I drifted away from Kael and over to the tomb. It was black, almost blending into the night-wrapped cemetery, and barely rose to my chin. I ran my fingers over the cool surface as I inspected it.
There was no plaque or inscription, nothing to indicate who may be inside. I took a step back and scanned the grass, wondering if perhaps there was a plaque on the ground. Then, I caught sight of a small imperfection near the base.
I got down on one knee and pulled away some of the grass to find a small rune on the surface of the tomb and nearly buried in the dirt. Try as I might, I couldn’t place the meaning. Perhaps it was a name or something non-specific in the ancient vocabulary.
“Kael.” My hushed voice carried to him several feet away. “This is the place.”
He loped over and stood beside me. We stared at each other, but apparently we were both at a loss for what to do next. Was Lor inside? I couldn’t see how…unless he was dead.
“Maybe I can lift the top off?” Kael suggested.
I crossed my arms, prepared to tell him how unlikely that was, when he braced his hands on the top edge and began to shove. I gasped as he grimaced and groaned, the lid of the tomb scraping. The lid tilted and dropped to the ground. Kael stepped back with a triumphant smile tugging at his lips.
“It wasn’t as heavy as it looked,” he said.
My teeth clicked as I snapped shut my gaping mouth and peered into the tomb. The inside was walled with rough and weathered stone. It was at that moment I realized the outside was merely a case to hide the true tomb, probably to throw off nosy people like us. A steep and narrow set of stairs led down into pitch black.
“Hello?” My shout was swallowed up by the cold dark.
Kael let out a short chuckle. “Did you honestly think that would work?”
I put my hands on the tomb and gave a little hop, then settled on the edge.
“Bet you would’ve died if someone actually answered back.” Kael laughed at his own joke.
I dropped to the top step. My palm warmed, and I let a trickle of magic come to the surface. Not much, but enough for fuchsia swirls of energy to lick my fingers and light our way.
“Are you sure this is a good idea?” he asked.
“Do you have a better one?” I made room for Kael as he swung into the tomb. He didn’t answer me, but peered down into the depths with pinched brows.
“It isn’t very wide,” he noted.
I followed his line of sight. True, the way was narrow. He’d barely be able to get through without brushing the sides. I shrugged. I’d been in tighter spaces.
“Come on, Shoulders,” I said. “You got this.”
Kael quirked an eyebrow. “Shoulders?”
I held my hand out in front of me, the light from my magic spilling down the old, gray steps. “Don’t act like you don’t know you have Herculean shoulders.”
“I hadn’t realized you admired them so much.” His voice was touched with amusement.
I nearly missed a step. “Your shoulders are just good in a fight. That’s all. Don’t let it get to your head or you really won’t be able to fit through here.”
He let out a low chuckle behind me, and I turned my attention to keeping my footing on the steep steps.
It had been a while since I’d found myself in a tomb. Though this place was unknown to me, the close press of ancient stone and stale air was familiar.
Excitement pulsed quicker through my veins. This was me. This is what I was meant to do, exploring the forgotten places beneath the earth. Being cursed with magic and pursuing a dark mage was just a hiccup.
I hoped.
“How much farther?” Kael grumbled.
“How am I supposed to know?”
There was a long pause as we turned a corner and Kael had to wiggle a bit to get through the curve. He let out an impatient huff. “This is ridiculous. What if we get stuck down here?”
“One time, I was in a tomb in central America, and it collapsed. I was stuck in there for two days with nothing but a canteen, bugs, and a four-thousand-year-old Mayan corpse.”
“That doesn’t really make me feel better.”
Kael’s voice was tight, and I turned to study him. His face was taut, there was a sheen of sweat across his forehead, and he kept swallowing.
“You’re claustrophobic,” I said.
His lips were pulled back, and he was practically snarling at me. “I don’t like feeling trapped.”
I tried not to take his snarl personally. He was a shifter, the genes of an animal ran through his veins, and animals always showed their teeth when they were frightened.
