Sapphire Flames

by Ilona Andrews

  There would never be another Alessandro for me. Having sex with him wouldn’t be enough. She’d shattered the little fragile hope that I could pry him loose from whatever trap he was caught in and we could be together.

  Even if I found another Prime immune to my magic the way he was, even if that Prime agreed to abandon his House—which would never happen—that Prime would not be Alessandro.

  My life was over. In fifty years, I might end up just like her, alone, abandoned by everyone because of the things I had to do to keep them alive. If I somehow managed to have a child, would my grandchild stand before me fifty years from now and pass judgment on my life? Would he or she think I was horrible and didn’t understand what it meant to be young and in love?

  This was the first step onto the path of my new life. There would always be hard choices, hard decisions to make, but none would be harder than this.

  My future versus Alessandro’s life. Halle’s life.

  I had to look my reflection in the eye at the end of the day.

  “We have a deal,” I said.

  “Ten years ago, another House attacked House Montgomery and murdered Augustine’s father and his younger sister.”

  I knew everything there was publicly to know about House Montgomery. There was no record of that attack anywhere. Public record said Augustine’s father died after a long battle with pancreatic cancer.

  “The attackers were killed, but the identity of their employer was never discovered. The hit was arranged through a middleman, Melvin Rider. Before the attack he disappeared. Hand me your phone.”

  I unlocked my phone and passed it to her. She grimaced and showed me the crack in the screen. She typed exactly the same way my mom did, holding the phone in her left hand and pecking at the letters with her right index finger. Grandma Victoria handed the phone back to me.

  “This is Melvin Rider’s new name and his current address. Make sure Augustine gives you the information first. Always make it seem like you are negotiating from a position of strength. Remember, you are my granddaughter. Chin up, shoulders back. Look them in the eye and make them cower.”

  I walked back to reception. Arabella saw me and hurried over.

  “Are you okay?”

  “Yes.”

  “You’re crying.”

  I swiped at my eyes. My cheeks were wet. Weird. I hadn’t even noticed.

  “I’ve got what I need,” I told her. “Let’s go.”

  Montgomery International Investigations owned an entire building downtown. An asymmetric structure of blue glass and steel, it rose above its neighbors like a shark fin whose owner was about to surface.

  Augustine’s office took up an entire corner of the seventeenth floor. I had walked on my own power across the lobby to the elevators and now to the office. I had fallen asleep again in the car. When I reached for my magic, I no longer felt a void. I wouldn’t be at full strength for another forty-eight hours or so, but it was coming back slowly. Sleep helped.

  Augustine’s receptionist, a young woman with pale brown skin and lavender hair, saw us and picked up the phone.

  “He’ll see you now, Ms. Baylor.”

  “Thank you.”

  I headed toward Augustine’s desk behind a wall of frosted glass. Behind me, Arabella chirped, “I love your makeup.”

  “Thank you!” The receptionist’s voice warmed by at least ten degrees. “It’s the new Oksana palette.”

  “The limited edition one?”

  A section of the frosted glass slid aside with a soft whisper and I walked into Augustine’s office. He sat at a modern white desk in an ergonomic chair. Behind him two walls of cobalt glass met at a sharp angle, presenting a panorama of the city below.

  Augustine looked up from his computer, a god in his palace of crystal and ice. The door slid shut behind me.

  “Do you have anything for me?”

  He knew I did. “Yes. Before we trade, I need to know if you have the information I require. The matter is urgent. A yes or no answer will be fine.”

  “Please sit.”

  I sat. “I need to know the location of the lab Cristal Ferrer uses to produce warped mages for Diatheke.”

  Augustine’s eyebrows rose. “I have it.”

  Of course he did.

  “How good is your information?” he asked.

  “It comes courtesy of my grandmother. She sends her regards.” I had weighed this answer very carefully. I could have taken credit for the information or left him wondering where I got it, but I couldn’t give him any reason to doubt its authenticity. Victoria’s name was an iron-clad guarantee.

