I found it just a tad annoying that they were both so graceful trekking through the snow, while I was dinosaur-stomping through it with snow soaking the insides of my boots. At least I had a good sense of direction, which was lucky because Kael’s fancy PITO-issued phone didn’t have a great enough signal for his map to pull up.
It was a relief to reach trees again. “Hope Emily doesn’t have any more attack crows waiting.”
Ren raised an eyebrow, but I didn’t elaborate.
“Speaking of that witch…” Kael put a hand on my shoulder to stop me beneath a pine. The sun was shining over the canopy, sending tiny slivers of light dancing across his tight jawline. “Why didn’t you attack her when I asked you to?”
His question threw me off guard, and I stared at him for a long moment. “I don’t know. I just…felt bad for her, I guess. She’d just lost someone she loved and wanted to get him back. Vehrin had tortured her. More than likely she wasn’t even in her right mind. I wasn’t even sure she would go through with it, that she would want to. Why else would she have waited so long, told us so much? Attacking her didn’t sit right with me. I can’t punish someone for doing something for a person, or being, or pet, or whatever, that they love. That just seems…cruel.”
Kael’s features softened a little. “You don’t know what her right mind could be. Vehrin has allies, just as we do. We can’t afford to take chances.” He stepped a bit closer. “Livvie, there will come times when you have to make decisions that are hard, that go against everything you are, but sometimes, it is necessary.”
A strange sense of foreboding shivered through me at his words, and I suddenly felt colder than I already had been.
“Always so cheerful,” Ren remarked. He was leaning casually against a tree several feet away.
Surprisingly, Kael didn’t growl something back to him. Instead, he kept his attention on me. “I mean it, Livvie. Next time, you need to fight. If you don’t, it may end up being too late.”
A heavy weight seemed to drop on my shoulder, and I sighed. “All right. I understand where you’re coming from.”
I didn’t outright agree with him—a slight tick in his cheek told me he noticed, too—but I would think about it. Kael may be a shoot first, ask questions later kind of guy, but something like that would be difficult for me.
That is, unless I let my magic do the thinking for me, and that was something I certainly wasn’t prepared to do.
Chapter 7
I rolled my shoulders as Kael stood in line to rent us a car at the airport. I hadn’t slept much on the flight, and the sky outside of the windows was the deep velvet of night. It was preferable, really. The dark skies and deep shadows would help to cloak us as we made our way to find Lor the warlock.
That is, if Vehrin hadn’t found him first.
Kael and I had hurried from the mountains as quickly as we could and caught the first flight heading toward Chicago. Ren had left with barely more than a good luck. I’d tried to give the bracelet back to him, but he said giving a gift back from a fae was rude. He’d also told me I never knew when I’d need his help again.
I peered down at the snowflake charm. It felt heavier on my wrist now that I knew Renathe could track me with it. He was right, though. He had helped me out of a tight spot, literally, and this wasn’t just mine and Kael’s fight. This involved all manner of beings that could fall under the dark mage if we didn’t stop him, first. Renathe had every right to want to keep tabs on how I was doing, seeing as I was the frontrunner in this fight.
Kael glanced back at me as the woman behind the desk tapped at a keyboard. His smile was weary, and I should have been just as exhausted as he was, only I wasn’t. It was like electricity was tapping along my veins. My magic prickled beneath my skin, eager, wanting to be set loose. It made me feel like I’d had about four cups of coffee too many. I was jittery. I needed to do something.
When Kael finally walked toward me with a set of keys, I exhaled with relief.
“Ready?” he asked.
“Absolutely.”
We hefted our bags and walked out of the airport.
The white sedan was certainly less exciting than the Jeep we got to drive into the mountains. Kael mumbled something about its lack of horsepower as I ran my fingers over the keys around my neck. As my touch ran down the length of the golden key from the Amazon ruins, I felt a feathering sensation down my own body. It still made me uneasy, knowing that my soul was bound with the key, and anyone who had it could control me...and my magic.