“What about in Scotland?” I asked. We had gone underground together in those long-hidden ruins.
“We were desperate, and trying to find the other key. This trip, on the other hand, could be either pointless or a suicide mission.”
I reached beneath my shirt and grabbed a hold of the key that looked as if it were carved from bone, the one that had been given to me by the druids in a Scottish mountain. “We’re trying to find some warlock. And he might be down here.”
“Might,” Kael muttered.
But there was something else, too. Something more calling me down here. The farther we went into the cold tomb, the more I grew certain that something ancient waited for us in its depths.
Kael had gone quiet, and I wondered if he was concentrating on not freaking out in the closeness of the tomb. In an attempt to distract him, I kept up a string of chatter about some of my favorite digs I had been on.
“This one time, I was in Mongolia, and it was freezing. I’d wandered off from my team and―” I gasped as a step crumbled beneath my foot.
Kael’s arms wrapped around me and kept me from falling fully onto my backside. The movement cost him his footing, however, and the pair of us tilted backward. My partner grunted as I landed on top of him, and we slid a few steps.
“Sorry,” I muttered. “Thanks for catching me.”
“No problem.”
His breath brushed against the nape of my neck. His arms were still wrapped around me, and it was difficult not to think about the way those firm muscles held me close.
I cleared my throat. “Um, can I get up?”
Kael tilted me forward, though his hands lingered on my ribcage as he helped me up. I couldn’t bring myself to look over my shoulder at him as he got to his feet. My cheeks were already warm enough. Instead, I surged onward, taking a bit more precautions on the steps below my boots.
It wasn’t long after that my boots hit solid ground. The air was cool, and I didn’t mind too much when Kael stopped close beside me. He was so close I could feel his warmth, tempting me to close the few inches of distance between us.
I swiveled and peered through the small, square room. The magic licking my fingers sent light flickering across the walls, picking out pock-marked stone and shining trails of moisture.
“There’s a door.” Kael pointed to one corner of the room.
The door was wooden, and a gray so weathered it nearly blended in with the stone. Footprints led to the doorway.
Who had disturbed the thick layer of dust on the floor?
I crept across the floor, and Kael’s prowling shadow behind me reminded me of the pacing jaguar in my memory.
I stared at the door. Should I knock? What did a warlock do when you trespassed? There was no doorknob, but I reached for the rusted iron handle. I barely gave it a tug when I paused.
This wasn’t right. I withdrew my hand.
Something inside of me gave a little tug, and I glanced behind me. My gaze slid around my waiting partner to the back wall.
“What are you doing?” Kael asked as I stepped around him.
I didn’t answer him. The closer I got to the wall, the more I was certain I was close to the source of the ancient power I had sensed along the way. Ignoring Kael’s impatient sigh, I scanned the wall. My heart leapt as my eyes fell on a small rune.
I lifted my magic-wreathed hand and touched
the rune. My breath caught in my throat. As I traced the rune with my fingertip, I could have sworn it had been put there for me. A tug jerked on me again, so strong, and almost painful, that I gasped.
Suddenly, the writhing energy around my hand spider-webbed across the wall. I jumped back as the stone began to crumble. Kael grabbed my shoulders in a tight grip, ready to pull me from harm’s way. I coughed and waved a hand in front of my face in an attempt to wave away the cloud of dust that had been stirred up by the falling stones.
It grew quiet, and the dust began to settle. I stared in front of me. Through the swirl of motes dancing in the light of my magic, I caught the silhouette of a figure.
“There you are,” a voice said. “Do you have any idea how long I’ve been waiting on you…Olivia Perez?”
Chapter 9
I stood frozen in place as the silhouette sharpened into a man sitting on a low bench. A strange, golden light lit the room, and though it was poor, it was enough for me to make out his features.