  He considered it. “Very well, I’ll play.”

  He took a pad of paper from his desk, wrote on it, tore off a page, and slid it across the desk to me. I picked it up. An address northeast of Houston, in Williams, a small town along I-69. I could be there in less than two hours. He could’ve texted it to me, but then I would have proof it came from him.

  Hold on, Alessandro. I’m coming. I would get him and Halle out of there, if they were alive.

  “Thank you.” I took a picture of the page with my phone and sent it to Bern. “You may want to write this down. Bradley Lynton, 12703 Mistie Valle Drive, Houston, Texas 77066.”

  Augustine wrote it down. “And why is this important?”

  “Because Bradley Lynton is his new name. He was previously known as Melvin Rider.”

  All the color bled from Augustine’s face. The illusion fractured for a moment and I saw his real eyes, shocked and triumphant. His face snapped back into perfection. “Thank you, Ms. Baylor. I look forward to our cooperation in the future. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have someplace to be.”

  So did I. I rose. “Good luck.”

  “You too. You’re going to need it.”

  Arabella shook me. “We’re here.”

  I opened my eyes. The inside of Brick was surprisingly comfortable and the narrow side windows let in just enough light to make it cozy. Across from me, Runa grinned from the bench. Arabella slid back into her seat to her right.

  Next to me, Leon was checking two P320-M17 Sig Sauers. Same model as the official sidearm of the US Army, they were his favorites. Each came with a seventeen-round magazine, which meant he could fire thirty-four 9mm rounds before he had to reload. He rarely had to reload. Leon was a one-shot, one-kill shooter.

  In the front passenger seat Mom patted the rifle case resting against her shoulder. Her Barrett sniper rifle was inside. She’d also taken her favorite.

  Grandma Frida brought Brick to a stop. I peered through the windshield. We had left the road behind and parked on top of a low hill. Below, sheltered by a concrete wall topped by razor wire, sat a fourteen-story tower. Unlike most modern buildings of glass and steel, this structure looked older, made of rings of concrete interrupted by rows of narrow, dark windows.

  I unbuckled my harness and opened the back hatch. We filed out. I checked my face in the side mirror.

  If I’d had an extra day, I would have spent it in a charging circle trying to regain my magic. But I had no time, and you couldn’t draw a circle on the floor of Brick. There wasn’t enough space. So, instead, I drew the glyphs on myself. My face, my neck and most of my body where I could reach it were covered with arcane patterns in henna. I’d turned myself into a walking arcane circle absorbing magic at an accelerated rate. It would give me back my power, but in another hour, maybe two, I would collapse.

  Had anybody in my family known how dangerous this was, they would have never let me do it. I was lucky Nevada was in Spain.

  The lab building rose, so close. Somewhere in that tower Alessandro and Halle waited, hopefully still alive. I checked the Beretta on my hip and the gladius in its sheath on the other hip.

  “Are you sure about this?” Mom asked.

  “Yes.”

  “You will have to tell Duncan,” she said.

  I took out my phone.

  Linus picked up on the second ring.

  When in trou
ble, go for the good news first. “I have learned the location of Cristal’s lab,” I said.

  “Delightful.” He did not sound delighted. “Where are you right now?”

  “May I have authorization to assault the lab?”

  “Are you at the lab?”

  “Technically, no. But I’m looking at it.”

  The steady rumble of a helicopter echoed from above. A large chopper passed overhead, carrying a container on steel cables. The cables snapped free, and the container plummeted to the ground and landed in the field with a loud thud.

  “Oh,” Grandma Frida said. “A present.”

  The sides of the container collapsed outward, revealing a strange-looking block of metal parts. With a loud metal clang, the block rose, unfolding into a nine-foot-tall exosuit on two sturdy legs. Massive turrets protruded from its arms. Its shoulders bristled with weapons.

  Great.

  The exosuit turned, zeroed in on us, and stomped in our direction. Runa raised her hand, aiming for it.

  “No,” I told her.

