Night and Chaos: An Ashwood Urban Fantasy Novel (Half-Lich Book 3)

by Lee Dignam

  “Alice?”

  She perked up. It was Silver, but he wasn’t on this level—his voice was distant, and she had to shout to reach him over the wind. “Over here!” she called out.

  “What floor?”

  “Fifth, I think. But be careful, there’s still one out there.”

  “Can you move?”

  “I don’t know. I’ve been hurt.”

  “Stay where you are.”

  “I’m not going anywhere,” she said to herself, because even though the surgeon’s power seemed to have disappeared when it left, she had still been stabbed in the calf by at least two or three scalpels. She could feel blood ebbing from the wound in a hot and cold pulsing sensation, and the rush of adrenaline. She was also keenly aware that the poltergeist had been chasing her until she had fallen. Where was it now?

  Her skin started to crawl. She turned her head over her left shoulder and saw columns, walls, and whispering darkness. To the right was more of the same, but the atmosphere itself seemed to be pressing down on her shoulder like dead weight. Her heart was starting to beat even faster than it had been a moment ago—a jackhammer hitting bedrock—as vibrations shot all throughout her body. She grabbed her calf and pressed tightly around the wounds, wincing from the act.

  Finally, footsteps. They were rushing toward her, though whether they were coming from above or below she couldn’t tell. The only thing she could identify was the hard, boot-like quality of the sound, and that meant it wasn’t the poltergeist. The poltergeist’s feet had been naked, and long, and ended in jagged, yellow, ingrown nails. Still, she had to get up, but she needed to stop the bleeding too.

  As fast as she could, she pulled her backpack off her shoulders, opened it, and from inside retrieved a black sweater she hadn’t worn. She grabbed the sweater with both hands, clamped her teeth on the fabric, and pulled hard until it started to rip. The footsteps were getting closer now, and Alice didn’t want to call out for Silver just in case it wasn’t him. She concentrated on ripping enough fabric to wrap around her calf, and when she had it, she slipped it into place, fastened it around where she thought the majority of the bleeding was coming from, and tightened it.

  With the makeshift bandage in place, Alice shifted her weight around to her good side and turned so she was on all fours with her knees on the ground. She then planted her uninjured foot on the floor and used it to hoist herself up into an almost hopping position, gently testing the waters with her injured leg by letting it touch the floor and slowly settle.

  In front of her, a soft blue glow was steadily starting to fill the stairwell. A moment later Silver came rushing down from the upper levels with his sword in his hand. She hadn’t noticed until now, but reflected on the glowing steel blade were shapes and figures that weren’t present in the real world. She saw herself in the blade for a fleeting instant, but also caught the impression of dark shapes swirling all around her, only they didn’t seem to be floating around her real self, but rather her reflection.

  What the hell?

  “Are you alright?” Silver asked.

  “I think so. The surgeon got me, but I destroyed it.”

  “You did? That’s awesome. There were three shadows on one of the top floors, but I got rid of them too.”

  He flicked his blade to the side for her to examine it more closely, and there, reflected on the metal, were the three swirling screamers she had first encountered at the Cinema Royale. Was it possible he had trapped them in the sword in the same way that she trapped souls in Trapper’s Polaroids? She supposed it was. She had seen Silver’s sword suck the soul out of the shadow creature on the rooftop after all, hadn’t she?

  “There’s one more,” she said, “The old man. It was chasing me down the stairs. Did you see it?”

  “No, I didn’t see anything. I heard your scream and came to you.”

  Silver spun around in a wide arc, his sword arm outstretched. Shadows shied away from the glow, slinking back into the darkness, but there was no sign of the poltergeist. Maybe it had retreated after seeing one of its brothers being destroyed? Or maybe it was lurking behind a pillar, ready to strike like it had done to…

  “Where’s Cora?” Silver asked, sheathing his blade which, though sheathed, still glowed through the material providing some manner of illumination.

