Queen of Diamonds (Lilith's Shadow Book 4) Read online

  “Sure are!” Gina said cheerfully, and she nodded at the Philippines. “I’m taking those back, Lil.”

  “Of course you are,” Lilith murmured, rolling her single die helplessly.

  It didn’t go well for her.

  Chapter 2

  Friday, May 30th, 2031

  Salt Lake International Airport, Paragon City

  A bolt of electricity slammed into a robot, short-circuiting the humanoid machine, and a moment later it teetered, then fell over while showering sparks.

  “Nice to see you, Spark!” Lilith said, blasting two more robots into pieces with precise shots while a hail of energy fire slammed into her shield. Fortunately, the fire didn’t have much of an effect on her shield, making her wonder if the robots would even be able to dent her armor. Not that she wanted to test that.

  “Hey, Lilith!” Spark replied rapidly, the slim woman flickering through the nearest six robots like a lightning bolt, and in her wake a half-dozen of them fell apart. The heroine had black hair and two bright blue bangs that framed her face and bright blue eyes, a look which Lilith thought suited her well. “What’s up with your armor? It looks different!”

  “This is my personal armor. I won’t have another suit of power armor ready for a couple of weeks,” Lilith replied, ducking as a larger robot stomped out of the airplane, holding a massive cannon over one shoulder. It promptly exploded as a purple bolt slammed into it from the side, to Lilith’s relief.

  The airfield was a chaotic mess, with well over two hundred robots across it, mostly crowded behind the jet they’d arrived on. Lilith, Morgan, and Warden had gotten a call just barely in time, as they lived close enough that they’d been able to keep the robots from managing to capture any of the terminals. Still, Warden was occupied holding up shields to keep fire from reaching the terminals, which left the robots to Lilith and Morgan. At least until Spark had arrived.

  “Right, right… I’m used to hearing about people keeping a couple of spare suits around,” Spark replied, darting to the side and taking out several more robots. “Any sign of Sinister Steel? These are his robots, right?”

  “Threw him into the wall!” Morgan called out, nodding toward a nearby wall, which had a dent in it and a bubble of a gold barrier. Meanwhile, Lilith was taking more careful shots, whittling down the number of robots with every shot. “He won’t call off his toys.”

  “Sinister Steel will never surrender to the oppressors!” a man boomed from inside the barrier, though the effect was somewhat ruined by his gasps and grunts of effort.

  “He’s not very strong, much like his ’bots,” Warden commented, a wry smile on her face. “If there weren’t so many of them, this would be a cinch.”

  Spark nodded, pirouetting as she blasted several more robots with her pistols, and she spoke cheerfully. “Well, that I can help with! He does a crappy job of insulating his machines. We’ll have this cleaned up in a jiffy!”

  The heroine’s cheerful tone prompted Lilith to smile, and she continued shooting one at a time, even if she wasn’t as comfortable with a pistol. On the other hand, the idea of trying to go hand to hand with robots didn’t appeal to her, not after her experience fighting Eve. That had been extremely unpleasant.

  Still, it only took a few minutes for them to deal with the robots with Spark on the field. While Morgan could do more damage than Spark, the sheer speed with which the heroine was able to attack made an enormous difference, and even a few dozen more robots coming out of the plane hadn’t phased her. Only when she checked the interior of the plane and declared it clear did Lilith relax, lowering her pistol and setting its safety.

  “Well, that was fun,” Lilith said, shaking her head. “So… is this more of a normal fight? Every other superhero fight I’ve been in has been a disaster.”

  “That’s because you keep getting caught in the plots of the big-name villains,” Warden said, grinning as she came over, having just dropped the glowing golden wall protecting the terminal. “Thanks for the help, Spark! I’m sure Morgan and Lil could’ve dealt with them eventually, but you made it a lot faster.”

  “Yeah, well, it could’ve been even quicker, but I saw Knight Fire dawdling in the area, gawking instead of helping out. I’m guessing he’s one of the people who doesn’t like Lilith,” Spark said, gesturing over her shoulder. “There are at least ten teams in the valley, yet I don’t think any of the others have contacted you.”

