She pulled out one of the long, slender tools on her wrist. Her normally sure fingers fumbled, and the small bit of metal hit the cement floor with a tiny clang.
Mina huffed out a breath, afraid to do more. She picked it up and tried again; this time she got it into the lock. Now she needed another one of…
“So, the front door isn’t good enough for you?”
Her muscles froze at the oily Slavic-accented tone. She really was off her game if she couldn’t sense an Elemental. Carefully, unsure if he was alone, she turned to face a lanky young man with too-long hair. He sat on an open burlap sack filled with large, red apples. One of those bright apples was in his sallow hand. He took a loud, crunching bite and smiled at her while he chewed. His eyes rotated through a spectrum of color all Tri-elementals exhibited, showing their emotional state.
Oh goody, he was excited.
“You sound too much like your cousin Mikhail.” Mina didn’t like the boy. He’d been given over to the Darks to seal a treaty between a powerful Tri-elemental and her father the current Dark leader. Mikhail was a decent man if not a little scary, but Alexei? Something was off with him.
“I’ll take that as a compliment.” Alexei stood. His chic grunge outfit was a tad short on him, his ankles and wrists longer than the pants and shirt he wore. He’d grown another inch in the last few months, probably because he ate constantly due to chronic blood loss. It was a common disciplinary practice for hostages, especially Tri-elementals. Keeping an Elemental anemic kept their powers from manifesting. Not a good thing to have one of these beings run rampant if you lived underground.
“It’s not.” Mina wanted him to go away. “Don’t you have something better to do? Like go back to your cage?” What was it about this nasty boy that brought out the worst in her? Her instinct was to put him in a binding spell whenever she encountered him.
Ah. A binding spell.
She slowly replaced the lock-pick tool back into her wrist guard and began to call up a spell under her breath. She felt it form in her hand, the small vibrations of energy melding together into a rubber ball, all squishy with growing energy.
“You’re quite the little bitch, aren’t you?” Alexei threw the half-eaten apple away, uncaring of where it landed. The kitchen staff was going to lose their minds.
A soft puff of air hit Mina’s face. She frowned, her annoyance changed to alarm. Alexei shouldn’t be able to manipulate the air like that. If he could, she wondered where his balance was. A Tri-elemental had to have the fourth element as a balance; his was fire. The Darks didn’t like flames, and a fire Elemental was worst of all.
“No, my mother is though. Is she the reason someone stopped monitoring you?” She concentrated harder on the spell in her hand. He must’ve sensed it.
The cement under her feet heaved and cracked. Mina fell, and the magic she was about to throw at this jerk fell from her hands to bind the concrete. Thin, translucent ribbons wrapped themselves around chunks of concrete, softening the ragged edges. She landed heavily on one wrist with a small crunch. Bright dots of color exploded in front of her eyes, and she gasped in pain.
“A Dark doing Mage magic? No wonder your mother hates you.” Alexei’s mockingly friendly tone held something ugly. “And she still wants to see you. I don’t know why she doesn’t let me have you.”
“Because she has standards,” Mina gasped out. She tried to conjure another spell. A violent wind knocked her off balance as if the very air fought to push her down. She lost concentration as she fought to keep upright. To her right, water flowed out of the walls, gleaned from the limestone behind it, and moved snakelike toward her. The only way to go was left.
She swallowed the fear creeping up her throat. She ached to cry out. Instead, she pressed her lips together until the silver of the lip piercing pinched her skin—reminding her that, in the Dark world, to show weakness would get her killed.
Without a word, she turned and walked left, where he herded her. What could she say? The boy was spoiling for a fight, and she wasn’t in any condition to deal with him. The wards prevented her from using the shadows to leave.
“Really? That’s your only insult, she has standards?” Alexei laughed behind her. “I’m going to enjoy watching you scream.”
