The Soul Collector and I looked at one another—or rather, I looked into his eyes, the only substantial part of him that was left. Not that the Mage Lord was much better off.
He was the god Lord Sutherland had chosen to summon to help him? And the price, apparently, was to become a vessel himself.
“Since the Mage Lord was unable to finish you off, I decided to take over,” said the Soul Collector. “Which of your friends should I take first, Jas?”
“None of them.” Lord Sutherland and Lady Anders were both mages with no necromancer ancestry that I knew of. In order to be possessed, either he’d died and been reanimated, used a ritual I didn’t know about—or turned himself into a shade. “I should have known it was you he summoned. How’d you enjoy hanging out in limbo?”
His hands flipped over and the two houses on either side of him collapsed into rubble. Damn, that mage power was something else. Lord Sutherland must have been practising extreme restraint for the entire time I’d see him. It was a damn good job he couldn’t crush a human in the same manner.
“You’ll pay for that,” he said, “and for taking my weapon away.”
“I’d say you deserve it, considering all the people you killed.” At least he doesn’t have the Ether Converter. When Leila Hemlock had stolen it from the Hemlocks’ forest and handed it to him, he’d left a trail of dead throughout Edinburgh, including Lady Harper.
“Maybe your psychic friends to start off with,” he said through Lord Sutherland’s mouth. “Or… yes, I think so.”
The Mage Lord stilled. Then Aiden jumped off Keir’s shoulders, baring his teeth. “Yes… this one will do. I want you to see your vampire friends take their final breaths, Jas. Witness their suffering.”
“Nice try.” Evelyn’s hands splayed out behind Lord Sutherland, blasting him in the back with Hemlock magic.
Aiden fell forwards as the Soul Collector let go of him, moving back to his original host. “You,” he snarled at Evelyn. “You betrayed me.”
“I prefer to think of it as serving myself and nobody else,” said Evelyn. “Would you like me to rip open the spirit lines and banish you to the deep once again?”
“Can you do that before I kill your friends?” His gaze locked on Aiden. “Interesting… this one has familiar thoughts. I wonder how you’d feel if I took him from this world so soon after he returned to life?”
“Don’t you fucking dare,” said Keir.
“I’ve heard enough from you,” Evelyn said. “You don’t have your weapon this time. You’re powerless, reduced to squatting in others’ vessels like a vampire to survive.”
“Aren’t you little more than a lost soul yourself?” Lord Sutherland’s mouth twisted. “You don’t deserve the mercy of a quick death. I think I’ll save you for last.”
“Hey.” Aiden pushed to his feet, leaning on Keir for balance. “I know you. You’re the one who broke out of the lab after they destroyed your body, aren’t you?”
The Soul Collector stilled, a dangerous light in his eyes.
My mouth fell open. “You… you were there, too? In the mages’ lab?” That was how he’d got loose in Edinburgh? No wonder he’d been in such a weakened state, if the Orion League had used the lab to rip his soul from his body the same way they’d done to the vampires. And yet even that hadn’t finished him off.
“I was alive before your world existed in its present form,” said the Soul Collector. “I have endured worse than any mere mortal can ever inflict on me. You will wither away and die, as will all humans who play with the gods. We always win.”
“Sounds like someone’s holding a grudge.” He was in the lab. That meant the shadow fury wasn’t the only god the League had summoned. “I guess you lost your mind as well as your body and you couldn’t stand knowing a bunch of plain old humans got the best of you. And now you’re stuck inhabiting one of them.”
My teeth rattled as Lord Sutherland’s magic rode the wave of the Soul Collector’s boundless rage. “This form is only temporary, until I regain what once was mine. He’s not long for this world, regardless.”
Aiden gave a laugh. “Yeah, right. You’re not so different from us, Soul Collector.”
The Soul Collector’s mouth parted, and his glowing eyes shone even brighter in the spirit realm. While his eyes belonged to the Soul Collector, beneath lay the Mage Lord’s own soul, fading away.
“You’re feeding on his life essence,” I said to the Soul Collector. “Aren’t you?”
