“Gather round,” I said in a strong, clear voice. “I understand there was a fight this night that ended badly.”
“Yeah,” one of the mages muttered. “Not that you were there to know.”
“No, I wasn’t,” I said with a slight shake of my head. “And for that, I’m sorry. But now is not the time to hold grudges for mistakes made. I’m here now, and I’m not leaving until we’ve won this thing.”
“There’s some rumors going around,” one of the younger mages said. “Something about you turning Nosferatu and becoming a demon yourself. How can we know that’s not true? How can we know you’re really on our side?”
“Well, one, don’t believe everything you hear,” I said. “And two, you’d sure as hell know if I’d turned into a Nosferatu. Not only do they look like alien versions of a real person, they don’t just stand around talking to people like this. I’d already be attacking you. So, no, I’m not a demon. However, I have been cursed. Just like Dorian. The reason I left the cemetery was because I fell victim to the change. I guess you could say I’m half-vampire, but trust me when I say I will not be partaking in human blood.”
Several murmurs spread through the room and the mages shifted uncomfortably in their seats.
“So, you’re a shadow and an Unbound,” Michelle, one of the earliest mages to join us, asked, raising an eyebrow. “And you expect us to trust and follow you?”
I lifted a shoulder. “Yeah, actually, I do. No one else has stepped up, and my powers can kick some serious demon ass. If you don’t want to follow me, fine. I’m not going to try to make you. And I’ll go out there and fight them whether you want me there or not. Alone if need be.”
“You’d really do that?” Michelle asked. “For us?”
“It isn’t just for you.” I began to pace from one end of the living room to the other. “These demons are becoming more and more powerful with every moment that passes. Something you unfortunately discovered for yourselves. It isn’t as easy as casting a banishment spell anymore. It requires strength, speed, and a kind of power that demons will respond to. If we ignore them, they’ll only spread throughout this world. So, yes, I’d be saving you. But I’d also be saving the humans who live and work in this building. The ones who take their kids to baseball practice after school. The ones who study hard in college to get the best job they can. The ones who search for every coupon they can find. Every single human in this country and beyond. Because once Wagner and his demons get done with this place, they’ll move on. The future of the entire world is at stake. You, me, Laura, and all the mages here tonight? We’re the only ones who can stop this. It’s time for us to step up and confront the fight head on. Not run and hide. Humanity needs us. How are we going to respond to that call?”
Laura stepped away from the wall, her chin raised. “I don’t know about anyone else, but I’m going to join the fight.”
“Me, too,” Anastasia said. “This world is pretty damn great. I’d hate to see it destroyed.”
A few silent minutes passed until Dorian cleared his throat and stepped to my side. “Obviously, I’m also in. Never in a million years would I dream of running from a fight this important.”
“Alright.” I gave a nod. “That makes two hybrids, a Daywalker, and a blood mage. We can do some serious damage with our combined strength.”
“Add a bone mage into that mix,” Michelle said, rising from the sofa to join the cluster of fighters that stood just behind my left shoulder. “If our Magister is calling for fighters, then I will answer her call. You can count me in, boss.”
“Yeah, I’ll join,” Chris added, just as a man in the back stepped out of the shadows with, “Can’t back down when demons are involved.”
Several more witches and warlocks stepped forward until we had a solid group of twenty. Only two mages stayed rooted to their spots. One of them was crying while the other looked mad as hell. But if they didn’t want to join in, then in no way would I push them. One thing was certain, I wouldn’t follow in the previous Magister’s steps. No one would be forced to fight who didn’t want to. No manipulation. No control. That wasn’t how we would do things from now on.
“Right,” I said with a nod as I scanned the group before me. “Thank you for volunteering your time, your power, and your life. Go home and get some rest tonight. We’ll go back on patrol tomorrow at sundown. Get here about half an hour ahead of time so we can go over tactics and hand out weapons. So, at about three-thirty in the afternoon. And this time, we’ll be ready for whatever Wagner throws at us.”
