More and more humans were running as the rain intensified. The mongrel girl didn’t seem bothered about the rain. She reached the middle of the bridge and then stopped, looking around. Humans were too busy trying to escape the pouring rain. She closed her umbrella and spread something that looked like a white powder around her. Horns were going off, someone was blocking the road. The cars weren’t moving.
“Maxine, where are you going? Let’s find some shelter,” Emma shouted after me, grabbing my elbow.
“No, we can’t leave now. She is there, right in front of us.” I pointed at the mongrel girl. She had turned around and was staring straight at me. Her energy connected with mine. I felt a burning deep in my chest and then time stopped. The world around me ceased. I glanced back at Emma and Zach. They stopped moving, like most of the people on the bridge, completely oblivious to magic that circulated around them. The drops of rain were suspended all around me. I watched how the circle from the white powder suddenly beamed with light. I had no idea who was responsible for this magic. Mongrels’ abilities were limited. I could cease the time sometimes, but that kind of energy shifted and expanded in the human world.
The light exploded upwards from the circle, creating some sort of portal. A second later, the mongrel girl giggled and jumped through the hole created by the light, disappearing in front of my eyes. Energy rolled down my arms, and my fingertips sparkled. I had no idea what I was doing, but my instinct took over. I ran to Emma and Zach, spreading my energy over at them. They woke up from the spell, glancing around, disoriented at the world that had been ceased in one of the busiest places.
“Come on, let’s move. We have to follow her,” I shouted, soaked from head to toe.
The light was still beaming from the hole that had been created in the middle of the London Bridge. I didn’t know how long her spell would hold the portal. The mongrel girl was connected to Warlocks. I had to follow her, with or without Zach and Emma.
“What the hell is going on here? Why is no one is moving?” Zach asked.
“I don’t have time to explain. We have to jump through that portal, now!” I roared back. Emma seemed to be the only one who could still think straight. She nodded to me and then grabbed Zach’s hand. I kept whispering the formula under my breath, trying to remember the spell that allowed me to cease the time. A split second later the circle began closing up on us. The rainwater showered us like a river, we heard the horns. We passed one or two humans who looked disoriented for a moment.
I reached the magical portal, and without hesitation, I jumped straight into the unknown. I had no idea if Emma or Zach would follow. The darkness obscured my vision and I was still falling. My screams died, and a moment later, I painfully crashed onto the wet ground.
Then two more bodies fell on top of me, knocking the air out of my lungs. I saw stars, as pain left me numb. I lay on the wet ground for several seconds until I was able to feel my limbs again. My head hurt, so did my knee and elbow.
“Oh, my God, Maxine, we are alive. This is amazing.” Emma’s squeaky voice reached me. Zach was back on his feet, massaging his back.
“Are you all right?” he asked me with a deep frown. I shook my head and rubbed my eyes. It looked like the portal worked. We were transported onto a dark quiet street. There was a round of terrace houses along the road and everything looked ordinary. My clothes were soaking wet, and water was dripping down my face. This whole experience felt surreal.
“Sort of, just give me a minute. I need to rest,” I said, breathing in and out until the pain eased.
“What the hell happened on that bridge?” he asked.
“It looked like the mongrel girl created a portal. She ceased the time. I saw her instantly,” I explained, looking around. I didn’t understand how Zach and the rest of the humans couldn’t see her. Even demons weren’t invisible. The mist was spreading quickly, covering everything around us. There was no time to ask questions. We needed to get the hell out of here.
“I didn’t see any girl,” Emma said, sounding disappointed. “But that’s okay as long as we are here, right? Is this the Forgotten Street?”
“I hope so. We followed her through the portal, so this must be it,” I said, squeezing the water out of my jacket. A mist was covering the streets. I could barely see the streetlamps in front of me.
“I have no signal here, wherever we are. So, what now?” Zach asked.
