by Jessica Gunn
My gut twisted as my breath stopped. Time slowed as Giyano waved Riley into the room. Sunlight streamed in through one of the windows and glinted off the golden Shadow Crest medallion hanging around Riley’s neck. Combined with the dark red robes, it made him look like he was playing dress up in his father’s clothes. Only I wasn’t a demon, and I was starting to wonder who’d stepped into that “father” role.
“So help me, Giyano, if you—”
My words froze on my lips as my eyes landed on Riley’s. When he was born, they’d been the darkest blue I’d ever seen. Navy as the nighttime sky. And then nine months ago, when we’d rescued him from Lady Azar’s lair, his eyes had been bright blue like mine. Like Rachel’s.
Now they were the deepest burgundy I’d ever seen, seemingly alight with magik flowing inside of them. Dark magik. Demonic magik.
“Say hello to your father, Riley,” Giyano said. “We weren’t expecting him, but it’s okay if you want to say hello to the man who left you to our care.” He turned to me, eyes cold as ice. “The father who abandoned you.”
“What!” Venom dripped from my lips as a blind, unfiltered sheet of red slipped over my vision. My blood boiled, face and neck heated, but the comforting crackle of lightning, the loving sparks that accompanied most of my rages, didn’t settle between my fingers.
Angry, alone, and powerless, I watched as Riley’s three-year-old face took on a look of pure hatred.
“Riley,” I pleaded. “Don’t listen to him. He’s the one who took you from me. He’s the reason you and mommy had to move away from me.”
Riley’s toddler eyes narrowed. They were supposed be wide, awed at the world and everything new he saw, but instead, only demonic magik and dark intent waited. “You hurt my friends.”
Friends? Was he serious? My fists curled behind me. I yanked on the ropes again, this time feeling a millimeter of give. That’s it. Just keep working them.
“They’re not your friends, Riley. Look what they did to you. They hurt you. Friends don’t do that.”
Did it hurt when a person was turned into a demon? There was so much I didn’t know. How much of my Riley was still in there? Until today, I guess I hadn’t really believed what that nurse, Beverly Rose, had said when she’d told me Riley had been turned into a demon. But with him standing before me, nearly at Giyano’s side, I had no other option but to believe what I was seeing.
“Riley has been taken care of, Ben. I assure you that,” Giyano said, his expression softening. “We’d never put him in any danger.”
My glare snapped to Giyano, a fresh round of adrenaline pumping through my veins. So strong I was sure I’d be able to rip through these thick ropes within moments. “Who the hell are you? You attacked Lady Azar to save him, you asshole. Krystin was right about that. You worked with her to ensure his safety, to ensure all of Boston’s safety. And now you’re working for her again? What the fuck!”
Another inch of give. These ropes would tear soon, and then I’d wring that fucker’s neck. I didn’t care if Riley was there to watch. As long as I got him out of here, we could sit in therapy together for all I fucking cared.
Giyano’s gaze dropped. “Even if you manage to break your bonds, we used requirem on you again an hour ago.”
“I’m aware.” Did he really think I was that stupid?
“Good. Then you’re also aware of the fact that the magiks on this room that are preventing you from using teleportante to escape are the same ones keeping aura sickness from overtaking your soul. If I were to drop the magiks in order to detain you again, you will die. And as of right now, that’s not part of the plan.”
My eyes narrowed even as I forced the rest of myself to slow down. To feel the space around me. One deep breath. Two. In and out. Slow, Ben. I closed my eyes and on the third deep breath, I felt it. Something I’d never had to deal with before but had heard plenty of stories about: aura sickness.
Usually when we cleared out demon nests, the demons were too low-level to be an issue. And no Hunters besides witches could even see a demon’s aura. The auras Krystin and Shawn both saw were ever-present, a part of a demon’s magik. Too many of those auras together in one placed oppressed a human’s soul, crushing it beneath the weight of evil, dark magik.