  Alice’s heart wrenched. He had somehow tuned into her surface thoughts and picked the word right out of her mind before she had said it. She turned her head and looked at the ground. Silver’s eyes were on her, she knew. She could feel them burning into her, waiting for an answer she didn’t want to give. Cora was gone, Nyx wasn’t here, and this had all been a wasted trip.

  Only, it hadn’t been a wasted trip. The poltergeist had been here, and the surgeon, and the screamers. Alice’s head slowly came up, her eyes widening as realization came to her in slow motion, yet all at once. It was impossible, but the word that kept ringing in her mind now was trap. Trap. Trap. It had been a trap, a setup. They had known she was coming, and they had been ready—ready to ambush her and anyone stupid enough to come with her.

  But… how? How could they have known?

  “I’m here,” said a voice from the dark.

  Alice wheeled around, her heart in her throat. In the blue glow of Silver’s sword there was no mistaking the woman she was looking at; it was the same woman she had seen propelled into the night by a spirit with the power of a freight train. Cora. She was alive. How? How was it possible she could have survived such a hit and drop from such a high place?

  “Cora?” Alice asked.

  “Yeah,” she said, approaching.

  “But… what happened? I saw… I saw you fly.”

  “Fly?” Silver asked.

  Cora stopped next to Silver and smiled. “That’s another thing about us you don’t know.”

  “What don’t I know?”

  “We can’t die.”

  Her hands were a blur, too fast for Alice or Silver’s eyes. She pounced on him, and in the same quick motion managed to jab a hypodermic needle directly into his neck. Silver yanked himself free, pulled the needle out, and threw it to the ground, but whatever fluid had been inside had disappeared into his bloodstream causing his reactions to slow, and his body to start feeling limp.

  Alice watched him go down in a kind of slow motion daze. It wasn’t until his head hit the ground, his eyes glazed over, that Alice understood what had happened here. The moment of sobering realization came all at once, snapping Alice back into the moment, but by then it was too late. Whatever substance Cora had put into his neck had knocked him out in seconds.

  “What… what have you done?” Alice asked.

  “I’m sorry,” Cora said, “I’m really sorry.”

  Alice took a step back on her weak foot, having forgotten it was hurt, and the calf muscle quivered and gave way under the pressure. Alice tipped back, but she didn’t hit the floor. Someone was there, behind her, ready to grab her and stop her from falling. Isaac? Cameron? No, it wasn’t either of those two. The hands wrapped around her midsection were feminine, and warm, and somehow strong.

  “Hello, Alice,” Nyx said.

  CHAPTER 27

  Night, Darkness, and Chaos

  Alice struggled to free herself from Nyx’s arms, but succeeded only in squirming like a child in the arms of a much stronger parent. Her heart was pounding so hard she could barely string a conscious thought together in her mind, and she needed to think here. She wasn’t the strongest or the fastest kid on the block, but she had intelligence and quick wits on her side. Without either of those things working for her, what was she besides a bag of blood and bones?

  The wind howled and rain battered the edges of the building, furthering Alice’s inability to think, so she continued to struggle instead.

  “There’s no need to struggle,” Nyx said. “We’re all civilized people here.”

  “You’re not people,” Alice said.

  “If you cut me, don’t I bleed? I think that makes m
e people.”

  “Let me go.”

  “And then what? You’ll limp your way out of here and stay out of my business forever? Come on, Alice. I know you better than that. Besides, how will you carry your friend on that leg of yours?”

  Alice’s eyes had never left Cora, and now she spoke to her directly. “How could you?” she asked. “You know what this thing can do. Why help her?”

  Cora went to speak, but then thought better of it and shut up.

  “I think I can answer that,” Nyx said, speaking for Cora. “You see, our friend Corazon here has grown disenchanted with her… condition… and wants to be rid of it. I can make that happen for her, and promised to do so if she delivered you to me.”

  “Why?”

  “I have my reasons.”

  “I thought you were done with me. Didn’t you say so yourself?”

