The Scourge. He could have done it with his swords, but how had he located the house?
The gold witch had arrived blindfolded and left unconscious after he’d separated it from its magic. If the Scourge located the witch somehow, it couldn’t tell him anything, even if it awakened.
A betrayal among his acolytes? The spiders’ venom didn’t taste of deception.
Dmitri had disappeared. His questionable loyalty belonged to his brother, Inedel the Eel Mage. But Dmitri brought the gold witch to Asim after the auction was disrupted — why do that if he only meant to take it back? Unless... unless Dmitri planned to curry favor, then kill Asim and become the next Spider Mage. That was possible.
Allister had also disappeared. He’d gone to the house to retrieve the gold witch for the trade with the Wolf Mage, Asim’s first target. The Wolf Mage, always hungry for magic and bodies for his wolves to breed, made an ideal test subject for Asim’s poisoned witch.
Arrangements for the trade had been made in the online market. Had that been compromised? Technology hadn’t interested Asim. It would be easy to discard that way of communication.
No one outside of his acolytes knew of his lair in the warren. The compromised house was a loss, but not an unrecoverable one. He could acquire another.
A car parked at the curb, and Thomax went onto the porch. The Scourge’s witch, Asim’s Esne, exited the vehicle. It was not alone. Two more witches accompanied it.
Three Esne. Their magic all felt the same.
Thomax spun a web for one witch and caught three. Perhaps when the Scourge was caught, a reappraisal of Thomax’s usefulness was necessary.
The past mages in Asim's magic clamored in anticipation. No mage had ever had three at once before.
Asim opened himself through the spider. Thomax felt lust for the three witches.
Thomax brought the witches in and offered them seats. He went into the kitchen to fetch drinks, added a paralyzing elixir to three, and returned to the witches, keeping them at ease with idle chit chat Asim paid no attention to. Witches weren’t intelligent enough for conversation. His acolyte took large swallows of his beer.
Wooziness flooded Asim. He staggered as the connection with his spider flickered. He’d left his sigils too empty for too long. The lack of magic was making him light-headed.
Asim tried to keep watching with blurred vision, then gave up and withdrew. Steadiness returned as he disengaged from the spider. That part was going according to plan. Drugged, the witches would pass out and remain motionless while Thomax brought them here.
The Spider mage rose to his feet. His acolytes had brought him five new witches the previous evening. So far, Asim had left them alone, but with the Esnes on their way, the Scourge would follow soon. The unique position of knowing when and where the Scourge would strike was an advantage no mage had enjoyed before.
Time to feed and spin a web.
CHAPTER FIFTY FOUR
JAEL
JAEL PACED IN HIS CAVE, footsteps silent on the grey stone. Eight steps one way. Eight steps back. Far from a satisfying distance. He’d need a bigger cave if his Dragă was going to keep making him crazy. What was he going to do about Viktoria?
His phone chimed.
You should come see this. - K
Now what? He stalked through the house to Karov’s office, tapping on the doorjamb as he entered.
Karov, hair pinned up on his head, leaned back at what should have been a precarious angle in his chair.
One of the huge monitors mounted on the wall showed a view of an empty room. But he knew it — the dining room of the mage’s house they’d searched when they were looking for Musette.
“What’s so interesting about that?”
“Sit.” Karov kicked a wheeled chair across the tile floor towards him. “Watch. This guy works for a mage named Asim. That’s the latest identity of the Spider Mage. I heard the minion say the name on the phone.”
Jael took a seat and clenched his hands into fists as the minion from the gallery show walked through the room.
“Do you know who he was talking to?”
Karov shook his head. “Another minion, I think. He said he’d be back with the new witch soon.”
Several women’s voices came through the speakers. Recognizing Viktoria’s, Jael stiffened in his seat. “Is this live?”
“It’s a recording. Only twenty minutes old though.”
“I have to go!”
