Lethal Rider

“I don’t need to be rescued, you idiots!”

At the front of the bird, Omar leaped in, and then the helo was airborne, and Regan was trapped.

“What the hell are you guys thinking?” she yelled, grabbing a handbar to steady herself. “Take me back!”

From the front, Omar shook his head. “Regan, we have a plan. This is what’s best.”

Shake it off. Think. The helo was in flight, so right now, she had no choice but to go along with their plan. She didn’t like it, but until she knew exactly what was up, she had to stay calm. Which wasn’t easy, given that she wanted to throw each one of them out of the helicopter for hurting Thanatos.

She sank stiffly into a seat. “What’s the plan? And why didn’t we discuss this before you attacked Thanatos and kidnapped me? I’m tired of getting kidnapped.” And boy, Thanatos was going to be homicidally angry when he came to. “You used hellhound saliva on him, didn’t you?”

Lance shook his head. “Qeres. We had to test it to make sure it would work on Pestilence.”

“That was stupid, guys. And you’ve probably destroyed our alliance with the Horsemen.”

When they said nothing, a sour suspicion fell over her. “You know that, don’t you? You know and don’t care. Why?”

“Because,” Takumi said, “after today it won’t matter.” He looked out the window and back to her. “Regan, you have to trust us. We only want what’s best for you, and for the world. We’re going to end the Apocalypse today.”

“What?” She looked between them. “How? Do you have Pestilence?”

The helicopter banked hard to the right, and she nearly slid out of her seat. As she righted herself, Lance leaned forward, bracing his forearms on his knees.

“Right now isn’t the time for questions or suspicions or doubts. It’s time for you to prove to everyone, once and for all, that The Aegis was right when we didn’t put you down as an infant.”

“How dare you.” Her voice quavered with emotion. “How dare you imply that I’ve somehow been disloyal. I’ve done everything The Aegis has asked of me, which includes bedding and betraying a man who could have killed me with his pinky. So don’t you dare talk to me as if I’ve wronged you.”

“Regan,” Omar said softly, “no one is questioning your loyalty.” He shot Lance a disgusted glare. “What Lance is trying to say—badly—is that what’s happening today isn’t going to be easy, but you’ve got to trust us more than ever, and you’re going to need to be strong. We’ve got to stick together.”

The helicopter jolted, and she looked out the window to see that they’d landed on a huge ship. As the door slid open, she turned back to Omar. “I don’t understand.”

“You will.”

A salt water breeze stung her skin as she was escorted from the big bird past an open chest full of Aegis weapons and supplies to a door on the deck. They led her through a maze of hallways until they arrived at a metal door large enough to allow a rhino to enter. She walked into what appeared to be a medical facility. Her fellow Elders followed her inside and closed the door. The ominous clang vibrated through her bloodstream, but she felt silly about her apprehension when the obstetrician who had been treating her for months entered from a connecting room.

“Regan.” He smiled warmly. “It’s good to see you. How are you feeling?”

Two nurses entered, as well as two burly male technicians carrying trays of medical instruments, and the ominous sensation of doom returned.

“I feel great,” she lied, as she eyed the syringes on one of the trays. “But I think it’s time you told me why I’m here.”

Dr. Rodanski cut a sharp look at Lance. “You didn’t tell her?”

“Tell me what?” Regan placed her hands protectively over her belly, a fierce instinct kicking in and telling her that something was very, very wrong here.

Lance held up his hands in a gesture she was sure was meant to calm her but failed on an epic scale. “We need the kid, Regan. We need it now.”

“It’s not the kid,” she snapped. “He’s my son. And what do you mean, you need him now? Have you captured Pestilence? We need Thanatos and Deliverance—”

“We don’t,” Omar interrupted. “We believe the translation of the prophecy you’ve been following is wrong. We have new information that changes everything.”

“New information? What new information?”

The doctor came forward with the syringe. “Just relax, Regan. I’m going to sedate you, and I’ll perform a C- section to deliver the baby.”

They couldn’t touch her. She knew that, and yet, her heart began to pound painfully hard. “And then what?”

“Regan,” Juan said gently, “you don’t have to be part of it. We’ll put you out.”

Oh, God. More pounding, and now her head was throbbing. “Put me out for what?”

Lance’s gaze dropped to the floor, and when he raised it again to meet hers, they glinted with both sympathy and resolve. “In order to stop the Apocalypse, we have to sacrifice the child.”

Twenty-seven

The sounds of battle penetrated Thanatos’s black haze. Whatever The Aegis bastard had darted him with hadn’t been hellhound saliva, or Than wouldn’t have blacked out, even for a few seconds, and it wouldn’t have made him fuzzy in the head. No, everything was crystal clear when you were paralyzed by hellmutt venom.

Had to be the qeres. Those fucking assholes had knocked him off his feet with the weapon they’d promised to use against Pestilence.

Fuckers.

And Regan… His body shook like a washer on spin cycle as his body stirred back to life. How involved had she been in this attack? He waited for the insane anger to set in, anger at her deception, but nothing happened. Maybe because no, he didn’t believe that after all they’d shared over the last couple of days, the talking, the love-making, she’d betray him again.

He’d give her the benefit of the doubt. Everyone else involved in this scheme, however, was going to die.

Snarling, he rocked himself up off the ground and onto all fours. All around him, Guardians were battling his vampires, and about fifty yards away, a pack of hellhounds was bearing down. Good. Let them tear the Aegis assholes to pieces.

“My lord.” Viktor, one leg broken badly, tried to help Than to his feet. “We’ve failed you—”

“No, you didn’t.” Than staggered to his feet and flicked his fingers over his throat. Instantly, his armor folded into place. “I let down my damned guard and trusted the wrong people.”

Viktor opened his mouth, but only a gasp and a rush of blood came out. A wooden bolt blew a hole through the vampire’s chest and shattered on Thanatos’s armor. In a puff of greasy smoke, Viktor crumpled into a pile of blackened ash on the ground.

“No!” Roaring in anguish, Thanatos summoned his scythe and in one lighting-fast motion relieved the Guardian who’d killed Viktor of his head. The hellhounds fell on the remaining Aegi, but Than didn’t wait around to enjoy the show.

Hurry! We need to get to the ship! Someone had shouted as Thanatos went down, the voice barely audible in the chop of the helicopter blades, and fuck, that meant he couldn’t use a Harrowgate. Water affected the destination gate, and one wrong calculation could dump him right into the ocean… where he couldn’t gate himself out.

His brain stewing with revenge, he released Styx, mounted the stallion, and took off in the direction of his son.

Styx ran as if he was being chased by the hellhounds they’d left behind, and with every stride, Thanatos’s fury mounted. He panted through the growing desire to kill, needing to stay in control. Regan had shown him what she