Once Upon A Midnight Read online

“Mina! Mina Vail, as I live and rock!”

  Especially when the world was populated by idiots.

  Fucking hell! Dressed in tight leather pants and a painted on purple tee shirt, Siggy Mayhem walked, almost jogged, toward her with his posse in tow. So much for laying low. The skin-walker and the wicked witch looked up, eyes flashing to the mirror, and their angry gazes flickering to Mina. She heard the distinctly female voice through her headset. “Greer. Get her.”

  “Oh, shit.” Her hand went to Gav. “Run. Run fast.” Jumping off the barstool, she knocked Siggy Mayhem over into his group. They stumbled back into each other, sentient bowling pins teetering as they tried not to fall over. It gave Mina the head start they would need.

  Bolting to the hallway, she pushed Eric, Gav, and Bobby, shoving them toward the alley exit, pulling her gun in the process. “Run, goddammit!” She didn’t know what would happen if they were caught, whether they could stand against Jennifer Wilson or not, but she didn’t want to find out.

  Eric’s shoulder shoved against the back door as it flung open. All four of them tumbled into the alleyway. Mina couldn’t stop herself from falling hard onto the pavement, the gun sliding a few feet from where she landed. Scrambling on all fours, she managed to pick it up. When she oriented on the exit to the street, Jennifer stood between them and freedom.

  Mina looked around for another exit. Nothing. “Fuck me running.”

  “That might be doable.” The voice came from behind her. Mina whipped her head to the back doorway. Greer stood a few feet from them, a snake writhing from his scalp where the white lock had been, and holding his tail, the end of it club-like.

  “Semina Vail.” Jennifer’s voice was curt, scolding. “Such a pretty girl you’ve turned into.”

  “How do you know me?” Mina drew her weapon and took aim as the Jennifer took a step toward her. “Stay back.”

  “My dear, bullets are so last season.”

  Before Mina could even think of squeezing off a shot, an invisible force threw her against the wall—holding, pressing, squeezing the life from her. She wanted to worry about Eric, about Gav, about Bobby, but she couldn’t think, couldn’t breathe. Jennifer had been quick, quicker than Mina, and she was helpless. Forcing her head to the side, she saw the sorceress was glowing, bright orange hues, then she saw a blur. Eric? He’d rushed the woman, and when her attention focused on the incubus, the power dissipated.

  Mina hit the pavement. Taking aim again as Jennifer used her power to throw Eric off, Mina squeezed three rounds into the woman’s chest. Blood poured from the wounds. The dark-haired woman looked both astonished and pissed.

  Mina smirked. “Bullets are back, bitch.”

  “You have spirit, child.”

  Okay, not the response Mina expected. And the fact that Jennifer Wilson was still standing and her glow had turned from bright orange to fiery red did even less for Mina’s confidence. Bobby was on the ground, unconscious. Gav and Greer were grappling in the corner. Eric was pinned against the Dumpster, and Jennifer was digging her fingers into her chest and pulling out bullets as she stalked toward Mina.

  “We’re so fucked,” Mina said.

  “You have no idea, niece.”

  Niece? Oh no. No. “Aalia?”

  The woman moved closer to Mina. “So you know me?” She smiled, but her eyes held sadness. “Good. It will make his easier.”

  An unseen force squeezed Mina until all the breath left her body. She tried to fight it, but the lack of oxygen took its toll. The world went black.

  Chapter Thirteen

  “AIN’T THIS A BITCH,” Mina mumbled, her head pounding with what she could only equate to the worst hangover of her life. She swallowed down the bile forcing its way up her throat. Everything was gray, from the walls, the metal beams in the ceilings, to the cold concrete floors. She’d been stripped down to her tee shirt and skivvies. “God, please don’t tell me I’m dead, because I was really hoping dead would be more pleasant.”

  “We’re not dead,” Gav growled from behind her. “Though it’s probably a better alternative.”

  “Bobby… Eric?” Worry coursed through Mina as the chill of the room seeped into her bones.

  “I’m here,” Eric said. “Bobby… he’s still alive. But I don’t know for how much longer.”

