by C L Walker
His blood dripped onto my broken hand as he turned to glare at Bec. She sat in the driver’s seat with her hands tightly gripping the wheel, desperation on her face.
The blood-tattoos lit up. Not in stages as they had with the vampire blood but all at once, until they flooded the alley and outshone the sun.
“That’s not possible,” the hollow man said.
I grinned through the blood on my face as my nose healed. I turned to Roman and nodded.
The hedge-mage completed the circle, trapping us inside.
“That’s not possible,” he said again.
I hit him and let the tattoos feed.
Chapter 20
“I thought there was something special about vampire blood,” I said from my side of the twelve-foot circle. “I figured I was feeding off their predatory nature, or some other ludicrous thing. It wasn’t that, though; it was the soul.”
The hollow man stood as far away from me as he could, his back against the invisible barrier that kept him from running. And he would have run, too. I could see it on his face. Standing up to me as a man was laughably mundane to him, but once he saw the tattoos glow he knew his place.
“Do you know what used to feed these things?” I raised my hand and the tattoos lit up. They knew when to perform for me. “The blood of an elder god. But it was her soul, really. And what’s less than an elder god? One of the regular ones I destroyed. Less than them, are your lot.”
“I believe we can discuss you ‘changing sides’ now.”
“Let me think about it.” I paced around the edge of the circle and nearly laughed when the angel started pacing too, keeping as far from me as he could. “The vampire blood has a concentration of the humans it has fed upon and so I get a little kick out of it. But you, you tapped into the divine once. You’ve got enough to really get me going in the morning.”
“What information would you like?”
The hollow man’s demeanor was still too calm and rational. I decided to fix that.
The tattoos on my legs powered up and I was across the circle in a heartbeat. I punched the angel in the face and this time it didn’t rock his head back; it knocked him off his feet and sent him crashing into the invisible barrier. Blood fountained from his old host body and I reached out to let it land on my arm.
The tattoos there grew warm for a moment.
I knelt beside him and waited for him to come around. “I’ve seen your kind scream before,” I said when his eyes opened. “Do I have to see it again?”
When the hollow man spoke it was through a broken mouth and oozing blood. “Your master is sickened by your actions.”
I glanced over my shoulder and saw Roman holding Bec, who’d buried her head in his chest. They made a fine couple, though I didn’t think the modern world looked kindly on older men with younger women. I didn’t have a problem with it though. I turned back to the angel.
“She’ll get over it. After all, you tried to kill her.”
“I was not involved.”
“You killed her father, just to summon me.”
“I observe,” he said, finally showing me a little emotion: fear, which was the correct response to facing me.
“Sure, but you’re a part of it all, aren’t you? So tell me, what is Seng up to? What about the other shadow-gods?”
He swallowed his blood, relaxed against the barrier, and closed his eyes.
“Seng is alone. He doesn’t want to involve the others. Half our work is keeping them from finding the open gate and taking their fill.”
“Selfish bastard.” I stood and nodded to Roman again; in the excitement he’d forgotten the next phase. He disentangled himself from Bec and ran to the alley entrance, finishing the spell they’d placed there. I couldn’t see the result but I knew it had made the entrance invisible to people on the street. They would walk by and never think to look.
“He wanted you to open other gates for him but when you arrived as you were, he moved on.”
“How did you all get out?”
“We broke the barriers between the heavens thousands of years ago. We only needed one gate opened by a god. Seng qualifies, barely.”
The hollow man was healing, wasting his precious life-force on repairing his human shell. It made him more intelligible when his mouth returned to normal, but I was planning on taking what he had left.
“He’s worked out some other way of opening the gate to a hell?” I prompted.
“We told him. There were always keys, back then. Folklore and half-remembered dreams leading to ways into hell. Now that your seals are decaying all he needed to do was find the key to that hell, and we remember the stories.”
“So he’s found the key?”
“Almost.”
I had pitied Seng for most of my life. Seeing him as a mastermind on the cusp of victory was an odd change, and I had trouble taking it seriously. But I’d seen the gate and the gathering, and I knew what could happen next.
“Where is Seng? Who is he?”
“I don’t know where he is.”
I wrapped my hand around the hollow man’s neck and lifted him from the ground, as he had done to me minutes before.
“I don’t know,” he repeated insistently. “We have times and places to meet and discuss our progress. He’ll be atop the tallest tower in this city attending a function. We are to meet afterward.”
“Who is he?”
“A politician and merchant. Alex Farris. The fool let him in, in exchange for mere wealth.”
I had a time and a place, and I knew the plan wasn’t complete yet. I had everything I’d wanted from the meeting. The hollow man saw the moment I decided to end it and his eyes went wide.
“You cannot kill me,” he said quickly. “You can end this body, perhaps, but I will return.”
“Will you?”
I slammed him into the barrier. A ripple of yellow energy surged around the circle in response, momentarily blocking sight of the alleyway outside. I didn’t know if I could kill him but I was happy to try. I’d need to find a way of storing his energy if I was going to face the gathering that evening and I suspected it meant bleeding him dry.
