After what Malachi had done to the soulless mob, he possessed the capacity to kill the demon-vampire, but I believed him. This was Arnaud being cut off from the infernal realm coupled with the cold draining off his energy more than I’d realized. With nothing to replenish his lifeforce, he’d gone critical.
His body hadn’t begun to sublimate yet, but that wouldn’t be long in coming.
“I’m going to have to loosen the wards,” I said. “Let enough infernal energy back in to restore him.”
Dammit. I’d hoped it wouldn’t come to this, because it wasn’t just a simple case of loosening the wards. I was also going to have to ensure his line to Malphas wasn’t reestablished, or the demon master would recall him. Then we’d be stuck in this clusterfuck of failing time catches without a ride home.
To this point I’d managed to keep my homesickness at bay, but now an image of Vega holding our infant girl in a blanket flashed through my head. I didn’t want to miss that. Pulling myself together, I turned to Caroline.
“Will you need to remove the enchantments?” I asked.
She nodded. “Most of them, yes. I’ll leave the subservience one in place.”
“There’s a smaller cave next door,” I said. “Should make a better container for casting.” I also wanted a buffer from the rest of my teammates in case anything went awry. “Can everyone else stay here and keep watch?”
They nodded and murmured their assents.
“Hey, what happened with Seay?” Gorgantha asked.
Without time to go into details, I said, “We found her, she’s good. She’ll be coming later.”
Gorgantha pumped a fist and high-fived Malachi as he circled past in his pacing. I scooped Arnaud under the back and legs and lifted him. He weighed almost nothing, as if he were already starting to disintegrate from the inside. As I started out, I caught a sulfurous odor, possibly the first hint of sublimation.
“I’ll tell you more when I get back,” I said to Gorgantha.
The neighboring cave was small and scattered with leaves, reminding me of the grotto behind St. Mark’s in 1776 New York. I shooed out Dropsy, who had wandered into the cave—and judging from her dim light, fallen asleep—and set Arnaud down. While Caroline went to work removing his enchantments, I cleared the rest of the floor and began fashioning casting circles from my copper filings.
“Do you want me to stay?” Caroline asked.
I looked from my completed circles to where she was rising from Arnaud’s side. She’d removed the enchantments that had bolstered my wards and a few others. She looked fae-like again, her questioning eyes glowing blue-green beneath my hovering ball of light. It was the reclaimed energy. The only enchantments she was having to maintain were subservience and the one hiding me from the revenant.
“No, I can take it from here,” I said.
She must have read something on my face. “Worried about Malphas?”
The truth was, yes. Because if I slipped up and allowed him to connect to Arnaud, he could decide to detonate him instead of recalling him. And if that happened, I’d rather it be just me in the blast zone.
“A little,” I said. “I’ll be careful.”
As I stooped for Arnaud, she brushed my upper back with a hand. A warm current moved through me, sending up a sweet scent of spring. Before I could protest, she said, “It’s not much. Just some extra protection.”
“Thanks,” I muttered.
I didn’t like that she’d expended any energy on me, but as she left the cave, I felt less alone in my task. Maybe that had been the point. Setting Arnaud in the larger circle, I stepped into the one behind it and cracked my knuckles.
All right, Croft. It’s go time.
With a Word, I recalled power from my light ball and pushed it into the casting circles. They glowed to life, drawing the cave back from darkness. Faint vapor trails drifted through the coppery light.
“Shit,” I muttered. Arnaud was starting to sublimate.
Through my wizard’s senses, I took quick stock of his bonds. Starting with the outer layer, I began switching wards off one at a time. An anchoring ward hummed in the shackle around his neck, its bands of energy feeding the dislocation sigil that concealed his whereabouts from Malphas. In fact, I’d etched the sigil right over the spot where Malphas’s brand seared his neck. The trick would be tamping down the power of the ward while maintaining the dislocation sigil that hid him.
More vapor rose from Arnaud’s body.
Gotta get this right, even if it takes extra time.
I sat down in my casting circle, legs crossed, eyes closed. Aligning my mind to the anchoring ward, I imagined it as a dial. Not wanting to take any chances, I’d cranked it to ten. Now I began turning it down. I was meticulous, pausing at intervals to check the ward even as the stench of sulfur strengthened.
Easy, man… easy…
At six, I felt the dislocation sigil fade. Heart bolting at the thought of Malphas rushing in, I bumped the dial back up to an imaginary seven and waited. After what felt like way too long, the ward strengthened again, returning power to the sigil while thinning the currents of infernal energy trickling back into Arnaud.
Would it be enough energy, though?
Or would Arnaud’s deterioration outpace the meager flow?
Fighting the urge to open my eyes, I eased the dial down again, halfway between six and seven. The infernal flow increased, while just enough warding power remained to sustain the dislocation sigil. For the next several minutes, I made tiny adjustments. Satisfied I’d hit the ideal balance, I sat back, my shirt and brow soaked in sweat.
