by Ciara Graves
And standing just in front of it, tapping his foot impatiently, was the man Mercy was motioning to.
Franklin Monroe was tall and slender with a black beard that hung to his waist. His robe was black with white threading and red satin edges hems. He lifted his hand to tug on his beard.
I spotted the tattoo on the back of his hand and swallowed a furious snarl.
That mark was the same one worn by Lucas and his mages.
Lucas.
The mage who ran the demon slum when I’d been here.
Franklin Monroe was clearly was one of them.
The governor had asserted they had all been wiped out or thrown in prison. It appeared he’d missed one.
Four guards in black and red uniforms stood close by, keeping watch.
The transport glowed to life and the four of us hunkered down in the underbrush, waiting to see who would step through. The second the robed figures emerged and lowered their hoods, I had to snag Mercy to stop her from charging out of the trees.
“About damned time,” Monroe snapped, then seemed to remember who he’d spoken to and lowered his head. “My apologies. We were supposed to have this meeting an hour ago.”
“We were held up with other matters. Also, it’s not as if we enjoy returning to this dreadful place. It was bad enough when we kept demons here.” Quin Nolan, of the Gathered, sighed heavily and ran his hands down his robes. “I will not apologize to you. I will save such words for those worthy.”
Monroe’s jaw clenched. “I’m sure the reapers would love to hear your excuses.”
Reapers were here, too?
Mercy’s anger became visible in the flames at her hands.
I whispered for her to put them out.
The magic hiding her face shattered.
I dragged her backward.
She cursed softly.
I clapped a hand over her mouth. I’d get hell for it later, but I’d rather that than have a fight on our hands.
Quin Nolan and Franklin Monroe continued their stare-down until the transport lit up again. Quin and the three mages with him moved aside.
Another robed figure exited.
And this time when the black hood was thrown back, Nor had to grab me and slap his hand over my mouth. His glare said he’d knock me out if he had to.
It was Lucas. Damn him.
Lucas, the mage who killed my brother. Lucas, who was supposed to be dead, stood in that damned clearing alive and well. “What are we standing around for? She grows impatient to begin the next ritual.”
“The reapers are here to finalize terms. So are the coven leaders,” Monroe said. “We will not keep her waiting for long.”
Lucas nodded. “Fine. Let’s get to it. I need to take a new batch with me when I leave.”
The group set off through the trees, toward the mansion.
Every instinct in me shouted to follow, but there was no way we’d get inside.
Nor and Damian had to tear Mercy and me away, to stop either of us from losing what little control we had.
How we got to the transport and back to Sector 21, I couldn’t even remember.
What I did remember was the face of that villain.
And that I was going to have the pleasure of killing him this time.
Chapter 11
Rafael
“Sit down,” Nor ordered, but I ignored him and kept walking. “Rafael.”
“He’s there,” I snapped. “Lucas is there. Alive. He’s in Sector 2. Why the hell is he alive? The governor said he was dead. He said they were all dead.”
“I don’t know, but we can’t focus on him right now.”
“The hell we can’t.” My bellowing voice echoed in Shep’s place.
Everyone stilled. Everyone except Mercy.
She came toward me and took my hand firmly in hers.
I clenched my jaw. “I need to go back. We need to kill him.”
“We will. I swear to you we will, but that can’t be our focus just yet. We need Monroe.”
Which meant going back to Sector 2.
We needed a plan to kidnap Monroe and get him out of there without anyone knowing we had him.
First, we needed answers to several burning questions. I moved away, but Mercy’s grip on my hand held. She cupped my cheek, that cold look in her eyes promising me blood. Promising me revenge. I leaned into her touch and shut my eyes.
“Don’t go into a demon rage, alright? Save it for Lucas.”
My lip lifted in a snarl.
The door swung open behind us.
The second I saw Joseph Sycamore, I lunged.
Mercy couldn’t hold me back.
I grabbed him by his robes and slammed him into the wall, cracking the wood planks.
He shook his head, dazed, then looked at me, confused. “Rafael?”
“Did you know?” I shook him. “Did you know?”
“Know what? What’s going on?”
“Rafael, put him down,” Mercy demanded.
My hands twisted in Sycamore’s robes as his eyes widened. He stank of fear. Sweat beaded his brow.
“Rafael. Put him down now. We can’t get the answers we need if you kill him.”
I leaned in closer, baring my fangs. I wanted to tear him to shreds for being part of the Gathered. But he wasn’t Quin. And he wasn’t Lucas.
He’d been our ally. At least, so far.
I loosened my grip and shoved him into the wall then stormed away. Mercy followed.
With the help of Damian and Nor, Sycamore shakily made it back to his feet.
“I’m alright,” he said. “Now could you please explain to me why he’s trying to kill me? Where’s Franklin Monroe? I thought that was why you called me here?”
“It is,” Damian told him. “He’s running Sector 2 as a farm for donors. Except, the donors don’t realize they’re about to be sacrificed.”
“What? No, Sector 2 has been abandoned. Cut off from everyone else.”
“You might want to ask Quin Nolan about that.” My hands fisted.
I took a step forward. Mercy moved with me.
I took another,.