“Stop worrying.”
I turned to Kael as we made our way around the outskirts of Chicago. I tucked the keys back inside my shirt. “I’m not worrying.”
“You are worrying. You’re about to chew off your bottom lip.”
Stupid, bad habit. I purposefully puffed my lip out, which made Kael laugh. Then he went quiet as he checked the directions Ren had given us.
“No one is going to get a hold of that key, or you.”
I glanced outside as the streetlights flashed by. People walked on sidewalks. Silhouettes flitted through houses. “We’re up against an awful lot right now. Not just the mage. Others want me, too.”
Kael’s hand tightened on the steering wheel, but he gave me a smile. “I don’t think anyone realizes what they’re up against when they try to take us down.”
Us.
He made ‘us’ sound like a more concrete team than just the convenient partnership we’d been when we first started hunting the mage. The thought made something warm flutter inside of me. It also made me uncomfortable, because I wasn’t quite sure what to do with that feeling.
The rest of the ride, I sorted through my bag, organizing the things that had become jumbled and taking stock of supplies. I paused with the knife handle, now missing the blade, in my hand. I needed another weapon—something I could rely on besides the blood-thirsty magic tapping for release in my veins.
“I think this is close to where we need to be,” Kael said.
I blinked from my wistful thoughts and zipped up my bag, then peered out the window. Kael was pulling up to stop beside a very large park. The expanse of fields dotted with playground equipment and soccer nets glistened under the moon. It must have rained recently. I got out of the car and settled my bag onto my shoulder, the magic in me humming.
“This is the place?”
There were no houses around, only a few businesses with darkened windows on the other side of the street.
Kael shrugged. “Perhaps it’s on the other side of the park.”
I squinted through the darkness, but couldn’t see the other side. “Yeah, maybe.”
I wasn’t convinced.
Together, we walked under the arched, stone entryway of the park. It was empty of others, and though I was thankful because I didn’t want any innocents getting caught in the crossfire if a fight came up with the mage, it was also a bit eerie. Almost too quiet. Even the noise of the city seemed to have fallen away as we stepped across the damp grass.
A sudden, uncomfortable itch scattered between my shoulder blades. I peered behind us and didn’t see anyone, but the sensation didn’t go away.
“I think we’re being followed,” I whispered.
Kael looked at me, then glanced back. His nostrils flared. “I don’t smell or sense anyone.”
His steps hadn’t slowed, though he still adopted the smooth grace of a predator stalking prey. He may not sense anyone, but he certainly wasn’t letting his guard down.
I tried to brush it off. I needed to stop being so paranoid. I wrinkled my nose and ran a finger under my nostrils in an attempt to dislodge a tickle threatening to make me sneeze. Hairs stood on the back of my neck, and I couldn’t help but glance behind us again.
A figure jumped out of the shadows.
I yelled as a man reached for me. He was already so close, and by instinct, I threw my elbow at him. A sharp pain ran up my arm as my elbow collided with his head. He stumbled to the side, but more figure
s emerged from the dark.
They moved across the ground with a silent, deadly grace. Their bodies, though almost human in shape, writhed and swirled like shadows. I could see little of their faces, except for their eyes, which burned like hot coals in the darkness.
Kael whirled around. Out of my peripheral, I saw him pull his pistol from his side. I turned back to the man who had tried to grab me. He had recovered and stalked around me, the outline of his body shifting and blurring with each step he took.
A gunshot rang out as some of the attackers converged on Kael. Just as I started to release the magic within me, the shadowy man slithered across the grass and disappeared. Suddenly, I was grabbed from behind. My nostrils burned, and goosebumps scattered across my skin.
Ice dripped down my neck as my assailant spoke, his lips nearly brushing my ear. “I want your power, little one. I can sense it calling to me, tempting me. I will drain it from you until you are sucked dry. Then, I will feast on you, until you are nothing more than agony and screams.”
