Rage: A New Adult Urban Fantasy (Spelldrift: Coven of Fire Book 3)

by Sierra Cross

  With a flick of her hand, Aunt Jenn ordered her Neqs forward, completely aware that they were just cannon fodder. The chanting stopped as the first of our Neqs attempted to breach the doorway. Green firebolts exploded on the slimy grey flesh. Neq bits splattered the cave walls, but they didn’t retreat. Another three of Aunt Jenn’s demons were throwing blasts low even as their brethren were being slaughtered above them. My aunt didn’t blink as they were ripped and gutted and dusted by our unseen enemies within the lair. But the attack worked. Dark witches with red fire on their hands slipped past the entry.

  Between the mages and the remaining Neqs, Aunt Jenn’s army divided the forces on the other side of the wall. My coven wasted no time. We blasted our way into the lair, and Aunt Jenn pushed in after us, red magic pulsing on her fingertips.

  Vampire blood still humming in my system, I flung my body to the left with more agility than I could normally muster. Keeping my back to the wall, I threw several concussive blasts out in front of me. My aunt and her minions went right, syncing their throws with my coven’s so Alana’s forces had no respite. Candle flame and torch-fire flickered, and two Neqs in blood-red uniforms went down. The handful that remained were well-trained and fighting in unison, throwing firebolts and blades with equal precision. Dodging the barrage of bolts aimed at us, we fought our way further into the room along the wall.

  At the center of the cavern, shielded by the wall of fighting Neqs, Alana’s body was laid out on an altar. The Caedis already looked stronger than she had at the courthouse. Callie stood over her, murmuring a spell. I could see the magic of the demon realm seeping through the rock from below the altar, healing the Caedis’s borrowed body. It looked like heat on an infrared video, steam rising through the rock. Could I see this now because of the vampire blood that ran through me?

  Red and green and gold fire sailed across the cavernous room. Matt’s daggers flew, dusting Neqs and flying back to him. Liv and Asher threw their own golden blasts. We aimed bolt after bolt at Alana’s forces, forming a lethal circle around the altar, trapping our foes in the center of the room.

  We were going to win this fight.

  “Don’t kill Callie,” Aunt Jenn barked the order out into the fray. Did she have a soft spot for her treasonous assistant? “We need to question her,” she added, and the malice in her voice told me that by “question” she meant torture. So, no soft spot. “I need to know who was in on the coup. And by the way Callie, you are so fired.”

  The Splinter led the Neqs around her in a dance of blasts and retreated to the side of the altar nearest the door. Her barbed magic was strong, but what was she trying to do? Huddling on one side of the altar offered them no protection. On the contrary, she’d just bunched them together into one neat target.

  Alana’s forces were throwing blasts above her prone body—more to protect themselves than her. But the Caedis was almost healed, her green power was surging to her hands.

  Callie was chanting a spell…what the hell was she doing? Green magic gathered in a ball between her hands, growing larger and larger. Then Callie pressed her thumb into the green globe and split it into two massive bolts, chanting her spell the whole time as she molded her magic. In one coordinated move, the Neqs that were huddled together dropped just below the lip of the altar and concentrated all their firepower on the two dark witches in front of the doorway. The two young women were barely holding on.

  “Now!” Callie yelled, flinging one half of the globe at the two failing witches. Like pins smacked by a bowling ball, they toppled. Alana leapt to standing. The half-dozen Neqs in blood-red uniforms surrounded her, and Callie and the whole crew made a dash for it, trampling the fallen dark witches as they started toward the hallway. Horror lurched through my guts as I watched their bodies go still. Dark or not, they’d been witches like me.

  Callie bounced the remaining half of the globe from hand to hand, her chant growing louder.

  “We can’t let the Caedis get out of this room!” Matt yelled, frantic.

  My aunt conjured a red lasso, much like the one Alana had used on her, and circled it in a precise loop. Sweet revenge?

  Alana, Callie, and all her Neqs had reached the hallway when the Splinter let her massive blast fly. A deafening blast rang out as the green magic hit the stone. Rocks tumbled down. Dust belched out into the air.

