It’s open.
Heart thudding painfully in my chest, I slipped into the guild office. The lights were low … the lights! There was electricity. What the fuck?
Wait … there is a presence … Paimon’s sharp intake of breath filled my head. She is here.
Who? Paimon’s presence expanded in my mind sudden and too quick, and then he was in control of my body, breaking our compact and leaving me speechless with shock.
Paimon. No. We had a deal.
But he wasn’t listening, and I was a puppet unable to force him to. He took my body into the main office, or what used to be the main office. Now it looked like something out of a mad scientist movie. The place was filled with machines, lights, and empty gurneys. Wait. They weren’t all empty. Four of them were occupied.
Paimon rushed over. Alara, thank the elements.
A woman lay on the gurney, her skin pale blue, her face regal and beautiful in repose. Electrodes were taped to her forehead. Paimon reached for her with my hands.
My head throbbed with rage. Enough. Give me back my body. Now.
He froze, and I could sense his conflict, but then his hold on me withdrew, leaving me slumped against the gurney, trembling with anger.
He’d broken our deal. I was done with this union. But we had bigger problems. We have to call for help. There should be signal here.
There were more … where are the rest?
I don’t know.
I dialed Melody and waited. It rang and went to voicemail. “Melody, I’m in the guild building. I was kidnapped by the creature that took the apsara. I’ve found a lab of some sort. I need help.”
I dialed Banner next and he answered in the third ring.
“Carmella! Where are you?”
“The creature that attacked the Ghandarva attacked me too. He left me under the guild in Soho.”
“The assassins guild was in Soho?”
“It used to be a Dojo on Pembrooke Street. Melody knows where it is. There’s some weird shit going on here.”
“I’m on my way. Just … stay alive.”
Ending the call, I headed for the main exit—the one that would lead to the ground floor. We were at basement level here. The door was locked and the panel glared yellow. My palm print did jack shit.
“We’re trapped.”
What are the machines doing … my people?
Machines weren’t my thing, but I stepped over to the monitors with all the stats and lines and had a gander. “Looks like they’re monitoring the djinn’s vital signs and making sure they’re stable.”
But … not wake?
“I don’t know.”
A huge binder sat on the counter. Maybe there’d be some useful information in it? I flipped it open and scanned the contents: names, locations, and photographs. It was a dossier, and Urvashi’s face stared back at me. Had the apsaras been held here? Wait. There was something more, a percentage. It was scrawled under each apsara’s name, ranging from fifty percent to seventy-five. What did it mean? And there was a word protsahaan … No clue what that was.
Someone approaches.
There was an empty gurney with a sheet dangling off it. I dove under it just as the doors opened. The sound of footfalls was followed by the rasp of breath. A grunt and a growl was followed by silence. The scrape of wheels against the floor came next. They were moving a gurney.
Alara. They take her …
They?
Three.
Paimon’s distress was like a beacon flaring in the pit of my stomach. I focused and projected my thoughts. We can’t go up against three of those monsters.
No … weak … fading …
And I had no fucking power of my own. IEPEU ninja kicks weren’t gonna cut it against these guys, even if I could get my leg that high. The room was suddenly pin-drop silent, and then the gurney above me went flying, leaving me exposed. The beast lunged for me. I dove out of the way. Claws sliced through the air by my ear. I rolled, came up, scrambling on all fours before finding my feet and making a run for the door leading to the accommodations. There was no way out of here, but there had to be a way out through the accommodations. It was my only hope. I barreled back the way I’d come, down the steps, through the door into the maze of corridors and apartments beyond.
A roar vibrated the air behind me, slamming into my back and propelling me forward. Corridor after corridor, turn after turn. Where was the breach? Where was the doorway into the sewers that would lead me out?
Paimon? Could he hear me? Was he even there anymore? Had that last push to get to Alara been too much for him? Oh, god I was being chased by monsters. It was like a nightmare, the kind where you couldn’t wake up, the kind where you knew they were going to catch you at any moment.
A door behind slammed with the impact of a blow. I careened round a corner just as the door in front of me exploded outward and the monster filled the corridor, blocking my path. I turned to run the other way, but the dark mass of another filled the space behind me.
I was trapped.
NO!
Paimon’s cry filled my head and his power exploded through my body, blasting out to slam into the monsters. It lasted less than a couple of seconds, dying suddenly, and taking Paimon with it.
Not enough.
The ice dispersed and the monsters shook it off, barely affected. For a heartbeat they did nothing, merely holding me captive with their stances, and then they rushed me.
My scream was a raw frightened thing and then the pain began.
23
F luid in my throat … blood … red … burning … tearing …
Carmella … I can’t …
Cold now … numb now … It was over wasn’t it? Was I dead now?
No. No, no, no …
Someone cursed and a bellow followed.
Was I moving? Drifting?
Carmella … let go …
The darkness behind my eyes lifted to gray mist, barren ground, and the dark shape of a world beyond, just out of reach. What was this place?
“Carmella.”
