Hells Magic (The Armistice Book 1)

by Leslie Vatenar

His gaze landed on me. A dejected look showed a pain he’d been holding in for so long. No sooner had I seen the feeling that inhabited him at that moment than his stoic expression returned.

  Then he went away. Where he’d stood, the parquet had melted, cracks marred the surrounding walls. Outside, a storm broke out.

  “Okay,” I whispered, wiping my sweaty hands on my shorts. “Where can he do this?”

  Alice was watching the exit with tears streaming down her face.

  “I had no choice. I had to. Sometimes I had to make tough decisions, but they were always needed. Always, I swear.”

  Her voice was barely a whisper. She looked at me.

  “Stabbing your brother was necessary? Are you kidding me? He was just a child. What was wrong with you?”

  She bowed her head and shook. “Do you hate me?” Sadness poured out of her weak voice.

  “Frankly… No, I admit. But I don’t know what it says about me yet. So I prefer to ignore it. This isn’t the time for judgment. Think. Where could he go? His old house? A place full of black magic?”

  “I don’t know. Maybe a place full of black magic. But he already has all the power he needs. He could perform the spell anywhere.”

  I sighed with frustration. Time was running out and we had no way of knowing where he was. I needed a miracle so much right at that moment.

  “Well, what about the creature? What creature of the Hells could have the power to increase the power of another mage? These two types of magic are incompatible.”

  Alice remained silent, but something told me it wasn’t because she didn’t know.

  Unable to hold back my frustration, I exploded. “Alice! You know more than I do. Do you want an army of spirits to be unleashed on Earth? Do you know how to handle a situation like this? Because I’ve never read it in our study manuals. You’re hiding something from me! Look where your lies have taken us.”

  She swallowed, her fleeing eyes glued to the ground as if it had the solution to her problems.

  I stepped forward. “I’m still your best friend. I’m your second pair of shoulders. I’m here so you don’t have to carry your burdens alone; I’m here so you can sleep peacefully at night or so we can lie awake together. Talk to me.”

  At last, she looked at me. But the lack of emotions in her eyes froze my blood. I was now talking to the queen. This look was the one she gave to everyone else.

  “It’s not the blood of a Hells creature that he drank.”

  “So what was it?”

  “The blood of a god. I knew as soon as he was able to take my powers. No mage is powerful enough to do that.”

  Someone could have jabbed a needle into my arms and no drop of blood would have escaped from my body. I must have misheard.

  “You have no idea how confidential this information is.”

  “Craid has the powers of a… god…”

  “And judging by the effects on Craid, I suspect it was Heth.”

  “A god…” I repeated, stunned.

  “An Immortal, an entity. But his powers are such that they’re comparable to those of a god.”

  It wasn’t that the information took time to get up to the brain, it was that it struggled to stay there. My mind rejected it with: No, sorry, we can’t handle it. Hors catégorie.

  “And to think that I compared Jayden’s power to that of Craid. Craid is a whole new level,” I said.

  “Actually, if their powers are both so impressive it’s because Jayden is just my half-brother. His actual father is Amias, an Entity, and Heth’s brother.”

  A few seconds trickled by as the shock settled deep in my core. “Does he know?”

  “No.”

  Deep breaths… Inhale… Exhale…

  “They go to a fair amount of trouble to remain secret from what I’ve understood so far. Giving blood to a psychopath isn’t what I call discretion. What the hell is this Heth doing?”

  “He’s the most rebellious of the two brothers. The darkest. There are many reasons for this act, but I don’t think we have time for me to tell you about the Entities.”

  “No. But I want to know everything as soon as we have a second. How do you track the powers of an Entity?”

  She shook her head vigorously. “It’s impossible.”

  “There must be a way to find out where Craid went, for God’s sake.”

  She pondered, staring at the ground. Then her eyebrows met her hairline. “I have an idea.”

  “Great, what is it?”

  “I need a portal… Does Jayden know how to create them?”

