Assirak growled, because we both knew he meant Miranda.
She lifted the sword to pass over her face, a dark, manic gleam in her eye. “Come try it, big boy.”
Seth sipped his drink, though I noticed his body tense. He’d never admit to being afraid of a human. Yet, he was, just a little. He’d been trapped in Bob before. He wasn’t keen to be cut down and imprisoned again.
Spotlights streaked up the pyramid as the neighboring hotels and streetlights went dark. A roar of excited screams filled the air with anticipation.
The thrum of helicopter blades split the night.
Seth sipped his martini. “Let’s give Vegas what it came for.”
The powerful rotors drowned out the crowd. A helicopter descended through the fireworks, dragging a steel platform on cables. The crowd erupted as the lights locked onto the descending shape. At its center sat a motorcycle, black chrome blazing under the glare.
A lone man straddled it. Helmeted. Black leather pants. A simple black tee stretched across broad shoulders.
Against all the steel and glass, all the machinery and spectacle, he looked painfully vulnerable. Flesh and muscle dangling over a city built of metal and gods.
Even from this distance, there was something about him...Perhaps it was the lighting, but I could almost swear I could see a kind of glow emanating around him.
An announcer’s voice boomed over the Strip. “Ladies and gentlemen, courtesy of Seth and Sinopolis, we welcome you to The Pyramid Plunge!”
Miranda frowned. “Tell me that guy isn’t going to do what I think he’s going to do.”
The helicopter adjusted its angle, lowering the platform just above the peak of the pyramid.
It took several long moments to steady above the lit apex. The stuntman didn’t move even as the entire city seemed to hold its breath.
I stared at the helmeted figure, breath shallow.Sweat broke out along my spine. That man was going to die. No human could do this stunt.
“Seth,” I practically barked. “Call it off. I don’t know how you compelled this man to do something so suicidal. People are going to get hurt.”
My brain raced, calculating all the calamities about to happen. The glass of the hotel breaking under the impact of the motorcycle. The screams of people watching him slide and crash to his death before steel and glass debris rained on the crowd of vulnerable humans. My hands fisted into balls.
“Seth. Stop this now.” I demanded when he didn’t move.
“Pfft, lighten up, Thoth,” Seth said, downing the last of his martini in a final swallow.
The spotlight followed the rider as the platform dipped slightly. The rider revved the engine and leaned forward. The sound was pure thunder rolling down the Strip.
“Oh, sweet baby Jesus,” Miranda muttered with the same fear and trepidation.
The next instant, he drove straight off the edge. The platform fell away and the bike launched into nothing, a dark shape arcing against the lights as panic ripped through the crowd. Screams filled the air.
My breath caught in my chest as my mind raced for a way to reach him with my power to save him or those below, but I was too far away.
The bike dropped several stories before its tires hit the pyramid’s face. The building didn’t give way. Instead, sparks showered from the contact as he raced down the slanted glass.
“He’s insane,” Miranda said under her breath.
Seth smiled without looking away. “He’s fearless. Vegas deserves nothing less.”
Halfway down, the rider launched off one of the lower ridges and the crowd inhaled as a collective, breath snagging as man and machine free-fell before slamming down near the base and tearing onward across the marble forecourt, tires screaming and smoke boiling in his wake. He spun in a perfect arc and came to a stop in the center of the Sinopolis emblem.
The lights cut out, plunging the plaza into sudden darkness. Only the rumble of the engine filled the silence.
For a breathless beat, no one moved. Then the spotlights snapped back on, and the rider sat motionless, head bowed, and the penned-in masses lost control. Shouts burst free, hands slammed against steel rails, bodies pressed forward in a heaving crush.
One wave broke toward the fallen rider, voices rising in frantic awe, while the closer press peeled back toward the dais, crashing in around us. Heat, sound, and motion rolled through me at once as they screamed their enthusiasm to the conductor of the entire event. Seth.
