Warriors of Poseidon 02 - Atlantis Awakening

warned him that he was passing the safety zone. He'd been diving for nearly five minutes. Another minute or so and he'd pass the point where his lungs had enough oxygen to return to the surface. Superior Atlantean lung capacity.
     
    The irony of an Atlantean prince dying in the sea should have amused him, but it was just pissing him off. With every ounce of power he possessed, he sent out another call, dropping into the formal speak of ritual he never bothered with except in times of high ceremony or extreme stress.
     
    Portal! The King's Vengeance demands entry! I serve Atlantis and my brother the high prince—to fail me is to fail us all.
     
    For another long moment, nothing. Stubbornness—or the memory of clear blue eyes—propelled him ever farther down, in search of the knowledge he needed so desperately.
    Deep, and ever deeper. Flickers of dark danced at the edge of his consciousness before—finally—the familiar iridescent silvery-blue sparkles appeared and formed an ovoid shape beneath him as he plummeted down through the frigid water. Falling into and through the shimmering magic of the portal, he had an instant to wonder why the only image that flashed through his mind was her face. And then his oxygen-starved brain gave up the fight, and the shimmers faded to black.

Chapter 4
    A cavern deep below Mount Rainier,
    Cascade Range, Washington
     
    The weak light of torches and candles barely illuminated the room well enough to see the speaker, but his face was one better suited for the dark, in any event. "Think of it as a birthday celebration, if you will. It's simply that the birthday in question will mark two thousand years." The vampire's voice thrummed with an ancient power that boomed Atlantis Awakening – Warriors of Poseidon 02
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    through the enormous empty space of the cavern, shuddered through the damp and mold that lined the black walls, and grated inside the listener's eardrums. It was a voice designed to assert its owner's pull over the weak, the servile, and the craven.
     
    The listener was none of the three. But he was curious. "And you plan to use the occasion to do what? Regain the rule you lost all those long years ago?"
     
    "I lost nothing. I was brutally murdered in the prime of my life." The vampire glared, his eyes glowing a fierce red that cut through the murky dark. But then his laughter rang out, hoarse and slightly rusty. The bones in his face stood out in stark relief, framing his prominent Roman nose. Straight-edged black hair was styled in an ancient military cut.
    "Besides, the Roman Empire is long gone and was far smaller than what I plan to attain today."
     
    He glided to the center of the cavern and floated onto a red velvet-covered platform.
    "The world shall know the name of Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus Germanicus again."
     
    The listener kept his face expressionless, which was somewhat of a feat, under the circumstances. Right. Perhaps Hollywood would be a better goal, considering your flair for drama. "But did the world ever know that name? Or was it the name the soldiers gave you as a child that you wish to hear again? Blaring from countless television screens, ringing in the streets?"
     
    He paused, jaws clenching in spite of his desire to remain impassive, before continuing.
    "Isn’t Caligula the name you wish to make famous again?"
     
    The most feared and despised emperor in Roman history smiled, his long fangs flashing. "And if it is? It is no less than my birthright." He turned his gaze to the listener, who still stood, shadowed, near the cavern wall. "You know, of course, that I do not trust you, Drakos."
     
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    Caligula's newest general finally met the gaze of his newfound… master. "As well you should not. My first words of advice to you would be this: never trust anyone."
     
    High Prince Conlan's palace, Atlantis
     
    "I don't like it," Justice said, pacing the marble floor of Conlan's war chamber. Ven watched as the warrior, his sword sheathed on his back as always, measured the length of the room with long strides. Justice had been pacing, nonstop, for the dozen or so minutes since they'd started assembling.
     
    After meeting privately with Ven, Conlan had called his warriors for a council to discuss the threat from Caligula, the increasing vamp activity in the Seattle region, and whatever in the nine hells Erin Connors had done to Ven.
     
    Ven blew out a breath. To