by Bella Klaus
“Come back,” I hissed.
I waited for a few heartbeats for the cat to emerge. When he didn’t, I swore under my breath, pulled out the smartphone, and turned on its flashlight.
Twelve men sat on the ground of a twenty-by-twelve-foot chamber, bound, gagged and staring at me through wide, frightened eyes. My mouth dropped open and I released a breath of shock. Valentine was storing humans like… I shook my head, blinked twice because I couldn’t believe my eyes, and clapped a hand over my mouth. He was storing people the way he stored all that food in our kitchen.
From the good condition of their clothes, they couldn’t have been here for more than a day or two.
The nearest one was a round-faced Indian man with a long beard and a turban. A rough gag of torn fabric wrapped around the lower half of his face, but his arms lay on his lap, secured by rope. My gaze travelled down to his legs, which were also tied. He thrashed from side to side, flashing his eyes at me in an expression that begged for help.
“Can you stand?” I asked.
He made a muffled grunt and raised his hands to his neck. I couldn’t see what he was pointing at because his beard stretched down to his chest, but I pointed my flashlight at the blond man sitting next to him wearing a cream sweater and noticed the loop of rope resting on his collar.
“Macavity,” I hissed, not exactly knowing how a Bengal cat or even a leopard could help in a situation like this. I stuffed the phone in my pocket, wishing I had brought a knife or anything other than just a phone.
We had to let these people go. I didn’t care about what Valentine said last night about only feeding on bad men. The amount of people he had captured in the short time he’d been here told me everything. Valentine was happy being a preternatural vampire who fed on humans and had no intention of letting me restore him to life.
I pulled down the Indian man’s gag, and he gasped for air, making noisy panicked breaths.
“Who are you?” I asked.
“Harinder,” he said through spluttering coughs. “Harinder Sandhu. What is going on?”
I shook my head. “Can you tell me what happened?”
“I own an off-license in Milton Keynes and I was locking up for the night when someone knocked me unconscious. As soon as I woke up, I was tied up next to this guy.”
The blond man beside him gave me the same story, only he had come from a place ten miles north from the first one. My throat dried, and I pressed the heel of my hand into my aching chest. This wasn’t the senseless actions of a zombie. Valentine had calculated that he needed to steal people from separate and far-apart neighborhoods to make sure nobody saw a pattern in disappearances. Not the police, not his brothers, and not the enforcers of the Supernatural Council.
“Hold on. I’ve got a lighter.” I reached around the first man, making him lean forward, and I wrapped my hand around the rope securing him to a ring behind him on the wall. Once I released them all from the wall, I untied the first two men and got them to help me untie the others.
The third man scrambled to his feet and bolted out of the room, as did the fourth and fifth. After that, a few of the others stayed behind to release their fellow prisoners and left the dungeon in small groups. Only the first two men I had freed remained, with the blond man staring down at me through glistening eyes.
“What now?” he asked. “Are you coming too?”
I shook my head. “Whoever took you must be dangerous. Find your ways back to your towns and don’t answer the door to strange men.”
The prisoners who hadn’t already left filed out of the chamber, giving me their thanks. They were all so shaken that they hadn’t asked what I was doing here or how I had managed to find them. When the last of the men disappeared out of the door, I turned in a circle, looking for where Macavity had been hiding.
A full-sized Macavity stood facing a dark corner as though waiting for something to come out.
“What are you looking at?” I whispered.
He flicked his head to the corner, and I shone the smartphone’s flashlight over the leopard’s head.
The shadows parted, and a pale face stared out at me with bulging eyes.
I lurched forward. “Jonathan?”
Chapter Ten
I inched forward into the dark, shining my light into Jonathan’s stricken face. Writhing shadows covered half of his body, and as I came closer, my nostrils filled with the faint scent of brimstone. Whether it was coming from him or had drifted in from the burned-out stairwell, I wasn’t sure, but his presence here was no coincidence.
“Mera.” His pale eyes widened even further.
