by Zandria West
‘I didn’t realise the damage was so bad,’ Reuben says in a low voice, looking around at the wreckage. He places a hand on my shoulder in a gesture of comfort and solidarity. From him, I know, that’s saying more than he would ever tell me in words.
For a moment I’m returned to that night. The attacking demons had massed and jeered outside, testing and then breaking the defences I had so carefully made. Then I remember her: the one who killed Ruark and shattered my wards, then invaded my mind. Garenda. At the thought of her, I’m filled with a hatred and fury that is dark, searing and bitter. Never before has another had me at their mercy so completely. It was only with the greatest effort that I was able to resist her power.
Defending myself against Garenda’s attack almost killed me.
And Lana healed me.
Closing my eyes I remember waking from unconsciousness to find Lana lying beside me. The smoothness of her skin. The sweet scent of her. The innocence of her touch. The way the binding sung between us.
I open my eyes again. There’s no time for this. Lana needs us. Now.
I stride through the front doorway and into the wreck of my home.
‘Where should we look?’ Alex asks, following close behind.
‘Don’t bother. You won’t find it,’ I say quickly, muttering a few words beneath my breath and stretching my hands out, calling to the ancient power that inhabits the Talisman.
For a few moments I feel nothing. A void of despair begins to open within me. Then, so faint that at first I can barely make it out, I sense a deep, magical resonance.
‘Over there,’ I point to a pile of rubble made up of slabs of stone, jagged shafts of timber, and other detritus that must have landed there after the spell I’d cast had detonated, just about bringing the house down on all of us.
‘Ah yes, this brings it all back to me,’ Alex mutters bitterly as he begins hauling blocks of stone away. ‘Fun times to be had at Chez Gabriel, that’s for sure. Party till the roof falls in, right Gabe?’
I grunt and scrabble at a long slab that seems to be wedged tightly. I can’t get it to budge. Reuben moves me aside, and in a single graceful action pulls the slab loose, picks it up and deposits it on the far side of the room.
‘It’s here –’ I breathe and pick the talisman up, feeling the familiar goosebumps rise on my arms and the back of my neck as its power meets my own. I blow dust and ash from it and trace its shape with my fingers. It appears unharmed.
‘All good? Then I’d suggest we get the hell out of here before the neighbours take an interest…’ Alex brushes dust from his clothing.
‘Agreed,’ I say, tucking the talisman into my pocket. I feel a shiver of premonition as I turn to leave, and for a moment the smell of smoke fills my nostrils and shouts and cries are a tumult in my ears. Whether it is a memory or a vision of what is to come I do not know, but it leaves me on edge as we step out of the shadows of my ruined home and into the dim morning sun.
The temple lies forgotten just beyond the graveyard in the most ancient part of the city. We will not be disturbed here, and the place itself has an inherent power that is sympathetic to the practise of magic.
‘Are you sure you don’t want me to do it?’ Alex asks again.
I shake my head. It has to be Reuben, I feel certain of that
‘I’m ready,’ he growls.
I wonder if he is?
‘You understand the dangers?’ I ask again.
He nods.
‘I have never attempted this magic before. It may be unstable. I cannot guarantee the extent of the transformation that will occur. I am uncertain as to whether it will change your mind as well as your body…’ I wish I knew what the magic would do. The spell is complex and powerful and its outcome is not entirely clear to me.
‘Do what you must,’ Reuben growls, gruffly. ‘Kill me if you have to.’
I hold his gaze for a few long breaths. A transformation of appearance is one thing, but the magic on which I draw is ancient and powerful, and pertains to more than simply appearances. I’m worried what effect it might have on his mind. I know no other way, though, to make the change. It is this or nothing.
‘Let’s begin,’ I say, praying to the Goddess that all will be well.
Already I have laid the bloodstained clothes out on the altar, lit the candles around them, set the grimoire in its place beside them, and gripped the talisman tightly in my hand.
