Warriors of Poseidon 02 - Atlantis Awakening

she started to sing, and the remaining Weres around him flinched back as if from something even scarier than Ven's blades. They clapped their paws over their ears and fell to the ground, letting loose a discordant, terrified howl, rolling and cringing on the ground. Ven started to slice heads from bodies, but the warrior that he was could not in honor take the lives of helpless, cowering victims, so he turned to face Lillian and determine the threat she posed.
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    Erin's song reached a high pitch far above soprano, a song that surely humpback whales would have recognized, and she threw her hands straight out in front of her and a bolt of pure silver light shot forth and straight toward Lillian. As he watched, keeping an eye on the fallen Weres and gasping for breath, Lillian's body lifted off the ground and somehow expanded, as though the light filled her and was pushing out at her flesh, trying to force its way through, and then, in an instant, the light vanished and she fell, hard, to the ground. Erin dropped her hands and bent her head and stood, panting, apparently exhausted but unharmed.
     
    The Weres began howling even more loudly, still cowering and rolling on the ground, so Ven ran toward the fallen witch, sword raised, prepared to take the final killing stroke and spare Erin that pain.
     
    But when he reached her, her neck lay at an impossible angle to her head and her eyes gazed blankly at the sky.
     
    "She's dead, Erin," he said. "She can't hurt anyone else anymore."
     
    "I know," she said, and—for a brief moment—the pitiless goddess he'd seen in her in Atlantis shone forth from her eyes. Then the moment passed and she put a hand over her mouth and ran to the side of the cabin where she vomited, violently, into the snow.
     
    He wanted to go to her, but there was the matter of the eight remaining Weres to deal with, and he swore viciously under his breath as he stared at them.
     
    "Need some help with your animal control problem?" A female voice came from behind him, startling him, and he whirled around to face a small woman sitting astride an enormous tiger. As he gaped at her, Quinn hopped off her snarling mount and walked up to him. "Jack and I are here to help."
     
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    Erin stood up, scrubbed fresh snow over her face, then walked toward them. "Quinn. It's good to see you. We have news to share."
     
    Quinn nodded grimly while Jack stalked around the group of cowering Weres, viciously snarling at any who dared to raise their heads. "We have news, too, and it's not good."

Chapter 24
The treetops near the
    Circle of Light Headquarters
     
    Daniel stared down at the vampires circling the magical shield through his new and improved vision, which now bizarrely kaleidoscoped into a prism of infrared gone multicolored. If he'd known he'd gain this kind of power from drinking the blood of an ancient vampire, he would have drained the bastard the first time he'd met him. His wounds were entirely healed and he felt the life force of more energy than he'd had since becoming undead pumping through his body.
     
    Although he'd come closer to the permanent death than he ever had before in the doing of it, dragging his bloody carcass back to the mountain had sealed Caligula's trust in him. Now he would finally have the opportunity to destroy the monster, and the world would be a much better place.
     
    At least until the next would-be conqueror popped up. He'd thought Barrabas's death would have thrown off course—even a little—the evil vampire's insidious encroachment of power over the human political infrastructure. But even after permanent death, Barrabas's influence continued to spread. The perfect example of what a good strategist with absolutely no boundaries could accomplish.
     
    Daniel watched the members of Caligula's blood pride scurrying along the edges of the shield below, and admitted the grim truth to himself. Four days out of five, he was Atlantis Awakening – Warriors of Poseidon 02
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    discouraged enough to consider facing the true death. If he hadn't met the Atlanteans and Quinn and finally had partners in his covert efforts, he certainly would have done it sooner. Life—even undead life—needs hope, and Daniel was all out of that.
     
    "Drakos!" Caligula thundered at him. "Get over here and help me determine how to break through that witch's