Lethal Rider ( Lords of Deliverance 3)

“Why doesn’t the R-XR know about it?” As a member of the U.S. Army’s paranormal unit, the R-XR, Decker wasn’t intimately familiar with everything The Aegis knew and possessed, even though he had been inducted into The Aegis and made an Elder. His Guardian status was too new, and he had a lot of catching up to do.

“Because we don’t have enough to share,” Regan answered.

Arik stroked Limos’s back. More sweetness. “What happened to Pestilence?”

“He took off. He was furious that he couldn’t get into the artifact room and worried his siblings would show up to try to stop him.”

“He’ll be back.” Than’s voice was grave. “The Aegis holds too many powerful objects. He’d love to get his hands on anything, but was there something in particular he was after?”

Kynan gave the barest nod, as if his neck pained him. “He said something about Wormwood. It’s most notably a star mentioned in Revelations, but it’s also the name of a dagger The Aegis appropriated in the late 1300s.”

“Why would he want that?” Regan asked, more in general than to anyone specific.

“No idea,” Than said. “I remember the dagger. It supposedly belonged to an influential archbishop.”

Limos tapped her chin. “Wasn’t it rumored to have been forged by a demon?”

“The archbishop claimed it was a heavenly relic,” Kynan said. “Originally worn by an angel. We’ve never found the truth about it, but maybe Pestilence knows something we don’t.”

“We’ve got to move all the artifacts,” Decker said. “We can’t allow him to get anything, especially something he wants.”

“It’ll take forever to transfer the items to a new location.” Regan’s head ached just thinking how long it would take and how much effort would be involved. “And they’d be vulnerable during the move.”

Kynan sighed. “I know, but we don’t have a choice. Val is securing a new headquarters, and once that’s done, I can use Harrowgates to transport the most important things quickly.”

The most important things? Everything in their inventory was important. The Aegis was the largest collector of historical, Biblical, and demonic artifacts in the world, holding one-of-a-kind spell books, summoning crystals, and documents that could obliterate entire religions and destabilize governments. Heck, although Regan hadn’t seen it herself, the Ark of the Covenant was supposed to be locked away at Aegis Headquarters.

God, this was a disaster. And wait… “If Pestilence was able to track Thanatos’s Harrowgate, can his gates also be tracked?”

“Once Reseph’s Seal broke, we lost that ability.” Thanatos’s expression was contemplative as his gaze traveled between her, Arik, and Decker, and then finally returned to Ky. “You said you have qeres?”

“Very little,” Kynan replied slowly. “The recipe has been lost, so we can’t make more. What we have is all we have.”

“Give me a minute.” He strode away, and Limos went with him, leaving Regan with Ky, Arik, and Decker.

Decker sprawled out in one of the fat leather chairs while Arik remained standing, and Ky limped over to Regan and sank down on the sofa next to her.

“Are you okay?”

I’ve been kidnapped, nearly impaled by an arrow, almost frozen solid, but other than that…“I’m fine.”

Kynan glanced in the direction Than had gone and lowered his voice to a discreet murmur. “I got your message about escaping just before Pestilence arrived. Has Thanatos hurt you?”

She gave a sharp shake of her head. “He won’t let anything happen to this baby.”

“That’s not what I asked.” Ky shifted in his seat, careful not to touch her. “If you tried to make an escape, why are you still here?”

“Thanatos stopped me before I could get anywhere. On the way back Pestilence attacked us and sicced some frost demons on me. I got a little chill. As you can see, I’m fine. Thanatos took care of me. He won’t risk injuring me.”

“And what about after the baby comes? What then?”

That was the question of the century, wasn’t it. The recurring nightmare of Than killing her popped into her head, and an ice-cold stab of dread shot up her spine. “We can worry about that later. Obviously, Than knows the plan for the baby, and he’s not happy. I’ll work on him.” Ha. She had a feeling Sheoul would freeze over before he changed his mind. “Do you think Pestilence’s attack on headquarters is related to the release of the vampires at headquarters?”

No doubt Kynan recognized her diversion tactic, but the new subject was too important to ignore. “It’s too early to know, but it’s one hell of a coincidence.”

“I can’t believe this,” Regan whispered. “Things just keep getting worse.”

“It’s not all bad,” Ky said. “Remember how you asked why Decker and I were at headquarters when you were attacked?”

“You said you were there to discuss waking Thanatos.”

“That’s because we’ve come across some new information just in the last couple of days.” Decker dropped his gaze to Regan’s belly. “Has Thanatos confirmed that the baby is his agimortus?”

She nodded. “Why?”

“We think that the baby might be the key to the end of the world … but he might also be the key to saving it, just like we were led to believe in the first place.” There were some exchanged glances before Ky spoke. “We’ve put together everything we’ve found regarding Thanatos and his role in ending the Apocalypse, including a mishmash of texts about a birth weakening Pestilence’s heart. And you know the part in Thanatos’s prophecy about a cry?”

She nodded. Than’s prophecy, which was part of the Daemonica’s apocalyptic prediction, was burned into her brain like a brand. Behold! Innocence is Death’s curse, his hunger his burden, a blade his Deliverance. The Doom Star cometh if the cry fails.

“Well,” Kynan continued, “it fits with a passage from the Torran.”

Arik frowned. “What’s a Torran?” Like Decker, Arik was both an Army R-XR member and had only recently been named a Guardian. Regan hadn’t yet had the opportunity to go through the thing, but she’d love to get her hands on it. “You know how humans have a bazillion different religions, and each of those religions breaks off into smaller denominations? Like, within the designation of Christianity, there are Catholics, Baptists, Protestants … and even those branch off into sects of varying ideology. Well, demons have something similar. The Daemonica is their bible for the largest of their religions, but they have others. One of the religions, Bletouth, broke apart into two very different ideals. There was a nasty war, and in the end, their religious book was torn in half, and each given a name. The Torran and the Toreign.”