Now comes the moment of truth.
If I opened my eyes and he was still sublimating, I was going to have to shut off the ward entirely and attempt to power the sigil consciously. That would require a level of concentration and precision I wasn’t sure I possessed in my overworked, underslept state. One slip and Hello, Malphas!
I peeked out. No vapor.
“Halle-friggin-lujah,” I sighed.
Now I watched hopefully for signs of returning life, well aware of the irony of having just incinerated his 1660 version with gusto. But different Arnauds called for different measures. After several minutes, his drawn face began to fill in, pushing out the sickly yellow.
Looks like we’ve got our ride home again.
When a groan sounded from beneath his muzzle, my mouth broke into a weary smile. Yeah, he was coming back. But before I could feel too pleased with myself, the faintest voice whispered: Listen to his words.
The command came from a familiar place. Deep down, where the seat of my magic dwelled. It seemed my old friend had returned. But whose words? I squinted at the demon-vampire. Certainly not Arnaud’s.
He groaned again, the muffled sound rising and falling. Listen to his words.
I reached for the straps holding the muzzle in place, then stopped. Where in the hell was this coming from? My magic, sure, but why would it tell me to listen to a creature whose voice was a living poison?
Caroline’s suggestion about my magic came back to me now. It could be that it’s talking, but you’re not ready to hear what it has to say. She might really have been onto something, because I damned sure wasn’t ready to hear this.
Arnaud’s head tilted toward me, his eyes coming back into focus.
“Can’t believe I’m doing this,” I muttered as I unfastened the straps.
Very carefully, I peeled the muzzle away. A network of indentations crisscrossed Arnaud’s skin where the restraint had been pressing. I moved back into my casting circle, unnerved at seeing his entire face again. It reminded me how deadly he was, even if he presently lacked the strength to lift his head. He gave up after a couple feeble attempts. A pale tongue emerged to wet his drawn lips.
“I know…” he rasped. “Know about … the Night Rune.”
34
A part of me had been ready to dismiss whatever Arnaud told me, but now I straightened.
“What about the Night R
une?” I asked.
“It’s to be Malphas’s gateway.”
“Into the time catch?”
His head nodded against the floor. I remembered the attentive look I’d caught earlier, in Malachi’s lodgings. Even warded and enchanted, the demon-vampire had been listening. He’d heard me ask Caroline about the Night Rune. Though my magic was still nodding its own head, my rational mind was calling bullshit. This was Arnaud exploiting my need for information to his advantage.
“Fine, what is it?” I asked.
“Malphas didn’t tell me everything. Only enough to perform the tasks assigned me.”
“But he mentioned the Night Rune?”
“That he did, Mr. Croft.”
“And you have no insights into what comprises it?”
Enough infernal energy had flowed back into Arnaud that he managed to elbow his torso upright. He slumped against the cylinder of hardened air rising from his circle so he was facing me.
“I’d hoped you would know, Professor. But I happen to have some theories. First, why do you suppose he went after half-fae, merfolk, and druids?”
I’d had the same question—human souls would have been more valuable in the Below—but I wasn’t going to let Arnaud run this show.
“No. First, why are you even telling me this?” I said.
“What? You don’t trust me?”
“Shocking, I know.”
The corners of his lips twitched up. “Contrary to what you believe, I didn’t work for Malphas willingly. I was enslaved. A status forced upon me by … circumstances.” The yellow shards in his irises flared. Through them I could feel his hatred for me, having cast him into the pits. He blinked and looked away. “The point is, I am too dangerous to him alive, and he knows this. If he succeeds, you and I both perish.”
“The enemy of my enemy is my friend,” I muttered.
“Friend may be putting too strong a point on it, Mr. Croft. But yes, we have a mutual interest in stopping him.”
I glared at the creature opposite me, blood pounding in my temples. He’d killed the magic-user Pierce. He’d slaughtered Blade and the vampire hunters. He threatened to do the same to Vega. He’d even threatened our daughter. There was no way in hell I was going to collaborate with him. So why was my magic counseling me to listen?
“Even if you’re telling the truth,” I said, my voice raw in my throat. “You’ll get nothing out of this.”
“Nothing? I’ll get to see Malphas defeated. He’s bet everything on gaining access to your world and feasting on the souls of millions. He means to attain the exalted status of a demon lord. And when he fails, he’ll have nothing. His competitors will tear him from his perch. He’ll fall to the lowly ranks of the imps and pit devils and be torn to pieces.” Arnaud’s eyes brightened with the thought.
“Yeah, I’m not buying the ‘and that will be reward enough’ schtick.”
The hinges of his jaw tightened. “You have no idea the depravations he’s put me through.”
“Be that as it may, you’re too obsessed with your own survival.”
“And you’re planning to incinerate me when this is all over?”
