by Erin Embly
“Darcita,” Ray said, but the nickname didn’t hold the same affection it usually did. Not with such a somber tone in his voice. “I know what did this.”
My heart raced. “You found something?” I asked. “In your books?”
“They are creatures from old Mexico, soul-stealing spirits that guard the land. We call them los chaneques. They appear in the form of children with the faces of old men, and there are some accounts of landowners controlling them through a clay statue made with honey and the blood of young children. I don’t know how or why they ended up here, but—”
“The god must have brought them,” I interrupted. In the back of my mind, a part of me deflated with the realization that Adrian had been wrong about the whole golem thing—that no “reversal” technique, however clever, would have worked to stop these creatures if Miriam hadn’t stepped in and smashed the statue. Next time, I’d default to the smashing first.
“What god?” Ray asked.
“The one who loves ice and death, who took over the Sweepers before they were destroyed. You said he was your god’s rival.”
“Itztlacoliuhqui,” Ray muttered. “Of course. He is using them to form a connection to this land. If he does that—”
“He’s putting down roots,” I said. Just like Ray. This god was determined to spread death as far as he could, and Washington, DC was a logical place to start for any evil mastermind wanting to take over the world. It made sense that he would want to gain power here before making any more moves.
“There’s a ritual,” Ray said, his voice hard. “To get back Carina’s soul, if they have it. I’m gathering the materials, but we can’t do it without her. I need you to find her.”
“If I do find her, and she’s . . .” I trailed off, not sure how I should phrase it. “If she’s raining down dragon fire on a bunch of innocent civilians” wasn’t something that seemed right to say to her dad. “If she’s out of control,” I said instead, “do you have any tricks I can use to restrain her?”
He paused for a moment, and I could hear him tapping his fingers on something hard. “Fire,” he said eventually. “It will weaken her.”
“Fire,” I repeated, confusion evident in my tone. “Against a dragon?”
“All dragons are not the same,” Ray snapped. “Carina is descended of the dragons created by Quetzalcoatl in the third age of the world. The land had become an inferno, and the people needed wings to escape it. Their breath is as hot as the air currents they rose up on, but they cannot stand to be burned.”
“Got it,” I said, even though it sounded batshit crazy.
“Dirk is already on his way to you with my flamethrowers.” Ray’s tone was cold; I could practically hear the terror he must be feeling, knowing that his weapons were going to be used on his daughter instead of the vampires he’d sent them out for. “He left before they went missing, so he doesn’t know.”
“Okay. I’m going to be underground looking for her, but Miriam will know where I am. Call her when you have what we need for the ritual.”
“I will,” he said, then paused. “Be careful.”
I knew he meant for me to be careful not to kill his daughter, but it was a touching sentiment all the same.
“I will.”
18
I never thought I’d be so happy to see Dirk when he sauntered over to me with his cocky grin across the street by the Metro entrance and tossed me one of the flamethrowers he had slung over his shoulders.
Or at least I assumed it was a flamethrower. It was packed in a patterned cloth sack that would have been more appropriate for garden tools than weapons, but I supposed that was the point. We couldn’t just walk around in public carrying these huge weapons openly without running into unnecessary trouble.
I peeked inside to make sure it was what I thought it was, and it didn’t disappoint. I didn’t know if all glass artists had flamethrowers lying around that were so obviously meant to double as weapons, but I was glad Ray was apparently into multi-purpose tools.
After what he’d told me about dragons, I realized it was probably an intentional precaution. Not necessarily meant to keep his daughter in line, but maybe in case her mother decided to try anything unsavory.
“Where’re the bloodsuckers?” Dirk asked, and I shook my head.
“Already dealt with for now. We’re going after Carina and Noah.” I ignored his skeptical look. “Come on. I’ll fill you in on the way.”
Without another word, I made my way down the escalator, doing my best to use my words and not my fists on the awful excuses for people who had decided to stand on the left side instead of the right.
I didn’t know exactly where Carina was, but I could guess. The chaneques had gone after her specifically, even though there weren’t enough people in her basement at home to make a scene like the others they’d orchestrated. They had wanted her, either because they knew how much damage she could do in the right circumstances or because they knew she was a follower of their god’s rival—most likely both. Now that they had her, they needed to bring her to a place where she could be deadly, and that place probably needed to be underground.
The high-domed ceilings of DC’s Metro platforms offered the only underground spaces I could think of where a dragon would have room to fly. And Ray lived further north on the red line, so I was willing to bet we’d run into the kids if we just got on the red line here and headed in their direction.
I only glanced back once to make sure Dirk was following me, and he was red in the face by the time we made it to the train platform.
“Slacking off at the gym?” I asked him once I’d halted, nothing to do now but wait for the next train.
“I almost died yesterday—gimme a break.”
Fair enough, I thought, although I’d almost died earlier in the night. But Dirk had apparently been on leave before all this started, and I wondered if he’d been taking advantage of his role as my handler to get himself some down time. The phrase all bark and no bite crossed my mind as I watched him catch his breath. That was what Adrian had said about him when we’d met. I hoped I’d be able to count on him to not get himself killed by my niece.
