“I am going to find Alexander,” Lucious said, leaving them alone in the room.
Madeline gave Helena a reassuring smile and whispered, “I didn’t know if you wanted the vampire to know this, but it is a powerful suppression spell.”
“Why would Reaver cast a suppression spell on me?”
“You tell me, child.”
Helena curled her fingers in her lap. Her memory of the ritual Nora performed never came back. It was a complete blank. Did Nora erase my memories?
A hammering headache built, and she massaged her temples.
“Do not force it,” Madeline said. “Like I have said before, the spell will wear off in time. What I’m curious about is what the spell is suppressing.”
“You and me both.”
24
Blood Gate
Alexander rented the nearby restaurant for the night to accommodate the whole group. With the darkness swallowing the last rays of sunshine, everyone seemed on edge while encased with bland white walls and large windows. Across the table, Maya toyed with her knife, flicking it back and forth between her hands. Ben stood like a stone obelisk behind his partner’s seat. Lucious paced around the empty square tables, and Alexander checked his phone every two seconds by the far window.
A warm hand grasped Helena’s, and Madeline said, “It will be alright.”
Helena gave her a half-smile and stared at the red entrance doors. It’s almost time...
Complete and utter silence took on an almost physical form when Nora paraded into the restaurant with the pixie, Kaliroth, perched on her shoulder and four male vampires trudging behind her. Nora’s long raven hair was tied with pink ribbons into two ponytails, and she beamed at Helena and the others in the room.
The pixie flew into the air and landed on the shoulder of a vampire with a buzz cut.
“Did you miss me, everyone?” Nora asked with a grin.
No one responded to her comment, and Helena’s heart launched into another nervous waltz. Why did Nora cast a suppression spell on me? She knew pressing the siren for an answer wouldn’t work without something in return. So, she refrained.
The vampires and the hunters stiffened and sized each other up.
“Such sullen faces on my arrival,” Nora said, waving for her entourage to wait outside. She plopped into a seat across from Helena, and Maya scooted away from the siren with the loud screech of chair against the tiled flooring.
“I’m sorry we forgot to throw a party for you,” Lucious’ voice came from behind Helena. He touched her shoulder as if in reassurance of his presence.
Nora’s mirth didn’t falter. She put her elbows on the table and nestled her chin on her palms. “I am glad you called in a favour, Helena. I was waiting for it.”
Lucious’ hand gripped her shoulder, and Helena looked up, seeing nothing other than a perfectly sculpted poker-face. The link seemed as still as the stuffy air in the room, but his inflexible posture betrayed his agitation.
“Why are you helping us?” Lucious demanded.
With a bored expression, Nora met his stare. “That is between me and my friend here. Isn’t it?”
Helena gave an uncertain nod. There would be plenty of time to question Nora what the spell was and why she had cast it in the first place once they managed to get Andrew back.
The door behind Helena opened, and Nadine strode out of the toilets. She made her way to Helena’s side and sat in a free chair on her right.
“You must be the siren who tried to capture me,” Nadine said, scrutinising Nora with a stare.
Nora rubbed her hands and sat back in her seat. “And you must be the precious saint everyone here is protecting.”
“Protecting is an extreme version of the definition,” Alexander piped in, gliding to Lucious’ side.
Nadine crossed her arms and eyed Nora. “I will need to syphon yours and the witch’s power to force open the gate. Will you give me permission to do so?”
Nora’s face hardened. Blue colour bled into her left iris, and her voice came out much deeper. “If that is the deal the young lady and I wish to make, I will permit you to do so.”
“Curious magic,” Madeline said softly. “Two souls in one body…”
Nora’s lips stretched into a smirk. “A beautiful and strong witch like you would know.”
A shudder ran through Helena. It was strange seeing a different soul in control of another body. Did Nora willingly give her body up for her father to control?
“…the ritual tomorrow,” Reaver said, and Helena snapped out of her dream-like state.
“No! It has to be done tonight,” Helena protested.
Reaver tilted his head to one side and raised a dark brow. “Is there any particular reason why we are rushing such a complicated process?”
Helena’s hands balled into fists in her lap. “We have to save a friend. He was taken.”
An outburst of laughter came from Reaver.
Helena didn’t find anything funny about the situation. Anger simmered beneath her skin. The only thing holding her back was Lucious’ hand that massaged her shoulder. Somehow, his touch grounded her. Once she calmed, she pressed her lips into a line.
Reaver’s laughter turned into chuckles. He wiped away the tear he had shed with a flick of a finger. “I have not had such a good laugh in a long time. It is…different to what I expected from one such as you.”
“What do you mean?” Helena asked.
Reaver winked and took hold of Nadine’s hand.
The saint jolted out of her seat faster than lightning, knocking the chair back. “Don’t touch me, filth!”
“At least, we know she doesn’t loathe us in particular,” Alexander commented, and Lucious chuckled beside him.
Reaver’s expression turned serious as he outstretched his hand to Madeline. “You wished to share energies. Without touching, it’s impossible.”
Madeline nodded, her copper hair sliding over her shoulders. “Reaver’s right. We must connect physically and mentally—a process that may take some time and would require utmost silence.”
