by Ciara Graves
“You don’t think the Hunters will take their lead from Rickshaw? Leave the innocent ones alone?”
“They’re Hunters. Last I checked, they didn’t take orders from anyone but their damned code. I’ll be in touch. I’d say try to get some sleep, but what’s the point? And if you hear from Mercy, you tell me.” His eyes traveled around the apartment, then he and Horace were gone, too.
Before Mercy was taken from me, I might’ve been ticked off that they left my apartment a mess. Since there was no chance in hell I was going to try and sleep, I was glad for the distraction and set about cleaning up the candle wax from the floor, righting what furniture survived, and figuring out what I was going to do with the broken fridge.
All the while, I kept my senses on high alert for any subtle hint of apples or the feel of Mercy’s hand on my cheek.
But as night gave way to another dawn, I fell into bed, exhausted and mentally worn out.
If Mercy made any more tries to reach me, I didn’t feel them.
The rage that had started to fade ramped back up.
Any second, I’d hit the point of no return.
Chapter 5
Mercy
I was going stir crazy.
My nails dug into the mortar between the bricks on the far wall. I had no way to know if this wall was an outside wall or not. If I could get a brick loose, I might be able to use it to bash someone’s head in, if nothing else.
Because obviously clawing my way out of a solid stone wall was not going to work.
For most of the morning, or day, or whatever time it was, I focused on my hands, attempting to make the claws reappear. Not that I was keen to start half-shifting, but my desperation to find a weapon to get out of here overruled my hatred for the dark magic she’d used on me.
When the claws refused to appear, and the mortar stubbornly refused to give way, I switched gears and mediated. Red and orange sparks flickered to life at my fingertips.
I squinted one eye open.
If I could just get this spell to work, it’d keep my hopes alive. One solid second of my magic needed to work so I could reach Rafael. I sensed my inner fire building, the spell on my tongue, ready to be unleashed—
“No, damn it!”
The chains from the chair had snaked over without my noticing and wrapped around my ankles and wrists. They dragged me clear across the stones, oblivious to my cursing and ranting.
I ended up chained to that chair again, unable to move.
This is how it was any time someone came into my chambers.
I threw my head back, screaming.
The door opened, and four hybrids stepped inside. Shuval wasn’t with them. They came toward me, I flailed, straining to kick or scratch.
The hybrids wore blood red cloaks, the hoods drawn over their faces. Their immense power pressed in around me as they closed in. These hybrids were closer to Envy’s level of magical prowess, not lesser ones, like a few I’d killed during the cage fight in Sector 13.
“What the hell do you want now, huh?” I snapped. “Where’s your bitch?”
The backhanded slap came out of nowhere.
I spat at the bastard’s feet.
He struck me again.
If he thought that was going to shut me up, he was wrong. I opened my mouth to curse him out, but no sound escaped. None. I contented myself with glaring at him. Wasn’t the first time they’d used this spell against me. I doubted it’d be the last.
“Secure her quickly. We do not want to be late.”
I wanted to make some snarky comment about already being damned secure, but since I couldn’t talk, I continued to glower. I imagined killing them.
When a couple of them hesitated to adjust the chains, I smirked.
The hybrid who hit me and cast the silence spell stepped closer. The rest managed to get me to my feet while keeping the chains fastened around my body.
The hybrid lifted his head. A pair of dark violet eyes glowed in his scarred face. If he was trying to intimidate me, it wasn’t working.
I arched my brow and waited to see what he’d try next.
“Soon enough, you will be one of us, sister,” he said quietly. “There is no escaping your fate.”
The scars on his face were caused by dark magic, almost matching the one Envy gave me.
When he threw back his hood, I staggered back, trying to get away. The scar stretching down his cheek that I’d originally thought not much larger than mine was actually far worse than I expected. The skin around it was red and twisted. And deep. I’d never seen scars that ran through flesh like ravines.
The scar led into several others that formed a haphazard pattern across his face, tearing up what might’ve once been attractive features. They didn’t stop at his face, either. More came into view on his neck as he tugged aside his cloak for me to see.
“I was as you are,” he informed me. “Resistant to change. During the ritual, I fought the magic, and it nearly tore me apart. I suggest you not do the same. It is much easier to give in.”
What the hell was Shuval doing to her followers? What would her final ritual do to those with magic? To Gigi or Sycamore? Anyone who tried to fight against its influence, would they be scarred like this? What then? What if they didn’t give in? The dead would number in the hundreds, thousands, and those who gave in, what would they become?
The hybrid replaced the hood over his face, turned, and led the way out of the chamber.
I was pulled from the room by the chains, the other hybrids guarding me.
I scanned the corridor, but there were no windows, only more stone.
We walked down several flights of stone steps, and the temperature plummeted. The air became damp. My teeth chattered as cold seeped into my bones. Goosebumps broke out on my skin. The chains digging into my bare flesh didn’t help. My feet grew numb.
We trudged down another set of stairs, then another. I wondered if we’d ever stop walking. We passed no one, and the only light came from torches every twenty paces.
Our shadows stretched up the walls and across the domed ceiling of the corridor.
We made a sudden turn to the right.