He lashed out, finally fighting back in his desperation. His fist landed a stunning blow and suddenly I was on the floor and the angel was standing over me.
“You are not the nightmare we feared anymore, Agmundr.”
He attacked again, lifting me from the ground, tossing me in the air, then kicking me in the back and sending me into the barrier. This time the yellow energy wave came from my pain.
The tattoos lit up. I was on my feet in a fraction of a second, burning through the precious energy I’d stolen. Another fraction and I was before the angel. The world moved so slowly around me that it appeared frozen in place.
“I wanted to return to work,” the hollow man said, almost crying. He was as motionless as the rest of the world but for his voice. “I wanted to help people again.”
“You’re helping me,” I replied. I punched into his chest, shattering the bone and grasping for the source of his power.
I tore his heart out as the world returned to normal speed. It beat in my hand once, twice, a third time, and then the angel fell in a heap at my feet. I could feel the power in the muscle I’d torn from his chest and I waited to see if it would leave, if the angel had been right and he could escape me in the end.
The power in the heart was trapped. The angel’s soul was mine. I slid it into an inside pocket in my jacket, unconcerned for the gore I smeared on my clothes.
The tattoos vibrated in response to the violence, thrilled at what I’d done, at being able to complete the task they’d been created for. I felt the same, as though a bad dream was over and I was free again.
“You took his heart,” Bec called from outside the circle. I turned to face her; she was crying, horrified at what she’d seen. Roman didn’t look much better.
“I know where Seng is,” I replied. “I’m going to need more power if
I am to face him.”
“You killed…an angel,” Roman said. The disgust on his face almost made me feel bad for my actions. Almost.
“Yes I did, hedge-mage. First one. Let me out.”
“No.”
For a moment I was confused; then I got angry. This tiny human was threatening me with the protective barrier I’d taught him how to use? Who did he think he was? I was Agmundr, blood-tattoos empowered, and he dared say no to me?
“Break the circle, Roman,” I said, trying to sound as calm as possible. “I can get out anyway but it will cost me power I cannot easily replenish.”
“You’re staying in there until I work out what to do with you. I cannot accept you running around and—”
“Let him out,” Bec said, her voice small and frightened.
Roman put his hands on her shoulders and bent down to look her in the eyes. “We can’t let him out. We can’t allow him to walk the streets. He’s dangerous, even more so than I thought. Do you know what he’s done?”
“Agmundr,” Bec said without looking away from Roman. I smiled at what was coming next. “Break out of the circle.”
I put my hand against the invisible barrier and was met with a wall of yellow stopping me. The tattoos on my hand began to glow in response, the red rising in brightness to match the yellow, then overpowering it. Stolen life-force blasted from me in the single spot where my skin touched Roman’s magic until both the barrier and my hand were too bright to look at directly.
And then the barrier was gone and I was free.
“You don’t know what you’ve done,” Roman said.
“And you don’t know what might happen if he doesn’t get to work,” Bec replied, then turned to me. “What’s next?”
“Should I kill the hedge-mage?” I said, letting my anger swamp my affection for the man. I knew she’d say no.
She didn’t speak, simply turning to examine Roman. She was deciding, I realized, weighing the option on its merits. Gone was the girl who’d buried her head to avoid watching me destroy an angel.
“I’m confused,” I said. “Sometimes you’re against violence and sometimes you’re into it. I don’t understand the difference.”
She kept her gaze on Roman. “I don’t want to watch, but I know that sometimes violence has to happen. It’s natural.”
“True enough.”
We were both staring at Roman and he was backing away from the intensity. He would know not to run but it would be hard to fight his natural instincts.
“Let him live. We’ll need him later.”
“As you wish.”
We cleaned up the old man who had once been an angel, putting him in the back of the car and out of sight. The body would be discovered but there was nothing to point in our direction. Roman came along meekly, knowing it was futile to resist.
The heart in my pocket beat again, once every hour, as Bec researched the man Seng now was and worked out how I was going to gain access to the tower, and as Roman sat in the corner, trying to meditate and failing.
The heart felt warm beside my skin but I didn’t touch it. The power of the angel drained from me slowly but I’d need whatever I could get from the heart when I faced Seng and his angels.
And then Bec could put me back in the locket and I could see Erindis. Or I could find a way to kill Bec and then Roman would put me back. This would all be over and I could move on.
I sat in a chair, in an apartment Bec had known would be empty, and smiled like an idiot until the sun went down.
Chapter 21
Roman had set wards around the apartment, small magical contraptions designed to stop magic from entering our temporary sanctuary. If they couldn’t stop entrance then they would at least let us know something was coming.
Something was coming. Bec sat before her small computer, oblivious to the noise reverberating through the apartment, but Roman and I sat up and looked at each other.
“They couldn’t have found us,” Roman said.
“Take Bec and hide in the closet.”