“Surprise,” Aiden said. I heard Keir whisper an admonition to him, but the Soul Collector didn’t move to attack. His hands lay outstretched, trembling a little.
“You’re exactly the same as a vampire,” I added. “But you can’t stay attached to a host for long without killing them. Question is, which came first?”
“I am not mortal,” said the Soul Collector. “I am endless.”
“That’s what you found out, right?” I said to Aiden. “Vampires are created when an Ancient is bound to a mortal. If the mortal survives the experience, then the effect on their spirit continues and they have to feed on others to survive.”
“Pretty much,” said Aiden. “Yeah, that’s why the mages kidnapped me. They wanted to silence me in case word got out about their dodgy experiments. Wouldn’t surprise me if the Ancients put them up to it so nobody ever found out we’re your offspring.”
“You are nothing to me,” said the Soul Collector. “You’re nothing more than a race of abominations who feed on human life essence to live.”
“Uh, you’re no better,” I said. “Normally I’d be happy to let you chew on Lord Sutherland’s soul for a bit, but I’m not a big fan of you destroying the city either.”
“I’m with Jas,” Evelyn added. “And unlike her, I’m perfectly happy to destroy that mage if it means taking you apart.”
“Actually, I’m cool with it at this point.” Magic flared to life in my hands, awakening the spirit line. One swift tug and he’d be lost… but given the fractured state of the veil, he might well come crashing back to earth again.
He gave a final, cold smile. Then he spoke a word.
The spirit realm cracked open, and I flew out of my body then crashed back into it. Red lights burned overhead, splintering the sky. A pair of jagged wings appeared from within.
My ears rang with the resonant aftermath of the word—the Invocation—he’d spoken. Calling the shadow fury into this realm.
The beast descended in a sweep of jagged wings. Evelyn sharply flew out of reach, and I scrambled to get a grip on my magic. If the shadow fury devoured either of us, that was it. We were done for.
The fury landed at a crouch, claws gouging holes in the tarmac.
I tensed. “Keir, get Aiden out of here!”
“Little difficult,” he said, through clenched teeth, feet braced on the road—which was now trembling for another reason entirely.
The shadowy fury released a sound like a death rattle, and the surviving vampire shades fled. In another beat of wings, the shadow fury pursued them, snagging each vampire as easily as a human stamping out ants with a magnifying glass.
But it was the Soul Collector who deserved to be offered as bait.
Calling on my Hemlock magic, I leapt over the gap in front of me, crashing headlong into Lord Sutherland. He staggered, having not expected the direct assault, and I drove him to the tarmac, my hands locking around his wrists. Magic burned my palms, searching the binding spell he’d used. If I untethered the god from him, the Soul Collector would be a vulnerable target for the shadow fury. Lord Sutherland’s scheming would end.
Not that that would stop the giant fury god flying over the city, grabbing vampire souls and dropping them into its gaping maw. Hands trembling, I pushed more magic into Lord Sutherland. As long as the Soul Collector was bound to him, he could only use the Mage Lord’s power, nothing more.
“He can’t kill us,” Evelyn growled, adding her power to mine. Two channels of magic burned from my palms to the Mage
Lord’s wrists. The grey-blue sheen faded from his eyes, for an instant.
It’s working.
The Soul Collector roared. Then he let go of his host. Lord Sutherland collapsed on top of me, unconscious.
“Hey!” I shoved at his dead weight. The road had stopped trembling, but the shadow-fury’s roar echoed over the rooftops. We’d traded one threat for another.
I crawled out from underneath Lord Sutherland’s limp body, letting it slide towards the gap in the road. Risking a glance at the spirit realm, I swore. The entire grey space was covered in deep cracks, which formed gaping holes in the endless void. Evelyn hovered beside me. She seemed unconcerned with the spirit realm’s state, but then again, she still had a host. The Soul Collector didn’t.
In a blur, he crashed into Evelyn, but she’d expected the attack. She grabbed his transparent form, driving him towards one of the gaps in the spirit realm.
“I will find my way back, mortals,” shrieked the Soul Collector.
“Have fun in the void,” Evelyn shouted after him.
Then he was gone.
