“That…actually doesn’t sound like a terrible idea,” I said slowly. “You just want us to go in and talk to them? I mean, we can do that. Can’t we, Dorian?”
Dorian gave a nod. “Yes, sir.”
It was almost too good to be true, and I had a momentary flash of guilt for assuming the worst about the Magister. Ever since we’d returned from Scotland, he’d shown nothing but a desire to do what was best for both the coven and for humanity. He didn’t want to go along with the siege, but he’d felt he had no other choice. And as much as he didn’t agree with the tactics of the Blood Coven, he’d been backed into a corner in a way. We needed mages in order to fight the next war. And all Magister Salvatore was trying to do was keep the peace, so that we could all stand together instead of apart.
And he was trying his best to find us a way out. If that meant talking to the Sun Coven, then we’d have to fucking go talk to the Sun Coven.
“We’ll go just as soon as we’ve found Laura and Anastasia,” I said. “Any idea where we can find that rebel base?”
The Magister shot a glance at his council members, his eyebrows furrowed in concern. “I’m afraid that won’t be possible.”
“What?” I curled my hands into fists. “Why?”
“This matter is time sensitive,” the Magister said with a smile. “You will be going to the Sun Coven immediately. Only after you do this will we allow you to seek out that rebel base.”
My heart thumped hard. “But they have Laura. We can’t just leave her there.”
The Magister cleared his throat and continued discussing the plan as if I hadn’t said anything at all. “We will take the siege wall down just long enough for you to get inside the Sun Coven grounds, and then it will go right back up until you’ve convinced them to either join us in the fight or hand over the Witch’s Blade.”
“Understood.” Dorian elbowed me in the side when I merely scowled. But how the hell could he expect me to be happy about this situation? Laura was still a prisoner of the rebels, and I wasn’t being allowed to do a damn thing about it.
“There’s only one problem,” Magister Salvatore said, tapping his chin. “After your little break-in at the Blood Coven castle, our allies are feeling a tad irritable. They want results from our siege, and they want them now. They’re discussing a forward attack. I can buy us a little time, but not much. You have twenty-four hours to discuss a truce and get the Sun Coven to hand over the blade. After that, I’m afraid we’ll be forced to make a move.”
Chapter 22
“We have one chance to make this work. Let’s make it count,” Dorian whispered into my ear as we hovered just inside the siege wall. Darkness enveloped us like a cocoon while a clear night sky sparkled with a million stars. Out here in the desert—where the days were long and the sun beamed down from a cloudless sky—the Sun Coven had built themselves a post-apocalyptic home. It was a tiny little town cut off from the world. The perfect place for supernaturals to build a base. But it also meant regular trips into civilization to stock up on food and water, which had ended up being their downfall in all this. They were trapped.
There was so much riding on our little trip into Sun Coven territory, so much that I didn’t want to think about what would happen if we failed. Having control of the Witch’s Blade meant we could eliminate the demon threat once and for all, and it meant we would no longer be chained to the wishes of the Blood Coven. The Magister wouldn’t have to play by their rules anymore. No Nosferatu army necessary.
“We need to move fast, but we need to avoid being caught before we know exactly who we need to speak to. Otherwise, an angry sun mage might decide that knocking us out on the spot is the only option,” I whispered as we peered around the side of a lean-to building that looked as though it had battled more than a dust storm or two.
“What is it with you and sneaking around?” Dorian asked with a light laugh. “We’re not breaking in here to steal something. This is one of those times when we actually want attention. I’m pretty sure that hiding in the shadows will achieve nothing but drawing this entire mission out far too long.”
“It isn’t sneaking,” I said, crinkling my nose at him. “It’s scoping things out, getting a feel for things before we reveal ourselves. The last thing we want to do is ruin this one chance the Magister gave us.”
Dorian shook his head and stepped out from behind the building. I braced myself for impact, expecting a hundred different spells to be lobbed at us at once. But after a long moment where absolutely nothing happened at all, my breath expelled from my throat. We hadn’t been attacked. Dorian was still standing tall, and he’d started moving down the long line of buildings, his bulky frame nothing more than an outline against the dark sky.
I followed just behind him, glancing around as we passed house after house. My boots crunched the rough sand, the only sound in the stillness of the night. Sun mages relied on light in order to cast their spells. Being in darkness made them weaker, so they kept themselves tucked safe indoors when the moon rose into the sky.
“Wait. Can you hear that?” Dorian froze in place, raising a finger in the air while he cocked his head. Frowning, I drew myself in to his side and rested my hand on my dagger’s sheath. In the distance, I heard the frantic beating of heavy wings, and then the night erupted into screams.
Chapter 23
“It’s coming from that way,” Dorian said as he twisted in his boots to turn back toward the way we’d come. Heavy footsteps pounded in the darkness while at least a dozen bodies rushed past where we stood. The mages barely took any notice of us, their faces too clouded with fear. My heart hammered hard as I spotted a young boy racing past, his hand tucked tight into his mother’s arms. He must have only been about six years old, and his airplane pajama pants were covered in dirt.
A woman stopped to grab my arm. “Run! Red Alert!”
