by Sierra Cross
A sher and I ducked into the shadows near the back entrance of the next store down and waited for the mage to come out. Within minutes, Leonard locked the back door and hurried between the buildings out to the street. We followed, careful to keep out of sight.
Leonard jogged kitty-corner across the street to the darkened bank. At first I thought he was just going to grab some cash from the ATM, but a night guard came to the door and let him in. In the dim light through the window, I could see the guard lead the mage to the back, down by the safety deposit boxes.
Whatever he collected must’ve been small since he had nothing in his hands. Asher and I locked eyes, and my heart hammered. Could it be that easy? Could he really have the amulet? All we had to do was grab it from him.
We darted out from the shadows, but before we could catch up to Leonard, he jumped into a beat-up hatchback and took off.
Damn, okay. All we had to do is grab it from him as soon as he got where he was going. We scrambled into my car and followed him, keeping a careful distance.
Traffic heading out of town on I-5 was sparse at 11:00 p.m., and street lights reflected on the wet streets. By the time we took the exit onto 405 N, I had a feeling I knew where we were going. But when we pulled into the campus of Millennium Dynamics, my heart threatened to collapse under its own weight.
“So your dark witch of an aunt was lying the whole time.” Asher sounded a little too smug. “Who could have guessed it, what with her being evil and all.”
I swallowed to dislodge the lump in my throat. Despite the mounting evidence, I still couldn’t get my head around it. Was Aunt Jenn really trying to get my whole coven arrested…for crimes she’d committed? Could my Aunt Jenn be capable, even by proxy, of such brutal murders? Not for the first time, the young acolyte’s burned face haunted my mind’s eye and the ghost scent of burning hair seemed all too real. And yet, part of me clung to hope that I could trust my own instincts when it came to Aunt Jenn. Granted, I’d ignored them for many years, but now I was paying attention, damn it. And I’d believed her. Had she misled me yet again? My foot hit the accelerator hard, the need for answers burning inside me.
“Back off, speed racer.” Asher reached out to touch my arm. “He’ll see you.”
The mage drove to the rear entrance of the building. Two burly Neqs stood sentry at the gate. They waved Leonard through. Up on the loading dock, there were at least two more demons. Were there more waiting inside, ready to come out at the first sign of trouble?
Okay, so much for grabbing the amulet as soon as Leonard parked his car. Instead of approaching the entrance I drove past it, killed the lights, and pulled off into the bushes. As we jumped out, I couldn’t help thinking it was kind of a nice change to have a partner in crime who wasn’t obsessed with protecting me above all else.
We climbed through the thick shrubs to the top of the hill to get a better look. Much to my surprise, there were more than a dozen cars parked in front of the loading dock. Including a gold McLaren that I recognized as belonging to the Vice President of Marketing. As well as several other pricey vehicles I’d seen in the C-level lot. My aunt’s Mercedes wasn’t here. She probably left it in the high-security CEO parking area in the main lot and walked over.
I saw Leonard’s hunched silhouette as he climbed up onto the loading dock, and whispered to Asher, “We need to get closer.”
He shook his head. “We can see and hear well enough from here.”
I rolled my eyes and he reluctantly moved forward.
“You’re late,” a gruff voice accused Leonard. I leaned forward and saw a big security guard at the edge of the door. His dark energy was contained by a glamour that was almost entirely covered in bold black tattoos. “Our liege won’t be kept waiting.” Our liege? Demons were calling Aunt Jenn that now? Guess that meant she had shored up the loyalty problem. Good for her? “There will be consequences for your insolence.”
Leonard mumbled something deferential, hunched even more, and scurried in.
He obviously associated with demons and dark magicborn. And he was about to meet up with their big mucky muck, my aunt. Whatever was going on in that loading bay and whatever they were meeting about, we needed to know.
Maybe I could slip in on the far side of the truck and get past the security. My feet moved silently on the gritty asphalt. Ducking below the level of the dock, I made my way to the other side of the truck. The closer I got, the more I felt the razor sharp dark energy. It was much stronger than when I visited my aunt in her office. Why? Was there a thicker concentration of Nequam? Or maybe the fact that there was no Wont energy around to balance it out? The dark call of it was familiar and sickly sweet. Not a call, I told myself. That just must be the way it manifests. I put my hand on the lip of the concrete ledge to pull myself up.