Chapter 29
“What changed your mind?” Laura asked after the mages had gone their separate ways and we’d begun taking stock of the headquarter’s armory. She’d approached me quietly at first, and there was a timidness to her steps and her words. A fresh ache grew in my chest as I remembered what I’d done to her. The pain was so raw that I couldn’t turn to look into her face. If I saw the expression there—one that was trusting, one that was so full of love—I wasn’t sure how I could stop myself from breaking down into a mess on the floor. The pain that Dorian had spoken about..it was there, churning in my bones like broken ice, but thankfully, the cravings had subsided. For now.
And right now, I needed to be strong.
“To be honest, it was Magister Leon Dupont,” I said as I placed a sword on top of a pile of sheaths. “His solution to the coven’s problems was to run. I don’t want to be like him, no matter how bad things get.”
“Yeah, he was a dick, huh?” Laura leaned forward to take a scythe off the wall and let out a low whistle. “I mean, who runs when we have access to all these weapons?”
“Not me. I want to be better than that.” Sighing, I lowered the blade to the table and turned to face my best friend, feeling my heart thrum in my chest. It almost hurt to look at her, to see her familiar long hair and bright eyes, knowing just how close I’d come to taking her life. To call the sensation abject horror would be putting it mildly. “Oh, Laura. I’m so sorry. I have no idea how I ever let myself get so far gone that I—”
“Shh.” She placed a finger to my lips. “I don’t want you to apologize for something you couldn’t control.”
“That’s just it though. Dorian can control it just fine. So, the fact that I went that far made me wonder exactly how far I could go. I don’t want to be a danger to anyone, especially not you. I wasn’t gong to complete the change, you know. I was just going to let myself die. That or I was going to run off into the Land of Fae where I couldn’t get to anyone ever again.”
“I know. Dorian told me,” she said, nibbling her bottom lip. “It was my idea to have that phone call in front of you. Or did you think the timing was just a coincidence?”
Shock poured through me as I dropped my hands to my sides and took a step backward. “Are you saying that was all a trick? That this entire thing was a lie to get me to take the blood?”
“No.” She shook her head. “Of course not. The fight was real, and we lost a lot of lives. I just figured if we made sure you knew about it, then you’d see that you couldn’t sit on the sidelines. I’m sorry if that pisses you off, Zoe, but I wasn’t going to let you die any more than Dorian was.”
The anger that had risen up so fast died down even quicker. With a sigh, I shook my head. “Of course not. I’m sorry I’m so on edge lately. I’ve felt so…I don’t know, everything feels so intense right now. My entire body aches.”
She nodded. “That’s what Anastasia says. It’s the enhanced senses. You’re in overload mode. She says you kind of get used to it, but there are still moments every day where the emotions can be overwhelming.” Her lips twisted into a wry smile. “Welcome to vampirism.”
I let out a laugh, but the smile died on my lips as I searched my friend’s face. “Do you ever think about it? Becoming a vampire, I mean?”
“Of course I do.” She glanced at the open door and shut it when she heard footsteps passing down the hallway. “I mean, I’m dating a Daywalker who i
s going to live for ages. Of course I wonder what it would be like to spend eternity with her rather than this mortal life I’ve been given. Unfortunately—or fortunately, depending on how you look at it—I can never become like her, even if I wanted to. Daywalkers are born into it, and they can’t change anyone. And I sure as hell don’t want to become a Nosferatu. I’d lose my soul in the process.”
“There’s always the curse,” I said quietly, gesturing at myself. “I mean, as horrible as this is, there’s one pro in all of it. There no longer has to be an end point for me and Dorian.”
“And who will curse me?” she asked, raising an eyebrow. “And how? According to legend, there has to be a reason for the curse or the spell won’t work. A crime that has been committed, something like murder. Now, I know I’m not perfect or anything close to it, but I’ve never killed anyone. And I don’t think I could.”
