Robin shoved his hands in his pockets. “It’s beyond my ken, I’m afraid. You may want to contact Mr. Mappleworth. If he doesn’t know, I’m sure he knows someone who does.”
Yes, of course. Not that I minded dropping in on the sexy vampire. I only wished it were under more favorable circumstances.
“Have you spoken to him since…?” Robin trailed off.
I ignored the question. “I’ll go see him.” It was time.
“Do you want us to go with you?” Dani asked. “It’s dark now.”
“I’ll be fine,” I said. “I should see him on my own anyway.” I shifted my attention back to Robin. “Pump up the bike tires, Boy Wonder. I’m suddenly in the mood for a burstberry shake.”
5
I parked my bicycle outside the Stake-n-Shake, the local diner that catered to vampires. The outdoor lights blazed as minotaurs and elves rode around on roller-skates, serving patrons outside at their cars, while others chose to dine inside. Gray rented a small room above the diner, a far cry from the ancestral home the Mappleworths purportedly owned. Gray had been a decorated warden, and came from a long line of public servants. When he’d left the Agency of Magical Forces years ago following the death of his partner, Riya, his family had shunned him. Gray had taken it in stride and created a new life for himself, lurking in the shadows and vowing revenge on the demon that murdered Riya.
“Gray’s upstairs, honey,” one of the waitresses said—a succubus whose name I couldn’t remember. My only recollection was that I was meant to steer clear of her kind. They were apparently equal opportunity sex seekers. They fed off sexual energy, and some of them liked to prey on the unsuspecting, which included clueless witches like me.
“Thanks,” I called over my shoulder. I took the staircase to the second floor, where Gray was…reading a book? I wasn’t sure why that threw me for a loop. Was it racist to assume that vampires didn’t read books? I wore a straight face so that I didn’t have to find out.
He glanced up when I appeared in the open doorway. Man alive, he was hotter than I remembered. Or man undead, I guess. If he was surprised to see me, he didn’t show it.
“Morrow.” He placed the book on the floor beside the mattress and rose to greet me. “I’m glad to see you.”
“Really?” Crap. There went my nonchalant routine.
A faint grin tugged at his lips. “Really.” He leaned against the wall. “You look well. How’s training?”
“Busy.” I paused. “Aren’t you going to invite me in?”
“You’re not a vampire,” he replied. “Are you hungry or thirsty? We could go downstairs for a shake.”
I wanted to stay right here and fantasize about mattress-based activities we could do, but we didn’t have that kind of relationship, not to mention there was a more pressing matter.
“I need your help,” I blurted. I needed to keep my mind where it belonged.
“Let me guess,” he said. “An auction at Harrington House? Or maybe a trip to Terrene?”
“I wish.” I told him about Cerys and all the information I had. “You’re the best resource I have.” Aside from Cato, of course. Gray had the distinct advantage of arms and legs, though. And a very nice body.
“Abraxas,” Gray repeated. “The name is familiar, but I don’t know anything specific.”
“But you can find out, right?” I tried not to sound too desperate.
“That’s what I do,” he said glibly.
“What about the underworld?” I asked. “Do you think Robin’s right about it being the nether?”
He raked a hand through his blond hair. “Is library guy ever wrong about anything?”
“Do you know how to get to the place I described?” I asked. I was sure we’d need supplies, too. There was no way we would simply breeze into the underworld without weapons or other useful items.
His shoulders tensed, though I wasn’t sure why. “I know someone who would.”
Of course he did.
“We’ll have to go back to the Obscura,” he said. “Are you up for it?”
“To the Bottomless Cauldron?”
“No, not this trip. I have a different contact there for the underworld.” His expression clouded over. “I haven’t seen him in a long time, though.”
I hesitated, not sure if I should say her name “Riya?” I finally asked.
His jaw tensed. “Clemens was the one we saw before we ventured down. Before…” He trailed off. “We were too hasty. We should’ve taken more time to prepare.”
