The sound of a struggle down below filtered upward, followed by a voice. “I can fit, Fergus, I’ve climbed it before.”
When I peered down, I could see nothing but the noise was clear, someone was following me. And they were gaining fast. Crap. I pushed myself harder until my sweaty hands reached for the next rung and found a shelf instead. Dragging myself onto the narrow ledge, I leaned against the wall and it gave way behind me. I slammed onto the floor on my back and skittered across the room using my feet to propel me, squinting to make out my surroundings in the bright light.
I was sitting on a polished white marble floor with my back pressed against the wall. Full-length sash windows looked out onto the Tower of London. Directly across from me was a narrow wooden doorway, held open by a tall, lean figure. Perfect dark waves and expensive jeans. Gabriel. Shit, shit.
I scrambled to my feet. The red-haired girl who had brought Fergus the cup earlier climbed out through the small door, stretching herself like a cat. She had the cup tucked under her arm, and the knife gripped between her lips.
“That’s an accident waiting to happen, Lara.” Gabriel nudged the sharp blade with his fingertip as she opened her mouth to grab it by the handle. A thin line of red ran along the blade, dripping delicately onto Lara’s ivory skin. Fergus and two other men came skidding around the landing, their black boots squeaking on the polished stone floor.
“They got away, that mongrel Angel had some sort of supped up barrier power— never mind. Looks like I will still get what I am due, after all.” Relief for my friends flooded through me, followed by a stab of fear as Fergus advanced. I forced myself not to shrink away from his wolfish leer. “Pity we lost your little friend. I have a feeling her blood would be as sweet as honey. But I am beginning to wonder if maybe your blood is a little dirty, considering how strongly you feel about sharing it.”
I glared at him and thrust my hand out toward Lara who was holding the knife, still stained with Gabriel’s blood. “Save your slimy innuendos for someone else, just take your pound of flesh.”
Fergus snatched the knife and cup from Lara, holding the blade above my outstretched finger and the cup underneath it. I swallowed hard. Just as he was about to slit my skin, Lara handed him a clean knife. She stared at Gabriel as she spoke. “Use this knife. That one is stained with Gabriel’s blood. It’ll taint the offering.”
Fergus jabbed my finger unceremoniously, twisting my hand downward, so the drops fell with a tinny patter into the waiting cup. Lara and the other two men crowded around us, mesmerized by the small pool of blood forming. Only Gabriel stood apart, his back turned to us as he studied the view through the window.
Lara was the first to move. “Fergus, we caught one.”
Fergus stepped back from me, his voice incredulous. “Demon-Born.” He turned to Lara. “Demon-Born, we trapped a goddamn Demon-Born!”
She squeezed his arm, and he bellowed, grabbing her by the waist and spilling the contents of the cup. I watched my blood splatter onto the white walls in a delicate shower of crimson flecks.
Gabriel observed them with a clenched jaw. “Have that cleaned, Fergus. Cain and Paulius, take the girl to the Amber suite. Lara, please find out the current status of the hunt for our guest's friends. I will inform the Ambassador of events so that she can contact those who seek the Demon children.”
Fergus released Lara roughly. “You can clean up the poxy blood, Gabriel, I am the one who caught her, I will be the one who tells Niamh.” He shoved a finger in Gabriel’s direction. “You were about to let her walk out the bloody door.”
Gabriel took a step forward, pressing his chest against the accusing finger. “If it hadn’t been for the girl remarking on your uncanny similarity to a primate then she would have walked straight past you, too.” He smiled coldly. “But of course, you are welcome to be the first to explain this happy accident to Niamh.”
Gabriel gestured for Fergus to walk ahead of him and they disappeared around the corner without a backward glance. Lara watched them go, her eyebrows knitted together, before addressing the two remaining men. “I’ll walk with you to the Amber Suite. Don’t let go of her until the door is sealed.” She cut her eyes in my direction. “We don’t know what their kind is capable of.”
She strode ahead of us down the corridor. The stocky man grabbed my right wrist, holding it tightly between his thumb and forefinger.
