Serai was confused. “So you’re not the evil villain the soldiers are here to capture?”
“Depends on how you define evil,” Ivy said.
So fast Serai was sure Ivy hadn’t seen it, a flash of surprise crossed the vampire’s eyes, probably because the witch had defended him.
“You should not have attempted to wield the Emperor, Ivy,” Serai said seriously. “It is one of the seven gems of Poseidon’s trident, and a mortal should never touch the objects of power that belong to a god. Not if she wishes to live.”
“And yet you touched it,” Ivy said, folding her arms across her chest, her body language a clear picture of defiance.
“I am linked to the stone; as are the remaining three of my sisters. I must take it back with me to Atlantis to save their lives.”
Nicholas stepped into the space between Serai and the Emperor. “I may have something to say about that,” he said ominously.
“Say it quickly, then,” Ian said. “Because those soldiers are heading right for us, and I think—”
The boy quit speaking mid-sentence and stared down at his shoulder and the knife blade which was suddenly protruding from it. He reached out for Ivy as he stumbled, and the brave young adult presence he’d been projecting crumpled as he fell.
“Mommy?”
Ivy screamed and ran to her son, but Nicholas was there first, catching him as he fell.
Serai raced to the cave entrance, calling to her magic as she ran, and by the time the horrible soldier who would hurt a boy had climbed the rest of the way up the stone steps and into the cave, she carried glowing energy spheres whose heat didn’t come close to her fury.
“You would hurt a
Nicholas tore past her in a blast of displaced air and before she could say or do anything to stop him, he wrenched the soldier’s head from his body and tossed both pieces out of the cave and to the ground below.
“I will have the same again for anybody else who approaches,” he roared out into the night.
Before Serai could protest, Nicholas leapt out into the air and was back mere seconds later, carrying a struggling soldier.
“This one is alive,” Nicholas shouted. “If you want him to stay that way, keep back.”
“You didn’t have to kill him,” Serai said, staring at the place where the first soldier had fallen.
“He hurt the boy,” Nicholas said, and then he punched the new soldier in the side of the head, knocking him out. “An unconscious prisoner is a lot less trouble.”
“My son is bleeding to death,” Ivy shrieked. “Do something. Get us out of here.”
Serai quickly crossed to her side. “Does your power not extend to healing?”
Ivy shook her head, sobbing.
Ian looked up at Serai and tried to grin, but he was pale and it was true the wound was bleeding badly.
“I can repair this injury,” Serai said. “I will need to use the Emperor.”
“No,” Nicholas shouted. “It’s mine. I need it.”
“It is not yours, and you are a fool to try to claim it,” Serai said calmly.
“Nicholas, you can’t let Ian die,” Ivy said, no longer shouting but with tears streaming down her face. “Not even you could be so cruel.”
The vampire stared at the boy, so many different emotions crossing his face that Serai couldn’t begin to identify them all.
“Fine,” he finally said. “I am a fool. A weak, emotional, irrational fool, but you may take the gem if it allows you to help the boy.”
“I will make it allow me to do so,” Serai said grimly. She needed Daniel, though. He should have been here by now. She sent her senses out, seeking him, and found him healthy but still detained inside one of the vehicles.
She waited and almost immediately his strength surrounded her in a warm wave of love—and fury.
She almost laughed, in spite of the situation and the danger. Her fierce warrior mage, determined to protect her at all cost. Except this time, it was her turn.
She took a deep breath and centered herself, and then she cupped the Emperor in both hands and raised it into the air. She was prepared for the first punch of power this time, and she opened herself to it instead of fighting it.
“Emperor, answer my call. Heal this boy who does not deserve to be injured in the cross fire of this battle. Heal the women who struggle, caught in stasis beneath the sea, O mighty Emperor, object of power of the sea god.”
She realized that she’d spoken the words in ancient Atlantean, but it seemed fitting that she honor the gem with its proper tongue. The Emperor’s tremendous power seared through her like a bonfire through kindling and she was afraid, but slowly she adjusted, tuning her own magic to the resonance of the amethyst.
She knelt beside Ian and nodded to his mother. “Please remove the knife now.”
Ivy shook her head. “Now? Are you sure? What if you’re wrong and removing it causes him to bleed out?”
Ian touched his mother’s cheek with the hand on his uninjured side. “No, Mom, she’s doing it already. I can feel the pain going away. Please take the knife out before my skin heals around it. That would be so gross!”
Ivy still hesitated, and Nicholas knelt beside her and gently moved her to one side. He took the hilt of the knife in one hand and then stared a challenge at Serai. She nodded, filled with the power of the Emperor.
“Yes, now, Nicholas of the Nightwalker Guild,” she said, and she heard the change in her voice. Heard the power of the Emperor taking her over again.
Nicholas looked puzzled and then a little awed, but he slowly removed the knife, and as Serai directed the stream of healing light and magic into the wound, Ian never even flinched. They all watched as the gash in his skin healed completely until nothing but a thin pink scar, barely visible, remained.
“I feel great, Mom,” he said bravely, and then his eyelids fluttered shut, and his head fell back against his mother’s shoulder. He let out a little hiccupping snore, and the three adults grouped around him looked at one another and laughed.
“I owe you my life, Serai of Atlantis,” Ivy said fiercely. “My son is everything to me. Anything in my considerable power to do for you, you only need to ask me. Ever, do you hear me?”
Serai inclined her head, the power of the Emperor calling her further and further away from mortal concerns. “Take your child to safety, that is all I ask,” she said, and then she stood and crossed to the entrance to the cave, still holding the Emperor.
“You mustn’t stand there, you’re a target,” Nicholas said, trying to pull her away, but the Emperor slapped out at him and he fell back, dazed from the jolt of electricity that had poured from the amethyst and into his body.
“I think not,” Serai whispered. “Not a target, but a prism. Now I will help my sisters.”
She called on the Emperor again, this time directing its magic to Atlantis, and rejoiced as she saw in her mind’s eye the vision of her sisters waking and rising out of their stasis pods. Guen, Helena, and Merlina, all safe and healthy and whole.
“Thank you, Emperor, and thank you, Poseidon. Thank you for saving my sisters.”
The Emperor’s power pulsed and glowed in her hands, and then the purple shimmering light began to climb up her arms from her hands, encircling her limbs and sinking into her flesh.
