by Antara Mann
Let’s hope they arrive soon.
Ah, I also figured out why even I can’t summon your goddess magic. The infernal powers are embedded in this place and this monster is blocking your magic.
Great, I replied grumpily. Big weakness revealed — I am allergic to demons, and even more so, inferni.
I guessed it sometimes sucked to be a half-goddess.
Wait! Don’t the demons and inferni have a weakness to us, gods, as well? I asked the voice when the thought crossed my mind.
Sometimes. But even if they do, it doesn’t show. The voice shrugged inside my mind.
Can he overhear us?
I should think not. Well, I’m actually positive he hears humming, or at the most a few unrelated words, but can’t hear anything specific.
Good. I inhaled deeply in relief and turned to the inferni who was eying me suspiciously. He was aware of my internal dialogue, but clearly couldn’t overhear me.
“You seem to contradict yourself,” I said, to keep him talking. “You said you preferred to meet the guys you were about to kill, but over a month ago you didn’t even plan to show up when this weirdo attempted to kill me.” I waved my hand, pointing to Garrett, though to me both were equally insane. Maybe the inferni even more so. Plotting and conspiring against your brother and creator was a sure-way train to Hell.
“Hey! Watch it, little goddess.” Garrett bared his teeth at me. A gust of wind swished past me and my sleeve caught fire. Again! At least it was the other one. It smoked, and in a second snapped shut with a low sizzle.
“Do not attack our special guest,” the inferni scolded Garrett, his voice booming with magic. His words languished in the air like thick, foreboding shadows. The energy of punishment, dread and horror mounted in the air and hung above us like crystal particles.
“Well, if this is how you treat your guests, I don’t wanna imagine how you deal with your enemies,” I remarked, suddenly more conscious of the chain that held me down. Garrett’s psycho attack on me had me forget all about it — its only positive side effect.
The inferni squinted at me and decided to pass on my remark. “Truth is, Alexandra, I wanted to meet you earlier, but last month was a busy time for me and I had to keep my cover.” His lips broke into a vicious grin that chilled my blood. He was pure evil; I could tell just by watching him. “But this one,” he pointed at Garrett, “messed things up. You proved to be too strong a match for him.” He glanced at Garrett, scorn burning in his eyes.
“Master Angus,” Garrett said, his tone subservient, “I am negotiating with her.”
Angus — that had to be his name. Angus Hellster. The name vaguely spoke to me; I must have seen it in some of the reports back at the Magic Council. The very own brother of Kai. Of course! When one was stabbed in the back, it was always by their siblings or closest friends.
“Did my servant tell you why we’ve invited you to our lair?” Angus asked me.
I laughed out loud. “Your minions haven’t been particularly friendly or talkative so I don’t really know why I’m here. Please enlighten me.” I hoped I could distract him for a little while longer.
Angus raised his eyebrows and tiny sparkles gleamed in his eyes, yet his tone remained calm and composed when he replied, “Yes, you have to pardon my assistants — they are a bit sloppy sometimes.” A sick, repulsive grin spread on his lips, and the bile in my throat mounted.
“Anyway, as to the reason why you are here. I wanted to deliver to you an important message. My reign will come, sooner than anyone at the Magic Court or those two fools, the Morrigan and my dear brother Kai, are expecting — and this time I shall replace them for good.” He chuckled. “Then the whole world will be my… how do humans put it? My oyster. Well, my property, really.”
His magic intensified and crashed over me. Horror clung tighter onto my skin, intertwining with my own magic. Dread washed over me, and my breath caught in my throat. I wanted to scream, I wanted to kick and yell. I wanted away from his dark infernal force.
“Surrender to me, Alexandra, and together we will rule the world. You’ll have a special place in my new order.”
His voice came to me powerful as a shout, twisted and vile as a snake’s venom all at the same time. I gagged and coughed. And then, his magical grip on me lightened. I gasped for air, my lungs screaming for oxygen. My body felt weak as soon as I was out of his grip. I wanted to pass out and not have to withstand this torture — first from Garrett and now from this psycho. Pathetic boys with grand ambitions for glory and world domination. Give me a break!
