by Antara Mann
Yeah, I had that figured out, I replied and paused for a beat. Great, just friggin’ great. What are we going to do?
I was sweating profusely, my heart throbbing in my chest like a tethered frenzied horse. The scene before my eyes had become so vicious, so depraved, yet I couldn’t turn my eyes away from it. Some really savage yet potent magic had awoken, thundering in the air, its song bringing with it memories of madness and treachery.
Garrett went over to one of the bound mages and placed his hand on the mage’s chest. Panic was beginning to engulf me and I fought for control. I was supposed to save him and the others. That was my job. Despite the seriousness of my predicament, I still hoped I’d be able to.
Calm down, Alex. I’m working on it.
You’re very slow. Work faster! I shrieked inside my own mind.
The bound mage shook with a strong tremor. The magic wrapped around him like a wet rope or highly venomous snake. There was no fight since the mage couldn’t put up any; he was too weak, too depleted, too… bound. The strange, unknown magic began devouring his. A bright, light-infused thread had formed around the poor mage, circling between Garrett and him. This was abominable. The world held no shortage of horrible things, but this was pure evil.
I looked closer at the mage and distinguished the features of Samuel Hendricks. He looked exactly like he had in his pictures if we didn’t count his jaded, unhealthy expression and agony-contorted body. Eerie, sinister magic crashed into me, filling the space around me. The hooded figures raised their voices and tempo. Scarlet, velvet-smooth magical waves emanated from Samuel and poured directly into Garrett’s outstretched hands.
Do hurry up. The creep factor’s just gone up to, like, eleven, I screamed to the voice.
Your favorite, Ryan, is on our side.
What? Are you on drugs or are the creepy ritual and inferni verses getting to your head?
Sorcery can’t fool me. I’m telling you: Ryan is our ally.
I wanted to retort, but at that moment Ryan whispered into my ear, “Psst. Are you all right?”
I glared at him with all the anger I could muster.
“I’m on your side,” he whispered fitfully, his eyes swiveling constantly from Garrett to the hooded figures. They were all too immersed in the ritual, their bodies swinging in their trance, to pay attention to what was going on around them. Ryan touched his ring, drawing my attention to it. It glowed in an amber color, and in the next second I heard the summoner’s voice inside my mind.
“You’ve got to believe me. I’m here to help you.”
“You have a very strange way of showing it,” I snapped back. I didn’t know if I could trust him. He’d been a thorn in my ass for the past few days, and I was in too much trouble to fall for his tricks. Again. He had to earn my trust first.
He’s on our side, the inner voice repeated. Confusion and doubt bred in my mind, and I felt torn.
“Prove it,” I said to Ryan. “If you’re on my side, put a stop to this.” I let my eyes linger on the bound mages and the skull in front of me.
“I can’t do that. But I can tell you your boyfriend and his gang will soon be here. I deactivated the charms that block conjuring tracking spells. Your boyfriend should be able to locate you quickly,” he said.
Even though the others were high, drunk on magic, Ryan pretended to be guarding me. He stood inches away from me, his stare stern and fierce, hatred emanating from his expression. Not that I could flee, with all the infernal powers swirling around the place and the iron chain binding me.
I took the chance to mentally call the fae. “Kagan, where are you?” No reply came. I turned to Ryan. “What are these loons doing?”
“It’s Briseadh Ifreann.”
“Can you speak English?”
“That’s the name of the ritual. The goons are draining the mages’ magic — the strongest of them, Samuel, was left for last. You are next. With your magic under his control, Inferno will break open and a magical apocalypse will ensue.”
“His? You mean Garrett’s?”
“No, the Great Master’s.”
The inferni? “Who’s he? You’ve got to tell me,” I demanded.
“I have no idea. I haven’ yet seen him. Only Garrett communicates with him.”
I kept my stare on Ryan, my eyes looking him up and down. What was his angle in this? Why was he helping me? If what my inner voice said was true… My mentor had advised me to listen to it. All these thoughts and more rushed to my mind, my energy running high.