I felt it. On the edges of my awareness, the aura sickness set in like an oncoming hurricane. A dark electricity not of my own making tickled my nerves. Goosebumps rippled up my arms and the back of my neck. Beyond that door, inside of this house, there were a lot of demons. High-level demons. Possibly the entire Shadow Crest ranks, unlike the time we’d broken into their lair.
Nine months ago, none of us had experienced aura sickness. Now, it danced before me like a tornado in a cornfield, ready and waiting to strike when the winds turned in its favor.
Giyano was, as much as I hated to admit it, right. If I got out of these ropes, if I attacked, I’d be dead. I just didn’t know what would kill me first: Giyano or aura sickness. There was no cure from the latter, and no guarantee of a quick death from the former.
I swallowed hard and dropped my hands, stopping my escape.
“Good choice, Ben.”
“That’s a lot of demons you have out there.”
Giyano’s lips twisted into a proud smile that almost reached from ear to ear. “Your son has been doing some amazing work.”
My stomach dropped. Lady Azar was already using Riley as a magik siphon, pumping him full of magik before she used him to get through the magik walls that supposedly were protecting Alzan. The same city Krystin and Shawn were supposedly meant to save, with magik they were supposed to have. Had anyone checked to make sure this city actually existed?
If Lady Azar had been this dedicated to chasing it, then it must have been real.
I looked to Riley again, taking in his small form. He was tall, or… he was tall for what I assumed a three-year-old would look like. I didn’t know much about kids or how to raise one—I hadn’t yet been given the chance to raise my own—but he seemed too big for his age.
He shouldn’t be involved in this. Any of this.
“Do you remember me?” I asked him. “It’s me, Riley. It’s Dad. I saved you from the monsters before. Don’t let them make you think otherwise.”
“They don’t,” he said with such child-like innocence that I realized I’d forgotten I was talking to a three-year-old who probably didn’t understand as much about his magik or his role in this war. But I did know kids understood more than we often gave them credit for.
Maybe they hadn’t hurt Riley after all. It was possible Giyano wasn’t lying. But just because they hadn’t yet done anything didn’t mean they one day wouldn’t. “They’re going to, Riley. In less than two weeks, Lady Azar is going to turn on you and use your magik to do very bad things.”
Giyano stepped in front of Riley again, blocking him from my view. “That’s enough of that.”
“Get out of my way,” I growled at him.
“Not until you tell me where Krystin and Shawn are,” Giyano said, his voice level. His stare met mine, unwavering.
My jaw locked. “I don’t know.” Which wasn’t a lie. I didn’t know. I hadn’t been home since last night. For all I knew, Rachel had kicked Krystin to the curb after I left. And Shawn was pretty pissed too. Who knew where he’d gone.
I wouldn’t tell Giyano that, though. Maybe he was still pissed about being shown up by Krystin last night. But if he was that worried, he never should have picked a fight with us in the first place. Not like he didn’t know what we were capable of.
Giyano turned and said to Riley, “Why don’t you go run back to the council until I’m finished here?”
Riley nodded and walked back out the door, out of sight.
“No!” I screamed, rocking the chair as I tried—and failed—to stand. “Riley!”
Giyano’s fist slammed into my cheek again, rattling my teeth. Pain cracked up the side of my cheekbone. “Silence.”
“Oh, fuck you—”
Another punch, this time to my gut, twisting it further than it had been after seeing Riley’s burgundy red eyes.
“Enough, Ben. Tell me where they are and I’ll call Riley back in here.” Giyano stepped back. “A few simple words and you can finally have as much time with your son as you’ve wanted for so long now.”
Not like this. I closed my eyes against the thought. I hated myself for it, for not just telling Giyano Shawn at least might still be at the house. That all he had to do was wait until whatever Shawn and Krystin had done to protect the house was down. Then he could do what he wanted.
I hated Krystin, right? Or at the very least didn’t trust her enough to work with her anymore?
But Rachel is there. And Nate. And they, and Shawn, didn’t deserve to be in the crossfire of whatever Giyano and Lady Azar had been planning.