“We’ve had a copy of the Toreign for centuries, but we didn’t procure a Torran until a couple of months ago, so we’re only now uncovering useful info.” Ky rubbed the back of his neck. “So anyway, inside the Torran, we found a passage relating to the Horsemen and the Apocalypse. It says, ‘First cry weakens the heart … a plunge of the blade ends it.’ Basically, we think that the baby’s birth will turn Pestilence mortal for a short period of time, allowing ‘the blade,’ Deliverance, to kill him.”

Deliverance was a dagger forged thousands of years ago as a weapon against the Horsemen—the only weapon believed to hold the power to kill them. Unfortunately, as they’d learned eight months ago, the blade wasn’t effective against Pestilence.

“That’s why you came to headquarters the night I was attacked by the vampire. To discuss rousing Thanatos so he could be there for the baby’s birth,” she mused. “So what about the part of his prophecy that mentions the Doom Star?”

“Some of us believe the Doom Star is Halley’s Comet. The comet has been associated with everything from godly messages to the devil’s tool to the Star of Bethlehem. We think that if Pestilence isn’t killed at the baby’s first cry, the next opportunity won’t happen until Halley’s Comet next appears.”

She could predict where this was going. “And I’ll bet it won’t show its comet-y face anytime soon.”

“The year twenty sixty-one.”

Jesus. By then there might not be much of a world left to save. She considered everything Ky and Decker had told her. “Why didn’t you guys tell me any of this sooner?”

Kynan wiped a trickle of blood from his temple with the back of his hand. “You’ve got enough to deal with. We didn’t want to get your hopes up before we got everything figured out.”

Regan didn’t like being kept out of the loop, but at this point, it hardly mattered. Not when the world was collapsing around them.

Something beeped, and Ky dug a cell phone out of his pocket. After pushing a button, he propped the phone on Than’s desk, and both Lance and Val offered greetings over the speaker.

“Are we clear to talk?” Val asked.

“Right now there are only Aegi in the room,” Ky said.

“Good,” Val said. “What’s going on on your end?”

Regan sat up. “I was about to tell these guys to take me back with them. You’ll all need my help—”

“The best thing you can do right now is stay safe,” Kynan said. “Never thought I’d say this, but I think you’re better off here with Than.”

Regan’s stomach rolled. “What? Are you kidding me? I can’t stay here.”

“Kynan’s right,” Decker said. “As much as I hate it, we can’t risk moving you around.”

“Yes, you can.” Her voice cracked. “You have to.” You’re going to pleasure me. Whenever I want. Every. Single. Night. Oh, God. “I can stay at a regional headquarters.”

“Regan.” Kynan’s military bark snapped her to immediate attention, and she realized she’d been panicking. Babbling. “If Thanatos can sense the baby, he can find you. We can’t risk him coming for you and Pestilence tracking him.”

“He’ll agree to not go after me. He’ll understand.”

Arik snorted. “Thanatos? Understand? Have you even met him?”

“I agree,” Kynan said. “If you were Gem, I wouldn’t let you out of my sight. He’s not going to let you go.”

“This place is crawling with vampires,” she reminded them. “And in case you forgot, one of them tried to kill me.” Yes, Thanatos had explained that the vamp hadn’t been his, but right now, she’d take any argument to get away from here.

“Tried,” Decker said. “You could have killed him with your power. You can defend yourself.”

Did she dare tell them that her defensive ability had failed? Maybe it was just a fluke. And it wouldn’t change anyone’s mind, anyway. Ultimately, they were right. As much as she hated to think it, she probably was safest here, at least for now.

Val’s voice crackled over the airwaves. “This will also put you in a unique position to study the daywalkers.”

“Yeah,” Lance chimed in. “Give you something useful to do.”

She glared at the phone as if Lance could see her expression. “As if gestating a baby that might save the world isn’t enough?”

She could almost hear Lance’s shrug. “Once the kid pops out, you’ll be dead weight again.”

“Shut up, asshole.” Kynan said.

Decker shoved to his feet as if ready to go through the speaker and kick some ass. “You’re such a dick.”

“It’s okay,” Regan said. “We’re all stressed.” But damn, Lance had struck a nerve.

Oh, she was used to his clumsy barbs, but this one was actually spot on. She’d never felt as if she had as much to offer as the other Elders, and she suspected that her abilities were the only reason she’d been promoted. That, and the fact that Lance had once told her that they wanted to keep an eye on her. The soul-sucking ability was dangerous, and they wanted her leashed.

“Fuck you,” Lance muttered. “I was just trying to make sure she had something useful to do. Don’t want her going the way of her Mama.”

The room exploded in curses, so many insults flying at Lance that Regan couldn’t separate them. She wasn’t her mother. Yes, she may be giving her child up for a better life, but she wasn’t going to kill herself. Even in the first two months after that horrible night with Thanatos, when she’d nosedived into such a deep state of depression and guilt that she could barely leave her bed, she hadn’t thought about suicide.

Granted, she might have considered dropping back into the fighting ranks again after the baby was born, because dying in battle wasn’t killing yourself, right? Not if dying wasn’t the goal, the way it had been for her mother.

Her stomach turned over again, threatening to spill, and she shoved to her feet and brushed past Limos, who was just entering the room. “I…um…I need to go.”

Decker moved toward her. “Regan?”

“I’m okay.” She held up her hand to hold them off. “I just need a minute.”

With that, she ran as fast as she could to the bedroom, where she dashed into the bathroom and lost her last meal.

Eleven

The tap on the bedroom door came as Regan finished brushing her teeth with one of the spare toothbrushes she’d found in Than’s master bathroom cabinet.