by John Corwin
"Let me talk to him." The female voice sounded warm and welcoming. "I'm certain I can make him listen to reason."
I glanced around the circle and found a middle-aged woman with short brown hair and a friendly smile.
Geron sighed. "Would you, Melinda?"
"Of course." She left the room.
A portly man stood and spoke in heavily accented English. "I support this idea. We destroy Victus and his cronies, and we do it soon. This time we destroy body. Leave no vessel for evil man."
A burly fellow with a thick mustache stood and smacked a fist into his other palm. "I say we abduct the bloody council and take over the government without all the cloak and dagger."
I recognized a few people from my time at Arcane University, many of whom had spoken out against Xander Tiberius when he ran for Arcanus Primus. Something vibrated in my pocket. It took me a moment to realize it was my arcphone. I took it out and flicked on the screen. Ambria's location on the map blinked red. My heart skipped a beat.
"What's that?" Galfandor asked.
"Max is trying to call," I lied. I got up from my chair, retreated further into the back of the ballroom, and called Ambria.
"Get out of there now, Conrad," Ambria hissed. "There's a traitor!"
Chapter 18
The fear in Ambria's voice froze me to the core. "What's happened?"
"A woman just slit a man's throat in the hallway, and a dozen thugs are waiting outside the ballroom door!"
Mournful howls sent chills down my spine. Huge forms flashed through the curtains on the other side of the room. Claws flashed and cut down the nearest Arcane. Screams. Shouts. Arcanes rose to their feet. Spells flashed and blood splashed. Arcanes fell before the massive werewolves.
"Edison betrayed us!" One of the Arcanes swung his wand toward me. Galfandor punched the man in the face and shoved him away. A mottled lycan sprang on the man's back and bit his head. Blood sprayed.
I focused Fireblade and slashed the head off the lycan. My vision faltered and my knees went weak. I still hadn't recovered from all the magic use in the fight against the wandslingers.
"Try the bloody windows!" Geron shouted above the fray, even as he fired bolts of jagged green light at the lycans.
Galfandor threw a chair against one of the windows. Glass shattered. We ran over and looked out, but it was a three-story fall to concrete.
"We might have to jump," Galfandor said. "Use a levitation spell."
"Well, Geron, it appears your little venture has been nipped in the bud." We turned. Lycans growled before a tight circle of wounded Arcanes. Melinda stood near the door, a smirk on her face. "Did you not think Victus could infiltrate your pathetic little Night Watch?"
"Are you an infernus?" Geron said.
"I am. The real Melinda rots in a mass grave." She put hands on hips. "And now, I rip you stem and root from the ground." Melinda thrust her hand forward.
The lycans pounced. Explosions shook the room and plaster dust rained down as Arcanes responded with shields and spells. Geron put a hand on Galfandor's shoulder. "Get the boy out of here. If we survive this, I'll contact you."
"I won't leave you all behind." Galfandor whirled his wand in a pattern I didn't recognize and unleashed a torrent of silver flames on the lycans. The wolves howled in pain, but Arcanes still died.
I summoned all my willpower, but it refused to coalesce into a spell. Melinda's gloating smirk settled on me. "I will take you alive, child. Your father has plans for you. He—" Her back arched. Blood spewed from her mouth and she went down in a heap. Ambria stood behind her, wand glowing with malevolent energy.
"Why am I not surprised to see her?" Galfandor pulled me along the wall, avoiding the bloodbath in the middle of the room. When we reached the other side, he pushed me toward Ambria. "Go with her, Conrad. I can't leave my companions."
"You can't!" I shouted. "We need you."
"Duty is an oath." Galfandor turned back to the fray and blasted a lycan with a gout of silver flames.
Ambria dragged me out of the room. My legs and arms felt limp as wet noodles.
"We've got to go." She looked up and down the hallway. "I think there are more people on the way."
Shouts emanated from below. We looked over the railing and into the main lobby. I spotted Talbot and Delilah running toward the elevator. The hotel worker lay slumped over the desk, blood pooling around his head.
"Can't go that way." Ambria grabbed my hand and dragged me into the nearest stairwell. Voices echoed and doors slammed shut below us. Ambria grimaced and put a finger to her lips. We tiptoed up the stairs to the next landing and waited.