“Why are you betraying your loons? Double play, huh?”
“I have my own reasons…”
The words died in his throat because the glow around Garrett expanded, sizzling. It looked like an eerie halo. The greenish color had turned into cold, blue frost. The magical circle swirled brighter and faster, until Garrett sucked out with a dull rumble all the mage’s power, as if through a funnel. Garrett’s body vibrated, shimmering, until he absorbed all of Samuel’s unique magic. The mage blacked out and my heart sank within me. He couldn’t be dead. Please, fates, watch over him, I prayed.
The chanting ceased, the hooded men dropped their hands, and Samuel’s dissolved magic somehow lingered in the air. Dread and horror settled in.
“Now this, my friends, is something different.” Garrett turned to us, his voice deeper and eerier than before. His eyes glowed in frightening dark crimson. I involuntarily stepped back. If I had to fight him, I wouldn’t stand a chance, even if it ended up being one on one. Unless my inner goddess kicked in.
I looked at Samuel. His face now held an almost unearthly pallor, his lanky body slack like a fresh corpse. He was turning more and more into a shadow of his former self. The merry, happy mage was invisible, lost.
I gulped and felt a lump at the back of my throat. I recalled the promises I’d given the mages’ relatives. My gaze fell on the other bound mages. They were unconscious, too, though their magic had begun to refill. I could feel small waves from them prickling my skin. I thought of how many times Garrett could have drained them in the time they’d been missing and shuddered with horror. I couldn’t let this abomination, this vicious creature, continue to exist.
I turned to Garrett. “What on earth are you doing to these poor mages? You’ll kill them!”
He laughed out. “What did you think my plan was, sunshine?” His wicked tone made him sound like a drag-queen. He drew nearer to me and began pacing around me with slow, steady steps. His magic sizzled on my skin like acid. He was trying to find a weak spot to sneak behind my blocked-off powers. His energy swished around, tugged at mine, tempting it to come out and play with his. He was teasing me, the bastard.
But I wouldn’t take the bait, not with the iron chain holding me. Not to mention that really horrible, vicious magic all around.
“I will soon devour your powers, too, little goddess.” He gave me his best demented smile. “Your time has come, and this time no one and nothing will help you escape your destiny.”
Babbles of a deranged mind, I reminded myself. He wouldn’t get to me.
Just a little more time, my inner voice chanted its mantra. It was starting to annoy me.
Define ‘little’. If he applies his full-to-the-brim magic on me, we don’t stand a chance. Samuel was a hell of a strong mage.
I’m working on it as fast as I can.
I sighed and eyed Ryan. Poker face in place, he stood a few feet away from me. He was now closer to the bound mages than to me.
I turned back to Garrett. “And what about you? What is your destiny?”
I knew the answer to his question well. He’d explained it to me during our previous encounter, but he was so insanely blinded by his dark magic and delusional grandeur that I knew he’d love the opportunity to boast again. I could feel his need for validation, for recognition.
He didn’t disappoint me, because his eyes instantly began glowing in a tawny color, and a wicked grin split his lips.
“Glorious things await us, me
and my inferni master.” His eyes gleamed with maniacal sparkles. “Ours is the glory, the kingdom and the power forever and ever. The dark Lord is coming, and no one can stop him. Not even Kai or the Morrigan; those fools’ heads will be the first to roll.”
I almost gaped; did he just cite the Lord’s Prayer to me? The words he’d used were twisted, no doubt, yet the resemblance was striking.
“The world will bend to our will.” He paced around me one more time and stopped abruptly, facing me. “Surrender and join our ranks, little goddess. Be on the winning side.”
His fetid breath reached me, and his half-demoniacal power slithered across the magic that I had inverted within me. It was like fire burning on ice. I wondered how long I could endure it.
“I thought you wanted to kill me,” I said nonchalantly. Right now, I almost preferred it over these slow-burning attacks.
