by Linsey Hall
“Wow.” Carrow whistled. “I’d say the maid is overdue.”
I chuckled as I strode around the desk and chair to the stone wall behind. There, I knelt, reaching for the false stone, and slipped it out. An ancient iron keyring appeared, and I pulled it free.
As I stood and held it up, magic sparked in the air, prickly and fierce.
“What’s that?” Carrow spun around, searching the room.
“Ghosts. And they don’t like what we’ve just done.”
11
Carrow
Cold fear pierced me. “Ghosts?”
The Devil—I tried to think of him as Grey, but it was hard—nodded, his brow set in a severe line. “They don’t like that I’ve taken the key. Come on.”
Quickly, he strode from the office. I followed, hurrying to keep up. The church itself was even colder, and figures drifted out from the walls, pale and transparent.
“Can they hurt us?” I stuck close to his side as we hurried toward the center of the church, where the altar still stood.
“Perhaps.” He knelt, smoothly inserting the key.
I stood, spinning in a circle to keep an eye on the ghosts that closed in on us. My heartbeat thundered in my ears as they neared. Each was dressed in an outfit that was at least three centuries out of date, but the malice on their faces was timeless.
The crystal at my throat glowed with heat, and I closed my fingers around it. The ghosts’ eyes followed my movements.
“They want Orion’s Heart.” I clutched it tighter.
“It’s powerful. They may think it can bring them back to life.”
“Hell, no.” I glared at the ghosts. “Back off.”
“They won’t listen.” The jingle of the iron keys continued as he worked.
“Hurry up!” They were almost to me, so cold that I felt like my bones were chattering. “I don’t know how to fight a ghost.”
“You can’t.”
At the edge of the room, Cordelia appeared. The little raccoon raced toward me, holding her bushy tail high. She positioned herself between me and the ghosts, hissing wildly.
They cringed back.
“They don’t like familiars,” the Devil said.
As the key snicked in the lock behind me, one of the ghosts got up its courage and lunged close.
“Beware your fated mate,” it hissed.
I frowned. “What?”
“Come.” The Devil stood and gripped my waist, moving me forcibly toward the stairs that disappeared into the dark.
Cordelia maintained her position, teeth bared at the specters.
I gave them one last look as I hurried down the stairs, the Devil behind me. Had he heard the ghost?
He gave no indication.
Cool darkness enveloped me as we descended. Deep below the church, the air was silent and still. The ghosts stayed above, driven back by Cordelia, no doubt. Finally, I reached the bottom—a narrow hallway with a dirt floor.
It was nearly pitch black, and the Devil drew a lighter from his pocket. He flipped it on and lit the torch on the wall.
Golden light illuminated the long hallway, highlighting the tiny doors set into the walls on both sides. Each door was roughly one square meter in size, just big enough to fit a coffin. They were stacked six high and stretched endlessly down the hall.
There had to be dozens. Hundreds, even.
“Each of these must contain a body.” I ran my fingertips over one, feeling a prickle of magic.
“You said you saw a symbol on one?”
“Yes. It’s hers.” I walked down the hallway, searching the little stone doors. Each was marked with a different name or symbol, but none were the one I sought.
Finally, at the end, we found an empty hole in the grid of doors located roughly at chest level. The interior was so dark that it was impossible to see inside, but prickling magic spilled out.
A shiver raced over me. “The door is gone.”
“Down there.” The Devil crouched, running his hand over a slab of rock that lay on the ground. “They aren’t hinged, so when the crypt is open, the door must be left on the ground.”
I looked down and spotted the sorceress Mariketta’s symbol. “They’ve beaten us here.”
The Devil stood, slowly reaching toward the interior of the small crypt.
I leaned closer, trying to peer into the darkness. “Can you see anything? A body?”
He drew a small charm from his pocket and flicked his wrist. The stone began to glow a bright gold color that shed light inside the small space.
Shock lanced me. “It goes back forever.”
“A tunnel.” The Devil grinned.
“Why do you look so happy?” Nerves chilled my skin. “Do you have ulterior motives?”
“If I did, I wouldn’t say so.” He shook his head. “But no, I don’t. I just like when the unexpected happens here in Guild City.”
“Like the door in front of the altar.”
“Yes. Immortality is a long time, and boredom is my enemy.” He looked down at me, impossibly handsome, his eyes gleaming with interest. “Ready to explore?”
I nodded. “Can you give me a boost?”
“Yes.” He stored the glowing gem back in his pocket and gripped my waist in his strong hands. A shiver raced through me, and he hoisted me up.
I crawled into the tunnel, then tumbled forward into a much larger space. It was tall enough that I could stand, a strange trick of magic. I rose slowly and stepped out of the Devil’s way.
He climbed up to join me, and we stood side by side in the tunnel. It was a tight fit, close enough that I could feel his warmth and smell the fresh scent of his soap as I pressed myself back against the wall.
“I’ll lead.” He pulled his glowing charm from his pocket to light the way and started down the tunnel.
I followed, sticking close behind him, glad to let him face whatever monsters might lurk in the dark. The path descended deep underground, sloping downward sharply.