It was Paimon’s voice, but he was no longer in my head. He stood before me, tall and broad, his skin tinged gray. His long hair was pulled back from his face and secured at the nape of his neck, and I recalled the texture of it as it had slipped through my fingers. His features were blunt planes and angles, but it was his eyes that drew me—cerulean blue and too bright against the whites.
“Where are we?”
“The in-between,” he said.
“Am I dead?”
“Not yet.”
“Will I die?”
“Yes. But not if you act fast. You’re fading. They’re working to save you, but your injuries are grave. They won’t be able to heal you. But you can.”
“What? What are you talking about?”
He pointed at me. “Look.”
I glanced down at my chest and gaped at the swirling silver knot rotating and pulsing where my torso should be.
“What is it?”
“Pure power. It’s been there all along, bound and locked away from you. It’s why Mira chose you, why she knew you could shield me. But there was a risk too—risk your power would siphon mine and weaken me. At first there was no issue, but something changed. Something inside you changed. Something in the way you see yourself. And now that power is desperate to be known. It wants to be free.”
That’s why he couldn’t help me? My power was stealing his strength. A power that had been hidden from me my whole life … bound. But by whom?
“What … what do I do?”
“Find the thread that unravels the rest. Focus, and let your instincts guide you.”
“You knew about this all along?”
“Yes.”
“Then why didn’t you tell me?”
“With your full potential unlocked you would have easily broken our binding. I needed you.”
“And now you don’t. You have what you want. You have your djinn.” My tone was laced with bitter
ness.
“Yes. But even if I didn’t, I would not see you die. I have come to … care about you.”
He walked toward me and stopped, the chill from his body caressing my skin. He dwarfed me by a good two feet. He cupped my cheek and my throat tightened.
“It has been an honor walking the world by your side. Seeing humanity through your eyes has given me a new appreciation for your world and its intricacies. Your soul was beacon which drew us to you … do not deprive the world of it just yet. You must save yourself. Only you can.” He took a step back. “Unlock your power.”
The tangled thread hovering above my abdomen pulsed as if in agreement. This was my power, this was the real me, and someone had bound it.
A shudder shook my frame.
“Now, Carmella, it must be now.”
Closing my eyes, I exhaled to ground myself before reaching into the threads, fingers questing, searching for that one strand, the one that felt … right. No … Not that one … There … I gripped it between thumb and forefinger and tugged.
The world sighed. A gust of wind blew back my hair and heat flooded by limbs, searing and blissful. Something connected and clicked in my solar plexus. It burned bright in my mind’s eye … The skein. Oh god it was glorious undiluted energy waiting to be shaped. But there was more—a golden burning kernel of power deep inside. What was this? There was no time to ponder, because the combined power of the two elements was rushing into me.
“You will live Carmella. You will live.”
“What about you? The creatures are still out there.”
“And now I have a part of them.” He held up his fist, and opened his hand to reveal a mass of fur and flesh. “You fought, Carmella, and because of that I have this. Now my people can become the hunters.”
My wrists tingled as the cuffs became visible before crumbling and falling to the ground in a sprinkle of golden ash.
The mist rushed away, and darkness cocooned me. But the bliss of oblivion was brief, because my body was calling me. I slammed back into pain and death, curses, bellows and hands on my flesh.
“Bleeding out …”
“… staunch it …”
“Carmella … oh god, oh god.”
“We’re losing her.”
No. Not today. I would not die today. The kernel unfurled, sending heat to my extremities, and I drew from the skein, fueling the kernel.
“What the fuck?”
The hands on me fell away and silence reigned. The pain ebbed as flesh knitted, and my marrow worked overtime to replace the blood lost.
“Oh, shit … oh fucking shit.”
Banner. He was here.
The kernel folded back on itself, its job done, and I opened my eyes to Melody’s stunned face. A shocked laugh exploded from her lips and then she was hugging me. Over her shoulder I caught the stunned faces of the other IEPEU operatives. Banner raked a hand through his hair, his eyes bright, but it was Vritra who held my attention. His gaze was swirling ember as he stared at me in awe, his chest rising and falling erratically.
“Did you know?” he asked.
Melody pulled back to glance over her shoulder. “I don’t know how, but she’s okay.”
Vritra took a step closer. “Did you know?” he asked me.
I shook my head. “I don’t … what?” My voice was a dry rasp.
“Did you know you were an asura?”
24
T he IEPEU hospital room smelled of disinfectant, but it was clean, and the bed was relatively comfortable. The drapes were closed and the bedside lamp gave the room a warm amber glow that said you’re safe now. My body ached in places I hadn’t realized it could, but it was unbroken … healed. My magick had knit me back together. But there was still some healing to be done, and I was still connected to the skein, drawing gently from it to finish putting my body back to rights.
I’d been put through a battery of tests, and the final stage was the debriefing, or in my case, casual interrogation. I wasn’t an operative, and if they wanted they could treat me like a hostile witness. But Melody wouldn’t do that. The joy on her face when I’d opened my eyes was evidence enough that the hardnosed patrol leader had a softer side.
The door opened and Melody strode in. Dark smudges under her eyes spoke of late nights and long shifts. She pulled up a chair and sat by the bed.
