by Sarra Cannon
“We need to stop him before it's too late,” I said. “We may not have much time.”
“Just tell us what we need to do,” Harper said. She placed a hand on Jackson's shoulder. “This is our fight now, too.”
I nodded to her. “Thank you,” I said. “Gather as many as you can. Anyone you trust who is willing to help. Meet me at my house at midnight tonight. I'll show you the door and alter the spell to allow anyone with you to enter. We'll fly from there and hit him at night.”
Harper and Jackson followed me up to the hall of doorways, and I showed them where to find the door with the cobra etched into the surface. They wished me luck and said they'd be there.
I said my goodbyes and went in search of Silas' door.
His symbol was easy to recognize. It was an animal closely associated with the devil of human lore. I searched for the goat, finally finding it about a hundred doors down from my own. I didn't bother knocking. If Silas was home, he would be down in his study.
Which is where I found him, his back hunched over a large book spread open on his desk.
I knocked twice on the door to his study and he looked up, startled.
“Rend? What are you doing here?”
“I'm sorry to walk in like this, but I have something urgent I need to talk to you about,” I said.
He closed the book and stood, stretching his arms above his head. I wondered how long he'd been sitting in that same position and what he'd been studying this time.
“I wasn't expecting to see you again so soon,” he said.
“When you were in Chicago, why didn't you tell me the truth about Solomon's stone?” I asked.
His eyes widened and he looked away. “I don't know what you mean.”
“Yes, you do,” I said. “He's found it, hasn't he?”
Silas closed his eyes and took a deep breath before turning back to me. “How did you know? Has something happened?”
“Dammit, Silas, you should have told me.” My muscles tightened in anger. If he had been open with me from the beginning, I might have been able to put this all together faster. I might have been able to save Franki from whatever hell she was in right now.
“I didn't want anyone inside the Brotherhood to find out before I had a better idea what his intentions were.” He tapped the top of the book. “He must want to use the stone somehow, but how? I've been studying these damned old manuscripts for weeks, trying to make sense of it, but there's no way he can free my father from that stone. It's impossible.”
“Impossible unless he had the blood of your father's only daughter,” I said.
Silas' head snapped up. “What?”
“The girl you met at the club the other night,” I said. “The bartender with the black hair? Her name is Franki—Mary Francis—and she's the daughter of a crow witch. The Devil has been trying to get his hands on her, and until today, I couldn't figure out why he was so intent on her, in particular.”
“Solomon is her father?” he asked, his tongue tripping over the words. “This can't be possible.”
“It is,” I said. “And I think she might be the reason the Mother Crow banished your father to that stone in the first place. Silas, she just turned twenty-one years old.”
His mouth fell open and he leaned against his desk, his head down. “Oh my God,” he said. “We have to make sure he doesn't get to her. With her blood, he could—”
“He already has her,” I said. My fangs pressed against the inside of my mouth, begging to be let loose. “I know he's your father, but you know better than anyone what he's capable of. We can't let him go free. You should have told me about the stone.
“You should have told me the Devil was after this girl,” he said. “Together we might have figured this out.”
“We still would have been missing the most important piece of the puzzle,” I said.
“I could have helped you keep her safe,” he said. He slammed his hands down on the top of the desk. “How could you have let him get to her?”
My fangs extended fully this time, and I shifted, reappearing behind him, my arm wrapped around his throat. “You don't want to mess with me right now, Silas.”
Silas shifted and slid from my grasp. He reformed on the other side of the desk. “I am not your enemy,” he said. “Save your anger for the Devil.”
I closed my eyes and turned away. He was right, but I had been on the edge of losing control ever since Franki's mother took her through that doorway. Anger and fear boiled just beneath the surface of my resolve. I wasn't used to caring this much for someone. I didn't know how to deal with it when they were in danger. All I wanted to do was tear apart the demon responsible.
Silas rubbed a hand across his jaw. “Where is she now?”
“I'm not certain,” I said, a lump forming in my throat. “I think he's taken her to his castle. We don't have much time.”
“A ritual like that would take several hours to prepare,” he said. “Maybe days, if we're lucky. I hope your friend is strong, because the type of preparations he'll have to put her through will be painful, to say the least.”
I swallowed, the feeling of loss and fear in my heart foreign to me. I had lost many friends in my lifetime, but Franki was so much more to me than a friend. After last night, I realized just how much I had begun to care for her. I couldn't lose her now. I wouldn't.
“I have to get her back,” I said.
Silas studied me. “You care for this girl,” he said.
I moved toward him again, lifting my lips in a snarl. “She's not just a girl, Silas. She's your half-sister. And up until about a week ago, she had no idea our world even existed. Now she's probably being tortured in the Devil's dungeons.” I cleared my throat and took a deep breath, stepping away. “We can't let him go through with whatever he's got planned. He and Solomon tried to destroy this world once. What's to stop them from trying again?”
