The Cardkeeper Chronicles: Books 1-5 (Complete Collection)

by A. C. Nicholls

  Sears Tower.

  A thin bolt of electricity flashed from the roof of the building, shooting up toward the sky in a beam of light. Whatever Victor – that insane son of a bitch – was up to, I was certain he was doing it there, using Sears Tower as his pedestal on which to destroy those beneath him.

  I took the Elders’ card from my pocket and gripped it tight, raising it to my mouth to give it a soft kiss for luck. It wasn’t likely that I would survive the night, even if I did stop Victor. If it would take all my power to defeat him – even at my own sacrifice – I would have no choice but to use it.

  Taking in a deep breath, I shot a quick look back to the sewage plant, where Jason lingered, watching me. Shame riddled his expression, stained with sympathy and sadness. He’d really wanted to help. In spite of anything that had passed between us, I knew that he wanted to avenge his brother. Then, he turned in defeat, went inside and closed the door behind him.

  “Don’t worry.” Link climbed out from my pocket and scrambled up to my shoulder. “I may not be very useful, but you won’t be completely alone.”

  In spite of my raw fear, my heart could have melted right then. “You want to help?”

  Link shrugged. “Well, I mean… I’ll be right behind you.”

  I took him from my shoulder and held him close to my chest, hugging him carefully so as not to squash him. It was just us now; me and Link against Victor Kronin. All we had to do was head to the tower and make our stand… and pray that the demon had not yet been summoned.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

  I got to the Loop a few minutes later, only to find the streets swarming with US Army, SWAT teams and the FBI. It was no wonder that they’d come to investigate the mayhem – it probably looked like a terrorist threat from afar. My only problem with their assistance was that they were blocking the road to Sears Tower.

  “We have to get through,” Link said from my shoulder. I almost told him to get the hell back into my pocket, but with the threatening fireworks in the sky, I didn’t imagine anyone would blink twice at a five-inch faery.

  “You think?”

  Civilians rampaged through the streets, running away from the tower in a mad, desperate scramble. It was like a bull run, the way people pushed each other aside to save their own skin. When people behaved like that, it tended to make me wonder why I bothered to protect them at all. Of course, it would always come back to one thing. It was my job.

  I ran toward a nearby Army truck parked in front of the tower. I searched for a way to push past them, when a uniformed soldier blocked me with an outstretched arm. “You need to get to safety, miss,” he yelled at me over the loud cracking of the sky. It came in short, sudden bursts. “It’s not safe here.”

  No shit.

  “I need to get into that building,” I told him as Link hid behind my neck. When I realized that my statement wouldn’t quite cut it, I added, “I work up there, and I left my son with a coworker. Please, I need to get to him.”

  Sympathy blazed in the solder’s eyes as the nearby spotlights brushed his face. It looked as though he was considering letting me through, or perhaps that was all in my head. “I’m sorry but I can’t allow that. We’re going to sweep the building as soon as we can. If we find your son, we’ll do all we can to bring him back down safely.”

  I didn’t have time for this. I simply turned and walked away, leaving the unhelpful soldier behind me. I ran to a nearby grocery store and stood in the closed doorway; the only place in sight where I could stand and think without getting trampled by the stampede of desperate mortals.

  “Hey, you know what to do, right?” Link said, crawling back over my shoulder.

  I thought that I did, but it didn’t mean I liked it. Deep down, I supposed I had been stalling, putting off having to face Victor. Above me, the sky darkened before a blinding ripple of light reached out across the city. “What is he doing up there?” I said, staring up at the sky.

  “Only one way to find out.”

  “But–”

  Link placed a tiny hand on each of my cheeks, and turned my face so I could look directly into his eyes. I saw the fear buried away in there, but he’d found a way to battle through it. That made one of us. “Listen to me,” he said, calm but firm. “I know you’re scared, but this is your job. If you don’t do it, nobody will. Now come on, let’s get up there and stop this flaky old sod.”