  The lasso slithered between red uniforms and encircled Alana, only sliding over her shoulder and halfway down one arm. My aunt gave a good yank and dragged the Caedis back through the door as an avalanche of debris began to fall. But the lasso’s grip was tenuous. When Aunt Jenn tugged on the cord again, the lasso slipped off and Alana rolled free. More chunks of earth and stone rained down, sealing the door shut. Callie and the Neqs were on the other side, but Alana was trapped in here with us.

  Flipping to her feet, the Caedis screeched in frustration, her ear-splitting howl bouncing off the walls. Like a frantic spider she called gauzy filaments of green magic to her hands. She was going to build a shield around herself. What was her plan, wait it out until Callie came back in to rescue her? Or would the Splinter just save her own stolen skin and take off? I wasn’t going to sit around long enough to find out.

  Using my vampiric strength, I pounced. Leaping across the room in one bound, I landed hard. Catching her off guard, I pinned the Caedis’s body to the ground. She bucked like a bronco under me. But she showed no signs of tiring. Was she was getting stronger? Was there any limit to the power she could glean from this room? I only knew I couldn’t hold her much longer.

  “We’ve got to get her out of here!” I yelled.

  Asher hurled a pair of firebolts at the pile of stones and debris that blocked the exit. Liv followed his lead. But for every rock they moved another fell in its place. “No one’s getting out of here, period.”

  Shit, the Caedis hit my leg with a sear. My wardsuit absorbed most of the heat but didn’t spare me the pain. With a yelp, I rolled off her, and the Caedis sprang to a low crouch on the other side of the cavern. Instantly, she formed a shield around herself.

  We were trapped in a lion’s den.

  There was no way we could break through her protection, our magic just bounced off it. How the hell could we subdue her and get her to Caster’s Park? We were out of options.

  Alana fearlessly walked right up to Matt, who pulled a dagger and held it between them. She pointed to a small scar that crossed through his left eyebrow. “I remember when you got this, Matty. I had to let you fall out of the tree. You had to learn to succeed or fail on your own. And here you are, a strong man.”

  Matt studied the face that used to belong to his mother. But instead of seething emotions, his eyes were calm, and a sureness was growing on his face. “Liv, Asher, get ready to knock the Caedis down. Alexandra, you still got any of that vamp power left?” he asked. I nodded. “Then you hold her still.”

  “What the heck are you talking about?” I asked. “We touch her shield and we’ll be fried.”

  “Trust me,” Matt said. “I’m gonna grab her, but I’ll need a minute to regroup.”

  “What? That shield will kill you!” I yelled.

  “No, it’ll just hurt a hell of a lot.”

  My brain raced to find an argument he would listen to. He sheathed his daggers and called his crystalline Amalgam magic to his right arm. He closed his eyes as if he was pulling hard on his powers.

  “Mate, not sure what you’re planning,” Asher said. “But I’m fairly certain it’s not a good idea.”

  “Matty,” Alana crooned. “Your friend is right. I don’t want to see you hurt.” Did I detect a nervousness in the Caedis’s voice?

  Matt didn’t open his eyes. His magic encased his arm until it was thick and dense, a glowing cut-glass mitt that reached his elbow. Without warning his fist shot forward. Shards of crystal magic exploded as his fist penetrated the green filaments. Sparks of green kicked out like a blown transformer. His fist shot all the way through the barrier until his fingers wrap
ped around her neck. His bloody, burned fingers. Busting through the Caedis’s magical protection had eaten away his Amalgam power, leaving him injured. Vulnerable. Matt let out a scream of agony as Alana’s hands clutched at his grasp. The wall of filaments that surrounded her exploded as she refocused all energy to fighting him off.

  Matt staggered backward. Liv and Asher plowed into the Caedis knocking her to the ground, and I leaped onto her. Liv grabbed her hands, and Asher took her feet. It was taking all our effort to keep the Caedis down.

  Matt stood hunched over, breathing hard. Did he have enough energy left for the second part of his plan? And what the hell was the second part of his plan?

  Alana slithered one arm free, called magic to her fingers, and flung wildly. Her firebolts missed the mark, but the point of her elbow connected with Asher’s collarbone. He groaned in pain but held steady.

