33. Rodan

33

Rodan

R odan was lying on the couch, arm over his eyes to shield from the light as he digested the several slices of pizza he'd had for dinner. Elias had gone on a walk with Pike—no one allowed to go anywhere on their own—deciding to employ the glamour of a Fae to find his way around the city, to find what else he might hear and see.

And then his daughter's voice came on the air, fear laced through it, and his nose picked up a scent unlike anything he had encountered before. Like dry death and decay, coupled with shadows, secrets, and old blood.

He jerked upright, cold running down his spine. "Lydia?" he called, standing and heading toward where he had heard her. Maeve was in the bathroom, but he sent a call down the bond. I think our daughter is in trouble. Out on the terrace, soon as you can.

She sent back an affirmation as he approached the threshold separating the living room from the massive balcony.

And what he saw there froze the blood in his veins.

The thing that had hold of his daughter by the back of the neck must have been a vampire. It matched descriptions and visuals that had been fed to him through the knowledge drop from Ankou.

It was human, at first glance, and then one noticed the pallor of the skin, the thin snaking blue veins showing stark on wrist and throat. He thought this one might have been attractive, in an odd, unnatural way. It moved wrong. Like the Nyx, nearly. Fluid, but still somehow jerking.

"Fae," it spat. "I am Lucien, second to the Dynast of this region. You are trespassing."

Rodan did not move, for he could see the skin of Lydia's neck dimpling from where the vampire held her. "Lucien," he repeated, trying for calm but his words coming out a growl. "You have hold of something extremely precious. Take care."

"I will release your daughter when you leave this world," it said. "Not a moment sooner."

Rodan was relaying all this information to Maeve as he felt her rush through the penthouse apartment toward their location. He was unsure he could do anything that would neutralize this creature without compromising Lydia. The grip the vampire had on her was firm enough to leave bruises as it was.

"I see you trying to find a way out of this," it said. "And you'd be correct if you've come to the conclusion it's too risky. Anything you do, I could crush her spine to dust in the time it takes to blink. Do not test me."

Then I best be quick , he heard Maeve say through the bond.

The power pushed by him in a rush. She was still in the hall opening up to the living area, and yet she sent a wave of energy toward the creature the likes of which Rodan had never sensed or experienced before. And he knew, if he were not bonded with her, he would be none the wiser.

Just as the vampire was.

One moment, it was smirking at Rodan while Lydia's eyes watered from pain, and the next it was?—

Nowhere. The entire form of the vampire dissipated as dust on the wind, floating on the air like a fragmented ghost for several long seconds before being swept by currents to fully integrate into the low clouds.

Lydia coughed, staggering forward, and Rodan was there, catching her and clutching her close. "I'm so sorry," he said, helping her inside. Jen and Troy were out on the terrace as well, but they had been threatened into stillness until now, when they burst into movement. Jen helped Rodan with his daughter, coming to the other side and supporting her with a shoulder.

Maeve met them at the threshold, her color high and her skin glowing. She backed up as they approached, and then closed the door, locking it with a slide.

Others were coming from the rest of the penthouse to congregate in the great room, drawn no doubt by Maeve's running footsteps. "What happened?" High Priestess Thea asked immediately upon seeing Lydia. "She has a shadow," she explained at Rodan's sharp look. "She has been touched by evil."

Maeve took Jen's position and she and Rodan helped their daughter onto one of the long white couches. "Speak to me, sweetheart," she murmured. "Are you okay? Do we need to call for an ambulance?"

Lydia licked her lips and swallowed hard. "No," she said on a rasp. "I'm sorry. It was similar enough to…" she trailed off, and her gaze was unfocused, on neither of them.

Rodan was familiar enough with Maeve's withdrawals to sense the one in his daughter. He sat next to her, and she took his hand absently, still staring into memories only she could see.

Maeve knelt before her, taking her other hand and looking into her eyes. "Lydia. It's okay. They can't come into a home, right?"

She nodded. "Everything I've heard says so," she said, words sounding hollow. "They can't enter sanctuary. Home is sanctuary."

"Then we should be—" she stopped, the phone in her pocket ringing. Maeve fished it out one-handed and looked at the call screen, frowning. "Unknown again." She pressed the screen and held the phone parallel to the floor. "Who is this?" she demanded.

"Miss Almeida, I presume?" said a voice through the phone's speakers. Masculine and rich. "You have returned to Earth. You should leave. If we had known what you were while you resided here, you would have been exterminated long ago."

