“I did,” he said.
“Then prove to me one thing.”
“What’s that?”
“Prove to me that the Obsidian Order is truly willing to help all supernaturals, and not just those it can control.”
Draven’s expression hardened. We’d been partnered ever since the incident with Valoel, he as master, and me as his apprentice. One of the first things I’d done when the pairings were official was bring up the one burning issue I had with the Order; an issue Valoel had also highlighted.
He seemed to believe the Obsidian Order wasn’t interested in bringing in people who were more powerful than their top brass. He suggested they were deliberately withholding information to keep the people under them in line. Docile was the word he’d used, and the glove definitely fit from what I’d seen so far.
Draven had been quick to deny it then. Now was his chance to prove it.
He took a deep breath and nodded. “Fine,” he said, “Let’s go.”
I didn’t have to be told twice. I turned around and ran, skirting around the creek and staying away from the skinny dog barking its lungs out. I wasn’t convinced it wouldn’t go for us if it managed to break out of the chain-link fence only just keeping it contained.
“Felice, where is she?” I asked.
She’s ahead. This girl moves fast. Make a left at the banged-up beater and keep running.
I followed Felice’s instructions, taking the corner just past the broken-down husk of a car. Its windows had been pulled off, its engine had been stripped; its wheels, too. Spray-painted on the side of the car were words, “The fires will rise here also. This world is ours.”
The message was chilling, but there wasn’t any time to stick around and examine it. Instead, I kept running. Now that I was a gold prospect, and an enforcer at that, my uniform had been given an upgrade. I no longer wore the black jumpsuits I’d been wearing since I arrived in the Order. Instead, I’d been issued with military-grade combat boots, black fatigues, and a long, black coat just like Draven’s.
They’d offered me a pair of sunglasses, and I hadn’t declined them. Once upon a time, joining the douche squad as I’d called them would’ve been a laughable offer. Now, though, I’d decided to don my shades in honor of our fallen friend, Crag. He’d given his life so a whole bunch of children could live on, and that meant being in the douche squad was a good thing.
She’s heading into a busted old low-rise, Felice said, I’m losing her.
“What building?” I asked.
A spot of light showed me the way. Felice had landed on top of a building where every available window had been boarded up, and had summoned a glowing ball of magic. Some of the building was crumbling, other parts of it were covered in graffiti tags. None of them made sense to me.
“Can you get inside?” I asked.
Door’s jammed. This thing probably hasn’t been opened in years.
“We’ll go in from the bottom. You fall back and make sure no one spots our dead fiend.”
“Are you giving me orders, now?” Draven asked.
“Maybe. I feel like you could do with a little guidance sometimes.”
“Guidance?”
He sounded a bit unbelieving, but he took my meaning pretty well. To say Draven and I had gotten close over the last few weeks would probably have been exaggerating a little. We had, however, spent a lot of time together. Even though most of that time had been spent training, I felt like I’d gotten to know him a little better, and him me.
The building the girl had ducked into was up ahead. Two guys stood nearby with their hoods up, one of them buying drugs, the other selling. The moment they spotted us, they scattered to the winds, leaving no trace they’d been there a second ago. At least they weren’t fiends.
I stopped at the door to the slum. It was boarded up; a giant “CONDEMNED” sign had been pinned to it. The lower half of the door, though, looked like it was frequently pulled open, bits of it were splintered and cracked. I tried it with my foot, and the wooden panels gave way just enough for either of us to slide through. I scanned Draven’s face and saw the concern in his black eyes.
“Should we call for backup?” I asked.
His jaw clenched. Draven then drew his sword up and held it tightly in his hand. “No,” he said, moving toward the door. He crouched, and I pulled the panel back to allow him to slide inside. I followed him, slipping through the crack a lot more easily than he had. I was up and ready to strike with my dagger in a matter of seconds.
The entire place was pitch black. My skin crawled, and my heart started hammering inside of my throat. My hair did what it could to bring light into the world, slowly illuminating Draven’s back, but it wasn’t enough. I made a cup shape with my hand and whispered “Lune,” and a moment later, a soft bubble of silvery light was born.
The light expanded just enough for me to be able to see how much of a dump this place was. Columns supporting the structure had started falling to pieces, and the ceiling was coming down in places. Opened cans of food lay scattered around, along with bottles of water, candy bar wrappers. All of the other signs of inhabitation, human and otherwise, were present, too. I held my hand over my nose.
Draven turned around and winced at the brightness of the magic ball in my hand. He shielded his eyes. “Someone’s living here,” he said.
“Not someone, a bunch of people.”
“Can you sense her?”
I shut my eyes and concentrated. Sensing other supernaturals—at least for me, anyway—had never worked like that before. I’d always been able to feel Draven’s power when he moved close to me, but that probably said more about his magical strength than it did about my ability to detect it. How powerful was she that I’d been able to sense her magic from at least a hundred yards?
But I couldn’t feel her at all. She was gone. I shook my head. “Maybe she went up those stairs.”
Looking around, the path from the door to the stairs was the clearest. There was only a little rubble in the way, and very few wrappers, cans, and pieces of broken glass to walk over. I headed in that direction with Draven by my side, my dagger ready in my hand, and my light shining to keep the dark at bay. That was when I heard a hard, loud sound coming from somewhere upstairs.
