The Ruby Circle

by Richelle Mead

  “Why?” asked Zoe.

  Sydney met my eyes. “He said it smelled like Ms. Terwilliger’s house.”

  For a minute, I thought she was suggesting Jackie was there, and then I caught on to the inference he’d made. “You think there’s some kind of magic use going on down there?”

  “Alicia was the one who caught Jill for them,” Sydney remarked. “It’s possible she left some kind of trap in place. It would also explain why there were no Warriors on guard down there.”

  “Probably because they all ran up to fight in the initial assault,” her dad said.

  Alicia’s words echoed back to me: You’ll never get to her! You’ll never get through to her! A feeling of dread settled into my stomach. “No, there’s something there.”

  “They’ve suspended things until I can get out there to look,” said Sydney. Her eyes met mine. “You coming with me?”

  There was no need to ask, and we both knew it. A guardian drove us out to the site, which was outside of the city proper. No surprise there, as fanatics tended not to build their strongholds in civilized areas full of other people who might call the police. Desert terrain dominated, albeit in a different way from Palm Springs. The rocks and ground were a red that looked striking in the setting sun, with little patches of scrubby vegetation here and there. The compound itself was a wide, one-story building surrounded by barbed wire. Alchemists and guardians patrolled the area side by side, and I could see where they had rounded up and contained the enemy Warriors. Dimitri met us as we got out of the car.

  “This way,” he said, gesturing forward. “We think there are still mines in the area. I’ll take you on a path I know is safe.”

  We followed him over the rocky ground, into the enclosure, past the glaring prisoners. The building itself was as stark as a military barracks, and as far as I could tell, it had served no purpose except to hold prisoners and as a hangout to discuss crazed anti-vampire schemes. It chilled me seeing it all.

  A stairwell in the center of the building led downstairs to an underground level, and there, we saw Eddie, Neil, and Rose waiting at the bottom. Sydney and I followed the stairs down and found ourselves standing in a long concrete corridor that stretched off into darkness. A few doors could be seen branching off, but I had no idea what was beyond them. Beside me, Sydney winced.

  “Reminds me of a primitive version of some of the re-education levels,” she murmured, shuddering.

  Thinking back to when I helped rescue her, I could understand what she meant. That facility had also contained vast halls with mysterious doors, though it had had a much more clinical feel to it. It had all been sterile and lit with stark fluorescent lighting. This, meanwhile, was more like a dirty, medieval dungeon in the wilds of Utah. It made me sick to think of Jill being inside.

  “We think Jill’s just down there,” said Rose. “That’s what the Alchemists’ equipment detected. I want to go in and get her, but Eddie . . .” It was clear she didn’t share his fears.

  He looked a little embarrassed but held his ground. “I just can’t shake the feeling something’s off here. Why not have guards on their most valuable prisoner? And do you smell that?”

  Sydney nodded, and I had to agree. “It does smell like Jackie’s house,” I remarked.

  “Someone’s burned incense here,” said Sydney. “Though it’s not something you’d see Ms. Terwilliger using very much. Vetiver. Black lotus.” She frowned and scanned around. “There. There are some ashes down the hall. That’s where it was burned.”

  I started to investigate, but she held me back.

  “Wait,” she said. She held up her hand and spoke words in a language I didn’t know. After several seconds, glowing symbols appeared in the ceiling above where the ashes were. Sydney studied them intently until they faded away, and then she exhaled in dismay. “Damn.”

  I rarely heard her swear and didn’t think that boded well.

  “What is it?” I asked.

  “There’s a demon here,” she replied in a tone that was far too casual for that kind of pronouncement. “It looks like Alicia summoned one to stand guard.”

  “Hopper’s technically a demon,” I offered.

  Her face was grim. “Not that kind, I’m afraid. This is a senicus.” Seeing our blank looks, she asked, “Have you ever heard of a hydra in Greek mythology? It’s kind of like that. Kind of. Serpentine, lots of heads. But these heads spit boiling acid.”

  I’d taken Greek mythology in high school and actually paid attention to it. “Do the heads grow back too?” I asked.