I gasped—or tried to, around the silence spell—as a wave of immense power struck me like a punch to the gut. The hybrids were the only reason I stayed upright.
I wanted to ask what was putting out such power, but the silence spell had yet to fade completely. I managed a gasp this time, but that was all.
“You’ll see soon enough,” the scarred hybrid said without turning around. “Everyone will.”
My hands twitched in the chains.
A set of large, black metallic doors blocked the path ahead. From the other side, chanting came, a murmur of words I couldn’t understand, and wasn’t sure I wanted to.
The scarred hybrid knocked twice.
The chanting quieted, but didn’t stop.
The urge to run in the other direction increased tenfold the second those doors cracked open.
Light poured out, pure and white. I would’ve said it was moonlight, but we were underground, weren’t we?
The doors opened wider.
I dug my bare feet into the floor.
The hybrids shoved me ahead of them.
Every nerve in me screamed to get the hell out of this place.
The chains tightened.
I opened my mouth to scream, but no sound came out. I fought to get away and run, just run in the opposite direction.
Abruptly, I was thrown into the room and rolled to a sudden stop.
I pushed up the best I could and scrambled to get away from the set of legs that stopped me from going further.
Two hands yanked me upright, and then I was glaring into the eyes of Envy.
He sneered back at me.
I opened my mouth to rip him a new one, except I couldn’t make words. No words at all. I grunted in annoyance and scowled at Envy.
“What did you do to her?” Envy demanded. “I told you to bring her
here. Nothing more.”
“She insulted Shuval,” the scarred hybrid replied simply.
Envy bared his fangs and sent him scurrying away. “Pathetic.” He placed his palm over my mouth.
I tried to bite him, but his hand was gone already.
“That should be better. Be a shame to have you silenced during a moment such as this.”
I worked my jaw for a second, then leaned back and rammed my forehead into his face.
“Ungrateful bitch,” he snapped.
“Wait. What? You think I should be grateful? How about you let me go then I might decide not to kill you.” I shook my head and muttered darkly, “You should’ve just done yourself a favor and died back in that cage. I’ve had so much time to figure out how I’m going to finish you this time. I hope you enjoy pain, Envy. I’m going to make you scream.”
“After you, sweetheart.” He dragged me around and stood behind me, giving me a full view of the room.
The white light was moonlight, streaming through a massive circular hole in the ceiling. There was no stone, not here.
The ceiling was decorated in an array of colorful tiles, creating mosaics. Images of soaring dragons stretched around the room. Their black and gold scales shimmered in the glowing white rays of the full moon.
My gaze shifted from one image to the next, unable to not find the sight incredible. Several of the dragons breathed fire, raining hell down on those below. Cities burned and armies fled in their wake.
It was an incredible mural.
“Magnificent beasts,” Shuval’s voice rang out. She was standing in the center of the room.
How had I not noticed her?
“I don’t think you need those now, do you?” She snapped her fingers and the chains holding me fell to the floor.
Envy kept his hands on my arms. I couldn’t decide what was worse, him touching me or the evil magic choking the air from this colossal chamber.
“What is this place?” I asked, taking another look around.
The chanting from earlier remained, but was merely background noise. Cloaked figures stood around the edges of the chamber, hoods covering their heads, and hands clasped before them, chanting. The longer I listened, the more a strange numbness came over me, and I found myself swaying until Envy righted me.
“Careful, Mercy,” Shuval warned. “It’s not your time, not yet.”
“Then why am I down here? What fun torture do you have in store for me tonight, huh? Gonna give me a boring history lesson about our people?”
My sarcasm didn’t faze her.
She stepped closer, and for the first time, I saw she was in something other than her typical black and chainmail dress. She wore a cloak like the others, covering up whatever she wore beneath. Her black hair hung loosely around her shoulders without any adornments. Her eyes turned a dark yellowish amber.
“Not quite,” she answered, then turned her head. “Envy? Keep hold of her. I do not wish her to miss a moment of our little experiment.”
None of this sounded good. At all.
Envy pulled me away from Shuval, leading me toward the center of the chamber where there were two stone slabs covered in shimmering black and red tiles. They sat maybe ten feet apart and were covered in red stains. Blood.
I gulped, unable to stop the sudden fear creeping up my spine. Heavy manacles lay at both ends of the stone slabs.
Shuval walked directly between them, where the floor was a foot higher than the rest of the room. She undid the black clasp of her cloak and let it fall to the floor.
The red dress she wore clung to her body like a second skin and was barely enough to cover what was necessary. The rest of her body was exposed, though her skin was anything but bare.
All this time, I had never seen her arms or anything below her neck. Now, I knew why she kept her body hidden from view.
Every inch of her arms down to her legs and bare feet were tattooed. The black and red lines twisted and turned on each other violently, each curve serving a purpose.
There were words in the tattoos. I couldn’t see them, but the mage in me sensed their power and knew without asking that they were dark magic. Blood magic. Forbidden magic that was never meant to be meddled with.
Beneath the tattoos was another story altogether.
Deep grooves marred her skin, running against the pattern of the markings. There were more than I could possibly count.
