by Sarah Noffke
In a few short minutes, Rudolf had taught her something that was more powerful than all the spells in the entire world. He had shown her that the real power existed in desire. It conquered all, trumped everything. It was the fuse that lit the biggest fires. It was desire that supported one’s faith, and those two things had brought back a woman from the dead for Rudolf. Suddenly, the impossible was possible.
Chapter Thirty-Four
When Liv was certain the couple had finished kissing, she dared to look back, but to her surprise found them gone. She blinked at the large wet spot on her couch before looking around as if expecting them to be in the kitchen, on the other side of the bar, or on the fire escape. However, they had left. Silently and magically, Rudolf and Serena had disappeared, off to spend the time together that had been stolen from them.
In pure astonishment, Liv turned to Stefan, shaking her head at him. “Seriously, I thought he was a super-big jerk. I never expected that.”
He laughed. “No, you didn’t. I suspect that on some level you trusted him, or you wouldn’t have helped him. But I will admit that you have the strangest friends of anyone I know.”
“I’ll remind you that you’re on that list,” she teased.
A knock at the door startled them both. Stefan moved around Liv before she could get to the door, pulling it open in a blur of movements. He let out a sigh of relief at the sight of Hester DeVries on the other side of the threshold.
“Thank you for coming so quickly,” he said, leading her into the small apartment. “Liv was attacked by a mermaid.”
Hester was wearing a maroon crushed velvet traveling cloak with the hood pulled over her spikey gray hair. She frowned at Liv.
“You do like to test my skills, don’t you?”
Liv couldn’t stop herself. She pointed at Stefan in accusation. “He does too!”
Hester laughed, reaching over and gripping Stefan’s shoulder affectionately. “I’ll discuss you and your changed state in a moment. For now, I want you, Liv, on the couch so I can access your wounds.”
Liv eyed the couch a bit reluctantly. “Ummm. Can we do that on the floor?”
Hester’s forehead wrinkled as she studied the couch and the puddle of water around it and the dust drifting around in it. “I’m not sure you should tell me what happened here.”
“I’m not sure I could if I tried,” Stefan joked, taking his seat in the corner again.
Liv settled herself on the floor, pulling up her pants legs to display the bandages that Stefan had wrapped her wounds in while they were in the garden.
“Do you have any symptoms? Chills? Cravings for seafood?” Hester asked, examining the bite on her leg.
She shook her head. “I’m not going to turn into a mermaid, am I?” Liv asked.
“No, that’s not how it works,” Hester said. “But their bites can be poisonous. However, lucky for you, I treated you with a heavy dose of anti-venom when you were attacked by the lophos, and it appears to still be in your system. It protected you from the mermaid’s poison.”
“Lucky me,” Liv said, winking at Stefan.
“In all my years,” Hester said, running her hands over Liv’s legs and causing her body to warm up, “I’ve never met anyone who survived both a lophos and a mermaid bite, not to mention a single person who had experienced both.”
“Go big or go home,” Liv joked.
Hester gave her a cautious look. “I’d recommend staying home for a little while after this.”
“Oh, will I need to rest?” Liv asked.
Hester shook her head. “I know better than to try to tell you to rest, Warrior Beaufont. I can’t give you any details, but your next case is…well, we tried to oppose it. I’m sorry.”
Stefan’s armor made noise as he leaned forward. “What is it?”
Hester looked back at him. “I can’t say.”
“If Haro voted for it, then it’s okay,” Liv stated, glad that she understood him better now.
Hester’s eyes filled with dread. “He didn’t. He voted against it.”
“Well, then you have won the vote, right?” Liv asked.
Hester leaned forward. “Raina voted against us.”
Stefan suddenly stood. “She wouldn’t have done that.”
The sadness in the healer’s eyes was unmistakable. “I’m sorry, Warrior Ludwig. It’s true.”
“But why would she vote with Adler?” Stefan asked heatedly.
Hester shook her head. “I don’t know. It all happened very suddenly. One moment I recognized her, and then something shifted. But whatever it was, it’s gone now. After the vote, I’m sure my friend was back.”
“Why didn’t you contact me?” Stefan said, stress coating his voice. “I need to see her.”
Hester held up a hand, stopping him. “You need to be careful.” She looked at Liv and Stefan with a warning in her eyes. “We all do. None of us are safe. I know you know that’s true, more so than before.”
“He brainwashed her with a spell, didn’t he?” Stefan accused.
“I don’t know. Truly I don’t,” Hester said, unraveling the bandages on Liv’s arm and grimacing at the long claw marks. “I slipped your sister a concoction that should keep it from happening again, but that will only work until he finds other means. Adler doesn’t like losing control of the council or anything else, and he’s feeling more and more threatened.”
“So she voted in his favor and then he released her?” Stefan questioned.
“I think so,” Hester answered.
Liv held her breath as Hester treated her wounds. When she could speak again, she said, “Stefan, it’s going to be okay. We’ll figure this out.”
He shook his head. “No, it’s not. None of us are safe.”
“That’s why I have to keep investigating,” Liv said.
