“Do not forget, Isabella,” Noah added, “that your human integrity, while noble, does not always suit creatures of our kind of power. It is a different standard with high consequences if not handled with a stricter level of jurisprudence. I think you know that.”
“Kill or be killed?” Bella spoke up bitterly. “I despise the idea of my daughter being raised in such times.”
A moment later, she sighed softly, rising to turn toward her husband. “Don’t be upset, Jacob,” she said gently. “I would feel the same if it were a human war. You know that, in my heart, I prefer that she become part of a species where affection, love, and morality are such abundant standards. My upset is with our enemies, not with our society.”
“Forgive me if I seem to be continuously ignorant,” Syreena said quietly, “but, as Bella originally asked, is there no such thing as good magic?” Syreena looked at her sister pointedly. “In my lessons, I was taught these bands we three wear”—she indicated the slender link around her throat—“are enchanted. This necklace is made with natural products, but imbued with abilities and properties you cannot find in nature. That is what I would call magic,” she said. “Does it follow then that because they are made of magic, they are evil? I know of no Nightwalkers who can make anything like this. So if it was not us, then who created them? Magic-users? These creatures of evil?” She extended a hand toward the distant woodland. “I refuse to believe something so intrinsically evil had a hand in this magic that is so powerfully a part of Lycanthrope traditions and our way of finding our soul mates.”
“This is not an exemplary moment for philosophical discussions,” Gideon said abruptly, his serious silver eyes gleaming in the moonlight as he looked at Syreena and Isabella pointedly. “Nor is it a prudent time for investigating the histories of our races. Whether there is such a thing as ‘good’ magic or not, innate evil or not, we are assured in our understanding of these particular enemies.
“Here and now,” he continued, “these women are a threat to all of us. Here and now, those women are growing stronger and deadlier with every moment they continue to immerse themselves in their arts. And if we do not take action against them here and now, Ruth and Mary and every last female in that encampment will introduce themselves to us once again, and it may not be a meeting any or all of us will be so lucky as to survive this time.”
“Point taken,” Anya agreed firmly. “The medic is correct. We are risking ourselves with ‘what if’ and ‘could be,’ wasting this time better spent finding a realistic resolution to our immediate problem.”
“Agreed.” Elijah nodded sharply. The two of them could never be mistaken for anything other than the fighters that they were. From their stances to their focus on the battle to come, they were both warriors to the last.
The group, guided by their example, refocused on the matter at hand.
“I believe…” Siena turned to inspect the lay of the land once again. “Yes. I think I know of a way we can get past those wards.” She turned to Jacob, giving him a once over and a grin. “Yes, I think I do.”
Mary entered her mother’s tent in the encampment to find her parent pacing the relatively luxurious accommodations she had been given due to her position of leadership. Like Demon society, the rank in this grouping of females was according to power, and none of them could top her mother. That was because there was more to Ruth than the abilities of a mere “sorceress.” But, of course, the magic-using simpletons that surrounded them did not know that.
There were old, musty books stacked around the small desk the female Mind Demon had been studying at incessantly since they had encamped there a little less than a month ago. But it was clear her disturbance was keeping her from studying them further.
Ruth was a brilliant female, but she was no scholar by nature. Her abilities had always been focused on the battle. She had been a warrior before she had become a member of the Great Council. It wasn’t just luck and power that gave her the ability to outstep Demons as skilled in hunt and battle as Elijah and Jacob were. Ruth had spent centuries as their ally, and as such knew everything about the way they acted, reacted, and how strong they really were.
“Mother, what troubles you?” her daughter asked, sounding as bored as she looked. The boredom occurred often when Mary was not kept amused by attacks and excursions against others. She had developed a significant taste for those things. “We have killed Gideon. You should be celebrating.”
“No,” Ruth said sharply. “This celebration is a waste of time and energy. We should be back in the dig site looking for our treasure. Especially now. Noah will be livid when he finds his dead family, and we should be prepared.”
“Noah?” Mary snorted out a contemptuous laugh. “The great pacifist Demon King? He doesn’t get angry.”
“Do not be a fool!” Ruth whirled on her daughter. “What do you know? You know nothing about it! Since he reached adulthood, I have known Noah to lose his temper only three times.” Ruth ticked them off on her fingers. “When his mother was murdered, when his father died, and the night his precious little sister was Summoned.
“When his family is threatened or damaged, Noah’s rage has the force of a nuclear fury. It is nothing you ever want to see, girl. Believe me when I tell you that. Tonight we killed his sister’s Imprinted mate and very likely Legna herself. And if Legna is dead, Noah’s unborn niece or nephew died with her. If he ever catches up with us, our deaths will come in a conflagration to outshine the humans’ ideas of hell.”
“But no one knows where we are. Who would look for us here?”
“Elijah knows!” Ruth snapped at her child. “We were just lucky he did not arrive a few minutes sooner. Together, Gideon and Elijah would have destroyed us easily.” Ruth took a breath as she stopped to slam a hand on the pile of books. “And now that it is confirmed that Elijah is alive, that means he has reported what happened to him to Noah. Now, despite all my work to mislead the Enforcers who tracked him, they probably will soon know exactly where we are.”