I have read the spell three times in silence, practising the words in my mind, feeling the shape and weight of them. Casting a new spell for the first time is like taking a new lover – the anticipation is electrifying, but the reality is something else again. You never know until it is done how it will be, or what it will cost.
My mother’s voice returns to me, as sharp and clear as though she were standing by my side.
Remember, every time you call on the power you must ask yourself – what price am I willing to pay?
To rescue Lana, there is no price I would not pay.
‘Do it, Gabriel,’ Reuben growls, the muscles in his jaw tensing.
I start to read.
I trace the words with my finger as I say them, testing the pronunciation and feeling how the air around us responds, tightening and quivering, shimmering with light and with power.
The talisman grows warm in my hand, but I do not let it go.
With my eyes closed, I place my hands over the bloodstain in the uniform. The talisman becomes so hot it feels like it is ready to spark into flame. I say the words again, directing the power of the spell to the blood in the clothes – allowing the power to taste it, to consume it.
‘Holy fuck,’ I hear Alex murmur beneath his breath.
I open my eyes. The clear material of the Talisman now glows a rich ruby red, and all stains that marked the guard’s uniform are gone. The blood has been absorbed - every last drop of it. As it should be. The first stage is complete.
‘Stand before me, Reuben,’ I say, my voice thick with power and almost unrecognizable, even to my own ears.
He comes to me without hesitation. I place my hands on his shoulders, close my eyes, say the words a final time. Reuben growls, and the growl turns to a low moan in his throat. I do not allow myself to pause. I don’t open my eyes. The spell must be made now; we’ve gone too far to turn back.
I say the final words, the words that seal the magic and bind the power of the spell to our purpose. Even through my closed eyes, the sudden bright flash of red is imprinted on my eyeballs as though I’d been staring at the midday sun in the human realm.
‘Wow,’ Alex says.
I take a breath, then open my eyes.
The creature standing before me is unrecognisable. Pitted skin, horns, scars, and those orange eyes slitted like a cat’s. The gaze that stares back at me is inhuman and cold.
What if all trace of Reuben has been lost in the change? What if I can never bring him back?
‘How do you feel?’ Alex asks tentatively.
‘Like I want to punch myself in the face,’ he growls.
I let out a breath. Reuben’s definitely still in there. Thank the Goddess, whose power moved through me and allowed the magic to occur.
Demon-Reuben turns to me, those strange eyes unnerving in the low light. ‘How long have I got?’ he asks, his voice strangled and harsh.
I look down to the talisman. The red is drizzling out like fine sand from an hourglass, evaporating as it does so. The blood powers the spell. When it is gone, the transformation will be broken.
‘A few hours, I’d guess,’ I say. ‘I can’t be exact though.’
Without even waiting for me to finish speaking, Reuben has begun pulling on the uniform.
‘I’ll find her, I promise you,’ he says gravely. ‘And Grayson too. We’ll find a way to get her out.’
I nod. The after-effect of the spell has hit me. The exhaustion is so intense it feels like it’s pulling my legs out from under me; it’s like being caught in a powerful undertow in a heavy sea. I’m s
uddenly too tired even to speak.
‘We’ll stay nearby,’ Alex says. ‘We’ll be ready for whatever you need. I’ll be listening for Lana,’ he says, then reaches out and grasps the clawed hand of the demon whose body Reuben now inhabits.
‘Be ready,’ Reuben says, then turns and leaves at a run in the direction of the prison.
10
LANA
My eyes flutter open. I want to wipe them, they feel sticky. I can’t see properly. When I try to move, I find my hands are bound behind my back.
Fan-fucking-tastic.
And then I remember it all – the food, the witch, the sip of the drink. Rage curdles in my stomach.
I blink a few times and try to look around. I’m tied to a chair, which stands in the centre of a bare stone room. Definitely not the room I was in when I passed out.
‘She’s waking up,’ someone says. Darian I think. The voice sounds about slimy enough to be his.
‘At last. Next time let me measure the dosage. Demons are so heavy-handed. We didn’t need to spend half a day waiting, you know.’
