Vanquished. Part 34

Aurora froze, and Lucifer cast a surprised and irritated glance at her.

"Why is she wearing my dress?" Aurora asked in clipped, precise syllables, sounding very Spanish, very . . . human.

Heather smiled, because she had caught Aurora completely off guard and the "queen" was showing her own weakness. And because Heather had more than one secret planned for the b.i.t.c.h.

Lucifer raised a hand, signaling silence. The tumult in the room faded away.

As the party guests murmured quietly with fascination, Heather stepped forward grandly. All the glowing red eyes in the room were on her . . . including Lucifer's, whose gaze swept her from head to toe. She glanced at him from underneath her lashes and was rewarded by the smile that curved his lips.

"Why are you wearing my dress?" Aurora said again.

"Because I look so much better in it than you do," Heather responded.

A hush fell over the crowd as Heather came to stand within a couple of feet of Lucifer and his lady.

Aurora's eyes narrowed. "Who are you?" she asked.

Heather dimpled. "Don't you recognize me?"

She could see the confusion in Aurora's eyes: Heather was familiar, but she couldn't place her.

Panic started creeping into Aurora's voice. "No."

"Next time you keep someone in a cage for days on end, you should bother to look at them once in a while," Heather said, lifting her chin.

Understanding slowly dawned on Aurora's face.

Heather took a step closer. "That's right. My name is Heather Leitner. My sister is Jenn Leitner. And once upon a time I prayed that she would kill you."

"And now?" Lucifer asked, amus.e.m.e.nt thick in his voice as Aurora took a step backward . . . or tried to. Lucifer held her fast.

"Now I'm ever so grateful that she didn't."

Just as Aurora started to look relieved, Heather struck. In one swift move she grabbed the stake hidden in her skirt and plunged it into Aurora's heart. "Because now I can," Heather hissed as Aurora turned to ash.

The crowd erupted. Heather took a step back and closed her eyes, reveling in the sensation of victory. She heard the screams and shouts around her, and waited for death. If it came, it came.

It did not come.

When she opened her eyes again, she saw that Lucifer had raised a hand to hold off the throng of vampires ready to tear her apart. She knew that if he dropped that hand, they would kill her.

She stared calmly at Lucifer. His face was inscrutable.

"You dare to kill my protegee?" he asked in an icy, contained tone. "On this night of all nights?"

"Yes, and I'd do it again gladly," Heather said, raising her chin even higher. All eyes were on her. Because she was brave. And because she was beautiful. Though she was dead, she had never felt so alive.

He c.o.c.ked his head. "Why?"

"Because-especially on this night of all nights-you deserve better."

Lucifer stared at her for a long moment, as though reading her soul. She held nothing back, letting him see all of it.

He grabbed her hair with lightning speed and tilted her head backward. She didn't flinch. She just continued to stare at him. And after an eternity had pa.s.sed, he chuckled.

"I've been waiting for you a long time, my queen," he said. Then he bent and kissed her.

It was her first kiss, ever, and it was everything she had ever wanted, ever dreamed, and so much more. When Lucifer pulled away, in his eyes she saw the promise of a thousand nights by his side and a thousand days in his bed. And she laughed with the joy of it.

"And I'll be with you when you kill them all," she said.

"Perfection!" Dantalion shouted, raising his arms. On his cue the room burst into thunderous applause and cheers, and she dropped a deep curtsey, as if born to it.

THE MONASTERY OF THE BROTHERHOOD OF ST. ANDREW.

THE ALLIED FORCES.

The arrival of Skye and Jamie with close to thirty others left everyone scrambling to feed them, find them places to sleep, and get organized. Jenn was happy for the distraction and willingly put herself in the thick of things. She didn't want time to think. But thoughts-fears-still crept in, and she was afraid she was going to collapse into hysterics at any moment.

It was close to dinnertime when Father Juan tracked her down in the chapel. He eased himself into the pew next to her.

"No word," he said quickly; then, "I'm surprised to see you here."

She swallowed hard. She'd hoped for news of Antonio. "It's the only quiet place here now."

"I'm afraid it's going to get busier," he said.

She waited for him to go on.

"Esther's been in contact with her resistance cell from Montana."

"And?" Let them know something. Let them tell us where he is.

"It seems they're heading here."

Jenn felt her eyes bug out of her head. "Here?"

He nodded. "And it looks like they aren't the only ones."

"How are they all finding us?" Jenn asked.

He shrugged. "Apparently the word is out. And I understand that Kent has been encouraging anyone who can to join us to fight Lucifer. It's coming. Somehow Kent knows. He's calling it the final battle."

"Final battle," she repeated. "It doesn't seem possible."

He nodded. "I know what you mean. It's been a hard, b.l.o.o.d.y war. But I have a feeling that one way or another it's about to end."

"Either we win or they do?"

"Kent says that resistance cells are trading information, making preparations," he said. "It may be our final battle. But perhaps the fight will go on."

Jenn closed her eyes at the waves of fear, and some kind of strange, wild eagerness rushed through her. "Some days I'm so tired that I have to remind myself that I care which way that goes."

He patted her arm. "It's understandable, Jenn. But you must remember that you're fighting on the side of right."

"And you are not alone," an unfamiliar voice rang out. "None of us is. Not anymore."

Jenn turned to see a young Asian man standing just inside the chapel doors. He was dressed like an old-fashioned samurai, right down to the sword slung across his back. His short hair was close-cropped, and there was a ghostly familiarity to his face.

And in a rush she knew who he was.

Kenji Sakamato. Eriko's brother the Hunter.

She blinked at him in astonishment.

"How are you here?" she finally asked.

His smile was tinged with the kind of pain and sorrow that she was all too familiar with. "I heard that your team was in need of a new Hunter," he said.

Jenn stood swiftly and crossed to him. She placed her hand on his shoulder, and he didn't shy away from the contact. She looked him in the eyes. "No one can ever replace your sister. But we are honored to have you with us."

He bowed and she did likewise.

"My sword is yours," he said.

"Thank you."

"I would very much like to meet the good vampire that I have heard of," he said.

Jenn took a moment to respond.

"That will have to wait," she said finally.

Holgar had told her that Aurora had Antonio. She tried not to think about what Aurora might be doing to Antonio at that very moment.

Tried, and failed.

"When it is less difficult, I will be happy to meet him," Kenji said.

Before Jenn could explain, another figure darkened the doorway. The young woman who stood there seemed like she was from a different lifetime.

It was Tiffany, one of Heather's best friends. Jenn remembered her being at Papa Che's funeral.

Tiffany stepped forward, and Jenn was astonished at the transformation in her. Tiffany had always been slender, but now she was lean and tough-looking, with muscles and sinew twisting the length of her arms. Her once-beautiful long hair was now short, functional.

"Tiffany?" she asked, disbelieving.

Tiffany nodded.

"What are you doing here?"

Tiffany leveled intense blue eyes at her. "After what happened to Heather, I joined the resistance. And now I, we, are here to help."

Jenn turned to Father Juan. "Just who else is coming?"

He smiled. "Everyone."

CHAPTER SIXTEEN.

When I was a little girl, I had so many dreams. I was going to become a princess, or the president, or an astronaut. I thought anything and everything was possible. Life was an adventure. Then the war came, and I dreamed of fighting the Cursed Ones. Then I dreamed about Antonio de la Cruz.

I stopped dreaming the first time Aurora kidnapped him.

I know that for some people, dreams can come true. I know it, but I don't really believe it.

-From the diary of Jenn Leitner,

retrieved from the ruins

THE MONASTERY OF THE BROTHERHOOD OF ST. ANDREW.