“It sounds like you’ve got another death mission ahead of you,” Stefan said, defeat in his voice. “Let me go with you, whatever it is.”
Hester protested first. “No, you can’t go on this one, Warrior Ludwig.”
Stefan shot her a confused look. “But we make a good team. Together we are unstoppable.”
Hester actually smiled as the wounds on Liv’s arm closed before their eyes. “I agree, you two do work well together. However, Liv won’t need you for this one. She’ll be better off on her own. You’ll only be a distraction.”
“Distraction?” Stefan asked.
Hester rose, done treating her. “Warrior Ludwig, I’m grateful that you conquered your demon, but you know what this means?”
“That I make an even better demon hunter because I can sense the monsters?” Stefan guessed.
“Yes, there is that,” Hester answered. “But it also means that you’ve lost your objectivity. I saw the way you responded to the crow. Where Liv has to go would blind you with fury. There’s no way you’d come out of that place with your sanity intact.”
Stefan’s face showed intense worry. “Where are they sending her?”
Hester gave Liv a confident expression. “A place she can handle.” Her smile was genuine. “Just get some rest, my dear. You have my faith.”
Liv grabbed the healer’s hand and squeezed it as she remembered what Rudolf had said. “Thank you. That’s one of the best compliments you could give me.”
Chapter Thirty-Five
“You’re really racking up the IOUs,” Stefan observed, striding beside her as they made their way down the road.
Liv lifted a single eyebrow in response. “I don’t know what you mean.”
“Well, I’m forever in debt to you, and now you’ve got the fae. Who else?”
“Oh, you’re ridiculous,” Liv said with a dismissive wave. “I only helped save you because I didn’t want your family replaced with someone potentially more annoying.”
Stefan laughed. “And the fae?”
“He cons me into these things. Who knows what bullshit he’ll pull on me next?”
“For someone who enjoys pretending she doe
sn’t like people very much, your behavior suggests the opposite.”
“Tell anyone, and I’ll deny it absolutely,” Liv said, then added. “Actually, tell my secret, and I’ll tell yours.”
Stefan chuckled. “That seems fair. If I tell people that you actually value the human race, you’ll tell everyone that I’m part demon.”
Liv nodded. “It’s totally reasonable.”
Stefan halted when they reached the intersection. “But you have nothing to worry about. I don’t talk to anyone about Liv Beaufont, although you are quite the talk of the town.”
“I am not.”
“Oh, you are. I hear your name whispered on the streets.”
“I’m not sure that’s a good thing. I have many enemies,” Liv stated.
“The very best always do.”
“So, what Hester said about you losing your objectivity… What do you think about that?” Liv asked.
He sighed deeply. “I’ve been feeling it more and more. There’s a new fire in my being. It wakes me up in the middle of the night, urging me to get up and fight the evil in the world. At any given moment, I can find the nearest thief in the act of stealing or a criminal assaulting the innocent. Whatever the demon left in me, it lets me find evil easily.”
“That sounds exhausting.”
He agreed with a nod. “But I’m trying to keep a positive perspective. I think it will turn me into the greatest demon hunter and vigilante in the world.”
She huffed. “You just have to be the best, don’t you?”
He created a portal on the other side of him. “We both know we’re neck and neck for that title.”
Liv created an identical portal, her face becoming serious. “Are you okay about Raina?”
He paused. “Yes. I mean, no. I don’t know. Nothing feels safe in the House anymore. I don’t even know how to combat it anymore.”
“And do you feel where the evil is coming from when you’re in the House?” she asked.
He shook his head. “No, for some reason I don’t. But that only means that it’s masked.”
“Don’t worry,” Liv stated. “We’re immune now from the brainwashing that Adler can do, thanks to Hester. And soon Clark will be too.” She felt in her pocket for the concoction the healer had given her for her brother.
Stefan’s eyes flicked to the portal at her back. “Wherever you’re off to next, try to be careful.”
“You know I can’t make that promise.”
He conceded with a nod. “Okay, well, until I find you in a precarious position, take care of yourself, Liv Beaufont.”
“You do the same, Stefan Ludwig.”
He took a step backward, fading into the portal.
Liv found herself staring at it long after it disappeared. She had a feeling that Stefan’s story was only beginning. That Warrior was bound to do things that would make history. She just had to ensure that the history books told the real story going forward, which meant she had to find out what had been rewritten.
Chapter Thirty-Six
“What did he promise her?” Clark asked, striding beside Liv as they made their way across the library in the House of Seven.
“I don’t know,” Liv whispered.
Clark sighed. “Sophia said the giant promised to give her a pet of some sort. If it’s something illegal, we’re going to be in trouble.”
Liv halted in front of her brother. “You get what we’re doing, right? And you’re worried that Rory is going to give Sophia a three-headed chinchilla? You do know how to put things into perspective, right?”
He rolled his eyes. “This is serious.”
“It’s not. Not in the big scheme of things,” Liv argued. Rory had also suggested to Liv that he wanted to take her to a special place. That was apparently where they’d get the gift he wanted to give Sophia. How could Liv argue with that?
