Page 3 of Queen Takes Checkmate
My mother’s voice whispered in my head, so familiar, even though she’d died shortly after my birth. She’d given me to her sister to raise far from the Triune political games and any nest or queen who might influence me. She’d loosed me on the world on purpose.
Controlled chaos. Spreading change, reveling in blood, and now, drawing on the powers of the dark.
Therewaspower here. Not like the ancient earth energy of my grove back home in Eureka Springs, but a vibrant energy despite the darkness. With my eyes closed, I focused on the internal tapestry of my mind. Deep purple flowed around me like I’d jumped into an indigo river. Strands of power swept on either side of me, some softer lavender and others as dark as a shadowed bruise. Where were the streams going? Where had they come from?
I couldn’t be sure without doing some investigation. Power eddied and flowed here in the basement, maybe connecting to other underground tunnels and access points like subway routes under the city. I wasn’t sure if this power was everywhere, or only here in New York City. I couldn’t recall ever being in complete darkness—and looking at the tapestry like this.
All darkness is yours.A male voice I’d never heard before rasped in my head, each word stretched out as if from a great distance.My daughter.
Oh. Fuck.
Typhon. The father of monsters.Myfather.
Something rustled deep in my mind, as if I’d opened up a basement door and peered inside.
She gave you the Great One’s legacy. I give you dominion over any creature of darkness. The breath of the night wind. The darkest shadow slipping silently through the trees. The silent music that rises from the earth as it cools from the punishing light of day. The paths of death that lead to life. The ways are open to you, Daughter.
The rustling sound came closer, and I finally recognized the sound as scales rasping over concrete. I saw him for a moment, at least in my mind. He filled the space around me, his head bent down toward me. His shoulders rose almost to the ceiling. Long black serpents flowed around me. He had arms and a bare, muscular chest, but no legs. Just the snakes, each as thick as one of Rik’s massive thighs.
Typhon’s eyes glowed like molten magma at the earth’s core. Liquid rock, unimaginable heat. He cupped my cheek and his palm was even bigger than Rik’s rock troll.
Be not afraid of any creature that hides from the light of day, for Ra is merciless and has hunted our kind through the ages.
“The demon child, Tanza. Was she not of the dark?”
We have our demons of darkness. We have our thirsts, our needs for pain and blood and pleasure. We are monsters and revel in that need. But Tanza was no child of darkness. She was wholly a child of Ra—a vile, evil creature of his own creation. Not the vilest, and certainly not the evillest.
Great. Just fucking great. Something worse than Tanza waited out there for me?
Call your monsters, Daughter. Love them. Embrace your darkest hungers, because your love is the light that will keep the darkness safe from the punishing light of Ra.
He started to fade away into mist, though I could still feel his palm on my cheek. I nestled my face deeper into his caress. The only time my true father had ever touched me. “Will my fire hurt the creatures of darkness?”
His eyes flared with flames, and he chuckled as he dispersed into the darkness.Mount Vesuvius has always been my domain. The hottest hells of the earth cannot touch our kind. Know true darkness by how it embraces your fire, your blood, or both, and beware the bright light of day.
“Thank you, Father.”
I swallowed the knot in my throat and reached out to stroke my fingers through the velvety dark purple flowing around me. It responded to me, the same way my blood quickened. I wasn’t sure how I would use it yet, but I’d learned a very important lesson already.
Every gift I’d been given so far had made a difference in our survival. I would heed his warning and embrace his gifts, until I thoroughly understood how to save us when the time came.
For now, I willed my blood to light Keisha’s body with the hottest flames I could imagine. The purple flows tightened around her like an impenetrable net, keeping the beetles from escaping. I watched as my blood and fire crisped Keisha Skye into ash that compacted itself into a small black ball. I crushed her into dust and allowed the tides of darkness to disperse her to the four winds.
“Okay,” I whispered, reaching up to wrap my arms around Rik’s neck. “I’m finished here.”
I was so tired, and there was still so much to do. I rested my eyes, drooped across his chest as he headed for the elevator, but my mind raced.
:Do we need to post some guards here to keep an eye on Skye Tower?:
:Already taken care of, my queen,:Rik assured me.:We’ll have two Blood present at all times. Daire and Ezra are evaluating all our former sibs to see who might be good candidates to use as additional protection until you’re able to make your own blood circle.:
My heart lurched at the thought of leaving two of my Blood behind.:What about when we go home to the nest? I can’t leave anyone behind. I won’t.:
:We’ll figure something out when the time comes.:
:A sib would be your best bet,:Guillaume said in the bond. :They’ll be yours, and hold the territory in your stead.:
I’d felt several queens during our procession to meet Keisha. Several of them had followed me and responded to my power, but I didn’t know if they’d be strong enough to hold New York City for me. I touched my consiliarius’s bond. :Could you prepare a short list of potential queen sibs who you think would be good candidates to hold the city for me?:
