by Ciara Graves
“Onyx—”
She grabbed my arms harder than I thought she’d be able to. “The covens are on the move,” she whispered urgently, eyes wild. “Whatever they’re planning with Shuval, they’re not waiting. Do you understand? We’re missing something. We all are. And I think Val might be a part of that. Promise me that you won’t let anything happen to Gigi.”
Suddenly, she was gone, hurrying down the street.
What the hell did she mean they weren’t waiting?
The only way the ley lines would work was when the Blood Moon rose, right?
The best casters were heading to Sector 13. That made. No sense. As far as we knew there wasn’t a ritual circle there.
I rubbed my jaw, perplexed.
Why would they be going there then?
Cursing Onyx for taking off and leaving me with more questions than answers, I stomped back upstairs and into the shop.
“You alright?”
I plastered a smile on my face as I watched Val behind the counter. “Yeah, just a long couple of days.”
She tapped her pen on the counter. “You guys are running yourselves ragged.”
“Not much choice really. Not when there’s this much evil running rampant.”
“I wish I could do more to help.”
She frowned and I studied her every twitch, every move, as she sat on that stool.
I wasn’t sure what Onyx thought Val might be, but I didn’t pick up any heavy of magic—dark or otherwise. She wasn’t a hybrid. Were we all that paranoid?
I mumbled something about getting back to Mercy. When I reached the back room, I shut the door firmly behind me.
“Rafael?”
“Hmm?”
Mercy and Gigi both looked at me, then at the door.
“You look extremely confused,” Mercy said. “And pissed off, all at the same time. You’re not thinking of trying to go with us tonight, are you?”
“No, it’s not that. It’s Onyx. She’s worried about Gigi.”
“Me? Why? Not like I’m the one about to risk my neck by venturing into a nest of hybrids and nefaries and who knows what else.”
“I think she’s just on edge. We all are. She say anything helpful?”
Mercy continued to watch me out of the corner of her eye as Gigi gave me the cliff notes version.
There was no mention about Shuval not waiting for the right time. Just that her forces were gathering in Sector 13.
There were also rumors of reapers making a play to take the territory and claim it as their own. To block off anyone else from gaining access. If they did that, our chances of sneaking into Sector 13 to stop Shuval would be slim to none. They were strong and far deadlier than any other race.
Back at the Fed office, we’d always wondered why the reapers had never made a play for power before.
Now I knew. They’d been waiting for Shuval.
“Maybe we should be going there tonight, instead,” I suggested.
“Yeah, because the four of us can bring down the reapers,” Mercy muttered. “Now, who’s being impulsive?”
I didn’t argue as she removed the sledgehammer from her back, placed it on the table in front of Gigi, and smiled.
“Uh, what do you want me to do with this?” Gigi nudged the heavy iron head.
“Make it better.”
Gigi laughed, until she glanced up. Mercy wasn’t laughing with her. “Seriously?”
“Yeah, this bad boy has successfully beaten off two nefaries. Sector 2 has a number of those bastards. I want to make sure that if I have to beat them with this, they feel it.”
“And you want me to what? Make it hurt more when you crush their skulls in?”
Mercy leaned on the table and stared at Gigi. “They destroyed my bike.”
Gigi cringed.
I sighed and dragged out a chair. “Here we go.”
“Oh, don’t give me that shit,” Mercy ranted. “I loved that bike, and they destroyed it.”
“Technically, you did when you threw the near out of your apartment. But, yes, he did land on your bike, and now it’s gone. I’ll shut up now.”
Mercy turned back to Gigi. “Please?”
“Right. Yeah, sure. I’ll do something to it. Oh, you know? I’ve wanted to use this combustion on impact spell. That could be fun.”
Mercy grinned like a madwoman.
I sat there, shaking my head.
“Not like I’m going to use it on you,” she quipped.
I gave her a look. “Mercy, you’re supposed to be stealthy tonight, remember?”
“Yeah, and how long do you think that’s going to last, honestly?”
I considered arguing, but sadly, she had a point. I let it go and sat back as Gigi and Mercy worked on the sledgehammer.
In a few hours, she’d be returning to Sector 2, and I’d be left to wait at the Wailing Siren with Horace, Wesley, Sycamore, and Shep.
It killed me that I couldn’t go, but Mercy was right to ask me to stay behind.
I’d let Nor drag me away from Lucas once.
There wasn’t a chance in hell I’d be able to see him a second time and not have my demon rage take over.
I’d spend the night plotting all the ways I could make him suffer and not imagining Mercy getting hurt or killed.
Shit, it was going to be a long ass night.
Chapter 12
Mercy
Midnight rolled around as we stepped out of the transport and back into Sector 2.
Nor and Damian took the lead, leaving me to guard our backs.
The spell Sycamore placed over us would last about an hour. No longer.
It was a hike to get to the mansion where we believed Franklin Monroe was. But if he wasn’t here, we had no time to search the whole place for him.
If he was even still in Sector 2.