Roman moved quickly, for once not questioning me. He opened the bedroom closet and stared at the shelves for a moment, his panicked mind unable to cope with the slightest obstacle.
“Pull out the shelves,” I said as I moved to the door.
“What’s going on?” Bec said, alarmed and annoyed.
“We’ve got visitors,” Roman said. He grabbed her arm and dragged her out of the chair and toward the closet. He’d neatly stacked the shelves on the bottom rather than tossing them into the room. “Supernatural visitors.”
Bec looked like she was going to fight him to stay in the room but one look at the fear on Roman’s face was enough to keep her quiet. She went into the closet with him and they shut the door.
I didn’t know where the enemy was coming from – Roman’s preparations hadn’t been that precise – but I did know I was practically powerless. The hollow man’s power had faded as the day passed and I didn’t want to touch the heart yet. I needed it to face Seng.
A firm knock sounded from the only entrance to the small apartment. Whoever was there didn’t bang on the door or just kick it down. That was a good sign.
I unlocked the door and pulled it open, trying to look calm and relaxed, like I supposed to be there. I shouldn’t have bothered.
“Agmundr, is it?” the king of the vampires said. He was still dressed well and his illusion of humanity was perfect. He had the hint of a smile on his face.
“I still don’t know your name,” I replied. Artem stood behind him, less pleased than his king and wearing the same type of suit. His illusion was better than it had been in the club but anyone spending a small amount of time watching him might be able to see through it.
“Jeremiah. May we come inside?”
The humans had a theory that you had to invite vampires into your home or you were safe. This wasn’t true, but it made them feel better. If the king was asking then there was a chance, however small, that he wasn’t there to fight.
I pulled the door open and stepped aside to allow them in. Jeremiah and Artem walked slowly into the tiny living area and took up positions apart from one another, or as apart as was possible in the space.
“You should invite your friends to leave their hiding place,” the king said. “It isn’t doing them any good.”
They were vampires, so they’d be able to smell their blood from across the building, let alone in the confined space we were sharing.
Roman and Bec had heard the suggestion and emerged on their own. They stood beside each other in the entrance to the bedroom.
“I have a problem, Agmundr,” the king said. He put his hands behind his back as though starting a speech. “There has been some discord in my court of late.” Artem visibly recoiled at the words. “Some of my people believe I am holding to the old ways too rigidly, and that we must make peace with the witches and share the city we fought to control.”
“Sounds like a grand plan,” I said. “From what I’ve seen of this world it fits the general scheme. Solid advice.”
Jeremiah didn’t respond. “I hold a different view.”
“Of course you do,” I said.
“I believe we are who we are because we hold the reins with all our strength. I believe we must stomp on those who would oppose us. I believe in the old ways.”
“Very prudent,” I said.
I was happy to agree with whatever the vampire said, as long as it kept him out of our business. I was so close to getting out of the world and I didn’t need to waste what little power I had killing vampires I didn’t care about.
Knowing the heart was in my pocket gave me a confidence I wouldn’t have had otherwise. Even if I didn’t want to use it I knew I could, and there was nothing that could stand in my way when I did.
“This brings us to you, Rebecca.” He turned his head to focus on her. She held her ground, though I knew what it was like to be singled out by a being much more powerful than you.
“I already told you I’m sorry,” she said. She was putting on a brave front but I could tell she was scared. This was smart, in her situation.
“And then you refused to accept your punishment and instead ordered your man to attack my people.”
“I panicked.”
“Of course, of course. You understand, I can’t let that go.”
I didn’t have time for this. I needed them to leave so I could go kill a god, and the way Jeremiah was speaking he’d be there until sunrise.
“Can we be done with all this civility?” I said. “It’s embarrassing coming from a brutal predator. You should do better.”
His smile faltered a little. Good.
“Artem will kill one of you for the transgressions of all. Decide who it will be.”
Artem didn’t look comfortable with the idea but he had come to us, so he was going to do it. I could think of only one response.
“Roman,” I said, pointing to the hedge-mage. “Kill him. We’ve got places to be.”
“I…I…what?” Roman backed into the bedroom, inadvertently putting Bec between him and the murderous vampires.
“Accepted,” Jeremiah said.
I held up my hand to slow things down for a moment. “If you hurt Bec in the process I’ll tear your leech heads off and mount them on the front of a bus.”
Jeremiah seemed unimpressed with my threat, but he nodded his agreement. Artem moved around his king and approached Bec, who hadn’t moved from the door. Roman was clear across the bedroom; I thought he might try to escape via the window.
The king’s focus was on the coming bloodbath but I knew he would be fully aware of his surroundings. He was a vampire, for starters, and he was in a hostile environment, even if he thought he was better than everyone else. It would make the next few seconds difficult.
I reached into my pocket and ran my finger across the heart waiting there. The tattoos were smart enough to only draw what I thought they’d need.
Every tattoo glowed at once, preparing me for anything. Jeremiah didn’t hesitate, attacking me immediately. He appeared at my side with his hand already wrapped around my neck. He squeezed with enough strength to bend steel.