  The exosuit treaded over, each step of the heavy metal legs like a blow of a giant hammer, and towered over me. Its facial shield turned clear, and Linus stared down at me from the inside.

  Perfect. Just perfect.

  Linus’ voice spilled out of the loudspeaker. “When this is over, you and I are going to have a long conversation about the nature of orders and the meaning of the word wait.”

  I winced.

  Grandma Frida wiggled her fingers at him. “Hello, Linus.”

  Mom put her hand over her face.

  “I promise to sit through the entire lecture quietly,” I said. “May I please have authorization to rescue Alessandro and Halle Etterson?”

  “Authorization granted. You are authorized to go down there, gain entry to the facility, neutralize any hostiles you encounter, and retrieve any civilians you find. Do not screw with anything in the labs. Don’t touch anything, don’t drink anything, don’t put anything in your mouth.”

  Leon looked like he was about to speak. I made the no face at him.

  “Follow me,” Linus ordered. “And cheer up. We’re about to embark on a killing spree accompanied by massive property damage. Try to have fun.”

  The facial shield darkened. Leon grinned and gave Linus two thumbs-up.

  The exosuit started down the hill. Mom climbed onto Brick’s roof with her sniper rifle. Grandma Frida took a picnic basket out of the vehicle and perched on a grassy spot. The rest of us followed Linus.

  “So, do we have a plan?” Runa asked.

  “We go inside, Leon and I try to find your sister and Alessandro, and you and Arabella kill everyone you see. Try not to die.”

  “That’s it?”

  “The best plans are simple,” Leon said.

  Ahead of us a barrel on the exosuit’s right shoulder spat out thunder. A missile streaked through the air and smashed into the wall. Concrete exploded, huge chunks hurtling into the air. Sirens wailed, reaching a hysterical pitch.

  Linus continued his advance, the exosuit stomping forward, boom, boom, boom.

  “Well, I’m off,” Arabella said.

  “Give me a few minutes before you start on the building,” I told her.

  “It’s not my first time.”

  Leon grinned. “Remember, try to have fun.”

  My sister smiled. “I always do.”

  She sprinted after the exosuit. Her body tore, the transformation so fast, it seemed almost instant. An enormous shaggy beast spilled out of my sister, towering sixty feet above us. Arabella raised her head with two curved horns, opened her maw, baring a forest of fangs, and bellowed.

  Runa jumped back. “That’s the Beast of Cologne!”

  “Yes, it is,” I told her.

  “How?”

  “Long story,” I told her.

  The monster that was Arabella charged to the left, circling the lab, and cleared the wall in a single leap. Gunfire erupted. She screamed in rage, grabbed a vehicle, and threw it at the building.

  In front of us Linus broke into a run. The barrels on his shoulders spat more missiles, trailing smoke in their wake, and for a moment he had wings of smoke. The missiles flew through the gap in the wall. Explosions blossomed, yellow and orange. Linus charged into the gap, the turrets on his arms sending death into the air.

  I stopped. Leon sat on the grass next to me and whistled. Runa stared at the two of us. “Shouldn’t we go in?”

  “Not yet.”

  “You have to let the big kids have their fun,” Leon said.

  Arabella had gotten ahold of a semi-truck and was pummeling something with it.

  Seconds ticked by, dragging minutes behind them. Waiting was torture.

  Please stay alive. I’m almost there.

  The sound of explosions receded, moving deeper toward the building and into it.

  “Now we go in.” I ran for the gap.

  The inside of the wall was chaos. People ran back and forth, equipment and vehicles burned, broken bodies slumped everywhere. Thick, oily smoke poured out of what once might have been a truck and was now an unrecognizable clump of metal. Small firearms crackled. Somewhere a turret was going, spitting out a staccato of bullets. I turned toward the tower.

  The doors no longer existed. I jogged inside, Runa and Leon following me. The inside of the tower was hollow. A bank of glass elevators waited in the center of the room. Each floor resembled a wheel with a central narrow hallway and individual rooms radiating from it like spokes. If I rode that transparent elevator, I could see the entirety of the lab.