“Eh, this way, please.” The other man looked younger, his sandy hair falling messily in front of his blue eyes. On any average day, I would have blushed as he placed a gentle hand on my back to guide me forward. Not today.
The Amber Suite turned out to be only a hundred meters down the corridor. Lara stood outside the open door tapping her foot. The blond man ushered me over the threshold and stood back apologetically. “The feeling will pass as your body adjusts to not having magic.”
Lara shoved a key into his hands. “Paulius, stop trying to communicate with it and seal the door.”
He gave me a grim nod, and pulled the door shut, leaving me alone. I sank to my knees, all of my false bravado suddenly spent. The sound of the key twisting in the lock was accompanied by a strange throbbing. I shook my head, trying to release the pressure building inside my ears. I banged on the door. “What are you doing to me?”
Nobody answered. I curled up on the floor and tried to hold my soul together.
Chapter Thirty
Discomfort ebbed away and left behind an aching cavity inside my heart. I crawled across the room to a large window and dragged myself to my feet, gripping onto the windowsill. I felt as though the world had shifted on its axis. I had become untethered from my very being.
The view through the glass was as impressive here as it had been from the hallway. I rattled the locked window latch and wondered had Anne Boleyn been able to see the Thames from her prison cell. I paced the perimeter of the room, trying to control the panic that was building inside me. I searched for anything useful. Dining table, television, sofa, armchairs, drinks cabinet. I paused there for a moment before I caught sight of the phone.
I crossed the large room in four bounds and pounced on it like a jaguar, almost succeeding to hammer in Cat’s number before the line went dead. I smashed the phone against a door, and it opened to reveal a huge bedroom complete with a walk-in wardrobe and a luxurious bathroom.
The bathtub was made from heavy porcelain. Its clawed feet reminded me of the baths Eve used to run for me in the Chelsea house when I was small. She would fill them so high that when I jumped in with all my dolls, the bubbles would spill over the sides and splash onto the tiles.
I climbed into the tub and pressed my face against the porcelain. I wanted to cry. To release the grief and fear building inside me like steam inside a pressure cooker, but the tears wouldn’t come. I closed my eyes and screamed in fury. I was unaware that anyone had entered the room until somebody turned on the tap, drenching me with an icy spray.
“Shit!” I sprang back, relieved that it was Gabriel and not Fergus.
He turned off the water. “Magdalene girl, it’s considered normal to remove one's clothes before bathing.”
“Demon, it’s considered polite to knock before you enter an occupied bathroom.” I stepped out onto the floor, scrubbing my face with the back of my hand as I pressed my back against the tiled wall. “What do you want? Have the Guardians come to collect me?”
Gabriel grabbed my hand and tugged me out of the bathroom and into the bedroom. I struggled against his grasp but it his hands were like iron manacles. He pushed me into the chair in front of the dressing table. We eyeballed each other in the mirror. I tried not to focus on how badly my image compared to his groomed perfection.
“It’s not the Guardians who want you, child.” He spun me around to face him. “Can you slip? What are your gifts?”
I shrugged his hand off my shoulder. “I don’t have to answer your questions, let the Guardians, or whoever wants me interrogate me themselves. Traitor.”
&
nbsp; Gabriel blocked my attempt to stand up, putting his face close to mine. “What did you say?”
I fell back into the chair and squeezed my arms against my chest. “I remember you. You were there when Dawn was born. You brought Catherine to Eve.” I wrapped my fingers around the pendant hanging from my neck, perturbed once more by its inexplicable familiarity. I bit down on the sob that was threatening to escape my lips. “You helped bring her into the world, and now you are going to let her die.”
Gabriel stared into my face for a minute before turning away. “If you hadn’t opened your foolish mouth you’d be home by now.”
I bit my lip. “Then let me go. Please, I’ll never come back. Just show some mercy.”
Gabriel’s expression hardened. “Don’t talk to me about mercy. You have no idea what you’re involved in. Now, I strongly suggest you stop wasting my time and accept the help I am offering you because my time and my temper are running very short.”
