Immortal Devices (Steampunk Scarlett Novel #2)

by Kailin Gow

  “You don’t know,” Cruces said. “These vampires… I recognize some of those shapes. They were mad when they were alive. In death, you will never control them.”

  “I have the box,” Lydia said confidently.

  Scarlett shook her head. “There are too many. I can feel it. There are too many to control.”

  “You’re trying to trick me,” Lydia snapped, “and it won’t work. Spirits, kill them.”

  Lydia had to dive back as one of the shadows swiped at her. Scarlett saw the female vampire’s eyes widen in surprise and fear, but they had other concerns right then. The ring of shadowy vampires was closing in on them.

  “There are too many of them,” Tavian said.

  “I can get to them with my dagger if you create a distraction,” Scarlett replied, hefting the weapon. She had killed Elder’s ghost easily enough, after all.

  Cruces put a restraining hand on Scarlett’s wrist, then pulled her aside as one of the shadows leaped. It looked puzzled to have missed her. Meanwhile Lydia was having to dodge her way through a small mob of the creatures.

  “We cannot fight them outright,” Cruces said. “As much as I admire your bravery, Scarlett, we would be torn to shreds. These vampires are feral, plus they have all the advantages of their ghostly form. I doubt Tavian can fight them all off as he did with Elder.”

  “No,” Tavian agreed, “but I can create the illusion of it. The shadows won’t know which ones we are.”

  “So we kill each other by accident?” Rothschild demanded.

  “I will mark us out with a red spot. It will be easy.”

  “There’s no time to think of anything better,” Cruces said, ducking as another vampire leaped. “When the glamor wears off, meet me wherever I am. I will get us out of here. I’d do it now, but we need that box.”

  Scarlett nodded. She kept her eyes on Rothschild. She was not going to let herself be separated from him again. Rothschild’s eyes were on Lydia, who still held the box as she avoided the surrounding vampires, trying to command them even as they attacked her. The vampires around the four of them, meanwhile, had started to close in.

  “Now, Tavian,” Cruces said.

  Tavian nodded, and a second later, he, Cruces and Rothschild disappeared, to be replaced with shadow forms. Scarlett looked down and saw that she had been transformed too. She moved forward, slashing with her dagger whenever a shadow got too close. The aim was not to destroy them, but simply to cut a path through them to Lydia.

  Some of the shadows seemed to notice that others of their number were attacking them, and tried to fight back. One threw Scarlett to the ground, but Tavian tripped it, giving Scarlett enough time to thrust her dagger into it and end its existence. Cruces, meanwhile, played on the confusion among the shadows, darting between them until he had them attacking one another with savage ferocity. The shadowy vampires had fangs several inches long, and they tore at one another like wild beasts. Scarlett took advantage of the opportunity to stab another one, watching it dissolve into shreds of darkness.

  A pair of shadowy hands grabbed Scarlett, and she cried out in surprise as the glamor around her slipped away.

  “I see you,” the vampire said. “I see you, and I hunger.”

  The vampire looked as though it might tear her apart. It opened its mouth wide, displaying its fangs. That was as far as it got though, because in that moment, another fell on it, fighting with it brutally. Another joined the brawl, and another. Scarlett started as she realized the creatures were fighting over her. They were so maddened by their hunger that they would kill each other just for that much blood.

  “Scarlett!” Tavian’s voice came from close beside her. He was still glamored, still appearing as one of the shadows. “Come with me!”

  He grabbed her and dragged her out of the frenzy, but the others would not allow what appeared to be one of their number to steal away their prey so easily. Scarlett had to stab another with the dagger, and Tavian had to swipe at two more with claws made of shadow, before they were able to break free of the main group.

  In clear space at last, Scarlett was able to look around.

  “Where’s Cruces?” Scarlett asked. Why she asked about him first, she did not know. She only knew that she was suddenly very much aware he was missing, as well as worried about his fate. Around her, the shadow vampires were tearing one another apart in a futile effort to get some kind of sustenance.

  Tavian shook his head. “It doesn’t matter,” he said. “Let’s get out of here. It’s too dangerous. They are tearing each other apart, and we don’t want to be in the middle of it.”

