Christina Henry - Black City

I could, but I’d thought it was nothing more than lust. Now I knew it was more than that, that Nathaniel and I were connected on a deeper level than I realized. He would always be with me, and I with him.

He bent his head to mine, kissed me, and as our passion surged so did our power. A pulse of magic emitted from our entwined bodies.

And a pulse answered us.

We broke apart, staring at the lake. Far out, beyond the breakers, the water was bubbling and surging. Something big was rising up.

“Alerian,” I breathed.

I took a step backward, and so did Nathaniel. He grabbed my hand and held it tight. The water was rising up into a column, and there was a sense that something of impossible size was beneath the water. Green mist rose from the surface of the lake once more, except this time it poured off in a continual fog.

That fog didn’t stay confined to the lake but drifted out to the sand, onto the path, onto Lake Shore Drive and beyond. The drive was silent, the cars still abandoned. The city had not even begun to rebuild itself yet, and here was another monster.

A huge tentacle emerged from the column of water. It lashed the breakers, smashing the rock into a million tiny pieces. The creature surged forward, emerging from the column and moving toward the shore. Everywhere I looked there were arms, huge squid-like arms. The rest of his body was still submerged, and I sincerely hoped it stayed that way. If I saw all of him, I might start gibbering.

“That’s Alerian?” I said faintly.

“Bit of a show-off, isn’t he?” said Lucifer from behind my shoulder. “I’d say he read Lovecraft once and never got over it, but he went to sleep eons before Lovecraft was born.”

“How did he manage to hide in the lake without anyone ever discovering him?” I said. “He’s enormous.”

“He doesn’t have to stay that size,” Puck said from the other side of Nathaniel. “As my dear brother says, Alerian is a show-off. He’s displaying his true form for no other reason than he can.”

I looked askance at Puck. “Are you saying that you and Lucifer have forms other than these?”

Puck winked at me. “That’s for me to know and you to find out.”

“I don’t really want to know,” I said.

“I’ll thank you not to wink at my granddaughter,” Lucifer said.

Puck leaned around Nathaniel so he could get a good look at Lucifer. I swear I could see the two of them bristling like cats, their tails getting puffy and indignant.

“She’s my niece,” Puck said. “And Alerian’s.”

“As Nathaniel is my nephew,” Lucifer said silkily.

“Stay away from my son,” Puck said.

“Stay away from my granddaughter,” Lucifer replied.

“Shut up , the two of you,” I said. “He’s coming out of the water.”

“You know he’s only rising because of you,” Puck said to Lucifer. “If you had stayed out of the dead world, then he probably would have slept forever.”

“How do you know it’s not your fault?” Lucifer said. “The awakening of Nathaniel’s power would have been just as noticeable as anything I did.”

“I noticed Madeline has some lovely new wings,” Puck said.

“Stop trying to pin this on me,” Lucifer said. “We’ll both have to deal with him now, whoever is responsible.”

The first enormous tentacle slapped onto the shore. Nathaniel and I scooted back a little farther, until our feet scraped the surface of the bike path.

Puck and Lucifer walked forward, although they were both careful to keep a sufficient amount of distance between them. The only sibling hatred that I knew of to rival theirs was Antares’ hatred of me. I was sure the only thing that stopped the two of them from actively trying to kill each other was some arcane law of the universe that bound them.

A second tentacle followed the first. The majority of Alerian’s body was still far from shore. That’s how big he was. His tentacles were slapping up on the beach and most of him was still submerged several feet out in the deeper water. He stopped moving as Lucifer and Puck approached.

Nathaniel and I moved forward again, cautiously.

Then two things happened at once.

Therion came flying out of the darkness, fangs bared, obviously intent on me.

Alerian coiled one huge tentacle around the vampire king and squeezed. There was a sickening pop as Therion was crushed into two pieces. Alerian threw Therion onto the beach. The upper half of Therion tried to turn over and crawl away.

“He’s a vampire, you idiot,” Puck said. “You’ve got to behead him or set him on fire.”

In response, Alerian grabbed Therion around the neck with one tentacle and around the remains of his waist with the other and pulled the vampire king’s head off like a cork.

“Ah,” I said, feeling sick to my stomach. “That takes care of that problem, then.”

The tentacles receded into the water, and the fog dissipated. For a moment I hoped that Alerian would go back to sleep, having woken just long enough to save me from the belated vengeance of the vampire king.

But my luck didn’t run that way.

A moment after the giant squid arms disappeared, a third figure stood on the beach with Lucifer and Puck.

I dropped Nathaniel’s hand, moving closer so I could see Alerian clearly.

He had blue-green hair, like seaweed, drawn back in a long queue. His eyes were the same color. His face was handsome, and he wore a suit that looked as though it had been tailored for him. There was none of Puck’s impishness about him, nor of Lucifer’s smooth control. Even with the trappings of civilization on him, Alerian seemed wilder than the other two. More untamed. More dangerous.

And according to Puck, Daharan was worse than all of them put together. I definitely did not want to meet Daharan. Ever.

“Brothers,” Alerian said formally. The ancient siblings stood on the sand like three points of a triangle, a precise amount of distance maintained.

“Alerian,” Lucifer said. “You have decided to wake from your long sleep.”

“What my brother wants to know is why you have chosen to wake,” Puck corrected. “And I want to know that, too.”

“What I would like to know,” Alerian said, looking at Nathaniel and me standing just outside the circle of their conference, “is what the two of you have been doing while I have been asleep.”

“There’s so much to tell,” Lucifer said. “We should adjourn to my court where we can discuss it.”

“He’s not going with you so you can poison his mind with your serpent’s tongue,” Puck said.

“Too bad you do not have a court to offer,” Lucifer said. “Pretending to be Titania’s servant does have its disadvantages.”

“I do not wish to go with either of you, anywhere,” Alerian said. “I wish to know what you have been doing. And then I wish to spend some time with my kin.”

Alerian waved his hand in the direction of Nathaniel and me.

“Um,” I said. I couldn’t imagine putting Alerian on the futon in the living room.

“Come forward, my niece,” Alerian said imperiously. He held out his hand to me.

I didn’t want this. I definitely did not want to be on the radar of another of Lucifer’s relatives/enemies.

But Alerian had just saved my life. And everyone was watching me, waiting to see what I would do.

I lifted my chin. I wasn’t afraid of anyone, not even a giant squid–sea god–thing. I took his hand.

He drew me close to him, stared deep into my eyes, and I was drowning.

I could taste the salt of the ocean, feel the freedom of the water, the pressure of its depths. The waves crashed against me, crashed against the shore.

Someone was pulling me, tugging me out of the water.