Fury

by Elizabeth Cole

  I felt cold. A cold that seeped into my bones as my body screamed I shouldn’t be here. I watched as the fog moved closer and every instinct I had was telling me to run back the way we’d come. I took a step back, right into Salem who was standing behind me.

  “Don’t fret, little Fury, they just want to say hello.” He said, his hands pushing me away from him and back towards the fog. “It’s not every day a living being walks into their resting place.”

  “They?”

  “Souls make up the mist.”

  I watched as the first tendrils reached my feet and fear froze me in place as I began to make out faces and limbs. Soft whispers circled us and as soon as the mist enveloped Salem and me they grew louder. I couldn’t make out what they were saying, but when I felt a touch at my arm I recoiled, just as another touched me and then another.

  Each part of me they touched glowed white for a second before the light seemed to sink into my skin. The feeling it caused felt like ice being injected into my veins. My heart began to beat faster as a lump formed in my throat. If I breathed, would I breath them in? The thought had my stomach twisting into knots. I took a step back to get away from them, but they were everywhere. I held my breath for as long as I could, backing away, trying to escape them, but it was no use. When I finally gave up and gasped in a breath, that only served to ice over the inside of my mouth and left it feeling dry.

  “Stop it.” I managed to say, voice quivering as the sense of wrongness engulfed me. I wanted to go back. Salem might have cornered the market in crazy, but at least his library didn’t have fear gripping my spine.

  “Salem, stop it! Stop this!” I demanded, whirling around to face him, but he wasn’t there. I turned, trying to catch even a glimpse of him so I knew I wasn’t alone, but he was gone. Vanished in the thickening fog.

  There was nothing aside from the cold souls and me.

  I glanced down and saw Fitz was being affected by the chill too. He was trying to move, but his body was barely twitching, his eyes half open. I covered him with my hands, attempting to shield him the best I could.

  The voices grew louder. Overtaking everything and invading my mind. They made it difficult to think, overwhelming my private thoughts with their whispers. I could feel my body begin to shiver,

  “Salem, take us back!” I screamed, squeezing my eyes shut. I wanted to be away from this place and these souls. If it meant his house where I would listen to them spew nonsense, I’d go willingly.

  “Do you believe me now?” His voice was faint, but I heard it. He sounded so far away, but I didn’t know if it was true distance, or the voices of the souls.

  It was hard to refute what I was both seeing and feeling, even if it took a lot to wrap my mind around. This could be magic, forcing me to feel and see what I was, but magic couldn’t corrupt a vessel. They were pure. If Fitz was feeling this, it wasn’t a trick.

  “Yes!”

  There was no response for a second and then Salem’s voice seemed to echo through the space.

  “Enough!” There was command in the word and as soon as he uttered the word the mist dispersed. Fleeing back the way it had come.

  My knees shook, my body feeling faint and frozen but I could see more than an inch in front of me again and my eyes locked on Salem as I fought collapse. Salem was leaning against the door we’d walked through, his arms folded across his chest, and I practically tripped over myself running back to him. He looked satisfied, pleased that his plan had worked.

  He’d scared me half to death and he was happy about it? He pushed off the door and it swung open. My fear was replaced by anger as I walked passed him and when I heard the door shut I whirled to face him, my flat hand snaking out and striking the side of his cheek.

  “You’re a bastard!” I said, my voice still shaking, thought I wasn’t sure if it was because of the temperature or the fear, and my palm stung from the fierceness of which I’d struck him. I pulled back to hit him again, but he caught my wrist and pushed me up against the wall.

  “Tasha tried to do it the nice way and you accused her of being psychotic.” He snapped, pinning me with his body. “This way was faster and now you can’t deny what you saw with your own eyes.”

  I yanked my hand free from his grasp and shoved him away from me as I alternated between blowing hot air into my hands and rubbing them together. I needed to get them warm so I could warm Fitz up.

  “You didn’t need to leave me in the middle of those things.”