“But surely they would have come here sooner—”
“Mary, who do you think walked through the wards the other day, coincidentally where Elijah’s dead body was supposed to be? It had to be Jacob, or even the Warrior Captain himself retracing his own steps.”
“That is twenty miles from here,” Mary pointed out.
“And you do not think Noah has the wisdom to widen a search for us from there? Stop being so ignorant, girl!” Ruth turned her flaring blue eyes on her offspring. “For all we know they are already on their way.”
“Then we should go,” Mary said, sounding suddenly fearful.
“Yes. We should. But I am not leaving without spending every possible second searching for what we came for. I can teleport us to safety in a heartbeat. We can let these ninnies distract Noah’s forces while we escape.” Ruth paced some more, rubbing slim fingers over her tense forehead. “Legna is the only one who might be strong enough to interfere in one of my teleports. Even if she did not die in the fire, it was Gideon’s power that was making her such a force to contend with. Without him, she will no doubt revert to her common, simpering little adult self once more.”
“I will get the others back into the dig site,” Mary said, her boredom gone now that she was aware of the danger stalking them.
“See to it. We need that spell book if we are to destroy Noah and all those self-righteous idiots he calls a Council.”
“I will, Mother. I think we are very close. That lesser spell book that we found may mean the other is close by.”
“I would count on nothing if I were you, child. I will join you shortly. We need to remain close to one another in case of an attack. If we leave before finding the Black Tome, they will know we were looking for something and no doubt continue the search themselves until they figure out what we were searching for. We will have led Noah right to it. If he finds the Tome and if he is half the scholar he is claimed to be, he will figure out what we are up to shortly after.”<
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“Mother, you said yourself that no one knows about the Black Tome. You said no one even knows about the scroll you found that has led us to this place. If they find it, they won’t know what it is for. Only magic-users can read it, you said.”
“Trust me, daughter. The Warrior Captain will have no trouble coaxing a magic-using prisoner into deciphering the book for the King once Noah figures out that it is required. In that case, our only hope will be that it takes us less time to manage alternatives than it takes him to figure things out. Now go. We are wasting time. I can feel it pressing on me.”
“Even if they do come, the wards and the Transformed ones will keep them busy,” Mary tried to reassure her. “We have some time still.”
“Let us hope so.”
CHAPTER 18
“Well, this place looks familiar,” Elijah murmured against Siena’s ear, making her chuckle as she nudged him gently in the ribs with her elbow.
“These caverns go for miles with dozens of outlets like this one,” Siena explained, her rich voice echoing as they entered the unpopulated tunnels off the cave Jinaeri had made her winter home. “Many of them are hibernation habitats, but not all of them for Lycanthropes. If we cross paths with wildlife, let the three of us handle them.” She indicated herself, Anya, and Syreena.
“You mean the four of us,” Jacob said, reminding her that his abilities were on par with hers as far as charming animals was concerned.
“Conserve your energy, Enforcer,” Siena reminded him in return. “There is no outlet from these caverns that empties into the encampment. We are just using these passages to pass beneath the wards undetected. We are counting on you to get us to the surface.”
“I would not worry about my energy reserves,” he assured her.
“I do not understand why I can not simply teleport us into the campground,” Legna complained for the third time.
“Ruth would feel us coming,” her husband reiterated with surprising patience. “Unfortunately, she is pretty much a match for your strength. Tactically speaking, it would not be wise to let ourselves be surrounded like that.”
“Gideon, I can get us out just as quickly.”
“I doubt that,” Noah said, his tone meant to put an end to the argument. “Bringing us all in there, in and of itself, would be impossible for even your considerable power, Legna. Taking us out afterward? It could never happen. You are simply not that strong. Frankly, in my opinion, you should not even be with us.”
“Do not even think about giving me some prissy lecture about the delicate needs of pregnant women,” Legna warned her brother sharply, “or I swear I will teleport you to the North Pole, where there is nothing combustible for hundreds of miles around.”
“You know, I used to think my people were overconfident,” Siena remarked, “but I see now why my father had a hard time winning against your people. You are very stubborn.”
“You have no idea,” Gideon and Noah chorused.
Elijah chuckled as he leapt off a ledge to the floor about four feet below. He reached up without thinking to assist Siena with hands on her waist. He did not realize until she hesitated that she might interpret the gesture as somewhat demeaning to her undoubtedly excellent ability to take care of herself. But she reached for his shoulders a moment later, moving into his hands as he lowered her to the floor easily.
“Do not worry,” she assured him softly as she linked her fingers through his and squeezed his hand. “I sometimes forget that you were born when men were gentlemen. However, I think it could grow on me.”
“I am glad to hear that,” he said with a grin. “However, I am wholeheartedly willing to forgo gentlemanly manners and let the door hit you in the ass at your immediate request.”
“You are too kind,” she laughed.
The group continued to move through the tunnels, following Siena’s sure lead. The cavern floor was often slippery, the limestone filled with water that dripped off the points of stalactites and mist from underground falls and hot springs.
“It isn’t far now,” Siena told them as they worked their way up a slick slope. “I wish we had a way of sensing those wards from here.”