She did, too, keeping herself in my path.
I’d have to go through her to get back to Sycamore. Part of me hated her for it. The other part shouted at me to shut it and listen.
Sycamore paused in straightening his robes. “Quin? You saw Quin?”
“And others from your order. Tell me, why would he have said that he and the others in your order used to keep demons there?”
At Damian’s words, Sycamore turned pale and sputtered. “That’s not… I mean they hadn’t. They never did. I have no idea what you’re talking about. We don’t use donors. We tried to put a stop to what was happening in the slums.”
“Try again,” I growled, so harshly my words came out garbled.
“I know nothing of Quin’s activities in Sector 2,” Sycamore insisted. “If he had business there, it’s news to me. Probably to the rest of the Gathered, too.”
“You’re sure about that?” Mercy crossed her arms.
“I am.”
“And why should we believe you?”
Sycamore rubbed his forehead, but there was only fear and honesty in the man’s eyes as he hesitantly approached. “I understand your mistrust of the Gathered. I do. But do you trust me?”
I almost said no, but he’d helped us get all those captives out of Sector 13. It could’ve been for show, but the first time I met this mage, I sensed he was a good man. He just happened to be surrounded by corrupt mages who were siding with the enemy.
“Yes,” I finally spat, struggling to get my rage under control.
“Don’t have much choice.”
“You do, Mercy. You do have a choice. If you say you don’t trust me, then I will turn around and leave. But,” Sycamore said, holding up his hand, “if you want, I will help you stop Nolan and Monroe. To stop those people from meeting an untimely end.”
He held out his hand and waited.
Mercy didn’t move to take it.
“Mercy,” Damian scolded.
“What? We don’t know how deep this goes. Quin Nolan is in charge of the Gathered. I’m not about to trust another freaking person until I know for certain that he’s not working for her, too. I’m sorry, Sycamore, but I can’t.”
“You are exactly like your father,” he mused, and Mercy scoffed, marching away from him. “It’s true. Stubborn, determined to protect the innocent at any cost. He was a good man and he was my friend. If I had known the true battles he fought, I would’ve been by his side.” Sycamore followed her to the bar where she leaned heavily on the counter. “If Quin Nolan is helping Shuval, I will find a way to stop him. He will not get away with this treachery.”
“What are you going to do? Walk up to him and execute him?”
“I’m not an assassin. But I will have the backing of the Gathered. They will listen to me. I simply need to know when and what to tell them.”
“Rafael? It’s your call.”
“No, it’s not.”
“Yeah, it is, actually.” Her eyes were on me. “It’s your home. Your people were killed there. You decide our next move.”
Instinct told me to go back to Sector 2 and kill them all. But without any information on how the mansion was guarded—or the entire sector, for that matter—we’d be going in blind. Probably walking into a trap.
And we needed Monroe alive, for a little while anyway. If we could get in and get out with him, then we could make him talk. Plan an attack that would work.
“Nothing,” I said to Sycamore. “Right now, you do nothing. Our priority has to be Monroe.”
“Then what do you need from me?”
“We need a way back inside Sector 2 without alerting them we’re coming,” Nor explained. “The mansion is heavily guarded by nefaries, probably hybrids, too. There’s a chance Shuval could be there.”
Sycamore whistled. “You don’t ask for much, do you?”
“Can you get us in or not?”
Sycamore snapped his fingers. “I might have a spell that will cloak you. It will not last long, however. If Shuval is there, I can’t guarantee it will work on her.”
“We’ll be what? Invisible?”
“You’ll be shadows, my dear. It’s quite a spell. I’ll teach it to you as I cast it.”
Mercy looked uncomfortable, but she didn’t argue. Her magic had been working, but she’d only been using small spells. Simple mage fire. If she tried anything stronger, the curse would kick in and stop her as it had every other time.
Familiar anger flared to life in her eyes, but she kept it to herself. The curse prevented her from being as strong as she should be. Times like this was when it bothered her the most. When she should be able to do this type of magic and not worry about it backfiring.
“Once it’s cast, then what?” Damian asked.
“Then you have a limited amount of time to sneak inside and snag your target. I suggest you don’t linger.”
“Rafael, you’ll stay behind,” Mercy said.
“I’m sorry, what?”
“You are going to stay behind while we kidnap Franklin Monroe,” she told me. “It’s not up for discussion.”
“The hell it’s not. You can’t ask me to stay behind.”
“I’m not asking, I’m telling. The second we get inside, if you see Lucas, or Quin, or anyone else who might’ve been responsible for the deaths of your people, you’ll lose it. Tell me I’m wrong.”
I started to do just that, then stopped and whirled away from her. I told myself I could keep it together, but even as I pictured that cursed place where Antonio died, the rage rushed back.
I bashed my fist into the wall, putting a hole through the wood. I shook the blood from my knuckles as I hung my head.
“Sucks, doesn’t it?” Mercy muttered. She was smiling though there was no real amusement in her eyes.
“Yeah, it does.”
“Just this once. We can handle it.”
I dragged her into my arms and kissed her, not caring the others were there watching. “You swear to me you’ll be careful. That you’ll come back.”
“We’re only going after one man.”