But Riley is here. He was right in front of me, alive and… well, not happy, but not in horrible shape or dead either. He was okay, relatively.
“Hurry, Ben. Before the offer is off the table,” Giyano said as he paced before me.
Blood dripped down my chin from my bleeding mouth. The droplets landed on the thighs of my jeans. “I don’t know where they are.”
“We both know that’s a lie.”
“I was sent here by Jaffrin right after we rescued Shawn and Nate from your house. I have no idea what happened at my team’s house after I left, or if they’ve left. But you won’t be able to get in there for a while. Which I suspect you already know since we’re having this conversation.”
He would have already tried by now, that was for sure. So why, then, was Giyano here, questioning me?
Giyano stopped pacing. “Jaffrin sent you here?”
“Yes.” I saw no point in lying about it.
“Alone.”
“Yes.”
Giyano turned to me. “For what reason?”
“Recon, I thought. To see if Nate’s asanak had worn off Lady Azar’s magik yet, maybe. Or maybe to keep an eye on Tatiana Viynar’s old hideout.”
Giyano’s expression hardened. “Or to rescue your son.” Then, more quietly, “He must know, too.”
“Know what?”
Giyano abruptly walked away toward the door. “Stay put, Ben. Remember that I do not wish to see you dead. Not unless you force my hand.”
“What does Jaffrin know?” I shouted as he walked away. “And why the hell does it bother you so much?”
But Giyano left me in silence, my thoughts my only company.
Chapter 11
KRYSTIN
The hot summer sun bore down on all four of us the second we landed in the clearing on the hill beside Tatiana Viynar’s old hideout. I walked to the edge of the hill as the rest of them collected their bearings. I didn’t care if any demons below saw us. If they’d captured Ben, then they had to know who he was by now and that his team would be coming for him.
They had to be expecting us, and yet there wasn’t even a single demon outside guarding the place.
“Invisible?” Nate asked as he came to stand beside me.
I shrugged. “I’ve never heard of that before. Is that possible?”
“Figured you would know.”
Rachel rose to the crest of the hill, a hand cupped over her brow to block out the morning sun. “We should go in two-by-two. Flank the entrance like we tried to do last time. Break in, fight any resistance, and then once we find Ben, hightail it out. Minimal fighting. I don’t want us to die in there.”
“Whatever you say, boss,” I said, still watching the house.
How was it possible that a building that once belonged to a renowned Landshaft bounty hunter was now completely unguarded? This was the height of the Autumn Fire season. In under two weeks, All Hallows’ Eve aside, the biggest night for demonic transformations would occur, and the resulting energy from that large an exchange would propel Lady Azar all the way to Alzan—with Riley’s help.
Rachel turned to me. “Boss?”
I raised my hands. “Didn’t mean anything by it, I promise.” Sarcasm just happened to be my default language a good portion of the time. For better or worse.
She gave me a weary look that said she didn’t trust me or my intentions to actually follow orders. I knew the look well—Ben had given me the same one on more than one occasion. “Good. Then let’s go. Shawn, you’re with me.”
I took off with Nate toward the front entrance of the house, back to the area in which we’d seen Tatiana Viynar appear with her soldiers and their captured Ember witches months ago. It was hard to believe that it’d been less than a year since I’d joined this team, especially considering all that’d happened since then.
Nate and I crept closer, keeping our knife hands ready and our eyes alert, but the closer we got to the house, the more I doubted anyone was actually inside.
“Say Ben’s in there,” I whispered as we approached head-on, “what are the chances—”
“Don’t,” Nate hissed. “He’s alive. He has to be.”
“I wasn’t going to say they killed him.” Jeez. Did they all really think I was that pessimistic? “I’m saying it’s either a trap or nobody’s home. We’re fifteen feet from the door and no one’s come out to say hello.”
His eyes narrowed. “You’re not wrong. It’s probably a trap. We’re going in anyway.”
I nodded. “Obviously. I just wanted to point it out in case we get in there and all of Shadow Crest is waiting inside.”
