Heart Of Atlantis

primal than the loathing and terror of creatures who wanted to drain your blood, and these were attacking in such masses as to block out the first sunset the Atlanteans had seen in eleven millennia.
    “She’s back, and she has reinforcements,” Quinn shouted, slamming shut her emotional shields so she could survive the massive amount of terror pounding her brain. “Run!”
    Seconds later, the swarm of vampires hit Atlantis like a plague of locusts, attacking everyone in sight. Alaric turned and walked backward, hurling energy spheres as he moved. Wherever one of his deadly little balls landed, vampires screamed and died.
    But most of the screaming and dying was happening to the Atlanteans and their guests. Quinn flinched as three of the bloodsuckers attacked a man and ripped him apart.
    The palace finally rose up in front of them and she raced Jack indoors. Once inside the palace, Conlan stopped running and let Riley walk on her own.
    “I’m taking her to the safest place in the palace,” Conlan said. “Our rooms are warded and defensible.”
    “Take Noriko,” Quinn advised. “She has a killer force field. She can help protect Riley and the baby.”
    Conlan nodded, and they sped away. Quinn headed down a corridor after Alaric.
    “The armory is this way. How are you with a sword?”
    She rolled her eyes. “Not all that great. I don’t have much practice with boiling oil or cannonballs, either.”
    Ven met up with them and caught the gist of what she was saying. “Stick with me, kid. We non-magic types have to work to our strengths.”
    He opened a locked door just past the larger doors to the palace armory, which was swarming with warriors gearing up before running back outside to protect their people. Ven threw open the cabinet to display an impressive range of all the best tech for the serious gun enthusiast. Quinn chose a Glock similar to the one Ptolemy had melted, another just like it, a selection of throwing knives and stabbing knives, and then she slung a mini-Uzi over her shoulder.
    She looked down at Jack. “Want an Uzi?”
    He snarled and lifted one massive paw, tipped with very sharp claws. She nodded. “Still not coming back, huh? Well, now is a great time to be a tiger.”
    Ven was arming himself with enough weaponry to single-handedly assault a small country.
    Quinn loaded her pockets with extra ammo. “Silver?”
    Ven nodded. “Best kind.”
    Alaric’s patience, what little there was of it, had evidently reached its end. He backed her into the wall and got right in her face. “If you are outnumbered, you
run
. If you find yourself in an indefensible position, you run. If—”
    She stood on her tiptoes and kissed him. “I love you, too. Now, let’s go save the day.”
    Ven’s mouth fell open, and then he whistled. “Nobody is going to believe this. The terrifying Alaric brought to his knees by
luuurve
.”
    Alaric bristled and took a step toward Ven, but Quinn spoke up.
    “Oh, yes, Erin dear. Can I rub your back, Erin darling? Should we watch that chick flick again, Erin dearest?”
    Ven flushed a dull red and muttered something, and Alaric grinned at her before they all settled down to the deadly earnest job of defending Atlantis.
    Marcus ran down the hall, damn fast for his age. “My lords, Anubisa is on the roof of the palace, and she has the princess and the baby trapped. Conlan ordered me to find you and Lord Justice.”
    “I’m going to
kill
that bitch,” Quinn shouted, and Marcus nodded.
    “If I don’t get a chance first,” he said grimly.
    “Go find Justice. We’ll take it from here,” Alaric said, and he, Ven, and Quinn ran up the stairs toward the roof and the vampire goddess who had taken so much from so many of them.
    Quinn checked her weapons as she ran, although she privately doubted any of them would suffice to kill a vampire so old that she claimed to be a goddess. She hoped Alaric and his new magic could help with a knockout punch—even Quinn could behead an unconscious vamp.
    “If she has hurt Riley again, or the baby—” Quinn couldn’t finish the sentence. Couldn’t even think the unthinkable. She’d get there in time to prevent it.
    She had no choice.
    When they reached the roof, they stopped to assess the situation. Night had fallen hard, and only the moon and a few scattered torches illuminated the scene. A clearly terrified Riley stood just out of reach of at least fifty vampires, and Noriko was unconscious—or dead—on the ground near