“No, wait. It doesn’t end the way you think.” Karov turned to face Jael. “She’s coming here. She’s safe.” He fast-forwarded the recording, playing it at regular speed until the minion went through a swinging door into the kitchen.
Viktoria wore a grey pantsuit this time. At least she had the sense to be fully clothed when she planned to use herself as bait in an ill-considered plan. He sighed as she stood and faced away from the camera, pouring something from a flask into the minion’s beer. The whole back of her shirt was missing.
“Did she say Beer of Oblivion? What the fuck is that?”
“You’re so impatient. It’s exactly what it sounds like.” Karov studied Jael.
“What?”
A knowing grin Jael did not like at all spread over Karov’s face. “You don’t know who she is, do you? What they are?”
“She’s Viktoria. Those are her sisters. Dream and Memory.”
Karov laughed and jerked a thumb over his shoulder at the screen. “Those, my friend, are Maidens of Pohjola.”
That meant nothing to Jael. “What does that mean?”
“It means... I don’t envy you. Drake and I met all the sisters when we were searching the underworlds for his woman and went to Tuonela. And their mother — Louhi, Goddess of Witchcraft and Death. She likes it when you use her full title. That was before she banned all vampires from her realm. No way I would set foot there now.”
Viktoria’s laugh echoed in his head. Is that what you think I am? A witch?
And Selene’s amusement. She won’t turn into a witch.
Because she was already the daughter of a goddess. A goddess of witchcraft and death. That didn’t make her all powerful though, and he didn’t know whether to feel proud of his Dragă, or strangle her when he next saw her. She drugged and interrogated the minion, then kidnapped the man who intended to kidnap her.
“I like her.” Karov smirked.
Jael glared at Karov. Unfortunately, the Ninja had never been intimidated by Jael. One assassin recognized another, and while Karov didn’t carry his weapons openly, the fact that they weren’t seen didn’t mean he was any less deadly.
Karov turned serious. “They know you’re interested in her, and they’ll be expecting you to come for her.”
He’d seen that part, too. That fucking spider on the wall at Viktoria’s house.
“I’ll have to get there first.”
CHAPTER FIFTY FIVE
VIKTORIA
AS VIKTORIA PARKED in front of the vampire’s house, the front door swung open. The same way the gate at the end of the driveway had opened when the voice sang “Soră!” in her head. She’d thought it was Ember speaking in her head through her new magic again, but Ember wasn’t here. The vampires live in a haunted house that talks in my head. Perfect.
The voice laughed.
She, Memory, and Dream got out of the car, leaving Thomax locked in the trunk, and entered the house, blinking as they went from late afternoon sunlight into dark.
“You’re back!” Angel-faced Alaric rushed to them, took Viktoria by the shoulders, and tried to kiss her.
Viktoria fended him off, pushing him to arm’s length with a palm to his forehead, amused rather than threatened. “I suspect you’ve only survived this long because of your looks.”
“Do you like them?” Alaric batted his eyes. He took her wrist in his stronger hands and moved her hand from his forehead to his cheek. “If you were my Dragă, you could see them all the time.”
“Your looks won’t save you from Jael if he
catches you trying to kiss his Dragă.” A tall vampire with long hair in shades of brown laid a hand on Alaric’s neck and lifted him away from Viktoria like a puppy. “Ladies. I’m Xenos.”
A blond man elbowed him. “Out of the way, Nymph. I’m Zeke.”
“Hey, no pushing, Knight. You’re supposed to be chivalrous.”
Zeke winked. “Only to ladies. You may be the Nymph, but you’re no lady.”
“My mother was the nymph, not me.”
They stood like schoolboys lined up for inspection, eyeing Dream and Memory. The looks on their faces were hungry, but this wasn’t the lascivious leering they received from heroes in Pohjola. There was want, but the larger part of their expressions was more of hope than lust. Her sisters weren’t helping matters by appraising the vampires in turn.
“If you keep looking at my sisters like you want to eat them, you’re all going to be leashed.” Viktoria shook a finger at her sisters. “And you two, don’t encourage them.”