  “Scarlett!” another voice shouted. Cruces’ voice. It came from one end of the cave, out towards the tunnels leading to it. “Join me now!”

  Scarlett and Tavian started to make their way towards that voice, but Scarlett knew that she could not do it. “Where’s Rothschild?” she demanded, stopping completely. Tavian tried to pull her towards Cruces, but Scarlett did not move. “I am not leaving without Rothschild.”

  She looked around for him and finally spotted him a little way away, struggling with Lydia. His glamor had fallen away and now he struggled with her, trying to grab the silver box even as Lydia tried to get her hands on the stick that had been Cupid’s bow. They struggled hand to hand, neither able to make any headway as they both tried to keep away from the rampaging shadows.

  Even as Scarlett watched, though, that changed. Rothschild let go his grip on the box and reached inside his coat to draw out a wooden stake. He slammed it into Lydia’s chest, then stepped back to admire his work as he took the box from her.

  “You missed my heart,” Lydia said.

  “Perhaps I was not trying to hit it.” Rothschild lifted the silver box and poured the ashes from it. It appeared to make no difference to the shadow vampires.

  The female vampire shook her head. “You should have.”

  With Rothschild’s hands occupied by both the bow and the box, he could not defend himself as Lydia drew the stake out of herself and slammed it into him. Rothschild’s eyes went wide with pain. Scarlett gasped as a fraction of it seared along the mark that lay between them, and her eyes met his.

  I love you. The words came directly into her head, thanks to the mark. He threw the cane, and it arced above the fighting vampires for a moment. Cruces reached up and it smacked squarely into his palm as he caught it.

  “Take care of her,” Rothschild called out, tipping his hand so that the last ashes in the box fell from it. “Destroy the Order.”

  “Traitor!”

  Rothchild groaned as Lydia thrust the stake deeper, and Scarlett screamed. It felt like the stake was plunging into her own chest. The vampire vanished, scattering into silvery dust that floated down to mingle with that he had poured out onto the floor.

  “No!” Scarlett struggled to go to Rothschild, hitting out at Cruces and Tavian even as they held her back. She kicked Tavian sharply, knowing that she had to go to Rothschild. To get to his remains. Or perhaps… yes, she still had the dagger. One thrust and she could join him. One simple thrust, and…

  “Hold her, Tavian!” Cruces stepped back, lifted the stick he held and it was a bow once more. He drew the string back and fired what seemed to be an arrow of the dullest grey into Scarlett. She froze for a moment, then stood there shaking her head. What had she been thinking. What had she been about to do?

  “She is herself again?” Tavian asked.

  “I hope so,” Cruces said.

  More of the shadow vampires moved towards them then, and Tavian took a step forward.

  “Go,” he said, “I can hold them.”

  “You’re sure?” Cruces stepped forward to shake Tavian’s hand. It seemed an oddly noble gesture, under the circumstances, and a stupid one.

  “What?” Scarlett demanded. “You’re planning to stay here?”

  It was too late to say anything else. Tavian was already fighting off vampires. Cruces, meanwhile, had grabbed Scarlett around the waist. In an
instant, they were in the space between worlds, moving away from the Ancient Greece of myth too fast to follow. They appeared in front of Cruces’ house, right on the doorstep. Scarlett tried to pull away.

  “Tavian!” Scarlett cried. “We can’t leave him behind.”

  “Hush,” Cruces said, “Tavian will be alright.”

  “No, he’ll be stuck there. We have to go back, I’m not leaving my Tavian behind.”

  Cruces groaned. “Your Tavian? Oh, for pity’s sake! Don’t tell me that I have undone the effects of the bow only for Aphrodite’s meddling to take hold. There is nothing to see here,” he snapped to a couple of passersby.

  “We must go back,” Scarlett insisted.

  Cruces shook his head. “We cannot.”

  “Why can’t we?” Scarlett demanded. “Either take me back or unhand me.”

  “I want to talk to you Scarlett,” Cruces said. “I want you to know… I think you were able to get through to Rothschild. He would not have stood against Lydia like that purely for the sake of the Devices. Not unless he understood how important humanity was. He has not understood that in thousands of years though, so there is only one explanation. You changed him, at the end. You Scarlett.”