“You are unique, Alexandra, and so are your powers. But I guess the others are not appreciating it.” Angus studied my face intensely, searching for a trace of emotion on it, and asked, “How are you feeling at the Council, Miss Investigator? Do you fit in?” He smirked and I wanted to knock that condescending look off his face, but heaviness rose inside my chest. I recalled how miserable I felt at my new working place. I wanted to swallow or breathe, but this new feeling overwhelmed me, suffocating me. Where was Kagan? “Come quicker, my sweet fae!” The inferni was clearly launching a psychic attack on me and I didn’t know for how long I could endure it.
“Not good, I see. That’s a pity, a pretty young thing like you.” Angus came closer to me, his face only inches from mine. His magic enveloped me, pain and horror lit up inside me. A poisonous sensation crept along my skin like dozens of deadly scorpions. This guy’s magic was scary, and as powerful as Kai’s. But Kai at least played by the rules.
“Good thing, though, is that I am here to offer you a change. Take, for example, Ryan.” He pointed at the mage who still stood, obedient as a statue, near the bound mages. I saw him stiffen. His sly eyes didn’t reveal anything, but he was clearly on the watch-out around the inferni, and with good reason.
“Ryan was an outsourced mercenary from the Council. Unappreciated, just like you. But I took him under my wing. I am quite a merciful and forgiving guy — even though his father once betrayed me, I showed his son mercy. Unlike Kai or the Morrigan would have done, for that matter.”
You could have fooled me.
He pursed his lips, his eyes pinning me more intensely, as if he’d picked up this thought.
“Come and join my ranks. In my new world there will be a special place for you. I'll make sure you'll be protected and allowed to retain all your powers.” He smiled from ear to ear, revealing his impeccably white teeth. The twisted, dark energy thickened on my skin and my heart skipped a beat. I needed him farther away from me.
Once again I mentally called the fae, praying he’d tracked my magical signature and was on the move. A supernatural’s signature was the link to their living force, their very existence. Even though I’d inverted my magic so that it wouldn’t be perceivable to Garrett and the others, my unique signature was there for as long as I was alive. The fact that the fae and I had an intimate relationship also helped him to track me down. I hated that I needed to be saved in this damsel-in-distress kinda way, but there was no time for pride. I desperately needed Kagan’s help.
Angus’ dangerous green-glowing eyes stared at me, the pull of his energy as real as anything I’d felt before, his lips curled in a seductive smile — no doubt one which didn’t forebode anything good.
“Do you seriously think a goddess can work for your cult?” I said, keeping my voice even, leading him on, and figuring out too late that insulting him may not be my best strategy. But it was too late to worry about my choice of words after I’d spoken them.
He sighed and stepped back, passing on my insult about his cult. Thank fates! My heartbeat slowed down and my headache faded. He was smarter than Garrett, it seemed.
“Why not? You’re a misfit. You are just like us — not accepted and barely clinging to the fringes. The Morrigan and her peers didn’t want you at her court, the Council’s investigators are giving you the cold shoulder… These guys are stupid, they fear your strength and abilities. But here I am, free and unconventional. Come and j
oin my cause. I promise you, my new world will be braver and more honest than the old one.”
I stared into his eyes: the cold fierce flames in them told me he was going to use my powers either way. It would probably be less painful if I surrendered to him as Garrett had suggested, but I couldn’t bring myself to do that. Never!
Had my mother suffered when he killed her? The mere thought left a foul taste in my mouth. I swallowed back my bitterness. I had to avenge her death, as well as my father’s. No one could mess with my family.
I’d barely opened my mouth to decline Angus’ offer when a familiar magical scent ignited my senses. It caressed my skin and whispered into my ears soothing words. He was here. I shouldn’t worry. Kagan had tracked me and would arrive any moment soon. With back-up.
Angus sensed my emotional and mental change and his brows knitted. “What is it? What’s going on inside your little goddess mind?” His tone had acquired a mocking and condescending edge.