“You’re broken,” Mina told him as she walked out of the storeroom into the main passageway, which was paneled in wood. It was true; Alexei had something intrinsically wrong with him. He found joy in cruelty and torment. He may hate living in the Dark world, but here, he thrived. His cousin should’ve killed him when he’d had the chance. Now it was up to someone else. Her.
Alexei continued to laugh. Triumph swirled around him like the taste of over-ripe peaches. He used his Elemental energy to push her along the passageway. Here and there at odd intervals, Wraiths stood against the walls. Chameleons, whose skin was suited more for stone than wood, didn’t say a word as she passed. Their eyes followed her, making her skin itch as one or two gave her an imperceptible nod. Not one stepped out to intercede. She knew most of them by name. The tall, thin one was Casper, and his son, Kurtis, she used to play with, dipping in and out of shadows. Now he stood solemn and silent in the upper hall, his gray skin mottled as he tried to blend into the grain of the wood.
She resisted the urge to touch him and say, “Tag, you’re it!” Now was not the time for games, but, oh, how she wished it was.
They walked in silence. So much for not using magic. It hadn’t mattered after all. He pushed her toward another hallway branching off from the one they were on. This one didn’t have carpeting or paneling. An automatic shiver made her limbs tremble as she approached; this led to the council and blood chambers. Nothing good ever happened there.
Mina took a deep breath and began to chant inwardly, trying to focus enough to call up an incantation without leaking out any power. At the same time, she let the mask of indifference she’d cultivated over the years settle on her face. She didn’t want to talk to her mother—and her father must be occupied elsewhere or Elspeth wouldn’t have dared to attempt this. She concentrated on eliminating all of her emotions as her measured steps led her farther along the passageway. It was colder here. Her mother despised emotion. If she saw Mina’s fear, she’d let her followers feast on her, and they never knew when to stop.
Chapter Three
THOMAS VODA STOOD BEFORE his fellow Board members and the most powerful Mage in North America and spoke treason, because to move against the Chairman was certainly inviting his own destruction.
“Chairman Tepes, I move that we make peace with the Darks.” At least his voice didn’t waver. Staring into the black eyes of Leonid Tepes wasn’t easy. He knew what this man was capable of, seen the effects of his displeasure firsthand. He didn’t dare look at one such victim, Stieg Fjordson, who sat next to their leader—once a good friend, now an unwilling guest at the Chairman’s home.
“This is your solution?”
Thomas nodded, glad for once that the dubious teleconference screen kept him far from his volatile leader. He wasn’t one for paranoia, but after the last major conference resulted in the Chairman’s thugs taking Stieg Fjordson into custody, he couldn’t afford to let his guard down. Not now, not when their society was on the brink of disaster.
“You forget, Thomas, how many we lost in the latest Dark attack.” The Chairman’s voice was mild, but it didn’t hide the menace floating out on tendrils to lick nerve endings.
“No,” Thomas countered. His eyes flicked to the tall Mage, Xander Fjordson, who stood behind the seated Chairman. The other Mage’s face was expressionless, as if carved of marble. No longer was he the young man with a quick smile. Xander now occupied the position of pawn in the Chairman’s twisted schemes. Only his blue eyes held any emotion, and Thomas caught the slight narrowing, hinting at a warning. Perhaps there was hope for the young Mage yet.
He hid his unease and focused back on Leonid.
“Dozens of humans were killed in that attack. Hundreds injured alo
ng with many more Mages, even Elementals. It was something we could’ve avoided. It was our fault—”
“Our fault?” The Chairman slammed his hand down on the table before him, and the crack of it echoed through the screen. “The Darks accosted our people. They’ve become a menace, and we must make an example of them.”
“How? We created them.” For a brief moment, Thomas forgot his fear as a hot flush of anger overrode his common sense.
“And we can destroy them.”
