Atlantis Rising

that's when the vamps decided to get involved,' Conlan said.

Riley shuddered. 'You had vampires even back then?'

'The bloodsuckers have been around since the beginning, when the god Chaos bedded his twisted daughter Anubisa and began the whole foul—' Ven lapsed into a lyrical-sounding language that wasn't the least bit recognizable to Riley.

'They may be aknasha, but they don't understand ancient Atlantean, Ven,' Conlan observed, a wry grin quirking up the edges of his lips. Then the humor faded from his face and an expression so terrifyingly haunted took its place that Riley squeezed his hand, hard, to try to pull him out of whatever hell he saw in his mind.

It seemed to help, a little, but Riley still saw the stamp of a predator on the fierce cast of his face. She was careful not to reach out and touch his emotions.

She knew she didn't want to visit whatever he saw in his mind.

'Anubisa,' he ground out. 'The unholy union of Chaos and Anubisa, the goddess of death. Their offspring were the ancestors of all bloodsuckers. Anubisa is a vamp herself but, as near as we can figure out, she feeds on negative emotion more than blood. The more passionate, the better.'

'Like the pain of torture,' Riley whispered, suddenly understanding what she'd seen and felt in Conlan's memories.

He pulled his hand away from hers and smoothed his expression to a mask of calm.

A false mask of calm, most likely. How could he have survived that? How could anyone?

With the thought came despair. 'How can we defeat somebody who thinks she's a goddess?'

'She is a goddess,' Ven said.

Riley shook her head. 'Not to me. I'm monotheistic and only recognize one God. Not that I'm disagreeing with your beliefs in any way, but I have to have faith that she's not all-powerful. In any event, if she has godlike powers, we're in trouble.'

'You forget, we are also led by a god. Poseidon's power exceeds that of Anubisa,' Ven pointed out.

Rage tore through her. 'Well, where the hell was he when his own prince was being tortured nearly to death?' Riley shouted, shoving her chair back to stand. 'Where was your stupid sea god then?'

Conlan pulled her into his arms for a brief hug, then smoothly pulled her to a seat on his lap, as if he'd been doing so for years.

'I am honored that you would defy Poseidon himself in your defense of me, mi amara aknasha' he murmured into her hair.

The feel of his breath on her ear stirred something down low in her abdomen, and her thigh muscles clenched. If Quinn and Ven hadn't been sitting right there, both of them staring with openmouthed disbelief, she would have turned in his lap and planted some major lip-lock on Conlan.

She might do it, anyway.

Quinn's eyes narrowed. 'Fine. So big problems with the humans, and then what?'

Ven answered this time. 'Then the gods got into a big stink of a fight, and the Cataclysm happened. Big, 'earth itself might be destroyed' kind of catastrophic shit that happens when a bunch of children start fighting over their toys.'

Conlan's voice was a rumble in his chest against Riley's back. 'Though my brother edges close to blasphemy, he is essentially correct. Atlantis was forced under the sea to protect itself, both from the humans who threatened and from the battle between the gods. First magic, then a mix of magic and technology have shielded us from discovery for these many years.'

Riley, suddenly feeling shy, slid off Conlan's lap and back onto her own chair. 'But you've been coming up to the surface all this time?'

'No, not always. It took time to learn the secrets of travel between our land and the surface. But we had sworn the oath as Warriors of Poseidon. The warriors of that time would stop at nothing to find a way to return to guard humans from the increasing vampire and shape-shifter threat.'

Conlan drained his beer, put the bottle back on the table with some force. 'It's our job to keep you safe, even when you do your best to hinder us.'

Quinn toyed with her mug and then seemed to reach a decision. Shoving her curls out of her eyes with one hand, she started to speak. 'Okay. I've been scanning you both and, for what it's worth, your emotions tell me that you're giving us the truth. I say for what it's worth because, if you really are Atlantean and an entirely separate species—'

She looked up for confirmation and Conlan nodded.

'Then it's possible that my much-prized abilities to scan emotion are worth precisely nothing when it comes to you. Are your emotions even remotely similar to ours?'

Ven started to respond, but she held up a hand. 'No, don't bother. It feels true to me, and I have to go with my gut instinct, or I have nothing. And if I start doubting my gut now, the game, as they say, is up.'

Riley put a hand on her sister's arm to confirm what her senses were telling her. Quinn was telling a truth that was very painful for her. Riley's nerve endings flinched back from the anguish underlying Quinn's words.

'It's okay, Quinn. Whatever you need to say. I'm right here,' she murmured, sending waves of reassurance and love through their personal sister link.

'Well, tall, dark, and ugly over there called us fools. He's right. Not all of us, but enough of us hid under a rock and let change happen without trying to fight it,' Quinn began, voice flat.

Riley winced at the echo of her earlier thoughts. Maybe Quinn thought she was a fool, too. 'Not being political or marching on Washington doesn't make a person a fool, Quinn,' she said. 'Some of us try to make a difference on a local level.'

Quinn grabbed her in a brief hug. 'I wasn't talking about you, honey. You give twenty-four-seven to those losers you work so desperately to save. I'm talking about the people who sit on their fat asses and do nothing while vamps take over our government.'

'They're not losers,' Riley said quietly. 'They're people who never had the basics to improve their lives. I try to help with that.'

'I'm sorry. I know you do. You're right, they're not losers. And you're pretty much a fucking saint to do what you do. But my path is a little different.'

Ven suddenly whistled, staring at Quinn with admiration evident in his gaze. 'Takes a street fighter to recognize another one. You're in the rebellion.'

Quinn inclined her head, unsmiling. 'Yeah. And telling you this could get me dead in a hurry, so consider it an even trade for what you told us about Atlantis.'

She paused, sucked in a deep breath. 'I'm not just in the rebellion. I'm one of its leaders. And those wolves your pals killed? They were on my team. So I'm responsible for their deaths.'

Quinn snapped her mouth closed when Brennan walked into the room, staring at him with suspicion.

'It's okay, Quinn, this is Brennan,' Riley reassured her sister. 'He—'

'He has a nifty trick of burying his emotions way, way down, doesn't he?' Quinn said, eyes narrowing. 'I almost didn't feel them at all, dude. Nice hostility, by the way. How'd you manage, the emotional block?'

Chapter 23

Riley stared through the window into the night. 'I can't believe she left. I can't believe my sister, the rebel leader, just took off into the night on an urgent mission. I keep thinking I'm trapped in a B movie, and I'm going to wake up any minute.'

Conlan couldn't stay away from her any longer. He'd watched her courage as she'd learned and accepted everything he and her sister had thrown at her that day.

It had been far too long since he'd touched her, and his hands craved the feel of her skin. In two strides, he crossed the bedroom and wrapped his arms around her. 'I'm so sorry, mi amara. I hate