“We must be going back into town,” I said, my innate sense of direction kicking in.
“I had no idea.” He sounded thrilled.
“You aren’t worried?”
“I’m not as familiar with fear as I once was.” There was a hint of deception to his voice, and I wondered why.
“That’s not true.”
He looked over his shoulder at me, his face cast mostly in shadow. “Last night, I feared for you.”
“Oh.” That was not what I’d been expecting.
Cursed Mate.
Did he have feelings for me? Was that the mate part of the equation? But what about the cursed part?
He turned back and continued, going deeper and deeper until we had to be underneath the city itself. There were no other tunnels leading off the main one, and the narrow darkness was starting to press in on me. I kept my eyes glued on the light.
“There are many tunnels beneath Guild City,” he said. “Most are managed by the Dwarves. This one must be deeper to avoid intersecting.”
“Wow.”
Ahead, the Devil slowed. “Something happened here.”
I edged up behind him and peered over his shoulder. Spikes protruded from the walls, their tips stained dark red. I recoiled. “That’s blood.”
“Fresh blood.”
I looked again. The spikes protruded from each wall, hundreds of them, their tips touching. There were bits of fabric hanging from some of them where they’d torn at a person’s clothing. There were so many of them that they formed an impassable wall.
The Devil reached out and snapped one off.
“What are they made of?” I asked.
“Iron.”
He broke another, then another, creating a passage for us. Soon, it was completely open. I followed him through, reaching up for one of the taller ones to see if it really was iron.
It didn’t budge beneath my hands.
He shot me a grin over his shoulder. “Didn’t trust me?”
“I do now.”<
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He turned back, then faltered.
I stopped, mimicking his motions.
“One of them didn’t make it.”
Looking past him, I found a body sprawled in the hall. Blood pooled around it from the wounds. He’d gotten away from the spikes, but not soon enough.
“Let me.” I skirted the Devil and knelt by the dead man, keeping my gaze averted from the worst of the wounds. I searched his clothes and the area around him, finding nothing.
I laid my hand on him, trying to force myself to find something useful.
What are you planning?
Bits of information flashed through my head, but the only thing I could find was the explosion I’d already seen.
“Are you getting anything?”
“Nothing new.” I needed more practice.
“Come on. We need to hurry. There’s got to be more than just him.”
I nodded and stood, stepping over the body and following the Devil farther down the hall. We wound through the tunnel for what felt like days.
The Devil slowed. “We’re nearing something. Can you feel it?”
“The magic is changing, isn’t it?” The way it vibrated over my skin was different. And the glow was faintly green.
“It is.” I heard the frown in his voice. “Feels like sorcerer magic.”
“Makes sense, since Mariketta was a sorceress. But why the hell is there a tunnel?”
“It terminates ahead.” He stopped.
I squeezed up beside him. The air gleamed with an oily green light. “What is that?”
“A portal. Unlike any I’ve ever seen.”
“Do we go inside?”
He nodded. “I think we must.”
Excitement and dread warred within me, but I had no choice.
I stepped forward, determined to get it over with. The Devil’s hand closed over my arm, stopping me.
“I’ll go first.” His tone demanded no argument, and he stepped around me. “If something goes wrong, get out of here.”
He stepped through, disappearing.
I waited briefly. How was I supposed to recognize if something went wrong?
Everything seemed okay.
I hurried after him, letting the ether suck me in and spin me through space. Anxiety made my stomach pitch even harder. Where the hell were we going?
Portals were one thing, but portals to entirely unknown places were another matter entirely.
The magic spat me out into bright, humid warmth. I blinked, the sun blinding me. As my vision slowly clearly, my ears picked up the sounds of birds and the crash of waves. The scent of the sea rushed over me, and the warmth made my soul come alive.
Heaven.
The scene that unrolled in front of me was divine.
We stood on a sandy beach overlooking a crystal blue sea. Green mountains towered behind us, and white gulls swooped on the wind, cawing in the air. A pale white structure was built on the sand. The marble folly was round, with pillars supporting a domed roof.
Something flashed out of the corner of my vision, and I looked left, spotting what looked like a section of gray stone wall.
That was odd.
The Devil stood near me, studying the scene. A woman stood within the folly, leaning against a pillar and staring out to sea.
It took my head a moment to clear. The sheer beauty of this place had stolen my wits. But we’d just been in a crypt, and now we were in this divine place.
“Are we in heaven?” I asked.
Again, there was a flash of something that looked like a stone wall on the other side of this heavenly scene.
The Devil shook his head. “No. This isn’t an afterworld.” He frowned. “Something is different.”
“Afterworld? Like the afterlife?” Fear chilled me. “We aren’t dead, right?”
This place was gorgeous, but I didn’t want to stay here alone forever with the Devil—no matter how sexy he was—and a crazed sorceress named Mariketta.
“We are not dead.” His gaze met mine, calming. “You can feel your heartbeat, can you not?”
I nodded. “Yeah. Yeah.”
The woman turned to us, her dark hair and white dress blowing in the wind. The gown was simple and loose, the perfect beach dress for a goddess on vacation. Mariketta was no goddess—to my knowledge, at least—but she looked like one.