“Mercy, give me your word, or I’ll pull a you and take off after you all anyway,” I warned.
She stood on her toes, grabbed my horns, and brought my head lower. “I’ll come back with Franklin Monroe. Then we can figure out a way to officially shut down Sector 2 and kill Lucas.”
I wrapped her in my arms, unable to shake the trepidation in my gut that this was not going to be a simple in and out job. There were too many unknowns. Too many enemies patrolling the mansion. It could be warded against the kind of magic they were going to use. And if Envy and Shuval were there, I couldn’t bear to even think what would happen if they captured Mercy.
“Shall we start planning?” Sycamore suggested. “Rafael, I want you to tell me everything you can about Sector 2.”
“You sure it’ll help? Doubt they’ve kept it all the same.”
“It’s a start. That’s what we need.”
We stayed at Shep’s bar in the Wailing Siren and started planning.
I considered asking Bowen or Rufus to join them, since I wasn’t going, but they were busy searching for trails leading to the last three artifacts. That was equally as important as getting our hands on Monroe.
Mercy would come back. That’s what I had to tell myself. She would come back to me.
I wouldn’t lose another person I loved to that freaking place.
We didn’t leave the Underground until five in the evening.
Mercy, Damian, and Nor would be heading out around eleven to go back to Sector 2. They had a plan in place and the spells were ready to be cast. The cloaking magic would make them appear as shadows. As long as they didn’t speak too loudly, run into anyone physically, or step directly into any source of light, the magic would hold.
Unless of course, they ran into wards that disrupted the spell. Then they’d be shit out of luck.
My chest rumbled again with uneasiness at letting them go without me.
Mercy slipped her hand into mine. “You’re going to drive yourself crazy while I’m gone.”
“Can you blame me?” I threw my head back, glaring at the sky. “I can handle my emotions well enough to go with you.”
“We both know that’s bullshit.”
I tugged her to a stop on the sidewalk. “Mercy.”
“I can take care of myself. I know you find it hard to believe, but before you came along, Damian and I did crazy shit all the time. We managed alright.”
I crossed my arms.
She shrugged. “Mostly alright. We had our moments. Stop giving me that look.” She grabbed my shoulders. “I’m coming back. You and I are far from over, remember?”
I pulled her close so I could kiss her. “Remind me why we’re not hanging out at our place until you leave?”
“I want to check in with Gigi. We were back at our place, anyway.”
“For five minutes so you could grab that thing.” I motioned to the sledgehammer in a makeshift carrier on her back. “You’re drawing some very interesting looks by the way.”
“Eh, nothing new.”
I’d asked her why she wanted it, and all she did was smile. If nefaries were there tonight and they caused trouble, they were about to have their heads bashed in with Mercy’s new favorite weapon.
We reached Gigi’s shop.
Val was sitting at the counter, nose in a book. She perked up at the sight of us. “Mercy!”
“Hey, Val. Is Gigi here?”
“Yeah, she’s in the back. Onyx is here, too.”
“She is?” Mercy rushed into the back without waiting for an answer.
I followed.
Onyx was indeed here, looking rough around the edges. She was alive though, and from the way she and Gigi were hunched over the table, whatever news she brought with her wasn’t good.
; “Onyx, did they find out about you?”
“No, thank the goddess, but it’s been close a few times. That’s why it took me so long to get back.”
“The covens?”
Onyx nodded. “It’s not good. They’re sending their best casters back into Sector 13. Something about getting ready for a ritual.”
“What ritual?” Mercy shot me a confused look.
I was just as confused.
“I wasn’t able to figure out what they’re up to without giving myself away.” She chewed her lip and glanced out the doorway to the main shop. “They’re starting to suspect me. I might not be able to make it back to you guys.”
“Are you sure you should even go back then?” Gigi took her hands and held them. “I don’t want them finding you out and killing you.”
“I said I would help put a stop to this madness and that’s what I’m doing,” she argued.
“Onyx—” Gigi started.
Onyx shook her head and stood. “No, I accepted my fate a long time ago. You have to stop them from whatever they’re doing.” She glanced at the clock on the wall. “I should be heading back. Can you fill them in on what I told you?”
“Of course, I can.” Gigi hugged her. “Be safe, sister.”
Onyx passed by me on the way out the door. She reached out for my arm and whispered, “Can I talk to you?”
“Go ahead. We’re good here,” Mercy assured me, eyeing Onyx.
I left Mercy and Gigi to discuss Onyx’s news and followed Onyx to the main shop. I thought she’d stop there, but she led me away from Val, down the steps, to the sidewalk.
She continued to glance toward the shop.
“Onyx? What’s wrong?”
“It’s Val,” she whispered, as if afraid the young witch would be able to hear us all the way down here. “There’s something odd about her. I can’t figure out what it is, but she’s not… she’s not right.”
“Mercy said whatever vibes we’re getting are probably from her residual dark magic.”
“No, this is something else. It’s in her eyes. I can’t explain it, but I’m worried about Gigi being around her. I tried to bring it up earlier, but Val came into the room. It was as if she knew I was going to out her.” She wrung her hands. “Promise me you’ll keep an eye on her.”
