"But, of course, if Theo can't speak to it, who's left to do so if she won't? They're all dead now."

Recht nodded. "Vampires like to create their own mythology. Many of us who were not born to Vampire parents took being made as a second chance. To rise from the ashes of our humanity and be something more."

Yeah, yeah, she'd heard this speech a few times. And from one such as Recht she respected and understood it. But many others just used it as theater to seem more important than they actually were.

"I hate flying blind. I know she's got some magical skills. I know there have been other Vampires who had magic in the past."

"All of them were powerful. One of them nearly killed The First a thousand years ago."

"Really? I've never heard this story. Tell me, please."

"Vampires with magic usually were human before they were made. And the transformation does something to their power. Increases it. It's why during the war with the Hunters, you had to bring in full-blooded sorcerers. Our magic users were too strong for anyone who merely dabbled. This witch felt spurned by The First, and she nearly killed him as they woke for the night. It was my father who saved him. My father who died."

Rowan wanted to say something to make it better, but having lost parents, what could she say? There was nothing to make it better.

"I was twenty and in the army. The First came to me the following night and told me what had happened. My father had been made when I was twelve. He'd gone to serve The First here at the Keep, but my mother was the daughter of a n.o.ble in Italy. We stayed there where my grandfather raised me. My father visited and we came here from time to time. But back then it wasn't so fast you see, to travel the way we do now.

"He came to me and told me my father had died a hero and asked if I wanted to be made. I said yes only if I could take my father's place. I had no wife and children. My mother had died a year before. My lands are still in Sardinia, but I haven't seen them since that day.

"He made me that night and brought me here. I've watched him, guarded him ever since. I've long distrusted Enyo. Part of me wondered if it wasn't her connection to magic. Knowing it was one like her who'd killed my father. But she's a schemer, and she's long been discontented with her lot."

"Do you think she wants to take Theo out, then? Topple him from the throne and ascend to lead the Nation?"

"He's very well protected, as well as being far more powerful than she gives him credit for. That little show he gave earlier with Collette, that was for Enyo's benefit too. He must keep her secret, but he is far more able than she thinks of keeping his place here. But you? Well, if he lost you, I don't know what would happen."

"So, it's not just that she's a b.i.t.c.h and hates me, she'd off me to mess with Theo's head and take his seat."

"He...he's a flawed individual in many, many ways. He's made mistakes. Hurt people he loved. But you are the embodiment of everything good in him. These years you've been gone, he's known of your every move. Even as it pained him to see. He loves you in a way I've never seen in him with anyone or anything else. To see you walk into a room where he is, to see the two of you together, is to know his true vulnerability."

"His love for me."

Recht shook his head. "His love for you is strength. It keeps him grounded. To lose you would be to lose that anchor. It would be disastrous for us all. Enyo most of all. Because in the end, he would lose much more than his daughter. He would tear down the foundations of heaven to avenge you. No matter the cost."

Rowan didn't know what to say to that. h.e.l.l, she didn't know how to begin to feel about it other than...touched. Touched that someone felt like that about her and that Recht would tell her.

Being Other was lonely, yes, but she wasn't entirely alone.

"So we need to get to her. Figure her out and execute her so she can't be a threat to me or to him or the Nation."

"She's backed into a corner. You just announced you were going to investigate the origin of this magic. She'll come at you soon enough. Be careful, especially after you leave here. I'll keep digging and let you know what I find out."

She nodded. "Thank you. For all this." He'd given her such a big piece of himself. His own story of origin and all the stuff about Theo too. "It matters a lot to know."

"Your Scion descends from Alba's line, by the way."

"Ew, so we're sort of related?"

Recht laughed. "Little G.o.ddess, your father is not blood-related to anyone alive anymore. As far as Scions go, yours is a good one. I approve. Mainly."

"Mainly?"

"I wish that you could have a normal life with children and a husband. Far away from Vampires and witches and attempts on your life. You should not know what it is to have a dislocated shoulder or to have nearly died. You should not bear the scars on your back. Not from Collette or him. You will never have a normal life with Clive Stewart."

She shook her head. "I'll never have a normal life with anyone. If I have children, what could I teach them? How to execute a Vampire old enough to have danced at a coming-out ball in Regency England? I will never have normal. I'd end up killing a human man. I'd bring death to his door, and then what? At least Clive Stewart knows what to do if death shows up on his doorstep."

"Like to like, eh?"

At her puzzled look he went on, "Despite my wanting a normal life for you, my belief that you deserve such a thing, I don't think it's your destiny. So, if you have to live a life filled with violence and danger, it's good to be with someone who understands those things the way you do."

She snickered. "He doesn't like it that my job is killing Vampires."

"Sometimes they need killing. Like some humans do."