  They’d gone to a bar to solve a murder, but instead, Mina had managed to put herself in the hands of the woman who’d killed her mother…who wanted to kill her. She fought back the tears, struggling to maneuver so she could see them, but she was shackled to a column with handcuffs. “Can you move?” she asked either of them.

  “No,” came a simultaneous response. Then Gav added, “She’s bound us using some kind of energy.”

  “I’m in cuffs.” But they were everyday cuffs, nothing magical about them. Probably Bobby’s. Apparently, she didn’t think of Mina as a physical threat.

  “Mina,” a voice whispered in the shadows.

  Her eyes widened. “Mike?”

  He silently made his way to her. “I followed you guys from the bar. That was some freaky shit.” He held out the cuff keys and started fiddling behind her.

  A click-click and her wrists came free. “Where’s Bobby?”

  “Over here,” Mike said.

  Mina raced to her partner’s side. “Bobby. Bobby.” She patted his chest, turning his head slightly to look at the blunt trauma. “This is not happening.” The vicious wound to his head needed tending. Immediately.

  “I didn’t call the cops, Mina. I… I…” Mike stammered over his words.

  “S’okay. The cops couldn’t handle this. We need warriors. Big and badass ones. Get Bobby the fuck out of here while I figure out how to help Eric and Gav.”

  With a curt nod of his head, the large ex-Marine lifted Bobby with a grunt. “Back in a few, boss.”

  “No. Take Bobby to the hospital.” Mike nodded again.

  She scrambled to Gav and Eric, the two men locked back-to-back, knees bent close to their bodies. Trying to pry them apart, she stuck her fingers into the crease between them.

  “Whatever is holding us is keeping me from shifting,” Gav said. “I’ve never felt anything like this before.”

  “You can help him, Mina.” Eric’s green eyes framed red pupils. He was definitely channeling his inner leiol.

  “This is above my pay grade. I have always been a kill from a distance kind of gal. I don’t solve problems. I fix them.”

  “Then fix this,” Eric told her.

  “Mina,” she heard her name as a harsh whisper. Out of the darkness, white hair almost glowed.

  “Keane?”

  “Yes,” he said.

  “How?”

  “I never left the city, and when I got your text, I tracked you here.”

  “Help me get them free,” she said.

  “I can’t. Aalia is too powerful. We have to weaken her first.”

  “Where is she?”

  “Preparing for your sacrifice.”

  Mina let out a breath as if gut punched.

  “Get her out of here, Keane,” Gav said. “Don’t worry about us.”

  “Do it, Keane,” Eric agreed. “You have to protect Mina.”

  “You two aren’t getting rid of me that easy,” Mina said.

  “She is an aural, Mina,” Keane said. “Like you. We might be able to use emotions to weaken her.”

  “Not like me,” Mina told him. “Not like me at all. I don’t have the ability to do any of this. She’s gained power from killing my mother. You said so. She’s stronger than me. Too strong.”

  Keane narrowed his gaze on her. “You are the strongest person I know.”

  That and two bucks would get her a cup of coffee, but it wouldn’t get her any closer to getting her lovers free or any of them out of the situation safely. A strong energy washed over Mina. “She’s here,” she whispered.

  “Keane Silvertail,” Aalia said. “I should have known. All these years. You were the one hiding the girl from me.”<
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  “You can’t have her, Aalia. I won’t let you kill her like you did our sister.” Keane handed a gun to Mina. “She loved you, you know. Malia never believed you would actually go through with it.”

  “I’m doing this for our kind, Keane.”

  Mina could feel the sincerity in Aalia, which made what she was doing all the more abominable. “You’re doing it because you’re a power hungry bitch,” Mina said.

  “No,” Aalia denied. “Never that. We were meant for ascension. We were meant for immortality. Our kind is meant to be gods, Semina. You don’t know what an honor it is to be my chosen sacrifice. It’s a testament to how much I loved your mother. How much I love you.”

  No three words could have surprised her more. “This is not love.”

  Aalia stepped out of the darkness. She wore a white gown that billowed as if caught in a gentle breeze. A trick of her power since there was no wind in the warehouse. She held out her hands in a gesture of goodwill. “If you willingly join with me. Join your energy, your soul, to mine. I promise your lovers will go unharmed.”

  “I don’t believe you.”