“You’re fine,” she said “The results all came back normal.”
Aside from my being a witch asura.
She shook her head. “I can’t believe it. I saw you. You weren’t you anymore. Just an open mass of flesh and bone and poison eating away at you—this neon green stuff. I tried to massage your heart. I had it in my hands.” She held up her hands as if seeing my heart in them. “But you wouldn’t … you were gone. You were gone. And then you were healing, expelling the green stuff and knitting together.” Her voice cracked and she rubbed her eyes with her thumb and forefinger. “I’ve never, in my eight years as an operative, seen anything like it.”
I reached for her hand. “I’m sorry I frightened you.”
She let out a bark of laughter. “See this is what I love about you Hunter—your instinct to put other people’s feelings and needs before your own. It’s also why being an operative isn’t for you. You almost died and you’re apologizing for scaring me?” She shook her head. “Priceless.”
She wasn’t taking the piss, merely making an observation, and an accurate one at that. A couple of weeks ago my neck would have heated in embarrassment at her words, but I knew different now. There was no shame in caring too much. No weakness in considering other people’s feelings. Putting myself in another person’s shoes and caring about what happened to them had resulted in four djinn being saved from the clutches of the monsters who were hunting them, and now we were a step closer to catching the creatures.
“I’ve passed the composite drawing to the Beta team.” Melody said. “They’re scouring Soho as we speak. These beasts won’t have gone far. Now we know what we’re looking for we will catch them.”
“What are we looking for exactly? Do we know what they are?”
She blew out a breath. “Nothing so far. No one I’ve asked seems to have seen them before. Even Indra and Varuna had no idea.”
“So, a new creature?”
The djinn’s world had meshed with ours allowing them in, what was to say the same hadn’t happened to another reality? Paimon and Mira were gone. They’d taken the djinn with them, leaving no evidence of their existence, and I got the impression they expected me to keep their secret. They knew what was hunting them now, and even if the IEPEU didn’t catch the creatures, Mira and Paimon would.
Revealing the existence of djinn may not be an option but … “Maybe the Void’s attack on our city caused more damage than we realized. Maybe it brought these creatures to our world?”
Melody shrugged. “It’s a possibility, but it doesn’t explain how they knew about the guild base, or where they got the high tech equipment from. If I didn’t know better I’d have labeled this as a Kubera act. But we’ve been keeping intelligence on all the known sect members and have heard not a peep. They’re all living perfectly respectful lives. The complete cock-up they made of their last attempt to take over the world kinda took the wind out of their sails.”
“I just don’t understand why it didn’t kill me at my flat. Why take me to the base and leave me in one of the apartments?”
She frowned. “You woke up in one of the apartments?”
“Yeah, in a back room, almost as if … as if it he was hiding me?” My pulse kicked up. “There were three creatures, but only two attacked me.”
Melody was watching me quizzically.
“It’s crazy but … do you think that the one who hid me was trying to protect me?”
“It’s a leap. Why would one of those monsters want to protect you?”
“I don’t know, but think about it. They took the apsara for a reason, right? We don’t know what the reason was, but they were re
leased. Then one attacked me in my flat. He had no intention of taking me, I felt it. He wanted to kill me, but then he just … .stopped. He knocked me out and took me with him. Why was I important? Why come after me?”
“Maybe someone found out you were asking questions and wanted to shut you up?”
“So why not just shut me up. Kill me. End of.”
She rubbed her forehead. “Okay, let’s break this down. Banner explained that you’d gone back to get the feather for a spell to find out what the dead Ghandarva had seen …”
The feather … Oh god. My mouth went dry. “Is it still there?”
Melody frowned. “What? The feather?”
“Yes. It was in my bag. I was holding it when I was attacked.”
Her brows shot up. “You think it was after the feather. That it knew you were going to do the spell?”
I nodded. “There are only three other people aside from me who knew about the feather …”
Melody pulled her phone out of her pocket. “We have a unit at your place now looking for clues.” She dialed. “Yes, Mercy, did you find a handbag on the floor? Uhuh, can you look inside … Yes. A feather. Can you see … okay great. Thank you.”
“What?”
“The bag’s empty and kinda shredded inside.”
“Oh, god.”
“Who knew about the feather?”
“Um … Banner, Vritra, and the sage Shukra.”
“Could anyone else have known?”
“I don’t know. Banner was sorting the spell. He could have mentioned it to someone.”
“So we have three definite suspects.”
“Two. Banner is clean. He’s been helping me figure this out from the start. He wanted to find the creatures as much as I did.”
Melody pressed her lips together. “I get that, but until we have solid evidence to discount him, you need to be wary.”
I nodded. “Fine. So what happens now?”
“We put a detail on them. Keep tabs, and see what comes up. In the meantime, you get some rest. Heal up and come back to see me in a couple of days for a proper debrief.” She smiled. “You did fucking awesome Hunter. If not for you, we’d probably have filed this one away as a cold case.”
Binding Magick: an Urban Fantasy Novel (The Witch Blood Chronicles Book 1) Page 15