She was impossibly beautiful as she strolled toward us. “More visitors?”
Her voice rang like birdsong, and laughter followed it.
Childlike laughter.
I frowned. That wasn’t Mariketta.
I looked behind her and saw a child splashing in the sea.
The daughter she’d saved, and then avenged.
I looked back to her and slowly approached, the Devil a pace behind me. He’d made a point to charge into danger first, and I wondered if he were playing it safe now to avoid frightening Mariketta.
Hearing what she’d done to that town in France made me think she didn’t need coddling, however.
Behind her, I once again saw the flicker of stone wall.
“I am Carrow Burton.” I gestured to my companion. “And this is the Devil of Darkvale.”
Mariketta leaned against one of the white pillars. “How kind of you to pay me a visit. It gets rather dull here, despite its beauty.”
“What is this place?” I asked, unable to help myself.
“The Sorcerers’ Guild tower, of course. There are reasons we never let anyone inside unescorted.”
“But you’re telling us about it?” Worry pricked.
She shrugged and laughed. “Who will you tell?”
“My friends?”
“If you make it out of here.”
Aaand there it was. My senses had already been on high alert, but now they were laser focused. “Are you not dead, then?”
She laughed, a lovely sound despite the slight aura of dark magic that surrounded her. I didn’t get the impression that she was explicitly evil. Not even close, really. But she would do what it took to get what she wanted, and her magic made that clear.
“Oh, I’m quite dead. But sorcerers do things on their own schedule. If we choose, we can each have an enchanted room in the guild tower until we want to cross over.”
“Why have you not crossed over?” Did it have something to do with the tragedy we were trying to prevent? Could she help us?
Mariketta gestured to the child playing in the surf. “She is not yet ready.” She shrugged. “And this is a lovely place to spend time.”
“You mentioned other visitors,” I said. “Did they take something?”
“Indeed, they did.” She gestured us forward. “But first, drinks.”
I shot the Devil a look. Did we have time for this?
He nodded slightly. We didn’t have much choice. I had no idea if his magic could compel her to tell us what we wanted, so we’d have to convince her.
She led us to wooden lounge chairs at the edge of the folly. They faced the crashing waves and playing child. She waved her hand, and tropical orange and red drinks appeared on the tables next to us. A happy buzz floated through me at the sight of them.
“Have a Hawaiian Sunset,” she said. “They’re lovely.”
The Devil hesitated. He looked at them, as though trying to decipher their ingredients.
Mariketta laughed. “I promise they are not poisonous.”
We sat on the lounge chairs. Grey looked entirely out of place. Instead of reclining, he sat on the side, his arms propped on his knees as he watched Mariketta with keen eyes. He was a man who hadn’t relaxed in centuries, and it was obvious.
Me, on the other hand…I could get used to this.
I sipped the drink gingerly, to be polite. Fruity sweetness exploded on my tongue. It tasted divine. I wanted to gulp it but resisted.
Still, I felt great. This place was amazing. “You should sell tickets.”
She laughed. “That would defeat the point.”
“Why is this place connected t
o your crypt?” the Devil asked. “It seems like a security hazard.”
“We need the grave magic in the church’s crypt to help fuel this place, and the tunnel facilitates that.” She scowled. “As for the ones who broke in, they shouldn’t have been able to. But they were powerful.”
“Do you know what they intend to do?” I asked.
“Destroy Guild City.” There was an unmistakable scowl in her voice.
“That includes this place.” I frowned. “If it’s fueled by magic from the Sorcerers’ Guild Tower and the holy ground of the church, it will disappear when those places are destroyed.”
Mariketta rubbed her arms, a worried look rushing over her face. “Indeed.”
“Then why are we drinking and having a chat?” I sat upright, my head clearing briefly. I looked down at the beverage. “What was in this?”
“Truth serum.” Her eyes flicked to ours, hard and clear. “It gave you a buzz but was harmless. I need to know who you truly are if I am going to help you.”
She wasn’t just inviting us to a lovely cocktail party.
Of course she wasn’t.
“The Devil knew that.” She nodded at him, and I looked over, finding half his glass gone.
“Of course.” His voice was smooth as he gestured to the drink. “And you can see we’re willing to comply. We want to save Guild City, and with it, your place here.”
She nodded, appearing satisfied by our truths. “I tried to keep them from taking what they wanted. They shouldn’t have been able to make it into this place, but somehow, they managed.”
“What did they take?”
“Memories,” she said. “My memories.”
“Of the spell that you used to get vengeance for your daughter?” My gaze moved to the young girl who still splashed in the surf.
“Exactly. It was the only place that my spell was hidden.”
“How do we stop them?”
“The secret is in the spell,” she said.
“That’s vague.” I frowned. “Have you not warned the other sorcerers? Couldn’t they stop this?”
“Warn them how? I cannot leave this room, and the magic in this place weakens every time someone enters. They do not visit unless there are intruders.”
Behind her, I caught sight of a brief glimpse of the stone wall through the image of the ocean. The magic here was weakening.