“Are you insane?” Asher’s whisper was sharp in my ear. His hand clamped around my arm, stopping my forward progress. “That’s a Neq throw down. We’re definitely not invited.” He pulled me several feet away. The effect of the dark energy lightened up, but didn’t go away. It was like once it touched me I couldn’t seem to un-feel it.
“Something big is happening in there. We need to see,” I said. “The mage having the amulet’s residual energy on him and this meeting with my aunt is not a coincidence.”
“I agree. It’s most likely connected.” Asher was taking on an unusual role as the voice of reason. “But we need to take this info back to Matt and Liv and come up with a plan that leaves us knowing and not dead.”
“If we don’t go in there now, we may never get a chance again.”
Asher hesitated. I knew he wanted the info as much as I did.
“And they may wrap it up at any moment. We’ve got to do this now.”
He remained unconvinced, but he was teetering.
“I’ll go in alone,” I insisted. “And if I get caught at least you’ll be around to tell the others about it.”
He gave me a “yeah, right” face and I could see the gears of his mind spinning. “All right, I’ll cast a cloaking spell and go in. Give me fifteen minutes. If I’m not out by then—”
“Uh-uh, ain’t happening.” For some reason, I felt strongly that I should be the one to go in. “You have the most magical knowledge of any of us. The coven needs you most.” I sounded all altruistic, but that wasn’t exactly how I felt. More like, I felt compelled to be the one to see what’s inside.
“Absolutely not—”
“Not negotiable. I’m going in.” It had to be me. Somebody in there was likely to blame for Marley and all those dead acolytes. And God only knew what they were planning next. I had to take responsibility and dive in, not ask my coven members to do the dangerous work for me.
“All right, fearless one,” Asher interrupted my thoughts. “Let’s get you back to the car…”
“What? No!”
“So you can drop off your cell phone.” He served me a wicked half-smile. “The energy signature from its technology would mess up the cloaking spell I’m about to put on you. Since you won’t be dissuaded.”
I grinned back at him. “I could kiss you right now.”
Asher paused, as if considering. His lips puckered as if he might take me up on my offer. But hey, it was Asher, who wouldn’t he kiss?
At the edge of the parking lot, hidden by the bushes, Asher ran his glowing hands in a big circle around my body. “Lift your right foot,” he ordered. I obeyed, and in a low voice he chanted a guttural incantation. “Now the left.”
I could see Leonard talking to the Neq guard at the top of the loading dock. But he wouldn’t talk all night.
“Come on. I gotta get in there.” The process seemed to be taking forever, but logically I knew it had only been a couple of minutes. Too bad I hadn’t brought along the silver aggregate charms my mother left for me. Their magic automatically kept the spellcaster holding the bead from being seen. This cloaking spell, on the other hand, built a bubble of invisibility around the person.
&
nbsp; “No leaping or wide steps,” Asher told me for the fifth time. “Imagine a bubble around you. If you stick an arm or a leg outside of it you’ll be visible.” He was talking fast and not breathing fully, sweat beading on his forehead. Either this spell was really hard to cast or he was more nervous than me. Maybe both.
“I get it.” Leonard looked like he was wrapping up his conversation. “I’m ready.”
As I got closer I heard the Neq winding down what sounded like a reprimand for being late. Instead of trying to sneak in I walked right up the loading dock steps behind the mage, straight at the Neq that was guarding the door. I felt like I was naked, about to jump into a piranha tank—but hey, if this spell failed I’d rather have it happen here while I at least had a chance of escaping. Leonard didn’t seem to notice me. The guard didn’t flinch. Keeping my movements to a bare minimum I reached the top of the steps.
Walking two steps behind Leonard, I followed him inside the dock where a second Neq security guard paced on patrol. The guard face scrunched like he was sensing something, but then, after a quick scan, relaxed. The huge concrete area was lit only by safety lights. Wheeled carts and hand trucks had been neatly corralled off to the side. The clean linoleum floor had taped off lanes about half full of plastic wrapped pallets with boxes of various Millennium Dynamic products. Virtual reality sim kits, automation arms, industrial drones. It was quiet as a tomb in here. I held my breath until I was well past the Neq. All the doors along the back of the loading dock were dark. There were no balloons with arrows pointing the way. Good thing I was stalking Leonard.