Their hopeful looks vanished, but Xenos grinned. “We’re not being very polite, are we? Would you like something to drink? A snack, perhaps? I’m sure there’s stuff in the kitchen.”
“No, thank you. We’re on a tight schedule.” Memory smiled at him. “We can’t be late for our kidnapping.”
“What did you say?” Xenos straightened from his slouch and his eyes glittered, going from playful to predator in a second.
“Your... sorry, you want to be kidnapped?” Zeke crossed his arms over his chest, his jaw clenched.
“Don’t all girls want to be kidnapped? It’s ever so romantic,” Dream sighed.
Memory nodded. “But this isn’t a real kidnapping. It’s for work. In fact, we have —”
“To see Selene.” Viktoria shot a glare at Memory. “So we’ll just be on our way.” Taking each of her sisters by the arm, she pulled them towards the door to Selene’s tower.
They climbed the spiral staircase and knocked on her door. After a few moments, Idris opened it and waved an arm to invite them in.
Dream wiggled her fingers at Xenos, who had followed them halfway up the staircase.
“If you’d rather stay here and flirt with vampires, you can. I’ll go alone,” Viktoria whispered.
“No, we won’t let you go by yourself.” Memory tugged Dream into Selene’s room. “They’re just yummy and... eager.”
“They’re hopeful of finding their Dragăs now that three of us have found ours. They don’t mean any harm.” Idris closed the door and resumed his seat beside Musette. Her brow smoothed, and she sighed as he took her hand.
Dream clasped her hands together. “She’s looking for you in her dreams.”
Idris smiled and lay Musette’s palm against his cheek. “She’s closer. I could hear her before, now I can feel her.”
“It doesn’t seem like the vampires here would have a hard time finding someone. Why don’t more of you have Dragăs?” Viktoria asked.
“There used to be more, but a thousand years ago, almost all the bloodlines were wiped out. Selene escaped and was able to bring her sons and us with her here. But until Ember, Musette, and now you, there haven’t been any Dragăs.”
“The vampires that came to Pohjola didn’t talk about Dragăs. They wanted my sisters, but there was no love involved.”
“As far as I know, only one created of our line is capable of love and will have a Dragă. There were never a lot of us to begin with, and many of us died in the massacre, too.” Idris shrugged. “Dragăs tend to run in families, so the guys downstairs were hoping since you are a Dragă, your sisters would be, too.”
“Why were the Dragăs massacred?”
His eyes flicked to Musette’s face.
“If you don’t want to talk about it, it’s okay.”
“No, you should know. And if Musette can hear me, so should she. It might help explain some of our tendencies to be a bit... over-protective.”
Viktoria huffed.
Idris took a deep breath, held it, and blew it out. “In this line, we are reluctant to turn people into what we are, but our number was at its peak before the massacre, and a large percentage of us found our Dragăs. As you’ve seen with Ember, Dragăs have the potential to become a type of witch called a strygoi.
“We didn’t hide it, or the strygoi. We never needed to before, but we never had the numbers of them we did that time. Mages jealous of their power, vampires unable to have a Dragă or create a strygoi, and shifters under their control decided the strygoi were too powerful. They targeted entire families, starting with the remotest relatives, so we didn’t put together what was happening at first. But in the end, it almost cost us everything.
“Finding a Dragă isn’t just about finding someone to care about. Our Dragăs make our hearts beat and restore the best parts of us. They bring life to our death, light to our dark.” His lips twitched. “I won’t lie. If they turn strygoi, we get a little lunacy as a bonus.”
He gave Musette a soft smile. “A Dragă and her vampire can even have children. No other vampires can do that.”
“That’s what you are to Jael, Shadow!” Dream squeaked.
“No, I can’t.” Viktoria shook her head, refusing to allow herself even the briefest thought. She could have everything she’d wanted. If she accepted what Jael could be to her, she and her sisters would lose everything. “I can’t be all that to someone. Especially someone like him. Not now.”