“You’ll help me prepare, Gray. I can’t afford to make any mistakes.”
Gray’s eyes locked on mine. “I’ll help us prepare. No way am I sending you into the arms of a demon like Abraxas on your own.”
“I won’t be on my own. My friends are coming, too.”
Gray rubbed his cheeks in frustration. “So, the blind leading the blind? Even better.”
“How difficult of a journey is it?” I asked.
“The nether is huge, so it depends. We’ll know more after we speak to Clemens.” Gray clenched his fist. “I don’t love the idea of you traipsing through the underworld. It’s too dangerous, Morrow. You’re not ready for an outing like that. Hell, even trained agents aren’t ready for that half the time.”
“Cerys is down there,” I said heatedly. “Who knows what that demon has in store for her? He could be torturing her right now.” My stomach churned at the thought.
“What’s Chancellor Tilkin doing about it?”
“She has to go through the proper channels,” I explained. “I could tell she wasn’t happy about it, but her hands are tied.”
“What about Warden Armitage?” he asked. “Isn’t he on the case? He usually handles academy incidents.”
“He thinks a kelpie was involved,” I said. “He’s letting his ego get in the way again. If he listens to me, he’ll have to admit he was wrong.”
“Tell him what you’ve learned,” Gray said. “He’s egotistical, but he’s not an idiot.”
“He’s been told,” I said. “But he’s an active warden. He has to follow protocol. Besides, this is my fault. I’m the reason Cerys disappeared. It should be my responsibility to rescue her.”
“You can’t blame yourself, Morrow,” he said. “It was an accident. It happens with magic, especially when you’re just learning. Other trainees have had years of magical practice.”
“I should’ve been more careful,” I said. “I have all this power, but my skills need honing.”
Gray offered my shoulder a comforting squeeze. “You have more skill than you give yourself credit for. You come from talented stock, Morrow.”
“You don’t need to remind me,” I said, ignoring the tingle that ran down my spine. Gray’s touch had that effect on me.
“We’re past all that,” Gray said, and I realized it was his way of reassuring me.
“You’re sure?”
“I wouldn’t have come to see you at the Muldoon house in Terrene if I wasn’t okay with it. I don’t do things to be polite.”
I laughed. “No, you don’t. You really need to work on that.”
His expression hardened. “I left my manners behind when I left my life.”
“No reason you can’t offer gratitude when the situation calls for it,” I said. “Manners don’t bind you to a certain lifestyle.”
“No, but they remind me of one.” It was one of the most honest things he’d ever said to me.
When he withdrew his hand from my arm, I tried to hide my dismay. Even though I knew the gesture was more friendly and supportive than intimate, I liked the way it felt. I wanted more of it.
“Can we go to the Obscura now?” I asked.
Gray’s eyes widened. “At night? It’s a different scene in the dark, Morrow. You may not like it as much.”
“I don’t want to wait,” I said. “The sooner I find out how to get there, the sooner I can rescue Cerys.”
Gray studied me for a moment. “We can go now on one condition.”
He gave me a hard look. “I’m coming with you to the nether, or I won’t help you get there.”
I balked. “Gray, I can’t let you do that.” The last thing I wanted was to trigger his PTSD. His whole life was forever altered after his last visit there.
“It’s non-negotiable,” Gray said. “You want my help, then you have to accept all of it.”
Having Gray at my side was a plus in every way from my point of view, but I was more concerned with how the journey would impact him.
He moved closer to me, seeming to sense my hesitation. “What’s the matter, Morrow? Are you worried about us spending quality time together?”
I couldn’t resist a smile. “That’s how you view this little excursion? Quality time with an academy student? Meeting your public service quota?”
“I view it as helping a friend in need,” he said. “You are in need, aren’t you?”
Holy smokes, yes. How could I say no when I was so dangerously close to him? No guy on earth smoldered like a vampire.
“I do need you, Gray,” I said.
He pondered my face for an extra beat before he said, “Good. Then let’s go.”