“Aw, why would you think that?” He chuckled and came even closer to me, his face only inches away from mine. He inhaled my scent deeply, searching for a trace of my magic. “Hmm, interesting; I don’t feel your powers at all. You’ve completely blocked them.” He sniffed the air, looking like an ancient predator before killing his prey, toying with it. Bastard! But I figured I was too valuable and interesting for him to kill me so easily. Maybe his inferni master wanted me alive? No doubt, for some grand, nefarious purposes.
“You are so stubborn,” he remarked and traced his finger down my cheek. I suppressed a grimace. Instead, I cleared my throat.
“As far as I remember from our first face-to-face meeting, you wanted to kill me and take my goddess heart for… What was it again?” I pretended to ponder. “Ah — to perform some dark ancient Egyptian ritual.”
“Yes, it was so,” he agreed as if he was talking about his breakfast, “but you thwarted our plans. And maybe for the better. Now you are more valuable to us alive than dead. You will serve us in the long run.” He chuckled and took a step away from me, looking me up and down as if he was trying to find a reason to dismiss that theory.
"And what's worse, you killed my parents, too," I said. Bringing them into the talk was a good strategy — a lengthy topic I’d hoped could win me more time.
"And how did you figure that out?" Garrett looked genuinely surprised, his eyebrows arched. "I killed your mother, true, but not your father."
"Oh, and for that I should be forever grateful to you," I mocked him. "Then who killed my father?"
He only squinted at me, letting me know that conversation was over and said through clenched teeth, “I’ll make you a generous offer: Join our ranks and you won’t suffer.”
I laughed out loud, my laughter coming out exaggerated. “Are you trying to recruit me to your bizarre circus cult?”
He shrugged. “Why not?”
“You are insane. Really.” That was true. Only looking into his eyes gave me a nauseated feeling in the pit of my stomach. Not to mention the headache. He was truly insane.
Ryan coughed, and I wondered whether he was trying to tell me something. I had barely glanced at him when Garrett’s voice boomed in the underground cavernous space, “Why, Alex! I could have let your comment about our group pass, but you won’t get away with offending me.” He clenched his fist, his magic crashing onto mine like a gigantic tsunami. It swished and sizzled, and I thought my head was about to explode with the pain. The inverted magic inside me threatened to hurt me if I didn’t let it out.
Garrett glared at me. “Do you like it, little goddess? I will crack your magic. You know I will.” He laughed in his deranged way and added, “You’ll soon find there are worse things than death.”
His eyes gleamed fanatically and my heart froze. He caught the scent of my fear and pounced on it like a hellhound. His dark rotten magic snapped at me, trying to peel off my defenses. Its intensity mounted, ferociously trying to break my will and curl around the magic hidden deep inside me. Given I’d inverted it, resisting his assault that long felt like trying to manage the wind. No, not the wind, a hurricane — a friggin’ raging hurricane. Some unknown primal instinct awakened in me, because in a split second I let my magic flare up and vomited a fireball straight into his face.
“Let me go!” I yelled.
He had obviously expected my attack because he ducked the fireball and then again cackled with his deranged laughter. My skin turned clammy at the mere sound of it. What was worse, the iron chain burned my skin and pain seared though me. My lip split and I tasted blood. Inside my chest, my heart was hammering like a horde of stampeding horses. I immediately regretted using my magic. Had he provoked me? Judging by his smirk, it wasn’t out of the picture.
“So much you don’t know about me or our mission. But you’re just blind, brainwashed — by the Council, by both courts.”
I resisted making a snarky comment. His eyes fixated on me, and a strange sensation crawled up my sleeve. I didn’t need much time to realize he’d set it on fire.
“Is that the best you can bring on?” I spat out. “It’s super-easy to win the fight when you hold me captive. Perhaps you don’t fancy your chances when I’m free.”
He squinted at me and the flames burned higher. Throbbing pain began shooting up my body. I didn’t dare look at my arm, but could feel the fire lick higher and higher, charring my skin. I closed my eyes, not knowing whether to use magic to extinguish the fire or wait till this psycho would do it. He was going to do it, eventually. Or so I hoped.
