Warriors of Poseidon 04 - Atlantis Unmasked

holding out.” He stalked toward a tall pedestal at the center of the room that had been hidden by the fallen one.
    Then he pointed at the fist-sized square yellow diamond resting on a cushion. “If you‟d told Anubisa about this one, there‟s no way she‟d have let you keep your grubby hands on it, is there?”
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    For a split second, Vonos looked almost terrified. Then he composed his expression and laughed. “What does one such as you know of the most exalted goddess of Chaos and Night?”
     
    Alexios turned toward Rhys. “Hit it, Your Highness.”
     
    Rhys nodded, and instantly Alexios‟s face returned to normal, the glamour gone.
     
    Vonos stumbled back a step. “No. No, it‟s a trick. You cannot be Alexios from Atlantis.”
     
    “And yet, here I am,” Alexios said, stalking closer to the diamond. “This baby belongs to me, too. Or at least it belongs to Atlantis, and I‟m going to take it home now. So you have two choices. You can get out of my way, or I can use it on you.”
     
    “Did you think we‟d let you get away with that?” The cheesiest Russian accent Grace had ever heard was still menacing when it came equipped with a very lethal-looking rifle.
     
    And the rifle was pointed right at Alexios‟s head.
     
    Prevacek stepped into the room. “You called, Master?”
     
    Grace rolled her eyes. “I can‟t escape the Renfields this week, can I? Was it something I did? Some karmic pay-back biting me in the ass?”
     
    Alexios started laughing, and the sound of his voice carried something warm from him directly into her heart. She figured it was time she told him something important.
     
    “If I don‟t get the chance to say this again, I love you,” she called out.
     
    “I know,” he said smugly, chuckling to himself.
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    “How touching,” Vonos sneered.
     
    “Oh, please. That‟s so Han Solo,” she muttered, ignoring the vampire.
     
    “I love you, too,” Alexios said. “But can we hold the rest of that thought until I get us out of here?”
     
    “How about until we get us out of here?” Grace fired back.
     
    Rhys threw his hands into the air. “Excuse me? Is anyone forgetting the high prince, High House, Seelie Court, standing right here?”
     
    “The what?” Vonos all but shrieked.
     
    “Let me kill them now, my lord,” Prevacek begged.
     
    “Nooo, no. I will present all three of them as a gift for the goddess,” Vonos said, all but rubbing his hands together with glee.
     
    Suddenly, all the bravado currently inflating Grace‟s lungs vanished like a puff of imaginary smoke. Anubisa was coming. They were all screwed.
     
    Alexios didn‟t dare make a move when the Russian had that gun trained very carefully right on the middle of Grace‟s forehead. But he knew that seeing Anubisa again might be the end of his sanity. Now was the time for the risky move.
     
    “Why didn‟t you tell her?” he called out.
     
    Vonos slowly opened his eyes; he‟d been “communing” with the goddess, probably.
    Alexios could only hope he‟d gotten a busy signal.
     
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    “Trying to move up the ladder, bloodsucker? Enthrall some shifters here, wipe out a theater troupe there, and take over the god spot yourself?”
     
    Vonos‟s eyes flared red, but he didn‟t answer. Alexios hadn‟t found the right button to push, yet. So he‟d try again. “I‟m just curious. Is the Vampire‟s Bane going to be part of the gift? Or will we be the „please don‟t kill me for withholding‟ gift, and the Bane is the real gift? What about re-gifting? Is she really a fan?”
     
    “I‟d advise you to shut up,” Vonos snarled. “The goddess is on her way to us now.”
     
    “There‟s no time for this, Alexios,” Grace said.
     
    Rhys simply nodded, but somehow Alexios knew that both of them were telling him to spearhead a charge to escape. Two vamps, one gun, three of them. He didn‟t like the odds, because all he could think about was the terrifying picture of Grace lying dead from a gunshot wound.
     
    “I don‟t think . . .” he began.
     
    “Don‟t think so much,” she yelled. Then her hand whipped out and she grabbed a golden dish off the pedestal nearest her and whipped it at Prevacek‟s head. The Russian ducked, but the gun went off, shattering another pedestal inches from