I shrank away from his violet glare. “You want to help me?”
He exhaled, moving back a step. “I want none of this, Grace.”
The sound of my name was strange coming from his lips. “Are you on our side?”
He grabbed my hand and tugged me off the chair. “How am I supposed to know whose side you are on?”
I shook his hands away. “Do you answer every question with another question?”
Gabriel gave me a grudging half smile. “Can you slip if I open the magical vacuum?”
I shook my head and gave an apologetic grimace. “I can’t slip. I have no magic skills.”
Gabriel pressed his thumbs against his eyes. “There is an outfit in the closet, those who hunt you have very specific criteria for how a Demon-Born should be presented to them if caught. The female outfit is hanging up, put it on while I try and think. I passed the guard under the guise of preparing you for the offering. If Fergus sends any of his minions to check on you, they will expect you to be wearing it.”
I grabbed the only piece of clothing hanging on the vast rail and closed the bathroom door quietly behind me. I stripped off my black outfit and threw it over the side of the bath. Gabriel rapped on the door. “Get out. There’s no time.”
I shimmied into the thin silk dress and flung the door open. Gabriel stood in front of the window and with a flick of his fingers the glass vanished leaving a gaping hole in the wall. “I won’t risk assisting you more than this, Grace. When they arrive, I will tell them I found the room in this state, that we underestimated your power.”
He turned on his heel and headed straight for the door to the corridor.
“Gabriel, what the hell? What am I supposed to do? We’re three flights up in the middle of a city, this doesn’t help me!”
He met my stare coldly. “Help yourself, Grace.”
The sound of the door clicking shut behind him rang in my ears like a gunshot. I sprinted to the empty window frame and leaned out to examine the wall below. The white ledge looked wide enough for my feet to grip. There was a three-foot jump to the next window ledge, and a wrought iron fire escape ladder directly below it, descending all the way to the pavement.
I had been terrified of heights for as long as I could remember. I gripped the charm around my neck, focusing on getting it back to Dawn as I swung myself through the window and planted my bare feet onto the window ledge. My toes gripped the cold cement. No, no, no. I dug my fingers into the rough grooves in the redbrick, whispering to myself to stop the waves off panic from dragging me into hysteria. Don’t look down. My body shook violently as I eased myself onto the fire escape ladder, sending silent prayers of thanks for the long arms and legs I usually cursed.
I rested my forehead against the cold metal rungs for a split second to catch my breath. Two strong hands grabbed me from above and hauled me in through the living room window.
“No!” I hurled myself toward the bedroom in desperation.
Gabriel leaned against the doorframe and examined his nails as Fergus dangled me in the air. “I warned you she shouldn’t be underestimated, Fergus.” He lifted his head. “Get rid of her. Now.”
“You sneaky, lying, treacherous snake.” My voice quivered as I strained to reach him, still suspended in midair. Lara was spinning a small object in the center of the room. Her arm contorted with such speed I couldn’t focus on her movements. I winced as the space in front of me collapsed, eaten away by swirling blackness to form a portal.
Fergus pulled me closer to him so that my back was pressed against his abdomen. He bent his head to smell my hair. “Anything you want to say before you go? Want to tempt me with a little personal time for a few minutes reprieve before you meet your maker?”
“Go to hell, Demon filth.” I tore my nails along his exposed arms, drawing lines of scarlet blood along his flesh. Fergus released me with a violent jolt, and I fell forward against Gabriel’s chest. He looked down at me and stroked my cheek, before shoving me backward, into the abyss.
I imagined the feeling was similar to being dragged under a high-speed train. The energy sucked me through space with enough ferocity to bruise my skin before it spat me, face first, onto the rough ground. I rolled onto my back. The portal had already vanished. I scrambled to my feet and ran my fingers through the warm air. Nothing.
I turned in a full circle taking in the endless miles of sun-bleached hills. There were clumps of grass growing every couple of feet, but there appeared to be nothing else alive under the scorching sun. My skin was already feeling tight, and the soles of my feet were begging for relief from the heat. I ran toward the base of the nearest rocky slope, pressing myself into the shade under a small outcrop of rock. Wherever those assholes had sent me, I was confident it wasn’t to the Guardians.
