“Ease down, warrior. Jesus H. Christ. One more twist on your screw and your brain will crack in half.”

Gideon snorted.

Endelle turned and settled her gaze on Elise. “As for you, my little troublemaker, here’s the deal. We’re at war, but if you want to be on the side of right, you’ll join my forces. The pay sucks, we work fucking long hours, you’ll have to do a million things you don’t want to do, but if you’re lucky you’ll live and you might even have the pleasure of making a significant contribution to ending the war. What do you say?”

Elise knew one thing—Her Supremeness knew shit about PR. Fortunately, she already knew from Gideon that Endelle’s side was committed to peace and life, while the enemy sought chaos and death. “I’m in.”

Endelle smiled and for just a moment, despite the ancient lined appearance in her brown eyes, she looked almost human. “Hell, you almost give me hope.”

She turned back to Gideon. “But since you’re here … goddamn, warrior, you’re as big as Thorne, you know that?”

Elise knew that Thorne was the leader of the Warriors of the Blood and had a mind-link with the scorpion queen.

“That’s right,” Gideon said. “So the fuck what?”

Did one speak to the ruler of the earth like that?

But Endelle only laughed. “I have only one question. Why the hell haven’t you made the jump to light-speed and joined the Warriors of the Blood? You’re close, you know. Thorne told me you offed three death vampires by yourself last night.”

“I did.”

Elise looked up at him. “You did? Gideon, that’s amazing.” Usually, it took four Militia Warriors to take down one death vampire, hence the small army that surrounded her.

Gideon growled. “Even if I developed the power to grow another pair of arms and held a sword in all four hands all at the same time, I’d never join that pansy-ass group.”

Endelle barked her laughter. “Pansy-ass? Gideon, you don’t know how much I want to hear you say that in front of Thorne, or maybe Kerrick. How about Luken? Yeah, say that in front of Luken. He’s got maybe twice your muscle mass.” She chortled again.

But Gideon just crossed his arms over his chest. “Any day of the week, with your permission, of course.”

As Endelle rolled her eyes, then started in on him about how he needed to bring more of his powers online so he could advance to Warrior of the Blood status, and as Gideon just glared back and ground his molars in response, Elise’s oh-so-familiar dizzy sensation began at the base of her skull, in that dip between the muscles. She could feel it glide up through her brain and over the top until it reached her forehead. She rocked a little on her feet.

What a surprise to have her clairvoyance go into high gear right now, with the ruler of Second Earth in front of her. This time, she didn’t stop the vision, but let it fly the distance.

Her vision clouded. She could still see Endelle and Gideon and all the Militia Warriors, but it was as though a thin veil had fallen in front of her.

This time, the vision added something new, a sort of digital clock in her mind that started a serious and very specific countdown.

Fifty-nine, fifty-eight, fifty-seven …

Images began to flash through her mind of Gideon right in front of her, just a few yards away, wielding his sword against, oh, God, four death vampires. She also saw his men, in that large circle, battling four-to-one against another eight death vampires. She knew what they were because she’d heard them described a dozen times: their enslaving beauty; bluish porcelain complexions; and huge, glossy, black wings.

Forty-nine, forty-eight, forty-seven …

She blinked. Her mind cleared. The veil disappeared but the clock continued to run. Without having to be told, she knew exactly what she had just seen and what she needed to do.

Thirty-nine, thirty-eight, thirty-seven …

She shifted to stand beside Gideon, then grabbed both his wrist and Endelle’s, which sent strange ripples of power up both of her arms. She didn’t direct her words to them, however. Instead, she caught Gideon’s gaze and said, “We have incoming.”

He lowered his chin. He didn’t ask what she meant. He asked, “How many?”

“What’s going on, ascendiate?” Endelle narrowed her eyes at her.

“A … a vision. Death vampires. Lots of them.

The clock blinked at her. Elise whispered the numbers, “Nineteen, eighteen, seventeen …” The air grew cold, a sure sign that death vamps were descending through the Trough.

Endelle looked around. “Gideon, something doesn’t feel right to me. I know the ascendiate hasn’t been here but a few minutes, so tell me, who the hell showed up from Greaves’s faction to present his offer of alliance?”

Gideon shook his head. “No one’s been here and I arrived right after she answered her call.”