It was nice to be understood. Even if it was odd that a Vampire alive as long as the one across from her was the one doing the understanding.

"Go back to the party. Celebrate your hard work." He stood and led her to the door.

"Thank you." She kissed his neck and he did the same.

"Always, little G.o.ddess."

Rowan really wanted a shower. She still had Vampire dust on her skin. Killing a Vampire was like spending the day at the beach. The grit it left on your skin irritated.

Showers were also a good way for a Vampire to warm up. And a nice way to get naked with Clive at the same time. She also loved the way he gave her a scalp ma.s.sage when he washed her hair, so she'd propose that to him instead of running to her rooms to shower first.

She got downstairs and one of the staff stopped her with a note.

Orangerie. C She really did hope he had no plans to have s.e.x out there. It was too cold for that, and she hadn't been totally poking at him when she'd reminded him of her no-s.e.x-outside policy.

Rowan skirted the crowd, not wanting to get sucked into yet another meeting when she just really wanted to be with Clive for a while and turn off the world.

She headed outside without a coat, grateful she still wore a sweater. Also grateful for the excuse of being cold to come back inside to her rooms or his, whichever. Inside was the goal.

Funny how used she was to being awake and around at three in the morning. The way the world seemed so quiet, but if you were near Vampires it never was. Three a.m. was when they started to head home. They wandered in the last bit of darkness, free for another few hours.

She was smiling as she hustled through the grounds. The sounds of the Keep faded as her breath misted around her face. She hugged her arms to herself, in a good mood even though she planned to poke Clive about meeting so far away from the warmth of the Keep.

The hair on her arms and the back of her neck stood on end, and she nearly pa.s.sed out when Brigid filled her with no warning, right as she flew through the air and hit a tree trunk hard enough to make her see stars and knock the breath from her lungs.

Her back, where it had been ripped open by Collette earlier, began to bleed, the spice of it in the air as Rowan struggled to sit up and figure out what the h.e.l.l was going on.

A scream rent the air as nails and teeth hurtled in Rowan's direction again. Still stunned, she managed to move, but not enough to avoid the hit totally. She was pulled up by the back of her sweater and her hair and thrown against the side of the orangerie.

The gla.s.s was tempered so it didn't break, but fine lines fissured the surface.

Her ears rang as she took a kick to her kidney.

Rowan didn't have her blade, but she needed to get her wits and legs under her, or she would end up dead. This was all happening fast and furious.

She rolled away from another kick and up to her knees. With no small amount of pain, she got to her feet, rocking back to her heels.

The G.o.ddess burned through her like wildfire as Enyo came into view. Brigid made a sound, a growl of sorts, and spoke in Greek. "You have made a grave error."

"Who do you think you are?" Enyo screamed as she came at Rowan. This time she was able to dodge the blow and managed a cuff to Enyo's temple, sending her back.

"I am Rowan Summerwaite. Vessel to the G.o.ddess Brigid. We went over this just a few hours ago. Did you hit your head or something? I should say something like, prepare to die! But I doubt you've even seen The Princess Bride, because clearly you lack taste."

Enyo sneered. "It'll be my pleasure to kill another one of her human meatbags."

G.o.ddess, that was it! Moibeal had been poisoned!

"Did you think I didn't know? Poison is such a cowardly tool." They circled each other, and even with Brigid's help, Rowan was nearly outmatched by the ancient Vampire. She'd defeated old Vampires before, but never any as old as Enyo, and the difference was marked. Enyo's speed was like nothing she'd ever seen other than Theo. Comparing the strength of even the rogue she'd killed in the desert a few months back was a joke.

This was an eons-old predator, and Rowan was weakened and without her blade.

There was nothing to be done. No whining about it. She had to win or she'd die out there alone, and the very idea that this f.u.c.king b.i.t.c.h would win was simply unacceptable.

Brigid burned brighter, giving Rowan strength.

"So, you poisoned one of my sisters a few millennia ago. My estimation of you just dropped. Not that it was very high to start with."

Enyo hissed, striking out with her nails. Rowan caught her wrist and bent it hard, snapping the bones, getting in Enyo's face as she grinned. Left-handed, she got a thumb into the Vampire's eye and pressed hard.

Enyo screamed so loud it hurt Rowan's head. She lost her hold on Enyo's face as the blood made it impossible to hold on.

Enyo turned and sank her teeth into Rowan's arm so hard it broke bones.

Brigid screamed back at her in Greek. Rowan made a note that if she survived this fight, she'd have to use some of the more creative insults later on.

"I'll make you die slow for that," Enyo snarled.

"If so, you'll do it with one eye. Maybe you can get a patch with some sparkles on it. A jaunty pony. You guys can't grow organs back, can you? Is the eye an organ? Maybe we can call you Pirate Polly from now on."