Either there was someone up there, or this building was about to come apart around us.
“Was that a door shutting?” I asked.
Draven started moving a little more quickly, his steps more confident than mine. I could see in this light, almost, but his night vision was incredibly advanced. It was also very sensitive to light. This was one of the reasons he wouldn’t go out during the day.
Luckily the stairs were firm under my feet, and as I made it to the second floor, I could safely say the ground wasn’t going to give way as I walked over it. Still, I kept my pace as silent and as soft as I could.
The hallway we were in was dark and silent, and there was no sign of the girl. There was only one door on the entire floor that was intact, though, so I headed over in that direction and waited. Draven stepped up to the door and cocked an eyebrow at me. I could hear movement in the room. Someone was ruffling around in there.
I counted to three with my fingers, and on three, Draven shoved his boot into the door and busted the lock. The door splintered, opening to reveal a dark room that was mostly empty, cold, and dull. A single mattress lay on the floor, with a flimsy sheet thrown over it. Next to it, a collection of tattered books.
I felt her power before I saw her. She was hiding behind a broken old crib where once a baby may have slept. Her eyes were sharp under her hair, brimming with intelligence and amber light, but also with fear and distrust. She must have started hiding her power after she saw us because I hadn’t been able to sense it again until now.
“Hey,” I said, “Look, I’m not gonna hurt you. I just wanna talk.”
She backed up, slipping further into the darkness. We hadn’t won any brownie points by busting her door open like that.
Eyes up, Felice said into my brain, you’re gonna have company in a few seconds.
I turned my head away and whispered. “Is it a single guest or a party?”
Just one, but he’s moving fast. And he’s big. Not Valoel.
I gave Draven my attention. “Another one is coming…”
“We need to leave,” Draven said.
“We can’t just leave her here.”
I looked at the girl again. “What’s your name?” I asked.
Still, no reply.
“Seline, we didn’t come here to save people,” Draven said, “We came here to find Valoel.”
“Then go and find him—I’m not leaving her alone. It looks like someone tried to chain her up!” I turned to look at her again. “Were you someone’s prisoner?” I asked.
She scurried deeper into the darkness, suddenly turning and heading for the boarded window. I intercepted her, beating her to the window. Draven made sure to stand between her and the only door leading out of the room. She wasn’t going to escape; at least, she wouldn’t escape unless she decided to turn that powerful magic on us.
“We’re not enemies,” I said, “We’re here to help. My name is Seline, this is Draven. What’s your name?”
“They call me Six,” the girl ventured, her voice soft and low.
I swallowed hard.
“Could you tell me where you’ve come from? Who tied you up?”
“I escaped…”
“Escaped? From where?”
“From the temple… I’m not worthy of freedom, so they locked me up.”
“Who’s they?” Draven asked.
“The others…”
I couldn’t tell if she was being deliberately vague, or if she’d just fallen through a rift. Maybe her mind was still struggling with the amnesia that hits us all when we fall to Earth, maybe she couldn’t make sense of what was going on. Of course, that only worked on the assumption she was from the other side. I could only tell she had powerful magic within her, not what kind of magic she had.
I don’t know what you’re doing, Felice said, but you need to get out of there, right now.
I ignored Felice’s voice in my head. “This place isn’t safe,” I said, “If the others are fiends, then there’s one coming right now, and we need to get you out of here and as far away from this place as possible.”
“I can’t,” Six said, “They won’t let me.”
“Seline, we’re running out of time,” Draven snapped.
“Just take my hand,” I said to Six, “We won’t hurt you. No one will. I promise.”
Six stared at me, then at my hand. I waited, even as I knew someone was coming; someone big, and dangerous. This girl looked downright feral, the human version of an alley dog that had seen a great deal of pain and stress. I didn’t think she’d ever trust me, but slowly, she reached for my hand.
I took it, and for an instant I felt her power, felt it moving through me like an electric current. I shuddered, but that was all. Draven, nodding, turned around and headed for the door, but the building suddenly trembled like it had just been hit with a wrecking ball. Bits of masonry fell from the ceiling, the wallpaper flaked away and turned to dust in the air, and downstairs, some huge animal roared.
“It’s him!” Six yelled, “The one who kept me prisoner!”
“Wait here,” Draven said, raising his sword, “I’ll deal with this.”
“Like hell you will,” I said. “We’re a team, remember?”
“I don’t have time to argue with you, Seline.”
“Then don’t argue. Maybe the door upstairs isn’t as jammed as Felice thought.”
It’s pretty jammed, Felice said into my brain. I’d almost forgotten she could hear all of this, and the sound of her voice made me jump. But you could try it.
“Or we could go through it,” Draven suggested.
I looked at Six. “Do you know who that is?”
She nodded. “His name is Scythe, he’s the speaker, the one who talks for all of us.”
“Is Scythe like an ironic pet name? Like maybe he’s not all that bad?”
Six stared at me, blankly.
“No? Okay. Worth a shot.”
