Darkyn - Incarnatio Part 7

"Do you come to beg for mercy?" she asked, coming to stand over him. "Or do you wish me to give you back that noisy mortal I took from you? I have not finished playing with her yet. In fact, I have tried to get into her for almost a day now, and still, she resists me. I think I will designate her to serve as my chief form. This female" she gestured at herself- "is too enamored of men."

Out of the corner of his eye he saw Chris being dragged toward the dance floor, but kept his head down and put his hand over his mouth in a plaintive gesture.

"Yes, I forgot, you are a mute. Have I ever told you how attractive I find that in a man?" Luce snapped her fingers.

"Bring her to him."

The mortals holding Chris forced her across the floor and down on her knees beside him. As soon as they released her, Jamys took hold of her hand. She turned her head to stare at him, and then looked up at Luce.

"Lord Durand wishes to give you his oath," Chris said, her voice quivering over each word. She swallowed and shook her head. "He say that he will serve you faithfully." To Jamys she said, "How can you be such a traitor? You know what she is what she does to humans what she wants to do to me."

"What I shall do." Luce giggled. "I must say, I find this offer quite intriguing, seeing as Lord Durand came here to kill me."

Jamys tightened his grip on Chris's hand.

"Lord Durand knows you have the power of incarnatio, and cannot be slain through your servants," Chris replied. Tears streaked down her face. "But mortals can only protect you so much. You have no Kyn servant to watch your back and keep you safe from the likes of Lord Lucan. Lord Durand offers to serve as your seneschal."

"I do not believe it." Luce clamped her hand over Chris's face, holding her mouth open, and releasing a small tendril of red mist from her own lips. The girl moaned as the mist entered her mouth, and then just as abruptly withdrew. "You speak the truth."

Luce frowned at Jamys. "You would give me your oath and your life."

Jamys nodded.

Luce snapped out her arm. "Give me a sword." When one was placed in her hand, she brought it over Jamys's head as if she meant to decapitate him. Then, with a flash of copper, she touched the blade to one of his shoulders and then the other.

"Speak the oath," she said.

Through Chris Jamys gave her his oath of service, pledging to serve her for the remainder of his life. Chris fell to the floor by the time she finished, panting with the strain of serving as his conduit. She only looked at Jamys when he wrapped his hand around her ankle and gave her his final command.

Luce held out her hand and helped Jamys to his feet. "I have never had a seneschal," she whispered in delight.

"We will have so much fun together."

Gla.s.s splintered, and Jamys looked over Luce's shoulder to see webs of cracks spreading out over the ballroom's windows.

"Your first task is at hand, seneschal," Luce told him. "It seems Lord Lucan has escaped my children at his club, and comes here to murder me. You will kill him."

Jamys took position in front of Luce and scanned the room. The mortals parted, and the suzerain appeared. He was not armed, but he had removed his gloves, and there was death in his glittering silver eyes. "Get out of my way, boy," Lucan said as he strode onto the floor, heading for Luce.

Now was the only moment he had left, Jamys knew, and he cast down the sword Luce had given to him, turning to cradle her face between his hands.

The three words he uttered were barely whispers, but she heard them. "Send her out."

Luce shrieked, tearing away from him and falling back over the trunk. The red cloud erupted from her like boiling steam, rising to hang above them in the air.

All around Jamys, the possessed mortals began making ugly, angry sounds as they crowded in on him. He ignored their anger as he went to the next human nearest to him, put his hands on the boy's shoulders, and repeated the command. Someone clawed at Jamys's back, but the boy coughed, forcing the red mist out of his lungs. Jamys moved to the next mortal, and the next, and each time he commanded them with his talent, their bodies purged the red mist.

By this time the other mortals were stumbling over each other trying to get at him. He shrugged them off, but he knew it would take too long to touch each human before the Kyn possessing them stirred them into a killing rage.

"Jamys, I got it." Chris dragged in the fire hose he had sent her to retrieve, and turned it on, spraying the ones he hadn't touched with water.

Jamys knelt in the puddle, drew on every ounce of strength he had left, and placed his hands in the water. The hunter inside him knew how everything was connected by water, and the Kyn in him hoped that with the right focus it could be used as another conduit. He imagined his talent like electricity, and sent it crackling through the water as he shouted his final command in a clear, loud voice. "Send her out."

Every human in the room collapsed, and a thick cloud of red mist rose to join with the immense ma.s.s hovering over them.

As the last of it rose, Samantha appeared and swept her scarred hand through it. She turned to Lucan. "The trunk."

Lucan strode over and yanked off the lid, and Jamys staggered over to help him. Inside the small s.p.a.ce was something at first glance that looked like a child. Its wasted limbs were curled up in a fetal position, and long white hair veiled its body. The stench of rotting flesh was so thick that Samantha made gagging sounds. The face, that of an incredibly ancient old woman, wrinkled as the shriveled lips stretched into an ugly smile. The eyes, red as blood, opened and stared up at Lucan.

"I thought she was supposed to be young and beautiful from all the blood baths," Samantha muttered, covering her nose.

"She was," Lucan said. "Before she was walled away from mortals for three years." He addressed the old woman.