‘I wanted to be sure.’
‘How do you feel?’ Garenda stands in front of me. It takes a few moments for the haziness of her form to take its correct shape.
‘Fucking awful,’ I say, my mouth struggling to make the words.
‘Alright, D, what did you want to ask her?’
Darian stands in front of me.
‘Are you the Key?’ he asks.
‘I told you. I don’t know.’ My head throbs and I feel nothing but anger. No fear. No doubt. Just pure blind fury.
‘Do you know how the spell is activated that restores the Barrier?’
‘No.’
He turns to the witch. ‘How do I even know if it’s working? She’s telling me the same thing she did last time I questioned her.’
‘Then ask different questions,’ Garenda smiles. ‘Lana, what’s the last thing your father told you before he died?’
I frown. As if I’m telling her that.
And then, it’s like it happens despite me. My mouth opens and words come out. And not just any words: the truth.
‘He left me a message. A video. He told me I was the Key. He said he was sorry. He told me he was proud of me.’
At the memory of my father’s final message, pain rushes through me like blood gushing from a deep cut. Tears fill my eyes.
‘Very sweet. And did he tell you what you needed to do to activate the enchantment?’
I can’t tell them this. No. No. No.
‘Find… my mother… a powerful sorceress…’ I speak the words against my will. I feel my heart racing. Garenda has done something to me. I feel ill. She’s subjected me to some spell or herb that is making it impossible for me not to tell her whatever the hell she wants to know. I’m going to tell her everything. There’s nothing I can do about it.
‘And where is your mother now?’ Garenda asks, smiling.
‘In the forest… I forget what the village was called…’
‘Remember,’ Garenda says and this time, she’s not smiling. Her voice is a command and I feel its power shimmering all around me.
‘It was… it was…’ and the memory clicks into place. ‘The mountain range near San Geraldo. Dad said that Gabriel would know it.’
‘Gabriel, indeed. How interesting. Did you get all that Darian?’
‘Already on it,’ he says. ‘I’ll make contact with my best men on the other side. They can be there within forty-eight hours.’
I remember what Alex told me: demons have lackeys working for them on the human side of the Barrier. My blood chills. They know who my mother is and where to find her. I’ve condemned her to death before I’ve even had the chance to meet her.
I have no way of warning her. I have no way of reaching her.
Tears of horror fill my eyes as the enormity of the damage this will cause becomes clear. Demon armies are amassing, ready to enter the human realm. If the Barrier cannot be remade…
Garenda turns to me and smiles. ‘Oh and just a last quick question Lana. The Binding between you and your protectors, it allows you to sense their presence, does it not?’
I nod. I can’t help it.
‘And where is young Gabriel now?’
Please, no.
I close my eyes. ‘I… don’t know –’ I feel an intense pressure behind my forehead, a searing pain at each temple. It’s true. I don’t know where Gabriel is. But I can sense him.
‘Are you sure about that?’ Garenda leans in close enough that my nostrils are filled with the claustrophobic floral tones of the perfume she wears.
‘He’s somewhere… nearby… I see a temple, grey stone, barred windows…’ I groan. The pain increases to a roar, like the sudden breaking of a terrible storm.
‘Ah, that is interesting,’ Garenda purrs. ‘I feel that perhaps we should extend a welcome to young Gabriel, don’t you D?’
‘I’ll send out an alert. We’ll try the Temple of Azaroth, and the Deathly Ruins. Her description would match either. Rest assured that if he comes within a mile of this prison, my men will grab him.’
Gabriel… My head pounds, my throat aches, and I feel a tearing pain in my chest.
‘And our deal?’ Garenda says, turning her attention to Darian, her voice suddenly eager.
‘In time. First, we find and neutralise the mother. Then, if the rest of the Council agrees, you may have the pleasure of destroying the Key.’