  I smiled, in spite of the circumstances. “Fine. You coming?”

  “Do I have a choice?”

  “No. Hold on tight, and keep your arms inside the ride at all times.”

  Unsure of how exactly this worked, I took a running-jump toward the building, summoning the power of the Elders as my feet left the ground. The light ripped through me like it had in the warehouse, burning every inch of my skin and bones. It worked, and I floated up toward the top of the tower at warp speed. Wind rushed against my face as the sky crashed and banged louder than before. The lights in the buildings seemed to flicker as I passed each floor, with Link clutching at my collar and holding on for dear life.

  Before I knew it I reached the top, releasing the power and landing safely on the roof. I scanned the area, assessing the danger, but all I saw was Victor Kronin standing in front of me. A large, purple light covered the ground, lighting up his feet like some sort of glyph. His eyes were closed and his arms were spread, as he chanted something that somehow sounded like both a whisper and an echo.

  “Victor!” I screamed at him. “You need to stop this!”

  From the glyph, a black hole opened up. The building shook beneath my feet as I watched something emerge through the portal. The horns came first, long and rounded. Next was the head, three or four times the size of a human’s, red-skinned and dark-eyed. The ground birthed the demon, piece by piece. It growled like Lena had, only deeper. Vicious. Deadly. I was no specialist on evil incarnate, but I could recognize a demon when I saw one.

  “Victor,” I repeated, desperately trying to break him out of his chant. I felt Link slide down my arm and run toward one of the pole-like structures. It wasn’t great for cover, but it was all that the roof had to offer. “This is your last chance.”

  My enemy turned on me then, the purple glow crawling upward from his feet until it reached his eyes. His lips stopped moving, and the demon sank back into the hole. Pinkish thunder continued to boom above our heads, more deafening with each second.

  “I’ve no time for you, child.”

  God, I hate being called a child. I’m fifty-eight years old, damnit!

  He wasn’t going to stop. My stomach sank down to my feet. It had all come down to this. Two enemies fighting on a roof, using all the magic at our disposal. Good versus evil. I reached into my soul, digging deep to find the power. My body lit up in a hot blast, and I aimed my hands at him. The smoke came in fast, thick bursts, finding their target in Victor Kronin.

  The first one bounced off his chest. The second nudged his shoulder. Useless. By the time I got in a third one, I could feel the Elders enter my mind. Something otherworldly stole over my brain – a headache. Like all headaches, it frustrated me, but it also gave me enough strength to fire a third bolt of red energy.

  That one hit Victor square in the jaw, knocking his face to one side. When he snapped his head back, he stomped toward me at a frightening speed.

  “I’ve had enough of you,” he spat, and spread his arms wide.

  A thin streak of light opened up between his hands like a tether. With a flick of his wrist, the light unfurled, spreading into five separate whips. Four of them latched around my wrists and ankles, and the fifth one swiped the magicard from my hand before wrapping itself tightly around my neck. I watched my card, with my breath in my throat, sailing off the edge of the roof and out of sight.

  Shit.

  The pain I’d experienced from the magicard was nothing compared to this. Even my thick, immortal skin burned hot beneath the fierce grip of these light-constructed chains. They pulled me forward in the a
ir, limbs spread like a star. My eyes dropped to Link, who stood frozen and petrified behind the pole. I wished that he could help me, but even if he found the courage, there was nothing he could do.

  “I’m going to summon Ilfirna, the Fire Demon,” Victor said. A grin lit up his face as he watched me suffer, struggling to breathe. “When he arrives, he will be pleased to see that I brought him a Cardkeeper. Oh, I think he’ll use you for a new plaything. Do you think this hurts, little girl? You wait until you spend an eternity in the depths of hell, with nothing more than a sense of failure and a duty to this beast.”

  But his words didn’t hurt. They fell off me like water off a duck’s back. I had bigger things to worry about. My strength waning, my breath came out in tiny pants as I tried to maintain it, the neck chain choking the very life from my body. With it coiled around my neck, there was nothing I could do – it was hopeless.