After following his trail the first time, it was easier for me to pick it up when we returned. Still faint, but enough remained that I could guide us through the town.
Yeah, he was in the mansion. Or had been recently.
We hadn’t come up with a contingency plan if he had left Sector 2. I wouldn’t be able to figure out where he went, in that case, and as far as I was concerned, it wasn’t something I wanted to consider.
We neared the wall and pressed our backs into the shadows as a patrol of uniformed guards walked within feet of us.
I held my breath and waited.
We’d passed several guards on our way here as we crept through the shadows, unnoticed. But none had been this close.
I could’ve breathed on them. The sledgehammer dug into my back as I flattened myself against the stone wall.
The guards were in front of us now. One glanced our direction.
I froze.
He squinted, as if trying to see into the darkness, then he moved on with the rest.
None of us moved until they were around the corner.
Damian tapped my arm and pointed up.
I shook my head. If we went over the wall, we ran the risk of having no cover.
Rafael had told me there was a hidden door along the north side. If we could get there, we could slip into the main courtyard and straight into the mansion.
I’d told Damian about the door, but he’d been worried about taking too much time.
Nor stepped between us. He tapped his wrist, nodded to me and glared at Damian.
I hustled around the wall, running my fingers along the stones, searching for where the roughness of the stones gave way to smoothness.
Damian hovered over my shoulder.
“Mercy, hurry up,” Nor whispered.
“Working on it.”
“Work faster. We’re about to lose our cover.”
The clouds that had been concealing the moon began to break and separate.
Voices came closer.
I frantically ran my hands over the wall.
Damian rushed over to help me.
The shadows receded. Any second now we were goin
g to be exposed.
The stone beneath my hand changed. I pressed my palm against it.
“Here.” I followed the smooth stone to the rest for the door. My fingers brushed over a small, metal loop. I tugged it, and the door groaned open.
We fell inside and Nor closed it quickly behind him. We waited, counting the seconds, but the guards didn’t break through. No alarms were sounded.
We turned around. I had to bite my cheek to stop myself from cursing.
The entire courtyard was lit up from the moon.
The second we moved out from the alcove, we’d be in full view of the numerous guards along the wall and the dozen milling about. All heavily armed. I sensed a couple of them were hybrids.
The heavy cloud cover was moving back in, but it was taking too damned long.
I stretched out my hand, breathing in and out slowly.
“Mercy,” Damian hissed in my ear, “what are you doing?”
“Back off.”
“You can’t. It’s too much.”
“I don’t have a choice,” I replied through gritted teeth. “You’re messing with my concentration.”
Months ago, I never would’ve attempted this sort of magic. But mages could manipulate the elements. It’s what we were meant to do. I’d never tried because of the curse. I was too scared of what using power would do to me.
With Rafael in my life, my confidence had returned. To at least be able to do this.
I focused on the wind blowing through the trees and directed it toward the clouds, willing it to gust and build into heavy, towering storm clouds.
“Mercy, back off,” Damian warned behind me.
“Almost… have it.” Sweat broke out on my forehead. My arm shook.
“Your eyes are glowing. You’re going to give us away.”
“Shut up,” I snapped. “Just shut up and let me do this.”
I focused harder, pushing the wind.
As darkness fell over the courtyard, leaving only a few flickering torches for light, I collapsed against Damian.
“Lecture me later,” I muttered.
Nor pointed toward the mansion. The main entrance was too heavily guarded and lit with torches for us to get through.
The side door he motioned to only had one guard who looked half asleep. Staying in the shadows again, we maneuvered our way through the courtyard, only pausing long enough to let wandering guards pass.
The hybrids remained at the main gate and front entrance.
I counted us lucky, since we had no idea they’d be oblivious to our presence as the other beings were.
Or, at least, to my presence.
Damian and Nor were demons.
I was a mage and dragonborn. By all rights, I was a hybrid and Envy’s magic had left its mark with the scar on my face.
There was always a chance they’d sense I was nearby. With any luck, they’d think it was just one of their companions and not an interloping hybrid sneaking into the mansion.
The guard stood a foot away from the door.
Nor picked up a rock and threw it into the wall.
The guard jerked his head around, grabbing for his sword. “Who’s there?” he demanded. He peered into the shadows and took one step, then another.
When he cleared the door, the three of us moved toward the entrance and slipped inside.
Thankfully, there weren’t many torches in this corridor either. We kept low, stayed in the shadows, and when we came to an intersection, Damian grabbed my shoulder and yank me back at the last second.
The entire hall was lit up. There were no guards in sight and no nearby voices either.
It was quiet, almost too quiet.
“Can you put out the torches?” Nor asked.
“Yeah, should be able to.”
“You know which direction to go?” Damian glanced right, then left. “This place is massive. We won’t have time to search it all.”
I shut my eyes, pressed my back to the wall, and focused.
Monroe’s presence was stronger in here. It veered toward the left, deeper into the mansion.
I switched my mind to manipulating the fire of the torches. One by one, they burned out, until the hall was completely dark.