“We should get off the main road and find a place to hide,” I suggested, trying to locate any sources of energy. My fingertips stopped sparkling. The street seemed completely deserted. Morpheus must have been right about the mongrel in the red coat, and my gamble paid off. He wanted me to head to the London Bridge.
“All right, let’s follow the road. This can’t be any different than our world, right?” Emma asked smiling widely.
“Well, this is where you are wrong, little girl, because this is nothing like your world, dear,” a voice said, emerging from the dark corner.
Shortly after that, we realised we were surrounded by not only one, but at least a dozen Warlocks. They started emerging from the mist, blocking all the ways to escape.
Chapter 8
“But here we came across a band of souls who milled around the ditch and met our tread.”
―Dante Alighieri, The Divine Comedy
I counted at least fifteen Warlocks around us, all staring at us suspiciously. Emma moved behind me and Zach swore under his breath. I was still pretty much in shock after what happened on the bridge, trying to rebound my demonic powers, but nothing was working. The creatures around us were all Warlocks; their magic felt complex and strong. A wave of their power riddled through me, disabling my own magic. The mist covered the entire street now, and it was difficult to see anything beyond it.
I had a feeling that we were going to have to stay here for a bit longer than I originally anticipated. Alexis was coming to this dimension, and I had to find Matilda before she got here.
“How did you get here? No demons or humans are able to pass through the gate. The Forgotten Street belongs to Warlocks,” a male Warlock asked, standing close to my right. He was tall, muscular, and dressed in a dark cloak, similar to the one that Matilda had worn when we first met. Zach was thinking about his gun, and I was hoping he wouldn’t do anything stupid. Warlocks weren’t our enemy.
“We jumped through the magical portal on the London Bridge. We followed the mongrel in the red coat,” I said, realising that there was no point lying to them. Morpheus mentioned that Warlocks couldn’t be trusted, but I didn’t see why they wouldn’t help us. They had been oppressed by demons for centuries, and I had experienced that kind of prejudice myself. Maybe I could use this to my advantage and convince them that Matilda was my friend.
I felt movement behind me; Zach was trying to reach for his gun. I kicked him in the shin, indicating that this wasn’t necessary. A shiver of snippets passed through the group, and they all looked at each other with disbelief. Emma whispered something to me, but I couldn’t understand what she said. Zach calmed down a little, now pissed off more with me than anyone else.
“You followed a mongrel girl in a red coat?” the older one asked with a long silver beard. He had kind eyes and looked much friendlier than the rest of them.
“Yes, that’s how we got here,” I responded.
“We don’t want any drama. We are here for someone. Let us pass,” Zach interrupted, and I wished that I’d kicked him harder earlier. Matilda had showered me with kindness. I never had any problems with Warlocks, but right now we were in their territory. If I had to bet, I’d say that Berith had no idea that the Forgotten Street even existed.
“You’re not safe here. Warlocks’ territory is filled with twisted traps. Tell me, mongrel girl—how did you know about a woman in a red coat?” the same elder Warlock asked.
I hesitated then, thinking about my deal with Morpheus. No one was supposed to know about him.
“Does it matter? I just knew that I had t
o be here tonight,” I said, dismissing the question. “We won’t cause you any trouble. We just need to find someone in this dimension.”
“You could pass, but first you must tell us—how did you know about the gate? We tolerate mongrels; they are harmless. But demons have been killing us for as long as we can remember, and we hate them,” the elder Warlock stated.
I scratched my head and glanced at Zachary. He nodded, like he was telling me to just get on with it. These Warlocks were living here peacefully. I didn’t want to use unnecessary violence. Emma moved a bit closer and whispered again.
“Come on, tell them. We can’t stay here. We need to find Alexis.”
All right, so my friends didn’t understand that I had made a deal with Lucifer himself. There was no way I could reveal any details from my conversation with Morpheus. I bit my lip, calling up my power. Morpheus had specified that no one within the demonic community should know about Summer or about my affair with Arthur. Lucifer wanted to take care of Alexis quietly, probably because he didn’t trust his own demons. It was a tactical move, but I had a feeling that Morpheus was more than just his right hand.