“Yes, I bear my own set of scars,” Shuval said, glancing at her arms outstretched. “I’ve paid greatly for the power I have. Paid in blood and more. And yet, I’ve come out stronger, thanks to all my sacrifices.”
“You’re insane,” I whispered.
“You won’t think so for long.” She turned toward the hybrids. “Bring them,” she yelled.
The doors creaked open behind the chanting figures.
A high-pitched scream echoed off of the tiles.
I stiffened in Envy’s grasp. “No, let me go!”
The screaming and shouting continued, but I could only stand there, horrified, as a woman was dragged toward one of the stone slabs next to Shuval.
She flailed, kicking in her desperation to get free. They attached the manacles around her wrists and ankles, strapping her to the stone slab. She arched her back, tugging hard, but the restraints held. Shuval didn’t seem bothered by her screams, which eventually, turned to helpless sobs.
A second person, another woman, calmly approached the stone slab. She grimaced with every step she took, and when she finally reached me, I frowned at what I saw. There was a fresh wound on her cheek.
“Yes, Mercy, she’s a mage who has been cursed. Just as you were. Albeit it was a bit more recent, it’s the same curse done by the same hand.” Shuval’s eyes settled on Envy briefly. Then she motioned for the woman to come closer.
The newcomer lay down on the second stone slab without a fight. She too was restrained. Why the hell did she have Envy curse a mage as he had me?
The other woman, I couldn’t tell what she might be. She wasn’t a mage. I knew that much.
Shuval’s hand hovered over the woman’s head. “A siren. No real extraordinary magic ability, it’s true, but useful traits, nonetheless. And for the purpose of this experiment, she’ll do just fine.”
Tears streamed down the siren’s cheeks.
I tried to step forward, but Envy held me back.
“Oh, no, Mercy, you won’t be saving her. You just get to watch,” he whispered harshly in my ear.
“Get the hell away from me,” I seethed.
He chuckled. His grip tightened on my arms. “Soon enough that will be you.”
I wasn’t sure what he meant, but didn’t have the luxury to dwell on it as Shuval moved, drawing my attention back to her.
She rested one hand on each of the women and shut her eyes, her head falling back.
The chanting grew louder, a deep bass that rolled over me in waves of pulsing energy. My stomach twisted. I waited to be sick. The idea of puking on Envy’s boots amused me, but not for long, as things began to happen.
The tattoos on Shuval’s body came to life, writhing and moving like living beings. As they brightened, her body quavered on the stone platform. She flattened her palms on the two women’s foreheads.
The siren and the cursed mage screamed, thrashing against the chains.
A shimmering blue light rose from the siren, hovering over her physical body. It rose higher and higher as a fierce wind kicked up, whirling around us like a tornado.
The tiles on the stone slabs came to life with a light of their own, the mosaic designs matching those on Shuval’s body.
The blue light over the siren suddenly slammed back into the stone slab and shot through the glowing mosaic, mixing with a dark red light.
Meanwhile, a green glow burst to life over the cursed mage. When the blue light crashed into it, the floor quaked.
The cursed mage’s scream turned into a shriek as if she was being torn apart piece by piece.
I couldn’t stand to watch anymore and turned my head.
Envy grabbed my chin and forced my face back.
The cursed mage’s back arched even more. Then the violet light surrounded the green, obliterating it. The violet light twisted and turned, surrounding the mage. When it collapsed into her body, a shockwave of energy sent us stumbling back.
The whole room became eerily still.
The siren gasped once, then fell quiet. Her arm fell limply over the side of the stone slab, and her eyes looked at me.
Her cold, dead eyes.
Shuval removed her hands from the two women as several hybrids approached the cursed mage. They undid the chains and helped her sit up. The scar on the cursed mage’s cheek was gone, as if she’d never been cursed by Envy’s magic.
When she rose and walked toward me, I shoved against Envy to get away, but he held me in an iron grip.
“Kneel,” the no longer cursed mage ordered as she stood before me.
My knees immediately hit the floor as my body gave into the order. I’d met sirens other than Iris. A few tried to give me commands, but I’d been strong enough to shrug them off. This formerly cursed mage now had the powers of a siren. And her newly acquired siren powers didn’t give me a choice.
“I would call that a success,” Shuval mused as she stepped down from the stone platform.
One of the hooded figures approached and threw back his hood.
Nolan. He picked up Shuval’s cloak and gently draped it around her shoulders. It seemed that whatever insane ritual I witnessed had weakened her. Good.
“Prepare yourself, Mercy,” Shuval told me, walking toward the formerly cursed mage and standing next to her.
“For what?” I asked, hating the fear that came through with my words.
“I know how to remove the curse from you now. Once I’ve recovered, you will become a hybrid. The curse will be lifted, and when the Blood Moon rises, there will be nothing stopping you from fully embracing your true form,” she said, grinning like the mad woman she was. “Your ritual will be a bit harsher, I’m afraid, since the curse has been embedded in you for so long. I suggest you prepare yourself for the agony you must endure. And accept your plight. If you struggle against it, well, it won’t be pleasant.” She glanced at Envy. “Return her to her chambers. I believe our sweet Mercy has much to think on this night.”