“We have Bella. She’s better than any sensors.”
“How?” The Queen turned to look back at Elijah curiously.
“Bella can dampen power.”
“Elijah, we want to avoid that if possible,” Jacob reminded him. “The side effects of it are proving to be damaging.”
“But imagine how much simpler it would be to just walk through those wards once I dampen the power. We wouldn’t have to go through all of this.” She jerked her hand away from the touch of a particularly slimy wall. “Yuck,” she said, making a face as she wiped her hand on her jeans. “And above all, Ruth and Mary can escape in a teleporting flash if I don’t give them the whammy. I don’t see how we can avoid it.”
“You are not to have contact with Ruth no matter what,” Jacob warned, this time brooking none of her stubborn refusals. “She is so tainted, and in ways no one has seen before, that we cannot even guess at the damage it might cause to any of us. Ruth would never have been able to touch Gideon six months ago. Not even Ruth and Mary and a dozen necromancers could have done so.”
“She is very powerful,” Gideon agreed grimly. “We must all remember not to treat this like any ordinary battle. There is great risk involved here.”
The conversation stopped when Siena suddenly halted in her steps. They watched her cock her head, and immediately nine heads turned in unison to listen.
“I have never been here before,” Siena murmured. “There is something peculiar about this place. I cannot put my finger on it. Can any of you?”
It was Noah who raised his brows in surprise.
“Must. I smell must and…” He searched, shaking his dark head.
“Books!” Bella erupted suddenly. “I smell books. I’ve spent too many years in a library not to know that smell.”
“But no one has been through these passages in years,” Siena mused. “The stone growth, the water flow and passages are wholly unspoiled. Besides, it’s too damp to make sense of storing books in here. They would ruin easily. Jinaeri has to keep hers covered even though she is in a dry area.”
“I’m telling you, it’s books,” Bella insisted.
“I think she’s right,” Noah agreed.
“Look, over here.” Jacob leapt onto a natural ledge, crouching down to inspect the wall nearby. “It may be unspoiled now, but someone definitely altered this rock face at one point. See these grooves? These are manmade, though trying to keep an appearance of natural occurrence. See? The water does not flow over this section here, so why is it worn into a groove so deep?”
Jacob reached to touch the fist-size indentation.
“Jacob, don’t!” Bella cried out suddenly, making him freeze immediately.
She hurried over to him, grabbing his arm and trying to pull him down to her side.
“Something isn’t right. I can feel it. Please come away.”
“Bella, step back. I promise I will be careful.” He extracted his hand from the death grip she had on it and shook off her fingers when she tried to maintain her hold.
Siena watched with narrowed eyes as the Enforcer skimmed searching fingers over and around those slight grooves, trying to search her memory for something, even though she had no clue what it was.
“Jacob, stop!”
The chorus erupted simultaneously from Elijah and Siena. In unison they had experienced a moment of clarity, Siena recollecting a snippet of a story she had heard during her childhood over one hundred years ago, and Elijah’s closeness to the sudden fear that leapt up in its wake in her mind prompting him to echo her warning.
Jacob pulled away this time, listening to yet another warning from a source he could not dismiss as being overprotective. He jumped off the ledge even as Siena pushed forward toward it. She sprang up easily, feeling Elijah’s hand guiding her up with absent habit.
It made her smile even as she dusted her hands across the skirt of the dress Legna had loaned her. Magdelegna had a more conservative style, so the skirt was longer and more cumbersome than the Queen would have liked, but she simply pulled it out of her way as she knelt to inspect the suspicious grooves.
“There is a legend among my people about the times before we ventured out of the caves and into the world. Like my castle, whole cities were supposedly built underground. In those times, it is said we never went into the light of day.” She peered closer at the wall. “We have only found small abodes that hinted at this truth. Otherwise, our only other proof was the stories we handed down verbally and the odd scrap of written lore.”
“So what does that—?”
“The legend said all the entrances to this city were disguised and trapped to keep out accidental as well as purposeful intruders. If the curious person did not know how to harmlessly bypass the trap, it was tripped and the intruder would be killed.”
“You don’t believe this is a city,” Bella said with clear disbelief.
“No. I do not,” Siena agreed. “But I do believe this could be an entrance fashioned with those same traps.”
“Tell me you know how to disarm it,” Jacob encouraged her.
She didn’t have to. She touched both grooves simultaneously, a loud click echoing around them, making them start with surprise. Then, after a brief, studying search, she placed both hands on the wall and shifted her weight and the pressure of her touch slightly to the right. The wall dropped away so suddenly that it startled the Queen, who stepped back into Elijah’s steady frame as he vaulted onto the ledge in a heartbeat to prevent her from falling off it.
“Nice reflexes,” she murmured to her husband.
“Thank you,” he chuckled, drawing her to his back as he peered into the pitch black of the entrance. “Noah?”
“Consider it done,” the King responded. Reaching out with his refined senses, he felt the presence of tarred torches and lit them in a brilliant surge of light. Everyone winced as the rows of the torches blinded them momentarily.
Elijah: The Nightwalkers Page 31