"Stay here and make sure nobody tries to leave this way." Delilah sounded excited. "Capture the boy if you see him, but don't kill him."
"Affirmative," a male voice responded.
Ambria clenched a fist and shook it. She delicately turned the handle on the door to the fourth floor and eased it open. We slipped through and shut it as quietly as possible. "How did they find you again?"
"Talbot and Delilah didn't." I leaned against a wall. "The Night Watch was infiltrated by an infernus."
"The wandslingers must have portaled here like they did at the house." Ambria reached into her satchel and dug through several pouches inside. She gave me a stick of something green with the texture of cheese. "Eat this. It's for magic poisoning. Percival gave me a supply."
"He knew you were coming with us?" I bit into the stuff hesitantly. It tasted sour, but went down smoothly.
"Yes, I knew we might need more than Max's potion bombs." She smoothed back the hair from my face. "Feeling better?"
I nodded. "I still feel weak, but not as nauseous."
She sighed. "The next question is, where do we go from here?"
I gripped her hands and met her eyes. "Thank you for saving me."
Ambria blinked. Nodded. "You're my best friend, Conrad. I'll always be there for you."
"I'm happy you were here."
"Yes, well, let's save the happiness for once we escape this blasted trap." She tapped a finger on her chin. "The buildings in this area are relatively close together. We could go to the roof and jump to another building."
"I don't think my knees are up to the challenge." The weakness had faded, but I didn't expect to win any marathons.
Ambria dug into her satchel and pulled out two shiny polished stones. "Then it's a good thing I brought these."
"Blink stones?"
"Yes." She handed me one and tightened the straps on her satchel. "You remember how dizzy these things make us. Just be careful not to blink too close to the edge."
"The first blink isn't that bad." Max had used one in rapid succession and promptly thrown up.
"Let's go." Ambria started down the hallway.
"I thought we were going to the roof."
She shook her head. "I have a better idea."
The door to the stairwell opened behind us. We spun. A man in gray robes leveled a wand at us. "Stop right there, Edison, or I'll shoot your little girlfriend."
"I'm not his girlfriend," Ambria growled. She vanished in a puff of shadows. The inside of his skull lit up like a candle. He screamed and fell to the floor, a trail of smoke rising from his right ear.
Ambria stood behind him, a little wobbly on her feet, face white as a ghost. She wiped her wand off on the man's robes. "I'm not little either."
My jaw went slack. "I didn't realize you were so good with the magitsu spells already."
She swallowed hard, as if biting back nausea. "Remember when I couldn't fly a broom well, so I obsessively practiced by myself until I was as good as Max?"
"Yes."
"Well, I did the same after Kanaan's lessons." Ambria looked down at the body and shuddered. "I don't know if I'm sick from the blink, or—" She heaved and threw up on the carpet.
I patted her back. "Magic poisoning?"
Ambria shook her head. "I've killed two people today, Conrad." She wiped her mouth with her sleeve. "I
thought the adrenaline would help me not think about it, but I can't." She put a piece of Percival's magic poisoning gunk in her mouth. "I hope this helps with the nausea."
"I know how you feel." I squeezed her hand. "I see death every time I close my eyes."
"I heard a scream," someone shouted from inside the stairwell. "Everyone to the fourth floor."
"No time for weakness." Ambria fused the lock on the stairwell door with a blast from her wand and grabbed my hand. "We've got to be strong."
We jogged down the hall. She stopped near the end and blasted open a door.
The stairwell door exploded into the hallway. Two towering men burst from the stairwell. Each bore the tattoo of a crescent moon on their necks. They morphed into equally huge wolves. Talbot and Delilah dashed through after them, delighted grins on their faces, oblivious to their expired comrade on the floor.
Ambria fired toward the wolves. A fire extinguisher on the wall exploded, driving the beasts sideways.
"Nowhere to go, boy," Talbot called. "Might as well give up peaceably."
Ambria flicked her fingers under her chin like an Italian and shoved me through the door she'd blown open. She destroyed the glass pane in the balcony window and pulled me outside. A chilly breeze pushed the hair from her face. "We have to blink across." She pointed to a balcony twenty feet away on the neighboring building.