Silas shook his head. “We are,” he said. “We're going to stop them.”
I let out the breath I'd been holding since I first stepped through his door. He was going to help me, and I was going to need him. It would take great power to even get close enough to the Devil's ritual room, much less defeat him and stop him from killing Franki.
“There are others,” Silas said. “Some of our Brotherhood have been meeting in secret for a while, discussing taking control away from the Devil. He's grown too power-hungry lately, going too far with his killing. His actions have put us all in danger of being discovered.”
“Gather anyone you think is on our side, but be careful. We can't afford to have anyone betray us and warn the Devil that we're coming,” I said. My jaw tensed as I thought of Franki all alone in his dungeons. “I want to catch him by surprise. And I want to rip him apart with my bare hands when I do.”
“There are eight or nine I know we can trust, with no doubts,” he said. “I'll call a meeting and fill them in on what's happened.”
“Thank you,” I said. “Meet at my house at midnight. There will be others there. Some human witches. Make sure everyone is well fed before they arrive.”
He nodded. “And what about you? Will you feed?”
Hunger echoed in my empty stomach. The need for blood haunted my dreams, but I had fought long and hard for the ability to survive without it. I hated what being a vampire had come to mean. I hated what it had done to the demon I used to be.
But Silas had a point. I needed all my strength if I was going to fight the Devil.
I walked to the door of his study. “I'll figure something out,” I said. “Don't be late.”
Chapter 7
I Knew The Sadness In Her Eyes
I hurried through the Hall of Doorways. I needed to get back to my own home in the mountains. At best, I had twelve hours until everyone started to arrive. That was barely enough time to extract the ingredients I'd need from the stones, much less create the potions I wanted for tonight's battle.
For the past seventy years, I'd refused to feed from
humans, developing stronger and stronger potions to enhance my powers here in the human world.
But Silas was right. Nothing would bring me the strength I needed tonight like a real meal.
I shook the thought from my mind. I couldn't hunt. Not after all this time. That would mean trading an innocent witch's life for a chance at saving Franki. It wasn't right or fair.
As much as I wanted to get Franki back, I wouldn't sacrifice an innocent to increase my power. There were other ways.
There were some who were not so innocent.
I did a quick check of the house to make sure none of the devil's guards had gotten inside or set traps. I cast a spell near the entrance that would give access to Harper when she arrived. Silas and the others of the Brotherhood were already allowed to enter. All that was left to do was focus on the potions.
I needed to get down to my lab in the basement of the large mansion. I'd built this home into the side of the mountain for two reasons. One was that there was no road leading to the house. It was literally carved into the rock by magic, inaccessible by cars or any other normal human transportation, except maybe a helicopter, or in extreme cases, snowboard.
My second reason for building the house here was that this particular section of the Alps had pockets of iron and copper, useful base metals for many of my potions. Deep inside the mountain, veins of gold and silver also ran through the stone. Very few even knew it existed because of how difficult and expensive it would be to mine. But as a demon, I had access to tools and resources most humans did not. I was able to extract gold from the tiniest of deposits without as much as a hammer.
I built my lab several floors down from the main house and deep into the rock, where it would be easier to access the minerals and stone I needed.
The elevator leading down into the basement was hidden behind the main staircase. I stepped inside and pressed the only button. When the doors opened, I sucked in a startled breath. Movement caught my eye and I lifted my hands, ready to fight. But as she turned, my heart filled with sadness and worry.
“Azure, oh my god, are you okay?” I crossed to her, taking her face in my hands. I moved her head from side-to-side, surveying the damage.
Her left eye was bruised and black. A gash ran along her cheekbone, a scab already formed across it. Her bottom lip was split and cracked. Bruises wrapped around her neck. The Devil's vamps had really done a number on her.
“I'm fine,” she said. “It's nothing that won't heal in a couple of days. But Rend, I heard from Marco.”
The quiver in her voice stopped me cold. “What's happened?”
“The Devil's got Lyla and Misty and Shay.”
“What?” My heart tightened in my chest. “How?”
“Lyla left Marco's house to go meet the other girls and bring them back to where she was hiding and Fallon cornered them,” she said. “We have to go after them.”
“That's what I'm preparing to do,” I said.
She looked up, her eyes meeting mine in that familiar expression of hope mixed with terrible sorrow. I took my hand from her and backed away, guilt churning my stomach.
I cleared my throat. “Azure, the Devil has Franki, too,” I said.
She looked away, her eyes closed as she took several deep breaths.
“I was hoping you'd come back to Venom after you heard about what happened in Paris,” she said. “But when you didn't, I knew you were with her.”
She turned and walked around a large table that held a maze of glass tubes and beakers and other equipment. She ran her hand along the glass.
“I used to love coming down here to watch you work in the early days.”
I swallowed and held my breath. I knew this was coming eventually, but this was the worst possible time for it.
Or, maybe, it was exactly the right time. Maybe, after what happened last night between Franki and me, this was the way this conversation was always meant to go.