Nate didn’t bother looking over at me this time. Instead, he kept pace until we were at the door and then he braced himself against the wood. “We’d have aura sickness if that were true. If anyone’s inside, the party is small enough to take on without us dying. Probably.”
I wanted to roll my eyes but didn’t. “Probably.” I leaned against the opposite side of the door frame and listened for any sounds. “Nothing.”
“Wait for Rachel’s signal.”
Except we hadn’t discussed what that be or when it’d happen, mostly because we all assumed there’d have been a fight the moment we’d arrive.
The sound of a door splitting open echoed from the back of the house. Nate snapped to attention and called ether to his hands. He shoved the block of it against the wood.
The door shattered under his attack and the two of us filed into the main hallway. I willed fire to my fingertips just in case the team’s magik wasn’t enough. Flames danced around my wrists, an attack in waiting, as we cleared one small room after another. The living room, the parlor. Kitchen. A bedroom. All empty. Eventually, we met up with Rachel and Shawn outside the door that led to a connected barn.
“This is the last,” Shawn said, his eyes tight. “They must have gone.”
“Still one more,” Rachel said as she readjusted the position of her water canister backpack. “Nate, can you get the door?”
Nate nodded and formed a big block of solid white ether in front of him, then pushed it forward against the door. It splintered under the pressure. We filed in behind him, me last, as he walked forward into the room, quickly clearing it, too.
“Ben!” Rachel shouted.
I couldn’t see over her or Shawn, but as they rushed to his side, I finally caught a glimpse of Ben tied to a chair in the center of the small, dark room. Unconscious.
“Ben,” Rachel said as she knelt in front of him, cupping his face. “Ben, are you alive?”
Shawn moved behind him, a knife in hand. He cut the ropes keeping Ben bound to the chair.
But I was too distracted to wait and see if Ben would respond. The second we entered the room my skin had broken out in goosebumps that rode up my arms and back. Dread and hopelessness, a deep darkness, settled over me, causing me to stumble as my eyes followed shadowy auras that whipped around the room.
Aura sickness.
“Rachel, he’s probably out cold,” I said. “Don’t you guys feel it?”
She turned back to me. “Feel what?”
“Aura sickness,” Shawn said. “I f
eel it too. I think we’re more sensitive to it because we’re witches. The demons have been long gone, but there must have been dozens of them here.”
“More than have ever been at Hunter’s Guild with us at any rate,” Nate said.
“And in Shadow Crest’s lair that one time.” I glanced down at Ben and frowned. “I don’t know how he made it.”
“Help me,” Rachel said as she pulled Ben from the chair. But his dead weight was too much for her. Nate and Shawn each took one of Ben’s arms and threw them over their shoulders.
“Let’s get him back home,” Rachel said.
“I’ll just be a minute,” I said, peering around. Something felt off about this place and it wasn’t just the aura sickness. “I want to look around.”
Shawn and Nate exchanged glances, but it was Shawn who stepped forward. “I’ll stay with you.”
“No, you won’t. Go; help Ben. I’ll be there in a minute.”
“And if they come back?” Rachel asked.
I shrugged as I paced back toward the door. What was off here? I couldn’t place my finger on it. “You all hate me anyway, right? They’ll just off or capture me. I’ll be fine.”
“What do you sense?” Nate asked.
“I’m not sure.” But something was grabbing on to my magik and my mind, begging me to recognize the feeling. “Something familiar.”
“Uh, Krystin?” Shawn asked.
I turned to him. “Yeah?”
He pointed down to my hand, which was glowing with Giyano’s mark. The rest of the demonic auras in the room must have blocked his out for once.
“Well, there you go,” I said.
“Let’s get out of here before they come back.”
But even as Rachel used teleportante to bring us all back to the house, I had to wonder why Giyano would have just left Ben there without killing him or taking him with them when Shadow Crest had left.
A shiver ran up my spine, twisting and crawling. It whispered that maybe I didn’t want to know.