“What?” He knew he shouted, but he was incapable of stopping. “Kill off a race of people we created with our archaic experiments? We’ve all lost family to the Dark, handing them over because they couldn’t deal with the light of day, and now you want us to—”
“Save our lives!” The thunderous words silenced Thomas as Leonid stood, his dark eyes flat, his face a mask of terrible rage. “I think you’ve forgotten. What ties we have with the Darks were severed long ago. If we don’t kill them, this war will only get worse.”
Forgotten? Never. He’d watched over and over as parents, in an effort to strengthen their infant’s Mage powers, allowed private experiments to be performed. Fifty percent of these ended up going Dark, their skin whitening, teeth sharpening to razor’s edge, and, most damning of all, the shadows claiming them, clinging to the skin like smoke. He’d watched his own baby sister being handed over to the monsters. The Chairman’s brother, Cazacul, was another victim of this horrible practice. It was why the Council decreed decades ago to eliminate this research.
How could any of them destroy a people they created of their own flesh and blood? What they needed was guidance and protection, even if it meant imprisoning them, but not death.
A quiet filled the screen, and the air crawled with something violent and ugly. Thomas was conscious of the four other screens and the pale, silent faces of his fellow Board members. They didn’t say a word. They backed him—but for how long?
Until he too was taken into custody?
There was a time when he was absolutely sure. Not anymore. Not since Leonid Tepes obtained the position of Chairman.
“It’s already worse,” Thomas said, his voice level. They already fought in the streets. They didn’t need to battle here. “The Elementals are ready to throw in their lot with the Darks. The humans think that what happened was domestic terrorism.” He hurried on as the Chairman crossed his arms. “It doesn’t matter how many Mages we send in to influence the population, we can’t get them all. In this era of smart phones and Internet, technology has interfered with our magic and has made it more difficult to effect change.”
Thomas pulled out his own cell phone to demonstrate. “We’ve manipulated as many as we can, but the videos and pictures are going viral. They know it’s not a natural disaster. They’re telling the population it’s a new explosive, but their scientists realize it’s something else.” He put the phone down on the table and made sure he made eye contact with all of the Board members before he finished. “They’re bringing in the military. No matter what we think of humans, they still outnumber us, and if the Elementals are not kept controlled, this could be more than a war. It could be the end of us entirely.”
“Then, we will end it by putting Cazacul’s head on a pike. This will bring the Elementals and the Darks to heel,” Leonid said in an impatient tone. “There’s no time for negotiations. The quickest way is through fear and example.”
“That worked at the turn of the century, but things have changed. Humans are more aware.” Thomas wasn’t backing down, not when he knew what was at stake. “We can’t have a massacre like we had in the thirteen hundreds and call it the black plague!” He clenched one hand and forced his voice to lower. “Grace was one of the last ones to know destruction spells, but there are more out there.” His eyes slid to Xander, still silent behind the Chairman; he was one of the few young Mages able to master them. What would that boy unleash when the time came? The Chairman smiled as Thomas continued. “Next time, it may take out a major city, and if you think we can stay hiding behind the scenes, then you severely underestimate these humans.”
“Oh, I’m well aware of humans.” The Chairman sneered. “Most of the time they’re placated by their own desires. So long as they get their toys and amusements, they’re easy enough to control.”
“Underestimating them would be a grave mistake,” Thomas warned his leader. “And pushing the Darks and Elementals by barbaric shows of dominance—”
“Spare me your lectures, Thomas,” the Chairman interrupted. “I’ll give you your chance at negotiation. Arrange this little meeting with my brother, Cazacul, if you and the Board insist on it.” Leonid’s mouth curled into a smile that could only be described as unpleasant. “But you’ll see how faithless that bastard is.”
Thomas opened his mouth to thank him, but the Chairman held up a hand that let the words die in his throat.
“Thomas, our nation must and will survive.” The Chairman leaned on the conference table. The effect had the image of him leaning out of the flat-screen toward the senior Board member. “I will do anything to ensure that happens. That is something all of you need to remember.” He included the rest of the Board members in that statement. “So, by all means, move forward with these talks of yours. If you fail, and I believe you will, you’ll make a suitable example to anyone else who thinks my ways are barbaric.” With a wave of the Chairman’s hand, the screen went blank.