  “If I ascend, I will be above such petty earthly problems. There will be no need for me to harm them, Semina. I give you my word.”

  Hesitantly, Mina took a step toward her.

  “No,” Keane said. “Don’t.”

  “Stop her,” Gav said. “Mina, don’t do it. Not for us.”

  Keane jumped, landing in between Mina and Aalia. “I won’t let you have her, sister.”

  “You can do nothing to stop me, Keane.” Aalia flicked her wrist. Greer raced out of the darkness. He flew through the air toward Keane, twisting, as the end of his tail knocked the ex-warden chief in the back of the head.

  Keane fell to the ground.

  “No!”

  “I don’t want to hurt anyone else,” Aalia said. She gestured again Greer moved to stand over Gav and Eric. “But I will.”

  She could sense an energy trying to worm its way inside her mind. It reminded her of the times her Trace Calder had forced his thoughts into her head.

  Join me.

  “Stop it!” Mina shouted. She put her hands over her ears as if that could stop her from hearing her aunt’s call. Panic churned her gut as she fought to throw up psychic blocks. “Please stop.”

  “I’m doing nothing,” Aalia said. Mina could feel the aural’s curiosity. Her surprise. “Tell me what’s happening to you.”

  “Fuck you,” Mina said through gritted teeth. Join me. Make the sacrifice and join me.

  “Your eyes,” Aelia said. “Why are they black?”

  “Help me,” Mina said, but she didn’t know to who or what. Let go, and join, my daughter. You have embraced the gift of three. Now you must choose. What will you give up?

  She turned her teary gaze to Gav and Eric.

  “Tell me!” Aalia said. Mina felt the cold doubt in Aalia’s rage.

  And suddenly, Mina knew. It wasn’t Aalia who’d spoke in her head. “Qetesh,” she said. “Qetesh has chosen me.”

  “No!” Aelia shrieked. “It’s not true. She speaks to me. Only me.”

  I have not, Qetesh told Mina. Not for a very long time.

  “She says she no longer speaks to you. You are unworthy.”

  “No, no.” Aalia fell to her knees. A sob escaping her. “I’ll kill you. I’ll kill you all.”

  A sacrifice is needed. You must release the very thing that keeps you tied to this mortal existence. You must choose. Choose, Qestesh said. Or I will destroy you all.

  “Mina,” Keane said. “Talk to me.”

  “She wants me to make a sacrifice.” Mina stared at Gav and Eric. “She says if I don’t, she’ll destroy everyone.”

  “That’s the same choice she gave me. She promised to join me if I chose,” Aalia said. “I chose, but still Qetesh left me.”

  “You chose wrong.” The words came from Mina’s lips, but it wasn’t her speaking. “Now the choice belongs to someone else.” Mina’s hand raised, a lasso of power whipped across the space between her and Aalia. It wrapped around her aunt’s throat. “You have no power here, mortal.”

  Mina fought for control in her own body. She wouldn’t let Qetesh take her over. She wouldn’t let her kill her lovers or her friend. “No,” Mina said. “You have no power here. Not unless I allow it.”

  Qetesh’s power must have weakened Aalia, and the magical binds holding Eric and Gav broke. Greer staggered back as Gav roared, his body shifting into that of a huge beastman. Mina dropped to her knees to fight for her will to win. Gav and Eric grappled with Greer, dodging his lethal tail and venomous snake hair.

  Keane staggered to his feet, sword drawn. “I can feel the goddess,” he said.

  “Help me,” Mina told him. She was fighting a war on all sides, even the inside, and she worried she wouldn’t be strong enough to protect the people she loved.

  She could hear Gav and Eric shouting, coordinating their attack on Greer. The negase was no match against the leogenus or the leiol. Not when they worked as a team. A sharp cry of surprise followed by a deafening roar split Mina’s focus.

  Eric and Gav stood over their fallen foe. Greer was down. Dead. And no longer a threat. She turned her gaze to Aalia. “I can’t fight her.” She was talking about Qetesh. The goddess had a firm hold on her mind now.

  “Kill me, then child,” Aalia said. “Kill me, and ascend.”

  “Unworthy,” Qetesh said. Choose before it is too late for you.