  “Not if you destroy them with fire,” she said.

  “Do we need a flamethrower?” asked Neil.

  Sydney held out her palm, and a ball of flame appeared. “No need.”

  Rose’s eyes widened in wonder. “Whoa. Will blades still hurt this thing?”

  “No,” said Sydney. “It has a magical hide that’ll protect it. I’m the only one who can really take this thing out. What you guys need to do is get Jill out of here while I distract it. Someone needs to sneak past it while it’s engaged. Fire’s the only way to destroy this thing, and I don’t want Jill trapped here if things literally go up in smoke.”

  Once again, I was feeling useless. Sydney might be a pro at wielding fireballs, but that didn’t mean I wanted her taking on this hydra-demon-thing alone. “What should I do?”

  “Nothing,” she said. “Get out of here.”

  She thinks you’re incompetent! hissed Aunt Tatiana. She thinks you’ll be in the way.

  “Sydney, let me help,” I insisted.

  Sydney’s eyes weren’t even on me as she scrutinized the corridor, probably gauging the range of her fireballs and how flammable the whole thing was. “Adrian, there’s nothing you can do here. Stay safe in case Jill needs help when she gets out.”

  Do you hear that? asked Aunt Tatiana. She doesn’t think you’re capable of anything!

  My temper started to flare, and I nearly agreed with Aunt Tatiana until I took a moment to mentally replay what Sydney had said. No, she’s right, I told the phantom in my head. If Jill’s injured, I need to conserve my power. No repeats of Olive.

  Aunt Tatiana disagreed. You don’t need to conserve! You can do it all!

  Trying to shut out that internal voice, I kissed Sydney and drew her into a brief embrace. “Be careful,” I murmured. “And if you do need me, I’ll be close by.”

  “Not too close,” she warned. “This thing spits acid. I can’t have you injured.”

  “Understood,” I said, before Aunt Tatiana could raise a protest about how Sydney was coddling me.

  I took up a position on the staircase, allowing me a quick escape if need be but also giving me a good vantage on the action about to take place. I hadn’t argued with Sydney, but Jill’s health wasn’t the only thing I was concerned about. Along with Sydney, the dhampirs were putting themselves at risk. I wanted to be on hand in case any of them were injured in this escapade. After a heated argument, the three of them decided on a plan. Eddie and Neil would wait with me as backup while Rose slipped into the corridor alone. Each of the guys wanted to go, but she pointed out that she was smaller and faster. She also argued that all of them, plus Jill, trying to get back past the demon would make for tight quarters. It was hard for the guys to fault her logic, and Sydney concurred that with fireballs flying, it’d be easier for her to have fewer people to worry about.

  So Eddie and Neil reluctantly came to wait by me, and Rose hovered just behind Sydney. “Time to summon it,” said Sydney nervously. “It’d come on its own if I crossed those runes, but I’d rather bring it out on my own terms.” She held up her hands and spoke an incantation that once again made the markings in the ceiling glow. Only this time, a creature materialized below it.

  I understood then why a hydra had been her closest comparison. From the waist down, the demon walked on two leg
s just like we did—albeit with scaly skin and talons in its feet. From the waist up, it had several sinuous tentacles extending from its torso, as well as five snakelike necks and heads. All of them were hissing and glaring at Sydney. I felt fear churn in my own stomach at the sight of it and almost wished for the time when the only monsters I knew about in this world were Strigoi. Despite the terror that thing inspired, I still felt an overwhelmingly protective urge to help Sydney. It wouldn’t matter if my own life was at risk. I’d gladly sacrifice it for hers.

  Do it! Do it! exclaimed Aunt Tatiana. Throw something at it!

  “There’s nothing to throw,” I said. “And Sydney’s got this.”

  “Hmm?” asked Eddie.

  I’d spoken out loud again and shook my head. “Nothing.”