His mother had set off on an adventure where she hoped to find more information on the “truth.” With his mother gone, his spirits were higher than ever, and he’d stated that before Liv’s next mission she should take a break and go with him to this faraway land. When she pestered him for details, he threatened to cancel the whole thing, which quickly shut her up.
“Can you tell me about this new death mission the council has in store for me?” Liv asked Clark.
His eyes darkened. “I’m sorry, but my oath prevents me from doing so.”
“Hester appeared pretty upset about it,” Liv supplied.
He nodded. “I think it was mostly the Raina thing, but I’m grateful it won’t be happening again. At least not to one of us.”
They both fell silent.
Liv was startled when her brother set his hand on her shoulder. “Don’t worry, though. You’ve faced worse than this. Adler must be getting desperate, or he wouldn’t resort to such extreme measures.”
“But if he’s getting desperate, that means he’s onto us. You know what happens when he suspects people,” Liv said urgently.
Clark shook his head. “No, he’s onto you. You’ve created a rift in the House, and he knows it. He’s losing his footing. There are more arguments among the council than ever before. Your rebellious attitude is infectious, and Adler is worried. However, I don’t think he has any reason to believe you’re anything more than a pain in his ass. Still, he doesn’t want any conflict.”
“Adler wants complete control, but that’s not how the House of Seven was supposed to operate,” Liv argued. “It was always supposed to be about balance between the families, not one man’s agenda that trumped everything else.”
“And then Liv came along.” Clark offered her a proud smile. “I will be eternally sad that we lost Ian and Reese, but I can’t tell you how happy I am that you’re back. When you came back into my life, a light that was extinguished the moment you left flickered back on. You’ve changed everything. I’m not sure why I didn’t come after you sooner and drag you back.”
Liv grinned, swallowing the tenderness in her throat. “Because you knew I would have punched you in the face.”
Clark pulled her into a sudden hug, pressing her in tight. “You would have, but I should have done it anyway. I should have never let you get away.”
Liv pushed back, offering her brother a slight smile. “But me being away from the House was important.”
“I know, but I hope it’s never necessary again.”
She hugged him again, talking into his shoulder. “No, it won’t be. Familia est sempiternum.”
“Yes, familia est sempiternum.”
Liv released Clark in a swift movement and strode toward the wall with the symbols in the library. “Ready for this?”
Clark cleared his throat as he ran to catch up with her. “Oh, is it all business now?”
She winked at him. “You know it.”
“I’m ready,” he said when they stopped in front of the wall with the ancient language that danced around like it was excited for them to read its hidden meaning. For once, the area was empty. She’d told Stefan to stay away, and he’d agreed a bit reluctantly.
“Are you prepared for what we’ll find?” Liv asked. “We may not like it.”
Clark released a breath. “I’m almost certain we won’t, but I promise that whatever it is, I’ll help you defend it. Whatever it takes.”
Liv nodded, tired of empty words. Action was what they needed now. She withdrew her mother’s ring from her pocket and slid it onto her finger. She wasn’t sure why, but that seemed like the thing to do. When the ring was in place, she felt a jolt that rocked her to her core.
Her vision went black, and then she saw her mother’s face swimming in her vision: Guinevere when she was younger. When she married Theodore Beaufont. When she was initiated into the House of Seven as a Warrior. Her standing over an enemy she’d slain. Her holding Ian on the day he was born. Her as a mother to five children, checking on them as they slept in their beds before she left on the last day she was alive. Guinevere had walked out the door of their residence
with her husband with this ring on her finger. She had then returned a moment later and slipped the Warrior ring off her finger. She had kissed it and then set it in a box on the table next to the door. “In case you’ll ever need to find the truth. In case we fail. This is for you, my loves,” she whispered and closed the box, sealing it shut with a spell only a Beaufont could open.
Liv gasped.
“What?” Clark asked, concern on his face.
She shook her head. “She was an amazing woman. She loved us more than life itself.”
Clark gripped her hand. “You feel her?”
Liv nodded.
“I get those flashes with Dad, too. It’s your connection to her as a Warrior.”
Liv could hardly breathe. It was a sick joke. She felt her mother’s presence so completely she could swear her arms were around her, and her words were beating in her head, telling her she could do anything. “Go forward, my child. Find the truth that lays before you. This is your destiny.”
Liv pulled her hand from Clark’s, fitting the Warrior’s ring into the groove in the wall. She gave him a curt nod. “Your turn, bro.”
His reluctant eyes communicated his fear, but he pulled the knife from his pocket. It had belonged to their father, and their family crest was etched on the hilt. He withdrew the blade, and before he could go back on things, he brought it across the palm of his hand, spilling his blood on the threshold between the library and the Ancient Chamber.
At least Liv wanted to believe this was the Ancient Chamber. Otherwise, she wasn’t sure what this was, or whether it was supposed to be open.
The floor rumbled under their feet.
Liv pulled her hand away from the wall as dust rained down on them and Clark yanked her back, his blood-stained hand gripping her cloak.
They exchanged nervous glances, but a moment later their questions were answered. The wall parted, creating a path into a dark chamber—one that contained all the secrets they yearned to learn.