  Until Link came into view.

  I loved him for doing it, but I wished he hadn’t. It was little more than suicide, especially for him. Though he was stronger than any mortal, his bones would still snap like twigs. I watched him dash forward, teeth bared, ready to take a large bite.

  Victor’s eyes widened as the teeth sank into his leg. His focus on the constructs faded, and I dropped to the floor quickly. He turned fast, swiping at Link as he ducked, dodged and dived around him, evading every lash of Victor’s light magic.

  I still couldn’t move. Weakened, I struggled to regain my breath. I clambered to my feet, wavering as I took a step forward and tried to attack Victor. But it was no good. If I’d had my magicard, which was nowhere to be seen, I could have seized this opportunity to strike, leaving me with half a chance of overtaking him.

  Victor seemed to give up then, turned, and saw me standing in front of him. Once more, he raised his arms to form a construct. Before I found the time to move, a large gust of purple smoke – the size of a motorcycle and as purple as his other magic – rushed at me.

  It connected with my nose, knocking me backward through the air. My eyes watered at the sting, blinding me, but I could still feel my feet come off the ground. Before I knew it, I went over the edge of the roof and plummeted toward the ground. Even my body wouldn’t take that one-hundred-story impact with the concrete below.

  Wind ripped at my face and hair. The yelling on the street grew louder as I picked up speed, falling faster and faster toward my premature end. It was all over for me now, and I knew it. All I could do was close my eyes and accept my fate, trying to find peace in the fact that I had tried to stop Victor Kronin – tried, but failed.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

  I clamped my eyes shut and held my breath to prepare for impact. But the collision never came. While gravity worked so hard to drag me down, another force tugged at me from above, pulling me upward. Almost as if it wanted to help me. To save me.

  The tugging on my jacket made me glance at my body. Link stood with his feet planted firmly on my stomach. Each tiny hand clutched at a side of my open jacket, rippling under the harsh force of the wind. His face strained as if he were lifting a tremendous weight and trying to haul me upward.

  But we continued to fall.

  Although I appreciated his determination, I didn’t want him to surrender his life just for a thin chance of saving mine. If heaven existed, I’d meet him there and give him my eternal gratitude for his sacrifice.

  Still falling, a sudden, intense light blinded me. At first I didn’t know what to make of it, until I saw that it was coming from Link. The wind howled around us and people gasped from the ground below, the same ground that we were shooting toward like bullets.

  “Link,” I tried to yell, but nothing came out. His face was now concealed behind a multitude of glowing lights, crawling over him like bugs. The bright orbs, each the size of a marble, swept around his little body until two thin frames appeared on his back.

  He had finally earned his wings.

  The two frames widened and began to flesh out into white, silky wings. They grew longer, larger, and Link had never looked more like an angel than he did at that moment. They began to flap, slowly at first, and then quickly picking up speed. His face contorted with the struggle. He screamed with pain as he continued to pull up at my jacket. We slowed down, but we’d still hit the ground too hard.

  “Link,” I screamed. “Fly to safety. Save yourself!”

  He shook his head and I held his body to stabilize him. As if that would help. In my panic, I’d try anything. The only good it did was serve as extra grip. I even tried to will myself to levitate, but that ability had left me as soon as I’d been stripped of my magicard. Below us, the ground seemed to be rising, growing larger by the second, rapidly approaching.

  We’re not going to make it, I thought. We’re not going to–

  Link yelled, lifting me as much as his petite body could muster. Only twenty feet from impact, I felt my stomach hollow out, like going over a hill too fast in a car. I slid from his grip then, and fell the rest of the way, falling, falling, until…

  I hit the ground with little more than a knee-grazing thud. The speed of the impact made me roll across the grass, and I felt so lucky to have landed so far away from the sidewalk. I recovered, turning my back on the amazed civilians and soldiers. I didn’t want them to see my face.