  Sydney held her ground, staring down the snake-demon in front of her as though she did this every day and hadn’t unexpectedly walked into one’s lair now. A fireball came easily to her fingertips, and she hurled it without preamble at one of the serpentine heads. Her aim was good—except that the snake was just too fast. In the blink of an eye it had swerved its head and dodged. One of the other heads spit a glob of bright green goo that landed on the concrete floor and began eating away at the surface. I didn’t want to think about what that stuff would do to flesh.

  Sydney threw and missed again, but her gaze remained steely. “I’ll get a hit in eventually,” I heard her tell Rose. “And that’s when you make your move.”

  Rose was braced beside her, ready to pounce. The two of them made a striking combo, one dark and one golden, both utterly fearless in the face of this danger. They were beautiful in their deadliness.

  Sydney’s next fireball struck a head. The creature reared back in pain, all of its surviving heads screaming. Rose used that as her chance, sprinting past the creature and keeping to the opposite side of the cement corridor. The demon still noticed her and started to turn, but a direct fireball hit drew its angry attention back to Sydney. Some of its tentacles were short and stubby, but a few were quite long and occasionally made dangerous grabs for her—meaning she had to dodge both those attacks and the acid. She managed it more deftly than I could have, evading the strikes with a skill Wolfe would have applauded.

  “Too close,” muttered Neil, after Sydney just barely sidestepped some acid.

  “She’s got this,” I said. And as though on cue, another fireball blasted into one of the snake heads, leaving a charred husk behind.

  “What’s taking Rose so long?” demanded Eddie.

  I didn’t have an answer for that. She’d disappeared into the darkness, and none of us knew what was beyond that. She could have twenty doors to look in. Or maybe they were locked. Or Jill could be tied up or in chains. None of us knew for sure, and that uncertainty was hard on the rest of us.

  Sydney had just annihilated a third snake head when I heard Eddie give a sharp intake of breath. In the shadows beyond the creature, I could just make out Rose, with another figure leaning heavily on her for support. The other person’s face was buried on Rose’s shoulder, but there was no mistaking the tangle of long, light brown hair. My heart jumped to my throat.

  Jill.

  Rose was obviously waiting for an opening to get back through, and a shift in Sydney’s stance told me she’d seen them behind the demon. She threw a fireball wide, one that wasn’t specifically aimed at a head but which forced the creature to rear toward the side of the corridor. Rose recognized her opportunity and hurried forward, half dragging Jill along the way. A cluster of tentacles made contact with Rose’s leg, and I stopped breathing—but then a rapid and well-placed fireball took out a fourth head. The creature let go and turned its wrath on Sydney as Rose broke through and got Jill to the stairs.

  In a flash, Eddie and Neil were at her side, helping Rose bring her up. My stomach twisted as I took in the sight of Jill, and I had an unwelcome sense of déjà vu back to the time when we’d finally found Sydney in the depths of the re-education center. Jill’s condition was similar. She’d lost a considerable amount of weight, and her skin was pale, even by Moroi standards. She was in dirty, rumpled pajamas—what she’d been kidnapped in, no doubt—and it looked as though they hadn’t really let her bathe either. Her pupils were slightly dilated, which confirmed they’d given her some kind of drug that had interfered with me reaching her in dreams.

  “Are you okay?” I asked. I drew spirit into me, prepared to heal her.

  “N-no, don’t do it,” she warned. Even drugged, the bond must have still been working. That, or she simply knew me well enough by now to guess what I’d do. It took her a few seconds to form the rest of her words. “I . . . I’m just weak. Hungry. They gave me animal blood.”

  My stomach turned at that. Moroi could survive on animal blood, but “survive” was about the kindest way you could put it. We’d stay alive but lose a lot of strength and energy. There were always stories that popped up once in a while about some Moroi family that got trapped without a feeder for a week or so and had to feed off animals. They’d emerge weak and debilitated, making for sensational headlines in Moroi news. I couldn’t even imagine what shape Jill must be in after a month of that. It explained why she could barely stand.

  Still, the instinct was there to help her anyway, to give her a boost with spirit. “No,” she said sharply, again anticipating me. “Just get me to a feeder. And get someone out to the back of this property. There’s a shed there with another basement prison.”