“Ouch.” I winced. “Well, when you put it that way, you make it sound like I’m a terrible person who deserves this curse.”
“Oh, Zoe, I didn’t mean it that way,” she said quickly, throwing an arm around my shoulder and pulling me close. “All I meant is that a mage needs to have a good reason for casting the curse. It’s a punishment. There are things you’ve done that could be twisted to meet that requirement, like when you killed Vincent in the demon realm. Now, I know you had your reasons, and that you’ve always tried to do what’s right. Hell, I’m glad you killed Vincent. But not everyone will interpret some of your past actions that way.”
“That explains a lot,” I said. “Wagner was the one who cursed me, and the reason is probably because I killed his friend, Vincent.” Closing my eyes, I sighed. “So really, I’ve done this to myself.”
“Well, it’s his mistake.” She gave me a smile as she squeezed me tight. “Because now it means you’re doubly as strong, and you’re practically invincible. I can’t wait to see the look on his face when he realizes exactly what he’s done.”
Chapter 30
“We’ve got a demon spotting,” a voice came through the walkie talkie I held in my hand. The night before, I’d been so cold I’d needed a thick pair of gloves. Now, I could no longer feel the temperature of the air. My entire body was a sheet of ice, though I couldn’t feel the sensation myself. All I felt was numb.
“Phoenix here,” I said, using the code name we’d decided before our patrol this evening. “What’s your location?”
The walkie talkie filled the night with static, but I was glad we’d made the change from cell phones to something else. It made it easier to get in touch with the click of a button rather than wait for the person to answer the ring on the other end of the line. Faster communication meant we could get backup in place much quicker than the night before.
“We’re at Location Echo,” the voice said. “We’ve done as planned and haven’t approached the creatures. We’ll await your arrival before making contact.”
“Got it,” I said with a nod. “We’ll be there in five.”
Everyone out on patrol would hear the call of alarm. Some would need to trek across the city to the rendezvous point, but I would go ahead and get there now just in case the demons realized they’d been spotted. A few minutes later, Dorian and I both arrived at the scene with Laura and Anastasia close behind. Two mages, Chris and Michelle, squatted in the bushes lining the street, and they quickly waved us over to join them.
“They’re over there. In the bar,” Chris hissed, pointing at the building half a block down the road. Frowning, I inched forward to scan the surroundings. We were in a fairly busy part of town, which wasn’t ideal. There were a lot of university students milling around, several bars squatting back to back while laughter rang out through open doors. Even though it was getting deep into the night, this part of the city was still abuzz with activity. If the demons wanted to take out several hundred humans, they could do so quickly and easily here. My hope that they’d stick to cemeteries and fields hadn’t lasted very long. They were making their moves now, and there was no more holding back.
“Which bar?” I asked. “There are like five of them in that direction.”
“The Whiskey Horse,” Michelle said. “Honestly, I thought I was imagining things when I saw some dark wings flashing against the window, but I edged inside the place just long enough to scope things out. There are three of them in there. And they’re really corporeal. I don’t understand why the humans inside haven’t started freaking the fuck out yet. Haven’t they seen the news?”
I frowned. “So, the humans inside saw the demons?”
“You got it,” Chris said with a worried frown. “And it gets weirder than that. The humans gathered around them, gazing at the creatures as if they were viewing some kind of art gallery.”
“Right.” Well, this made about zero sense. For one, demons didn’t typically go inside buildings, for reasons no one had ever truly figured out. Some said it was because they couldn’t, an idea that was thrown out when demons gathered in an auto repair shop several months back. That said, corporeal demons lived by different rules than the ones who merely came through as mist and smoke. They seemed like different creatures entirely, and the best thing to do moving forward was to throw out any old assumptions that hadn’t been proven to be universally true.
That said, even if these demons could and would go inside, why the hell weren’t the humans responding to their presence, especially after the recent reports in the news? By all accounts, they should all be fleeing this street as fast as their Converse-clad feet could carry them.