The elevator pinged and two more Neq security guards stepped out.
Leonard stepped onto the lift and I slipped in with him. Once the doors closed, the mage’s cloud of hostility permeated the air. No doubt he was seething from being dressed down by a lowly Neq. His lingering emotions—and lingering B.O.—made the tiny car feel even smaller. I tucked myself further into the corner hoping there was enough room that he didn’t come in contact with my bubble. Asher didn’t say specifically that would be a problem…but he didn’t say it wouldn’t. There hadn’t been time for an exhaustive briefing.
It wasn’t lost on me that this whole mission had been crazy-glued together on the fly—which was what happened when you removed Matt and Liv, the strategic thinkers, from the equation and put hotheads like me and Asher in charge.
But at least we were doing something. Unlike them.
The mage swiped a security card and pressed the button for sub-basement three. Weird, I never even knew that floor existed.
It was a long descent until the doors opened to a dark room that didn’t look all that different in construction to the loading bay. Except that here, the floors and walls were all solid concrete, and there was only one door. A solid metal fire door with no window and another key card entry system. Leonard swiped his card and opened the door. Quickly I scooted in behind him without touching the door. Whew.
As it closed behind me, though, a wave of claustrophobia crashed down hard.
What I saw took my already-scant breath away. On this side of the door I was in a different world. A tunnel had been carved out of solid rock. It was, evidently, not wired for electricity. The walls had what must be demon-powered lanterns lighting the way, bathing the whole hall in an eerie green glow that was barely bright enough for me to see in. The air wasn’t cool and moist like I’d expected, but hot and dry…like the road to the fires of hell.
We wound our way toward a chorus of a low, thunderous chant that echoed off the tunnel walls. At last the tunnel opened into a cavernous room. It wasn’t just large. It really felt like a cave—and not like the Coven of Fire’s cave that was carved to a refined perfection. Stalactites hung from the ceiling, the striations of the rock wall glinted in the green light. The room was jammed to capacity.
At the entrance to the room stood a huge unglamoured Neq with dusty green-gray skin that looked more brittle. Leonard bowed awkwardly to him and the Neq handed the mage a black robe. Leonard tugged it on, attached the clasp at the neck, and started forward. The demon reached out a grey-green hand to stop him from passing.
“The hood,” it intoned in a baritone. “All humans wear the hood.” Showed where humans sat in the pecking order of this group.
Leonard hesitated as if he might not comply, then snapped the hood on. As he stomped his way through the crowd, I hung back and took it all in.
This was definitely not what I expected to find in the basement of Millennium Dynamics. I scanned the room searching the crowd for my aunt. A small contingent of dark magicborn stood together near the front of the room. The room was thick with magical signatures that threatened to overwhelm my senses, but if I concentrated I could pick out some individual scents. A dozen or so shifters. Several dark witches and warlocks, but my aunt was nowhere among them.
By far the largest contingent were Neqs, who’d abandoned their glamours and were rocking their slimy natural selves. This gathering had to be demon-led…which meant Aunt Jenn had no idea about it. Yet why would this traitorous demon faction holding its meetings right under her nose?
And who was leading them?
Huddled in the very back of the throng were a group of twenty-five or so hooded figures without obvious signatures—the humans. Leonard pushed his way to the front of the human group.
The robed figure at the center of the room turned, revealing a familiar and terrifying face: the plain looking Caedis from my bedroom. My senses picked up his particular aura of the razor blade prickle. My kidnapper was busy pouring smoke on an altar decorated with a hundreds of candles. The flames flickered and swayed, casting long eerie shadows across the cavernous space.
A man stood waiting in the wings to the side of a dais, his back turned to the crowd. Though I couldn’t see his face, his physique was striking. His broad shoulders were blessed with sculpted muscles. The candles’ light danced across his dark skin like a lover’s tongue, highlighting all the curves and crevices.