Hugging my knees to my chest, I scanned the horizon for movement. I crushed Dawn’s pendant inside my fist. My eyes focused on the darkening sky over a distant hilltop. The storm was building fast, and the charcoal clouds stretched across the heavens, moving closer at an astonishing rate. It hit me like a bolt of lightning. They weren’t clouds.
I ran, frantically searching for somewhere to hide. A cave, or a crevice I could bury myself under. My feet blistered as I sprinted over the scorched earth, pulling desperately at cracks in the stone with bloody fingers. Trying to open them wide enough for me to slither inside. “Help me, somebody help me.”
I didn’t expect an answer, it was just sheer desperation, but I heard the whisper of voices in response.
“Where are you? Can you hear me?” I strained to make out what the voices were saying, as I watched the darkness bleeding across the sky toward me.
We have to go, it’s too late, it’s closing.
“Don’t go! I am here, wait for me! Where are you?” My throat was raw.
I can feel her, just wait one more minute, I can feel her.
My heart stopped. “Sam?”
They weren’t here. They were in my head. I could hear him in my mind, his voice swirling around in a storm of colored light. I reached out to him. Sam! Can you help me? They are coming for me, please, help me! I sobbed, clinging to the rock with one hand, crushing Dawn’s pendant into my palm with such force it tore through my skin. Warm blood trickled over my skin and splattered onto the parched earth.
I lifted my eyes to face the black swarm as it descended on me. Feeding on the blackness hidden in my heart. I heard Sam screaming my name in my mind as I squeezed my eyes shut, sending every bit of my soul to be with my loved ones. I felt my body hurtling through the air, and I braced every cell against the pain.
It never came.
I landed with a thud against something warm and solid. Strong arms wound their way around my body with agonizing tenderness. I kept my eyes squeezed shut, terrified that my heart was deceiving me.
Voices called out, reaching for me. I clung to his body and pressed my face against his chest. Sam ran his hands up and down my back as he spoke.
I heard the familiar sound of Cat’s light feet approaching. W
ithout opening my eyes, I tugged at the delicate chain around my neck and prised my bloody fingers open. Cat was talking as she unfastened the necklace and stroked my ravaged skin, but I couldn’t decipher what she was saying.
Only one sound made sense. The voice whispering in my ear, over and over. Just one word. As if it was God’s own prayer. Grace, Grace, Grace.
I let the tears come.
Chapter Thirty-One
“She should never have been there in the first place, Eve. You must have been out of your mind.” Cat’s voice dragged me from the weight of a restless sleep.
“I didn’t think she would be in any danger, I wouldn’t have sent her—”
“You didn’t think she would be in any danger? In the Tower? Goddamn it, Eve. Cain told you about the attacks he’s been tracking for Peter. And you sent two Demon-Born kids into that bloody viper's nest? Satan himself doesn’t know what, whoever is hunting the Demon-Born, wants with us.”
Their voices filtered into the room through the closed door, and I covered my head with the blanket to escape the hushed argument. The floorboards on the other side of the bed creaked. My heart told me to turn around, but my head begged me to have sense. I opened my eyes and stared at the wall. The large mahogany wardrobe was open, and a familiar outfit hung on the rail. Déjà vu. I was back where I started, in the healing rooms.
“Is Dawn okay?” I didn’t turn my head to ask the question.
“One hundred percent.” Emotion hit me like a tidal wave. Dawn was okay. Sam was at my bedside. I buried my face in the pillow and waited for the world to right itself before turning over to talk to him.
“How long was I out this time?” I said a silent prayer that my face was clean and my breath didn’t stink. Sam was sitting on a high-backed chair beside the bed, close enough that if I reached out with my hand, I could have pinched him to check I wasn’t dreaming.
The Demon-Born Trilogy: (Complete Paranormal Fantasy Series) Page 17