  Mina raised her hand. She was gripping the 9mm tightly. So tight her hand shook. “You have to go,” she said to Eric and Gav. “I can’t…” She pointed the gun at one man, then the next. “I can’t stop this.”

  They both crossed the short distance to her. “Please don’t make me do this.” Tears leaked from her eyes. She’d killed so many over the years. It had barely bothered her in the past, but she wasn’t that Shade anymore. She was Semina Vail now. And she loved.

  “It’s okay,” Eric said. “Choose me. I’d gladly give my life for you.”

  Gav nodded. “As would I.” He moved the barrel end and placed it over his heart. “I will die for you, Mina. Whatever it takes as long as you live.”

  Eric moved the gun to his chest. “As long as you live.”

  “No,” she whispered.

  Choose.

  “No.”

  Then I will take them both, Qetesh told her.

  “I love you,” Mina said. “I love you both.” She struggled against the entity inside her until she could move her own hand. “Here’s my choice,” she said. In one quick movement, she put the gun to head. “Without me, you don’t exist.”

  Before Gav or Eric could stop her, Mina pulled the trigger.

  The blinding pain left Mina almost instantly. A sense of perfect peace settled through her, although it really wasn’t her anymore. Or was it? She floated above her body, the astral right above her. She wondered why she didn’t feel the separation from her flesh. Kind of a letdown, really. Something like death should have more pow or kick to it. Instead, it was like… moving on.

  Lingering for a moment, she worried for her guys, who were wracked with grief as they held her lifeless body. She didn’t really believe she’d make it back to them. Not now.

  Your choice is made.

  Damn straight, Mina told Qetesh, who was now a disembodied yellow light. I couldn’t let you take them.

  I never wanted them, child.

  I don’t understand. You told me to choose between them.

  No, the light said. I told you to make your choice. Your sacrifice. And you did. It was the choice Aalia should have made.

  The light of Qestesh floated nearer to her. You have embraced the gift of three, and you have made the ultimate sacrifice, that of self. You are worthy.

  Even though she didn’t have a physical body anymore, Mina felt the light enter her. The blending tingled. It felt pleasant. Safe. Its color began to change, and she changed as well. Her spirit tur
ned bright pink. Man, I hate pink. Qetesh didn’t speak, but Mina heard the tinkle of laughter, then all was silent.

  They were now one.

  She waited for whatever would come next. But nothing happened. She looked down again. Gav and Eric grieved with anguish over her dead body. She ached to comfort them. She wished they could know that she was okay. She felt no pain. Qetesh had stripped Aalia of her power, and Keane had the aural cuffed to a pole as he made a phone call.

  Really? I’m dead and he’s making a call?

  She waited, expectantly. Would she finally meet her mother? Her dad? Would she have made them proud had they lived? Had they raised her?

  After a few minutes, she began to feel the warm pull of something on her spirit. It was as if she were being sucked downward, like a vacuum. Would she go to heaven? Was there a heaven or something else entirely? She’d never been a believer, but she figured if there was a heaven, she’d done too much bad shit to get a ticket through the pearly gates.

  The anguish in her men tore at her soul. She wished she wasn’t leaving them, but she’d made the right decision. Suddenly, the weightlessness of her free-floating spirit went away. She felt heavy, solid, like being encased in stone. Oh no, I am going to hell. Her position there would not be unwarranted.

  “Mina.” She heard her name being called. “Oh, God. Mina!”

  Great, they knew her in hell by name.

  “Can you hear me? Open your eyes, babe,” another voice came.

  Babe? Who in the bowels of hell would call her babe?

  She blinked. And there was light. Sitting up, she sucked in a deep breath, coughing and sputtering as her lungs grew used to taking air again. “Jeezus,” she wheezed. Was this really happening? Or was this some trick of the devil? Had she somehow made it back into her body?

  The alarm of sirens drew near. Mike. He must have called the cops.

  Quickly, her fingers went to her temple where she should have had a massive hole. Excellently enough, the skin felt smooth—not even tacky from the blood. “Holy fuck that hurt.” But it had only hurt for a second. She closed her eyes for a moment, remembering the blissful peace.

  “Yeah, getting shot doesn’t feel so hot, does it?” Gav grabbed her into a bear hug.