by Izzy Shows
She frowned at me, nodded, and took a step back. “Cover your head.” She sounded so steady, so sure of what she was doing, that I obeyed without thinking too hard. I ducked my head down to my knees and covered it with my arms. The muscles there screamed at being extended, yelled at me for abusing and bruising them in this fashion. I deserved it, I deserved every ounce of pain that I had delivered to myself. I deserved it and so much more.
Part of me felt numb, and that scared me.
Emily swung her sword, I heard the whoosh as the sword swept through the air, and saw the sparkles of light cascading around me as it cut through the circle. I fell over across the circle laid in the stone, grateful to be set free, but incapable of doing much more.
I was useless. I had wasted everything. Tears leaked out of my eyes, though I was too exhausted to sob.
My spirit wailed inside of me, though my physical form was incapable of translating the emotion.
She knelt beside me, placing her blade on the ground so that she had two hands free. “If by laying hands I may heal, I would do thy bidding, Lord.” She murmured the words over me, and placed a hand at either side of my temple. I felt light pouring through my body, and stared up at her with dumbfounded shock. What was she? How had she found me? What was this magic and how was she using it?
I knew Aidan hadn’t invited her in, he would have mentioned some woman running around the city armed and in armour, I felt certain of that. And if he hadn’t invited her in, then that meant she shouldn’t be able to do magic here. Right? Those were the rules as Aidan had laid them out to me, and I didn’t understand how she had circumvented them.
It was only then that I realised my brain was working, generating multiple questions per second in typical Blair fashion. I felt strength in my legs, saw the bruises and the wounds close and disappear from my arms. I assumed that whatever damage had been done to my face to be gone as well.
“It is a temporary thing, Blair,” she told me with a sad voice. “The Lord does not allow us to avoid the outcomes of our decisions, but there are important things for you to do yet this night, and you would not have been able to do them in your prior state. The Lord has granted you a reprieve so that you may do this work.”
I nodded, that made sense. Couldn’t get a ‘get out of jail free’ card, that would be too easy. I told myself to be grateful, any help was heaps more than anything I’d had just a moment ago, and I couldn’t exactly be choosy.
“Where’s Aidan?” I croaked the words out, sitting up now, urgency in my movements. I had to pull myself together and go.
“There was no one else here when I arrived. There appears to have been some sort of struggle, but it did not seem to last very long.” My heart broke at her words, and I tried to hide the turmoil that must have been very easy to read on my face. Aidan would have put up as much of a fight as he could—unless he’d been too distracted making sure that I was safe and sealed in the circle below. Damn him and his heroics.
“We have to go. I don’t know what you are or what you do, but you’re here, and you’re helping me, so I’ll take it.” I felt the strength returning to my voice, and pushed up onto my legs. I didn’t have time to mope anymore.
I had to get to Tyburn Tree, I had to stop the ritual from taking place, and I had to save Aidan. Emily stood up with me, grabbing her sword off the floor, her face looked grim.
If she had looked anything like the girl I’d met at the monument that morning, I would have told her to stay out of it, that this didn’t concern her and that she’d only endanger everyone by making them want to protect her. I didn’t dare say any of that now—she looked far more prepared than I was. She looked like she had faced down worse things than I could possibly think up.
We left the basement without another word, striding quickly through the ransacked living room and not sparing a moment for the grief that threatened to rise and consume me. All that I could do now was try and save Aidan’s life.
I owed him that.
35
THE CAR RIDE WAS A TERSE affair.
I felt like I should probably fill Emily in, but I had to keep grinding my teeth together to prevent myself from having another damned breakdown. It was harder to hold it together when we weren’t moving, and part of me just wanted to get out of the car and run on foot.
That was a dumb idea. The car was the quickest way to get there, Aidan didn’t have time to wait. I needed to be there now, but world didn’t seem to want to move itself for me.
Fucking rude.
Emily, to her credit, was perfectly calm. I darted a couple of glances at her to see if she was getting antsy or if she was waiting for the opportunity to pose a question, but she looked serene. It reiterated to me the likelihood that this was not her first altercation—was I the only complete and utter amateur in the city? I wondered if she even cared to know the details, or if she was just going to show up and start swinging at the baddies.
I found that I almost trusted her to be able to do that, discern the bad guys without any proper identification. She had showed up at Aidan’s house when there was no rational explanation for her knowing where he lived or that I needed help. She had a goddamned sword and wore armour as if it were mere clothing.
I didn’t know anything, and that was becoming more and more obvious as time went on and one wrench after the other was thrown at me.
“How are you staying so calm?” I blurted out, not being able to take it anymore, needing to say something before I screamed.
I cracked my window open three inches or so to let in some of the cool night air in the hope it might help to calm me down.
I saw her blink out of the corner of my eye. “Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t want to contribute to your stress, so I thought it best to remain quiet.” She was so stinking polite and considerate, I didn’t know how that was possible. One person couldn’t contain that much kindness, it just didn’t make sense. “Would you prefer to talk about something?”