  “No, but I do.”

  “Fantastic! Wait, but where did you learn that?”

  “The Reaper taught me.”

  Her eyes widened. Then her expression went from shocked to questioning. She seemed confused and, finally, resolute.

  “Where do you want us to go?”

  “Not us. Me. I have to go to the Armistice.”

  “Craid may be there, I’ll go with you.”

  “No. He won’t answer if I’m not alone.”

  “Who is he?”

  “Trust me,” she said, her eyes full of hope, taking both my hands.

  She begged me with her eyes, and I gave in. I created the portal for her, and she disappeared.

  Jayden and I joined the others.

  CHAPTER 32

  They had parked the car near a bar. Liam had gone to the bathroom. The Reaper and Zoe were waiting for him outside. The place was almost deserted. Humans sat on the terrace with two mugs of beer on the table in front of them. They had the look of a motorcycle club with leather jackets and trousers, black glasses and boots, chains hanging at the waist, thick beards, impressive muscles, tattoos on visible parts of the body. And they had their bikes right next to them.

  I approached The Reaper in her human form.

  She was glaring at her sister. “I hate her.”

  “She’s your sister.”

  “I hate her.”

  “What if someone hurt her?”

  “I would burn that person to ashes,” she replied without even thinking.

  I smiled and raised an eyebrow. She looked at me without understanding what I was getting at. I must have missed a rule about the relationship between siblings. As an only child, I didn’t know much about it.

  “It’s really strange though. You’re sisters but opposite. Zoe is Life, and you’re Death. You were meant to hate each other.”

  The Reaper sighed. “My name is Ruby. The Reaper is just a character, a role I play. My sister calls herself Life to show how different she is from me. My true appearance is the one you have in front of you. What you saw in the library was an illusion that I created from scratch.”

  “What? But… What for?”

  I looked at her with wide eyes, shocked by this revelation.

  “It was funny at the beginning,” she said with a broad smile and bright eyes.

  Then she remained glaring at her sister, clutching her scythe firmly. My gaze turned to Zoe. She was sublime. Long, golden hair, present. Toned, slender body, present. Big green eyes, present. Radiant smile, present. Hot boobs and round-shaped butt, present.

  If this woman had a flaw, it wasn’t physical. I suspected that her powers increased her physical charm, but even without them, she was exquisite.

  When I saw her talking to Jayden, radiant smile, chest pushed forward, lashes fluttering, I felt a slight pang of anguish. Barely. So, if the ground had opened up between them, I’d have been grateful. Mother Nature, can you please do something for me? For once?

  Nothing. Still not on the list of God’s favorites I see.

  She leaned on him, placing her hand on his shoulder, and laughed. A delicate and perfect laugh. She put her hair behind her ear and bit her lip as she looked at him. This movement caught Jayden’s attention and he looked down at her lips. She said something to him in his ears and he smiled. A smile that required no considerable effort to m
ake it appear.

  “She’s taking your boyfriend from you,” Ruby said.

  “Thank you, but I noticed,” I said between clenched teeth.

  When I realized what I had just said, I pulled myself together. “He… He isn’t my boyfriend.”

  The damage was done. Ruby grinned at me. “You can fool you, you won’t fool me.”

  “Hey! Sister,” Ruby called out.

  “What the hell are you doing?” I asked, alert.

  Zoe approached us, still smiling at what Jayden had just said.

  “He’s hers. You come closer I’ll rip your tongue out.” She nodded at me and brandished her scythe at the same time.

  “Um… He… Hum…” I stuttered, confused by what I’d just heard.

  “Oh sorry, I didn’t know,” she said, surprised.

  “He isn’t mine!”

  Jayden looked at me, his head cocked, with a big, satisfied smile. The situation and my embarrassment amused him.

  “They can do whatever they want, I don’t care,” I said to Ruby.