  “You weren’t going to fear something you didn’t have to face on your own.”

  I didn’t respond because while I didn’t agree with his method, there was a part of me that acknowledged he was right. It would have taken me forever to believe him. I would have found a way to explain things away. Heck, my mind was still trying to come up with a rational explanation for what had just happened.

  As soon as my hands were warm enough, I placed them around Fitz, trying to do for him what my body would do naturally for me in a few minutes.

  “Hand me the snake.” Salem said, realizing what I was trying to do.

  “Like hell.” I ground out, knowing from the brief confrontation that he was still plenty warm. My wrist had already warmed from where he’d gripped it.

  “I was unaffected. I’ll warm him faster than you can.”

  Fitz hissed at him and I glared, but he was right. Again.

  Instead of arguing with him I complied, though it was begrudgingly.

  “Fitz, don’t bite him.” I said, pulling him from my shirt and handing him over. I don’t want you absorbing anything from the asshat.”

  Sure, the insult was childish. Salem knew as well as I that vessels could only absorb souls and not characteristics, but it made me feel better.

  To Salem’s credit, he didn’t seem to mind Fitz crawling all over him. He didn’t even flinch when Fitz wrapped around his neck and gave him a soft—well, soft enough—squeeze.

  “Fitz,” I warned, “don’t.”

  Fitz uncoiled, but he stayed by Salem’s neck, soaking up the warmth. Salem reached for me, grabbing both of my hands and capturing them in his. Neither of us said a word as he waited for my skin to rise to a normal temperature. Even his closeness seemed to help and it took willpower not to curl into his body to chase the last of the chill away.

  He let me go after a few minutes, taking his warmth with him. I rubbed my arms as we walked through a door he conjured, back into the library.

  Tasha had gone back downstairs to the large table and she wasn’t alone.

  Joshua sat with her next to another man I hadn’t met.

  Tasha and the new man saw us first, and Tasha’s face filled with pity.

  “I’m so sorry, Nyx.”

  “Not your fault.” I stated, trying to shrug it off. I didn’t want any of them to see how much it had affected me.

  “I was hoping to convince you, not frighten you.” She said, motioning for me to sit in.

  “What did you do?” The new man asked as he stood, and I heard a lilt to the words.

  He was thin, even thinner than Tasha was, and his height made him look skeletal. Joshua, who’d I’d gauged as five foot nine or ten, put Salem just over six feet, which meant this man was at least six and a half feet tall.

  He wore a black suit with a white dress shirt underneath and a black bow tie. His shoes were polished to give off a spectacular sheen and the silver belt buckle looked like it had received similar treatment. Soft brown eyes were set into a face that had the lines of age written in them and his blonde hair was so light it was nearly white. If I had to guess an age I’d say he was in his mid-sixties, but he gave off an air that screamed he was older. He looked like he knew too much, like he’d seen too much and lived through even more.

  “Charon,” Salem said, ignoring the man’s question. “Some tea, please. She’s chilled.”

  “Oh, Salem you didn’t.” He said, immediately walking to a tray that had been set on the table and pouring a cup of tea. />
  “I did what was necessary.” Salem responded, leaning against the table with his eyes on the fireplace across the room.

  “Serves her right,” Joshua muttered, turning to look at me. “You broke my nose.”

  “You kidnapped me.” I shot back.

  “I was under orders.”

  “I didn’t know that. You creeped me out, voodooed me into going back to my room and then took me. Would you have remained docile if you were in my place?”

  Joshua shifted in his seat, but didn’t say anything and I took his silence as my answer.

  “That’s what I thought.”

  He scowled and I glared back.

  “Your nose healed,” Charon said as he handed me the cup of tea he’d poured.

  “Thank you.” I said, to both the tea and him sticking up for me.

  “Of course, miss. I’m Charon, a butler of sorts. Are you hungry?”

  “Nyx, and yeah, a little.” I admitted and he smiled and nodded.

