While he throttled the Demon defector, he reached out to the perimeter of his home, grabbing unsuspecting necromancers one by one with sheer force of power and will, stopping their black hearts dead in their chests. For all their power of magic, the necromancers were still as fragile as any human, making it a ridiculously simple task in many respects.
The others, watching their comrades fall inexplicably, began to panic and rushed toward the house to find the source of the damage to their ranks before he could cause any further harm. They were clearly shocked at how easily he had done this attack. Once again, Ruth had not prepared them for what she was leading them into. It would perhaps be his one true advantage.
Ruth regrouped even as he throttled her consciousness out of her. Her eyes rolled back as she accessed her power, and he felt her pushing into his mind. The force was stunning and impressive. Gideon was blinded by pain, his free hand reflexively going to his head as she sought to turn his brain to a pulp with her telekinetic power. He had never met a female telekinetic before, but Mind Demons were relatively new to their species and, poisoned as she was, it could be an unnatural mutation. It took all of his mental fortitude to fight her off, and even so he felt blood drip from his nose as it filled his pressured sinuses.
When he was forced to take his attention from the others, they invaded the house within minutes. The evil flock of women hovered like wingless harpies over the floor, speaking the tainted words that would bring forth the electrical bolts of power they wielded during attack.
Gideon spilt his attention. He struck Ruth in the face, dazing her with the sharp thrust of his palm to her delicate nose. He could have killed her with the blow had he been more focused, but he was also reaching for magic-users, muting several of them in a sweep of thought, cutting them off from the verbal means necessary for access to their power, sending them crashing to the floor.
Others he panicked with blindness, others still with deafness.
It bought him time only.
Gideon felt something strike him, the unmistakable puncture of teeth sinking into his calf. That was when he dropped a barely conscious Ruth to the floor and spun around to face her daughter. The spoiled automaton that was Ruth's offspring, Mary, was more powerful as well. Gideon felt it. He breathed it in as the wicked stench eddied toward him. She was drawing swarms of wild dogs, wolves, and even poisonous snakes in through every smashed window and doorway she could, coiled serpents even dropping down the chimney and into the cold ashes of the fireplace.
The animals were not responsible for the compulsion Mary had them under, so Gideon was pained when he had to reach to break the neck of the wolf that had buried its canines deeply into his flesh. By the time he turned, there were a dozen others on him.
Razorlike teeth sliced into his flesh from every direction. All he could do was cut off the pain and the blood as they tried to drag him down, seeking access to his throat.
Gideon considered that he might have made a mistake by not waking Legna and allowing her the freedom of thought to escape. But then again, he knew his beloved wife all too well. She would have insisted on being at his back, fighting where she had been born to fight. And that was exactly why he had done what he had done. He would rather die than see her hurt or worse.
But by leaving her helpless, that might be just what he had sentenced her to.
Gideon could only do one thing to possibly save her.
Though it would take several highly talented medics to reverse the stasis he had put her in, and even though they might not succeed, he had to try.
Gideon gave up his fight and projected his astral self into the dawn, reaching for Noah as the attacking forces began to drag him down.
He was not even aware of the sudden, violent wind that made the house shudder from foundation to rafters.
Siena woke with a start, her heart racing as her head rang with warnings and filled with bloodred rage.
She turned over swiftly, reaching for Elijah in panic and feeling an awful, clawing sensation of dread and despair as her hand came up with empty sheets and blankets.
He had left her, and as sure as she knew that, she knew he was in trouble. Oh, he was trying to keep it from her on some sort of automatic, protective level, but he could not hide the rage and horror flooding through him because of whatever it was he was seeing.
She closed her eyes, trying to concentrate, wishing suddenly she had never let him out of her sight in the first place. From what Gideon had told her, if they had spent the days since Jinaeri's cavern together, they would have had a stronger bond mentally, to the point where she would have seen through his eyes perfectly.
The minute she thought of Gideon, his image flashed into her mind, but it was washed away by silver and red.
Blood red.
Siena flew from her bed, transforming into the Werecat on the run as she flew out of her quarters. The guards were startled to see her exit in such a wild manner, and in her Wereform to boot.
"I want Anya this moment! Tell her to meet me at the Demon ambassador's home with troops immediately!"
"But Majesty-"
"Do not question me! Do as I say this instant!"