I concentrated on the target. The world puffed away like smoke and just as quickly reappeared. My nose pressed against the glass of the French balcony doors. I staggered, dizzy from the blink. Ambria appeared next to me, unsteady on her feet. A flick of her wand and the wood around the door handle splintered.
Howls echoed. The huge wolves leapt the gap.
Ambria shrieked and jerked me inside the doors an instant before the first wolf crashed onto the balcony. The second smashed into the railing and dangled over the side, a single paw clinging to the concrete. Ambria fired a salvo of magic bullets at the paw. Blood sprayed. The claws lost purchase, and the wolf's howls fell away.
The remaining wolf snarled and smashed through the balcony doors. Ambria shoved me behind her and squared off against the huge beast, wand held protectively before her. Her lips peeled back from her teeth. "Come at me, lycan, and I'll burn you to ash."
Saliva dripped from the werewolf's mouth, and his growl deepened until it seemed to vibrate in my guts. But he didn't advance. Ambria backed up a step, pushing me again. I came to my senses and realized she wanted me to keep moving. So I did under the watchful gray eyes of the wolf. I gripped the door handle and opened it.
The wolf sprang, jaws wide. Ambria jumped backed. The beast smashed into an invisible shield so hard the walls shuddered. He staggered to his feet and wobbled, still growling.
Ambria turned and shoved me through the door. "Run!"
We raced down the hallway. The walls shuddered again and the wolf exploded through the plaster. Dust and wooden lathe sprayed across red carpet. Ambria cast another shield spell. The wolf smashed through the wall and went around it. The beast was incredibly fast, but Ambria slowed it with more shields. We reached the elevator alcove. A bell dinged and the doors creaked open. Talbot and Delilah stood inside, wicked grins on their faces.
Ambria yanked my arm and we raced toward a large window at the end of the hallway. Bullets zipped past us. The window ahead shattered.
"Stop or we'll shoot the girl in the back!" Delilah shouted. "I'll kill her dead, boy!"
Ambria flicked her wand and a shield spell blocked the hallway. The wolf smashed into the wall to forge a path around it. Delilah and Talbot followed in its destructive wake.
"Where are we going?" I panted.
"Through the window." Ambria gripped her blink stone. "You need to jump out and blink back across to the other building."
"What's the range on these things again?"
She shook her head. "I don't remember. Just do it!" Still in a dead sprint, Ambria leapt out of the window, screaming like a madwoman. Her body vanished over the side.
I cried out in fear and leapt after her. Time seemed to slow. I looked left and tried to focus on the balcony forty feet away even as my heart seized in terror. Ambria vanished in a puff of shadows and reappeared at the target. I willed myself to the spot by her side.
Darkness. Light.
My feet slapped concrete. Momentum carried me sideways, crashing into Ambria and slamming her into the railing.
She gasped and we went down in a heap. I tried to cast a spell to blast open the door, but nausea twisted my guts. I gripped the door handle. It clicked open. Ambria lay on the balcony, clutching her sides and wheezing. I dragged her inside and closed the door behind us.
French doors on the balcony across from us smashed open. The werewolf morphed into human form and looked at the alley below. Talbot and Delilah stepped onto the ledge Ambria and I had jumped from and looked all around. Ambria's harsh breathing quieted as she finally caught her breath.
She opened her mouth to speak, but I put a finger to my lips and shook my head.
Talbot walked around the corner on the ledge and raised a fist at the wolf on the balcony. "Follow their scent, you damned fool!"
"Their scent is everywhere," the man shouted in a basso voice.
"Because you chased them all over creation." Delilah walked up behind the lycan and smacked him on the back of his shaven head. "Where'd you find these idiots, Talbot?"
"I broke my legs!" a voice shouted from below.
Delilah looked down and spat. "Two grown lycans bested by a little girl. Drag yourself into a corner and heal."
"I'm in agony!" he cried back. "Can't you use a healing spell?"
"Idiots." Delilah fired a magic bullet at the ground. "Ask me again, and I'll heal you permanently."