I hurried to ask, to keep him distracted, “How,” I cleared my throat, “how are you going to open the gates of Inferno? I mean, with your grand revolutionary plan, I’m thinking you are determined to crack Inferno open somehow.”
A wide grin spread on his lips. “You will soon see, darling. That’s why I invited you to my place. Which reminds me, our ritual ought to start. We lost quite a lot of time in idle chatter. And it seems unproductive, too.” He turned to Ryan and nodded curtly. The mage went over to the hooded figures and whispered something to them.
“So, Alex, back to business. Last call. Are you coming on board our mission or not?” The dim lights cast an eerie reflection over his face, making him look even more creepy and dangerous.
“You want my magic, right?” I managed to croak, my voice hoarse.
“Yes, sunshine, and I’ll take it from you either willingly… or painfully.”
Ominous overtones burned in his voice, and I glanced at Ryan — his stony face didn’t give away any clues as to what I should expect. Angus’ eyes glowed for a second in a crimson-purple hellish hue, and the magical circle and the inverted triangle inside it disintegrated into thin air. Holy hell, and if he wasn't powerful!
The hooded figures came over to me and drew a new circle around me, one around Angus and another around Garrett. Next, the men began drawing occult symbols in our intersected circles: an inverted triangle in my circle, the inverted triquetra in Garrett’s, and an unknown rune that reminded me of bull’s horns in Angus’. The symbols and the circles gleamed in the same crimson color. Ryan had given the men the bowl with the dark red liquid in it, which I presumed was blood.
Dread settled in the pit of my stomach, the sensation of iron cutting my skin suddenly much stronger. This was very, very bad. I closed my eyes tightly as if that could stop the ritual’s progression. “Kagan, hurry up!” I prayed to fate and all the gods.
When I opened my eyes, the men were pouring the dark grain over the circles’ lines. One of the hooded figures handed Angus the flaming torch, and he ignited them. Light-green sizzling flames raced along the outlines, binding us with a fiery thread. The greenish fire illuminated the semi-dark space, and I glimpsed nasty-feeling shadows run over the cavern’s walls. The magic in the air intensified, and the taste of rotten flesh came vividly to my senses. This was insane.
I swallowed hard. “What’s going on? Another hellish ritual?”
A vicious smile danced on the inferni’s face, only the sight of it giving me hell, pun intended. “Soon, you’ll find out. But first, are you joining our group? I need to know. Yes or no?” He raised his tone, his eyes fixated on me like two huge burning charcoals — dark, dangerous and shrewd.
“I think you know my answer,” I spit out in a choppy no-nonsense way.
“Still, I’d rather be sure, darling,” Angus said, his tone dripping with honey, but one that was rotten, treacherous and promised pain and suffering beyond compare.
“My answer will always be no.”
He sighed theatrically with an air of exasperation, as if he’d practiced this for quite some time. “Well, now that you’ve made your decision, let the ritual begin…”
“What ritual?” I hurriedly asked, clutching at straws. “You never said what this ritual is for.” I didn’t even dare think about the whole creepy thing starting off.
“Don’t take the bait. She is playing for time, master,” Garrett cut in giving me a dirty look. “She used the same trick on me last time, and that’s how the little scum got away.”
“Nice try,” Angus practically hissed and narrowed his eyes; his dark magic intensified and wrapped around me like a poisonous snake. I gagged and gasped for air. “Weak gimmick, little goddess. Too bad now it won’t work.” His lips curled up in a repulsive smile.
“Alex,” Ryan's voice chimed in my mind. I glanced at him. He stood silently a few feet away from me, his stare stern, his face cold and inscrutable. “Do you really want to know the details of the ritual or are you just trying to buy yourself more time?"
"Both. Tell me all you can, in case there’s something I can use to stop it."
"It’s s a secret inferni ritual.”
His words echoed in my ears like the jingling of metal balls, and fear curdled in my belly. I shifted my glance to Angus. The confident gleam in his eyes was devastating. He clearly enjoyed my misery.
“Now, the fun can finally start,” Angus said. I pressed my lips, mentally cursing him. I looked back at Ryan. His demeanor hadn’t changed. He was still stone-faced, but I sensed uneasiness in him, and his lower lip quivered.