Rodan's hackles went up, and he had to struggle not to grip Lydia's hand too tight.

"Who. Is this?" Maeve repeated, baring her teeth.

"I am the Dynast of this region," said the voice. "Omar Cabello. And you are not welcome."

"I can tell," she muttered, standing and pacing in the circle their group had made. Everyone was in rapt attention on the call, except for Lydia, whose lips were moving but no sound was coming out, her dark eyes wide and unseeing. "You sent someone after my daughter."

"I sent my second to convince you to leave. I felt him die. Where is his body?"

"In the wind," Maeve said distractedly. "I removed the mass in his cells."

Rodan let go of Lydia's hand and came to Maeve's side. "Omar Cabello," he said, his voice low. "You have transgressed against me."

"Is the Fae known as Rodan?" said the voice. "You transgressed first. You came without permission." There was a slight static sound, as though the creature were sighing. "You have twelve hours. Get your affairs in order and exit this world. Take your people with you."

"There is something that will happen here that will impact our home as well," Rodan said. "We will not leave until we have discovered it and prevented the catastrophe."

Laughter. "Good luck. You have twelve hours."

There was a clicking sound, and the phone screen flashed. Call ended.

"They know what it is," Maeve said. "Whatever is going to happen to this world, and to the Realms, they know exactly what it is."

"Um," came a small voice to the side, and Rodan turned to see the human Gladys looking somewhat uncomfortable, chewing on her thumbnail. She put down her hand when she saw him looking, a dark flush rising. "Sorry. Just. That's Uncle Omar."

Silence.

Then Maeve asked, "Excuse me?"

"Those of us raised here," she said. "By the city? We all know Uncle Omar. He's one of the top donators to foundling houses." She gave a hesitant smile. "I've been to one of his homes. We went to an event there once, when we were graduating middle school."

Maeve started tapping on her phone, her face lit by the glow of the screen. "Was the event at night?"

"Sure was." There was another pause and then Gladys added, "I don't think I've ever seen him in daylight."

"Omar Cabello is showing up in searches," Jen said, also on her device. "Not many, but he's mentioned in a few articles as a lead donor."

Lydia spoke, and Rodan turned to her. She was clear-eyed, and her voice strong. "I know Omar." Her tone held heat. "He's been here before. I invited him in."

Everyone fell silent.

"Rescind it," Rodan said. "Now."

"I don't know if it works like that," she said. "But, yes. I rescind Omar Cabello's invitation to this home."

There was no pressure change, no nudge of magic Rodan could sense, but then the vampires were almost… invisible. The one on the balcony had smelled, but there had been no magical sense of him. Which meant, to Rodan, there was something in their nature that lead to incredible camouflage.

"I think you should call your father," Jen said, her tone regretful and gentle. "This is getting to the point he warned of, isn't it? That the ‘masters of this world' know you are here now, and are directly threatening you."

Lydia stood. "No. We cannot call him."

Maeve slid her phone into her pocket. "Lydia…" she started.

"No!" their daughter cried. "Please. We have twelve hours."

Rodan looked at his bondmate, and through their link said, We are in her home, and she is so frightened of him.

If we wait, it may become too late, she said back. I am afraid. Not just for her, but for the Realms. I don't want to hurt her, Rodan, truly I do not.

But he heard the words behind the words. Maeve did not want to hurt their daughter, but she would perform actions that would do just that if it meant preserving the Realms. An entire planet was at stake, and all its inhabitants.

She was a Queen. More and more, with every breath, she was becoming just that.

Rodan could not help but feel it was always where she was meant to be, on a throne. With a crown upon her brow.

"Please," Lydia repeated, whispering this time.

"You are marked," Thea said, speaking gently. "There is no turning from your destiny, Miss LaBlanc."

His daughter's eyes were starting to well with tears. "This isn't fair," she whispered.

"No," Maeve agreed. "It's not. I'm so sorry. But I have to do this."

Rodan was racing for some kind of alternative, but all the paths forward needed some influence from the god, otherwise they would be stopped in their tracks. While he and Maeve were powerful as a bonded pair, and there were those in their party who contained their own magics, they were a small group against an embedded aggressor.

It would be foolish, not to ask for help.

It was folly, to think after Ankou's warnings they might be able to handle the vampires on their own. To ignore his warnings.

But Lydia was Rodan's daughter. And she had never known him, her father, throughout her many lives. The moment Ankou was with them, he would lay his claim on her.

"Maeve—" he started.

But her eyes were closed, her lips moving in silent prayer.