Keir whipped his head back to me. “He did that on purpose to avoid being eaten by the fury. Cowardly shit.”
“What about him?” said Aiden, indicating the Mage Lord’s unconscious body.
“Might be a bit late to call in the mages’ emergency backup team.” A shriek drew my attention to the fury, whose claws impaled three vampires at once, yanking them out of their hosts. My gut tightened. Some of those vampires might have been like Aiden, innocent victims. “I have to stop the Ancient.”
“You can’t kill it,” said Evelyn. “We need to kick it out of this realm, otherwise the entire spirit realm will break.”
“I’m sure the dragons will be thrilled.” They’d be less than impressed with the Soul Collector falling out of the sky again, too. At least he probably couldn’t possess any of them. “Can we fix the spirit realm?”
“We did it once already,” she replied, hovering above the cracked road.
“Yes, but it wasn’t this bad.” And there wasn’t a giant monster eating holes in reality as we spoke. Sure, the spirit realm would repair itself if we got rid of the shadow fury, but as long as the spirit realm remained in ruins, it wasn’t going anywhere. Especially with an entire city of innocent souls to feast on.
“Jas,” said Keir. “Don’t you even think about sacrificing yourself.”
“I won’t,” I said, “but I need to get into the spirit lines to heal the damage. Keir—please, get Aiden to safety. I—we—can do this, right, Evelyn?”
“Yes,” she said. “Jas and I will fix this.”
Keir’s mouth thinned, then he gave a nod. “Aiden, I’m taking you with me. Can you keep an eye on that monster?”
I found a clear spot on the road to sit on and shifted out of my body to join Evelyn. At once, most of my exhaustion faded, and a renewed determination strengthened my resolve. I can do this. With Evelyn beside me, I couldn’t—wouldn’t—fail. No matter how depleted my spirit might be, my Hemlock magic shone as brightly as ever.
Power built, thrummed in my hands, mingling with Evelyn’s. Reaching the edge of the nearest tear in the spirit realm, I willed it to close, to seal up.
“That way is too slow,” Evelyn said. “The beast—”
The shadow-fury’s head snapped in our direction, and it released an ear-splitting screech. The noise racked my body and soul, rippling down the fractured spirit line. Almost like Mackie’s scream. Were the psychics related to the Ancients, too?
I spun head over heels in the air, catching myself against another ghost. Not a ghost. Ilsa clutched her talisman to her chest, her eyes widening at the sight of me. “Is that—an Ancient?”
“You’ve got it,” I said. “He can’t be killed. I was trying to seal the spirit lines, but he might undo them again.”
Ilsa swore. “If you do manage to kill that bastard, it’ll create a whole other problem. The blood of an Ancient has side effects on anyone who touches it.”
“Like what?” I asked.
“Immortality.”
Magic sparked from my hands and I yanked them away from Ilsa. Evelyn shot to my side, staring at Ilsa in open disbelief. “You what?” she said.
“Incoming,” Ilsa warned.
The fury’s scream died out and its wings spread, carrying it towards us. It was even bigger than it had seemed while squashed into the lab’s corridors, despite its wings’ skeletal appearance. It looked like someone had reanimated a dragon’s giant corpse… which wasn’t too far from the truth. Its tightly stretched skin shimmered oddly, almost like runes were drawn onto its skin.
“The beast that spawned the furies,” said Ilsa. “How… pleasant.”
“The gods aren’t picked for their charm and personality,” I said.
“I will devour you,” the fury roared, its voice erupting a dozen new tears in the spirit realm. Damn, it is causing the breach.
“It’s speaking English.” I pressed my hands to my ears, willing the spirit realm to stop shaking. “Ilsa!”
Ilsa retreated, her talisman aglow. The fury’s claw passed through the spot where she’d been hovering. I dropped in mid-air towards my inert body, relieved to see Keir had taken my advice and got Aiden to safer ground.
On the other hand, Lord Sutherland grasped the edge of the road, his legs trembling. He’s awake. And staring in horror at the monster in the sky.
“Thanks a bunch,” I snapped at him. “This is what you wanted, is it? You saw how the Whisper devoured your witch. You’re no different.”