  Scarlett was not sure about that. She could remember her foolish forced love for Rothschild, an emotion that stood as nothing now, so that she could even remember the moment of Rothschild’s death without pain.

  “I am sorry for your loss, Cruces. He was, after all, your brother.” Scarlett paused. “Please, go back for Tavian.”

  “No,” Cruces said.

  “Why not?”

  Cruces kissed her then, ignoring Scarlett’s brief protest. How dare he?

  “Scarlett, please. You’ll see him soon enough. Right now, I just want this moment alone with you, even if it is on my doorstep. You may not remember, but at one point you cared for me. I could feel it when we kissed. You and I. The Seeker and the Keeper. We are meant to be.”

  As Cruces kissed her again, just for a moment, Scarlett thought that she could feel it. She could feel the need for him. The moment after that though, as they broke apart, it was gone. Scarlett stood back, and Cruces opened the door to let them inside.

  Chapter 20

  They went inside, with Cruces more or less pulling Scarlett after him. They headed into the dining room, where the vampire looked around impatiently, then looked at his pocket watch.

  “I didn’t think we’d have to wait. That’s why I brought us back outside. Still, any second now, I should think. Ah, here we go.”

  Scarlett watched open-mouthed as the air in the room split open to allow Tavian to step through. The young fey man had scrapes on his cheeks from the fight he’d been in, but otherwise he seemed to be all right. Scarlett’s gasp of amazement was not so much at the sudden appearance, since she knew perfectly well by now that travel between worlds could happen, but at the fact Tavian could do it at all, when Cruces was here with the ring that allowed it.

  “Tavian,” Scarlett breathed. “He’s really here?”

  “You can see him, Scarlett,” Cruces said with surprising gentleness, reaching out to touch Scarlett’s chin with his fingertips. For once, Scarlett did not pull back. “I told you that he would be joining us, and I keep my word.”

  Even so, Scarlett moved over to Tavian, reaching out to touch him just to see if he was really there.

  “It’s really you?” Scarlett asked, but the love inside her as Aphrodite’s spell welled up answered that.

  “It’s really me,” Tavian promised.

  “How?” Scarlett asked, looking back at Cruces, trying to understand. “If we left him behind, how can he be here?”

  Tavian reached out to turn Scarlett gently back to him, and as his hand touched her cheek, Scarlett felt the cold presence of metal. She took Tavian’s hand and looked down at it. There, clear in the light coming through the window, was Cruces’ ring. Scarlett thought back, suddenly understanding. She looked over at Cruces.

  “When you shook hands, you gave Tavian your ring.”

  Cruces nodded. “I had just seen the pain that losing someone you loved that deeply could cause you, so I could not risk his loss. I will not have you hurt like that, Scarlett. Besides, we will need our young gypsy’s help if we are to retrieve Gordon and, yes, Cecilia later on.” Cruces smiled. “In any case, regardless of what I might feel, I know that Tavian is one of the few others in this world who will do whatever he must to keep you safe. That is valuable to me, Scarlett. Valuable enough to be worth one magical ring, at least.”

  Scarlett stayed silent at that. The scope of the gift was not lost on her. Nor were the feelings behind it. That Cruces would give up a way of travelling between worlds to ensure that Scarlett remained safe said a lot. Too much, perhaps, given what she currently felt for Tavian. It also begged one very important question.

  “If Tavian has your ring, how did we get back?” she asked. “How did we manage to travel between worlds?”

  Cruces looked momentarily pained. “Rothschild. His ring was around the shaft of the walking stick when he threw it to me. I think he knew what would be needed to keep you safe, or perhaps he simply did not wish Lydia and those who command her to have another item of such power.” Cruces sighed. “I will miss him. He plotted, and schemed, and occasionally killed, but he was a brother to me for so long that I can’t help missing him. And there was some good in him at the end.”

  The vampire fell into silence then, obviously remembering, and Scarlett wanted to go to him. She wanted to put her arm around him. She wanted to kiss him. Scarlett started, surprised that she would want that when it was Tavian she loved, but right then, she did want to kiss Cruces. She could feel that need bubbling up inside her like a wellspring. For the moment, however, Scarlett had to squash that feeling. Tavian was there, and she loved him regardless of what else she felt. She was not about to complicate that in such a way.