And the god was just as suddenly there, in the room with them all. "An audience," he said with a slight smile. He was wearing something more like what he had been the first time Maeve prayed for him, a black suit, and a cape of shadows trailing behind his shoulders. His hands were deep in the pockets of his trousers as he looked upon Maeve with the same genuine affection Rodan has seen there before. "Hello, daughter. You said something about vampires?"

Lydia had very subtly moved behind Rodan, out of Ankou's immediate line of sight. Jen spoke up, drawing the gods' attention. "They've made contact. They threatened one of us, and have given us twelve hours to leave the planet."

"They will likely attack prior," Ankou said, anger lacing his voice. "They will want to use the night, and shadows." He shook his head. "Why are you on Earth again? Should you not return home?"

High Priestess Thea had gone utterly still the moment the god entered the space, and now she moved, falling to her knees with her hands clasped before her, bowing her head. She said nothing, but she drew his attention.

"Little priestess," Ankou said, warmth nothing to do with anger in his words. "You need not fall to the floor. Rise."

"My lord Lutem," Thea said, staying just where she was. "I have seen vision of you, but?—"

"Rise," he said again, a little bored-sounding, and this time there was power in it, too.

Thea moved as though pulled by strings, coming to stand so fluidly she looked shocked with the suddenness of it.

"Now," Ankou turned back to Maeve. "Why are you here?"

"During my coronation there was a mass shared vision," she explained. "A vision of this place, of Earth, being consumed by flame and shadow that spread from this point to the Realms and many other unsuspecting worlds." Motioning to Jen, she said, "She's been having dreams about it since the duel."

"As have I, and those in my care," High Priestess Thea said. "We sailed for Realmsgate soon after your daughter left Cresna, determined to share the message."

Ankou's severe expression softened a little as he glanced toward the priestess. "Then you did well, Thea, to bring that knowledge straight to your Queen, and to accompany her." He tilted his head and gave a wide smile. "You're supposed to be here, aren't you?"

"Yes," Thea breathed, looking rapturous. Her hands were clasped before her, and she trembled. While her hair was not so high and in complicated braids the way she presented in the Realms, a sheet of it cascaded down her back while enough was piled atop her head as to increase her height.

Still, she looked diminutive as the god approached her. He leaned over her, and whispered conspiratorially, "Your order has always been one of my favorites, and your priestesses all pass through my gates, and spend time with me. It is good, to be known. I thank you."

Lydia was now slightly exposed to Ankou, but Rodan moved so she was better hidden. It was a game that could not be played for long. He was surprised the god did not already see her.

Thea's face was streaked with tears, and she stammered her gratitude as Ankou looked at each of the other members of their party in turn, stopping when he got to Gladys. "An Earth human," he said, sounding puzzled. "Why?"

"She's very informative," Maeve said gently. "Her name is?—"

"I know her name, my dear," he said, gently chiding. "I know all your names, in fact I—" he stopped.

Went utterly still. Face frozen.

Silence crept through the room, in tendrils and then in a wave. It seemed as though no one dared breathe.

"You've been keeping a secret," Ankou said now, looking straight at Maeve. "I will give you a chance to explain."

The ground trembled a little at his final words, and Rodan reached behind him. Lydia grasped his hand with both of hers, squeezing hard, her slim fingers remarkably strong.

Maeve lifted her chin, her eyes narrowing. "I brought you here knowing you would discover her. I only just found out, myself. Yesterday."

"Before you called for me that night?" he asked, sounding dangerous.

She put her hands on her hips. "Yes. By an hour, no more. I had not processed it, and then with what you gave me?—"

"Enough," he whispered, and Rodan could see the whiplash of power.

Maeve flinched, then grew red, snarling, "Don't you dare try to silence me! Do you even fully understand what's happened to her? None of us do."

Ankou turned to Rodan instead of answering. "Stop hiding her from me. It's beneath you."

Lydia was shaking so fierce he could feel it reverberating up his arm. Grinding his teeth, Rodan pivoted, showing the god his back and holding his daughter's gaze instead. Lowering his voice he said, "We could not run long, but?—"

"No," she replied, voice a rasp. "He'd just find us."

And probably be in a worse mood than he was at present. Rodan had only seen the god of death acting like this once before, when Rodan was challenging his claimant to Maeve. And that was not so bad.

"You try my patience, Fae," Ankou growled behind him.

In the end, Rodan did not have to step aside.

Lydia let go, and moved around him, head held high.

And the god…

He wailed.