The Ripple Effect (Rhiannon's Law #3)(84)

Oh, how wrong I was.

Only time would tell if the amulet would recharge, but I might not get the chance to learn how the f*cking thing worked with and without batteries. All the vampires in the room stalked toward me like the predators they were, eyes gleaming wickedly in the ballroom lighting.

I slipped Sucker into its proper place and went for my Brownings, getting into a fighting position as I rose. If I was going to survive this ordeal in one piece, there was only way to make it happen.

I was going to have to do it on my own.





Chapter Nineteen


I fired a quick succession of shots, aiming for the vampire’s chests. At first, none of them seemed to care, continuing forward as I moved back. Then those I’d hit started crashing to their knees. I heard their servants’ horrific wails as their masters died. I was aware of just how profound their loss was. Once the mark was gone between a necromancer and their master, it left behind an enormous void.

The same void I experienced when Paine’s life had been snuffed from existence.

There were only fifteen or so vampires in the room—of which I’d taken down four. Even with my silver bullets, eleven to one odds sucked. One of the necromancers who’d lost her master charged me and I took her down with a slug between the eyes. I wanted to feel guilt, but my adrenaline was pumping, my heart racing.

Do what you have to do, find Disco and Jenny, and get the hell out.

“I don’t want to kill you,” I told them all, shifting my weight from side to side as they headed in my direction again. “It doesn’t have to be like this.”

The bastard emotion known as hope was stupid to hold on to. The vampires in the room were out for blood—my blood—and they weren’t going to let something like silver bullets stop them.

Damn it.

Left with no other choice, I started shooting, continuing to aim for their hearts. Another two went down, then a third, fourth, and fifth. I didn’t have time to reload when the chambers in the guns emptied, so I tossed the guns to the ground and pulled out the Desert Eagle. I managed to get one shot off—taking down a sixth vampire—when the final five rushed me and took me to the ground.

The gun flew from my hand, spinning across the floor like a pinwheel. One of the vamps grasped a handful of hair and bashed the back of my head against the ground, making me see stars. There was no way to fight back. They held down my arms and legs, keeping me flat on my back.

“Don’t kill her!” Victoria shrilled, and I turned my head, seeing that Dimitri had pulled the knives from her hands and was helping her stand. She glowered at me, a beautiful hot, bloody mess. “You’re going to beg for death, but I’m not going to give it to you. You’re my toy now, destined to suffer for eternity. I’m going to do things to you that you can’t begin to fathom.” She smiled through a grimace, a few of the red tearstains on her face dried and flaking. “You will pay, Rhiannon Murphy. You will pay.”


I’d faced death before, and I wasn’t afraid because I knew it was only a transition, going from one place to another. What Victoria said scared the piss out of me. An eternity under her control? I’d prefer to die. She was right; I’d probably beg for death. I’d seen how she was in the future; I had witnessed how evil she was in the present. The bitch didn’t simply feed on blood—she also needed pain and suffering to make her meals complete.

I closed my eyes, picturing Disco. He didn’t deserve what had happened to him. Now it would be even worse. When he woke and our mark was opened, he would know the atrocities I endured, and he wouldn’t be able to do shit about it. Instead he’d have to witness my treatment, stuck beneath the ground.

By the time he was freed—if I was still alive—I probably wouldn’t even be a woman he could love anymore.

“Don’t be so certain about that,” Disco whispered in my mind, and my eyes flew open, revealing the vampires holding me down, their fangs bared.

It was another trick, I thought. My mind f*cking with things, trying to warp them into something I could accept. Then I heard a bitter laugh in my mind—Disco’s laugh—and knew his presence was very real.

“No more tricks. No more games. It’s me, love. I’m here.”

Joy, relief, and love cascaded through me as the mark between us opened and flowed. I could tell he was weak, but he wasn’t going to let that stop him.

Not now.

Fury, resentment, and torment consumed him and poured into me, turning the lover I knew into one I’d never truly seen before. He had made a mistake in abiding by vampire law—laws made by half-demons—and it was a mistake he wasn’t willing to repeat. For over a century, he’d existed by their rules, despite the humanity it sucked from him. No more. Never again. From this point forward, he was making the rules.

His life.

His decisions.

His wrath placed upon anyone who dared stand against him.

No mercy.

Holy shit, he was pissed.

“Brace yourself,” he warned, his husky baritone a low growl. “This ends now.”

I knew the precise moment he took over my body, flinging my arms and legs up and out with a strength that I didn’t possess. The vampires were dislodged and sent back several feet, giving Disco plenty of time to manipulate my legs and get me on my feet. It was a strange sensation, unlike what I felt with Marigold. This didn’t feel awkward or unnatural, instead it felt as if I’d finally found my place.