by Krista Walsh
Once the orange tongues licked toward the flue, Vera settled on the ruined sofa cushion and pulled Baxter’s torn blue blanket over her legs. The first sip of tea was an elixir to her emotions, steadying them in their chaos. Peace draped over her, as comforting as the blanket and as warm as the fire. It didn’t relieve her mental turmoil, but she gained a sense of distance from the aches that had pinched her heart since Gabe had slammed the door.
His words kept echoing through her mind. She tried hard to block them out, but she couldn’t help but wonder how much of what he’d said was true. Was she just a martyr using her burdens as an excuse? They’d been a part of her life for so long, she wouldn’t recognize herself without them. Did that make her weak? She had always seen her to-do list as her strength. Each responsibility she maintained was proof to herself that she was in control of her life, that her family could rely on her to do what needed to be done.
Without those duties, what did she have to offer the world? She had never been an overly social person, preferring to interact with people on the page rather than in the same room. She didn’t have many hobbies, and Ara was her only real friend. In school, she’d had to hide her physical strength and the power that placed her apart from her peers, and the effort it took to protect that side of herself had kept her from going to sleepovers or becoming too intimate with any of her schoolmates. Just close enough to fit in; never enough to stand out.
What was she, if not the woman who had to carry her vengeance job and her bookshop and her dogs and the care of one of the most important books of the otherworld?
Gabe believed she was more than that, but he was simply mistaken. His words came from a place of pain and anger. She accepted that, even if they had hurt her. It was her fault for involving him in the first place.
Ara was her other great concern. The dryad had been her sister for more than twenty years, and now Vera was leaving her behind. Of anyone, Ara would understand the importance of her decision, but it wouldn’t be easy for her to stand back and do nothing while Vera left.
Vera would just have to do something to make up for abandoning her once she returned.
She prayed that wouldn’t be too far in the future. If she pressed hard to learn what she needed, maybe she could come back in a few months with an army behind her, ready to wipe these threats from her doorstep. But even as she wished that could be true, she doubted she would find anyone to help her move that quickly. For one thing, how would she know who to trust? Her contacts would give her a roof over her head and access to their research databases, but she couldn’t think of anyone she could be honest with about the reason for her flight.
She would be completely on her own, and even though she’d never connected with many people in her life, the idea terrified her.
She pulled Baxter’s blanket higher around her chest and wished her dogs were with her now to steer away the loneliness worming into her heart. But they were safer where they were. She trusted Gabe to look after them until Ara had a chance to claim them, and this way she wouldn’t need to worry about holding them back when the thieves arrived.
If.
She didn’t want to think about the possibility that her plan would fail, but she wasn’t the sort of person to sit back and hope for the best. Grabbing a pen and pad of paper from her end table, she propped them on her knee beside her teacup. As she relaxed deeper into the couch, she outlined every possible scenario she could think of and planned her responses.
Ezel had installed new silent alarms at both entrances, as well as the charm that would send the signal to Gabe whenever the door opened. She still hoped Rega would go straight for the book, but if he came upstairs, she would need to find a way to keep him distracted until Gabe showed up to help her fight back. Based on what Gabe had said, he’d be ready to rift over when the time came. She guessed that would leave, at most, a five-minute delay.
Despite what had happened, she believed he would show up. After all, she was still his client. Regardless of how he felt about her personally, she knew how important his professional reputation was to him. It would hardly look good if he let her be attacked on his watch.
What if Rega doesn’t show up at all?
That question made her pause. Now that she’d revealed the rest of her plan to Ara and Gabe, she didn’t want to be stuck in town for another week, waiting up every night for the thieves to show. The strain would be too much.
She noted on the pad to return to Ezel in the morning and begin her training to strengthen her psychic shield. The charm would hopefully get her through the night, but if she had to bide her time in New Haven for a while, she would at least have something to work on.
But deep in her soul, she knew she wouldn’t have to wait too long. Rega didn’t strike her as the type of man to wait any longer than necessary. She hoped that rashness would help ensure her plan went through. A more conscientious man might check each page of the book to ensure it was the one he sought. Rega would likely just glance at the cover and bolt.
Hopefully, the way she’d hidden the book would convince them she’d done her best to conceal it. They could laugh at her incompetence in keeping the book safe, the naive fool who always used the same old tricks. They could be gone before the sun rose. Then she could find a way to contact Fendal and let her know that, in spite of her best efforts, the book had been stolen. Yes, she would face their scorn for failing after she’d been so adamant that she could protect it, but what did that matter? Fendal would pursue Rega and the book, and Vera would be free to disappear.
Of course, there was the possibility that it wouldn’t go so smoothly. Thanks to that anonymous blogger, she knew where Rega’s interests lay, and it wasn’t in sitting down for a thoughtful discussion. A lot could happen in five minutes while she waited for Gabe. Rega could try to kill her.
Considering how their last encounter had gone, the thought turned her insides to liquid, but she breathed through her panic. She knew he was strong, and this time she would be ready for him. Percy had said it himself — she was no delicate ginger flower. She’d fight as hard as she could to stay alive. With Gabe at her side, she was sure they could win. Either Rega walked out with the replica, or he didn’t walk out of here at all. She wouldn’t accept any other alternative.
