that one would do something so utterly dull-witted. No other Queen would have done as you. Come as docilely as a lamb led to the slaughter. But then I expected nothing else from a weak mongrel. So sentimental. So unwise. So… human. Ruled by your heart, not your thinking mind. The taint of your Mixed Blood weakens you." She tsk-tsked in mock pity. Then her eyes hardened to ice. "But my men seemed to have carelessly left you unadorned. Where are the demon shackles?" Her voice cracked like a whip, making her men jump.

"Here, milady," Demetrius said, his voice tremulous as he held up the dark chains he had carried in.

"Why are they not on them, you fool?"

"They agreed to come without resisting if we left them unbound, milady."

"Some things, it seems, only a Queen can handle." Mona Louisa's cold look promised later retribution for her poor foolish men.

She turned her considering eyes to me, then said lightly, almost gaily, "A wager, Mona Lisa. A test of strength. If you lose, Halcyon will agree to be shackled without resistance. You need not be held by such promise. Am I not generous?"

Gryphon tried to speak but only muffled sounds escaped the cloth gagging him. He shook his head, his eyes anxious and urgent.

"And if I win?"

"Why then, both of you, and the beautiful talented Gryphon here, will go free. My word upon it."

It was almost too easy, if you trusted her word. And I didn't know that I did. But the possibility that it could end so easily, so bloodlessly, was too great a chance to pass up. "What specific test?"

"Something basic, I think." Mona Louisa cocked her head and thought for a moment. "How about arm wrestling? Something that primitively human and masculine should appeal to you."

Bitch. I glanced at Blaec. He nodded. I had to trust that he'd be able to break free of the demon chains. But hopefully he wouldn't even have to. I was almost certain I could take her. I was stronger since Basking and being gifted with some of Amber's great strength. I was as powerful now as a Full Blood, if not a little more.

"One arm only, seated," I said. "No trickery. Just pure physical strength. Agreed?"

Gryphon shook his head again and tried to struggle to his feet. Mona Louisa's slender hand pressed him back with disdainful ease.

Mona Louisa dipped her head in agreement, a little smile curving her lips. "Agreed."

A small rectangular oak table and two high-backed chairs were brought in. Mona Louisa and I sat opposite each other with only the narrow width of the long side table separating us. Again I was struck by that odd lack of abrasiveness. I felt her presence, but it was only a faint echo of the annoyance that it should have been. Our skins should have been crawling with the urgent need to put distance between us by now, two Queens this close. But they weren't. She was different somehow.

I braced my right hand on the solid wooden surface, hand cupped, waiting. With a smile of satisfaction, Mona Louisa clasped my hand in hers. She possessed a lady's hand, all cool pampered softness and smoothness. A lady who had never known a day of labor in her long life.

"On the count of three," I said. "One, two, three!"

Mona Louisa's soft hand firmed, gripped me like a vise as I lunged with all my strength, trying for a quick, decisive win. I threw my entire weight behind that downward pulling motion. Her hand dipped back a couple of inches. Then slowly, inexorably, came back up to starting point. Without visible effort, with that amused glee as if she were in on a joke that only she knew about, Mona Louisa levered my hand over to her side. Down two inches… three… four. The wooden surface loomed near and none of my straining effort was enough to withstand her strength. I grimaced, pulled, sweated and grunted to no avail.

Mona Louisa's eyes gleamed like twin icy shards, an intimate distance away from me. Her face was unlined, unmarred by exertion, smiling. She was unbelievably strong.

"How could you hope to ever be my equal?" she asked with serene disdain. "A mongrel bastard. How could you even dare dream of rising up to become one of us? Your human-infected blood can only weaken you. It is my royal duty to rid us of your taint before it stains more of us with your inferiority. Let everyone here bear witness to how weak you really are. So pathetically weak."

She slammed my hand down, crashed it through the wood, sprawled me on the floor, and smiled. "Winner takes all." Mona Louisa pinned me down and her small, smooth hands closed about me like shackles. And I was helpless to break free of her iron grip. Jesus Christ, how had she gotten so fucking strong?

"Your promise, Demon Prince," Mona Louisa said to Blaec.

Without demur, Blaec held out his hands and Gilford quickly clamped the demon chains about Blaec's wrists, closing them with a loud and heavy clang.

"Bring the other pair of demon chains here," Mona Louisa ordered and Demetrius jumped to do her bidding.

I gazed despairingly up at Blaec as I lay there pinned to the ground, Demetrius only steps away from binding me, too. Dear God, had I been wrong? Had I gambled and lost everything? Goddess help us.

