Warriors of Poseidon 01 - Atlantis Rising

legs covered in gore and dripping with blood to carry her back to the weapons room. Had almost made it when she heard the loud thud and Denal's anguished bellow.
     
    Turned around to see. Screamed again and fell to her knees.
     
    Brennan stood, gasping, over the now-headless body of the final vampire.
     
    Denal lay on the floor, impaled by a sword that the vamp had driven through his stomach before it died.
     
    As she watched, tears nearly blinding her, the life and the light in Denal's eyes dimmed and went dark. His head fell to the side, and he died.
    Atlantis Rising – Warriors of Poseidon 01
    Page 266 of 351

Chapter 29
    Conlan stood with the points of his daggers pressing against two different throats. The warriors he'd disarmed held their breath, backed against the wall, no doubt reading their deaths in his eyes.
     
    The whooshing noise of steel through air warned him to the danger seconds before yet another of Reisen's men fell dead next to Conlan's feet. He turned to see Justice wiping his sword on the fallen man's clothes. "Just watching your back, Conlan."
     
    Conlan nodded. "Literally, I see. I owe you one."
     
    Justice raised an eyebrow. "Oh, I think we shouldn't start keeping track, my lord.
    Because the 'you owe mes' are up to the double digits, now."
     
    Ven and the others held the rest of the Mycenaean warriors at bay behind the barrels of semiautomatic shotguns. The problem with Ven's toys was that the reliability of machinery was chancy at best around anyone channeling the elements.
     
    Dangerous at worst.
     
    Ven always said he liked to live on the edge.
     
    Alexios moved among the humans, checking on their well-being. They all wore odd robes and expressions of terror mixed with awe. Conlan caught the murmurs of "Atlantis, Atlantis."
     
    Another problem to add to his ever-growing list.
     
    On the makeshift stage, Alaric faced Reisen, who still held the Trident. A shimmering wall of energy flared up and between them, wavering toward first one, then the other.
    Atlantis Rising – Warriors of Poseidon 01
    Page 267 of 351
     
    Reisen had no training in using objects of power, but Alaric had once told Conlan that the Trident seemed to have a mind of its own. "More fickle than a beautiful woman" had been his expression.
     
    But Alaric seemed to be winning this battle.
     
    The men on the other ends of his blades twitched, and Conlan pressed the daggers a fraction of an inch deeper into the tender skin of their throats. "Do you think I'm distracted? Do you plan to make your move now?"
     
    They stood silent, eyes widening in denial. Afraid to speak, probably.
     
    Terrified of a prince come back from the grave and turned savage killer.
     
    Good.
     
    "Who knows what Anubisa did to me while I was gone?" he asked, mocking them.
    "Maybe I'm secretly a vampire, too."
     
    He leaned closer to them, pulled his lips back over his teeth, and hissed.
     
    The man on his right made a squeaking noise, then his eyes rolled back in his head and he dropped like a stone. Conlan barely had time to jerk the blade away before the damn fool impaled himself on it.
     
    The warrior on Conlan's left wasn't the slightest bit intimidated. "Maybe you are worse than a vampire, if you play childish games like that with men who deserve better, my lord."
     
    Atlantis Rising – Warriors of Poseidon 01
    Page 268 of 351
    The words stirred a distant shame. Then anger followed it. "You dare to chastise me?
    Remember anything about treason? Blaspheming against the Temple of Poseidon by stealing one of its icons? Daring to attack your high prince?"
     
    The man's defiance never lessened. "I am Micah, first of Reisen's Seven. We believed you were dead, and that Atlantis had no leader. You—"
     
    "Ven was heir to the throne, and everybody knew it. Nice try at rationalizing, though."
     
    Micah sneered. "Ven? How many times has he made it clear that he wants no part of rule? He's more at home in a tavern than in the palace. Reisen also has the blood of kings in him, and he would serve our people well."
     
    Conlan stepped back, sheathed his daggers. Flicked a contemptuous glance down and back up the warrior. "So you think to lecture me on the demands of the throne? Go back to your mother's skirts, boy, and leave the thinking to the men."
     
    Micah roared out his defiance and charged, exactly as Conlan had expected. He snapped out his fist and smashed Micah in the face.
     
    Micah blinked, then fell forward and landed on