  After a moment or two, Cruces straightened up and rang through for his butler. George appeared neatly and efficiently.

  “Tea for my guests, George,” he said, “four cups please. Plus wine from my reserve for myself, obviously.”

  “Four cups, sir?” the butler asked, looking to Scarlett and Tavian in turn.

  “There will be more guests along shortly, I imagine.”

  “Very good, sir.”

  Scarlett raised an eyebrow. “More guests? Who are you expecting, Cruces?”

  Cruces nodded to two of the chairs in the room. “Them.”

  Aphrodite and Hephaestus appeared in the chairs almost exactly as Cruces said the word, arriving in a blaze of light that almost made Scarlett look away. When it passed, the couple appeared as they had before, beautiful and clad in golden cloth, looking absolutely perfect. They had with them a golden-haired boy who appeared to be about ten or so, dressed the same way they were, and with an expression that made it clear he hadn’t wanted to come.

  “But Mother,” the boy was saying, “I have already promised Alexander that I will go around to his house, and…”

  “Enough, Cupid,” Aphrodite said. “We’re here now.”

  Cupid looked around. “Well, this looks boring.”

  Aphrodite looked over to Cruces with an almost pleading expression. “Please tell me that you have the bow. No, I know you do, I can feel it. Hand it over. My son is turning into a mortal brat far too quickly for anyone’s good.”

  “I am not.”

  Beside his wife, Hephaestus let out a sigh and looked to Scarlett. “Aphrodite is right. You have succeeded in your quest, our champion. All that remains is to return the bow to where it should be.”

  Cruces shook his head. “Not so fast.”

  “Not so fast?” Aphrodite repeated. “Don’t you remember what happened the last two times you irritated me, vampire?”

  “I remember all too well,” Cruces retorted, “which is why I want to make sure that you are going to keep your word. You did not see how things were in my home.”

&
nbsp; “We did,” Cupid said. “Mother used one of the reflecting pools on Olympus to look.”

  Scarlett bit her lip then. She hated the thought that she and the others had been used for simple entertainment by these immortals. Before she could say anything, thankfully, George the butler returned with the drinks. Scarlett took the time to sip her tea and compose her thoughts.

  Hephaestus appeared to be doing the same. “We watched you because we were concerned for our son,” he said. “We wanted to be certain that our mortal champion was going to complete the task in time to help Cupid. And you, Cruces, have my word that my wife’s spell will be lifted.” He raised a hand when Scarlett started to interrupt. “I know, my dear. You do not feel like you are bespelled. You simply feel as though you are in love. Even so, we should not interfere in what you genuinely feel.”

  “Really?” Aphrodite snapped. “Why not? I am a goddess of love, not of standing around doing nothing.”

  “So you will not stand around doing nothing while our son turns into one of them then, will you?” Hephaestus demanded, and for a moment the air was tense between the two of them. Eventually though, Aphrodite looked away.

  “Oh, very well,” she said. “But they hand over the bow first. I’m not having Cupid stay like this for a second longer than he has to.”

  Cruces looked like he might argue with that, but Scarlett reached out to put a hand on his arm. “Give him the bow, Cruces,” she said.

  “You’re sure?”

  Scarlett nodded. “Someone here has to show some trust. It might as well be us.”

  Cruces nodded and handed the bow, which had reverted to being a stick yet again, over to Cupid. The boy took it as though he could barely understand what it was he was taking hold of. Briefly, Scarlett found herself wondering if it was too late. Was Cupid condemned to being an ordinary mortal boy, destined to grow up, get old, and eventually die?

  Then the stick in Cupid’s hands started to glow then, becoming the bow once more, and he started to glow. He glowed as brightly as a miniature sun, but then seemed to almost pull the light back into himself, claiming the power and controlling it. Scarlett stared at the boy there for a second or two afterwards, and even in that short space the difference was obvious. Cupid stood differently, and when he looked at her, that was different too. He was still a ten year old boy, but he was a ten year old who could remember the millennia he had been that age.