We returned to the old church to access the tunnels to the Obscura.
“I’ve got my wand,” I said, twirling it in the air.
“You’re not going to start making strange Terrene references again, are you?” he asked, cocking an eyebrow.
I lit up the tip of my wand. “E.T. phone home,” I said in a weird voice. “Like that?”
“Exactly.”
“We won’t see any tunnel trolls down here, will we?” I asked.
“Not in these tunnels,” he replied. “One of the reasons I use this pathway is because it’s usually clear of undesirables.”
“Undesirables. That’s a good word for them.” I remembered the tunnel troll we fought on the way to Terrene. Not an enjoyable encounter.
A noise echoed through the tunnel chamber and I jumped closer to Gray. I thought he’d make fun of me, and was pleasantly surprised when he took my hand instead. It seemed instinctive on his part, like he didn’t stop to weigh the consequences. During a brief moment of insanity, I considered drawing attention to it, but I didn’t want to risk him letting go and never doing it again.
“What was that?” I asked in a hushed tone.
“Could be rats.”
“Regular rats or some kind of magical rat?”
He looked at me askance. “What’s a magical rat?”
I shrugged. “No idea. I figure there must be some crazy paranormal version of a rat.” I paused. “No?”
He blew out an amused breath. “No magical rats. Stay close and keep that light on, though, in case it’s a depraved.”
“A depraved what?”
He stopped walking and met my gaze in the dim light. “Vampire.”
My blood chilled. “Not the kind of sexy vampire hanging out in Stake-n-Shake, huh?”
“The kind that will drain your body in a frenzy and leave you a husk.”
“So, you’re saying not the sexy kind?”
His lips formed a half smile. “I guess that depends on your definition of sexy.”
I caught myself before I said, “Like you.” Instead, I cleared my throat as quietly as possible. “How do we avoid a depraved?”
“They can smell fresh blood at a fair distance, so try not to nick yourself on anything. Their hearing is pretty good, too, especially in tunnels like these. The acoustics are amazing.”
“So we should probably stop talking?”
He nodded and pulled me closer to him, continuing to move forward through the tunnel. Under normal circumstances, I’d be elated to be this close to him, but the idea of a bloodthirsty vampire headed in my direction shoved aside all my happy thoughts.
“Try to calm that heart of yours, Morrow,” he said in a harsh whisper.
I inhaled deeply through my nose and slowly blew out the breath in effort to steady my nerves. “If we encounter this…depraved, you can take him, right? I mean, you’re both vampires, but you’re…”
He craned his neck to peer at me. “Sexier?”
“Yeah.”
We only managed a few more steps before he blocked me with his arm. I held my wand out to better view his face. He covered the tip of the wand, so I turned off the light.
Darkness rolled over us.
Despite my best efforts, my heart beat rapidly, pumping more blood through my veins. I may as well have had a flashing red neon sign above my head that read ‘Good Eats.’
I wanted to ask Gray which type of magic was most effective against a depraved, but I didn’t get the chance.
“Don’t look up,” Gray warned.
Before I had a chance to register his words, his hand left mine and he punched upward. In the inky black, I heard a snarl and a hiss, then a body dropped from the ceiling. I used a spell to illuminate my wand again.
“You weren’t kidding,” I said. Nothing on earth was less sexy than this slithering beast in front of us. It could barely walk upright.
Gray’s movements were a blur of fists and feet as he fought the depraved. The degenerate vampire’s body was lean and muscular, and its fangs reminded me of a saber-toothed cat.
“Got any fire power, Morrow?” Gray asked, artfully dodging a headfirst attack. Gray grabbed the depraved by the back of the neck and slammed its head against the stone wall so hard that I saw stars.
Although fire wasn’t my specialty, I could produce it in a pinch. I summoned my magic and aimed my wand. Fire streaked from the tip of my wand and set the depraved alight. He flailed and shrieked but continued fighting. His flaming arms propelled toward us, and I backed away before he could pass the torch to me.