"Distract them: summon fire and buy me time so that I can explain the rest. Where the hell is your boyfriend?"
The inferni had already thrown out his hands and started chanting again in the same unknown language Garrett did earlier. His powerful voice broke the eerie silence and pain exploded in my mind, stronger and fiercer than anything I’d experienced before. A wave of dark energy rose in my chest and suffocated me. Dark bluish flames shimmered on the tip of his fingers and with a loud sizzle he ignited the fiery thread that bound us all. I suppressed the surging pain, nausea and fatigue and concentrated hard, connecting with the thread in my center. The power of the fire element came to my fingertips, wild and tempting, and with the last strength I could muster, I shot a good-sized fireball at Garrett's hair.
I was hoping to create a commotion and distract Angus. Perhaps he would end the ritual or something will go wrong and it would stop on its own. The sorcerer and the inferni were at the top of my shit list, in that order because Garrett had killed my mother, and then ruined my leather jacket.
The crackling of the magic resounded and the bluish thread that was binding us snapped shut. As I’d expected, Garrett let out a cry, and with a swift movement, he extinguished the flames that were advancing fiercely on his skin. Next he was showering curses upon me, pinning me with the dirtiest look he could muster, his stare screaming bloody murder. A throbbing pain shot up in my head and made me want to pass out.
"You bitch!"
Another flood of curses followed, and Ryan seized the opportunity to mentally say to me, “In short, the ritual is secret. You won’t find it in any written records. As far as I understood from Garrett, Kai himself invented it many hundreds of years ago, during the Great War. But ever since the peace treaty, no one has dared to use it, not even Kai.”
“And Kai told Angus about it?” I asked Ryan. Garrett had already stopped with the curses and took a step toward me with the clear intention of physically hurting me, but Angus stopped him. I could see the amusement flickering in his dark, dangerous eyes.
“Of course Kai told him — the chief demon is both Angus' creator and his brother; Angus is Kai's right hand.”
He won’t remain that for long when Kai learns about his treason, I thought.
“In order to perform it, though, Angus needed Samuel’s magic and that of the other two mages — the time and the healing mages. Garrett has pumped himself high on their powers. But the
really special part comes with you. He needs a god or goddess power in order to deactivate the spell Kai and the lich have put on Inferno.”
Ryan had barely finished when Angus laughed out, the sound of it sending another wave of agony through my mind.
"That was really stupid of you, Alex, but I like my victims feisty. At least you evened out the score." He shot a glance at the charcoaled spot on my jacket and clapped his hands. "Enough is enough, now, kids. The ritual will continue and this time, Alexandra, you won't thwart it." His eyes glowed with delight and he added, his voice booming with pride, "My moment has come."
I glanced at Garrett — he had that demented smile on his face: a mixture of adoration for his master and that zealot gleam I’d seen the previous time in his eyes. I wanted to hurl but I had to pull myself together if I wanted to put up a fight. The inferni resumed his chanting and the thread ignited again. The chanting grew louder and the air around us swirled once more in the same dark bluish flames. I wanted to move, to run, to yell, to destroy and break things, but my limbs were paralyzed.
The shimmering vibrations electrified my body, sending my energy into overdrive. I made an attempt to call my elemental powers, but in vain. Some invisible dark-shimmering force had made me immobile.
Angus loomed nearer. He looked as scary as the primordial Evil. His face had darkened and small horns had popped out on his head, just like it happened to Kai when he was losing his human appearance. The sensations of terror, insanity and unimaginable pain overwhelmed me, my eyes dilating at the horror.
Angus took a step closer, his hand just inches from my chest. I wanted to kick, to scream, to bite him if I had to, but my blood had frozen in my veins. My body didn’t respond to any commands.
I closed my eyes, anticipating his devastating touch, when a loud boom sounded in the cavern and the ceiling cracked open above us. Before the inferni could touch me, Kagan’s fairydust flashed in the darkness, and his voice roared like an ancient magical beast’s.