  “They haven’t,” Lilith said, her smile fading a little. “I suppose it’s unfortunate, but—”

  “Unhand me, oppressors! Sinister Steel cannot breathe!” the villain interrupted, and Lilith blinked, looking over at him.

  “Does he always refer to himself in the third person?” Lilith asked, about the time that Warden spoke.

  “Oh, be quiet. You can breathe perfectly fine, since I’m letting air through the bubble. You’re going to be sitting there until the cops get here,” Warden snapped, folding her arms. “You ruined a nice, relaxing morning.”

  “He does,” Spark said, grinning broadly at Lilith. “But yeah, things like this are more typical. Class B villains are tough for the cops to deal with, but usually pretty easy for people on our scale to deal with. Mostly the cops or lower-powered teams deal with class C or lower.”

  “Sounds about right,” Morgan said, nodding slightly. Lilith could see some flashing lights approaching, along with the wail of sirens, but the police had been keeping their distance during the fight.

  “So, how about Sunday?” Spark asked, causing Lilith to blink at her in confusion.

  “What?” Lilith asked, tilting her head as she holstered her pistol.

  Spark laughed, grinning back as she continued. “Sunday! The dinner you were asking about, Decarin said yes, and after a lot of hemming and hawing, Shade agreed, too. If you three want to come over for dinner and to chat, that’d be ideal for us.”

  “Well, I don’t have anything planned,” Lilith said, smiling slightly and glancing over at Morgan and Warden. “Your thoughts?”

  “Sure!” Warden said while Morgan nodded, smiling at Spark. “Is there anything you want us to bring?”

  “Mm, we haven’t gotten that far in working things out. We wanted to see if you were interested, first,” Spark said, shrugging. “I’ll let you know once I find out!”

  “Sounds like we have a plan,” Lilith said, smiling a little more as happiness welled up inside her. “Just let us know when to come over, and let us know if we need to bring anything.”

  “Sinister Steel will bring a salad?” the villain offered, prompting Lilith to giggle, while Morgan glared at the bubble.

  “The only thing you have an appointment with is prison,” the heroine said tartly, and Lilith’s giggle turned into full laughter.

  Maybe Warden wasn’t pleased with the morning, but Lilith wasn’t going to complain.

  Sunday, June 2nd, 2031

  Guardian Compound

  The door slid open, revealing a hero in very different clothing than normal, prompting Lilith’s eyebrows to rise. Decarin had been wearing stained overalls and a t-shirt the last time she’d seen him, and he didn’t strike her as the sort of person to pay much attention to how he looked. Today that was different, and she almost didn’t recognize him. His thin brown hair had been given a trim and combed, while he was wearing a pale blue suit with white racing stripes, something that Lilith belatedly realized were his official colors. He was still a bit overweight, but he looked far more professional this time around.

  “Almost exactly on time, excellent! Welcome!” Decarin said, grinning at them, then paused at the sight of the bag in Lilith’s hand. “You didn’t have to bring anything, you know!”

  “Yes, but it isn’t like I’d give up an excuse to make cookies,” Rachel retorted, glancing at him and adding, “You clean up nicely when you want to.”

  Decarin flushed a little, stepping out of the way as he tugged at the collar of his suit. “Yes, well, Shade pointed out that I’ve been a little… unmotivated of late, so I’m trying to fix that. Hitting the gym cuts into my tinkering time and it’s rough, but probably worth it.”

  “I just hope you don’t have a gravity generator in your gym,” Gina said, stepping inside and grinning back at Lilith. “If I ever step into the room when Lil has set the gravity at ten percent higher than normal again, it’ll be too soon.”

  “What? You have gravity plates in your gym?” Decarin asked, flinching as he looked at Lilith. “Those are an incredible pain to build! I just set up most of the equipment so that Archon can push the settings a lot higher using tractor fields and the like.”

  Once they were all inside, the door slid shut behind them and locked. Lilith thought she heard something whir to life, probably some sort of defensive shield, she suspected.