Summon our magic, girl. He’s going to kill me, I called the goddess inside me. I can’t do it because the amount of iron around would knock me out.
“If you play with fire you must be ready to bear the consequences, darling,” Garrett sneered.
The magic is… too powerful, too different than last time. I can’t… I think he is blocking me on purpose. Sorry, love.
I let out a cry. I would think about him blocking my goddess magic later on — for now I needed to survive. I connected with the magical thread in my center, uncurling my power, and a fountain of water shot up, showering upon me. The flames were extinguished, and the smell of burned flesh drifted in the air, reaching my nostrils. The skin on my arm felt strangely limp.
The iron element shot up, metal clinging to my flesh, but at least I was no longer on fire. I mustered my strength and looked at my arm — the sight nearly made me gag. My arm and sleeve were charcoaled and blood-smeared now. He was going to pay for it!
I inhaled deeply, heat surging through me as anger seethed and boiled within me like the flames of a firework. Desire for revenge washed off and warmed my insides. And then I did it. I mustered all my strength and kicked him hard in his crotch with my free leg, as far as the chain allowed me. I couldn’t get past his magic, but he was still a man, so I could hit him in the good, old-fashioned, physical way.
He wasn’t expecting my assault this time. My kick lurched him a meter back. He stumbled and fell to his knees, letting out a cry, and next I saw his face convulsing in pain. This sure as hell hurt him.
Staggering, holding his crotch, he advanced toward me yelling insults. Out of nowhere, his hand clocked me across the face, his magic exploding in my head. It was worse than the previous time; the addition of the bound mages’ powers had made his magic even more horrible. His strike was strong enough to spin me around, and I thought I might thankfully pass out, but didn’t. He came back toward me, his fist ready to punch me yet again, but at that moment thunderous steps resounded on the floor, approaching us.
A deep voice called out, shaking up the whole cavernous space with its mere power, “What for Inferno’s sake is going on?”
A primal magic drifted in the air, filling it with the uneasy sensation of horror and dread. This magic, this energy was totally new, unique — hugely resilient, utterly vile, surprisingly… familiar.
I gasped when the realization hit me. This was a total contradiction… How was it even possible? My breath caught in my throat as I was feverishly trying to track the user’s identity. I had met him, or at le
ast seen him somewhere — but where? The steps grew louder and louder, and I recoiled. Whatever this — that guy — was, he was for sure far worse than Garrett. The latter’s face lit up and he turned to me.
“Maybe my master will make you change your mind.” His lips stretched into an obnoxious smile.
I doubt it.
A tall man clad in a crimson robe came in. His magic hung over the space like an ominous thunder. Vicious, sick shivers prickled my skin, and the desire to hurl came again. Two of the lights above us twinkled, their power unsteady. The guy was a walking powerhouse.
He came to stand in front of me. The dim lights flickered and illuminated his face. This was the man who’d stood on Kai’s right side during the meeting at the Veil more than a month ago.
I racked my brains and recalled all I’d heard about him. He was Kai’s own brother. Infernal brother. That was why his magical signature felt so familiar. It was quite similar to Kai’s — evil, wild and tumultuous dark magic. I recalled how bad I felt when I’d first met Kai in the Veil. But I’d survived. I had to survive this time as well. True, Kai hadn’t held me captive at that time.
“Alexandra Shaw,” the inferni said, his voice as heavy and unyielding as steel, “I am glad we finally get to see each other. I’ve been looking forward to this moment for quite some time.”
Chapter 19
I heard myself laugh hysterically — I really had to work on my nerves, maybe practice more meditation? Once I got myself alive out of here, of course.
“Yeah, I totally believe you. That’s why you’ve been obsessed with killing me since Brighid made her prophecy.”
He shrugged. “Nothing personal. I prefer to personally study and meet the supernaturals I am about to slay.” He paused then added, “You could say I am methodical in my approach.”
And oh-so-charming, too, asshole, I cursed him mentally.
He is truly horrible, my inner voice agreed, but when Kagan and his assistants get here, we’ll stand a chance.
Let’s hope they arrive soon.