  “Ah, but you’re not done with me, so why should I just leave you alone? In any case, I may have been a little overzealous when we last spoke. I had just inherited a pretty powerful body, you know. Spirits were running high. I still don’t need you, but I do want you.”

  “So, what happens now? You kill me?”

  “No, Alice, I’m not going to kill you or your friend.”

  Nyx’s grip on Alice’s midsection loosened, and she seized the opportunity to free herself. Acting purely on instinct and adrenaline—her heart pounding against her temples and ears—Alice spun around on her good foot, pulled Trapper up level with Nyx, and pressed the button. There was a whumph, the building filled with blinding, blue light, and then there was darkness again. Trapper made a whirring sound and spat out a Polaroid. Nyx reached out and took it, looked at the picture, and carelessly tossed it aside.

  “That’s a terrible picture of me,” she said. “Anyway, didn’t I smash that thing?”

  “I… I don’t…” Alice couldn’t breathe. Trapper’s magic hadn’t worked. The flash, the power, it hadn’t fazed Nyx in the slightest. With the MAT setting toggled on, the camera should have turned her human body to dust and captured the soul within, but it hadn’t worked.

  “Confused?” Nyx asked. “I think you’re forgetting something about me.”

  She approached and Alice took a step back, retreating from those cruel, bright eyes behind which lived the soul of a creature that was only pretending to be human. She had changed her appearance, too. The Mohawk was gone, for starters, giving Sonia’s face a softness it hadn’t had before, but what little ambient light there was gave Nyx’s face a sinister veneer, highlighting and shadowing her face in chilling ways.

  It wasn’t this that was causing Alice to back away from her, though, but the dark cloud floating behind her. Had Sonia’s old Guardian not chosen to present itself to Alice, she would never have seen the dark smoke with a face at Nyx’s back. But she saw it now, and realization came instantly. What they had earlier believed was right; Nyx had a Guardian, and the Guardian would protect her from Trapper’s soul stealing powers just like it would any other mage.

  Alice backed up another couple of steps until she bumped into Cora standing behind her. Without thinking, she spun around with her fist cocked and decked Cora across the jaw. Cora cried out and staggered back. Alice’s fist stung from the fullness of the impact, and she shook it to relieve the sting, but she was smiling inside. Bitch, she thought, serves you right.

  Nyx laughed out loud, a real belly laugh, and for a moment Alice thought she could hear a double tone in that sound of absolute elation.

  “What are you laughing at?” Alice asked.

  “That was just fun to watch. I haven’t laughed like that in a while.”

  Cora straightened herself out and lunged at Alice, but Nyx threw her hand up and Cora stopped. This wasn’t magic; it was simply the bond between master and slave. The kind of instant leverage the person with something has over the person with nothing. Alice turned to face Nyx. Her leg was on fire, but she couldn’t show how much pain she was in. This would only make Nyx even happier.

  “Do us both a favor, Nyx,” Alice said. “Get to the point.”

  Nyx’s face hardened, as if she had just been slapped herself. “Alright, fine,” Nyx said. “You destroyed the surgeon, and I don’t need to tell you he was my favorite. If we follow the rules of an eye for an eye, I should kill that whelp lying unconscious on the floor right now, but I’m willing to spare him.”

  “If?”

  “If you would just come with me.”

  “Where?”

  “That’s a surprise, but it’s important that you come with me. If you care enough about his life, that is.”

  “You honestly expect me to believe that if I go with you right now, you’ll let him live?”

  “You can take my word or not, but you’ve only got two choices right now. You either come with me, or you don’t. If you don’t, I promise things will be much more unpleasant for you.”

  “Why don’t you make me?” Alice asked, knowing she was pushing this devil in human flesh, but it was important for her to push. She wanted to know just how human Nyx had become.

  Nyx advanced, her head low, shoulders cocked. Alice stood her ground and tilted her chin up slightly. “I don’t want to make you, Alice,” Nyx said, “I know we’ve been like cat and mouse since the beginning, but I think we can both agree that the old me wouldn’t even have gone this far.”