  “I thought you might be. I have some sandwiches here, but if you’d like something warmer, I can go get you some soup.”

  He was nice like Tasha. How the two of them tolerated being stuck in a house with Salem and Joshua, I’d never know.

  “The sandwiches are great. Thank you.”

  “Would you like to see what we found?” Tasha asked, picking up a book between us and opening it.

  I did, but I wanted something from Salem first.

  “Before we do that,” I said, looking up at Salem and meeting his eyes. “I want your word.”

  “On?”

  “If I do this, you will take me home as soon as it’s done and you will never try to kidnap me again.”

  Salem straightened, extending his hand to me and I almost took it, but I froze and added, “You also have to make sure that Callie and Iris don’t get in trouble while I’m gone.”

  He nodded and I took the hand he’d extended.

  “You have my word.”

  As soon as he said the words, something electric seemed to move from his hand to mine and I yanked my hand back immediately.

  “What was that?”

  Salem smiled, but it looked forced. “My word, as the Hades, cannot be broken.”

  “Besides, it isn’t as if we actually want you here.” Joshua muttered, and I gritted my teeth to keep my response from escaping, “You are an unfortunate means to an end,” he added, effectively snapping my resolve and costing me the ongoing battle with my temper.

  “Some advice for next time,” I said, my gaze swinging to him. “When you come at someone from behind, tuck their head into your chest and pull them away from objects they can use to push you off balance. If that doesn’t work, I can see if I can find an idiot’s guide to kidnapping. It might help to have the basics dumbed down.”

  “You b—"

  “Language, Joshua.” Charon cut him off and Joshua’s jaw snapped shut with an audible click.

  Tension built in the room, Joshua and I entering a contest of wills as we glared at one another. Just as it was approaching the point of unbearable, the door opened on the far end of the library and a little girl, no more than eight or nine ran into the room.

  “Are they back?” She asked, holding up her dress as she ran. Her eyes roamed around to everyone before landing on me and her smile grew three times the size.

  “Hi, Miss Nyx!” She said, her little feet carrying her around the table before she threw her arms around me.

  “Hello.” The word came out sounding like a question as I looked down at shiny black hair, my free arm crossing her back in a knee jerk reaction to hug her back.

  “This is Jane.” Salem said, his voice taking on a soft tone I didn’t know he was capable of.

  Jane pulled back from me and looked up. Her green eyes and the roundness of her face paired with the black hair reminded me so much of Iris. Shocked wasn’t a strong enough word to do my reaction justice.

  “What’s wrong?” Salem asked, taking a step towards us. I didn’t know if he thought she’d done something to me or I to her, but there was no mistaking the concern in his voice.

  Revealing the truth would leave me feeling overexposed in a way I didn’t want to be in a room full of strangers, so for the first time since I’d gotten here, I hedged the truth.

  “You have got to be the most beautiful girl I’ve ever seen.” I said, which wasn’t a complete lie, but it wasn’t why my chest felt tight looking down at her. It hadn’t been long, but I already missed Callie and Iris. The fact that I wouldn’t see them for a week made it worse, not to mention what they’d think when I never showed up for class or returned to the apartment. It was only a week, I reminded myself, and smiled at the little girl who was now beaming at me.

  “Thank you.” She said, a small blush creeping into her cheeks. “Tasha said we would have a guest this week and I was so excited to meet you. I didn’t know you’d be pretty too. The three of us can be pretty together.”

  “Thank you, Jane. That’s very sweet.”

  “Jane, she’s hungry.” Charon stated, “Would you like something as well?”

  “No, I’m still full from lunch. Can I stay in here?” She asked, her eyes swinging back to me. “Can I sit with you?”

  No one objected and I got the feeling none of them said no to her often. But how could they with those big eyes and the sweet smile she’d just turned on me.

  “Of course. We were just about to read some books.” I said, motioning to the books on the table.

  “I love to read!” She announced happily, “I have a ton of books in my room. I read every night before bed.”

  “Me too. What kind of books do you read?”