His hair was startlingly white, but the face beneath was one of a man no more than twenty years old, at best. His eyes were a brilliant green that reminded me of sunlight through a rich, jungle canopy. The clothes he wore were odd, robes that swirled with patterns of blues and greens. An impatient frown corrupted his face, though his vibrant eyes danced with amusement.
Lor.
I took a step forward, and Kael growled a low warning in my ear. I ignored him and continued farther into the low-ceilinged room. A bundle sat on the warlock’s lap, wrapped in aged fabric that seemed to have once been a rich brown, but was now the muted color of drying mud.
A few feet in front of him, I paused and squinted as I ran my gaze over his features. There was something tickling in the back of my mind—a sense of familiarity.
“Do I…do I know you?” The question seemed absurd. I certainly didn’t know any warlocks, that I was aware of, but Lor seemed very familiar.
Lor smiled, and though his face was young, something about the gesture seemed old, and weary. “Once, long ago.”
My heart jumped. I had known him in my past. An uneasy sensation unfurled in my stomach. If he was as ancient as myself and Vehrin, was this warlock a friend, or foe?
“You were a friend of mine?”
His stare drank me in. “A student.”
Student? “I was your teacher?”
The man gave a short nod, his hair shifting over one of his eyes. “Yes, though I fear I was not the talented pupil of magic you had hoped for. Still, I think I managed to do my duty well enough.”
I shared a glance with Kael. I had been teaching him magic?
“What do you mean, you’ve done your duty?” I asked.
Lor’s green eyes went vacant; was he seeing something, some memory from the past that Kael and I couldn’t see? “When things began to crash around us, and you knew you would lose yourself to stop Vehrin, you gave me this for safekeeping.”
He pulled the muted, brown fabric from his lap and dropped it to the floor. My lips parted at what lay beneath. There, stretched across his lap, was a sword.
The blade curved ever so slightly, and the hilt gleamed with a blend of gold and green hues, like the jungle light itself had been forged into it.
“You’ve been here all this time?” Kael’s voice soaked into the stone around us.
Lor turned to peer at him. I still had my eyes on the sword. My fingers itched to grab it.
“I am where I was meant to be,” Lor said.
The words snapped my attention from the weapon. “What do you mean?”
“Because the place you need to go, the clue that you need, is in the library.” His bone-weary smile lifted a bit more at our silence. “I always did love finding the answers I needed in between the pages of books.”
Kael stepped closer to him. “Has Vehrin been here?”
It was easy for me to read between the lines. What Kael really meant was Did you give Vehrin this same information?
“No.” Lor’s gaze flicked over my shoulder. “But his friends are in the other room.”
Indeed, at that moment, I could hear a commotion behind us: low voices, muffled footsteps, and what seemed like the noise of boxes being rifled through.
“You had best be going,” Lor said. He looked at Kael, then back to me. “Keep your guardian close, as you’ve always done.” He lifted the sword.
I started to reach for it, then paused. “How did Renathe know where to find you?”
A crooked grin lifted one cheek. “Ah, him. He came snooping once. Be sure to ask him about the scar he has for doing so.”
“Olivia, we need to go.” Kael was looking back toward the other room.
I reached down and took the sword. It was warm to the touch, despite the cold air around us. My fingers wrapped around the green and gold handle, and my hand fit as if it had been molded just for me.
I knew this sword. As I studied the blade, the metal gleaming like quicksilver even in the poor lighting, a name fell from my lips.
“Soulsbane.” I could have sworn the sword hummed in my grasp with approval.
Lor’s piercing gaze danced. “A slayer of souls, indeed. Just be sure you know which souls to end, and which to let breathe.” Another glance behind us. “Best you be going.”
The warlock smiled at me one last time. It was a smile of friendship, though it seemed sad to me, as if he were saying goodbye for good. Then, he began to meld into the shadows behind him, his body shifting and fading, before disappearing altogether. Silence and darkness filled the room.
“Your friends are weird, Livvie.”
I quirked my eyebrow as I turned to Kael. “You would know.”