Thomas bit out a low curse.
Why did he think he’d just been given a death sentence?
Her mother didn’t want to talk. Mina should’ve known that the moment she stepped into the blood room. A round cavern, with tiered stone benches carved into the wall, encircling the large, open viewing ring. The floor at the center slanted downward to a small grate set in the middle. Above the grate were thick iron chains of varying height. No matter how much scrubbing, the dark brown rust on the heavy iron and the same stains on the smooth stone floor could never be fully removed. Blood was like that.
Elspeth leaned against a low table bolted into the floor, set a few feet from the ominous grate in the center. She concentrated on filing her nails to sharp points. She’d begun taking more blood than emotions lately, and it showed in the bloated fullness of her face and reptilian glitter of her strange black eyes that glanced at Mina’s entrance. Matted coils of hair slithered around her face and down her back. Stained leather pants and fringed vest with combat boots replaced the expensive clothes. She’d become a modern day Medusa.
Stumbling, Mina tried to halt her progress toward what her mother had become by locking her knees, but a sharp prod from Alexei forced her to continue her downward descent to stand before Elspeth. She ignored the sharp twinge of pain from her injured wrist and the stomach-churning scent of musty stone and decay. Around the room were some of the lesser Shadow Nymphs, those that relied on her mother’s power to move freely in the dark. All were half-breeds, and they watched her with glittering, voracious eyes.
“This is not a good look for you.” The words escaped Mina’s mouth even as she told herself to keep it shut.
“But it suits me, and that, Mina, is all that matters.” Elspeth smiled, showing all of her serrated stained teeth. It wasn’t amusement. The woman wasn’t capable of humor or any other normal emotion. “And do you know what else suits me?”
Mina shook her head. She was confident that no matter what her mother said, she wasn’t going to like it.
“I want to know why you still live.” She leaned forward, and her fetid breath washed over Mina, who spied bits of something fleshy caught in the sharp teeth. Her dinner?
“You need to floss.”
A flicker of movement—a sharp, hot flash of pain made Mina gasp as Elspeth ripped out her silver lip ring.
“You were always a willful thing. You never were obedient.”
Father always said my mouth would be the death of me.
Mina clamped a hand over her torn lip as warm blood ran down her chin. She wa
tched her mother put the bloodied silver ring in her mouth and suck on it. Her eyes burned. Years of training kept her silent. Elspeth was right; Mina had never obeyed, and it kept her alive.
With one long, sharpened talon, Elspeth took the lip ring from her mouth and looked at it, then at Mina.
“Your blood never tasted fully Dark. Maybe that’s why you refused to die.”
“I always smelled the poison,” Mina whispered. To be accused of not being fully Dark was a grave insult; civil wars were started over less. Her skin prickled in warning. Maybe she referred to the Dark practice of trying to poison their children? “But that’s what we’re supposed to do.”
It was a custom of the Darks to teach their young to discern poison in order to protect or guide them in the finer points of assassination. Some were trained to build up a tolerance. The point wasn’t to kill their children, but Mina’s mother didn’t present the poison in carefully controlled environments like the other Darks her age; she put it in her food and drinks. Mina learned quickly to use the skill of taste and scent until all she had to do was sniff whatever was put before her, and she’d know no matter how faint the bitterness, something deadly lay in wait for her to ingest.
“I passed the tests.”
“You were always too good at things that others weren’t,” Elspeth told her in a toneless voice.
What was she talking about?
“Like surviving?” Mina cried out as her mother ripped out her eyebrow piercing in another swift move. She wiped the warm blood as it dripped into her eye. Beyond Elspeth’s glittering eyes, shapes stirred as the half-breeds drew closer, smelling the blood. The tiniest curl of fear unfurled inside her, and she blinked rapidly, forcing her breathing to remain even.
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