And then she was off, pounding her bare feet against the cracked earth.
“Red Alert?” I said, turning to Dorian when the rush of sun mages had disappeared from view. “Something tells me that’s not a good thing. It doesn’t mean rainbows and ponies. Do you think it’s because of us? Maybe we set off some kind of alarm or something.”
“Doubtful,” Dorian said as he inched closer and closer toward the source of the screams. “Their faces held pure terror. You don’t look like that unless you saw something terrifying.”
“Well, then what the hell could it be?” I asked as we reached the corner of the building.
But Dorian didn’t have to answer my question. It became clear enough when the temperature of the desert compound dropped instantly by at least thirty degrees. Cold wind shuddered around us, whipping the strands of my hair against my face. My teeth began to chatter as my blood ran cold, both from the temperature and from the realization of what we faced.
Three demons towered before us, their massive black wings creating a dust storm of orange sand. And the sun mages were trapped. About a dozen cowered against a toppled building, their backs pressed against the broken wood. They huddled together while the creatures surrounded them. Screams split the air as a demon rushed in close, his mouth open wide to consume each and every one of their souls.
Another mage hobbled past us with tears streaming from his eyes. His face was weathered and cracked, just like the dirt beneath our feet.
“I’m not good at fighting,” he said in a wobbly voice as he continued to move past it. “I’ll go and alert the Elders. You young people stay and fight. We just weren’t prepared for this, were we? That siege wall is supposed to keep the demons out. I thought that meant it was down, but the damn thing is still there.”
Dread pooled in my stomach as I watched the man hobble to safety. Twisting to Dorian, I read the same pain on his face that I felt in my heart. “Is this our fault? For getting the wall taken down, even if for a minute?”
Dorian closed his eyes and tightened his grip on his dagger. “You heard the man. The only way they could have gotten in was if th
e wall was down. So yes, Zoe. I think it is our fault. We let those demons in, and now we have to make sure we get them out.”
Dorian moved in the blink of an eye, and suddenly, he stood before the closest demon. He crouched before the creature, his blade held high in the air. Alarm jolted through me, memories threatening to overtake my mind. I’d seen him do this once before, and things didn’t go so well that time. Dorian was the best damn fighter I’d ever met, but his physical strength meant nothing to a demon.
And neither did mine.
With a whisper underneath my breath, I curled my fingers into a fist. I kept my hand behind my back to shield the swirling smoke that surrounded my arm. Right now probably wasn’t the best time to reveal to the world what I was, but that didn’t mean I couldn’t use my magic to banish these demons to their graves.
Unlike other mages, I could harness the core of my power without using my blade or a rune. All I had to do was call upon the magic and know what I wanted it to do. Several times now, my shadows had helped me fight against the demons. There was something in the raw power that was able to take them down.
Dorian slashed his dagger at the demon while I crouched and threw my power at the creature. The combined force caused it to cower back, just long enough for several of the huddled mages to escape down the pathway.
But not everyone was able to flee. The demon twisted just in time to snatch a mage from the ground and toss him in the air. I watched in horror as his body fell to the earth. It landed with a loud crack, and the sound of his breaking bones echoed against the steel buildings. The demon tipped back its head and roared. Goosebumps stampeded my arms, and I rushed toward the fallen body. The warlock’s vacant eyes stared up at me, and a stream of blood spilled onto his chin from his open mouth.
Demons didn’t usually murder like this. They cornered their prey and sucked a victim’s body dry of his soul. By killing the mage like this, the demon wouldn’t be able to feed on his life-force, a pointless, murderous death that gave the creature absolutely nothing of value. Which could only mean one thing.
“These are Wagner’s demons,” I called out across the clearing to Dorian. “He’s controlling them, which means he must be somewhere close.”
An alarm split through the night, causing the demons to rise up from the ground with their voices shrieking in rage. Frowning, I watched them, the way their monstrous hands covered what looked like ears. They didn’t like that noise. Something about it caused them pain. It might just be enough to give me a chance against them, to banish them back to their realm before anyone else got killed.
“They’re distracted by the alarm. We need to get these mages to safety,” Dorian called back.
One of the mages grabbed my arm, a wild look in her eyes. “That’s the Red Alert alarm. Come on, we need to go.”
“What’s a Red Alert?” I asked. “I don’t know what it means.”
“It means we need to get inside those buildings over there. When that alarm sounds, it means the shields go up. The safe houses get specifically warded against demon attacks at times like these.”
“Then, we need to get you inside those buildings before the demons get over the sound of this alarm,” Dorian said as he motioned for me to gather the remaining few mages from where they were curled up against the broken pile of wood.
Quickly, I pulled them from the rubble and reminded them what the Red Alert meant. Their bodies trembled as they stumbled through the swirling dust and sand, shaking hands blocking their eyes. As Dorian and I turned our feet toward the passageway to follow, the demons roared from behind us.
Everyone stopped short and froze. The air was so thick with fear that I could taste it myself.
“Go,” I whispered to the terror-filled group. “Dorian and I will hold them off. Just get inside. Now.”