Her mind kept looping through how she hoped the scene would play out. As darkness swept across her apartment and the effects of her tea kicked in, Vera’s exhaustion and aching head caught up with her. She set her mug on the end table, closed her eyes, and leaned back against the pillow to relieve some of the pain. Before she realized what was happening, she was tugged down into dreams.
***
The pull of a summons dragged Vera’s mind out of her body, but before she reached her destination, another force jerked her in another direction. She strained to free herself from the current, but the energy was too strong. She stumbled forward, and opened her eyes to find the bookstore wavering around her. It was no longer the mess it had been when she first arrived home, but just as she had left it, even if the bookcases weren’t quite where they were supposed to be.
She toyed with the charm at her throat, frustrated that it hadn’t done the job Ezel had promised it would. Were the ancients so strong that they couldn’t be stropped by simple spells? It wasn’t that far of a stretch — they were able to get inside Vera’s head despite her immunity, after all. But it reinforced the importance of getting to Ezel in the morning. She couldn’t take the risk of the Collegiate following her in her mind after she left town.
Vera brushed aside a book hovering in the air and crossed the length of the shop, searching for the power that had brought her here. Its influence pulled on her mind, drawing her thoughts toward The Fettered Wolf, but she wrenched them away and focused only on the shop.
As the power pressed on her fatigue, anger surged through Vera that they were invading her mind again.
“What do you want?” she shouted. “I swore to you I would keep the book safe. You have my word.” T
he only response was a stronger urge to think about the book. She refused. Regardless of what Fendal had told her, she couldn’t risk anyone knowing about the replica except the three people who had helped her create it. She forced her mind toward the staff room where the leather-bound text rested in the bottom of the safe.
The Collegiate’s will wrestled with her own, turning her thoughts to where the original sat upstairs, but Vera mustered her strength to concentrate on the copy, her head aching with the effort.
The power was strong, but she had enough determination to fight it.
For how long?
She refused to think about that, focused only on guiding the Collegiate’s attention to the staff room. In her dream, her fumbling fingers pulled back the painting of the store and worked the mechanism for the safe, falling away twice before they managed to complete the combination and open the door. The three books rested within, their titles obscured by the fog that coated everything in the shop, trailing over the lip of the safe and across her feet.
The power nudged her again and still she fought, praying that Fendal believed she was fighting against her actions and losing the battle. Everything depended on them believing this was the right book.
Her shoulder ached in its socket as she raised her hand to the oiled cloth.
“Fendal, stop this!” she shouted, and didn’t know if she meant their search for the book or the manipulation of her mind. Their fingers twisted inside her head and the pressure around her skull threatened to shatter it. The blinding pain from their last visit hadn’t returned, but this sensation was worse. Her willpower was fading beneath the weight. She was nothing more than a puppet doing the bidding of an unseen puppeteer.
Her self-control slipped and her hand fell from the cloth. Before she was aware of what she was doing, she found herself at the door of the room, looking to leave. A fresh wave of fury burned in her blood that they were testing her so brutally, as though they didn’t have confidence that she would do whatever it took to keep her vow. She used her rage to press back toward the safe.
With one final cry, she forced her hand through the thick molasses of her repressed willpower and pulled the cloth back from the book. The cover lay revealed, the fog in the room touching everything except the ancient leather.
Vera’s heart pounded with the exertion, and she dropped to her knees, willing them to believe they had broken through her defenses and shown them what they wanted to see. That her emotion came from a heaviness of resignation and not worry that they would see through the façade.
The pressure came harder, and she braced her hands on the floor. It no longer guided her thoughts but seemed to be worming its way deeper into her mind, seeking out answers to a question she didn’t know. She thought of nothing except the book in the safe and the silver-leaf chain around the wolf’s throat.
The discomfort grew so great, her stomach heaved, and she dreaded throwing up in her dreams in case she choked in reality. She sucked in deep breaths to maintain control over her body.
Then the pressure vanished as suddenly as it had come. Vera’s neck jerked back, and the room teetered around her. Like a door being closed, the connection between her and the Collegiate’s power snapped shut, and she collapsed into unconsciousness.
***
As Vera swam through the murkiness of her dream state toward awareness, a sense of victory filled her with a warmth as sweet as ambrosia. She had managed to project the right image to Fendal and the others. She had beat them and skirted their influence. As far as the Collegiate was concerned, there was still only one book to be chased, and that book would soon be in Rega’s possession.
The closer Vera got to wakefulness, however, the more she picked up on a sense of disruption. Something wasn’t right near her body. The silent alarms from downstairs hadn’t woken her up, but was it possible the Collegiate’s power had dragged her so deep into her own mind that she’d missed the warning?
The heat of her pride was subsumed by a cold rush of fear that turned her blood solid as she balanced on the brink of waking up. Part of her didn’t want to take the final step and open her eyes, confirming that what she believed was victory was only an illusion.
She wasn’t given the choice.