Despite his size and ferocity, the other lycan looked cowed by the wandslingers even though he probably could have caught them by surprise and torn them to shreds.
I pointed to the bedroom door. Ambria nodded. We slid over the bed to stay out of sight of the balcony doors and crawled behind cover to the exit as the shouting continued. I peered around the base of the bed. The lycan had moved from the balcony, and I didn't see Delilah in view, so I opened the door and we crawled out.
Ambria pulled the door shut. We leaned against the wall, collecting ourselves for a moment. Shouts emanated from the far end of the hallway where the balcony overlooked the atrium.
"I wonder if Galfandor made it." Ambria squeezed my hand. "Do you think he's dead?"
I shook my head. "Should we check?" Sirens wailed in the distance. The police would be here soon and we had to be gone by then.
"Yes. We can't leave here without knowing if he's dead or alive."
I stood and pulled Ambria to her feet. "You were amazing."
A tear pooled in her eye. "Thank you, Conrad."
"I've never seen you so fierce before."
"There was too much to lose." She blinked, and the tear traveled down her cheek. "I knew I couldn't fail."
"The stakes are always impossibly high with Victus." I wanted to lie down and go to sleep.
"So much death." Ambria regarded me solemnly. "I feel as if he's already stolen a part of my soul."
The sirens seemed closer so I grabbed her hand. "Let's check on Galfandor before the police arrive."
We took the stairs to the third floor. Bodies littered the hallway. Blood pooled on the carpet, thick as syrup and dark as death. Fighting the dread feeling frosting my chest, I stepped over body parts and dead wolves to reach the ballroom. Geron lay dead at the far end of the room, his throat torn out. Two burnt lycan bodies lay nearby.
A half-morphed lycan dragged his wolf hind parts with human hands across the shredded carpet, entrails trailing from a huge gash in his belly. I didn't know if he would regenerate or die, but stayed clear of him. We did a quick search of the Arcane bodies, but Galfandor wasn't among them.
Ambria sounded a hopeful note. "He must have escaped."
"I hope so." I e
dged across the room to a hole blasted through the plaster. I ducked through and into the neighboring ballroom. The door at the far end hung open. I peered through and into a hallway that intersected the main one a dozen feet to the right. A bloody handprint streaked toward an emergency exit to the left.
The sirens sounded much closer now. Ambria jogged down the hallway and opened the door. It led to a dim stairwell we followed down and to a metal door. Ambria pushed against it, but it wouldn't open. I rammed my shoulder against it.
Muffled growls sounded from the other side.
Ambria bared her teeth. "Give it all you've got, Conrad." She counted to three with her fingers and we rammed the door.
A shout of pain answered and the door finally shoved open. The injured lycan lay on the other side, legs twisted at sickening angles. His eyes flashed with recognition. "You little bastards!" Outstretched human hands morphed to claws.
Chapter 19
Ambria stomped on the lycan's broken legs. He howled in agony. She rammed her wand in his nose. Magic crackled and the lycan's skull lit for an instant. He fell to the side, smoke rising from nostrils and mouth. Like the others, he wore the tattoo of a crescent moon on his neck.
The wand clattered to the ground. Ambria clenched her stomach and dry-heaved. She staggered back, moaning.
I grabbed her shoulders. "Are you okay?"
Tears streamed from her eyes. She shook her head. "I hate them. I hate what they make me do, Conrad."
My stomach twisted. They'd turned my sweet Ambria into a killer. I picked up her wand and handed it to her. "They backed us into a corner. We did what we had to do."
She nodded. "I know I had no choice, but I hate it."
"There's a difference between you and them." I put a hand on her cheek. "You're a protector. A defender. You shield the ones you care about."
Ambria wiped away tears with the back of her hand. "Killing is awful no matter the reason, Conrad." She managed a wan smile. "But thank you for trying to make me feel better."
I thought about all the lives I'd taken. About what drove me and motivated me to stay alive. I would fight to the death for any of my friends, but…I traced Ambria's cheek with a finger. Tucked her hair behind her ear and looked into her warm hazel eyes. My thumb wandered the curve of lips grown full over the past few years. My Ambria had grown from a ragged little orphan into a fierce woman.