“Then I offer you the life of Victoria DelCrux. In exchange, you will return to your dimension and consider the debt paid.”
“Guards!” Victoria shrilled, and I reached inside my sweater, pulled the amulet out, and wrapped my fingers around it. I remembered Kibwe using the same chant, but it was the cleverly crafted notes from Sonja that allowed me to recall it so readily now—when I needed it most.
“Tribuo mihi vestri vires fortitude, quod presentia. Ego libere tribuo myself vobis.” Present me your force, physical strength, and presence. I freely give myself to you.
I thought I would collapse at the sheer force of the power that engulfed me in a raging inferno, white hot, so radiant and pure. Yet I remained standing as fear became something else, something I was unaccustomed to. I no longer felt human, nor did I feel contained by mortal frailness or weakness. I felt like a god, a deity stronger than any presence around me. The energy wrapped around me, entered my body, and built from the inside. It didn’t stop, but kept growing until I wasn’t sure I could contain it. And then a frightening realization hit me.
I wasn’t sure I wanted to.
Turning from Nemnoc, I lifted my hand at the approaching group and said softly, “Stop.” It was instant, the order overtaking them the very moment my lips formulated the syllables. But it wasn’t only the vampiric guards who were frozen, so were all of the vampires in the room—the undead—those I was born with the power to see and, fortified by the amulet, control.
“Rhiannon, don’t, please.” Paine’s plea seemed distant, muffled by the ever glorious rubbing of power against my skin.
“Dimitri!” Victoria screamed. “Kill her.”
The necromancer exited the circle, and I waited like a lion would for the lamb, eager as he approached. He didn’t stand a chance. The moment he was within reach, I grabbed him by the throat. One quick flex of my fingers and the delicate bones of his neck were crushed. He toppled over like a fallen tree, too dead to brace for the fall.
“I accept your bargain, Rhiannon Murphy,” Nemnoc called out from behind me. “End the life of Victoria DelCrux, and I will leave. Our debt will be relinquished.”
It was music to my ears, the one thing I wanted to hear. I was offering a demon a way out without demanding payment. I thought it was too good to pass up, and I was right. Victoria produced dual blades from hidden seams on her skin-tight leather skirt, her high-heeled boots planted firmly as I stepped into the circle.
“I’ll rip out your throat, you ungrateful bitch.”
Smiling, I reached for the knife at my back, pulled it free, and pointed the tip in her direction. “Give it your best, psycho. You and I have unfinished business.”
She came at me and I dodged easily, watching her as if she moved in slow motion. She was well trained, handling the blades in her hands like extensions of herself, but it didn’t matter. I laughed as she kept trying to make contact but missed time and time again. With the amulet, I was just as fast if not faster. It became a game to me, a way to draw out her torture, knowing that the end result would be the same. She would die, I would win. The only variable was how long it took to take us there.
“Rhiannon!”
How many times had Paine shouted before I heard him? I wasn’t sure, but when he broke through the blissful surge of the amulet’s influence, I reacted. A deft kick to her chest forced Victoria onto her back. I stepped on one of her wrists until she relinquished her hold on her blade, then I followed up by immediately forcing her to release the other. I kicked her weapons away before I straddled her like a pony. Her beautiful green eyes were full of terror. I suppose I could understand. It wasn’t often you met your maker.