After what appeared to be a drawn out minute of quiet from Nadine, she took a cautious step forwards. She lifted her chair and settled in at the table.
“It would be best if any of you uninvolved in the process left us. We will inform you when the energy merge is complete,” Reaver said.
Lucious nudged Helena’s shoulder, and she slowly rose from her seat as she studied Madeline. The witch gave her a reassuring smile which took away the apprehension Helena felt at first.
A hand wrapped around hers, and she looked at Lucious. He marched her to the main entrance of the restaurant. Warm evening breeze welcomed them, and she peeked over her shoulder to find Alexander, Maya, and Ben trailing behind them.
“We’ll wait at the apartment,” Maya said. Then, she and Ben headed up the street.
Alexander ran his hand through his hair. “I do not trust Reaver with this task. She or he—I am no longer certain—is scheming something, and it makes me itch all over.”
“I must agree with you there. The siren is too willing,” Lucious said.
Helena stole another glance at the exterior of the small family restaurant illuminated by the orange street lights. She let the vampires’ words sink in. There was no way she could trust Nora or Reaver. Having two souls present in one body didn’t mean that either of them was honourable.
Four vampires chatted across the road to one another as they waited for Nora to conduct her business. Why did they follow a young girl around and never complained?
“We don’t have much of a choice if we want to save Andrew,” she said.
“Helena, he may be a lost cause. What if a demon possessed him as one had Anna long ago? If my childe cannot control it, he will bring much destruction to the world and those around him,” Lucious replied.
Helena puckered her lips. “We don’t know that for sure!”
Alexander patted Lucious on the shoulder. “I told you sh
e never listens to reason. It is like tossing peas at a brick wall.”
“Leave us to speak in private, Alexander,” Lucious said, and they exchanged a look that Helena couldn’t decipher.
Alexander shoved his hands into the pockets of his white trousers and strolled away as he whistled a slow tune.
Lucious’ hold on her hand grew painful, and she remembered that they were holding hands. He nudged her in the opposite direction of Alexander, and they turned a corner into the restaurant’s back alley.
“Is this what you want to do?” he asked.
At first, she wasn’t certain what he meant, but, as his words sank in, the meaning soon became clear. His tall frame merged with the darkest shadows because of his black clothes. She touched the place where his string would have been, and he caught his breath.
“Let me feel your soul,” she whispered.
“You do not want to know what I feel right now, Helena,” he said, his tone clipped.
She peered at the outline of his face and took a step closer. “Please, let me in.”
From up close, she could hear his teeth grinding. Without notice, he pulled her in and claimed her soft lips with his. Lucious tongue found hers as they danced to a silent yet passionate serenade. His hands glided from her sides to her derriere, and she let out a soft moan. The floodgates to his emotions broke, and terror mixed with anger shook the link.
She broke away from the kiss. Her legs were unstable from the overwhelming fear, but she fought to remain upright. She cupped his face, and her fingers brushed the rough stubble on his cheeks.
“What makes you so scared?” she whispered.
He let out a nervous chuckle. “What doesn’t? We are going into a world full of demons and our only backup is a demented siren and a saint.”
His emotions retreated and the link, once more, was immobile. He grasped her wrists and tugged her hands downwards. “That is why I want to know if this is what you want, my dear. I have no qualms about risking my life for you, but I will not involve Alexander in this. That is why he will remain here and keep an eye on everything on this end.”
“I never asked him to be part of this.”
“No, but he is a man of honour and will do what he can to help those he cares about.”
A pang of guilt hurt her chest as she contemplated how many lives she was risking to save one. What would happen if Andrew was gone or if a demon had possessed him? Would she have to kill him? Her stomach twisted with another knot.
Lucious caressed her right cheek. “I am not like Alexander. I am more a man of chance than a man of calculated moves. Because you are a part of my soul, a part of my heart, I want to know what it is you want to do. Ignore the words of others. Forget them and answer my question.”
Discarding her worries was harder than she had anticipated. They could be dead tomorrow if they failed. What if the Arcanae Mortum of the viator bijous didn’t work? Would they remain trapped in the Demon Realm? At the same time, she couldn’t leave Andrew behind. He had sacrificed too much for her, and it was high time she returned the favour.
“I want to save him.”
Lucious hugged her to his chest. “And I will stake my life on retrieving him, but I want you to remain here.”
His arms turned into an impenetrable prison around her as she tried to tear away. “You’re not going in there alone! He is my friend. I’m the one who has to go and find him.” Her outraged words came out muffled as she spoke into his shirt.
Lucious chuckled and let her go. “There’s the fire I’ve not seen in a long time.”
She glared and punched his shoulder. The action seemed to amuse him further.
“You did that on purpose!” she said.
He smirked and stroked her hair as his expression turned serious. “At this time, it is my greatest wish to find a room with no way out, so I can keep you from going through with this. I am refraining from doing that, but it is agonising to see you risk your life for another man.”
“Lucious, you know how I—”
He silenced her by pressing an index finger to her lips. “Let me finish.”
She sighed and moved his hand away.