Left arm useless, in pain from all the shredded muscle and tendons, Rowan managed to get her back away from the wall of gla.s.s. The wounds on her arm weren't healing, so several major arteries had been severed and she was bleeding heavily. Enyo must have used poison on her incisors to counteract the coagulant.

Vater! If you can hear me, I need your help. Please. Orangerie. Enyo has attacked me.

He used to be able to hear her thoughts a long time ago when she'd been beaten and in pain. It was probably useless now, but what the h.e.l.l did it hurt to try?

"Where's your little sword now?"

"Being cleaned after I jammed it into Victoriana's heart earlier and killed her. Good thing a thumb can poke an eye out just fine."

Brigid pushed into her harder, took up more s.p.a.ce inside Rowan. The pain subsided enough to keep her from pa.s.sing out, but at the same time it was harder to hold on and keep control of herself.

"You're all talk now as you bleed out."

"This coming from a coward who uses poison and attacks a back in the dark instead of openly in the challenge square? I had forgotten until now how Moibeal had died. What's the matter? Afraid a fair fight isn't one you can win?"

"She wasn't like you. You're vulgar, and you don't know your place."

"Yeah? f.u.c.k off. Stupid f.u.c.king t.w.a.t. You glide in here and think you can use magic to control s.h.i.t instead of working for it like everyone else? And you think no one will notice? You're so dumb I cannot even. And yet, here we are. You killed her and for what?"

Enyo moved to the left, but Rowan remembered that feint and ducked, just barely, when she came hard with a right.

"She was a fool. Like Brigid is a fool. I know what it means to destroy a battlefield. She fed the fires to make the swords. I fed the bloodl.u.s.t and greed that rendered great cities into dust."

Brigid spoke this time. "Vampire, you are no Vessel. You lack the integrity and mental stamina to host a G.o.ddess. Even one as Enyo." Rowan grabbed Enyo's ear and yanked her head back into the gla.s.s at her back.

The violence of it echoed through Rowan's body, and she clenched her jaw to keep from crying out.

"What I am is better." Enyo twisted from Rowan's grasp and grabbed her injured arm, digging her nails in and pulling the shoulder, already injured earlier, from the socket again.

Her vision went white at the edges. She hit the ground with Enyo astride her body. Rowan used her good arm to fend off those snapping jaws, managing to get in a few hard punches to the face and a deep set of scratches down the side of Enyo's face.

Enyo's wrist, the one Rowan had broken earlier, had healed enough to keep hold around Rowan's throat, squeezing. With her free hand, she punched Rowan's side hard enough that several ribs broke and one of them pierced something important enough to send pain dancing through her body.

Rowan used the last bit of her energy to whip her leg out and kick it back as hard as she could manage, knocking Enyo from her perch.

Coughing and gasping, Rowan rolled away and managed to get to her knees, swaying slightly as each breath she took sent waves of torment through her body.

"No one will remember you when you're gone."

Rowan might have believed that even six months before. But she finally knew better. And she needed to keep her spirits up and continue to keep Enyo off balance every way she could.

"Bulls.h.i.t. I'm awesome. Everyone will remember me. When I die of old age many decades from now," Rowan said as she managed to stand. The left side of her upper body was useless, but she was right-handed anyway.

"On the other hand, you're an old hag. Your little buddy is dead, her little buddy is dead, and Theo isn't going to let Marcilius out of his dungeon. Ever. So who's gonna care when I dust you?"

Enyo rushed her, knocking her to the ground again, but Rowan extended the fingers in Enyo's mouth, gagging her, and then she grabbed her incisors and yanked as hard as she could.

Teeth came free and she tossed them behind her, blood rushing all over the place. Some of it Enyo's, some of it Rowan's.

A lot of it Rowan's.

If she lived through this, she was going to spend a week at her favorite spa getting ma.s.saged and oiled up and taken care of. Probably after she spent a week in the hospital.

Enyo screeched again, loud enough that rustling sounded in the nearby bushes as whatever sleeping creatures woke up and ran for cover.

It took Vampires months to grow back incisors they lost. The satisfaction of that knowledge enabled Rowan to make a fist and punch Enyo's face hard enough to get her off, though she'd pay for that once Brigid left her body and the true toll of her injuries. .h.i.t.

They went at it again, Rowan ducking and kneeing Enyo in the chest. Rowan needed a way to pull Enyo's head off or destroy her heart. It was the only way to kill a Vampire, and one this old didn't last so long without being really good at staying alive.

Brigid burned bright within, reminding her that Rowan had to be better. She searched around, mopping the blood from her facial wounds to keep it from her eyes.

Using her good arm, she managed to wrench a large tree limb free.