  “While an effective way to do it, it also takes more power and delicate machinery than simply putting in gravity plates,” Lilith said, pausing and glancing at Gina before adding wryly, “At least if you aren’t worried about other people complaining. Don’t worry, Gina, I’ve asked Circe to let me know if you come within a dozen paces of the room when I have gravity increased, and if you start opening the door, it’ll scale it down to only a five percent increase.”

  “Lovely. What’re you exercising under in private now, anyway?” Gina asked, looking at Lilith distrustfully.

  “Twenty percent higher gravity,” Lilith said, prompting Decarin to choke softly. “It helps me improve faster.”

  “Wow. Just… wow. Impressive work, if you ask me. I have a hard enough time under normal gravity,” Decarin said, shaking his head. “Anyway, if you want to come with me? We’ve got something of an eclectic meal today.”

  “Oh? What’re we having?” Rachel asked, her eyes brightening. “I was curious, but didn’t want to ruin the surprise.”

  “Well, Archon decided she wanted to barbecue some meat. She called it picanha, which she said her father taught her to make. If you ask me, it just looked like she seasoned it with salt, but I’m a terrible cook so don’t ask me,” Decarin said, shaking his head. “On the other hand, Shade said he was going to make fry bread for Navajo tacos. Spark said she’d help, and got a whole pile of other stuff to add to them, along with chicken just in case you wanted a different type of meat. We also have a salad, rolls, and enough food to feed a small army, in my opinion. I think they’re planning to leave some for the cleaning staff.”

  Lilith nodded, following him, and she mentally perked up at the foods mentioned. She opened her mouth to speak, but Rachel spoke first.

  “Fry bread? That sounds really nice!” Rachel said, rubbing her hands together eagerly. “I’ve always liked fry bread. Have you ever had it, Lil?”

  “No, I haven’t. That’s part of why I’m intrigued by the thought. I also haven’t had this picanha, so I’m curious to see what it’s like,” Lilith said, distinctly intrigued, and glanced at Gina as she added, “Am I the only one?”

  “No, I haven’t had that either, though I’ve had fry bread before. I don’t like it as much as Rachel does, but I think it’s pretty good,” Gina replied as they reached a door.

  “Well, considering how much meat Archon decided to cook, you’ll have ample opportunity to try it,” Decarin said, laughing and opening the door for them.

  The room was large, almost as large as the dining room in Lilith’s house, which didn’t surprise her too much. They were going to have seven people, and with Archon’s wings, no one would want to crowd each other too much. Similarly, there was also a large dining table in the middle of the room, while a serving table was set against one wall, several dishes sitting on top of it while Spark set one down next to the others. What drew Lilith’s attention the most was a chair at the end of the table, though. The lower section looked reasonably normal, but by mid-back the chair curved inward to a narrow but thick bar that spread slightly near the top. She wasn’t certain how it would feel to sit in the chair, but it looked like it wouldn’t press against Archon’s wings.

  “Hey, Lil! How’re you doing?” Spark said cheerfully, nodding to Gina and Rachel as well as she added, “You too, Morgan, Warden. That’s what I should call you, right?”

  “Gina and Rachel work as well. Not much reason hiding it, these days,” Gina replied with a slight shrug. “We discussed it before coming over.”

  “As for me, I’m doing well. I hope you are as well. Where would you like me to put Rachel’s cookies?” Lilith said, raising the bag she was carrying.

  “At the end of the table,” Spark said, nodding toward the serving table, and Lilith noted a pie near the far end of it. “And if you’re going to be going by that, call me Emily. Even if I am used to Spark, it really isn’t my name.”

  “Fair’s fair,” Gina agreed, studying the table curiously. It was set with nice plates and silverware, Lilith noticed, at least as good as the ones she owned. Nicer, probably, since she hadn’t seen the point of buying anything too expensive.

  She walked over to the table and pulled out the cookies, which were in a container that Lilith suspected was normally intended for crackers, cheese, and meats. She couldn’t remember what they were called, but the lid had helped keep the cookies in place, and she pulled it off, revealing the dark chocolate cookies with white chips that Rachel had spent part of the afternoon cooking. Lilith had to admire how good they looked, as most of her cookies turned out somewhat misshapen.