A smile curved his lips. “Good girl. As I was saying, I will try not to restrain you. Having said that”—he took hold of her hand, leading them back in the direction of the restaurant—“if I find my childe or any other man flirting with you, I may endeavour to castrate them.”
Fluffy grey clouds gathered above the West Norwood Cemetery as the group stood in front of the pointed stone archway. A rusted iron gate to keep the living out, Helena thought as she looked on ahead.
“Ah, a lovely place to spend the night, wouldn’t you agree?” Nora asked with a giggle. “Perfectly suited for the undead gathered here.”
Helena grasped Lucious’ arm when she noticed him shifting towards the siren. They were getting close to the Demon Gate, and the air around the cemetery got thicker as they edged to the entrance.
Two of Nora’s bodyguards snapped the steel chain and pushed open the gates. With a broad smile plastered on her face and a skip to her stride, Nora was the first to cross the invisible threshold to the land of the dead.
The warmth from earlier was replaced with a chill. It clung to Helena, and she wrapped her jacket tighter around her.
Graves and mausoleums of old were scattered along the path in an almost random pattern. Her attention jumped from each gravestone as if waiting for something to lunge at her, and she unknowingly huddled closer to Lucious who slipped his arm around her shoulders.
“Are you scared?” he whispered, tickling her ear with his cool breath.
Helena scowled and chose to separate from him. She shuffled to Maya and Ben. The hunters had been quiet about this ordeal, and Helena was thankful for it. They remained true to their word. Not once did they complain about the arrangements. They were aiming to kill Lazarus with her. But, for some reason, that did not sit well with her. Was she becoming what they wanted her to be—a killer?
“This place gives me the creeps,” Maya said, scratching her arm.
“You’ve slept at a cemetery before, Maya, this place is no different,” Ben said matter-of-factly.
Helena raised a brow. “You’ve slept in a cemetery?”
“Long story.” Maya lowered her voice. “Do you think we can trust the witches and the saint?”
Helena glanced at the three of them leading the group along the concrete path. “I trust Madeline and Nadine. I can’t be sure about Reaver…”
Maya handed her the knife she was playing with earlier. “Take this in case you need to defend yourself at any point.”
Before grasping the leather-wrapped hilt, Helena studied it. “What will we find on the other side?”
“No idea. I wouldn’t be surprised if the saint’s guardian is holding out on us, or maybe it’s the saint. I don’t trust anyone but Ben to have my back in this mission. No offence, sis.”
“None taken,” Helena replied, knowing full well where she was coming from. Sure, she wanted to trust every last one of them, but too many of them had their own reasons for being here.
The air got colder and gooseflesh populated her skin underneath her summer jacket. They separated into a single file to follow the tiny path overgrown with shrubbery. Large branches swayed towards them with the faint gust of wind.
Her breath fogged as they neared the entrance of the crematorium. Following Maya down the stone steps, she gripped the frosty metal railing. When she looked over her shoulder, she found Lucious close behind.
“I can see dark energy around this building,” Lucious said, and she stopped in her tracks.
He pulled her in, and his shields cloaked her.
She saw thick miasma clinging to the building. As if it had a life of its own, it shifted around every crevice of the old crematorium, and Helena pushed away from him. “I’d rather not see what I’m walking into.”
“Oh, hurry it up already,” Alexander complained. “We do not
have the time to dawdle.”
Lucious smirked. “I swear you have said that before, my friend.”
“It is because you two take forever to get anywhere. You may be late to your funeral at this stage.”
“Peachy,” she said with a shake of her head and descended the last two steps.
Yellow light irradiated the brown-brick walls of the spacious, dank room. A strange contraption stood at the centre of it. She studied the coffin-sized hole in the ceiling and shot Lucious a questioning look.
“The chapel is upstairs. The coffin lift mechanism uses a valve on the side to push the coffin up and down,” he replied.
“Do I even want to know why you have this information?”
Alexander stopped behind them and wrinkled his nose. “I have researched this dump. I suggest you keep your human close. There are victims of smallpox from the 1850s outbreak in here.”
Lucious’ hand caught Helena’s. She wanted to roll her eyes but stopped as it reminded her too much of the first time she entered the Angel Realm and lost control.
Helena spotted Maya and Ben disappearing around the corner. She nudged Lucious to move on. Reluctant, he strode ahead with her at his side, and Alexander ambled behind them.
Worn, hardwood coffins with rusted metal hinges lined the barrel vault’s sides. So much death surrounded them, she had to fight the urge to vomit on the dirt beneath her booted feet. There was no life around. No flies, no spiders, not a single cobweb.
At the end of the tunnel, a large brick wall looked back at them. The group stopped, and Nora turned around with her arms spread out like she was orchestrating a spectacle. “We have arrived at the Demon Gate.”
Frowns deepened on everyone’s faces except for Lucious, Madeline, and Nadine. They looked at the wall with uncertainty and apprehension.
“Who wants to bleed first?” Nora asked.
Helena scowled. “What are you talking about?”
“What Demon Gate would open without a smidgen of blood magic?” Nora asked, slapping her hands to her hips.
Demon Gates (Helena Hawthorn Series Book 2) Page 33