  Matt straightened to his full height, breathing deeply. I tried not to look at the ugly burns on his right hand, the melted fabric on his forearm. He spread his arms, eyes rolling back in his head. A thin layer of Amalgam magic engulfed his entire body, building with every breath he took.

  The floor quaked below him. Dust rained down from the ceiling. He was creating an earthquake. I was terrified he was going to bury us all alive. How the hell was he doing this?

  “No, Matty. Matthew,” the Caedis pleaded. “I could be your mother.” She rocked her body with such force she almost threw us off her.

  His focus unyielding, Matt drew his dagger in his right hand, closed his burned fingers around the hilt, and pointed his left hand at the rock below the altar. A rope of sharp crystal flew from his fingertips, like a firehose of power it grew in strength. It pulsed and spread getting wider and stronger. The walls of the lair shook, and a loud crack rang out. He was cutting through solid rock. Slicing through realms.

  Of course—Callie had explained that the demon lair was a healing place because the veil between realms was especially thin here. So thin it was almost like a Demongate.

  A cloud of dust filled the room, choking us. Heat, more sulfur. Red gases.

  Matt had opened a fissure to the demon realm. As my brain processed what he’d just done, his muscles shook with fatigue, but his aim was true. His dagger plunged into the Caedis’s heart.

  Blood sprayed up. An otherworldly scream filled the room, chilling my blood. One beat, two. The Caedis’s eyes turned glassy. It expelled its final breath. Then, from the dying body a green-grey smoke rose into the air. Shrieking and protesting, the smoke circled the room once and descended into the fissure with enough force to rattle every rock in here.

  We all collapsed. Asher, tattoos swirling, threw a veil over the gaping wound in the earth. Slowly, I could breathe again. But instead of my vision clearing, it got cloudy.

  The room went white. My senses shifted. I was caught in an undertow, unable to tell which way was up. The funhouse was rocking, and I tumbled to the ground, my wrist protesting as it kept my face from smashing into the stone.

  “The Void,” Matt said quietly, barely staying upright. He’d broken a seal between more than just the demon and earthly realms. He’d opened a window into the hellscape where he’d languished for ten years.

  I heard a woman’s voice, getting closer. There was a blur of a form in front of us. A body? Human?

  “Matthew. My Matt.” Her voice was soft and tired, but full of relief. The haze cleared enough to see it was an ethereal Alana. “You found me.” She sounded exhausted, beaten down, but not insane as Asher feared she might be. Her features were the same as the Caedis, but the two were unmistakably different. Everything about the real Alana was softened by love, made more beautiful. What force of will kept her from losing it all this time?

  Matt shook his head in wonder, asking the question that was on my mind. “You seem…okay. How are you okay?”

  “Because of you, Matt.” She put her hand on Matt’s face. Tears spilled down both of their cheeks. “I always believed in you. I knew you’d come for me and save me, somehow. My son is a hero.”

  Damn straight he is.

  “I wish I’d known you were my mother.” Matt’s voice was choked up. “While we still had time, when we were both alive.”

  “We had more than most families like ours are ever given.” Alana tried to clear the sorrow from her face. “Let’s be grateful for that. And one day, perhaps the world may change—”

  “No. I’m going to make sure it changes.” His voice was raspy with fatigue and pain.

  A look of pride and love infused her gaze. “Of course you will, son.” She wrapped her ethereal arms around him. As she ran her hand down his arm, golden magic lit up her translucent body like a lightbulb. A wave of energy soaked into Matt’s burn, knitting skin and toning down the angry red edges of his pain. In place of the burns were a crisscross of white and pink scars. He looked from his arm to his mother and back again. Tears stung my eyes. To protect him as a child, Alana had ordered Matt never to use his healing ability, but now I could see that he’d inherited the gift from her.

  When Alana stood, her figure looked even more translucent. She was fading. “It’s time for me to go. Close the rift now or it will be too late.”

  “No, not yet,” Matt pleaded.

  “You are safe, son.” She smiled. “You are strong. You are loved.” Her features turned sad. “Don’t fear your soft heart, it doesn’t make you weak. It’s what gives you your strength.”