A tongue scraped over her cheek, followed by a stinging pain that crept under her skin, creating a pins-and-needles sensation that grew more pronounced until she felt as though her entire body were on fire.
With a scream, her eyes flew open. She tried to sit up, but strong hands held her down, pinning her shoulders to the couch. Another weight sat on her legs, heavy enough that she had no give when she tried to kick it away.
Low chuckles from more than one voice sounded around her, rattling against the inside of her skull, and she swung her head to the side, then redoubled her struggles to free herself at the sight of the intruders in her apartment. Humphrey sat on her legs, while someone she couldn’t see held her arms. Rega, keeping his hands clean, stood beside the couch and stared down at her with his endless black eyes.
Her heart raced, pounding so hard she tasted blood, and her fingers and toes prickled with numbness. They’d made it this far into her apartment without giving her a chance to prepare. Was Gabe already downstairs?
Her gaze flicked toward the door, willing it to swing open and Gabe to barge in. When it remained closed, her stomach twisted, and she looked at Rega.
“You know why we’re here,” he said, his voice sounding like rocks being ground together. “Where is the book?”
Vera’s tongue felt thick in her mouth as the man holding her arms once more slid his oily tongue over her cheek. A cry gurgled in her throat as the fiery pain took hold of her veins, and her back arched in an effort to escape it.
“Tell me before things get worse for you,” Rega growled.
I’ll tell you if you give me a minute to think, she wanted to say, but the words wouldn’t come. Instead she swallowed coals and tried to stop herself from retching over her chin.
“Get her up.”
The order came without any inflection of joy or anger. The matter-of-factness froze Vera’s insides even as they burned. She jerked to free herself from the licking man’s grip as he yanked her up, holding her arms at her sides, but to no avail. She glanced over her shoulder to catch a glimpse of the creature that was causing her so much pain, and her stomach heaved at the face staring back at her. Boils and oozing sores surrounded a pair of golden eyes in a beet-red face. A pointed tongue stretched out between crimson lips, and blood dribbled over its teeth.
Her brain shut down. She had expected Rega and Humphrey, but now they’d brought a Colcex demon out to play as well.
Before she had time to consider what it meant that it was here, the creature backhanded her across the cheek, and she flew into one of her built-in bookcases. The shelf struck her uninjured cheek, and she collapsed in a shower of books and wooden figurines. The bowed shelves cracked beneath her weight.
Gabe had to be on his way. She just had to find her strength and push them back for a few more minutes.
The demon shifted to stand over her before she had time to shake off the blow. It grabbed her arm and twisted it behind her, forcing her into a crouch. Rega approached, but she didn’t give him a chance to strike. She leaned forward, bracing herself with her free arm as she kicked backward with her left leg, catching the Colcex demon in the knee. Its leg buckled, and she used the moment’s distraction to pull her arm away and roll free. Humphrey blasted a shot of red magic in her direction, but it missed and hit her other bookcase, the pages sparking into flames, then petering out.
She launched herself at Humphrey and thrust the heel of her palm into his nose, relishing the crack of bone. Rega grabbed her arm and twisted her around to face him. She swung her head toward his cheek as she turned, then followed it swiftly with a quick knee to the groin. The Horrigen demon flinched, but he didn’t release his hold. He grabbed her other arm, his fingers digging deep into her flesh
“Where
is the book?”
Tears prickled Vera’s eyes as he wrenched both arms upward, pulling her up onto her toes.
She allowed him to take her weight as she raised her feet off the ground and kicked him in the kneecap. He threw her across the room into the Colcex demon’s waiting arms. The demon clamped its teeth down on her shoulder, and her mind went numb at the agony of its fangs piercing her skin, driving into the muscle. Fire leached out from the bite like tiny serpents, wriggling inside of her, and she feared what sort of poison its bite had sent through her system. The ichor in her blood would fight it off eventually, but she had to keep control over herself if she wanted to manipulate them in the meantime.
Rega approached and threw a double-fisted blow into her gut, forcing the wind out of her lungs.
“Please,” she said when she could get her breath back, and her voice sounded too far away, too quiet. Too much not like herself.
Gabe, where are you? She sent the thought out to the universe with a sense of desperation. She hadn’t anticipated the Colcex demon, or that she would be handling so many enemies on her own for so long. Ezel had said the signal would go off on Gabe’s computer whether Rega attempted to disable the alarm or not. He should have been here by now.
She also said the charm would keep the Collegiate out of my mind, Vera thought. And then another idea struck her that turned her guts to ice. Unless Gabe’s not coming.
She refused to accept that possibility. She just had to stay strong a little bit longer.
Her survival instinct urged her to throw a psychic projection into Rega’s mind, but there was no point. The projection wouldn’t extend to the others, and she didn’t trust what the Colcex demon would do without supervision.
“Please. It’s in the shop. I’ll show you. Please stop.” Her words came in choppy waves, the volume rising and falling as she tried to work air through her aching lungs.
Rega eyed her for a long moment, his empty black eyes boring into her soul. Finally, he jerked his head in a nod. The Colcex demon hauled Vera to her feet and yanked her toward the door.