Sun God Seeks…Surrogate? (Accidentally Yours #3)(70)
Author: Mimi Jean Pamfiloff

Andrus shook his head. “They must have turned. Every last one of them—only vampires move that fast.”

Yes, we’d known that the Maaskab had joined forced with the Obscuros; but that they’d all turned into vampires? Christ, that was bad. According to Gabrán, the Uchben were a strong match against the Maaskab, and Niccolo’s vampire army could take down any Obscuro. But we were unevenly matched if the enemy had all turned into this hybrid army of sorts.

“Where’s Guy?” I asked Emma and pointed to the screen. The dots were moving so fast, I couldn’t tell who was who.

“He went inside a portal with Niccolo and two hundred vampires to flush out the Scabs.”

“Why can’t we see them?” I asked. “I thought the satellite could pick them up from anywhere?”

Emma bent over, panting. “We don’t know. They faded off the screen the minute they jumped inside. Then the Scabs started flooding out of their portals like angry swarming bees.”

This was, without a doubt, an occasion that called for a very, very strong word. “Fuckitty-fuck.”

I leaned over and wrapped one arm around Emma. “It’s okay, Emma. He’ll be all right.”

She shook her head. “No. No. It’s over.”

I spoke in a low voice so only she could hear. “I’m here for you. Your sister. Remember? Whatever happens, we’ll face it together.”

She pushed out a long, steady breath. “I can’t lose him, Penelope. I can’t face—”

“I don’t believe it!” Helena pointed at the screen. In between the purple, green, and blue dots, red ones began appearing in droves.

“What are those?” I asked.

Andrus replied, “Not what. Who. The purple are the gods. The green are our vampires. Blue are Scabs. And the red dots…are humans. Hundreds of them.”

As clear as day, little red dots were popping up all over the center of the screen. I cupped my hand to my mouth. “The Payals…it’s got to be them,” I whispered in amazement. Niccolo, Guy, and the vampires must have found them and gotten them out. Was my mother there, too?

I noticed Gabrán standing on the bottom tier toward the front of the room, frantically screaming into his headset. I darted down the stairs to my left. “Gabrán! Look. Look at the screen. People!”

His head snapped. “Christ almighty. Humans? They won’t stand a chance if we can’t get them out of there.”

“Do something!” I screamed. My mother could be with them, I thought.

“I cannae, lass. We’ve get every last man fighting, and they’re dropping like flies.”

Shit. Shit. Shit. I was supposed to be the leader, but I had no clue what to do. I had no battle experience. None. But one thing was clear. We were losing. If we didn’t do something fast, there would be no one left.

“Call them back. Retreat,” I ordered.

Gabrán looked at me. “Guy and Niccolo command the army, lass. I cannae without their orders.”

“Well, what the hell did they tell you to do if they both got captured or injured or something?”

“Well,” he said, “the issue never came up.”

Ugh! Stupid, arrogant men.

“Look at me,” I said in a stone-cold voice. “Look deep into my eyes. They have disappeared. I rule the House of the Gods, and I’m in charge now. Call them back, have your soldiers grab the Payals and run. Tell them to regroup at the fort.”

There was an old Spanish fort about one and a half miles away where we’d set up small armory and triage.

He paused for a moment, as the noise and commotion swarmed around us. He knew we had to do something.

He gave a nod and the expression in his eyes spoke volumes. “Let’s hope you’re right, Sun Goddess.”

He spoke into his headset, and the dots on the screen began shifting away from the fight, but then something very unexpected happened.

“The Maaskab are falling to the ground,” someone screamed out from across the room. The entire room fell silent and everyone stared at the infrared satellite feed on the screen.

Each and every blue dot—the Scabs—stopped moving.

“What does it mean?” I asked Gabrán, as he stared at the blinking satellite image and listened on his headset.

“Lass, it’s a bloody f**king miracle.” He looked at me, his green eyes sparkling with excitement. “Brutus says the Maaskab are dropping to the ground—giant black holes are appearing in their bodies.”

Andrus appeared at my side. “Holes? That means their vampire blood is dying.”

Whatever the hell was happening was completely lost on me.

“We must attack!” Gabrán looked at me. “They are vulnerable now.”

I had to trust that whatever was going on, they knew what they were doing. “Do it.”

Gabrán turned and faced the men and women in the room. “Tell everyone tae go back in! Do nae stop until the priests are dead.”

The dots blipped back toward the middle of the screen.

A wide smile stretched across Gabrán’s face. “They cannae even fight back lass, the Scabs are completely crippled. We’ve won. We’ve bloody f**king won.”

We won? We won? An enormous weight lifted from my shoulders.

I just prayed my mother was with the group of humans they’d freed—she had to be!

I began to jump up and down with excitement. I ran up the stairs to the top tier and grabbed Emma. “We’ve won!”

Emma’s eyes were filled with tears. “I can’t believe it! Oh my God.”

We hugged each other tightly. I turned and found myself looking straight up a mountain of muscles. Zac’s blue eyes glowed with joy. He bent down and kissed me.

My cell phone rang, startling me. I pushed away and blinked several times.

He smiled with that devilish grin. “Sorry. I guess I got carried away.”

I shook my head and turned away.

Caller Unknown. It was very strange because very few people had my number.

“Hello?” With all of the commotion, I had to cover one ear to hear.

“Penelope.”

My heart skipped a beat.

Kinich.

“Where are you?” I asked.

He spoke, but I couldn’t hear him. “Speak up! There’s too much noise! We won, Kinich! We won. The Maaskab are dropping like flies. It’s a miracle.”

There was no sound, none that I could hear above all the cheering, anyway.