“Why not?” Idris asked.
“He’ll want to save me. Rescue me. Help me.” Especially after what happened when they met the first time. “You saw how he trivialized me when we fought the spiders. I was fine, and he kept shoving me aside.”
“When we find our Dragă, there is nothing we won’t do, including protect them, as we see it, when they don’t want us to. Jael won’t force you to accept him —”
Viktoria lifted her chin. “No, he won’t.”
“— but he won’t be able to stand aside while he thinks you’re in danger. Especially not him.”
The last thing Viktoria wanted was a lecture. She had plans, and couldn’t have a man in her life right now, especially one like Jael. She turned to Selene, who had not stirred since they’d come in. “Is she all right?”
Dream sat next to Selene and took her hand. “She’s not dreaming.”
Idris nodded. “She goes into trances, but —”
“I am awake.” Selene accepted Dream’s help to sit up. “What brings you back to my tower?”
“Memory left a message for Ember, but I know she’s away, so we wanted to tell you,” Viktoria said. “We found one of the men who kidnapped Musette. He said the mage he works for poisoned her magic so any mages who tried to take it would be killed. That might be why she hasn’t been able to wake up yet.”
Idris growled.
The sound raised goosebumps over Viktoria’s skin.
“Is there no end to what they will do?” Selene hissed. “It’s not enough they kidnap us, torture us, drain our power to use for themselves? Now they want to poison our magic and use us to kill one another? This has got to stop.” Her voice cracked. “It just has to stop.”
“Do you know how to help Musette, now that we know what the mage did to her?” Idris asked. “If we bond and she turns strygoi, will that fix her magic?”
“I don’t see her magic around her, but I will try. It may be just as well she’s sleeping if her magic is poisoned. As far as I know, this hasn’t happened before, and I know nothing about poisons. The strygoi magic is also manifesting differently than before. There’s no way to know what might happen if she tries to use her magic, or if you two bond, and she turns strygoi. I’m so sorry, Idris. Even if she does wake, I don’t think you two should bond while the mage magic is tainting her magic. It might not even be safe for you to drink her blood.”
Idris’ eyes darkened from light blue to black, and menace radiated off him. For a moment, Viktoria saw him as he was when he fought the spiders in Musette’s mind — feral and enormous.
He pushed away from Musette with barely controlled fury and paced. Tension emanated from him. “When Ember returns tomorrow, we can go after the mage.”
Viktoria stood. “We have a plan to see the mage today. Maybe we can get some more answers or an antidote from him.”
CHAPTER FIFTY SIX
JAEL
VIKTORIA’S VANILLA scent came to him on an impossible breeze. She was here to talk to Selene. Good.
Jael shoved his chair back and stood. He already knew where she’d go next and planned to get there first. She could fight with shadows, but what if that wasn’t enough? If she was bitten, her magic could be compromised, just like Musette’s.
Well, she wasn’t going in alone, but he’d let her think she was. She could hate him if she wanted to, but he would kill every man in that compound before they touched her.
He parked in the garage under Club Saol, got in the elevator and pressed the button for the top floor, holding it in until it clicked, and the elevator descended. When the doors opened, he entered the maze of interconnected tunnels that ran beneath the blocks of real estate the Vitiate owned in downtown Port Storm.
Over the thousands of years they’d lived as vampires, all of them managed to acquire enough wealth a job wasn’t necessary, but they couldn’t sit around doing nothing. And sometimes returning to the compound on the cliff wasn’t a feasible option before sunrise, so each member of the Ildum had a room in Club Saol where they fed, as well as a suite in the tunnels under their property.
Jael passed his dojo, the arena, the theater, a series of shops and warehouses, a tattoo parlor, a hotel and small convention center, and an apartment building. Bypassing a modern office, he entered a downward sloping offshoot that led to a cavern carved into bedrock.
Viktoria's Shadow: Jael Page 27