Atlantis Rising

Only the hint of the smile at the corners of his lips gave away Conlan's reluctant amusement at his warrior's defection.

Before Riley could respond, Quinn stood up and strode over to stand toe to toe with Conlan. 'Prince, huh? If you've pulled a fast one on my baby sister, you will answer to me. And I'm the type of girl who will kick your Atlantean ass.'

With that, faster than Riley had ever seen her move, Quinn placed her hands on Conlan's temples. 'Let me in, let me in, little fishy,' she said in a singsong voice.

Conlan, staring at Riley over Quinn's head, never moved. Riley knew how fast he could move. He could have snapped Quinn's hold in a heartbeat. Heck, he could have snapped Quinn's arms in a heartbeat.

But, instead, he smiled at Riley, then closed his eyes. There was utter silence in the room for nearly a minute. Then Quinn dropped her hands and stumbled back and away from Conlan.

'Who are you? How could you possibly survive that kind of torture?' She kept backing away from him, until she reached the bed and dropped down onto it next to Riley.

'Quinn, are you all right?' Riley reached out to her sister with her emotions. But, for once, she couldn't reach her. She jumped up to face Conlan. 'What did you do to her?'

'No, it's what did you do to him?' Quinn said from behind her. Riley turned to look at her sister, but Quinn's attention was focused on Conlan like a laser beam. 'Somehow, Riley, you're inside his soul.'

Heat swirled through Riley. She looked into Conlan's eyes, opening her emotions to him. Feeling the truth of her sister's words.

Not quite ready to let him see that he was inside her as well.

Footsteps thudded down the hall toward them. Ven's voice preceded his entrance. 'Conlan, we've got a problem. Or maybe I should rephrase that. Hell, we've got a buttload of problems. This one is new though.'

'Consider me to be another problem, Atlantean,' Quinn snarled. 'Because until I find out why your people attacked mine, I'm going to be all over your ass.'

Ven looked Quinn up and down and grinned. 'Honey, I'd consider that the best part of my week. Hell, maybe my entire fucking year.'

An icy voice swept into the room an instant before Alaric shimmered into a hard, menacing presence between Quinn and Ven. 'I bid you fair warning, Vengeance. If you touch her, I will destroy you.'

Riley jumped up, with some thought of protecting her sister from Alaric, who was the scariest man she'd ever seen.

A man who just happened to have magic powers of death going for him.

Inexplicably, Quinn started to laugh. The sound shivered through the room, high and wild. 'Welcome to the tea party, fish face. I have a strange feeling that you and I need to talk, especially after you practically had your hand on my boob,' she said, still smiling that eerie smile. 'At the very least, it seems like you owe me dinner.'

Riley looked at them all—Conlan, Ven, Alaric, and her sister—and slowly shook her head. 'Has the whole world gone insane?'

Chapter 22

Reisen limped down the stairs of the abandoned warehouse Micah had located for them. Thank Poseidon that the Trident was safe, still strapped to his back under his coat.

He'd been lucky.

Luckier than five of his men. Five warriors slain, and for what? To protect a human population stupid enough to welcome the shape-shifters and the bloodsuckers with bared necks?

The only possible glimmer of light in the black fucking tunnel of his day was that there hadn't been any mention of the battle in the media. Of course, the furry-assed controlled the media since they'd taken over CNN and the broadcast networks, so he guessed it wasn't enormously surprising.

Still, he decided to take it as a point for his side. After all, Alaric couldn't follow a news story that he never heard.

The priest would be tracking the news. Alaric would make it his life's mission to find a way to track Reisen down and separate his balls from his body.

Slowly.

He glanced at the glowing numbers on the face of his father's silver pocket watch. It was ironic that the only remembrance he carried of his father was the one rendered unstable by the powers he channeled.

Watches didn't like the powers of the elements, much. He pulled his cell phone out of his pants pocket, grimacing at the blank screen.

Not much machinery did, come to think of it.

But he wouldn't need to confirm his appointment with the Platoist Society. It wasn't a meeting they were likely to forget.

And when the Trident was whole and in his control, the five he'd lost today would be avenged.

His father, too.

The landwalkers would burn.

Conlan positioned the players in his impromptu meeting quite deliberately. Alaric leaned against the wall on one side of the room.

Riley sat with Quinn on a couch directly across the room from Alaric.

He and Ven took the other two walls, so it looked like some weird game of four-player Atlantean chess, using real game pieces.

Come to think of it, he'd felt a hell of a lot like a pawn ever since his return.

That shit was over.

Quinn stretched her legs out and crossed one boot over the other, in a clear display of studied nonchalance. She was every bit as tough as her sister but—unlike Riley—Quinn knew she was a hard-ass. She owned it.

And for a few seconds, when he'd allowed her inside his mind, he'd felt the black stain on her own soul. She had secrets, Quinn Dawson did.

Dangerous ones.

'Are we talking or just staring at each other all night?' Quinn drawled. 'Not that you aren't all a fine bunch of eye candy, but I've got things to do, people to kill.'

Riley stared at her sister in disbelief. Conlan sent a light touch to Riley's emotions, checking for any false note.

No, nothing. She was completely bewildered by Quinn's presence in this disaster.

Conlan folded his arms over his chest. 'Interesting choice of words. Perhaps you're ready to tell us what you were doing with those shape-shifters you call 'your' wolves.'

Alaric said nothing, merely stared at Quinn, unblinking, eyes glowing a hot green.

Quinn laughed. 'Yeah. Right. Well, you show me yours and I'll show you mine, as they say.'

'Hey, what exactly do you want to see? I'm game,' Ven said.

At the words, the room trembled, as if an undersea fault line threatened. Conlan felt the icy wind shear past his face toward his brother, and knew what caused the temblor.

Or, rather, who.

'Cut it out, priest,' he growled. 'Whatever you're playing at, we don't have time for this shit. We need to put our respective cards on the table, now.'

It was as if he hadn't spoken.

'You want me to show you mine?' Alaric stalked across the room toward Quinn and Riley, but stopped a half dozen paces away, before Conlan or Ven had a chance to move. 'Well, how about this?'

Eyes glowing hotter than Conlan had ever seen, Alaric casually lifted first one, then the second, of his hands into the air. In tandem with the motions, Quinn and Riley were lifted off the couch until they were levitating inches