Niamh took a shuddering breath and leaned her weight on the table. “He’s sleeping? He’s just sleeping.”
At the sound of Niamh’s voice, the figure in the chair sprang to his feet and spun to face us. Jonah’s blue eyes blazed like sapphires in his wan face. “Niamh? Gods, Niamh, you’re here.” He crossed the room in two bounds and gripped her shoulders. The energy pouring off him was a tumultuous mixture of euphoria and agony. “You shouldn’t be here.”
Sam and I jumped back as Niamh’s palm whipped through the air and cracked against Jonah’s cheek. “Bastard.”
Niamh glared at Jonah, her hand still poised in midair. Jonah’s head fell forward onto his chest. “I had to do it this way, Niamh. If I had told you about Anna’s cry for help, you would have insisted on coming with me. I didn’t want you to suffer.”
“Suffer?” Niamh’s voice cracked. “After almost two thousands years together you vanish without a trace—you thought that would not cause me pain?”
Jonah’s shoulders sagged. “It was pain or death, Niamh. I couldn’t choose death for you. I’m sorry.”
Niamh took a step forward and pressed her slender hands flat against his chest. Jonah lifted his chin to meet her gaze, and I averted my eyes, blushing at the intimacy of their connection. Niamh’s words burrowed into my heart. “I would rather die a thousand deaths in your arms, Jonah, than live another moment apart.”
I twisted to face Sam as the two Demons embraced and my stomach jumped as I saw my own heartache reflected in his eyes. He brushed his mouth softly against my cheek, stemming my tears with his lips. Sam cupped my face with his large hand and brushed a calloused finger over my lips. I stared up at him, so distracted by the intensity of his expression that I didn’t even hear Niamh and Jonah crossing the room. A hand landed on my shoulder and startled Sam and me out of our trance.
“Seeker, Reaper—you did well.” Jonah patted Sam’s arm with his other hand. “You caused quite a stir when you ended the Halfling Elder’s life.”
I swallowed in an attempted to dislodge the lump in my throat. “Anna, is she here? Is she okay? I know she asked me to release him but . . .”
My words faded into silence, and Jonah lifted his hand to my arm. “Anna’s gone, child. She was tied to this world by the spell that kept her son in the Long Sleep. Once Abel was freed, so was she.”
“Anna’s dead? I killed her too?” The words scraped my tongue.
Jonah’s fingers squeezed my wrist. “She had prayed for release from this world for two thousand years, Seeker. You freed her child, and you freed her. She’s finally at peace. You did the right thing. And it was a more powerful blow than any of us expected. The Veil is faltering.”
Sam’s jaw hopped as he clenched and unclenched his teeth. “Which means they’re more desperate than ever to get their hands on the Lost Powers, right?”
Jonah glanced at Niamh and nodded his head. He shifted from one foot to the other. “Yes. You know they have Elizabeth?”
“We do. We made a mistake, Jonah.” Niamh’s lips were as pale as her skin. “We thought that Elizabeth had betrayed us, but it was—”
“Mathas.” Jonah spat the name out, and his hands clenched into fists. “I know. I had never seen him here before Abel’s death, never even sensed him when I was Seeking. Not once. Shifters are tricky to sense at the best of times but the cloak concealing Mathas was more powerful than that. I realized as soon as the Veil began to weaken. How had I never seen it before? He was always there, at the center of everything. He was the first Demon my father met when he came to this world, you know?”
Sam’s hand tightened on my waist at the mention of Jonah’s father, and I stared at Niamh, unsure of what to say. Niamh’s forehead creased as she reached for Jonah’s hand. “The children were able to unlock the message from your father’s manuscript, Jonah.”
Jonah’s frown deepened as we recited the words his father had written. “My father knew the Spirit Demons were created by the Elders? He knew the Elders were serving the darkness? Why didn’t he tell me? If I had known before he died—before he . . .”
I crushed my fingers against my lips as Jonah’s voice trailed away. Sam stepped past me and laid a hand on Jonah’s shoulder. “Your father didn’t kill himself, Jonah. The Elder’s killed him. The first time we used our power on his manuscript, we saw it. We think he must have confronted them about their treachery and they turned against him. The message was his dying gift. He didn’t leave you. He didn’t make that choice.”