“Again,” Gray called, keeping a safe distance from the depraved.
I took aim and fired again. “Will he actually burn to death?” I wasn’t sure whether the rules for killing depraved vampires were the same as for killing regular vampires.
“If the fire burns him to a crisp, yes,” Gray replied, with one eye trained on the blazing vampire.
“I didn’t think fire was enough,” I said, ducking as a fiery arm swung at my head.
“Fire created in the human sense isn’t enough,” Gray said. “Your fire is the result of magic.”
The heat crackled in the air between us as the depraved performed a dance of death. One more blow would do the trick. I pointed my wand and let the magic go. The depraved exploded into pieces, and I barely escaped in time. Chunks of charred flesh flew in all directions, and I covered my head, desperate to keep bits of vampire out of my hair. Once the dust settled, I gave Gray the stink eye.
“You could’ve warned me that would happen,” I said.
He chuckled. “I wasn’t sure it would. Did any land on you?”
“No, thank goodness.” I smoothed my dark hair and glanced at the mess on the ground. “How would we have killed him if I didn’t have fire magic?”
“Dismemberment works, too,” he said simply.
Ugh.
He patted me on the shoulder. “You did well, Morrow. You stayed relatively cool and finished the job.”
“Not everything has to serve as a lesson, you know. You could have just killed him without all the fanfare.”
He grinned. “Where’s the fun in that?” He waved me forward. “Come on, let’s go before he starts to smell.”
6
We carried on walking, and I tried to erase the image of the exploding vampire from my mind. Some moments were best left forgotten.
“What makes a depraved vampire versus one like you?” I asked.
“Evolution,” he said. “What makes a house cat versus a cheetah?”
I frowned. “Which one are you in that scenario?”
“Neither. I just mean that we’re related but not closely. Over time, we’ve basically evolved into two distinct sets.”
“And the depraved lurk in dark tunnels?” I que
ried.
“They can lurk anywhere,” he said. “Graveyards are a popular hangout, too. Sometimes they travel in packs, but mostly you come across the odd one like Burning Man back there.”
“Like wolves,” I said.
He eyed me closely. “You don’t always need to compare one group to another.”
“It helps me learn,” I said. “My mom taught me about wolves, not vampires. The animals of the human world form the foundation of my knowledge.”
“And library guy is helping you bridge that knowledge gap?” he asked. “Or is that not happening?”
“Oh, it’s happening,” I replied. “There’s so much ground to cover, though. And Robin just loves imparting wisdom. I know he has plans to become a justice, but I think he likes teaching a little too much.”
“I think he likes teaching you,” Gray said.
“Because I’m such an easy student?”
He cast a sidelong glance at me. “I don’t know. Are you?”
I punched him in the arm. “Exactly what are you suggesting, Graydon Alastair Mappleworth III? Are you casting aspersions on my character?”
He laughed. “Aspersions? Are they a special kind of spell?”
“I told you before, Robin and I are friends. I keep him from staring at the four walls of his room too often.”
“Because you have him staring at the ceiling?”
“Gray!” My arm shot out again, but this time he caught my fist in his hand, blocking the blow.
He nearly doubled over with laughter. “Sorry, that was too good to pass up.”
“You’re awful,” I said, and tried to walk ahead of him.
He hurried to keep pace beside me. “I’m kidding, Morrow. I swear.”
“Next time, I’ll ask Robin to accompany me to the Obscura,” I said haughtily.
“Good idea,” Gray said. “Make sure he wears his tweed jacket and bow tie, so you can both die a slow and painful death.”
“Robin can be very resourceful,” I said, though I wasn’t certain he could’ve handled the depraved. He lacked Gray’s experience in the field. In fact, he lacked a lot of Gray’s qualities, but I wouldn’t give the vampire the pleasure of knowing I felt that way.
Outlast: Spellslingers Academy of Magic (Warden of the West Book 3) Page 5