The train rushed in at that point, and my heart sank as I realized just how many people were getting on along with us. I’d expected it to be nearly empty at this time of night, but trains would stop running soon and plenty of Saturday-night party goers wanted to get home cheaply while they could.
Except if I was right, they were headed into the jaws of a hungry dragon rather than home to their beds.
I told Dirk everything Ray had told me while we sped through the tunnel, then gave him a rundown of what had happened with the vampires since I’d last seen him.
“Damn,” he said when I was done, letting out a low whistle. “You’re really not good with men, huh?”
I narrowed my eyes at him. “That’s your takeaway from all this?”
“I mean, it’s fuckin’ great to know we can’t kill suckers by taking off their heads—we might get a pay bump for that.”
“Glad you’ve got your priorities straight,” I said bitterly, wondering for the umpteenth time what Etty saw in this man. Then a chill ran through me. “Wait—how do you even know this had anything to do with me and ‘men’?”
“It’s in your file,” he said with a smirk. “I think the higher-ups knew about your little affair even before Miriam got her squishy on you. You didn’t really think you could keep something like that a secret?”
I shifted my weight, knowing he was referring to the Guardians even though he was being careful to watch his language in this public space. And no, I hadn’t really thought I could keep it a secret. But somehow it was harder to face the fact that it wasn’t, now that the whole “affair” with Simeon had been turned on its head and my emotions were raw.
Luckily, I didn’t have to say anything else on the subject because the train pulled into the next station at that point. Peering out the window, I searched for signs of Carina
and Noah. But everything seemed normal here.
It wasn’t until the doors opened and I heard a faint scream in the distance that I jerked into motion, yanking Dirk out of the train with me.
“What are you doing?” he complained. “I don’t see them here.”
Neither did I. And as I frantically scanned the crowd of people moving on and off the train, I started to wonder if I’d made a mistake.
But when the train pulled away, I turned around and spotted two small figures on the opposite platform.
My whole body relaxed involuntarily at the sight of them. Carina was still in her human form, and Noah was still alive. I didn’t doubt that they were in immense danger, but at least I wasn’t too late to save them.
I hadn’t realized until now just how terrified I’d been that I would get here to find them both already dead.
Still, I had heard a scream. And the people around them on the platform were giving them strange looks.
Carina ducked her head into her hands and let out a little screech like the first one I’d heard, and Noah came up beside her to put his hand on her back.
I wanted to yell at him to get away from her, but he wouldn’t understand. His friend was distressed, and he wanted to help her. Of course he did.
When Carina started to grow claws, blood dripping from where they scratched the skin on her scalp just like the feline who had lost control on the train yesterday, I knew there was only one thing I could do.
I leapt down onto the train tracks, running across in wide strides and trying not to step on anything that looked electric. By the time I’d made it to the other side, Carina had spotted me with wild eyes. Those eyes recognized me, but it wasn’t my niece behind them anymore.
“Darcy!” Noah yelled as Carina’s black wings unfolded around him. “Something’s wrong with—”
His words broke off as Carina took flight, Noah still clutching her shoulder. His legs dangled in the air for a moment before Carina’s tail grew to its full size, catching him inadvertently and allowing him to get a better grip on her back.
I was still fumbling with getting the flamethrower out of its sack when she’d flown so high up there was no way I could reach her anyway.
The people on the platform mostly stopped moving when she flew up, all gaping with their phones out, as if this were a fucking circus show and not the beginning of a massacre.
Dirk was still on the opposite platform across the tracks, but he’d already gotten his weapon out and let loose a burst of fire at Carina as she flew over him.
The flames barely singed the tips of her claws, and she only flew higher in response. Dirk locked worried eyes with me, gave me a nod, and then turned around and ran up the nearest escalator to get to the raised walkway. He’d have far less lateral mobility up there, but if she flew near him he might be high up enough to get her. Good thinking.
Except there were only two of us, and I didn’t like the odds of both of us taking such a passive approach. Not with all these dumbstruck onlookers and Noah still clinging to Carina’s back—especially this late at night when he should already be in bed. The kid was laughing now, not understanding what was going on and probably just excited that Carina had finally decided to take him flying. But I knew how tired he must be, and I wasn’t sure how long he would be able to hold on.
What could I do?
I narrowed my eyes at Carina, my flamethrower at the ready. When she started to swoop down, I ran towards her and shot up a burst of fire. But she had only swooped down far enough to let loose her own fiery breath, and her range was better than mine.
Screams echoed through the space as the scent of charred flesh wafted towards me. And when Carina flew back up, leaving three crispy bodies in the wake of her fire, the dumbstruck onlookers turned into a panicked mob.
Through all the screaming and the running and the pushing, I could hear Noah now sobbing in the air from Carina’s back, his laughter gone as he pleaded with her to stop.
He could probably make her stop, I realized. He might have done so already if I hadn’t lectured him earlier on not using his magic without consent.