Downstairs, Scythe sounded like he was charging through the lobby. His footfalls were huge, like his feet were made of concrete. Every step he took made the walls shake. I hurried Six down the hall and made it to the stairs. In a second, Scythe would be charging up them.
“Felice, where are you?” I asked.
Upstairs, trying to get this damn thing open.
“Don’t suppose you have a teleportation orb on you, Draven?”
“I do, but I need more space to use it. This whole structure could come down at any second, the orb will only speed that process up.”
“Alright, let’s go.”
I pulled Six up the stairs just as Scythe came into view at the next landing beneath us. He was massive, his shoulders and arms like hams, his skin glowing red with marks that looked like they’d been carved into his body with a knife.
He roared at us, spittle flying from his lips, and then shouldered his way up the stairs. Draven readied himself to buy us some time. With one hand he prepared his longsword to strike. The other he held in front of himself as if to guard his face.
“Duras,” he said, and just as Scythe came charging at him, a magic shield of shimmering purple light erupted in front of Draven.
Scythe impacted the shield with enough force to send Draven a few steps back, but the shield had a much more powerful effect on Scythe. He staggered, lost his footing, and went crashing down the flight of stairs he’d just come from.
“Go!” Draven yelled.
I didn’t need to be told twice. With Six’s hand firmly in mine, I ran up the stairs, my magic orb of light leading the way. The stairs were treacherous and uneven, some of them were gone entirely, only a hole in their place. Downstairs I could hear Scythe charging again, his massive body lumbering up the stairs.
Draven hadn’t waited for him. Instead he’d moved up to the next landing, so he was right behind us. Six then jumped ahead of me and pulled me aside just as my foot was about to go through a hole. My heart lurched into my throat, then, as I saw the fiend directly below me. He was looking right at me, and by the way he was crouching, readying himself to pounce, I had an idea he was done using the stairs.
“Draven, don’t!” I yelled, but he’d already started moving.
The fiend’s upper body burst through the ground, sending pieces of concrete and wood flying. He had his hand out, his fingers splayed and searching. I had to shield my face to stop from getting debris in my eyes, but I also had to move away. The floor beneath my feet had started to crack, and in a couple of seconds, it would come down with me on it.
“Up the stairs,” Six said.
But I was watching for Draven. Between the darkness and the dust, I couldn’t see him. Had he been hurt? Was he laying unconscious somewhere? “Draven!” I yelled, coughing from the dust fighting its way into my lungs. He didn’t reply, and I didn’t wait.
I moved with her up the crumbling stairs, going as fast as I could, taking the risers two at a time. The walls were crumbling now, the stairwell itself about to give way and collapse, but I’d reached the top and the closed door.
As I ran up the final flight of stairs, I saw the reason why it wouldn’t open. The door had been wedged shut with a crowbar. I aimed my knife at the crowbar, and as I reached the last step, I yelled “Devio!”
A blast of magic hit the metal rod and sent it spinning into the air. Felice then kicked the door open, allowing Six and me to get through to the roof. The cool air felt wonderful against my skin, it smelled like freedom, but we weren’t out of the woods yet.
“Draven’s still down there,” I said to Felice, who stood on the roof with her wings stretched and the wind sweeping her plum hair.
“I’m going in,” she said, drawing a pistol.
“I’m not sure that’s gonna s
top the thing down there.”
“And your toothpick is?”
“My dagger is not a toothpick.”
“If you ladies could argue less, we would be out of here a lot faster.” Draven’s voice cut through the night, surprising us both. He was in the air, his black wings holding him aloft, his sword drinking in the moonlight and sending it shining off its metallic surface.
“Draven! I thought you’d been crushed.”
“Out of the way.” He reached into his pocket and produced a blue orb that pulsed with light and power.
I moved away from the door, keeping Six as near to me as I could. Draven then wound back his arm and tossed the orb at the roof of the building. It stopped about two feet before it hit the floor, then exploded to become a crackling vortex of arching blue lightning. The explosion, though, had damaged the floor beneath our feet. Already cracks were spreading across the concrete.
“Six, go with Felice,” I said, but Six was reluctant. The light from the portal reflected in her eyes, and now that I could see her face more clearly, I saw the bruises, too. My gut wrenched. Someone had hurt her; maybe it had even been the huge fiend fighting his way to the roof.
“I… can’t…” she said.
“Yes, you can. Just trust us. No one is going to hurt you, I promise.”
“There’s no time for this!” Draven yelled.
“And you aren’t helping!” I called out. “Please, Six… go with her.”
Felice stretched her hand, and reluctantly, Six took it. A moment later they were both moving through the portal and out of sight. Draven came to land beside me. His face was a little cut up and he was covered in dust, but he was okay. The relief washing through me in that moment was palpable.
“It’s time to go,” he said.
I shook my head. “No… I need to take that asshole down.”
“Seline, we don’t know what kind of power he has, and I don’t want you getting hurt.”
A warm feeling moved through me, then. I don’t want you getting hurt. It made sense he’d say that because we were pairs, I was his apprentice. But it also felt like a little bit more. Maybe I was making it up, but the way he’d said it…
The Obsidian Order Boxed Set Page 41