“I’m sorry, but I can’t tell you how I knew about the girl. We aren’t doing you any harm. Let us go about our business,” I requested as diplomatically as I could, but the Warlocks didn’t look like they were ready to let me go.
“Someone betrayed our kind. We won’t let you leave unless you tell us what we want to know,” the Warlock in the middle with slightly blondish hair announced. The clock was ticking, the fire in my stomach rising slowly and steadily. Alexis had left a mark on me. We were somehow connected with each other after Gjöll. There was no doubt that dark magic was floating through her veins, and I could sense it instantly.
“Then we have a bit of a problem. A letter had been delivered to me with the instructions of how to get here. I don’t know who wrote it,” I lied. I couldn’t lose Ricky or put my daughter in danger. Warlocks were here because they wanted to protect themselves. We were the intruders and they didn’t trust us.
“James, take them to the Canary. The streets are dangerous at this time of night,” the older Warlock ordered. Zach grabbed my shoulder and squeezed it.
“Max, what the hell? Tell them about Ronan, so we can be on our way,” he hissed with a sharp whisper.
“Ronan didn’t tell me about the Forgotten Street, someone else did,” I whispered back, angry with myself that I couldn’t explain anything to him.
Two Warlocks standing behind me, pushed me forward, and I had no other choice but to start moving. My friends were slowly losing faith in me. The mist was poisonous, drowning my magic and focus. The Warlocks were right: there was an unknown creature watching us from the distance. A few elders glanced around. I noticed fear in their eyes. They hadn’t created the mist.
Five Warlocks with magic beyond my control led us to an abandoned building on a back street. We all went calmly together, vanishing inside the dark space. Before I disappeared inside, I noticed how quiet the whole area was. The immense, hollow silence rang in my ears and a cold shiver crept over my spine. My inner demon reminded me that Zachary and Emma needed to be protected. They weren’t able to see so well in the dark, so it was important that we stuck together.
We walked for about five minutes, finally going inside a large open space lit with torches. We were brought in front of a long wooden table with chairs. A moment later, someone grabbed my elbow and moved me to the side. It looked like each one of us had a separate guard. I counted three chairs, not having a good feeling about whatever was about to happen.
Minutes later, three Warlock females entered, and each one sat on an empty chair in front of the table. All of them had the same black cloaks with long pointed hats. Dim light partly revealed that they were older, possibly in their fifties or sixties.
“The high chair hearing begins,” announced a voice from the corner of the building. He was wearing the same dark cloak and his face was covered. Emma jumped, looking around startled. Then we all heard ringing bells somewhere outside. I sensed that it was a warning of some sort, but it was difficult to figure out from what. I struggled to connect with my demonic energy, struggled to recognise the danger.
The sound of bells was getting louder. More Warlocks appeared in the building. My guard was a female, tall and lean, holding a long sword in her right hand. The Warlocks obviously wanted to question us officially. I had never heard about high chair hearings. Several minutes passed, and the Warlock female sitting behind the wooden table smiled at me. Her small brown eyes moved over Zach and Emma.
“The purpose of this hearing is to find out who betrayed our kind. The Warlock community is small, and we are trying to survive in this world. Demons feel threatened by us. That’s why we are forced to hide here,” she began. “My name is Eve.”
“As I said before, we don’t want any trouble. We are loo—”
“Silence, mongrel, you haven’t been given permission to speak,” Eve shouted, slamming something that looked like a stone on the table until sparks of electricity began erupting all around her. Emma gasped, and I stopped talking. This wasn’t good. We didn’t have time to stand here. Morpheus insisted that I had to be here tonight. He must have known that Alexis would try to enter the Forgotten Street sometime tonight.
“Human girl—tell us everything you know,” the female ordered, the same Warlock directing her question to Emma.
