“You know!” I pressed. “You know what he’s looking for, you know what it does.”
He might not have realized he was speaking. “It was what caused our falling-out. It was why we parted ways. He sought a different kind of magic than I did. Not Hercules. Herculaneum. He was going to Herculaneum, looking for … something.” His gaze went distant, dredging up two-thousand-year-old memories. He looked like a lost old man, nothing more than that.
And where the fuck was Herculaneum? It was all I could do to keep from screaming at Kumarbis, What? What was it?
I kept going, the tension pouring out in words. “The next ritual, the second half tomorrow night—what’s going to happen, exactly? You know Roman, you know what he’s capable of, exactly how powerful he is—so how are you going to destroy him?”
The staring at me went on for another minute. I had gone so thoroughly off script they didn’t know what to do with me. It was as if I’d done something unseemly at a dinner party and they couldn’t look away. Finally Zora turned to Kumarbis—waiting for permission. Only when the vampire nodded did she turn to me and speak.
“The ceremony will gather the power to destroy Dux Bellorum, then open a door so the power will reach him. You will see it when it happens. You will understand.” Her eyes were round; her raised hands, explaining in vague gestures, trembled. She was on the edge of breaking. Of insanity. Maybe her power demanded insanity.
“And when Roman hits back?”
Sakhmet put her hand on my arm, squeezed my wrist. I jerked away, bared my teeth. We were cornered. Get out, now. Too late for that.
“Regina, please,” Sakhmet said.
“Please what?” I shot back. Please stop, please help, please wait? Please be patient, this could all still work out. Wolf didn’t think so.
She looked at me, her golden gaze narrowed. Like a cat on the hunt. “Please have faith. You’ve seen what we can do.”
Enkidu added, “We represent five different aspects of power. By uniting our wills, our strength, we can overcome Dux Bellorum’s defenses. We’ve already located him, we can strike while he is weak, while he doesn’t know who or where we are. The next ritual will direct our united force to him, and destroy him magically.”
I said, “There are others … he’s got magicians working for him, vampires and lycanthropes, just like us. And did I tell you about the demon? She’s working for the same person, thing, whatever, that Roman is. That’s what I’m trying to say—what if we go through all this and it still isn’t over?”
Zora glared at me, furious. I was almost taken aback. “You’re wrong! You’re an animal, you do not understand!”
We could tear out her throat … I put my hands on my temples, squeezed. Had to keep it together.
“Regina,” Kumarbis said. “It’s all right. It’s going to be all right. You believe, you would not feel so strongly if you did not. But you must trust that this, our ritual, our plan, will work. Please.”
That was what all this was about, after all. It wasn’t enough to have me here, I had to be a willing—enthusiastic—participant. And if I didn’t believe, and the ritual failed, they could point the finger at me, it would be my fault. I had no way to win this.
What could I do? What did I believe in, really?
I nodded, because what else could I do? Even though this wasn’t faith, in the end. It was fanaticism. “But you—we have to be ready to defend ourselves. Roman isn’t going to take this quietly.”
The vampire—he gazed at me, a smile shifting the deep lines in his face, like a cracked leather mask coming to life.
“The very fact that you question us, that you urge us to such vigilance, proves to me that you are Regina Luporum. You are queen of the wolves, and we are fortunate to have you with us. Your guidance will see us through, I have no doubt.”
My arguments fell silent. What could I possibly say after that?
Before I could flip out any more than I already had, Kumarbis gathered his dignity again, straightening, gazing on us all with the beatific regard of a priest. “I must think on this, and dawn approaches. I suggest you all rest for the day, as I will. Good night, my dear friends.” He departed the chamber for his own quarters, to sleep out the day.
“I will attend him,” Zora said, and followed. She was welcome to it.
That left the three of us, regarding each other as if we’d just survived a tornado. We’d been through something, we weren’t sure what, and we couldn’t quite believe we’d survived. And this was just the beginning.
I let out a snarl and started pacing, that same track, back and forth along the far wall of the antechamber.
“He’s right,” Sakhmet said in her gentle, diplomatic voice. “We should rest.”
Finally, I pointed down the tunnel after Kumarbis and Zora. “Are they crazy? Do they really think they can just sneak up on a guy like Roman without any consequences? Who do they think they are?”
Enkidu sighed and said, “She is the avatar of Zoroaster, and he is … Kumarbis.”
Because that made so much sense. About as much sense as a werewolf named Kitty. This wasn’t about sense, it was about gut instinct and magic, and as much as I wanted to go after Roman and rip out his undead heart myself, this didn’t feel right. This felt like a trap. I stopped pacing and laced my fingers in my hair, which had become hopelessly tangled and greasy. “Right, right, like you’re the avatar of Enkidu and you’re the avatar of Sakhmet. And why you all, and not the avatars of … of Shiva or Hermes Trismegistus? How do you know the real Sakhmet isn’t running around somewhere—”