My gut twisted, and I tried to break free of his hold. These had to be more demons, called from wherever they dwelled by the mage’s dark power. Like moths to a flame, they were drawn to my magic, as well.
More writhing shadows passed in front of me as the demon holding me tugged me across the ground. I tried to dig my heels in, but my boots couldn’t find purchase on the wet grass. Through the flickering shreds of darkness around me, I saw where the demon was taking me.
Several feet away was a black hole in the ground, swirling like a pool of jet ink.
I didn’t know where it led, but I had the horrible feeling if the demon managed to get me there, I would be taken to a place that was unreachable for even Renathe and Kael to rescue me.
My magic was ablaze inside me, ripping at my skin, tearing for release. The power inside of me wanted to burn, and rip, and destroy.
I took a deep breath, then let it free.
A sharp and piercing shriek filled my ears as heat flared up my arms. The demon at my back released me, and the stench of burning flesh assaulted my nostrils. I turned to find gray smoke now swirling with the shadows that wreathed him.
My eyebrows furrowed and my teeth ground together as I drew on more magic. The sizzling energy rushed down my fingers to wrap around his body. His screams intensified. The demon thrashed and tore at himself as if he could wrench free the magic coiling around him.
I do not show mercy to my enemies.
The thought whispered up from deep cracks in my mind, shaking itself free of dust and bearing an ancient resonance that felt a part of me, yet wholly different.
Something flashed through me, a fierce and jagged heat, like a bolt of lightning. The demon before me was gone, and in his place was a man. He was not wreathed in shadow, but was naked. He knelt with his head bowed. His hands were braced on the rough, sun-kissed stone below him. The muscles of his arms trembled, and I scoffed at his weakness.
“I do not show mercy to my enemies,” I said. My voice was strong, the voice of a queen who would not tolerate failure.
The air was heavy with the recent rains, and the trees of the jungle shone and dripped with beads of water. Everything else was silent. Even the birds had gone quiet, as if afraid to disturb me.
The man stared at the ground, his face obscured by sweat-slick hair. “I don’t understand,” he said. His voice shook. “You are on our side.”
There was a low growl behind me so deep it rumbled through my chest. The shadow of the massive jaguar passed over the bent man, the cat’s padded footfalls silent as he guarded my back.
A finger of magic snaked under the man’s chin and tilted his face upward. His brown eyes were pleading under his dark eyebrows. He would find no mercy today.
“Vehrin is the betrayer, not I. It is unfortunate you did not see that before coming here in an attempt to destroy me.”
He opened his mouth, but whatever he had planned to say grew into screams as my magic wrapped around him. It reveled in the blood boiling in his veins, at the cries of agony filling his lungs. He fell at my feet and grew still. I watched as the last flickers of life dimmed in his wide gaze.
I do not show mercy to my enemies.
* * *
I gasped as the demon fell to the ground, dead. He was hardly more than a sizzling pile of darkness. My magic faded back into myself, seemingly satisfied. I braced my hands on my knees, and my arms shook as I gulped in deep breaths of air.
Flickers of the memory, of my memory, still whispered through me. I quickly picked it apart with a sense of guilt and apprehension. The man had said I was on his side, his and Vehrin’s. What had he meant?
I found a small bit of solace in the fact I had apparently broken alliance with Vehrin, though it hadn’t done anything to stop what I saw as merciless cruelty.
I latched onto another bit of the vision. Guarding my back had been a massive cat, a jaguar…
“Olivia!”
Kael ran up. His wide chest heaved with the exertion of the battle. A quick glance behind him showed a few shadowy figures crumpled and still on the grass.
“I’m fine,” I said. I knew he was about to ask.
His sharp gaze ran up and down me, then settled on my face. His forehead puckered. “Something’s wrong.”
I straightened. “Nothing’s wrong.”
“I don’t believe you.”
