“No, that’s your best friend’s job. Alright, don’t go inside that store until I get back.”
I patted his cheek. “Aww, look at you, worrying about me.”
“Of course I do, Sixx.”
I pulled my hand away, feeling bad. I knew he did. Timur and Roman had acted like protective brothers since I met them.
“Okay, promise. I’ll be in the car.”
“Good.”
Roman left, leaving me to walk the whole block back to the car by myself. I looked back at the storefront again before heading to the car.
It probably would have been a better idea for Roman to walk with me. Because as I rounded the first corner, my body was yanked sideways and a hand clamped over my mouth, stifling any chance I had at screaming.
My first thought was, Man, I wish I’d gotten my freaking stun-gun a day earlier…
Chapter 13
Anastasia
Being kidnapped was so boring sometimes. I didn’t even understand why I was being used as a pawn since nothing seemed to be happening. After Key found me standing outside his homemade portal into the human realm, he tucked me back into my room with a stern command to Stay. Well, maybe he didn’t so much say stay as he locked me in and warded the door with magic so I couldn’t get out. I hated that I wasn’t trained well enough to know how to get past those wards yet.
Even someone as unskilled in the fae world as I was knew enough to realize that whatever Key was doing with those gates was extremely dangerous. The humans stumbling through seemed to have no idea they were leaving their world behind. I worried about what fiendish experiments Alastor would subject them to.
I pounded my head against the door, willing it open, when I heard the lock turn over. I took a couple of steps back and waited. A body slipped through, quietly closing the door behind them. My instincts tingled as the body slowly turned around. I recognized those black veins and black hair, complete with an attitude of I just don’t give two fucks, coming from the mage I’d encountered outside Key’s portal.
“Well, well, well. It’s a rare treat to have a black mage sneak into my room,” I said, moving to lean against the wall.
“If you’re excited to have a dark mage sneaking into your room, you need therapy.”
My head ticked back. “Rude. What do you want?”
“I would like to finish our conversation without my boss or your captor listening in,” he said.
I flung my hands in the air. “I’m very confused about all of you right now. Care to explain what’s going on here?”
“I have stakes in this war that Key is trying to create, and quite frankly, I think you are a huge –pardon the pun – key in making sure I don’t lose.”
“Pardon to the pun not accepted, and what do you mean when you say that Key wants to create a war?”
The dark mage nodded his head, pleased that I was blissfully unaware of what was happening around me. “Exactly what I said. He’s using you to cement an alliance with the Light fae since he’s been unable to obtain the Dark crown that he thinks belongs to him. Delusion hit that one hard as a child, but I’m not here to judge, just to get my dues. Are you interested in helping me, Halfling?”
“Depends on what you want and what I get in return.”
“You get information, not to mention a link to the outside world. And I get what I get without telling you because it’s none of your business.”
I had made some stupid mistakes in my life before. I mean class-A, real boneheaded shit. And this felt extremely stupid. But I needed help, and honestly, I’d assumed Key would keep me around him more often so I could uncover his dastardly plans and save the day. But there I sat, day after day, locked in a room with no hope of recovering any useful information.
“Deal.”
“Excellent.”
****
The next couple of days were interesting. Axel, the dark mage, and I came to an agreement. Loosely, it was of the If you help me, I’ll help you variety. He explained parts of the story I’d never heard, including that Key came to him and offered him unlimited access to the Veil, which would provide endless magic for him to syphon. In exchange, he wanted Axel to watch over the gate. What Key didn’t bank on was that Axel had loftier, long-term goals besides just immediate gratification.
According to Axel, there were three gates, or rather tears, that Key was using. As of two weeks ago, Key began using them as access points, smuggling humans in by the dozens. Axel revealed that all of the humans wore the same blank look on their faces. I was worried about what he wanted from the humans. Axel had no idea, only that the numbers were increasing.
With every passing day, Key granted me a little more freedom. Part of me knew he was trying to lure me out. He wanted me to follow his breadcrumb trail. But I needed more information before I charged ahead recklessly as was my typical method of operation. Especially if he planned on using humans.
I still didn’t know what he was using them for. Humans were weaker than fae, and they didn’t tend to fall in line very easily. So why humans? That’s what I planned on figuring out.
The door was conveniently left unlocked; not the first time, but I was starting to wonder if it was Key or if I had another ally I wasn’t aware of. My thoughts went to Dotty. I hoped she was okay and hadn’t gotten in trouble for her part in my deception.
Breaking from those thoughts, I wrapped a powerful glamour around myself. Kallan had taught me to smother my features, which I’d unconsciously been doing for years by glamouring my fae side. He explained to me that it was second nature to most fae, but I started experimenting with it with his help. I felt the building tightness forming a protective barrier around my body. During my torturous stay with King Malcolm, A.K.A. my father, I perfected it. Well, almost. The glamour I used mimicked the area around it, creating a seamless camouflage that made me invisible unless someone knew where to look.