Like an answer to my prayer, the demon chains binding the High Lord broke with a snap. Blaec tore the manacles from his slender wrists with two easy motions and straightened his cuffs. As the chains dropped to the ground, his glamour fell away. White wings flared once more at Blaec's temples. Gold skin darkened to bronze. There was a moment of frozen silence where everyone stopped and stared, where all eyes were upon him, all breaths held, where time itself was suspended. Where some recognized who they truly faced and others did not. Then all Hell broke loose.

Death came not with blood or violence. But with almost gentle grace. With nothing but a look, just the weight of the High Lord's gaze, Gilford flashed into light, puffed into dust. The next closest warrior standing next to Blaec almost immediately followed, so that they were like twin strobing lights going off next to the elegant bronzed man, illuminating the High Lord of Hell. A flash, flash of brilliant light and they were gone before the brightness had faded.

Mona Louisa screamed with rage, loud enough to deafen the entire room. "Cut him, slash him! Make him bleed! That will weaken him."

Even facing living death could not counter a warrior's strong inborn instinct to defend his Queen. And she sent them all to their sure death without remorse, without thought, with an ice-cold heart. Sacrificing her men to buy time for herself.

Mona Louisa pulled me up to her like a rag doll in her strong grip and buried her teeth, her fangs in my neck. I felt a sharp pain, a tearing bite. She was pressed so closely against me that I felt her slender throat work strongly as she gulped down my blood like a demon dead creature, pulling it from me so fast that I was dizzy.

With the last ebbings of my draining strength, I stretched out my right hand. A silver blade harkened to my call, leaped into my grasp. I buried the shaft deep down to the hilt in her back. Mona Louisa tore her mouth away and screamed in painful outrage. Letting me drop, she clawed the dagger from her back and threw the bloody blade at me, a blinding whirl of silver. I rolled and the knife sank into the floor where I had lain.

Her eyes spewing with molten wrath, Mona Louisa sprang to the couch where Gryphon lay bound. Her men acted as a living barricade of flesh between her and the Demon Lord so that I couldn't see Blaec, only the flash, flash, flash of bursting lights. Could only hear sounds and screams. Could only see swords and daggers rising and falling in a cacophony of vicious sound and stabbing motion.

With her left hand, Mona Louisa yanked Gryphon to his feet, hissing her blood-stained fangs—fangs! — at me. "I told you once before, mongrel bitch. If I cannot have him, then neither shall you."

I scrambled to my feet, but it felt as if I were wading through thickened air. I stumbled, and watched helplessly as Mona Louisa pulled back her hand as if pulling a tautened bow. Then with terrible finality, she unleashed her hand and plunged it straight into Gryphon's chest, tearing through flesh and bone as if she were ripping through paper. With a vicious grabbing twist, she yanked his heart out, so that it was a bulging, quivering organ gripped tight in her first. She threw it into the air.

"No!" My horrified scream echoed loudly in my ears as I leaped up to catch it. Slowly, so slowly, I watched that precious tumbling heart fall into my hands. Felt the warm wetness of fresh blood, the squish of firm and tender tissue. Felt one weak beat throb against my palms. Felt myself shudder with the reality of it, and then time resumed its inevitable fast march forward. I landed at Gryphon's side; he had fallen to the ground. With sobbing haste, I rolled him onto his back and aimed the throbbing heart at the gaping hole in his chest. Carefully, I reinserted that still beating organ back into his broken chest cavity and held it in place with a trembling hand. I ripped the offending gag from Gryphon's mouth and screamed, "Blaec! Blaec!"

There was an almost endless ripple of exploding lights and then the High Lord was at my side, his face drawn and sallow with the effort of his kills.

"Heal him, High Lord! Please!" I cried. "I'll do anything, give you anything, if you'll heal Gryphon."

"I'm sorry, child." Blaec's words tolled with bitter finality. "No one can heal such a wound."

"No! There has to be some way of helping him," I sobbed. Frantically I covered Gryphon's torn chest with both of my hands. Desperately I called up that power deep within me as I looked down at him. "Don't leave me," I whispered.

My palms throbbed, ached with burning heat, and I poured that hot rushing energy into Gryphon. His eyes, those beautiful blue eyes, stirred, fluttered open as if he were awakening from a sweet dream. Our eyes met.

"Gryphon… please don't leave me."

"My love." It was the barest of sound on a last sighing breath, with a gentle smile on Gryphon's beloved face. Beneath my hands, his heart lay coldly still, no longer beating. Then Gryphon shone one last time, a glittering eruption of light released, no longer held. Before my eyes, his flesh shimmered, dried up, and started to crumble, collapsing into a cascade of powdery residue. He gave off one final flash of his essential light. And then he was free. And was no more.