  “Food is just about ready, from what I heard earlier. I think we’re mostly waiting on Archon now, and Shade was just finishing up the last of the fry bread. I think it’s going to be a great meal, and—” Spark began chattering, her broad grin infectious, only to have the door behind her slide open and a man in dark clothing, holding a plate with a dozen broad, crisp discs of bread, scowl at her.

  “Move, Spark. You’re blocking the door,” the man said, and Lilith did a double take as she saw his dark eyes and blinked. She recognized his eyes, if belatedly, and couldn’t keep her eyebrows from rising.

  The man had short, near-black hair, and he had the skin tone of a Native American, though there was something slightly off about his face for that. His clothing was relatively loose, with his shirt’s open collar showing his collarbone. He looked fit, but she blinked again before asking hesitantly, “Shade?”

  “Why yes, it is me,” Shade said, glancing down at himself before adding, “Though I can’t blame you for not realizing immediately. I’ve only been seen in public like this… twice?”

  “If even that,” Spark retorted, stepping out of the way. Belatedly, Lilith realized that the woman hadn’t arced with electricity in the last few minutes, and she glanced over to note that Spark was wearing the choker she’d said grounded out her powers. At least, Lilith thought it was a collar, though there were a couple of thin wires that went under her clothing. “I don’t remember the last time it happened.”

  “2027, in the fight with Black Harbinger, and 2024, when Flaming Fury decided to have a brawl when I was visiting Florida,” Shade replied immediately, taking the plate over to the table and setting it down. “Since I got caught on video both times, I don’t see any point to hiding what I look like too much. I may hide where I live, but that’s just common sense if you ask me.”

  “Agreed,” Gina said, her eyebrows rising. “It’s why both Rachel and I did our best to hide for years. When we didn’t have much choice, though… well, it’s how it goes.”

  “You seem to have done well enough,” Decarin said, looking at Shade. “Anything else you need help bringing in?”

  “The beans, pico, sour cream, cheese, and rolls are still in there,” Shade said, frowning as he thought, “I swear I’m missing something else… the problem is that I can’t remember what it is.”

  “I’ll get the punch!” Spark volunteered, and darted out of the room as Shade nodded.

  “Ah, that was it!” Shade said, watching Spark go, then glanced at them. “Why don’t you all have a seat? We’ll have the food in soon enough, assuming that Archon doesn’t burn anything.”

  “Are you sure you don’t want some help?” Rachel asked, and Shade laughed, waving her off.

  “No, no, we’ve got this,” he assured her. “You’re guests, after all.”

  “As you like,” Lilith said, smiling and nodding at him. “Thank you for having us over.”

  Shade paused for a couple of seconds, then nodded in return, his tone slightly gruff. “You’re welcome. With any luck, this won’t take too much longer.”

  With that, he headed into the kitchen, and Lilith glanced over at Gina and Rachel. They quickly chose seats on one side of the table, with a chair between them, and Lilith smiled wryly, realizing that they were deliberately flanking her. Or expected her to take the seat in the middle… not that she was going to fluster them by taking another chair. She was only halfway to it when Gina spoke up.

  “Rach? Why didn’t you seem surprised to see Shade without his costume? Have you seen him before?” Gina asked, looking at Rachel curiously.

  “Don’t call me that,” Rachel replied, narrowing her eyes at Gina. “As for that, he took off the mask when we were going over spells so he could drink his coffee. I didn’t see any reason to mention it, since it wasn’t anyone else’s business.”

  “As good of a reason as any,” Lilith said, easing into the chair, relaxing slowly. “I didn’t expect them to be so… open.”

  “I wouldn’t call this open. If any of them were trying to keep really secret identities, they wouldn’t be here,” Gina disagreed, shrugging as she added, “I bowed out of plenty of meetings when part of Ocean Shield, as did Rachel. I only remember Sky Defender going to a party once.”

  “Yeah, and he showed up in full armor! The host was pretty taken aback,” Rachel said, laughing as she grinned. “I bet he did it to keep from being invited again.”

  “Did it work?” Lilith asked, smiling slightly.