“I said I’m fine, Kael!” The edge of dark magic within myself hummed at my anger, as if it were feeding off of it. I took a deep breath and worked my voice into calmer tones. “Really, I’m fine. Let’s just find this warlock before something worse creeps from the shadows.”
Kael looked like he wanted to argue, but he nodded. “Yeah, but where is he? I can’t imagine he’s just squatting in the park somewhere.”
“Can’t you track the mage with your PITO tech?” I tried to keep the sarcasm from my voice.
The shifter shook his head. “I tried. There is so much energy swirling around here it’s messing things up.”
I pursed my lips and looked around. Then my gaze stopped at a stone archway similar to the one at the park entrance. I caught the shapes of headstones in the distance.
A cemetery.
“There.” I pointed. “That’s where Lor the warlock is hiding.”
Something was tugging at me, beckoning me. I didn’t know if the source of the sensation was something good, or something evil, but we were about to find out.
Chapter 8
The stone archway leading to the cemetery loomed before us. I could feel Kael’s skeptical gaze tracing up between my shoulder blades as I squinted into the night-cloaked headstones.
“How do you know this warlock is in there?” Kael asked.
I shrugged, then made my way under the archway. “I don’t know.” My voice was hushed. I was uncertain if there were more demons about, or even dark-cast minions of Vehrin, and I didn’t want to draw attention to us. “I just sense that there is something calling me in here.”
Kael’s hand grabbed my shoulder, and he pulled me to a stop. “Livvie, that doesn’t mean this is helpful. For all we know, it’s Vehrin. This could be a trap.”
I sighed and brushed his hand away. “Well, we’ll never know until we try.”
He crossed his muscled arms across his wide chest and opened his mouth to argue, but at that moment, I caught sight of something over his shoulder that made my heart jump.
I shoved past him and knelt down at the base of the archway I’d just crossed under. There, near the bottom, in a scrawl so worn by wind and rain, was a rune.
Anyone else would have overlooked the angles that seemed almost a part of the stones, but the ancient eyes peering from my soul could read the blocky character.
Kael squatted beside me. “What is it?”
My fingers brushed over the rune. “This.”
“Okay, and what is it supposed to be?” He squinted, then tilted his head as if it would help him to better make out what I saw.
<
br /> “It says gateway.”
The shifter scoffed and straightened to his feet. “How original. I expect there’s one over there that says ‘seat’?” He pointed to a bench a couple of yards away.
I rolled my eyes and stood. “It doesn’t mean a physical gateway. It’s like…” I drifted and tapped my fingers against my thigh as I thought of a way to explain what the rune meant. “It’s like an opening to something different. Something ethereal.”
“So, what you’re saying is there is something otherworldly in here?”
“Or magical,” I said. “And ancient.”
Whatever this place held, I could sense something starting to prickle across my skin like static.
Kael frowned, and I could tell by the way his hand drifted toward his hip, and his pistol, that he didn’t like that one bit.
I shrugged a shoulder. “Seems like the perfect place for the warlock, I guess, though why ancient magic is hiding in a cemetery in Chicago, I have no idea.” I grinned at Kael. “Shall we?”
I strode off deeper into the cemetery. Kael grumbled something incoherent at my back, and my smile deepened. I couldn’t help it. Sometimes I liked to ruffle his feathers, or fur, a bit.
The shifter kept a wary eye out for any more attackers, while I searched for any clues as to where Lor the warlock could be. I tried to follow the ancient magic permeating the cemetery, but it seemed to whisper to me from every shadow. A part of me wanted to give in, but I kept a hold of myself and continued to study the headstones for any unusual markings.
My gaze slid over a glossy, granite tomb and then eased back. It was much newer than any of the other tombs and headstones, whose faces were stained and weathered with age. Surely, that wouldn’t be the source of the magic permeating this place? It would have made more sense if it was coming from one of the older tombs, and yet…
The Hunted Soul Page 5