Warriors of Poseidon 06 - Atlantis Betrayed

community, with the possibility of military action on the table. The prime minister’s political opponents are claiming—”
    Sean shut it back off. “This is going to be really bad, isn’t it?”
    “Not if we can help it, Sean,” Christophe said, clasping his shoulder for a moment.
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    Fiona appreciated that he’d used the word “we,” but she held his hand tightly all the way home.
    St. Mary’s tube station
    Gideon stared down at the stupid vampire who had caused him so much trouble. It was really always the same with vampires. All one needed to do was wait for daylight. This one, although old enough to be awake most of the day, certainly in the dark this far below ground, was dead to the world. Wielding the power of the Siren must have drained the vampire’s energy. Even now, Telios clutched the sword in his skeletal hands.
    Gideon paused to smile at his own joke. Dead to the world. And soon truly dead to the world. It was the matter of seconds to drive the wooden stake through Telios’s heart, wrench Vanquish out of the vampire’s clutching hands, and watch as the pathetic creature once known as Jack the Ripper dissolved into acidic slime. The curse didn’t activate, of course. One could not steal an item from a dead vampire.
    “Thank you,” Gideon said, mocking the corpse. “Now I have much to do. I think I’ll take advantage of your little ploy and build from there. The next headlines will be ‘Fae prince saves the day.’ ”
    Caressing the sword and its lovely, lovely gemstone, Gideon took a last look around the miserable place.
    “A fitting tomb, don’t you think? And now on to the next phase of my plan. Where do you think Lady Fiona might be?”
    He stepped back out of the path of the spreading slime. “Oh, my apologies. You don’t have a brain left to think with.” He chuckled at his own wit and then opened a doorway to his home. “I wonder if she has received my message yet?”

Chapter 35
Campbell Manor
    Hopkins met them at the door before they made it out of the garage. “A note just came for you, Lady Fiona.” His body practically hummed with suppressed fury. “I think we may have a problem.”
    He turned to Sean. “If you would please open the vault and bring out the special items I showed you once?”
    “Are you sure?” Sean’s face turned pale.
    “Yes.”
    Sean wasted no more time with questions, but just took off back toward the garage.
    Christophe and Fiona followed Hopkins inside and to her office. “What kind of problem? We don’t need another problem. Did you read the note?” Fiona asked.
    “I would not read your mail.”
    “I think we’re a little past that. Have you listened to the news?”
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    Hopkins nodded grimly. “I was going to wait five more minutes for you and then read it. I think Declan’s in trouble.”
    He handed over a thick envelope, cream parchment with her name elegantly written on it in slanted black letters and bold black ink. She ripped it open and held the note out so they could all see it.
    Lady Fiona,
    As you may know, I am not precisely the man you assumed me to be. I should like to meet with both of you to discuss our future plans. Your brother has graciously accepted my hospitality, as well, and is currently enjoying a bit of light refreshment. Tell the man from the water that Declan tells me the wine is a very good vintage.
    Yours,
    Fairsby, Lord Summerlands
    Suddenly she couldn’t breathe. Her lungs absolutely refused to draw in air. She collapsed to the floor before Hopkins or Christophe could catch her.
    “He has Declan. Feransel has Declan.”
    “We’ll get him back,” Christophe said, scooping her up off the floor and into his arms. “I swear to you by my oath as a Warrior of Poseidon that we will get him back.”
    “What does it mean?” She pushed away from Christophe and smoothed out the crumpled letter. “I get that ‘man from the water’ is you and ‘Lord Summerlands’ is a not very subtle way to say lord from the Summer Lands especially since that’s not his title, but what does that mean about the wine?”
    “It means that Declan accepted drink, maybe food, too, so they more than likely have enchanted him.”
    She thought about it. Thought about all the reasons why she should remain sane, and calm, and rational.
    And then she threw back her head and screamed.
    Christophe understood