“Let’s move, I don’t like this,” I whispered, edging my way along the wall.
“We’re fine. No one’s seen us yet, and the enchantment’s working.”
“For now,” I muttered to Nor. “Something feels wrong.”
“Nothing is wrong. Just keep moving.”
I glared at Damian over my shoulder, but then Monroe’s trail shifted, and I had to focus on that.
We came to a set of stairs leading up to the second floor. They were tight, but in complete darkness.
Half of our time had to be gone by now and we hadn’t located the bastard yet.
At the top of the steps, I doused more torches.
The use of this much magic began to take its toll. My knees turned wobbly. I had a hard time seeing straight.
Damian tried to steady me.
I shook my head. “Keep going. I’ll be fine.”
He exchanged a glance with Nor, then moved down the hall.
I kept up with them the best I could, willing my legs to stay in motion. I didn’t think I had used that much magic, but something in this place was draining me. I was weakening far faster than I should’ve been. I dug my nails into the wall when we came to another intersection.
“Mercy, which way?”
I swallowed hard and sidled along the wall to get in front of Nor.
Damian held fast to my arm as I stumbled, and this time, I let him.
“Right,” I whispered to Nor. “He’s close. Very close.”
I sensed hybrids nearby, too.
I doused the torches in the hall, praying the sudden darkness wouldn’t alert any guards.
We waited a minute then pushed on, heading down the corridor.
Nor was about to cross through another intersection. One dark already from the lack of torches.
A wash of darkness made me grab hold of his shirt. I yanked him to a stop. We pressed ourselves into the wall, keeping in the shadow.
“Are you certain we have their locations?”
Quin. That was his voice coming toward us.
I fixed my gaze on the intersection of corridors.
Damian grabbed hold of my arm, as if bracing to stop me from giving myself away.
Quin came into view as did the ones he was speaking to.
Lucas.
And Franklin Monroe.
I flinched. Damian’s grip tightened, forcing to remain where I was.
“We are,” Lucas was saying. “I have sent men to procure them. We should have them in time for the last rituals.”
“And then we will finally have what we’ve all been wanting.” Quin rubbed his hands together, an evil glint in his eyes.
I stared at him and when his gaze flicked my way, I stilled, not even daring to breathe. His brow furrowed and he took a step closer, then another.
Mentally, I was screaming at myself for being an idiot, hoping I could get to my weapon fast enough.
“If that is all you require then I shall turn in,” Lucas said.
Quin shook his head.
“Quin?”
“Yes, we all should. Going to be a busy few weeks. Monroe, we’re good on numbers?”
“We are. I’ll double check in the morning.”
“Good night then, gentlemen. The sooner we conclude our business here, the sooner the reapers can return to Sector 13. They might be our allies, but I can’t stand having them this close,” Quin complained as he and Lucas headed down the hall to our left.
“They are dreadful,” Lucas agreed.
Monroe watched them, then glanced down the corridor we were in.
He tugged at his beard, but his eyes weren’t focused. He whispered under his breath, snapped his fingers, then walked down the hall toward us.
When four guards followed him, I sagged. The
y weren’t like the guards outside.
These were nefaries.
That was just perfect.
Nefaries used shadows to fight. If we could make them spread that darkness, there was a good chance we’d get Monroe out of here without those bastards seeing our faces.
We’d spent three hours working on our best chance to escape.
Since dragging a man back to the transport with us would be a ridiculous risk, Sycamore had fashioned a one-time use portal instead. It would activate when we threw it against a wall and shut behind us.
The problem was it’d only stay open for five seconds. And once it was closed, that was it.
Nor had the enchanted one-time portal opening coin in his pocket.
We hadn’t really figured out the details of how we’d snag Monroe. I had been certain there would be guards, but I hadn’t counted on them being nefaries.
Our time had to be nearly up and standing in this corridor was only going to ensure we didn’t get out of here alive. And certainly not with our target.
I unhooked the sledgehammer from my back while Damian and Nor whispered quietly, trying to figure out their best course of action.
“We don’t have time to plan,” I interrupted. “We follow, we see where the guards are, and we get them to use their shadows. That’ll give us the cover we need.”
“And why do you expect them to use their shadows?” Damian eyed the sledgehammer in my hands. “You’re not going to do what I think you are.”
“What? No, but I can cause a disturbance in the air. Just trust me. We don’t have time.”
Not giving them a chance to argue further, I stayed against the wall and moved along down the corridor, following in Monroe’s footsteps.
There weren’t too many torches lining the way. The hall ended at a set of double doors. Standing outside of them were two of the guards, meaning the other two were stationed inside.
My fingers twitched on the sledgehammer, debating our next move.
Suddenly, Damian cursed.
I glanced back.
His body shimmered.
The second his eyes met mine, I knew exactly what he was going to do and hated him for it.
He stepped out into the lighted corridor and flashed a grin. The two nefaries immediately stood at attention, falling into defensive stances.