I clenched my teeth together for a moment, fighting down another panic attack. My hands were shaking on the driver’s wheel. “Well, I figure you need to know what we’re going up against. There’s a group of necromancers in town and they’re planning on blowing the city. That’s about the gist of it, but it does get a bit more specific. Obviously. There’s at least one human sacrifice involved. The ritual is taking place at the memorial for Tyburn Tree, and I think they have Aidan.” I was hoping that they had Aidan, to be completely honest. I had hedged my bets on the necromancers being involved instead of Mal, and I really didn’t want to be wrong about that.
I didn’t want to have made yet another mistake trying to save Aidan. Somehow, though, I felt like if Mal had taken him, Aidan wouldn’t forgive me for choosing to get him back instead of taking down the necromancers. He cared about keeping the city safe. And then there was Finn to contend with—if I let the city fall…Well none of us would be around to hate each other.
A hysterical laugh bubbled out of me just then, taking me by surprise.
Emily darted a concerned look at me, and I could see that she was warring with her desire to reach out and comfort me, and the instinct not to touch me. That was good. I felt like I was about to shatter into a thousand pieces, and one wrong touch would do the job.
“We will save Aidan, Blair. Have faith.” Her words were somehow soft and strong at the same time, she spoke with such conviction that there could be no doubt in her mind. I was jealous. I had plenty of doubt to spare.
“And if we don’t? If he dies and the city blows and it’s all my fault?” I gasped the words out, feeling the panic building inside of me. I couldn’t handle this.
“It is not your fault that a soul has been corrupted and wishes to unleash pain, Blair. You must understand that.” Her words were sharp, breaking through the building panic and allowing me to focus.
She had a point. I hadn’t forced these wankers to make a pact with a demon, I hadn’t forced them to do any of this bullshit. The only thing I
could be blamed for, was drawing their attention to Aidan. That was all my fault, and nothing Emily said would be able to convince me otherwise. There was only one course of action left, and that was to save everyone.
Or get blown up in the process. The pessimist inside of me was placing bets on the latter outcome.
We fell back into silence, neither of us really having anything left to say. She couldn’t comfort me and I couldn’t find it in me to make conversation while on the way to our inevitable deaths.
36
BLAIR!
I jerked the steering wheel wildly at the sudden intrusion in my mind, glancing around before I realised that it had, in fact, been in my head.
Pay attention to your surroundings. You are about to come under attack.
I recognised Raven’s voice at the second touch, and breathed a short sigh of relief before I tensed up again as the knowledge of the impending attack seeped in. I suddenly realised how not ready I was for all of this. I didn’t know how to hold myself in a fight, I could barely stand up to Aidan when we’d been in training, and now I was going to have to defend my car while driving it.
There’s no substitute teacher for experience, I guess.
“Emily. Attack incoming.” I barked the information to her, glancing over my shoulder to see if I could locate the attacker as I did. I didn’t see anyone, but now that I was paying attention I recognised the prickle on the back of my neck that meant I was under attention.
Emily placed a hand on my shoulder. “I am not equipped for ranged combat. I will hold the wheel, that you may seek out our attacker.” She sounded so confident, but I was struck by how…old her language sounded. I wondered for the first time if she was old as she looked, or if this job just had the habit of aging a person’s soul.
I nodded my head in agreement, trusting her not to crash us, aware that we didn’t really have any other options now. Either she held the wheel steady for me, or we died. It was about as simple as that. I let go of the wheel after I reassured myself that she had it in her grip, and twisted my form so that I could see through the back window of my car. I focussed my vision into the night, grateful that there were no cars behind us to blind me.
Although that was odd. The thought passed idly through my mind that the streets were usually busy, no matter the time of night, and now they were quite deserted. Hadn’t they been busy just a moment ago? Was it the evil that crept in this night that kept the residents in their households? I hoped so. I didn’t want to have to worry about innocents getting in the way.
I was jarred back to the present by the sudden dip of the car, and almost screamed when a long dead corpse shoved its head onto the boot of my car. There wasn’t time to do anymore thinking now.
I reached inside me for the power, found it in the pit of my stomach, and didn’t waste any time building it up. I flung a hand backward, felt the immense power blazing through my arm—searing neural pathways as it went—and shouted. “Courvra!” The word was ripped out of me, along with the magic, it felt ancient. Powerful. I didn’t know where it came from or where I’d learned it, but I didn’t want to ask too many questions just now.
It wasn’t fire or ice, though, it was wind as strong as a hurricane blasting out of my fingertips. I clenched my other hand onto the side of the seat, hard enough for them to turn white and go numb, as I held on.
The back window shattered and flew outwards, flung by the wind, little pieces of it surely had stabbed into the corpse—but he wasn’t there for me to see anymore. The wind had picked him up, slammed him into the ground, torn him away from the car for all I knew. I closed my fingers into a fist to cut off the power, gasping for air.
I wanted to collapse into a heap, but I didn’t have the luxury of doing that. I cast a quick glance at Emily to ensure that she was fine, and saw that her lips were set in a grim line, focusing entirely on keeping the car in motion and on the right course. I couldn’t waste time worrying about her, I recognised that. I looked back out the hole that had once been a back window and sighed.
My poor car. Cost of doing business.