Jonah’s face was a storm of emotions as he turned away from Sam and stared at Niamh. “He didn’t leave me?” Niamh’s eyes were bright with unshed tears as she shook her head. Jonah’s hands curled into fists, and the air in the room began to charge with magical energy. “They killed him. The Elders killed my father.”
Niamh stared into his face. “And they have Elizabeth. They’re using her to try and get a child to release his magic. The child with the Lost Power of Sight showed us a vision. A small boy—they want his gift.”
Jonah’s eyes flashed. “The white-haired boy. Zach. Anna believed he was the keeper of the final lost power—the Fire.”
I grabbed Sam’s arm and reached for Jonah. “We have to go and help Elizabeth. We have to help her and the two kids escape. Can we use our power to get to them in the citadel.”
Niamh glanced at Jonah. “It’s time Jonah—we should use the walls. The Elders will sense us if the children use their magic.”
“The walls? Do you mean the underground passages? They’re not secret anymore. Fergus and Lara followed Deirdre down there. That’s where she was hiding Frank and Lydia.” I winced at the memory of Fergus’s hands on Deirdre’s swollen stomach.
Niamh gave me a grim smile. “No, not the underground tunnels. Jonah and I used our magic to create a portal tunnel in the walls of the city. We may have built this city for the Elders in our innocence and unwittingly allowed them to transform it into a stronghold for their evil. But it has always been our city, not theirs—it is a part of us, and we are a part of it.”
Jonah returned her smile as they pressed their palms flat against the wall. Sam threaded his fingers through mine as we stepped into line behind them. I chewed on the side of my thumb and muttered anxiously. “I still can’t believe that Mathas betrayed Lizzie like this. I thought he loved her, but the Elders must have offered him something more powerful that his love for her.”
Jonah turned to stare at me over his shoulder as the wall in front of him gave way. The blue of his eyes was deep as the midnight sky. “Seeker, the Elders didn’t offer Mathas anything, it was he who led them. Mathas didn’t come to this world seeking the darkness as the rest of the Original Demons did. He was here all along. Mathas is the darkness.”
Chapter Twenty-Six
Grace
My mind was still reeling when we emerged from the labyrinth of portal tunnels and into a gloomy passageway. I opened my mouth to question Jonah about his statement, but Sam clamped his hand over my lips before I could utter a word. Niamh gestured for us to be silent as she pressed her ear against a plain, wooden door.
There were voices outside. I held my breath and strained to catch the words. My chest tightened as the volume of the speaking increased. They were coming closer.
“I expected your plan to be more effective, Julius old boy, given your confidence.” I bit down on my knuckles to stop myself releasing the whimper that was building in my throat at the sound of Peter’s voice on the other side of the door.
“Patience, Peter, patience. I’ll crack the little brat yet. He’s brave watching us torment the Demon and the girl from a distance. Let’s see how he fares when we bring him into the Round Room. He might just feel differently when he can hear the screams for himself.” The voice was only vaguely familiar to me, but Sam’s body was as rigid as a statue as he listened. “Have the men taken our leverage into the room?”
“Yes, Henry, the girl and the Demon are in the Round Room. They’d like t
o chat, but they’re a little tied up at the moment.” I could almost hear Peter’s grin, and my hands balled so tightly into fists that my nails cut into the flesh of my palms.
The laughter in the corridor made my stomach lurch sickeningly. “Good, good. Leave them to stew for a few minutes before we bring the boy in. I could do with some refreshment after that. I always find working with small blades is exhausting. Highly effective but immeasurably tedious.”
Sam’s body shook as the men’s voices faded away. I stared at him, terrified by the flashes of magical energy that sparked in the air around him. He ground his teeth together as he struggled to maintain control. Niamh’s eyes widened as she glanced over her shoulder. She whirled to face him. “Samuel, control yourself. We need to go to the Round Room immediately.”
Niamh went to twist the door handle, but I grabbed her wrist and held it still. She glared at me with one one raised eyebrow. I bit the corner of my lip. “What if it’s a trap, Niamh? It’s a pretty big coincidence that Peter and his Elder buddy would stop outside our hiding spot and tell us where Lizzie and Valerie are, isn’t it? And that still doesn’t help us to free the boy. We need everyone in the same place if Sam and I are to use our magic to bring them to safety.”