Carina swooped down again. I started running towards her until I realized she was headed straight for me.
I turned on my heel and leapt out of the way as heat blasted me from behind. I landed in a roll, but the heat wasn’t gone when I stood up. I reached back to find flames licking at the ends of my hair.
It was still damp from all the rain and blood it had been soaked in tonight, thankfully, or my head might have already turned into a torch.
It was impossible not to remember the last time I’d had flames thrown at me, when I’d been fighting Salma the outraged ifrit on the rooftops near Minnie’s cafe. But then, I’d been protected by the magic wind of the phoenix; it had blown the fire away before it could touch me, letting the heat roll off me like water rolling off a duck.
I’d also had wings then. And as much as I hated to admit it, they would be really fucking useful right now.
Noah let out a tiny scream as Carina swerved in the air to dodge a burst from Dirk’s flamethrower, and I stopped breathing. All the resolve I’d had when it came to Ray and his cult of a family and the sinister strings attached to the power of his god—it all melted away in one instant when I heard the panic in the cry of that little boy.
I ducked behind a pillar, all my muscles tense and my stomach turning as I closed my eyes.
I didn’t have the first idea of how to pray to a god, but I hoped it was the thought that counted.
As counterintuitive as it felt, I tried to tune out of my surroundings, imagining myself in the obsidian cave I’d been transported to when I’d first touched Ray. He had said that was where they went when they needed to communicate with Popo.
I remembered the pain of the intensity of the magic, before the cave had tasted my blood. I remembered the glittering facets of dark glass surrounding me, and the incessant chirping of the horde of rabbits herding me out to the cave opening, where they had shown me a vision of Becca and all the other burning souls in Salma’s private hell.
A warm tingle enveloped me, and I opened my eyes half expecting to be engulfed in Carina’s fiery breath.
But I was still safe behind the pillar, everything the same except for the little black bunny perched on my knee.
It let out a chirp as I reached out to it, and then it bit down hard into the meaty part of the palm of my hand.
I sucked in my lips to keep myself from yelping, watching the blood well up and absorb into the shiny black stone as if it were a sponge.
The pain was gone in an instant as my scrye swelled, my nerves tingling with the magic glancing off the dark surfaces around me. It was so tempting to relax into the familiar feeling that had been a constant part of me for as long as I could remember before it had disappeared entirely. I’d tapped into it hours ago, under the moonlight and with the blood being sucked from my veins, but it had been so fleeting and such a struggle.
Nothing was fighting me now, and this current coursing through me felt like home.
I touched the rabbit’s head in thanks as ephemeral wings sprouted from my back. I didn’t even mind the pain that came with them this time, now that I knew what to expect. Rather than excruciating, it was a signal that it had worked—that I could lift myself in the air and have a fighting chance of stopping Carina before it was all too late.
The bunny hopped away and disappeared into the shadows, its job done. I tried not to worry about just how much of my soul I’d signed away in that encounter.
However much, it was worth it to save the kids.
I gripped the flamethrower as the wings lifted me up, trying to think about where I wanted to go rather than the mechanics of how I would do so. I still hadn’t had much practice flying, so I would need to trust my instincts.
Carina hadn’t spotted me yet, and my best shot would be to approach her from behind. I sped over straight to her, pointing the flamethrower at her tail.
My heart pounded seeing how close Noah was to my target. But the fear in his eyes dwindled when he turned his head to look at me.
I blasted Carina’s long, spiky tail with fire, dodging as it lashed from side to side in response. She roared and snapped her head back at me, and I deflated with the realization that just getting her tail hot wouldn’t be enough to subdue her.
I swerved to the side, thankful for my awkward jerky flight pattern that made it harder for Carina to anticipate my movements. The flames she breathed at me only grazed the edges of my wings.
Not knowing what else to do, I darted towards Dirk, who steadied his flamethrower in my direction. Neither one of us could best this dragon on our own, but together she would have to choose which one of us to kill first. Hopefully, I could use that moment of distraction to make sure she wouldn’t kill anyone.
I tried to lower myself steadily to Dirk’s level as I made my way towards him, and I could see in his eyes that he thought I was insane. If he had to blast through me to get to the dragon before she could get to him, he would do it. I shook my head at him and hoped he could trust me.
When I was only a few feet away from him, I slowed for a moment so Carina would think she had me. Then, as she opened her mouth and her hot breath warmed my wings, I dropped my flamethrower and lifted myself straight up to double back behind her.
She tried to follow me with her neck, but she was a lot bigger than I was and couldn’t maneuver as quickly even though she was by far the more experienced flier.
Instead, she let loose her breath in a flurry of flames that went over Dirk’s head and under my feet, and his stream of fire landed directly on the smooth scales of her underbelly.
Her screech pierced my ears as I dropped down behind her and reached out my arms for Noah.
“Take my hand,” I yelled.
He hesitated for just a moment before unlatching one of his arms from around Carina’s neck. And in that moment, Carina started to fall.