“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,” said the voice that emerged 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 in here? No demons or humans are able to pass through the gate. The Forgotten Street belongs to Warlocks,” asked a male Warlock who stood 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 that 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?” asked the older one 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 showered me with kindness. I never had any problems with Warlocks, but right now we were in their territory. I bet 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?” asked the same elder Warlock.
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 to 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 remember and we hate them,” stated the elder Warlock.
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 that 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,” announced the Warlock in the middle with slightly blondish hair. 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 in the night,” ordered the older Warlock. 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 away. 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 at 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 the 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 the 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 in 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 over 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,” ordered the female, 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,” stated Eve, 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,” shouted a woman 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 kneeled 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 towards 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.
Using my inhuman speed I grabbed the knife hidden in my boot. I didn’t think that I would ever need to use it. After all, I always relied on my magic. This was crazy, but my desperation had reached a new level. The Warlock guard most likely didn’t expect that I would try anything. She was much stronger than me, and easily could use her complex magic to tie me down, but I no longer cared.
I grabbed her by the collar of her cloak and pushed her down, wrapping my elbow over her neck. My movements were quick, unexpected. A moment later I had a knife pressed over the side of her neck. This was most likely the stupidest and most desperate move, but I was done with bullshit. Alexis was going to die tonight whether she liked it or not.
“Hey you fuckers, you let us all out or this Warlock here is going to die. I’m done with wasting time!”
Chapter 9
“My gaze was trained already into his, while he, brow raised, was thrusting out his chest, As though he held all Hell in high disdain.” ―Dante Alighieri, The Divine Comedy
Eve and one of the other Warlocks shot up on their feet. I swallowed hard, dragging my guard away with me. Her pulse was speeding. Zach was quickly disabled by one of the Warlocks, Emma was arguing with another. Eve and two others were suddenly holding long, thin wooden sticks in their hands. I started moving towards the exit, gripping my knife tighter.
Zach was pinned down to the ground by one of the guards. He didn’t even have a chance to reach for his gun. I didn’t want him to shoot anyone. We just needed to get the hell out of here.
“Tell your guards to get away from my friends now!” I roared, losing my obedient girl attitude. That bitch couldn’t get away, she had no advantage in this world, in this dimension.
“You won’t get far. Demons were always less receptive to our magic. We could co-exist peacefully. We do work well with mongrels,” said the muscular tall Warlock that stepped out in front from the group at the back. My pulse spiked, and I pressed the knife harder. I wasn’t planning to hurt my guard, but these people weren’t listening.
“We are here to stop a demon from committing a crime. I told you that we didn’t want any trouble. Now you left me no other choice,” I shouted again, feeling like I had made too many mistakes already. “You get away from my friend or this Warlock dies!”
The guard that held Zachary pulled away, taking a few steps back. Emma was already free; a second later she was beside Zach. He wasn’t hurt, but he was shot by Warlock’s magic that weakened him.
Zach was struggling to breathe, but he was going to be all right. His eyes gleamed with twisted excitement. He was ready for anything just to get out of here. I thought about the potions that I had on me. Suddenly my whole crazy idea could work, but Emma and Zach needed to be close.
“Lori, stay calm, this mongrel girl won’t hurt you,” James said. He was the Warlock that spoke to me
the first time. The female guard must have been his lover or relative, because he seemed very concerned about her.
“The hell I won’t. Trust me, I’m desperate and my time is limited. Let us leave and no one will get hurt,” I said, knowing that they were pointing at me with what looked like magic wands. If one of their spells struck me, I was as good as dead. Either way I had to act quickly. Alexis was moving faster than I anticipated.
“Maxine, what the hell are you doing? Who are you trying to protect?” Zach hissed in my ear.
“No one, that bitch is nearby and she is going to escape again if I stay here and keep chatting away,” I spoke brusquely. “Get ready. I’m getting us out of here, using magic.”
He was just about to ask me what I meant, but there was no time. I reached into my pocket and held a small brown bag in my hands. Jinxed powder could transport me anywhere I wanted, but it was useless without a specific formula. It was a Latin phrase that I memorised a couple of years ago. It was a hell of a gamble. The formula could take me straight back to London, but right then I was willing to take that risk.
Within a heartbeat, I made a decision. I pushed the female Warlock and tore apart the bag. The powder shined in the darkness and I whispered the formula concentrating on the Forgotten Street. My pulse sped up instantly. I heard screams around me. With no time at all, I grabbed Zach and Emma. There was a loud bang, more screams, and a split second later we crashed on the wet pavement somewhere outside. Disoriented and achy, I shot back on my feet, the adrenaline still moving through my system. Zach was massaging his head. I looked around, praying for us to be in the Forgotten Street. The area was too quiet for one of the streets of London. The mist was gone, and I had a feeling that the powder took us away from the Warlocks.
Doomed Cases Series Box Set Page 52