  “I’ll take her to a feeder,” said Eddie, starting to move her up the stairs. Rose helped by supporting Jill’s other side.

  “I’ll go find the other Moroi,” said Neil, starting to move ahead of them. He paused and glanced back at Sydney. “Unless you need me?”

  I shook my head. “I’ll get her out of here. Go help the others.”

  The dhampirs and Jill disappeared, leaving me alone to look after Sydney. That snake demon was down to one head, but I noticed now that there was smoke in the corridor. One of her fireballs must have hit a door and found something to ignite.

  “We need to get out of here,” I yelled to her. “That fire might spread. Jill’s safe.”

  “I’m not leaving this guy to run rampant!” Sydney shouted back. A well-placed fireball nearly took out the remaining head, but the creature dodged at the last second, missing the hit by barely an inch. It roared in fury, and one of its tentacles shot out more quickly than Sydney could anticipate. It caught her by her feet, knocking her to the ground, and with equal speed, the demon hurried over, its last head rearing up in triumph as it prepared to drench her in acid.

  Do something! Do something! Aunt Tatiana screamed at me.

  But there was nothing to telekinetically throw, no plants to summon like Sonya might do. This was the waking world, not a dream. Spirit was not a combat magic, but in the space of a heartbeat, I still knew I had to act. Sydney—my heart, my love, and my wife—was seconds away from death. I would have gladly thrown my body in front of hers, but there was no time for that either. I had only a millisecond to decide, so I pulled out my last spirit trick.

  “Stop!” I ordered.

  Spirit burned through me, and I sent a wave of compulsion into the demon, attempting to bend its will to mine. I’d never done anything like that. I didn’t even know if it could be done. The creature actually paused, however, making me think it had both sentience and the ability to be controlled. Emphasis on ability. Because even though the creature momentarily restrained itself, I could feel my hold slipping, and it snarled again, ready to strike Sydney. The more strong-willed a person was, the harder it was to compel them. Demons must be in an entirely different class, because I was already amped up on spirit and was just barely having an effect.

  More, more! said Aunt Tatiana.

  I drew on greater reserves of spirit, pulling everything out of me, all my energy and life, all my resolve. It was more than I’
d used in the dream with Olive, nearly as much as I’d used to bring back Jill. Spirit filled every part of me, making me greater than I’d ever thought I could be, nearly godlike. I turned that power on the demon, exerting my control as I issued my commands: “Let her go! Back up!”

  The demon obeyed.

  Its tentacles released Sydney, who scrambled away and got to her feet. Fire filled her palms, and with the demon in my thrall, it made an easy target for her to finish the last head. Once that one was destroyed, the rest of the creature’s body disintegrated into a fine black dust. Spirit still burned brightly within me, though, making me feel exhilarated and unstoppable. Sydney hurried to my side and shook my arm.

  “Adrian, let it go,” she said. “It’s done. You did it. Release the magic!”

  No one has ever possessed power like this, Aunt Tatiana told me. Can you feel it? Don’t you feel alive? Why would you ever want to let this go?

  She was right. With this kind of power, I could do great things. Strigoi, the Warriors, even demons: None of our enemies stood a chance. We didn’t need silver stakes or Sonya’s vaccine. I could do it all. I would save our people singlehandedly.

  “Adrian, Adrian!”

  For a moment, I didn’t know whom the voice belonged to. I was too lost in my power, power that was burning me up. A face moved into my smoky vision, a human with blond hair and brown eyes, but I didn’t know her either.

  “Adrian,” she cried again. “Let it go. Please. Release the magic—for me.”

  For me, she’d said.

  But who was she? Then, at last, the intoxication of spirit faded enough for me to know. Sydney. Sydney, my wife. She was the one looking into my face, looking so completely terrified.

  Ignore her, said Aunt Tatiana. This is the magic you were born to wield!

  Sydney squeezed my hand. “Adrian, please. Release the magic.”

  I could feel spirit starting to obscure my mind again, starting to blot Sydney out, starting to destroy all of my higher reasoning, just as it had Nina’s. I wanted to let go, but it was hard when that power gave me such a heady, glorious feeling.