  Link landed beside me, his wings letting off a small flutter as he lowered himself gently to the ground. I ran to him, slinging my arms around him and holding him close to my chest. Never had I been so glad to see him – he had saved my life.

  “Link,” I said, laughing. “You got them.”

  “I guess.” He almost looked disappointed.

  “What’s wrong?”

  “They’re just… I mean, they’re not very masculine, are they?”

  Smiling, still amazed that I had survived the fall, I crooked my head to the side. I could feel something; a strong tickling sensation in the back of my throat. I had felt it before somewhere, and as I saw it, face-down beside a nearby tree, I understood.

  I set Link down and ran to the Elders’ magicard, scooping it off the floor with a big smile on my face. Victor had made a bad call by trying to kill me. Until now I had been going easy on him, keeping the card’s true power at bay.

  But it was time to unleash it.

  “You’re going back up there?” Link asked. He sounded surprised.

  “I’m not leaving here tonight with you being the hero,” I teased. “Besides, that demon of his looked like a nightmare. We need to take Victor down before he completes the summoning. Agreed?”

  Link nodded. “Agreed.”

  “Then let’s go.”

  I stowed the card inside my pocket and looked up toward the roof. The Elders were binding into my soul, weaving power into every cell as I shot up off the ground. As I passed each floor, I spread my hands and prepared my attack. If I could get a couple of shots in before Victor discovered me, I would have a distinct advantage.

  My body swept the height of the building until I landed safely at the roof. The second I saw him, I extended my arms and fired at the evil son of a bitch. Victor’s eyes widened with shock as I shot two more blasts at him, each one stronger than those he had felt before. The red energy burned through me, and I felt my power surging more powerful than ever. It stung, seared, ached all the way through me, but it was worth it.

  Link hovered at my side, wings spread and flickering so fast that they almost looked stationary. His right arm hooked back as he hurled a handful of stones at Victor. Useless, I thought, but it was great to see him behaving like a badass.

  Victor stumbled back. The portal at his feet began to close, fluctuating at first, pulsating vibrantly, and then shrinking until it no longer existed. Victor himself had his palms held out, ready to strike me with another of his destructive shots.

  I wouldn’t give him the chance. I fired another, and another, each one knocking him back toward the edge of the roof. Something began to take over me, an adrenaline-fueled anger
encouraging me to fight stronger, faster. Red smoke continued to explode from my palms, while wave after wave of scorching pain burned through my blood like fire in a pipe.

  Link suddenly turned to me, screaming my name and telling me to stop.

  Somehow, I couldn’t.

  Rage consumed me as I went on, ignoring the pain that came with each surge. I fired a stream of energy at Victor, watching it tear at his chest like a laser beam. My face grew hot. My hatred took over. I could feel blood trickle from my nose. Somewhere deep inside, I knew it was no longer me – I wasn’t in control of my own actions. Not anymore.

  Victor chose his moment.

  His arms flew out between bursts, and a blue shield of energy appeared before him, covering him head-to-toe. My attacks hit the shield and fizzled into nothing, keeping him safe and rendering me useless. It made me lower my hands, confused for only half a second, during which he seized the moment and made his next move with those damn electric chains.

  Three of them this time, each one wrapping around my neck and choking me. The power inside me retreated, leaving me and only me. The anger, remained, but my strength had vanished. I couldn’t breathe. The chains strangled me like a team of boa constrictors, pulling me toward Victor Kronin. Toward my death.

  “I commend your effort,” he said. “But you won’t get another chance.” His eyes began to glow that fierce purple, and I felt his power expanding. My vision blurred and the last of my breath blew out of me. There was nothing even Link could do now – to even try would mean his own demise.

  Not to mention, my own.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

  The howling echoed through the night sky. Not one, not two, but a chorus of long, desperate cries. I couldn’t see the werewolves, but knowing they were there gave me the faith I needed to stay alive for those few extra moments.