  “Even if that’s true,” Alice said, “I still don’t trust a single word out of your mouth.”

  “You don’t have to trust me; you only have to do as I ask. That’s the last time I say it. The next time, I throw him off the edge of the building. And trust me, he won’t be fine.”

  Alice’s jaw clenched. She wanted to punch her, too, like she had done to Cora. It didn’t matter whether Nyx wouldn’t feel it—she was way stronger than Alice, so she was probably way tougher, too—doing so would just be the ultimate fuck you. But she had to show restraint here. What would Isaac do? He would accept her terms and try to figure out a way out of the mess in the meantime. She was gambling that Nyx wasn’t going to kill Silver or her, but this gamble was better than the certainty that she would do it right here and now if Alice refused again.

  So, she didn’t.

  Alice nodded and said, “Fine, I’ll go with you.” She looked over her shoulder at Cora. “But she stays here.”

  “I’m afraid not,” Nyx said, “Cora is an important part of the final act. But, as a show of good faith, how about I fix that leg of yours?”

  “Don’t touch me,” Alice said, and Nyx—who was about to kneel—stood up again, her face hard and cold, showing signs that she was repressing a great deal of anger; repressing the real Nyx.

  “Suit yourself,” Nyx said, and she slapped her palm squarely against Alice’s forehead and everything went dark.

  When Alice opened her eyes again, the first thing she noticed was how difficult it was for her to catch a full breath. It wasn’t that the wind was racing against her and swirling all around her—it was—but the air was also thinner here. Not by much, but enough for her to notice the sudden change.

  Alice lifted her head and looked around. A bright flash of light lit the night sky and caused the clouds to shimmer. Thunder blasted up above and rolled along the clouds in all directions. Droplets of water touched her face, the coolness soothing the warm sweat that had accumulated on her brow during what she believed had been the last twenty minutes or so of her life. It felt to her like she had been asleep for hours, though she couldn’t remember falling asleep—only getting smacked on the forehead.

  Silver was at her side, though he was still passed out. What had he been given? Was it poison? The steady rise and fall of his chest suggested he was still alive. Good. Nyx had so far held up her end of the bargain. But for how long?

  “Ah,” Nyx said, “Awake at last.”

  Alice started to stand, and the first thing she noticed was her leg. She had shifted around expecting her arm to sing the hymn of pain, but there was only a slight throb. Al
ice pushed herself to her feet. Trapper was still around her neck, and her backpack was still slung over her shoulder. It was also still night out, so she couldn’t have been out for that long. When she looked around at where she was, she realized she was standing at the top of a skyscraper—possibly the Century Tower—with a dark city spreading out around her in all directions. The next thing she noticed was the rain—or the lack of rain. When she looked up and around, she noticed the rain and wind seemed to be avoiding the rooftop entirely, as if a magic shield were keeping the elements mostly at bay.

  “Why have you brought me here?” Alice asked.

  “Because this is where you’ll get the best view,” Nyx said.

  Alice turned around and saw Nyx standing beneath a large antenna tower that seemed tall enough to pierce the clouds. “Best view of what?”

  A wild grin spread across Nyx’s face. “Chaos, of course.”

  “So it’s true.”

  “You know it’s true; Cora told me. She also told me how you figured it out, and I must say I’m pretty impressed. I didn’t think you would piece things together quite like that.”

  “You’re telling me you didn’t expect a group of mages to figure this out eventually? Don’t you have any idea what mages can do?”

  “I have an idea. But I’m not entirely sure you know what you can do, and that’s a shame.”

  “I know what I can do.”

  “You know your little tricks, yes. And you have developed your skills in the last few months, I’ll give you that. Building a new camera was a neat touch—I wasn’t expecting that. But you have so much more potential, and it’s all wasted. You have in your veins the blood of the first person to ever reach out to the Void. So does Cora. That’s why, when I was done with you, you became what you are; and so did she.”