"You used your own blood to escape your prison. You sent it out through the windows and the cracks, and put it into mortals so you could control them."

"Just as it once kept my flesh sound and sweet," her withered voice said. "I rewarded all the mortals who came to me. I made them my children. They always want something, and they know only I can give it to them."

"Get back." Lucan shoved Jamys away, and then thrust his hand around the monstrous thing's scrawny neck. "This is what they all want, old woman."

The trunk exploded outward, disintegrating around the body inside as it blew apart. The cloud above the room went still, and then came down like blood rain, soaking everyone and everything.

Chris turned the hose first on the humans, was.h.i.+ng the countess's blood from their bodies. Then she held the hose up so that it showered down on her, Jamys, Lucan and Samantha like rain. The blood slowly thinned until all that remained as a large pool of watery pink.

Everywhere a piece of the countess's body landed, the flesh blackened and fell apart into the water. Within a few minutes all that remained of her were a few puddles of wet ash.

Jamys went to Chris, taking the hose from her and closing the valve before pulling her into his arms. He held her for a long time, just like that, their wet clothes dripping between them, their arms tight.

When he could manage it, he held her at arm's length. "Thank you," he croaked.

"You're welcome." She grinned up at him. "My lord."

Samantha took Luce Figueroa to the best private rape treatment center in Miami, where she was admitted for her physical and spiritual injuries. Carmen and Eduardo accepted Sam's explanation that their daughter had been abducted and drugged, and with a little nudge from l'attrait, Eduardo even forgot that Luce had attacked him and broken his arm.

Luce, however, felt differently about her experiences. "Don't make me forget what happened," she pleaded when Sam came to see her in her room. "I know what you are, and that you can, but please, don't."

Sam felt perplexed. "Why would you want to remember?"

"So I don't ever let it happen again."

She couldn't allow a mortal to retain memories that might expose the Kyn, but she could offer her some comfort before she removed them. "You didn't let this happen to you, sweetie. You were a victim." She held the girl as she wept, and then gently compelled her to forget about the countess and everything that had happened since she had been abducted. She then spoke to the unit's psychiatrist, and made sure that Luce would be treated for s.e.xual addiction as well as her other injuries.

Lucan called for several buses to transport the mortals from the Sunset Sails to a private compound in Miami he had set up to provide temporary sanctuary for the Kyn refugees fleeing the Brethren in Europe. Rafael travelled with them, and promised to see to it that each survivor was returned to his country and family, as soon their memories were wiped clean and they were provided with a plausible explanation for the length of their disappearance.

The owners.h.i.+p of the Sunset Sails was quickly transferred from the Hungarian holding company that had purchased it over the summer to one of Lucan's private corporations. He hired a demolition company and scheduled the old hotel to be torn down within the month. As soon as it was, he planned to have the rubble taken by cargo s.h.i.+p to be dumped in a deep trench in the Atlantic, and then have his landscapers go in and burned over and plowed under the property several times, just to be sure.

Jamys had a great deal of explaining to do, but the strain of speaking kept his voice at a whisper for another day. The following evening he was able to sit down with Lucan and Samantha and explain what he had done.

"I convinced Chris that I meant what I had her say for me," he said. "That is why the countess believed me, because Chris believed me."

"She's not that easy to fool," Samantha said. "You must be one h.e.l.l of an actor."

Jamys thought of his mother, who had allied herself with the Brethren but lied to her husband and family to make them believe her still loyal to the Kyn. "'Tis a family skill, I think. One I hope I will not have to use very often."

"How did you know the mortals would obey you and expel the countess?" Lucan wanted to know.

"I already knew that they could not be compelled by l'attrait," he admitted. "But while she occupied their bodies, she was not actually part of the flesh. My talent compels the body as much as the mind, so I gambled that their bodies would obey me." He noticed Chris standing beyond the tables. From her expression he knew she had heard every word. "Would you excuse me?"

His friend folded her arms as he walked over to her. "You lied to me."

"If I had told you my true intentions, she would have discovered them. The ruse was necessary." He took her hands in his.

"Am I forgiven?"

"You rescued me and almost four hundred other zombies, plus Lucan and Sam, and you have the s.e.xiest voice I've ever heard from a guy.." She c.o.c.ked her head. "You'll be lucky if I don't turn into a love-crazed groupie and start stalking you."

Jamys kissed her forehead. "I can think of many fates much worse than that."

"Where is that d.a.m.ned a.s.sa.s.sin, and what has he done with my son?" a low, rough voice called out. Thierry Durand stalked into the club, followed by his exasperated sygkenis, Jema Shaw, who had to trot to keep up with him.

"Suzerain Lucan," Jema said, dropping a fast curtsey. "I apologize in advance for my lord."

"She apologizes before he messes up." Samantha leaned over. "Now might be a good time to learn how to do that."

"On your behalf, or my own?" he countered.

"You." Thierry stopped in front of the table and pointed at Lucan. "You are a ruling lord now. What do you imagine that means?"