The mages scrambled down the road as I turned to face the demons, Dorian by my side. I licked my lips, steadying myself for the fight. Their bodies were shifting shadows with cords of black winding around vague wing-like shapes. These demons were not yet corporeal, which was a good sign, at least. Wagner had been in prison when the Blood Hunter Coven had cracked that particular supernatural code, and while I had no doubt he’d crack it, too, I was relieved to see we weren’t there yet.
Still. Three demons, all of which were being controlled by a murderous mage? This fight wasn’t going to be a walk in the park.
“You hold them off,” I said to Dorian. “I’ll throw as much shadow magic at them as I can.”
Once again, I called upon my magic as Dorian whirled through the clearing with his dagger. He sliced through the corporeal skin, but the damage he caused was minimal. But that didn’t matter. It kept their attention focused on him, and while I was scared as hell they’d just reach out and snap his neck, I channeled that fear into my power.
Dark strands streamed from my hands, and I threw a dark hot ball of shadows at the nearest demon’s gut. It hit the creature hard, smashing like a ball of sharp glass. As its bones began to shatter, it dipped back its head and cried out, a noise that split my ears. The two demons rushed to its side as its body continued to crumble, breaking off into rock-sized chunks until there was nothing left but a pile of ash.
My lungs heaved as I summoned the next ball of sharp and painful shadows. The last spell had left me a little bit shaky, and a hell of a lot tired, but I couldn’t stop now. Only one demon down. Two were left. Regardless of the toll the darkness was taking on my body, I had to summon the strength to keep going until every last one of them was destroyed.
Dorian was by my side in an instant, his body blocking mine from the demons. “You okay? I can feel pain through our bond.”
“I’m fine. That spell just took a lot out of me. Nothing to worry about.” Nodding my head, I gritted my teeth. The power sparked to life once again, building into a roaring fire of darkness. I focused my energy on the two demons before us. They were rushing in our direction, their mouths open wide and their claws curled into frightening points. Heart hammering hard, I punched both fists in the air, each arm aimed in a demon’s direction.
My knees cracked underneath me, and the world began to spin. Somewhere nearby, I could hear the sound of a million screams. Was that the demons? Or had they attacked someone else? Or worse, could even more have arrived?
I twisted my head to the side, but a sharp pain exploded behind my eyes.
“Stop moving.” Dorian’s strong arms wrapped around my body, and suddenly I was lifted into the air. “It’ll be okay. Just stay still.”
His feet pounded on the ground, and the movement rocked my body back and forth against his hard chest. Moaning, I closed my eyes. Everything hurt. Everything looked and sounded like I’d fallen into a hole in the ground. If I didn’t keep a grasp on Dorian and keep my mind in the present, I might never climb out.
“Get into one of the safe houses!” I heard a voice call out from far, far away.
Dorian’s feet hit wood, a door creaked open, and then darkness was replaced by blinding light. He lowered me onto something soft and pressed his wrist to my mouth. It was slick, warm, and wet. The taste of sweet iron made my head spin even more, though the dark clouds fled from my vision.
Strength began returning to my limbs. I reached out and grabbed his wrist, pressing it harder against my lips, drinking his delicious blood.
Chapter 24
My cheeks flamed when Dorian finally pulled his wrist away from my tight grip, but the amused twist of his lips showed that he didn’t truly mind. I’d been practically devouring him, but not a single part of him wanted to push me away.
“Feeling better?” He raised his eyebrows when I jumped up from the sofa. I paced over to the tiny window that looked out onto a street that still blared with that impossibly loud alarm, searching for demons. No more stalked the streets. Yet.
“What can I say?” I shrugged. “Fighting demons makes me a little thirsty.”
“Speaking of,” he said, watching me carefully. “What w
as that spell? It packed quite the punch, though maybe too much of one from how your body reacted.”
Frowning, I tried to put my magic to words, which was difficult since I was still learning about it myself. “It wasn’t a spell. It was just…my raw power. As much of it as I could muster. Turns out I’m not quite ready to use it like that, but there wasn’t another option at the time.”
“Well, it worked. Those last two went out like the first,” Dorian said with an appreciative nod. “That said, maybe don’t harness all your power next time.”
“The result wasn’t so bad, was it,” I asked, lifting an eyebrow in his direction. “Took out the demons. Got carried in a hunky warlock’s arms. Had a taste of vampire blood.”
“Zoe,” Dorian said with a frown. “As much as I enjoy it, I can’t give you my blood every day. Just because I’m incapable of turning you doesn’t mean there aren’t long-lasting effects of daily feedings.”
“What are they?” I crossed my arms over my chest and leaned against the wall, still feeling a tad dizzy from the residual magic.
“What are what?”
“The long-term consequences.”
“I don’t know,” he said. “I’ve never been in this situation before.”
Outside, the alarm suddenly cut off. The silence that followed was deafening. Turning back toward the window, I scanned the road for any sign of movement. None followed. Even though the Red Alert might be over, people were clearly still scared out of their minds. They probably wouldn’t leave the safe houses until morning. Not that I could blame them.
The Bone Coven Chronicles: The Complete Series Page 55