Nothing cropped up in the darkness, and the tension was getting to me. Maybe that was all they had out here right now. One corpse patrolling the area, and I’d managed to dispose of it. I started to breathe a little easier, felt the tension ebbing out of me.
And then the car shook from all sides. I spun around, eyes wide, and saw one corpse—much more fresh, but obviously dead—on the bonnet, and another clinging at each wing mirror, clawing at the windows.
“Focus, Blair!” Emily snarled, her hands clutching the wheel tightly.
My eyes jerked to her, terrified, thinking that I was about to fail her and myself and that we were both about to die.
There was no way I could handle this. There was no way I could fight off this many attackers, from this many angles. And then I felt something on my shoulder.
In the movies, you have time to slowly turn and stare down at the claw on your shoulder, gasp in shock and then do something about it. There wasn’t time for that. The claws were already digging into my skin.
“Lidag.” I snarled—where had the word come from?—below my breath, and rolled my shoulder. I felt the ice sickles sprout from my shoulder, ragged spikes seeking blood and death. The creature howled in agony and I was free. Without turning, I threw a hand up and to the side.
“Courvra!” I screamed again, this time familiar with the word though I knew not its meaning. I wished I could hurl fire at the creature—instinct told me that flame could destroy it, purify the dead—but I didn’t want to set the car ablaze. I felt the power fly through me again, scorching my insides as it went all too quickly, though this time I was better prepared for it. “Get your window right down!” I shouted to Emily as I twisted back to face the front and opened mine fully.
I have no idea how she was managing to keep the car straight now, the corpse on top of the bonnet was rearing an arm back to strike at the windshield.
I assume she was too busy focusing on the task at hand, or conserving her energy. I should probably be doing the same. I waited until I had the window down, then extended both arms out.
“Courvra!” The word ripped through me again, this time the energy burned both arms, left me feeling liquefied.
The corpses at either window were gone when I managed to crack my eyes open and look. Good. One left to deal with. I could do this, maybe. Courage was rising in me, confidence in my abilities. I may not know exactly what I was doing, but I could be a weapon.
Aim me and fire me, I know not what else to do.
I climbed up out of the driver’s seat and lodged my body out of the window and Emily slid in without waiting, the car only slowed for a moment before she had her foot on the pedal and steadied us.
We made a good team.
I placed a hand on the roof of the car to steady myself, aware that a fall at this speed would kill me even if the corpses didn’t get to me first.
The corpse turned its attention to me, distracted from its prior attempt to break through the windshield. I saw excitement light up its dead features in a mockery of human emotion. It made my insides squirm. No time to be squeamish.
“Burn, you shit face!” I snarled at it and flung my right hand carelessly at it, confident that I would hit it. This time the burning sensation was worse, as actual fire ripped through me.
It was so much worse than the shield I had conjured with Aidan. I couldn’t see my arm, protected as it was under the layers of hoodie and leather, but I saw my hand as it lit up as if from the inside. The fire was in my veins before it launched out of my fingertips towards the creature.
I barely managed to singe its side. It was surprisingly adept for one who should have been dead. Fucking zombies. They never behave the way you expect, the way the movies tell you they’re supposed to. It crawled towards me, helped by the forward momentum of the car. I felt Emily break hard for just a moment, attempting to dislodge it without me having to do anything.
The blast of fire might have terrified her. I didn’t have time to feel bad.
The corpse was upon me, it swiped at me with one clawed hand. Instinct told me not to let it touch me, and I ducked to the side even as the car swerved.
“Shitfuck.” I gasped, clinging to the car, scowling down at it for a moment. I knew Emily was trying to help, but she’d almost thrown me onto the road in her attempt.
Pain raked through me then, exploded across my face. I screamed in agony, feeling each of the three slashes in the side of my face where the creature had clawed me. They burned in the worst way, not like fire which was hell unto itself, but as if poisoned.
Had it tainted me? I couldn’t stop to find out. It reached for me again, and this time I lunged to grasp its arm at the wrist, locking it to myself. It looked at me with greedy dead eyes and I saw elation there. My stomach churned, threatened to empty itself, but I shoved the feelings down. There wasn’t time for this, no time to feel weak. All I could do was act.
“Raes.” A new word leapt into my mind just as I opened my lips, it came out a dangerous murmur that sent shivers down my own spine. The fire within me curled out slowly this time, emanated from my hand with such gentleness I thought it wouldn’t do anything. I was wrong. So wrong. As soon as it met the air and the tainted flesh it exploded, jumping up the arm clinging to me. I ignored the pain in my forearm, where its claws had sunk in and watched with a vicious smile as the fucker was lit on fire.
It howled its outrage, tried to release me so that it could get away, but I just held on. I knew that if I let go the fire would die out and I could not risk that. It had to die. It wrenched its arm to the side and I felt myself lift out of the car a bit, clamped my thighs down on the window edge to try and hold myself there, suddenly all that filled my mind was the terror of my head meeting the pavement.
I clung to the arm still.
Emily’s strong hand wrapped around my thigh, holding me in place. I don’t know why it was comforting, but I felt that if she was holding me then I could not possibly fall.