“I am descended from a pure line of mages dating back to the twelfth century.” He feebly pulled himself upright. “I am the last of my line, aside from my son, and I will not be forgotten. I will not die here.”
“You can’t fight that thing,” I said.
“I don’t need to,” he said. “As you see, it’s devouring the abominations as planned. It will not harm me.”
Unbelievable. He seemed to be right, though—the fury had grabbed another vampire’s soul, entirely ignoring the Mage Lord. As a living person, he wasn’t of interest—yet.
Lord Sutherland pushed up both his sleeves, scowling at the marks on his wrists. One hand fumbled for his pocket, drawing a pen. Just like the one I’d used for my own blood magic.
“Don’t you dare summon that Soul Collector back,” I warned.
“I don’t need to.” He pressed the point of the pen to a gleaming rune. The symbol ignited, and the shadow fury dropped his vampire prey, changing direction.
“You’re not—” I broke off. “You are. You’re controlling the fury.” I hadn’t imagined seeing runes gleaming beneath its shadowy skin. The Mage Lord must have drawn them onto the beast during its captivity.
Recklessness seized me. I lunged at Lord Sutherland, knocking the pen from his hand and into the gap in the road.
“You foolish girl,” he spat. “Without me controlling it, it’ll have free rein.”
“Not if I have anything to do with it.” I took off, vaulting over another gap in the cracked road, my gaze trained on the fury’s shadowy form. It continued to devour the unfortunate vampires, fuelled by Lord Sutherland’s last order.
“What are you doing?” Evelyn yelled at me.
“I have an idea.” A wild one, admittedly, and yet what was more audacious than claiming dominion over the gods?
Stopping on a stable-looking piece of ground, I drifted out of my body, waving my arms at the fury. “Hey! Over here!”
The fury turned to me. As his gaze locked on me, I shifted back into my body. “Evelyn, I’m gonna need your help. See those runes on his skin? I don’t think they got there by accident.”
“If we free the fury from the Mage Lord’s control, that won’t stop him from devouring every spirit it can find,” she said. “Unless you want to control him?”
“No, I want to set him free.” Who wouldn’t be angry after being imprisoned and tortured? Perhaps the shadow fury might
not be capable of seeing me as any more than a tasty snack, but if it didn’t work, the element of surprise might at least buy us a little time.
I held up my arm, exposing the symbols etched into my own skin. Then with the finger of my left hand, I mimed erasing the runes.
The fury snapped out a claw, sending me flying.
“I’m not attacking you!” I caught my balance at the edge of the road. “I’m removing those runes controlling you. I’m not on the Mage Lord’s side, believe me.”
Maybe the fury didn’t understand me. But when I mimed erasing the rune a second time, the monster stilled, wings beating.
Calling on all the magic I could muster, I aimed not for the fury itself, but for the ink on his skin. The beast squirmed in discomfort, but it was too late to stop the flow of magic burning from my palms, erasing the runes, smothering the mages’ marks. Not just the mages. There were years of pain written there on the monster’s skin. An intelligence shone inside his eyes which was difficult to ignore.
Please, please don’t kill me for this.
The last rune disappeared. The fury’s pitch-dark eyes blinked, once, his body alarmingly still. Shock, or preparation to launch an attack?
“There.” I lowered my hands. “It’s done. You don’t need to fight us anymore.”
Evelyn cleared her throat behind me, jerking her head at the sky. A number of furies had gathered over the rooftops. Not attacking me, just watching me. I’d drawn an audience.
“You don’t have to fight us,” I repeated. “Any of you.”
In a rustle of wings, the other furies neared, surrounding their larger cousin.
“You were…” I began. “You were looking for your master. Weren’t you?”
A murmur ran through the group. Then with one final look at me, the shadow-fury beat his wings once more. The furies took flight as one, into the fracturing sky, swallowed by the clouds.
23
Half an hour of dodging questions—and vampires—later, I sank to a sitting position against the wall in the guild’s lobby, stealing a moment of quiet among the chaos of the battle’s aftermath.
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