I walked through the circular room and retraced the path I’d taken with Key and Alastor when we first arrived. The room messed with my mind, reminding me of one of Sixx’s and my favorite movies. In the Labyrinth movie, there were openings and doorways the main character was unaware of because of optical illusions that tricked her mind. This room worked in the same fashion. Simple deceptions. I trailed my hand against the wall and walked around the room, skipping over the doors.
I found where the wall dropped away and led down a small hallway that would take me to a set of spiral stairs. I walked down the stairs and kept going even when small landings led to nondescript doors. The wooden planked doors with heavy bolts all looked the same, giving nothing away as to their contents. It seemed impossible to keep count of levels since the number of steps to reach each landing was wildly inconsistent, ranging from twelve steps to forty-two.
The farther I descended, the stronger the scent of blood and carnage became. It overpowered my senses to the point where I practically tasted it on my tongue. After a few more landings, the scent became all-consuming. Whereas the upper levels were so deathly quiet that my ears strained to hear anything at all, in these lower floors, I heard the unmistakable sound of flesh hitting against flesh. When the sound hit, it was as deafening as a bomb in the utter stillness.
I raced down the stairs to another landing that looked just like all of the rest. Since the noise was loudest here, I took a chance and pushed the door open. I closed the door as quietly as I could behind me and peeked into the room I’d just entered.
An underground cavern greeted me. The ceiling was domed and impossibly high for the area we were in. Long, stringy moss illuminated the ceiling, offering a bit of light in the otherwise pitch-black room. A few guttering torches were scattered around the football-field-sized room, but that wasn’t what caught my eye. Instead, it was the humans intermingled with fae as they fought hand-to-hand. Blood was flying, spilling onto the floor in huge, crimson puddles into which the assailants slipped and fell. This wasn’t training. It was forced, brutal combat. As soon as one stopped to cat
ch his breath, a guard would come forward and whip them, forcing them back into the fight.
An underweight, unhealthy-looking human with a face so swollen I couldn’t even see his eyes continued to fight, though he was long past the point of senseless. Even more unnerving than that sight were the humans who stood on the edges of the room, staring blankly ahead. None of them followed the actions of any particular fighter. They simply stood on wavering legs, unaware of the happenings around them.
What the hell is going on here?
I thought about the humans I’d passed in the cells below when we first arrived. They had the same look about them.
At the farthest end of the room, Alastor stood watching with a gleeful look in his eyes as two guards dragged one of the humans out of the arena, his legs dangling uselessly behind him. I wouldn’t get any solid answers by watching them fight, but that creepy son of a bitch might actually give me some answers without realizing it.
I walked across the room, making sure to stay far enough from the fighting that I wouldn’t accidentally get hit and reveal myself. I made it around the room without incident and let out a relieved breath.
Past the football field of horror, there was a room off to the side with silver metal slab beds that all had leather straps dangling from them. A rubber hose and nozzle were coiled on a rack at the far side of the wall, and a whiteboard sat on another wall. As the guards dragged the human and dumped him on one of the metal slabs, Alastor stood over the bed with a look of absolute delight in his eyes.
A shiver coursed down my spine at the horror of it all.
Suddenly, I heard his voice.
“We need more humans. Dreamscape is almost perfected, and my window of time with King Malcolm is closing. He will not be pleased that I have stolen his daughter away this long. We need more blood from the incubus and the succubus. I fear using more of my blood will only make them respond to me.” Key’s voice came from a different part of the room of nightmares.
I stepped further inside, trying to ignore the moans of the human on the table as Alastor worked on him. Peeking behind me to make sure I wouldn’t give myself away, I crept toward Key’s voice, entering another room that adjoined this one. It looked like a laboratory. Key stood there with another man, the shape of which looked eerily familiar.
“If you don’t, I’ll kill her,” Key threatened when the other male didn’t answer.
“Leave her out of this,” a rough but familiar-sounding voice said. My brows bunched as I tried to place the voice. Why did it ring such a familiar bell with me?
“I think not. You will do as I asked and bring me the succubus and more humans, or she’ll pay the price.”
“I did not agree to that.”
“But you did. More humans, or I will make her pay the price for your ineptitude.”
A growl filled the room, and I leaned around the corner to get a better look. My glamour almost slipped away with my shock when I saw his profile, and my vision darkened as pure anger and betrayal sliced through me.
“Fine,” the other man gritted out.
“Excellent! Use the northern gate,” Key instructed, sounding pleased with himself.
Without waiting to see what happened next, I tiptoed out of the room, past the horrors of whatever the hell Alastor was doing, and practically ran back to the door that I knew led to the gate guarded by Axel.
I kept my mind carefully blank during my flight, unable to process what I’d seen and heard on my journey back up the winding stairs. My head spun. Once I reached the gate, Axel stepped through and stared at me.
“You look like you’ve seen a ghost,” he said with one eyebrow quirked up.
“Worse.”
“Okay…?”
“I need you to do me a massive favor. Like, it can’t wait. I’d do it myself, but I have to get back to my room before Key finds out I’m gone.”
“Go ahead.”
“You have to find my friend. Her name is Sixx Reynolds. She needs to know that her mate, Olezka, is working with Key.”