Sam crossed his arms. “Grace is right, it feels like a set-up. Of all the places in the citadel those two assholes could talk, they chose right outside this door to discuss their plans in detail? I smell bullshit.”
“It doesn’t matter.” Sam and I both stared at Jonah. He lifted one shoulder. “I think you may be right, children, but it doesn’t matter. Use your Seeking power, can you sense Elizabeth and Valerie?”
I took a deep breath and closed my eyes, sensing the familiar flickers of life. “Yes, they’re close.”
“Good, Seeker, you’re improving. Now can you find the boy?” I opened my mouth to say the boy was a stranger to me, but Jonah cut me off. “I know you’ve never met him, child, but you have seen him. You’ve sensed his very being. Even if you didn’t register his unique presence, you have sensed him in the vision that the Seer girl shared with you. Return to that moment. Sense him, then Seek him.”
My mouth was dry as I tried to swallow the ball of anxiety lodged in my throat. I reached for the memory of Dawn’s vision, and it slid across my mind like butter on warm toast. The boy's energy was wound as tight as a coiled spring—pale gray wrapped around a dazzling spark of light. I held on to the image and tried to find it in the citadel, but every time I thought I had grasped it, he slipped away and left me empty-handed.
I pursed my lips. “I can’t grab hold of his energy. He keeps slipping away.” Niamh and Jonah stared at each other, and my ribcage closed in around my lungs. “What, guys? What does that mean?”
“Maybe nothing,” Jonah said. I crossed my arms, and he released a breath. “But, most likely, it means they suspect a threat is close by.”
Sam eyeballed Jonah and Niamh. “They’re baiting us.”
“You don’t have do this, either of you. You got me as far as Jonah, that’s all I asked of you. We can rescue Elizabeth and the girl child.” Niamh’s voice was low as she stared at the floor.
Sam glanced at me, and I shook my head. “You can’t get them out of here without us—without our power.”
“No. But we can make it so the children and Elizabeth cannot be used by the darkness. Without all the Lost Powers, Mathas and the Elders won’t be able to complete their plan.” Niamh didn’t meet my eye as she spoke. I stared at Sam, horrified by the implication of Niamh’s words.
Sam pressed his fist against the wall. “Gods, Niamh, don’t talk like that. Killing innocents just so the Elders can’t use them isn’t an option. Shit.”
“And I don’t think we can beat the Elders without all the Lost Powers, anyway.” I chewed on my bottom lip as Jonah’s examined my face. “That’s what the poem seemed to say, right?”
Jonah frowned and nodded sharply. “I agree. Somehow, the children who possess the Lost Powers are intrinsically linked to the darkness. If they are to defeat Mathas, they will need all the Lost Powers on their side.” He sighed. “A handful of children against ancient evil.”
I raised my chin. “We’re not all children. Sam and I aren’t children, and Eve is the Spark—my mother is the Spark.”
Jonah rested his palm lightly against my cheek. “Forgive me, Seeker, I didn’t mean to offend you. I have absolute faith in your ability, but to me, all of you are children—even that bold, brat of a Demon mage who must be at least six hundred by now.”
My lips curved upward at Jonah’s description of Gabriel as a brat. The memory of a smile played across Niamh’s face, and I wondered if she was recalling happier times. A shuffling sound in on the other side of the wall to our right dragged us back to the present moment. Niamh gripped my wrist tightly and hissed into my ear. “The Round Room next to us—are Elizabeth and the girl alone?”
Sam slipped his hand around my waist protectively as I reached out to sense the energy on the other side of the magically enforced stone wall. I grimaced and cupped my hand over my mouth and nose. “All I can sense is Lizzie and Valerie. I don’t get any trace of Peter or any other Elders, but the smell…”
I inhaled deeply, fighting the urge to heave. Sam’s jaw tightened. “That rotting smell again? Like at the massacre site at the Silent Home?”
“Yeah,” I said. “And when Peter sacrificed Diamond.”
Niamh looked at Peter before turning to Sam and me. “You can still leave, it’s not too late. I can clear a path—”
“No!” I raised my arm to stop her from speaking. “No. We get everyone back to safety. That’s what we came here to do.”