Lucan stroked his chin thoughtfully. "I can have you thrown out of here, or into the dungeon if I had a dungeon or"

"It means that for once in your miserable life, you have responsibilities," Thierry snarled. "I send my only child here for sanctuary, so that he might rest and make peace with himself, and what do you do? You nearly have him killed by a mad old Kyn and her army of revenants." Lucan glanced at Samantha. "I suppose I did."

"You admit it?" Thierry roared, pounding the table with his fist. "To my face?"

"But of course." He rose to his full height, which put him on the Frenchman's eye level. "We have so little in the way of proper entertainment for visiting Kyn. I thought slaying a monster would do the boy some good. I'll have you know that he had a marvelous time and wishes to visit us again next Christmas."

Before Thierry could respond, Jamys said, "He is right, Father."

"Jamie?" Thierry whipped around and peered at him. "Did you just my G.o.d."

He strode across the room and enveloped him in his arms. "Do I dream again?" "No, Father," he told him. "I can speak. What shall I say?" "Father." He cupped his face between his trembling hands. "Say it again.

Please." "Father." He smiled. "I love you."

About the Author.

Since 2000, Lynn Viehl has published forty-one novels in five genres. On the internet, she hosts Paperback Writer, a popular publis.h.i.+ng industry weblog which she updates daily. Lynn's StarDoc science fiction series has been a genre bestseller for seven consecutive years. Lynn's first four novels of the Darkyn, If Angels Burn, Private Demon and Dark Need all made the USA Today bestseller list, while her fourth and fifth Darkyn novels, Night Lost and Evermore, made the USA Today and New York Times extended bestseller lists. In July 2008, Lynn was officially recognized as a New York Times bestselling author when her sixth Darkyn novel, Twilight Fall, debuted at #19 on the Times ma.s.s market bestseller list. Readers are always welcome to send feedback on this free e-book to

Note to Readers If you've enjoyed this free e-book, please let other people know about it, as word of mouth is the best advertising a writer can't buy. Also, if you're interested in reading other books I've written, here's my public bibliography: Science Fiction (writing as S.L. Viehl) StarDoc SF series: StarDoc January 2000 Roc SF/F ISBN# 0451457730 Beyond Varallan July 2000 Roc SF/F ISBN# 0451457935 Endurance January 2001 Roc SF/F ISBN# 0451458141 Shockball August 2001 Roc SF/F ISBN# 0451458559 Eternity Row September 2002 Roc SF/F ISBN# 0451458915 Rebel Ice January 2006 Roc SF/F ISBN# 0451460626 Plague of Memory January 2007 Roc SF/F ISBN#9780451461230 Omega Games August 2008 Roc SF/F ISBN#9780451462244 Crystal Healer to be published in mid-2009 Roc SF/F Other SF novels: Blade Dancer August 2003 Roc SF/F ISBN# 0451459261 Ring of Fire (Anthology; short story: A Matter of Consultation) January 2004 BAEN ISBN# 074347175X Bio Rescue August 2004 Roc SF/F ISBN# 0451459784 Afterburn August 5, 2005 Roc SF/F ISBN# 0451460294.

Romance (writing as Gena Hale) Paradise Island April 2001 ONYX ISBN# 0451409825 Dream Mountain August 2001 ONYX ISBN# 0451410033 Sun Valley June 2002 ONYX ISBN# 0451410394 Romance (writing as Jessica Hall) The Deepest Edge February 2003 ONYX ISBN# 0451207963 The Steel Caress May 2003 ONYX ISBN# 0451208528 The Kissing Blades August 2003 ONYX ISBN# 045120946X Into the Fire March 2004 ONYX ISBN# 0451411307 Heat of the Moment October 2004 ONYX ISBN# 0451411587 Dark Fantasy (writing as Lynn Viehl) If Angels Burn April 2005 Signet Eclipse ISBN#0451214773 Private Demon October 2005 Signet Eclipse ISBN# 0451217055 Dark Need June 2006 Signet Eclipse ISBN# 0451218663 Night Lost May 2007 Signet Eclipse ISBN#9780451221025 Evermore January 2008 Signet Eclipse ISBN#9780451222848 Note to Readers (cont.) Dark Fantasy (writing as Lynn Viehl) Twilight Fall July 2008 Onyx ISBN#9780451412591 Master of Shadows December 2008 Onyx eSpecial release Stay the Night to be published in January 2009 Onyx Christian Adult Fiction Series (writing as Rebecca Kelly) Grace Chapel Inn Series/GUIDEPOSTS Going to the Chapel Home for the Holidays Midsummer Melody Promises to Keep Portraits of the Past Life is a Three-Ring Circus Free e-books: All of my free e-books can be read online or downloaded at My Scribd page) Deimos The Devil's Publis.h.i.+ng Dictionary Do or Die Familiar Have Mercy Incarnatio llumination John and Marcia ~ The Novel Crash Test Dummies John and Marcia, Together Again ~ The Novel Crash Test Dummies II Left Behind and Loving It Virtual Workshops Lunar Marshall Midnight Blues Night of the Chameleon Near Dawn Now or Never Ravelin Red Branch Roomies Sink or Swim The Novel Notebook Wanted Worthy Willing Happy reading!

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