  A woman with a gun stepped out from behind the elevator. Leon’s gun barked and she collapsed.

  “Don’t shoot the next one,” I said. “We need a guide.”

  “No promises,” Leon said.

  I closed my eyes, looking for the nearest mind. Someone was hiding behind the counter to our right. I turned and started humming. “Mary had a little lamb; its fleece was white as snow . . .”

  The mind under the counter responded to the tendrils of my power. A chair rolled to the side, and an older white man in a lab coat stood up and smiled at me. His name tag said “Chad Rawlins.”

  “Hello, Chad,” I said, sinking power into my voice.

  “Hi.” He waved at me.

  “Come stand by me.”

  Chad moved over on trembling legs. “I’m very scared right now.”

  “I’m sorry to hear that.”

  An explosion burst above our heads. The building shook. Chad cringed.

  “Do you know where they’re holding Halle Etterson?” I asked. “She’s my friend. I want to find her. It would make me very happy.”

  He nodded. “She’s on the seventh floor. Room 713. Can we go? We shouldn’t be here. It’s very dangerous.”

  Runa ran to the elevator and mashed the call button. Stairs would be safer, but I wasn’t sure I could make it. My magic was replenishing, but my body was still exhausted and getting more so by the minute.

  “What about the prisoner they teleported in this morning? Where is he?”

  Chad blinked. “I don’t know about a prisoner.”

  Leon nudged me. “Ask him where Benedict is.”

  “Is Benedict De Lacy here?”

  Chad nodded. “He’s on the top floor.”

  Of course he was. Benedict would never pass up a chance for a penthouse. If Alessandro was here, Benedict would keep him close. They hated each other, and Alessandro made a valuable hostage.

  “Tell me about the top floor where Benedict stays.”

  “I don’t go up there. I don’t know what’s up there, except that you can’t bring any weapons up there. He’s got an automated turret pointed at the elevator. The elevator opens in this little room that scans you and he won’t let you exit it with a gun.”

  Fuck.

  “You can go,” I told Chad.

  He started toward the hole where the doors used to be, then turned. “But what about you?”

 
; “I’ll be fine.”

  “I think I should stay with you. Just in case.”

  Leon sighed and reached for his gun. I put my hand over his. “Chad, do me a favor. Go outside and check to see if it’s safe for me to escape.”

  “I’ll do that. Don’t go anywhere. I’ll be right back.”

  He took off for the door and the three of us ducked into the elevator. Runa had pressed the button for the seventh floor. I reached over and pushed the top button.

  “What are you doing?” Runa asked.

  “Leon will go with you. He’ll get you and Halle out.”

  “That wasn’t the deal,” Runa growled. “You can’t go up against Benedict by yourself.”

  “That was always the deal,” Leon said. “You’re the client. We’re here to save your sister.”

  The elevator doors opened. Leon thrust his arm out to keep them open.

  “We get Halle and we go after Benedict together,” Runa said.

  “No,” I told her. “That would put you and her into additional danger. Save your sister, Runa. Please.”

  “Come on,” Leon said. “Halle is waiting.”

  He took Runa’s arm and pulled her out of the elevator. The doors shut and the cabin sped upward. The elevator climbed through what I had thought to be the ceiling and kept going, the shaft no longer transparent, but dark.

  Linus’ priority was the research and retrieving the serum. Runa’s priority was her sister. In the grand scheme of things both Alessandro and Benedict mattered very little. But Alessandro meant everything to me.

  I took out my Beretta and placed it on the floor of the elevator. I would never get through that room with it.

  The doors whispered open. A small room waited for me, complete with an X-ray arch. A security camera stared at me from the ceiling just above a turret facing me.

  I pulled out my gladius and jammed it in the elevator door.

  “Entertaining but futile,” Benedict’s voice said.

  I stepped out of the elevator. The door behind me tried to close but my sword kept it open. I stepped into the X-ray, letting the beam of the scanner dance over me.