I thrust past the others, ignoring the furtive glance Jonah shot in Niamh’s direction. There was no time to dwell on whatever secret they were concealing—I was afraid if I halted for even a second, I would turn on my heel and flee. Sam reached the door before me and tilted his head toward the corridor. “Is the way clear?”
“Yes.” I nodded. “The corridor is empty.”
Sam jerked the door open, and we slipped into the passageway on silent feet. The garish paintings on the wall were exactly as I remembered them from our last visit to the citadel—grotesquely beautiful. An illustrated history of the Elders’ lies and deceit. Niamh gestured to the first door on the right, and Jonah took the lead. I braced myself as he slid the polished wooden door open, but there was no rush of magic or guards to greet us. Jonah slipped inside, and Niamh followed him, leaving Sam to tug me over the threshold.
The room smelled like death. I lifted the bottom of my face and tried to use the fabric to shield me from the odor. Sam pulled me close to his side. He raised his Spirit Blade in the air as we circled the periphery of the room, clearly unbothered by the pungent fumes. My eyes widened as I scanned the curved walls. The entire room had been painted red. Even the ceiling was a bright scarlet. Only the black marble floor and a circle of black chairs in the center of the room broke the sea of crimson.
Chairs. Thrones would have been a better description. Imposing pieces of furniture intricately carved from stone as black as coal. Of the nine thrones, one rose above all the others like a king reigning over his subjects. Niamh stifled a cry as her eyes landed on the body slumped in the seat. As she scrambled up the steps, she slipped on a pool of blood dripping from the throne. Her hands and knees were stained red, as though she had become an extension of the room itself. She reached out to the body on the chair with arms outstretched. “Elizabeth?”
Lizzie turned her head slowly to observe her sister. Her hands were gripped tightly around Valerie’s body, and the small girl stared at us with terrified eyes. I pulled my shirt away from my face and gave Valerie what I hoped was a reassuring smile. I tried to focus on her emotion so that I could understand how best to soothe her but the stink was so overpowering that I couldn’t concentrate. Valerie’s eyes blinked rapidly as she stared at me. Lizzie shifted in her seat and rubbed her hand gently against the sm
all girl’s dark cheek. “Easy, princess. These are our friends. Our kin.”
Valerie’s body tensed visibly, and her little arms froze by her side. I turned my palms outward and nodded slowly. “Lizzie’s right, Valerie. We’re not here to hurt you.” Against my will, my gaze flickered to Lizzie’s torn clothing and her bloodied skin. “I promise, all we want to do is take you somewhere safe. We are going to take you and your friend somewhere that nobody will be able to do anything bad to you, is that okay?”
Sam raised an eyebrow at me as the small girl continued to stare straight ahead and blink rapidly. A dull pressure had begun to build behind my eyes, as though the stench of badness had become a physical force. I pressed my lip together and focused on Lizzie. She gave Niamh a dazzling smile. “Sister, I knew you’d come for me.”
Niamh took a step back, almost losing her footing on the blood glazed marble. “Elizabeth, forgive me—”
“Forget it.” Lizzie waved Niamh’s apology away with a flick of her wrist. “Plenty of time to chat about the past when we get back to safety. Are you ready to transport us, Grace? Samuel?”
Something about the width of Lizzie’s smile set my teeth on edge. I inched closer to Sam. “We need to get a read on the boy first. I can’t sense him yet. As soon as I can locate his energy, we’ll get everyone out of here.”
Lizzie’s mouth hardened and the air around me thickened. The smell was so strong that I thought I might gag. She glared at me. “No more time wasting—take me to the rest of the Hidden Powers.”
I felt time slow. Every beat of my heart was a sluggish thud. Sam’s stare flicked in my direction at the same instant as Jonah’s hand shot out. In the blink of an eye, Sam had Reaped Valerie into his arms and Jonah had exploded the wall behind Lizzie’s head. Niamh gaped at him in horror and flung herself in front of her sister. Jonah screamed at her to move out of the way, but her face was a mask of confusion as Lizzie dragged her onto her lap and held a blade against her throat.
The Demon-Born Trilogy: (Complete Paranormal Fantasy Series) Page 63
