“Of course.” Caroline went over to the PORTAL’s controls. She pushed a button and turned a shiny brass wheel.
At once the empty brass rectangle filled with a field of stars.
Alli started to object that all she could see was space when a new object came into view. It looked like a dot and then, as it rushed forward, it grew and grew until it was clearly a planet. A blue-green planet wreathed in clouds.
“That’s Earth,” Sophie murmured. “But it’s almost hard to tell because of all the cloud cover. Those are way more clouds than our Earth usually has.”
Alli’s temples gave a warning twinge, signaling the onset of a headache but she found she couldn’t look away as the cloud-covered Earth got bigger.
You’ve seen this view before, whispered a little voice in her head. Back when you went to the feast.
Alli frowned. What feast? She had a brief mental image of herself dressed in a long, sheer black gown and a royal blue cloak but when she tried to chase it, the picture evaporated like smoke.
But now the view on the PORTAL was getting more detailed. They were past the atmosphere of Earth now and hovering over the White House in DC. But…was it the White House? For someone had painted it black—or at least, very dark gray and there was a high black fence all around it.
“What in the world?” Sophie murmured beside her. “I wonder what’s going on in this world?”
“Look at the armed guards out front,” Caroline said. “They look like Kindred—don’t they?”
“In a way. But look at those eyes—black and silver like mirrors!” Sophie shivered.
He had mirrored eyes but at the very last, you saw into his soul, whispered the voice in Alli’s head. Her temples gave another, stronger twinge—the warning of a truly awful headache brewing on the horizon.
Still she watched.
They were rushing into the White House now, speeding down a hallway to a room that seemed somehow familiar.
That’s where the feast was, the voice informed her. But the long, low table with its black and red cushions had been pushed to the side. Sitting at the far end of the room in a golden, throne-like chair, was a Kindred warrior so huge he dwarfed even the guards around him. He had a thick, bushy black beard that had been braided with a bone at the end of it and he was wearing a cloak made of coarse black fur that was almost the same color as his hair. Instead of black and silver, like the eyes of the warriors around him, his eyes gleamed a deadly black and red.
“The Overlord,” Alli breathed and then wondered why she had said it. She didn’t know this man—did she?
“What’s that?” Sophie and Caroline both turned to her, looking concerned.
“Nothing. It’s nothing.” Alli rubbed her temples again. God, her head was throbbing. And still she couldn’t tear her eyes away from the PORTAL.
At that moment, another man walked into the scene they were watching. He was tall, with black hair shaved close to his scalp, and the same mirrored eyes as the other warriors. To Alli, he looked strangely familiar.
You know him, whispered the voice in her head. He’s important.
Yes, but who was he? Though she searched her mind frantically, Alli couldn’t find a name to match with the tall stranger.
“So,” the Overlord boomed as the warrior came to stand before him. “You come by yourself this time. Where is that pretty little concubine of yours? The one who’s going to be mine very shortly?”
“She will never be yours,” the warrior growled. His deep gravelly voice sent shockwaves through Alli. “She has gone beyond your reach.”
“Liar!” the Overlord snarled. “Did you think to hide her in another universe, perhaps? I can find her there just as well as here.”
“Even if you do, you’ll never be able to feed on her,” the warrior with the mirrored eyes said. “Because she’s bonded to me. You’ll be unable to get a single shred of emotional sustenance.”
“What?” the Overlord roared. “How dare you deny me the female I want?”
“It’s about time somebody denied you,” the warrior snapped back. “You’ve gotten away with far too much already. You’re in the process of ruining our society with your wanton cruelty and corruption! We never used to torture the females we fed from, but you’ve normalized it, just as you’ve normalized so many other forms of evil.”
The Overlord seemed to grow even angrier for a moment. His eyes glowed