Chapter 14
Sixx
I screamed, even if it was muffled by the hand over my mouth in a bruising grip. I tried to drop my jaw down so I could take a chunk out of my captor, but I couldn’t. Instead, I fought dirty. Pretending to calm down or, at least, attempting to, had my captor loosening his grip. I took the opportunity to gather my wits. Tucking my leg up, I kicked backward in a move that I’d gotten pretty good at in training.
Unfortunately, it was as if my captor had anticipated the move. He easily twisted out of the way then tossed me forward against the nearest building. I didn’t have time to put my hands out to stop myself from hitting the brick. My cheek scraped the side, and I hissed in a sharp breath. Opening my mouth, I prepared to scream, hoping that Roman was within hearing distance. If not, at least, the scream might scare off my captor.
“Don’t scream, Sixx.”
It didn’t make me feel any better with the knowledge that my captor knew my name. I twisted around to face him.
“Oh, holy crappers.” I stumbled backward when I saw the dark mage standing in front of me. I recognized the black veins around his eyes and completely blacked-out eyeballs as his glamour flashed back up.
The dark mage was tall and well-built with a strong jaw and fairly unspectacular features. He wasn’t ugly by any stretch of the imagination, but something about his glamour made me think dull. He could be easily overlooked. Dark mages were the only para that I actively tried to avoid above all else. Well, them and werewolves. While they didn’t pose a threat to me, they were extremely dangerous for Ana. She had organic magic that they fed off of to power their own magic.
“Yeah, Ana warned me you’d fight dirty. I didn’t think you’d go straight for my balls, though,” the mage said, subtly adjusting himself as if I’d actually managed to get a hit in.
I barely held back my eye roll. Then his words caught up with me.
I blinked hard a couple of times before opening my mouth, only for no words to come out.
Ana? He said Ana told him.
What?
“Your name is Sixx, yes?”
“Um, yes.”
“I’m supposed to deliver a message to you,” the mage said, his look increasingly suspicious. “Are you sure you are who you said you are?”
“What? Of course I am!” I snapped, breaking out of my stupor.
“Ana warned me you would be bombarding me with questions, especially: Where is Ana? She told me to ignore you but warn you.”
“No, let’s go with that one. Where is Ana?”
The mage rolled his head back and stared at the sky for a moment before looking back down at me. “Heaven help me with these women from hell.”
“Hey!”
“What did I just say?”
“Look, I want to know where my best friend is since she was abducted and is being held by a psycho. So forgive me if I don’t want to follow your stupid instructions!” I snapped, putting my hands on my hips and taking a step closer. I gave him my best death glare. If he knew where Ana was, did that mean Key was allowing him to feed on her and syphon her energy? Surely, Ana wouldn’t trust someone with a message for me if he was doing that. Then again, why would she trust a dark mage to deliver a message to me?
“You cannot go where she is, so what’s the point in asking? Now, may I get on with my warning so I can return to my life?”
“I guess that depends.”
“On what?”
“What your warning involves,” I said.
“It has to do with your mate. Olezka was his name, I believe. Ana wants me to tell you that he cannot be trusted. You need to find your way to Erebus and warn him of the same thing.”
I folded my arms over my chest and glared at him. “Okay, now I know you’re full of shit,” I sassed.
“Look, human, I was told to give you the message, and I have.”
“There has to be more to it than that.”
“Ana told me to
warn you that she saw Olezka speaking with Key. They are working together, but she believes Olezka is trying to keep you out of it.”
Confusion stumped me. Ana wouldn’t have said anything about Olezka without concrete evidence. Then again, I didn’t know why she would ever trust a dark mage with this sort of information. It bothered me because he knew about Key.
“Oh, and she told me to tell you… pickles?”
Pickles. My stomach dropped.
“What did you say your name was?” I asked, feeling lost.
“Axel. But a word of advice, human… get out of this city. Maybe find yourself somewhere quiet; someplace with very little para activity.” Axel tipped his chin down and disappeared around the corner of the building. Pickles was the plan Ana and I had in place if we ever needed to assure each other of our identity. It came about after we ran into a para that could change their glamour to suit their needs. Worried they could copy faces, we created pickles as a code word to prove we were who we said we were.
What did he mean about the last bit? There was so much I didn’t understand! Nausea churned in my gut. There was no way Olezka would betray us.
Unless…
Unless she saw his twin, Illarion.
Since she sent a warning to me, that meant she wasn’t working with Key. But why wouldn’t she give Axel more information than that? More questions than answers filled my mind. I stumbled out of the alleyway and looked both ways for a hint of where the dark mage had escaped.
A tall, black-haired head bobbed down the street in the direction of the antique store. I glanced back in the opposite direction to where the car was parked, remembering my promise to Roman, but this couldn’t wait. Trusting my gut, I trotted down the street after the dark mage.
The closer I got, the more confident I was that the figure was indeed Axel. He moved swiftly with no real caution. For a fleeting moment, I wondered if I’d made a mistake. After all, he wouldn’t lead me anywhere important. If anything, it was a wild goose chase. I was probably following him on his way to pick up his dry cleaning.
Sixx Saves the World: The Sidekick Chronicles Page 9