  Matt nodded, raised his hand and pushed at the fog that filled the room. It obeyed him, drifting all the way back to the break between the rocks on the wall. The room cleared. Gravity was righted. Matt stumbled back and collapsed in exhaustion to the stone floor.

  Alana was gone forever.

  And we were trapped in a smoldering rock-room with my dark witch aunt and dozens of rotting, dead Neqs.

  Since the Neq bodies strewn around us had vanquished each other instead of being killed by rune-etched blades, they hadn’t gone poof. Liv got busy dusting the bodies so the stench didn’t overwhelm us, because there was no telling how long we’d remain trapped in here. Asher and I pooled our waning magic, ignoring the pain that pulsed through our bodies, and began blasting away the rocks that blocked our exit. Though my aunt used what was left of her red magic to lend a hand, I knew the task would take hours.

  Thirty minutes later Matt was still out cold. Liv finished with the Neqs and added her magic to ours. We’d just cleared a giant boulder out of our way when I heard something.

  “Hold up,” I said.

  “Alix, we’re going slow enough as it is—” my aunt scolded.

  “Listen.” Through the debris I heard sounds from the other side of the wall. I watched as the wall of rocks in front of us shook and tumbled. A fist size hole appeared before us. There was a rescue crew in the tunnel working its way to us.

  “Oh good,” Asher said, sitting down. “I think I’ll just wait.” It wasn’t until that moment that I noticed his brows were knitted in pain. The bruise the Caedis had inflicted was small, but it was slowing him down nonetheless.

  Larch and her Fidei squad were here for us.

  I reached through the hole with my bare hands and pulled more stones free.

  “Step back and we’ll get you all out of there,” Larch said.

  I joined my aunt and the rest of my coven as the crew worked its way through. Sitting on the floor, I cradled Matt’s head on my lap, listening to his rhythmic breathing. He stirred as I ran my hands through his hair. He opened his eyes, groggy, but he sat up.

  With a puff of dust, the team cleared a six-foot hole through the rocks, and Larch entered the cavern. She took note of Alana’s dead body on the altar. Not being a magicborn, I knew she couldn’t see the fissure or the Band-Aid that was holding it shut. I was pretty sure if she knew we’d just opened a second Demongate she’d be wanting to lock us back in here. Did the demons on the other side know it had happened? Would they be trying to storm through here now too? I guess we’d just do
uble

  “I’m sorry,” Larch said to Matt. “I know you needed her at the Demongate to free your mother.” She awkwardly patted his shoulder. “But you did the right thing. That Caedis was extremely dangerous. She instigated much of what happened today.” With those words Larch tossed a brief but pointed look at my aunt. Right, she’d instigated some of it too.

  The Fidei escorted the five of us back to the Council Suprema building. A small but formidable guardian detail was there...waiting to take Matt away.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  “I said I’d turn myself in,” Matt said stoically. “I’m a man of my word.”

  Larch’s new assistant, a young male agent with a military haircut, held Matt loosely by the elbow, his hands cuffed behind his back. I didn’t know where Larch had gone, and I felt irrationally angry at her for deserting us at this moment. We walked alongside as her assistant led him down the sidewalk to the front of the building, to the group of six guardians waiting at the foot of the stairs. I was so terrified I couldn’t speak. If they took Matt, I knew I’d never see him again.

  “For chrissake watchdog, will you let that shit drop already,” Asher whispered. “Let us get you out of here. Unless your idea of changing the world is becoming a martyr.”

  “I have every intention of living through this experience,” Matt said calmly. “I’ll argue my case and have faith that justice will be done. But first I have to let them take me.”

  “No you don’t.” Aunt Jenn was scrolling through her cell phone contacts list. “My lawyers can get anyone out of anything, trust me.”

  Matt shook his head firmly. “No thanks, Jennifer.”

  “You don’t want my help?” Aunt Jenn looked up from her phone, bewildered. “Suit yourself.” And that, I thought, was my aunt. I was grudgingly thankful for all she’d done for me lately—though I didn’t relish owing her any favors—but she was still a dark witch. I could never make her understand that for us light magicborn, there was more to life than success at any cost. There was such a thing as honor. Commitment. Sacrifice.