CHAPTER SEVENTEEN.

The end of all is come

Our hearts you will not tame

The past is gone far away

And now comes the final game

Don't think that you have won

Just because we're still

For what we cannot have

We will, most surely, kill

LOS ANGELES.

SOLOMON.

"Last-ditch effort," Solomon announced as he whipped out his cell phone. Katalin was seated at a new table behind him, staring into her crystal ball. Tears and sweat dripped down her face. He'd pressured her for answers, and so far all she had come up with was more predictions about his demise. "I've sent a fleet of planes to Romania loaded with vampires, monsters, and crack-shot soldiers."

She said nothing, just kept staring.

"So I figure if . . . he . . . will listen to reason, I can switch sides with one phone call. I mean, does he even know about the virus? I can be useful to him," Solomon went on.

He finished dialing, and the phone on the other end rang. A connection was made.

"h.e.l.lo," a breathy woman's voice answered. It sounded familiar.

"Jennifer?" he asked, surprised. "Jennifer Leitner?"

His query was answered with a hiss.

"Solomon, I'm here," Lucifer said into the phone. Just hearing his voice made Solomon quake.

"Listen. I had a terrible lapse in judgment when I announced our existence to the human race," Solomon said. "I didn't think."

Silence.

"I should have checked in with you first," Solomon continued. "But I-I didn't know you were real."

More silence.

"So, listen, I'm sending soldiers in a show of support."

"Support," Lucifer echoed.

Katalin made a strangled sound and pushed back from the table.

"The final battle," Solomon said. "It's happening, right?"

Silence. Lucifer was making it very clear that he didn't have to interact with Solomon if he didn't feel like it. They weren't equals.

"Look, with me at your side, you've got the entire Vampire Nation at your command. I know things that could help you. You know, like about the virus?"

"Virus?" Lucifer said. "What-"

Then Katalin grabbed her crystal ball, raced across the room, and smashed it over Solomon's head. He was shocked; before he could react, she reached into the folds of her dress, pulled out a piece of the table he'd broken earlier, and rammed it into his chest. Or tried to. Her lips pulled back from her teeth in a feral roar as she threw herself against his chest again.

Solomon gave thanks for his Kevlar vest and lunged at her, fangs extended, sinking them into her neck.

His face burned as if she had lit it on fire. Holy water. He recoiled, taking half her neck with him. The holy water splashed into his eyes, blinding him for the moment. And suddenly he hurt everywhere. What was she doing to him?

"Dantalion, stop her!" Lucifer bellowed through the phone.

He was burning up. His skin was blazing away, turning black, disintegrating. He dropped the phone as the holy water melted muscle, then bone. The pain- CASTLE BRAN.

LUCIFER, DANTALION, HEATHER, AND ANTONIO.

"I'm sorry, Lucifer," Dantalion said as he, Lucifer, and Heather headed for the dungeon. They wound down the circular stone staircase, Heather attired in another of Aurora's beautiful gowns. She had just found a very interesting book in Aurora's room, and she held it against her chest. "I couldn't stop the little Gypsy from killing him in time. At least now we know the new magicks work."

"I should never have agreed to let you send her to him. So far your mesmerism has caused us nothing but headaches," Lucifer said. "She wasn't even useful as a spy. He kept so much from her."

"At least he's dead," Dantalion said. "Our greatest enemy is gone."

Lucifer stopped and glared up at Dantalion. "You're much stupider than I was afraid of."

Kill Dantalion, Heather thought. Kill him now. Like Aurora, her predecessor, she didn't like him and trusted him less.

Lucifer glanced past Dantalion toward her, as if he could read her mind. She smiled at him.

"Don't ever answer my phone again, or I will kill you," he said to her.

"Okay, no problem," she replied, unfazed. She had never met Solomon, and the temptation to talk to him had been too great to pa.s.s up. Of course, she had seen Solomon on TV for years, ever since he'd announced that vampires were real and he was their leader. She'd begged Jenn to take her to Spain so she could hunt the Cursed Ones too. Stupid Daddy, who had made a pact with Aurora that if he gave her Jenn, the vampire queen would leave the rest of his family alone.

My dad is stupider than Dantalion. Still she supposed she should be grateful for his treachery. She was here because of him. And Aurora was dust because of her.

Lucifer led the way into the dungeon, sweeping past Dantalion's latest batch of supersoldiers in various stages of creation.

The creatures were still decomposing at an alarming rate. Dantalion's outbuilding laboratory reeked of putrid hybrids, the stench so horrible that Dantalion had stopped using it. Dantalion was trying to slow the rate of spoilage by immersing the creatures in various chemical baths or injecting them with preservatives and vitamins. When she had asked Lucifer why they still bothered with the experiments, he'd told her that he hadn't lived so long by ignoring the future.

As the three pa.s.sed, one particularly gruesome nightmare raised its head from a tank and said, "Lovely."

Heather faltered. It was her monster.

Doesn't matter. He served his purpose, she thought.

"Antonio, do you know anything about a virus?" Lucifer asked, as he opened the slot in the center of the door of Antonio de la Cruz's cell.

Antonio was manacled to the wall, sagging from his wrists. His head hung down against his chest. Dim light played on the crown of his matted hair. There was blood everywhere. His shirt was in tatters, and his jeans barely covered him. His feet were bare.

"Virus," Lucifer said, from the safe distance of the doorway. "Come on, Antonio. What do you know?"

The vampire didn't respond. Lucifer turned to Heather. "Maybe you should throw the book at him."

"Maybe I should torture him with my new magicks," Dantalion offered.

"Or I should," Heather said.

Antonio jerked. Then he slowly raised his head. His eyes blazed scarlet.

"Heather," he whispered. "Ay, no."

Lucifer looked from Antonio to Heather. Then he grabbed Heather and yanked her across his chest. He slipped his free hand around her neck and squeezed.

"Of course you care for her," Lucifer said. "The sister of Jenn Leitner; the vampire you were trying to save. Tell me about the virus or I'll rip off her head."

Heather was curious to see what Antonio would do. Curious, but unafraid. Lucifer was crazy about her. And if she died, she died. She had killed Aurora; she'd had her vengeance. Anything that came after was . . . a bonus.

Antonio's face was a portrait in agony, cut and burned, his expression frantic as he shook his head.

"Don't, Lucifer. The answer is simple. Solomon has a spy in Project Crusade. The black crosses let the spy think there's a virus that can wipe out our kind. But it's a lie."

"You're lying," Lucifer said, tightening his grip on Heather's neck. It was a good thing she didn't have to breathe. But she whimpered for Antonio's benefit, and raised up on her tiptoes.

"There was a scientist, Michael Sherman. He was working on the virus before he was converted," Antonio said.

"He's a vampire?" Lucifer said.

"Si. After his conversion, the black crosses took him prisoner and locked him up. They tried to force him to resume working on it, but they finally realized he can't get it to work. They're pretending that it was successful to throw Solomon off. That's all I know," Antonio said, looking anxiously at Heather. "I swear it."

"Do you swear in the name of your G.o.d?" Lucifer asked.

"Yes, in the name of Christ, I do," Antonio said, staring at Heather as if she were drowning and he wanted to jump in to save her.

"Hmm," Lucifer said. "All right." He let go of Heather. Then he took the book from her. "Sergio's Book of Spells." He showed it to Antonio. "Did your sire share his magick use with you? I suppose he did. We've come a long way since 1942."

"We should kill him," Heather said.

"We will," Lucifer replied. "Just not right now."