So, this was where Macavity had disappeared. And now he had grown to full-size the same way he had transformed the day that shadow assassin had infiltrated my apartment building.
The leopard’s gaze followed the curling shadows the way a cat might watch the light of a laser pointer before deciding to pounce. My brows drew together. Jonathan couldn’t be a supernatural. During all the times we’d spent alone in the treatment room when I’d given him sound baths, he hadn’t displayed any signs of power.
“What are you doing here?” I wrapped my arms around my middle, not daring to come close to those shadows.
“I got snatched, the same as all the others,” he rasped. “Please help me.”
My lips formed a tight line. Did Valentine take Jonathan because he had been my client? They’d had a brief confrontation outside the crystal shop, and Valentine had expressed a little possessive curiosity about what I did for Jonathan, but would Valentine go so far as to hunt him down and store him for later consumption?
I bit down on the inside of my cheek. Hours ago, I hadn’t thought Valentine capable of keeping men as livestock, but seeing a roomful of frightened and shackled prisoners told me that the man I had come to love no longer existed.
“Mera, please help me. That vampire will come back and drink my blood.”
My brows rose. “What do you know about vampires?”
“I was born in Logris, too,” he said.
Parting my lips, I released a shocked breath. Had Jonathan been wearing Cleopatra stone all this time? I gestured at the shadows with the flashlight. “Is that your magic?”
He glanced down at the mass of black encasing him up to his shoulders. “The smoke?” He nodded. “It’s the only thing keeping that monster from tearing me apart.”
Macavity roared at the insult, making Jonathan shriek. “Please, Mera.”
Something wasn’t right about this situation, and I wasn’t just talking about the twelve men held prisoner. That wasn’t smoke. Smoke had a distinctive smell and needed fuel to burn. And there was no such thing as a smoke mage. Smoke was too close to fire.
“Tell me about your magic, then.” I stepped back, holding the glowing smartphone like a shield.
Jonathan licked his cracked lips. “Don’t you trust me?”
“A supernatural who pays for magicless sound baths when there are qualified healers in Logris? Why have you been following me around? Were you the one who cursed my blood?” These were all burning questions, and I wouldn’t so much as ignite a spark until Jonathan provided detailed explanations.
Macavity sat on his haunches, seeming to want to listen. I shone the smartphone’s flashlight in Jonathan’s eyes to keep up the pressure.
“Alright,” he rasped. “I was sent to check up on you—”
“I knew there was something off about you,” I snarled.
“By your mother,” he shouted.
Shock slammed through my insides with the force of a fist. Aunt Arianna had mentioned through her one-way communication in my prison cell that Mom was alive, but I couldn’t believe she would associate herself with a man like Jonathan.
“You’re lying,” I whispered. “No one has heard of her since she sent me to Logris.”
He shook his head. “Aurora knew the moment you’d left Logris, and she sent me to watch over you to see if you developed any powers.”
“A
nd?”
“You didn’t show any trace of magic until recently,” he said in a small voice.
I swallowed hard. Anyone with access to the central record system could look up my mother’s name. Hell, anyone willing to buy a wizard a beer in our local tavern could pick up this information and bypass even having to visit the Supernatural Council building. Or Jonathan could be one of the enforcers sent to check up on Neutrals to make sure they didn’t develop any fire magic.
“Let me go,” he said. “I’ve told you what you wanted.”
“You’ve just admitted to stalking me on behalf of a woman I’ve never met,” I said through clenched teeth. “Now you’ll explain how I got cursed.”
His mouth dropped open. “I don’t know what you mean.” He swept his gaze up and down my body. “Who cursed you? How?”
Jonathan sounded like he was telling the truth, but then I had believed him to be a regular guy who worked around the corner. I had also believed him to be harmless with a few minor but annoying boundary issues. Today’s revelations had proven me wrong on all counts.
Macavity rose off his haunches and snarled.
Jonathan bared his teeth. “Get that thing away from me.”