The words ring in my ears. Destroying the Key. It sounds so bland, so unremarkable. For a second it barely registers. Then I grasp what he actually means: they are going to kill me. Garenda made a deal to help Darian, and the condition for her help was that she will be the one to execute me. My stomach lurches. My legs would have given way beneath me if it wasn’t for the fact that I was tied to a chair.
‘Well, don’t leave me waiting, darling,’ Garenda says.
A moment later there’s a knock on the door.
‘Come!’ Darian calls.
A shiver of energy pours through me.
‘The Commander said you might require assistance.’
The sound of his voice makes my pulse flutter and my mouth grow suddenly dry. It’s too much: Garenda’s magic, the horror of what is unfolding, now this… I don’t trust myself to look up. The last thing I want is for Garenda to realise the connection between Grayson and I. Especially since, if she asked me about it, there would be no way I could lie to her. I keep as still as I can, willing the desperate pounding of my heart to slow.
‘Ah, yes, Angel. Very good. You may escort our prisoner to the tower. We’re done with her for the moment.’
‘The tower, sir?’
‘She is to await execution there,’ Darian says. ‘Sorry, but I can’t let you do the job this time. The witch has called dibs.’
‘Sir,’ I can almost hear the submissive lowering of Grayson’s head in acknowledgement.
Would he do it, I wonder? If Darian ordered him to, would Grayson kill me? He’s done everything else they’ve told him to.
A moment later, my skin burns as he loosens the ropes that bind my wrists behind me. A hand under my elbow helps me to rise on shaking legs.
I keep my gaze low. I don’t want to see Garenda or Darian. I don’t want to see Grayson. He leads me through the room, past my captors, then out the door and up a long flight of steps. The only sound I hear is the echo of our feet on bare stone. I feel cold and start to shiver. I only realise that I’m crying when I feel tears dripping down my cheeks and clinging wetly to my chin.
‘They know everything,’ I say in a low voice when I guess we are far enough away to be beyond their hearing.
Grayson doesn’t respond. I may as well be talking to the stone wall.
‘They’re going to kill me –’
I gasp with shock as he takes hold of my shoulders and presses me against the wall behind me. His eyes are hard, and his grip is like steel. ‘Do not speak,’ he says. ‘Not here.’
>
He holds my gaze for a few long seconds. Looking into his eyes makes me think of a lonely, wild, freezing shoreline as a storm is approaching. I can almost taste the salt in the air. I feel the bite of ice on my skin.
Then he lets me go. He catches hold of my arm, more gently now, and helps me up the steps. I think of the tower as I saw it when I first arrived – like a dark needle pointing to the sky. The most secure and isolated part of an inescapable prison fortress. A place you go to wait to die.
11
REUBEN
‘You’re late,’ the demon on the front gate barks at me as I approach.
I duck my head and grunt. My response seems to satisfy the gatekeeper. He shakes his head and fumbles with the lock. ‘This is the last time, okay? Next time I report you…’ He opens the gate wide and lets me through. ‘You can pay me later!’ he calls after me as I stride in.
I studied the map as carefully as I could, but it didn’t give me a sense of how fucking big and imposing this place is once you’re inside it.
J Wing, in solitary.
I nod at a few guards as I pass, and they don’t react as though anything is amiss. No alarms are going off. Nobody has noticed me. So far, so good.
What to do first – locate Lana or look for Grayson?
I know where Lana is. She at least shouldn’t be going anywhere in a hurry. Grayson, on the other hand –
Her torturer. A white-hot fury fills me as I think about him. I’m going to struggle not to kill the bastard when I see him. I might kill him. But first I need his help, so I have to swallow my rage for the time being.
I stride down corridors, take a series of turns that lead me deeper and deeper into the prison. The place stinks. The air is damp and fetid, and the sounds of boredom, pain and fear surround me.
What a hellhole. To think of Lana kept between these walls horrifies me beyond words.
I finally reach the entrance to J Wing. It would probably have made more sense to find Grayson first, but I desperately need to see Lana, to assure myself that she’s still alive.
A huge, armed demon stands guard on the gate.
‘Your orders?’ he grunts as I approach.