Blood Trinity (Belador #1)(94)
“Why did you come forward in time if you want to go back?”
Vyan smiled. “It does sound strange. I will explain. Our entire tribe was cursed to live beneath Mount Meru as immortals eight hundred years ago after battling with the Beladors. We want to go home to our lands and live as natural men again, and the Ngak Stone is our only hope.”
“Beladors. What are those?”
“That woman tonight is one. They are our enemy. In my time, the Beladors murdered our families. We have been forbidden to battle them by our god Shiva or we’ll be further cursed.”
“Okay, wait.” She rubbed her temple to ward off the headache building. “You and your warlord and some of his men came to my time to find this rock, but you need Tristan to get the rock that he’ll use to send your people back in time. Is that correct?”
“Yes.”
“But the Beladors are here and they’re your enemy, but you can’t fight with them but Tristan can? Are the Beladors in this era evil people?”
Vyan broke his eye contact, letting his gaze sweep the room before coming back to her face. “They are my enemy.”
She let that go to focus on the question that mattered most. “How does Tristan plan to get this rock?”
“You could give it to him.”
“I hear an ‘or’ at the end of that.”
“He can kill you and take it.”
Fine print warnings had never been that dire in the past. What was she going to do? Then it hit her. “What if I send your tribe back eight hundred years?”
“I don’t think you possess the power to control the rock at this point if you couldn’t send me away earlier.” He smiled.
“You heard that?”
His smile widened, so sexy it turned her mind to mush.
She’d be fanning herself soon if he kept that up. “Sorry, but I didn’t know what to do with you.”
Vyan’s worried eyes met hers. “Tristan is not the greatest danger for you.”
“You don’t think getting killed by something that changes into a beast is bad enough?”
“You have until sunrise tomorrow morning to give up the stone or it will bond with you permanently as its master.”
“That doesn’t sound so bad. Maybe I want to be the stone’s master.”
“It is not so easy as it seems. This stone is as old as the earth itself. It has passed through the hands of many masters, all of whom are dead. The stone has always gone to a powerful being who could control the stone’s powers. On Wednesday morning when the sun touches the spot where you found the rock, energy will fill you. This stone chooses its own destiny and may have chosen you because you are human.”
This was as bad as listening to the evening news, full of death and disaster, except it would be her death and disaster. “What do you mean? Why is being human not a good thing?”
Vyan drew hard on a breath and took his time answering. “If the stone’s energy does not kill you when the power hits your body, the stone may take over your mind and turn you into its slave to commit whatever actions it decides. It could choose for you to do good in this world … or to destroy everything and everyone in sight.”
She released the stone she’d been clutching inside her pants pocket and suffered the loss of vision.
Live in a world of darkness forever or risk the future of humanity and her sanity?
THIRTY
The interior of the windowless panel truck bouncing over every bump on hard rear springs smelled of male perspiration and dedication. Evalle doubted she could say a thing to Laredo Jones, the mountain-size leader of these men, that would change their minds about delivering her to Isak.
And what about Isak, since he didn’t think her aura was human? She kept her clammy hands clasped in front of her to keep from fidgeting.
She’d seen what his demon-killing megablaster could do.
Did these men have any idea she might be Alterant?
At least these guys hadn’t stuck a sack over her head, but she had no idea where she was going.
The truck stopped. Then a groan of metal moving outside the van sounded next. That could be a garage-type metal door on a building. A really big one, based on how long it was taking to open. When the noise ceased, the truck drove forward about fifty feet and parked.
No one moved until the rear door opened. She waited for her cue to exit, then stepped out into a hangar that soared three stories high in the center.
She hadn’t heard airplanes on her way here, so this might or might not be at an airport. The drive had taken half an hour. That would make the time around three in the morning, but she wasn’t lifting her watch into view to check.
No sudden moves around men with megaweapons.
Laredo angled his head away from her. “Follow me.”
She did as ordered, hiking through a building that could hold a 747, but all it contained right now was the panel van she’d arrived in, two dark green Hummers and a gold Dodge Ram 250 diesel pickup. At the far end of the structure, someone had built offices. Laredo opened a door and stepped aside, leaving her with simple instructions. “Continue down that hallway to the door at the end, ma’am.”
She doubted escape would be realistic at this point, and the door was only three long strides away. She reached it and closed her fingers around the doorknob, pushing it open, when her sense of smell said lasagna.