“He wants to hear the rest of your story,” I said. “Nothing about what you’ve said adds up. How do I know you’re not an enforcer who will call the Supernatural Council the moment I release you?”
His thin lips parted to let out a huff of incredulity. “Mera, after all the time we’ve spent together, I’m hurt that you still look at me with suspicion.”
I slipped the smartphone into my pocket. If he wanted to gaslight me, he could do so from the comfort of this dungeon. I stepped forward and placed a hand on Macavity’s flank. “We’re leaving. Come.”
The leopard tossed his head, seeming disappointed not to get any information out of Jonathan. He turned around in the cell, and followed me out of the door and into the hallway. By now, the diagonal streams of light had become paler, casting the long passage into gloom.
Just as I was about to push it closed, Macavity threw his head back and let out a pained roar.
A spike of alarm shot through my heart, and my insides flooded with adrenaline. I spun on my heel to find blackness encasing Macavity’s hindquarters. My gaze shot to Jonathan, who rolled his neck and shoulders as though shrugging off his restraints.
“What are you doing?” I screamed.
Jonathan emerged from the shadows, clad in a white fisherman’s sweater, pale jeans and his camel-colored Paddington Bear duffle coat. “I saw how you used your fire to free those men. It’s time for you to return to the Flame.”
Macavity threw himself on the ground and rolled around the way a person might do to put out fire. The stench of burning hair seared my nostrils and beneath that was the scent of cooking meat.
I reached into my pocket, pulled out my smartphone, and shone it on Macavity. Black flames danced and curled and spread from his hind legs toward his middle. Jonathan wasn’t a shadow mage. He wielded black flames.
“Stop burning my cat,” I yelled.
Jonathan stepped around the thrashing leopard and approached me with his arms outstretched. All signs of the nervous man had vanished, leaving someone whose eyes shone with a burning determination.
I unzipped my hoodie, shouldered it off, and beat at the back the flames encasing Macavity. The wool fabric caught fire, rendering my attempts useless, and Macavity continued his pained yowling.
Tears filled my eyes and a helpless rage filled my heart. “How could you harm a cat? He was just playing with your shadows.”
Jonathan wrapped a hand around my bicep, encasing it in a grip as tight as steel. “I’m going to save you from that vampire’s thrall, but we need to get out before he rises and attacks.”
“Turn off your fire, and I’ll come with you,” I said.
Pulling me hard enough to dislocate my shoulder, he stared down at me with a heated glower. “Why would you protect a hellcat?”
“He’s been protecting me for three years.” I pulled back my leg and kicked at his shin.
“Bloody hell.” Jonathan doubled over and clutched his leg.
I slammed my fists into his back, and kneed his gut hard enough to send him to the ground. “Stop burning my cat.”
Jonathan groaned, but poor Macavity’s twisting and yowling on the ground became more desperate. Cold sweat broke out across my brow, my palms, and under my arms. If he didn’t stop attacking Macavity, the poor cat would die. I gave Jonathan a hard kick in the ribs and repeated my demand.
“Mera,” he croaked. “Stop. I’m a friend.”
“You could have broken out of that prison with your fire.” I punctuated my words with another kick. “You could have saved those men, but you just sat there like a creep.”
“Enough.” Shooting out his arm, he grabbed my ankle and yanked me down to his level.
I fell on my tailbone, and a spike of pain shot up my spine, making me clench my teeth and hiss. “Stop burning him.”
“I’ve cut the fire,” he said through ragged breaths. “Check for yourself.”
When I twisted around, Macavity lay unmoving on the ground, but with his ribs rising and falling. I crawled over to the leopard and placed a hand on his shoulder. “Macavity?”
Heat encircled my neck, and the sharp tug of what appeared to be a noose hauled me to my feet. Jonathan wrapped an arm around my bicep and snarled, “The vampire’s thrall goes deeper than I imagined. If you want the hellcat to live, you will come with me immediately.”