  I walked away from them, heading toward Liam as he left the bar. He wasn’t mine. I wished he was. But no. He would leave anyway. I was just enjoying the last few moments with an incredible man who didn’t shy away from me. No feelings here.

  Keep telling yourself that. You contradict yourself all day long, my conscience whistled.

  Hey, it’s difficult for me. It wasn’t like it happened every day or I had experience in this area. All of this was new. I was doing what I could to handle everything.

  And I was talking to myself to do it. Who would dare judge me?

  I stopped and stared at the ground in an Alice-like manner. It had become the screen of my tumult. I must have been looking at it for a while.

  “You don’t have to worry, Katy, everything will work out for the best,” I heard.

  “No, everything isn’t getting better, everything is getting worse. I don’t know what to think anymore. My heart isn’t in tune with my mind.” I let go of a long, frustrated sigh.

  When I perked up, Liam looked at me suspiciously, his eyes narrowed.

  “I thought you were concerned about our chaotic situation, but it’s a whole other situation that catches your attention, right?”

  “No, I’m focused; spirits on the loose, a half-inhuman psychopath who resurrects his brother, the hearts of powerful supernaturals in the hands of another psychopath. Concentrated. I’m focused.” I nodded with false conviction.

  “Yeah,” Liam replied, not at all convinced.

  I put my hands in my pockets, pretending to be nonchalant, and I felt a piece of paper. It wasn’t there before. I took it out and opened it. Alice’s cursive writing gave the answer we were all waiting for. The piece of paper had magically appeared. I looked like the person Alice met was supernatural.

  “Craid is in Makram Park,” I informed everyone.

  Ruby and Zoe disappeared and Jayden, Liam and I got back in the car.

  Jayden got behind the wheel. I regretted that it wasn’t a less crowded place. We could have arrived as fast as Ruby and Zoe. I wasn’t expert enough in creating portals to take us to this busy place. I might drop us off in the middle of the park, in front of all the humans.

  Still, at normal speed we’d have taken an hour and a bit, but in twenty minutes we’d already arrived. Jayden had driven like a mad man. I’d had to use my powers several times to keep the cars out of our path; otherwise, we’d have been dead before we reached our destination.

  The stone statue of a man whose identity no one knew reigned over the entire park. His gaze, his arms spread on either side of his body, his fingers extended, his posture inclined forward, his legs bent, all showed that this man was about to pounce. A power attack. And whoever his opponent was, I suspected he would win.

  He had that confidence on his face and a smug smile that confirmed he was enjoying the fight. No one knew who this man was, but everyone loved this statue. It represented power and victory.

  The park was usually full of people and children, but at that moment it was empty. Only cars around the park implied that there were many visitors a short while ago.

  I could have made my portal. Pfff…

  We crossed the park in search of Craid, but there was nothing, not the slightest magic signature, not the slightest physical signature. The park was deserted. I had a bad feeling about this, that sixth sense that warned me when there was danger lurking. I was often negative, I confessed, but rarely did this feeling deceive me. My heart was pounding and drops of cold sweat were running down my back. I was scared, but I felt that there was something else. But the more I looked for the threat the less…

  I noticed something in the rose garden. The shape resembled the tip of The Reaper’s scythe.

  “Jayden, look!”

  I ran to the spot where I’d seen the scythe, followed by Jayden. In the middle of the rose garden were the motionless bodies of Ruby and Zoe. I tried to move them, to wake them up, but neither of them answered. I pressed two fingers over Zoe’s neck, but there was no pulse. Being heartless, Ruby couldn’t have one, unlike Zoe. Oh no… No…

  “What happened? You think they’re…”

  “I don’t know,” he replied. “Looks like it.”

  A wave of sadness overwhelmed me. I had no idea why I was crying for these two women, one was probably a killer and I’d had little contact with the other. Perhaps I grew attached too quickly, especially to the wrong people, but when one spent days seeing a person in such an adventure, they made an imprint in one’s life.