“My whole life, I grew up around magic,” she said. “But I had never seen anyone do what you do down here, taking solid stone and gems and metal and turning them to liquid and powder. The way you combine these seemingly powerless elements into these incredibly powerful potions and elixirs. It's like poetry or art.”
“Azure—”
“Just let me say what I need to say.” She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. When she opened them, her tears shone like diamonds. She laughed and looked up toward the ceiling, blinking fast to keep them from falling. “I swore I was going to be strong and not cry, but I can't seem to help myself.”
I took a step toward her, but she held up a hand.
“I have loved you for so long, I don't even remember what it's like not to want you,” she said. “I wanted to tell you from that first day you brought me down here, almost seventy years ago. I watched you work and knew that you were the only one for me. I knew I could never love anyone else.”
I looked down at the floor and shifted my weight from one foot to the other. I guess I always knew Azure felt more for me than what I felt for her, but she'd never put words to it. She'd never once pushed or demanded anything of me. But I knew the sadness in her eyes. I knew the longing.
“The thing is, though, I had convinced myself that the reason you didn't love me back was because you couldn't love anyone,” she said. “I told myself that I was content to be working there by your side, making Venom what it was. Being a part of your life was all I needed. But then, this girl walks in and you...”
I swallowed and looked up as her voice trailed off. The tears flowed down her cheeks, but she just wiped them away and kept moving around the lab, as if she was remembering every night we'd ever spent in here working.
“I consider myself a strong person,” she said. “It takes a lot to break me, but the way you look at her tears me apart. You love her, don't you?”
I breathed in, not knowing what she wanted me to say. I couldn't deny it, but I didn't want to break her heart. Azure was one of my best friends in the world.
She shook her head and rolled her eyes. “You don't have to say it, Rend. I can see it there between you,” she said. “I've known you for seventy-five years and could never earn your love. She's known you for seven days and you're ready to give up everything you've ever known to save her. Your club. Your Brotherhood. Even your own life.”
“What do you want me to say?” I asked. “I can't explain the way I feel about her any more than you can. It just happened. A couple of weeks ago, if you had asked me if I was capable of loving a woman, I would have laughed in your face and told you love was not part of my destiny.”
“And now?”
“Now, I feel more alive than I have my whole life,” I said, realizing the truth of my words for the first time.
“And you never felt anything like that for me? This whole time?”
I closed my eyes. Why was she forcing this on me now? “I never meant to hurt you,” I said. “This had nothing to do with you.”
She shrugged and gave me a sad half-smile. “That's the problem,” she said. “Since the day my father introduced us, everything in my life has revolved around you.”
“I never asked for that,” I said.
Azure lifted an eyebrow and wiped the last of her tears from her face. “No, you didn't,” she said. “That's the thing about love, though. You don't have to ask for the things you need.”
She picked up a glass tube and twirled it around in her fingers. With a swift motion, she smashed part of the tube against the table. Confused, I watched as she lifted the broken glass to her wrist.
My mouth fell open. “No. Azure, don't,” I said. I shifted and flew to her side, but it was too late.
The cut was deep and blood flowed freely. She raised the wound above a larger glass container and let the warm red of her blood run into it.
I tore my t-shirt off and ripped it in two. Quickly, I grabbed her wrist and wrapped the strip of fabric tightly around her wound several times. I applied pressure and lowered her
to the floor.
Her eyes closed and she rested her head on my chest.
“What were you thinking?” I asked.
She laughed, her eyes closed. “I just wanted you to know that even though you're in love with her, nothing can ever change the way I feel about you. All I've ever wanted is for you to be happy, Rend. If she makes you happy, then I will do anything to help you get her back.” Her voice grew sleepy and weak.
Just before she lost consciousness, her eyes fluttered open for a moment and she smiled.
“Don't let me die.”
Chapter 8
Alchemy
I checked Azure's bandage to make sure the worst of the bleeding had stopped. I wanted to keep an eye on her, so I pulled out an old cot I sometimes used when I was working in the lab for days at a time. I made her as comfortable as I could and turned back to my laboratory.
The glass full of her blood beckoned to me.
My hunger was decades old, gnawing at my insides. I yearned for the taste of it in my mouth and the way its power filled me up.
But now was not the time.
I moved the glass to the other side of the room where its smell would be less potent, and forced myself to concentrate on the potions. If I was lucky, Harper would bring at least ten people with her. Silas said he thought he could recruit eight or nine. Including me, that meant I could hope for twenty-one, a significant number these days.
I got to work, drawing metals and minerals from the earth. When I had several vials full of each ingredient, I began mixing, crushing, and breaking down the raw elements. The work of it kept my mind occupied, but Franki's face crept into my consciousness at even intervals.
What had the Devil done with her? Where was she right now? Was she still alive?
I sent up prayer after prayer.
Please hold on. Just give me time. I'm coming for you. Hold on.