Not giving me a chance to reply, he pulled me down the hallway in the opposite direction to the library. I twisted around and called out for Macavity, but the leopard was still unconscious.
“Let go of me.” I channelled power into my hands, making foot-long flames erupt from my palms. This was the most amount of fire I had ever produced, and it was mostly out of disgust at Jonathan.
With my free hand, I swiped at his face, trying to set something alight, but my fire hit him as harmlessly as an open-handed slap. The flames he had placed around my neck heated and billowed enough thick, black smoke to make me gag.
“I can set that monster alight at any time and from any distance,” Jonathan snarled into my ear, making the fine hairs on the back of my neck stand on end. “If you don’t come with me right now and without complaint, I will choke you unconscious and send it straight to Hell.”
Pulling back my flames, I clenched my teeth and continued at Jonathan’s side. The sun would set soon, and none of this would matter. Valentine would track me through his connection with my blood, and he would make Jonathan regret ever having come after me or an innocent cat.
At the end of the hallway, Jonathan kicked open the stairwell door, engulfing us both in the scent of brimstone.
“Why didn’t you use your magic to escape?” I asked.
He pulled me through a charred landing that crunched underfoot and up the stairs that would lead to the ground floor. “When we heard you had escaped captivity and resurrected King Valentine, we suspected he would lead you to us.”
“Who is this ‘we’ you keep talking about?” I stumbled after him, wishing I had slammed the door shut earlier.
“The Flame.” He tugged on the leash of black flames around my neck. “Aurora is part of a secret community of fire users like me. When the time comes, they contact people like us and arrange safe passage out of Logris.”
Bitterness coated my tongue. “Did they tell you to make an eyesore of yourself and burn innocent animals, too?”
Jonathan paused, his shoulders pulling up around his ears. Staring at his stiff back, I clenched my stomach muscles and waited for him to lash out.
“You’ll soon come to understand that we’re the victims of the supernatural world. No matter what you’ve learned from the academy or the council or even that vampire.”
I swallowed back a mouthful of bile. “Nobody asked you to come after me. I was quite happy on my own.”
Jonathan didn’t reply to that, instead tugging me harder up the stairs until we reached the ground floor landing with its door hanging off a single hinge. Cold air swirled across the space from outside, reminding me that his black flames had burned my hoodie. Jonathan pulled on the leash once more, leading me alongside the walls and avoiding the pile of burning furniture. He dipped beneath the wonky door and stepped out into the late afternoon.
As I left the threshold of the house, the clean scents of grass and trees streamed into my nostrils, pushing away the stench of brimstone and burned leopard. The sun hung low within a darkening sky, casting a haze of orange across the horizon. In a few hours, it would set, but how long would it take Valentine to realize we were in trouble?
Jonathan placed a hand on my shoulder. “We’ll talk again once our high priest has removed the vampire’s thrall.”
“So you’re a religious cult, then?” I shrugged him off. We weren’t friends or even acquaintances. Jonathan was a bloody psycho, and I regretted not having kicked him in the balls.
He shot me a pitying smile before continuing toward the yellow jeep with the oversized tires. My mouth fell open. It had looked strange parked here yesterday, and I had thought it hadn’t been within the grounds for long. Did the vehicle belong to him? Had he tracked me down to the derelict and slipped into the cell for a chance to capture me?
Jonathan opened the passenger door and ordered me inside.
I folded my arms across my chest. “Did Valentine really capture you?”
His eyes narrowed. “If you’re skeptical, it’s because you’re still enthralled. Get inside before I do your hellcat further damage.”
I ground my teeth and stepped into the jeep’s leather seat, letting Jonathan shut me in and walk around to the other side. Blood roared between my ears, and I clenched and unclenched my fists. There was absolutely no doubt that Jonathan would hurt Macavity if I didn’t do exactly what he said, but was he leading me to a community of people like me or to the being who cursed my blood?
Jonathan opened the driver’s side, letting in a gust of air, and climbed up into the seat.