He smirked, then jerked his head to the doorway. “Let’s go. Not sure who else is down here, but I’d rather not find out if we can avoid it.”
I nodded. We left the place where Lor had been waiting, and just as we entered the other room, the door on the other side opened. I caught a glance at what appeared to be simple living quarters: a bed with a torn mattress and an overturned dresser being the only details I could see before a small group of people came out.
The vile and malevolent auras swirling around them gave me no doubt they had been sent to this place by the dark mage.
Kael growled in the almost jaguar way he had and shifted his stance, ready for a fight. My magic purred inside of me, and I grinned, finding myself eager for the confrontation.
With quick steps, the men charged forward. I couldn’t get an exact count in the darkness, but I guessed there were maybe three or four. One ran straight at me, a hulking figure with wide shoulders and long arms.
Energy burned through my veins and bloomed across my skin. My magic lit the room and licked up the gleaming sword in my hand, the sword I now turned toward the enemy.
My movements were sure and smooth, not a flick or twitch out of place. It was as if my muscles were tied to the memories of how to use the weapon in my hands. It only took moments before Soulsbane cut a deep line across the man’s thigh. I finished the whirling move by sinking my blade into his chest.
As he fell to the floor, I stepped back and turned, seeking another opponent. He came out of nowhere. The only warning I had were his ruby eyes burning in his shadowy face. I let out a sharp yell as he collided into me. My back hit the wall. My bones shook, and I nearly lost my grip on the sword.
“You’re coming with me.” His breath rolled across my face and brought with it the nauseating stench of sulphur and putrid meat. I couldn’t tell if he wanted to bring me to his master, or if the key with my soul tethered to it was tempting him. Either way, I wasn’t going to wait to find out.
He was so preoccupied with trying to keep my sword arm from him, he didn’t notice my left fist swinging up in a sharp hook until it collided with his jaw. He stumbled, and I swung my sword, magic still crackling up it like it was an extension of me.
His screams turned to gurgles as blood sprayed from his throat. He hit his knees, and his
fingers scrabbled at the wound I’d left there. I swallowed burning bile at the sight and stepped away. His drowning screams continued until a gunshot rang out. He fell silent and folded the rest of the way to the floor.
Kael lowered his pistol. The third man lay in a still heap by his feet. My partner had an impatient scowl on his face.
“What?” I snapped.
“You can’t let things like that bother you. They’re the enemy.”
I pulled in a deep breath and let my magic dim a bit, withdrawing from my sword to kiss at my knuckles.
“Well, it was creepy. Who the hell can still scream like that when their throat has been cut out?”
I was playing it off with sarcasm. The truth was, I found it disconcerting just how easily killing them with the sword had been. Kael’s gaze dropped to the weapon in my hand, as if he were just now realizing it, as well.
“Livvie—”
“Quiet.” I tilted my head, certain I’d heard something.
“I just want to―”
I waved my hand at Kael, and he scowled. “No, listen.”
The noise in the darkness was subtle, like a pebble being dropped to the floor. Then, I heard it again, and again. The walls groaned around us, and dust drifted from the ceiling above. A rock the size of a softball fell loose from the wall, and dirt spilled onto the floor. My breath caught in my throat.
The tomb was going to collapse.
Kael darted over and grabbed my arm. He urged me toward the steps that would lead us up to safety. I shook my head and whirled behind him.
“You go first,” I said.
He started to argue, and I gave him a hard shove.
“You’ll have more trouble,” I said. “If the walls start closing in behind us, you’ll never get through.”
He looked over his shoulder at me. “But what if—”
“Just shut up, and move!” I gave him another hard shove, hard enough that he stumbled up the first couple of steps.
He snarled. “You’re impossible.”
Still, he started to make his way up the steps.
I stayed close behind him and used the light from my magic to help light our way. Dust continued to fall as the ceiling and narrow walls shook and groaned. I blink my eyes against the debris as it rained down around us.
The Hunted Soul Page 6