“Me?” Emma asked, pointing at her herself. “Well, I didn’t know at first that Maxine was a demon … and Ricky. You see, I had seen strange things happening all around me before, but I thought that maybe my eyes were misleading me. Then, a couple of weeks ago, Max and Ricky called me in to the office and started—”
“No, we don’t need to know your life story,” Eve stated, looking amused. “How did you know about the Forgotten Street?”
I smiled and shook my head. Emma didn’t know anything.
“Maxine told me about this street. I asked her if I could help. You see, our friend Ricky is dying. He’s in the hospital and we need a reversal spell,” Emma explained like she truly believed that Eve did give a damn about our problems. The Warlocks just wanted to find out who betrayed them.
A moment later the bells stopped ringing, and my demonic abilities came back. There was a full-blooded demon nearby. Electricity jolted through me, and my pulse sped up. I felt that familiar burning sensation inside my chest. Zachary said something to me, but I couldn’t hear him. My vision went blurry, and I saw a flashback from the past.
The little girl couldn’t be more than two years old. She was playing in the stream. She had short blond curls, and she was splashing water all over her pink dress. Tall wide trees surrounded the space; the birds were singing in the trees.
I stood somewhere on the other side, staring, and wondering what happened to the Warlocks and the hearing. The little girl looked so happy, smiling wildly and screaming with joy.
“Summer, come on, I made something delicious,” a woman shouted with wavy ebony hair. She had dark enigmatic eyes, and her smile was filled with warmth. It was Matilda. I was seeing a moment from the past, possibly another flashback or a mirage.
Last time, back in the tunnels, the Keres implanted that one lost memory about my mother. Right now, I was experiencing something similar.
I was staring at my own daughter, and I couldn’t comprehend how this was possible. She was so beautiful. I hadn’t seen her since birth, since that moment when I handed her to Matilda. Her little chubby face and those large green eyes. The emotions that scorched over me were overwhelming. I felt sunshine on my skin, sending her joy and happiness. It was bliss.
Summer was a spitting image of her father, the prince. There was no doubt that she was his daughter.
I forced my feet to move, but nothing happened. This mirage was more painful than I could ever have imagined. I wished that I could disappear, and not see how beautiful she really was. Guilt was tearing me apart, and pain spread like
a wildfire to every nook and cranny of my body.
“No, Summer is not hungry, Auntie. Summer wants to play,” she shouted and continued to splash the water.
Matilda went up to her and knelt down so she was at the same level, taking her small hands.
“You’re right, but you can play all you like after. Come on, you need some energy, so you will grow up to be a tall woman, like your mother,” Matilda said.
Then the image started fading slowly and I was losing her. I screamed, but then the darkness overshadowed my senses.
I took a sharp deep breath, realising that I was back in the room. Alexis was at the Forgotten Street. I sensed her energy nearby. The connection was strong, but it was fading. That vision must’ve had something to do with her. Tears welled in my eyes when I thought about my daughter.
“Right, you can stay here until you reveal what we need to know,” Eve said, now staring directly at me.
Sweat rolled over my back, and I looked up toward the way out. More Warlocks began to arrive, blocking us from escaping.
“Max, for God’s sake tell them. We are running out of time,” Zachary said, like he wanted to shake me. I heard snippets and whispers around us. The Warlocks were getting impatient. Alexis was slowly moving away, and she seemed delighted about something. I needed to get the hell out of here.
“I told you, I don’t know who sent the letter. My friend here seems to think that it was my old mentor Ronan, but the letter wasn’t signed,” I shouted, losing control. Sparks erupted through my fingertips as I tried tapping into my energy.
I had to do something. Matilda was in danger, and I couldn’t let Alexis take Summer. I glanced back at my guard and then a crazy idea came to me. A couple of months ago, I wouldn’t have risked the lives of my friends, but this whole trip wasn’t about protecting them, it was about stopping Alexis. I had a task, a responsibility.
Doomed Cases Box Set: The Complete Collection Books 1- 4 & Prequel Page 55