  “Everything. I just started the one Joshua brought back with you. Sherlock Holmes. It’s giant and it will take me a week at least to get through it.”

  “Is it the collection?”

  She nodded, her excitement contagious as she exclaimed, “Have you read it?”

  “I have.”

  “I’m on the one about Baskerville. I was reading it before I came down here.”

  “That’s one of my favorites. I like the Speckled Band too.”

  “That one is in my book!”

  I looked at the big, boring books I was going to go through and decided I didn’t know if they were appropriate for a nine-year-old. I might not want to raise new Furies but I loved kids and Jane was so eager to sit with us the words came tumbling out and as they did I found I didn’t regret them.

  “Why don’t you go get your book and you can read while we do?”

  Her eyes brightened and without a word she turned and ran from the room.

  “Smart.” Tasha said, smiling at me as she pushed a book in my direction. “She would have asked to read one of these and some of the stuff in here might frighten her.”

  “She’s very sweet.”

  “Why did you look like someone had killed your dog when you looked at her then?” Joshua said, his expression full of contempt.

  One of the reasons I didn’t lie was my inability to keep my face passive. I thought I’d been quick enough to throw up my guard this time, but I guess I still hadn’t managed, so I bit down the retort and told the truth.

  “Not that it’s any of your business, but my roommate Iris is like a sister to me. I grew up with her and Jane looks a lot like she did at her age. It surprised me.”

  And hurt, but I didn’t add that.

  “Bull.” Joshua said, and I rolled my eyes and reached into my pocket for my phone.

  It wasn’t there.

  “Where’s my phone? I’ll show you a picture.”

  “You don’t need a picture, Salem will know.” He said, his eyes moving to the man in question.

  “She’s telling the truth, Joshua.” Salem confirmed, and that had me swinging around to look at him. How did he know? Had he gone through our photo albums or something equally as creepy?

  “The boss is a human lie detector.” Joshua explained, the grin accompany
ing his words was smug. “He can feel every lie you’ve told since you’ve gotten here.”

  This was his way of trying for payback from earlier, but it was backfiring and he didn’t even know it. I didn’t call him on it and neither did Salem, so instead I asked for confirmation.

  “Is that true?”

  “Comes with the job.”

  I snorted, “I bet you’re fun to play two truths and a lie with.”

  Salem gave me a blank look so I explained. “The game where you tell two truths and a lie and people try to guess which one is the lie.”

  “Never played.”

  “You’d win every time.” Tasha said, “It wouldn’t be worth it.”

  “Yeah, so if I said, my name is Onyx Morgan, my favorite type of food is tacos and my favorite thing about myself is my hair, you’d have to guess what I was lying about.”

  “You hate your hair.” He said, his eyes moving from me to the hair in question.

  Dang, they weren’t kidding.

  “I do.”

  He looked like he wanted to say something, but chose not to and finally he straightened and walked around me as he said, “Get her up to speed.”

  A door appeared in the wall closest to us and he walked out without another word.

  Joshua excused himself with one word, “Business.”

  Charon told Tasha to call on him if we needed anything and followed him out, leaving the two of us in the library.

  Tasha walked me through the texts she’d pulled out for me. We were halfway through the first one when Jane reappeared with several books in her hands.

  “I brought some of my favorites for you. It can get boring here and since you’re staying for a while it will give you something to pass the time.”

  “Thank you, Jane.”

  Jane smiled and pulled her chair right up to mine before she settled in, reading her book while we went through ours. I asked questions when I had them and Tasha answered, even the ones I could tell she didn’t want to.

  The demon, Abaddon, had made a deal with Salem’s father on his death bed. He’d agreed to let Abaddon consume his soul in exchange for power after death. Abaddon had access to every part of the manor, the house we were currently in, because of that deal. They’d made multiple attempts to get rid of him, but since they had to wait for a new moon each time, it had been a slow process and Abaddon had gotten stronger as he learned to navigate his current state.