“I think it will come as no surprise to anyone that something isn’t right here,” I finally said. “The humans should be reacting. The fact they aren’t makes me think there’s something else going on.”
“Like what?” Michelle asked with a frown as she rested her hand on the blade strapped to her waist. “You think they don’t see the demons or something?”
“Oh, I think they see them,” I said. “But what they look like to them is the question. You all stay here. I’m going to go scope things out.”
Michelle pressed her hand on mine and pulled me back. “Shouldn’t you have backup? What if they see you and start to attack?”
“I think it’s best if no one else goes inside that place yet. Don’t worry. I’ll be careful.”
When I pushed inside the bar, my senses were hit by an intoxicating mix of familiar scents. They snagged on my memories, filling my mind with so many moments of my past. Blue Moon Tavern had been such a home to me for the past several years, a place where I’d felt safe, even when it had been anything but. I hadn’t had a chance to reach out to my boss since the rebels had taken the bar. The time would come when I would need to explain what had happened to his precious business. And I wasn’t sure I would ever be able to tell him the entire story.
One day, I would have to fix things for him.
Sighing, I shrugged through the thick crowd of bodies until I spotted the three demons hovering in the back of the room. Michelle had been right. They simply stood in the midst of all these people, their large black wings stretching so wide they hit the ceiling. No one seemed even the slightest bit uneasy by their presence, and the demons themselves seemed to take zero interest in the humans who were watching them with curious expressions. It was if they were some kind of exotic animal on display at the local zoo. People were vaguely interested, but they weren’t afraid.
“Excuse me,” I said, pausing when a girl tried to squeeze past me to reach the bar. “What’s going on back there?”
“Oh, that?” She cast a glance over her shoulder at the demons and shrugged. “Word has it they’re just visiting Earth to help fight against those crazy black creatures that have been on the news lately. No one really wants to ask them if it’s true though. I mean, look at them. They’re, like, ethereal and shit.”
“Wait, what?” I flipped her words over in my head, trying to make sense of them. It was difficult to ask her directly because I didn’t want to alert her that any
thing was wrong or that I clearly didn’t see whatever it was that she saw. “Sorry, I forgot my glasses at home and can’t see really well without them. To me, they just look like massive blobs. Mind describing them for me?”
“Oh!” She widened her eyes as she turned to stare at the creatures once again. “I mean, they pretty much look exactly like what you’d think a gorgeous manly angel should look like. They’ve got the faces of Chris Hemsworth, the bodies of The Rock, and the whitest wings I’ve ever seen. Basically, they are super gorgeous and powerful, and they said they’re going to save us all.”
“Right,” I said, unable to keep the skepticism out of my voice.
Something was definitely off here. It was as if the demons had an illusion cast on them, one that only the humans could see. Or maybe they’d cast the illusion on themselves. If these demons had been brought into the human realm via a hole in the veil, they could have enhanced powers none of us had ever seen before.
“Have they done anything besides stand there since they got here?” I asked, glancing at the winged shadows that stood like hulking tanks against the wall. Everyone was staring at them with such open adoration that it made my stomach boil with unease. If the humans didn’t know to be scared of them, then this situation would only end in more deaths. Instead of running away from these creatures, they’d run right into their arms. At least until the demon angels started killing everyone.
“Nah,” the girl said with a shrug as she cast a bright smile at her guardian angels. “They’ve just stood there. It’s like they’re keeping guard in case those monster things and those crazy-ass witches come back.”
“Come back?” I asked. “You mean, back to Boston?”
“No, I mean here. This street. This strip of bars,” she said, cocking her head. “Did you not know that there was a brutal attack here a few nights ago? Those winged shadow things slaughtered an entire bar full of college students. Like, twenty people died.” When I shook my head, she frowned. “Damn girl. What rock have you been living under?”
The Bone Coven Chronicles: The Complete Series Page 72