Endelle turned to face them both, grinning. “Well, shit, dammit-to-hell! We’ve got an illegal party coming in, which means I’m going to give COPASS a good reaming.” To Elise, she said, “Stay alive, if you can. And for fuck’s sake, if you do make it through the night,get a room.”

She lifted her arm and vanished.

Ten, nine, eight …

How Elise might have responded was lost to the sight of at least half the Thunder God Warriors mounting their wings from bulked-up back muscles. The remaining warriors stayed on the ground. She’d seen the wings in her dreams and she knew that ascenders developed the ability to mount wings, but she had no idea the sight would bring tears to her eyes.

“All those wings are so beautiful.” They were in a variety of shades and patterns, just as her wings, from her dreams, were dark blue and mottled.

Gideon stepped a couple of yards in front of her and flashed his sword into his right hand.

Then the death vampires came.

“Make yourself small,” Gideon said. He patted the air with a flat hand.

Elise dropped to plant her ass in the dirt right up against the enormous boulder she’d moved earlier. She slid her arms around her knees and pulled in tight. She’d seen that as well, her body shaped into a ball and Gideon standing guard over her like a Roman gladiator, his sword gripped in his right hand.

Death vampires, one after the other, touched down then in the same split second mounted their glossy black wings and launched themselves skyward.

The death vampires were indistinguishable one from another, partly because it was nighttime but also because they tended to look alike: long black hair; dark eyes; undeniable beauty; and pale, pale skin, reputed to have a faint bluish tint. For incomprehensible reasons, drinking a person to death created great beauty and an equalizing of features and overall coloring. Their white faces were stark beacons in the dark sky.

As the warriors launched into the air, they kept their swords close to their kilts. Elise didn’t want to look, but she couldn’t force herself to turn away, either, sort of like passing a car accident on the freeway.

Try not to watch,Gideon sent.This will be the worst of it.

Okay.

But she couldn’t help herself. The good guys were going to war against the monsters.

As steel met steel, her gaze jumped from one warrior to the next.

Another wave of dizziness began at the base of her skull. She rose to her feet.

“Elise, you should sit down.”

“I can’t,” she responded. She knew a vision had come, but this time she had the weirdest feeling she might be needed.

Swords flew until bodies and other things started dropping from the sky and falling hard to earth. The various thumps began to hit her ears so that it wasn’t her eyes that she closed—rather, she covered her ears with her hands.

Fifty-nine, fifty-eight, fifty-seven ...

“Gideon, I’m having another vision.”

He turned toward her. “What do you see?”

Her heart lurched. “You … battling four death vampires.”

“Tell me what to do.”

She shook her head as she watched the battle unfold within her mind. “It’s too complicated.”

Forty-nine, forty-eight, forty-seven ...

“Hook up with me, then,” he cried. “Mind-to-mind.”

She turned to face him, the battle beyond forgotten. “What do you mean?” The vision faded but the clock remained.

He took hold of her arm. “Remember how you showed me the vision earlier, of Rachel. Well, show me this one, just like that. I might be able to use it to do battle.”

Twenty-nine, twenty-eight, twenty-seven …

“I still think it’s too complicated. Can we connect somehow? A link of some kind?”

He put his hand on her neck and suddenly he was in her mind.This is a mind-link. She felt the click.

Good, she responded.

Ten, nine, eight …

Time was running out. She couldn’t warn him. She just pulled away from him and in a sharp blast directed the vision along the link.

Gideon stumbled backwards about three steps then caught his balance. He opened his eyes. “Got it,” he cried, his sword in hand, upright, ready. “Keep streaming, no matter what happens.”

Three, two, one …

And four beautiful creatures appeared in front of him, like magic, having folded straight through the dimension this time, delivered specifically to Gideon, no doubt, by one of Greaves’s powerful generals.

“Well, Militia Warrior, you ready to rumble?”

“Bring it on, asshole.” Gideon’s voice was dark.

A fifth vamp materialized, caught sight of Elise, and said, “The woman’s mine.”

But her vision had already given Gideon a head start. He would now know the exact maneuver each would take so that he could meet the enemy blow for blow. She backed up against the rock and sank into her safest position. She held the vision close and continued to let it stream.

Gideon couldn’t afford to stall out for even one second, but receiving the visions had turned his mind to mush and he wasn’t sure how long he could sustain seeing them, reacting, then pacing his moves by making use of all the anticipatory information. It was like reading one line and having someone speaking the next line at the same moment.