dozens of black insects which skittered away in all directions.
Talaith and her Arcane soldiers gazed down at us with perplexed expressions, unsure what had just happened and what, if anything, they should do about it. I took the opportunity to go to Varvara. I'd hoped that Gregor's leave-taking would free her from his control, but she continued staring off into space, oblivious of what was happening.
I grabbed her shoulder with my left hand and shook her hard.
'Snap out of it, Varvara!' I yelled. 'Things are not looking good, and I could really use a Darklord's help right now!'
A voice whispered in my mind then, one that felt almost like Devona's.
Will I do?
A flock of black bats flew in through the open roof, swirled together, and coalesced into the form of…
'Lord Galm!' I said.
The Vampire King bowed.
'At your service,' he said.
I looked at Varney, and he smiled.
'I thought we might need some backup, so I sent a message to Lord Galm when we were on our way to Demon's Roost. My cybernetics are good for more than just shooting film, you know. I can send e-mails, text messages, you name it.'
I turned to Galm, more than a little surprised at how relieved I was to see the Vampire King. 'Varvara's mind is being controlled. Can you free her?'
Galm walked briskly over to Varvara and touched his ivory-white fingers to her forehead. Then he turned back to us. 'Her own mind is working to throw off the mental shackles that constrain it. If I use my powers to hasten the process, I risk damaging her psyche. She should be free of her own accord soon enough.'
I pointed toward Talaith. 'Maybe not soon enough to deal with her.'
The Witch Queen had managed to shake off her confusion, and now glared down at us.
'So you're in this with her, are you, Galm? Our two Dominions have been at peace for years, but I suppose you got tired of being a good neighbor, eh? No matter. I claim this Dominion by right of conquest, and you stand in my way at your peril!'
Galm bared his fangs at Talaith, and I could feel the psychic pressure as his power began to build in response to her threat.
'Choose your words carefully, witch! I do not claim to fully understand what is going on here, but it's clear there's more to this affair than meets the eye.' He gestured to Varney. 'This man is my servant, and from what he has told me, this war is nothing but a ruse. Both you and Varvara have been tricked. Call off your people and come down here so we can talk and sort this mess out before things get any worse.'
Talaith looked uncertain, and for a moment I thought she might do as Galm suggested. But then a sly expression came over her face.
'What does it matter to me how and why this war began? All that's important is how it ends. And I intend for it to end with my being the ruler of two dominions! So step aside, Galm, while I finish off Varvara and claim what is rightfully mine!'
'I can't do that, Talaith.' Galm's icy calm was a terrible thing to behold. 'We Darklords have one Dominion apiece. That's the agreement we made when we founded Nekropolis, and that's how it's going to stay.'
Talaith sneered. 'And who's going to stop me? You? You're powerful enough, I admit, but you're alone, while I have several dozen of my strongest people with me.' She gestured at the Arcane assembled behind her. 'You cannot possibly hope to stand against us all!'
Galm's smile was cold as ice. 'Who said I was alone?'
Shadows gathered on the walls of the penthouse, and out of them stepped a host of Bloodborn, some of the most powerful vampires in the city: Waldemar the Librarian, Orlock the Collector, the Scarlet Orchid, Baron Lamprey, the Exsanguinator Supreme, Countess Carpathia, Incizor, the Dalai Lamia and more. Dread and terrible beings all, they gazed upward at Talaith and her soldiers with cold dead eyes and smiles like Death itself.
Varney looked insufferably pleased with himself. 'I told Galm it might not be a bad idea to bring along some backup.'
'Good thinking,' I said.
Galm gave no command, but the Bloodborn hissed a battle cry and leaped skyward, their bodies melting into shadowy forms as they streaked toward the hovering Arcane. Witches and warlocks began loosing bolts of magic energy, but the vampires dodged them easily, and the fight was well and truly on.
Galm turned to us.
'I'll have to confront Talaith directly,' he said. 'You're on your own from here on out. Find my daughter, Richter. Make certain she and my grandchildren are safe, and then see to it that the creature who abducted them pays for his crime. Varney, you're with us.'
Galm then burst apart into a flock of shadow bats and headed toward Talaith. The Witch Queen let out a cry of frustrated fury and started slinging energy bolts as the king of the Bloodborn came for her.
'I'm sorry,' Varney said. 'But I must do as my lord commands. Good luck to you both.'
He assumed his whirlwind form and flew off to join the fight, and his curseweave hazmat suit, now empty, collapsed to floor next to us.
As tempting as it was to watch a battle between Bloodborn and Arcane, not to mention two Darklords, I tore my gaze away from the action above us. Shamika and I still had work to do.
I looked at Varvara. The Demon Queen's gaze remained glassy, her face expressionless. Galm had said she was fighting to throw off Gregor's mental control, but there was no outward sign of her efforts. I had no idea how long it would take, but I doubted we could count on Varvara to regain control of her body in time to help us.
I forgot about Varvara and turned to Shamika. 'Where's Gregor at?' I asked her. 'He has to be using some kind of machine to transport Nekropolis to Earth. Where is it?'
'I don't know!' she said. 'I told you, I searched throughout the city for the missing Arcane, but I wasn't able to find a single trace of them, and I didn't find any dimension-shifting machinery during my search either.'
'Maybe he's hidden the machine using magic,' I said. 'Or maybe he's located it underground somewhere.' But neither of those possibilities felt right to me. A thought was nagging at the back of my mind, one that I couldn't quite catch hold of. I pictured the way Gregor had stood after he'd absorbed Talaith's magic strike. He'd pointed the lightning rod toward the sky and unleashed the bolt into the darkness. I remembered what he'd said just before doing it.
Now, if you'll all excuse me for a moment, I need to transfer this.
He'd sent Talaith's energy to the machine, wherever that was. And I was certain he had another body there to run the show from that end. How long would it take for him to put Talaith's power to work and begin transporting the city to Earth, this time permanently? Not long, I feared, and we had no idea where he was. If only I could think…
Once more I felt the sensation of my missing hand moving, only it felt different this time, kind of tingly. I looked down at the stump protruding from my right arm, and I was surprised to see my hand reappear right where it belonged, attached more or less firmly to my body. My fingers were clenched into a fist, and when I opened them I saw that I was clutching a small metal disk. I grinned. It was a reverser! Somehow Devona had gotten hold of my hand and used one of the magic disks to reverse Gregor's teleportation spell, sending my hand back to where it was taken from: my wrist. But why hadn't she used the reverser to send herself back too? Why just my hand?
And then I saw that my palm was marred by thin lines, and I remembered feeling a sensation of pressure on my hand a while ago, almost as if someone were cutting into it. I pulled away the reverser with my other hand and held up my palm so I could examine it more closely. There, cut into the flesh – with Devona's teeth, I guessed – was a single word.
Ulterion.
I grinned from ear to ear.
'I love that woman.'