  A cry alerted us. And we turned, only to see Liam being hit by a red mist. He fell to the ground and didn’t get up. Jayden was next to him before I even had the idea to move. I was just standing there, paralyzed.

  Above our heads, black clouds hid the blazing sun. Craid appeared just behind Jayden. This time, I reacted. I ran toward Craid and threw a ball of energy at him. He stooped just in time to avoid it without even turning around as if he had felt the attack coming.

  Jayden got up when he saw my ball explode against the building opposite. Purple mist emanated from Craid, and every movement he made stirred the mist around his body. It surely meant that he was loaded to the fullest.

  Craid raised his hands in front of him and the same ball that had hit Liam moved at top speed toward Jayden. He raised his palm and a wall of earth rose in front of him, protecting him from the ball.

  I channeled my magic. “Jayden, get out of there.”

  I clapped my hands together, sending a shock wave toward Craid. He couldn’t avoid it, and he flew against a building. The owners would see red the next day when they saw the damage. Craid’s body disappeared into the building.

  The power of the shock wave also surprised Jayden, for, despite his earthen wall, he’d had to recoil slightly when the shock wave had reached him. The cars overturned with the force of it.

  Jayden looked at me, surprised.

  “Sorry,” I mouthed.

  He smiled to reassure me.

  I created a force field around Ruby’s and Zoe’s bodies to protect them. Then I did the same thing with Liam.

  We turned to the building. Craid came out before we reached it. The black clouds obscured the atmosphere, and his red eyes were terrifying. Behind me, I felt something. I whirled around and saw a portal created from scratch. Bloody hell! I looked at the portal, which was growing, revealing a gray background.

  Something rushed toward me. I protected my face.

  I didn’t distinguish the shape, but in a gust of wind, the thing had come out of the portal. I held my arms in front of my face and saw indistinct shapes coming out of the portal at full speed.

  “The spirits,” Jayden said.

  I turned to face Craid. It was a terrible idea to turn my back on my enemy. He created a new portal next to him and a man’s body came out, floating in the air. I assumed it was the body of his brother, who, apparently, could
also recompose a decayed body.

  Spirits scattered all around us. They were so fast that a gust of wind followed their passage. Yet they weren’t supposed to interfere with the world of the living.

  “We have to close this!” I screamed.

  “You know how to close a portal to the spirit world?”

  “No. What about you?”

  “No.”

  He didn’t show it, but he was concerned. We didn’t know what to do.

  Two spirits coming out of the gate stopped in front of me. Up close, I made out a little more. The spirits were ghosts, beings composed of grayish smoke. I could make out the shape of a small head, their little bodies floated in the air, and each of them left a trail of grayish smoke as an extension of their body.

  Jayden jumped in front of me. “Don’t even try,” he scolded.

  The spirits fled without further ado.

  “You’ve come too late,” Craid said. “The process had already started before you even arrived.”

  “Close this thing!” I shouted at him.

  “Not until I find my brother.”

  As he spoke, one spirit came out of the portal and stopped in front of it. He looked at Craid then turned to the man’s body on the ground. He flew toward it, hovered over it for a few seconds, and then seeped into it.

  Craid rushed to his brother.

  My pounding heart jumped into my throat, the thundering loud in my ears. I glanced at the portal that released the hundreds of spirits. Meanwhile, Craid’s brother opened his eyes and hugged Craid. They looked so much alike, they must have been twins.

  Two spirits rushed toward one car that my shock wave had overturned on its side. It got back on its four wheels with a thud as if an invisible force had pushed it. The spirits passed through the car doors. They started the car and it skidded as they cleared out at full speed on the road.

  I took a moment to understand the scene. Why did spirits need a car? Well, many answers could match. They might want to draw attention. A driverless car on the major roads wouldn’t go unnoticed. Supernaturals could see the spirits but not humans. Even as spirits, they had just joined the world of the living; they’d surely like to have as much fun as they could.

  One spirit stopped near Liam’s body, and my heart skidded to a halt.