“Damon, bearer of the sacred relic,” the Caedis intoned, almost chant-like. “Bring your offering forward.”
At least Leonard had gotten someone to call him Damon.
The mage straightened his spine to its full height, pulled something from his pocket, and threaded his way to the front. The Caedis spoke to him in a low voice outside the range of my hearing and motioned for the mage to kneel. As Leonard bent in supplication, he held up both hands to the Caedis, cradling something that glinted.
The amulet.
The Caedis held it up and showed it around the room. A murmur of awe ran through the crowd. Then he set the amulet on the altar and motioned to the handsome man who’d been waiting in the wings. As the man faced forward, I saw his glowing orange eyes just as his signature hit me. A shifter’s musky scent, but with tinged with cinnamon.
Oh my God, that’s no human. That’s the Omni.
The shifter’s strong jaw and ripped physique were on display, and his body was anointed with symbols in what looked like blood. Was the whole ceremony going to be centered around one guy, the Omni? What were the demons doing with this rogue shifter?
“As you accept the marking on your body,” the plain looking Caedis said in an officious voice, “so you make your intentions clear: to be the vessel of this amulet’s true bearer.”
Oh my God, the vessel? The pain-faced Caedis wasn’t just getting the amulet—he was getting a skinsuit upgrade.
“You prepare the holy vessel of your being for your one true leader. From this moment forward do you vow to protect and ready this vessel until the time comes to relinquish it?”
This Omni shifter, for whatever insane reason, had pledged loyalty to him and agreed to give up his body and turn it into a…a vessel? The thought made me sick, but I guessed it was better than the usual Caedis method: cold-blooded murder.
“I do,” the Omni said.
The Caedis raised a knife—what the hell? Was he going to kill the Omni here and now? Instead he made
a long incision across the shifter’s perfect pectoral muscle. The muscles in the Omni’s jaw clenched in the effort to keep the pain from his face. Blood welled up and ran down the curve of his muscles. The Caedis collected the ample flow in a polished bowl.
Dipping his fingers into the dish of fresh blood, the Caedis painted demonic symbols onto the Omni’s bare chest. “We now call forth our liege. Binding this amulet to him in absentia. Prepare your unworthy hearts for the viewing of His Magnificence.” The crowd beat their chests and made guttural grunts in a growing rhythmic anticipation.
Wow, I knew Caedis had egos, but this guy was over the top.
Then the whole wall above the altar started to shimmer. Like the rock was turning to liquid. Dark amorphous swirls faded in and out. The shimmering wall flashed red and then shapes began to take form, as if on a screen. And Tenebris Stella’s sharp red devil-like features stared out into the room.
Tenebris.
“You were born for me.”
The knot in my abdomen pulsed as his wolfish smile broadened, revealing sharp eye teeth. It sent chills right through me, even though I knew I was invisible.
Just like in the lab at Millennium Dynamics that housed the evil tree, the rock wall here had been enchanted, opening a window to the Demon Realm.
Below Tenebris’s looming red face, the smoke from the altar rose up. The plain-faced Caedis turned and began drawing his hands through the smoke. His hands were busy with something I couldn’t see. When he turned back around, he was holding up the amulet on a new chain.
He mumbled words in a sharp foreign tongue. The crowd’s grunts became a rhythmic chant and, without the Caedis moving it, the chain began to swing back and forth in time with the beat. As the cacophony swelled the amulet began to glow dim, then bright, dim then bright. And the frenzy increased. The chain’s arc seemed to defy gravity and pause in mid-air for just a moment, leaning towards Tenebris. Then with a shudder, it dropped straight down, maintaining a steady glow.
My head was spinning. What would Tenebris want with the amulet? The vampires had been vague about how it increased power, but no matter what its mechanism I couldn’t see how it’d be useful to someone in Tenebris’s position. When Caedis crossed realms, they couldn’t take anything with them. They could only cross in their essence state—which took the form of smoke. My aunt had assured me Tenebris would be stuck on the other side of the Demongate for decades to come; that’s how long it took for even a strong Caedis to recoup the energy to be capable of crossing over. Everything I’d read about demons said the same thing. So what would he want with the amulet?