“Oh, my dear, you look worried.” Alexander glanced back at Lee, a sly smile spreading across his face. “Is the king’s blood not working? Were you counting on that? It’s so handy to have him back, I’m sure. Real vampire blood works well, but king’s blood is something else entirely. It’s so sad when there’s an antidote.” He held up the blade. “This is a present from the Hell plane. There are only two in existence. Forged from Lucifer’s own bones. I’m afraid the vampire blood in your son’s system will do nothing but speed up his death, and the fact that it’s king’s blood will make it all the more painful. We’re coming for all of you, and there’s nothing the king can do. I can’t wait to see what this blade will do when I shove it through the king’s heart.” He pointed the sword my way. It still had my son’s blood on it. “The bag. Now. Or we’ll see what it can do to his queen.”
Lee reached out and grabbed at Alexander’s ankles, but it was obvious his strength was waning.
What if that blade could hurt Lee’s turn?
I managed to get the gun back in my hand, and I fired before he could stab Lee again. Alexander moved, and I only managed to nick his side.
His eyes went black as night, and he raised that weapon over my son’s body. “I’ll take his head next, Your Highness. Drop that gun or I’ll present your son to the Dark One in two pieces.”
“Mom, don’t,” Lee gasped.
But I knew damn well that cutting off his head would stop any possibility of his turn. I couldn’t let that happen. I dropped the gun. I had to find a way to get both of us behind the wards. Lee was so close. We needed to get into the apartment, and I had to figure out a way to let Danny know we were in trouble.
I held my hands up. “I’m doing what you want. I don’t have any weapon on me that could kill you, so lower yours.”
“Want your baby boy to be pretty in death, eh? Because he’s not going to heal. The pain must be excruciating.” Alexander turned his attention back to me. “The bag, now, Your Highness. And then we’ll wait for Myrddin. He needs you alive, apparently, but I think he’ll give me some time with you. After this, I’ll be his right-hand man, so to speak.”
I wasn’t sure about that. Especially when I realized that I’d lied. I did have a weapon that could kill him. I picked up the bag.
I did have a play to make. One shot.
I held it open. “It’s in here.”
He wouldn’t care about the Sword of Light. No. He would go straight for the book because he thought he had me on the ropes. It didn’t matter that I was the queen, that I’d faced down demons and won wars against legions of Fae. I was a female and weak in his mind. I was broken when I was born. I was nothing a mighty predator should worry about.
He should have remembered that Hunter who’d taken his heart the first time.
His eyes lit and he reached in to grab the book. “Myrddin’s grimoire. It’s beautiful.”
It was covered in what I was certain was some kind of flesh and written in blood. I bet that killer thought it was pretty. Unfortunately for him, he wasn’t Myrddin. He pulled the book out of the bag of holding and it disappeared in his hands.
“What?” Alexander asked, confusion lighting his face.
I pushed him back, connecting with his arm hard, and the action did what I wanted it to. His arm came up and his hand released the now invisible book.
He immediately fell to his knees, trying to feel for it.
I let the bag drop, my hand firmly around Gladys. She hummed for me. I could feel her joy at being held by one of her sisters again. The Sword of Light is the traditional weapon of my people—originally named Amazon and now called Companion. She was a gift from the Heaven plane, from my brethren. She guided my hand because she recognized the man in front of her, recognized the pit that was his soul, the piece of him that sought to destroy that which he could not make submit.
In that moment, the Sword of Light and I were one, and I was stronger than I’d been before. She was made of the silver found threaded through angel wings, and she weighed nothing in my hands as we moved in an arc that descended on Alexander Sharpe’s neck and sliced through his body like it moved through water.
Everything went still for a moment and then the legendary Ripper turned to ash and fell apart with a single breath.