For The Love Of…Excerpts #5 by Artemis Crow

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For your reading pleasure, here is the opening scene in the fifth book in the Zodiac Assassins series, “Gemini Asunder”. Enjoy!

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City of Portam, Hell

Lilith paced her expansive suite. Her impatience drove her back and forth, the weight of her floor-length, red hair already starting a headache at the base of her neck. She swiped at the rich, red and gold, brocade curtains—so long that they puddled on the floor—with each pass. It was that or amuse herself with a Portamarian, but strangely she wasn’t in the mood to soil her hands with blood and odium, nor had a craving for the shrieking.

Finally, a small tap on her door stopped her. “Enter.”

A servant woman approached, head down, her sparse, white hair exposing a pale, freckled scalp. “The message has arrived.”

She held out a small bit of linen.

Lilith snatched the cloth and rubbed it between her fingers. This was Portam, the only city in the realm of Hell; paper wasn’t an option.

She read the words and smiled. “Leona did the impossible. She survived the journey through Hell and set the Master free.”

She tossed the cloth in the fire and watched the words burn; funny how a few letters placed in the right order could have such power.

“Tell the guard it’s time.”

“Time, my queen?”

“To prepare the dragons for release.”

The servant finally looked up at Lilith, her head craned back to see the queen’s face so far above her own. “Which ones and how many?”

Smart woman.

Very few of Portam’s souls had figured out the differences between dragons living among them.

“All of the grown black dragons, but none of the others, especially not the hatchery; the babies are far too young to survive.”

Hopefully, the strong will make it.

The servant turned to leave.

“Wait. Release her as well.”

“The white?”

“Yes, she is powerful and clever.”

“Perhaps too clever to obey.”

“True, but I have something she wants very badly. She will do as I command.”

“And the red?” the servant whispered. “You have spoken of him many times recently.”

Lilith looked past the servant to the huge tapestry hanging on the wall. Woven centuries earlier, it depicted a medieval battle scene of blood and slaughter. Dead knights surrounded a red dragon; above the beast, three Furies stared down, looking for signs of human life.

“No, not the red. Not yet.”

The servant ran off.

Lilith closed her eyes and smiled.

Leona.

She touched her lips and recalled her visit with the Zodiac female. The young woman had reminded Lilith of herself at that age so full of anger and bursting for a fight, with a mind wide open to exploration by anyone powerful enough, subtle enough.

And, oh, the information she had gleaned while traipsing about the girl’s mind: Leona’s past—so filled with boring angst—the Zodiacs, their power…and the potential of that power begging to be fulfilled and exploited.

By me.

Lilith eased into a chair on the balcony outside her suite. Mud dropped in great globs from the turrets, splatting on the buildings and the souls below, but her balcony was pristine. That was her servants’ first priority: Portam rises from the mud—clean Lilith’s balcony. They might be denizens of Hell, but there was no need to live in a sty like a pig.

She waved a hand, calling an elderly servant over to brush her long hair.

“Will it be soon?” she asked the old woman who had served her for centuries.

“Any time now, ma petite.”

“My little one? After all these years, you still feel the need to call me that? With me towering over you.”

“You will always be ma petite to me.” The woman set the brush down. “Hair up or down today?”

“Why don’t you take the shears to it? I feel no need for hair.”

Lilith swept the mane forward with a hand. The weight of it was a headache-inducing burden; soon she would have a migraine.

“We’ve tried that countless times and it always grows back within hours.”

Lilith heaved a sigh. “It is a punishment almost as tedious as being stuck here.”

“Then it’s good the tedium is about to be broken.”

Lilith dropped her hair and looked out across Hell’s lone city. She’d ruled it for an eon, had been bored to tears for most of that time. Thankfully, the servant was correct. Leona’s success had triggered a long-sought change. The time of inaction was over.

A deep rumble echoed through the air, blowing over Lilith and her servant, the force lifting a few strands of hair.

Lilith leaned forward. “Yes, it is.”

She saw wing tips first. Thick webs of white skin spanning between long bones ending in sharp claws.

Another flap.

The tips disappeared for a moment then reappeared along with more of the wings.

Flap.

A huge, pearlescent, white-scaled head appeared, triangular like a venomous snake, craggy, with long, razor-sharp teeth and blue eyes.

Flap.

The white dragon’s full body broke free of the heavy mud and jetted into the sky. A scream pierced the air.

“Brilliant,” Lilith said under her breath.

More dragons—smaller than the white with black scales and red eyes—punched through the muck and into the air until the majority of Portam’s greatest protection circled the city, waiting.

“So many?” the servant said.

“Yes, but far from all.”

Lilith stood and walked to the carved, stone railing.

“And our safety?”

Lilith gripped the stone and squeezed to control her ire. “The girl succeeded; he is free. We don’t need so much protection anymore.”

“Portam without the white; I never thought I’d see the day when even one of the seraphim would be freed.”

“Fallen seraphim. Do not give them greater import than they deserve. They fell just as surely as their brethren angels and Lucifer did.” Lilith watched the white dragon approach. “She is the cleverest of them all; if anyone can find what I seek, it will be her.”

The old woman stood next to her queen, putting them on an equal level that Lilith would never have tolerated from anyone else. “Yet, who will the dragons serve in the end? Your husband, your son, or your former lover?”

“Asmodeus has his demons; Cain will soon have his witches. And Lucifer? Well, he always seems to find a way despite being half-buried in ice. No, I don’t think they will serve one of them.”

Lilith watched the dragons roll and twist in the air. “Perhaps the dragons will tolerate my hand ruling them; I have kept them safe and wonderfully fed these many millennia. Giving them a haven to regroup and reproduce in a number far greater than they’ve ever known.”

“If that is not enough to secure their loyalty?”

“I have my Ardat Lili.” Lilith’s eyes narrowed. “And a hell of a grudge to fuel me.”

She raised her hands to what passed for sky in Hell.

The white dragon screamed, sleet and snow jetting out of her mouth and nostrils.

“You know what to do,” Lilith bellowed.

The group of dragons roared as one, belching fire and ice, before flying away.

Lilith dropped her arms. “But this will all be for naught if they can’t rise to the Overworld.”

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May your words flow freely,

 

Artemis

Artemis Crow

www.artemiscrow.com

The Zodiac Assassins series

Available on Amazon Kindle and Print, Nook and Kobo

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Lyon’s Roar – https://amzn.to/2IB




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Leona’s Descent – https://amzn.to/2yaDfjW




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Libra’s Limbo – https://amzn.to/2q3VkNg




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Leona’s Cage – https://amzn.to/2QTbVyp

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Gemini Asunder  – https://amzn.to/2PyNUig