"I won't divulge any information to you," Napoleon huffed.
"You will tell me everything you know," I commanded, compulsion thick in my voice. The schmuck should have known not to stand so close—he got hit with my compulsion from close range.
"Black Mist offered us a great deal of money. The head of my clan made the deal and didn't tell me how much. I merely carried out his orders."
"So, somebody else to go after," I mused, watching Napoleon. Norian and Lendill came to stand beside me and Norian wanted to turn to his lion snake so badly I could feel him vibrating. "What's his name?" I asked. "This dwarf who took Black Mist's money?"
"Giryoth," Napoleon muttered. That information hadn't been given willingly at all. Of course, he didn't have a choice.
"We'll pay a visit to him presently. In the meantime, I'm destroying your toy." I went to energy and gathered light around me. The Ranos Canon melted. Liffelithi were running and screaming; the heat I gathered was melting the walls and the floors of the ship. Napoleon ran away with his crew—I hadn't told him not to. I then disabled every escape pod on the ship with a thought. Norian, Lendill and my body remained inside my shield, which was as cool as a spring day as we watched the ship fall apart around us. Napoleon's men screamed and died—either from the heat or by exploding as they were sucked through holes forming in the hull of the ship. Once outside the pressurized ship, their bodies flew apart—they no longer had anything to hold them together. I think Lendill went to his knees at one point, his mouth hanging open in shock as he watched. The whole thing took ten minutes, after which I slipped back into my body and folded the three of us to Giryoth's palace.
Chapter 11
Giryoth's assistant cursed us and the seemingly useless guards outside Giryoth's private quarters when we appeared inside his office without warning. "How in the name of revenge did you get in here?" he shouted. He could have been Napoleon's brother—he was short, too, maybe weighed a little more, with hair dyed a dark green. It matched his uniform—a dark-green jumpsuit with gold doo-dads on the left breast.
"We folded space," I answered truthfully. "We're here to see Giryoth."
"You will not get in to see him," he pulled a laser pistol from a side pocket and aimed it at us. Well, too bad for him. He was headless in less time than it took to draw a breath. He'd forgotten the first rule of attempted homicide—never bring a gun to a vampire fight. I stepped over his body, heading for the doorway that lay beyond his desk. I took a brief look around me—judging by the opulence surrounding us, Giryoth was extremely wealthy. I figured Black Mist had made him a lot wealthier, after they'd blown Trell away. Well, he wasn't going to spend that money if I had anything to say about it.
"Norian, what does the Alliance do with the money and assets seized from criminals?" I asked calmly as we stepped inside Giryoth's private study. He wasn't there but I heard noise just beyond—somebody was having sex, I could tell.
"They take the funds into their coffers and pay restitution to those affected by crime," Norian replied as we walked toward another door. It was locked, so I kicked it in, hard enough that it broke from its hinges and crashed into the opposite wall.
"What in the name of the blood feud is going on?" Giryoth thundered, leaping out of bed. Well, somebody had a bedroom installed behind his office. Made it easy to sexually harass the secretary, I guess. It's difficult, too, to appear serious and menacing if you're not very tall, completely naked and purple with rage. Giryoth's companion was cowering in the bed, the sheets gripped tightly in her hands. She was pretty and Giryoth was wealthy. Go figure.
"How much did Black Mist pay you to kill six-hundred-million people?" I asked as politely as I could. I was doing my best to reel in my temper. Norian and Lendill stood at my shoulder and Lendill had one of his laser pistols out. He wasn't going to need it.
"How the hell did you get in here?" Giryoth shouted. "Windon! Get in here, now!"
"Windon will have to pull himself together, first," I purred, allowing my claws to slide out.
"Who are you?" Giryoth was only now beginning to worry. His companion was far ahead of him—she was already making breathy, shrieking noises.
"I am the Queen of Le-Ath Veronis. Six-hundred-million people died on Trell because Black Mist was aiming at me. Too bad you missed, huh?" I took a step toward him. Giryoth shuddered and took a step back.
"And I am the Director of the ASD," Norian was right beside me. "I can only imagine that I was supposed to die as well. As you see, you failed to kill me, too. Shall we leave you here and let Black Mist know?"
"No," Giryoth whispered, backing up a little more, his eyes widening in terror. Yep—death was right in front of him and he was still more frightened of Black Mist.
"What are you going to do, Lissa?" Lendill muttered. I turned to look at him.
"I have an idea," I said, and folded Norian, Lendill and Giryoth to Wyyld.
* * *
"Are you sure this won't upset you?" Ildevar Wyyld asked as he eyed Giryoth, who had no idea what was coming. Ildevar had sent Norian and Lendill off to research the whereabouts of Black Mist. That was a ruse—he'd told them he and I would take care of Giryoth. Ildevar was going to do the honors, and I was going to watch.
"I've seen it before, remember?" I replied with a shrug.
Giryoth was looking from Ildevar to me and back again, fear plain on his face. Well, he should have thought about consequences before killing Trell.
"I must thank you for providing for me," Ildevar bowed slightly in my direction. Giryoth didn't have time to squeak before Ildevar was his lengthy, coppery self and had Giryoth swallowed in less time than that. It's a little disturbing, knowing that it's a humanoid sliding down a Ra'Ak's throat instead of an animal or cooked meat of some kind, but Giryoth had it coming.
"Did you remove his clothing for me?" Ildevar was back to humanoid.
"No, we found him like that," I sighed.
"They digest easier if they are naked," Ildevar remarked. "Now, what do you intend to do with the rest of Liffel?"
"Well, the population has been diminishing on Evensun," I said.
"Ah."
"I thought I'd send them there. We'll see how one batch of murderers does against another batch. And then I intend to blow Liffel to little, tiny bits. As a message to Black Mist."
"When did you intend to do this?" Ildevar looked at me, a speculative gleam in his eyes.