"Majesty, it is daylight," the guard pressed on, though clearly loath to countermand her again.
She did not blame him. She hadn't appeared to make a rational movement or decision in over a week. But this…this was something even she could not fight.
She had a sudden wash of terror, and tears of frustration, burning behind her eyes. Her hand went to her heart as it threatened to beat right out of her chest. Elijah needed her. Needed her help. Gideon as well. She was sure of it. They both were closer to her heart than she had been willing to admit, and now when they needed her, she was utterly helpless to aid them.
The sun.
A thrice-damned star hundreds of thousands of miles away, and yet it prevented her from going to Elijah's side.
"Your Majesty remembers it is Samhain," he prompted gently. "The ambassador and her mate were attending the functions of their own court for the holiday and said they would not return until tonight."
Even worse! It meant they were in England. Thousands of miles away from the remote Russian province the Lycanthropes dwelled in. As fast as she was, she would never be that fast. She would be forced to use the modern human conveniences that would take hours despite their jetting speed.
Siena suddenly wished her court was full of Demons. Any one of them, especially Mind Demons who could teleport, would have her where she needed to be in a heartbeat.
For the first time in her life, Siena truly felt the limitations of her race and her personal abilities. Oh, she had felt somewhat helpless during her father's regime, but at least then she had managed to maintain a fair rule while he was off trying to conquer unconquerable foes. This was something utterly different.
But Siena refused to give up.
"Find a half-breed runner and send them to Anya. Tell her to assemble only half-breed troops. They, at least, are not affected by the sunlight. And for once I would give up all my forms if I could but say the same. Time is of the essence, so you will go this instant! Move!"
This time there was no argument. The Minotaur female ran off, leaving her perplexed male counterpart behind. He was trying to glance into the bedroom behind him as unobtrusively as he could.
"What is amiss, my lady?"
"My mate is in danger. Dreadful danger," she explained, her hands coasting over her furred stomach anxiously, clearly uncaring of what the guard thought about the fact that her mate ought to have been in bed with her on their wedding day. "And he is so far away. I need to help him, Synnoro. I cannot lose him like this! Not because I cannot reach him because of the damned sun!" The Queen paced a couple of short steps. "Goddess, please," she prayed softly, closing her eyes as she tried to think, "please help me!"
"My lady, what of Myriad?"
Siena stopped suddenly, her eyes widening.
Myriad. The half-breed in Noah's court who was acting the part of her ambassador to the Demon King. There were no technologies in a Demon household, but, unwilling to give up such luxuries of humanity because Demon chemistry made such things go completely awry-sometimes dangerously so-Myriad had chosen to live in the village a few miles away from Noah's castle and the discombobulating influences of the Demons that constantly came and went there.
"She has a phone," Siena whispered, sudden hope flaring in her breast. "Synnoro! She has a phone!"
Siena forgot etiquette and rank and leapt up to throw her arms around the furry guard, bussing him loudly on the cheek before hitting feet to the floor at a run. The castle had been stripped of technology when Gideon and Legna had arrived; everything from lighting to communications had been restored to the state the castle had been in during the five years of Gideon's captivity among them. But Anya would have a phone in her residence, and Siena hadn't thought she would ever be so grateful for so simple a convenience.
All she needed to do was reach it fast enough.
Noah woke with a disoriented jolt, the sudden rush of nearby and alien energy seeping into his senses. He opened his eyes to see the Lycanthrope half-breed standing over him, reaching for him as if she were going to touch him. Instinctively, his hand shot out and grabbed the reaching wrist, jerking the raven-haired woman to her knees beside the bed.
"You had better have an explanation for being in my bedroom uninvited, ambassador," he threatened her, sitting up as he twisted her captive hand further.
The room was dimmed by drawn shades and drapes, and her eyes were yellow in the dark, more blatantly so than in gas or torchlight. It was eerie seeing them staring at him so unblinkingly. She had told him that, had she been full-bred, she would have been some sort of wild dog or wolf. It clearly showed in her eyes in that moment.
"Your Warrior Captain and your medic are in trouble. My Queen thought you might like to know."
Noah was on his feet in an instant, releasing Myriad as he reached for clothing.
"Explain!" he commanded, not bothering to waste time with apologies.
"She says that Elijah is wherever Gideon is, and that both are in terrible danger."
"I thought Elijah was with Siena tonight. Gideon said-"