“Not planning,” I said, remembering my pledge to Vega. “It’s happening.”
“Perhaps you’ll think differently.”
“Absolutely not.”
“You scoffed when I told you the way to re-enter the time catch was through me. And now?” Arnaud motioned around us. The gesture was weak, his voice still scraping from his emaciated body. So how could he be so damned confident?
“Malphas took what he could get,” I said abruptly.
Arnaud blinked and pulled his hand back. “Come again?”
“Your question about why he went after half-fae, merfolk, and druids? Malphas needed soul fuel, and a demon already had the Strangers in place. The groups weren’t pure humans, but he liked their numbers.”
“A reasonable presumption. But what if I told you Malphas acquired the Strangers from three different demons?”
“Three?” I hesitated. “He shopped for them?”
“Yes, and why do you suppose he would do that?”
Why did anyone shop for anything? “For their particular properties,” I replied.
“I believe so too. You were correct about the copper plates. I acquired and installed them to direct ley energy back at the source. And that, Mr. Croft, is where I believe the Night Rune comes in.”
“To convert that energy into a portal.”
“And what would that require, Mr. Croft?”
“An alchemizing process, for starters. A damned powerful one.”
“Precisely why I believe the Night Rune is a container,” he said.
I caught myself nodding. “To hold the essences he siphoned from those groups.”
But what would be special about those particular essences? I wondered. Mer, half-fae, druid…
“Did I hear Malachi say he observed new construction at the church site?” Arnaud asked.
“Yeah, some sort of platform,” I replied distractedly. “But if everything’s in place, why isn’t Malphas here already?”
“Because everything must not be in place.”
I heard Malachi’s distressed voice: Time is short! The elements of the Night Rune gather!
“What do you know about this other demon?” I asked.
“Hm, the revelation was as much a surprise to me as you.”
“Malphas never mentioned this demon?” I asked suspiciously.
“Perhaps he was keeping him in reserve were anything to happen to me.”
“But you knew about the fae being compromised.”
“Only because Malphas is vain. Once he learned you’d entered our time catch, he gloated about having a demon doing his bidding in Faerie. He didn’t want anyone believing you and the others had bested him.”
“For someone who had his memories scrubbed, you seem to be recalling an awful lot.”
“Ah, yes. I heard your fae friend’s claim.” Arnaud worked his lips into a tired smile. “Nothing was ‘scrubbed,’ Mr. Croft. There wasn’t time. One moment we were in the alley, and in the next we were in your cell.”
I gave a harsh laugh. “And there it is.”
“I’m sorry?”
“Your ploy,” I said. “Get Everson to doubt his teammates.”
“Have I lied to you thus far, Mr. Croft? I said your friends were in the time catch, and they are. I said I was the only one who could return you here, and I did. I warned you that the time catch was unstable, and it is.” He ticked each one off his fingers. “Now I’m telling you that my memories remain intact. Also true.”
I still didn’t believe him. There was no reason for Caroline to lie about that.
“Had I been the demon planted in Faerie,” he went on, “I would have studied those in power for the weakest link. Caroline is only a half-fae, is she not?”
Instead of answering the question, he left it dangling. I’d pondered the question of how a lower demon had been able to subjugate a fae as powerful as Angelus. But what if he hadn’t subjugated Angelus? What if Angelus’s warning about Caroline not being herself was the truth?
The demon-vampire’s eyes watched mine. “Allow me a little more freedom,” he said, “and I can tell you definitively.”
“Yeah, that’s not gonna happen. In fact…” I retrieved the muzzle from where I’d set it.
“You’d be foolish to underestimate Malphas,” he said.
“More foolish than underestimating you?”
“I’m much more valuable than you realize.”
When my magic nodded, I paused. It was agreeing with that?
As much to shut up my magic as Arnaud, I placed the muzzle over his jaw and cinched it tightly.
“Is everything all right?” Caroline asked as I entered the larger cave, gripping Arnaud by his emaciated arm.
“Yeah, it was touch and go there for a minute, but he has enough energy coming in now to sustain him. Still far from ful
l strength, though.”
When Arnaud’s legs buckled, I sat him against a wall. He closed his eyes heavily. As Caroline looked over the demon-vampire, I examined her aura again for any sign she’d been compromised. Nothing jumped out, but there were still enchantments swirling around her that could be hiding anything.
Yeah, like the revenant hunting you, I shot back.
I hated that I’d let Arnaud drive in that sliver of doubt, but it was there and nagging the hell out of me. Arnaud could well have had his memories of 1776 wiped and was lying about what he remembered, having pieced together the info from watching and listening to us. But his point about the demon in Faerie…
“Should I restore the remaining enchantments?” Caroline asked.
My gaze jumped back to hers. “Ah, not quite yet. I want to get a decent charge into him first. Avoid a repeat of what happened earlier.”
“And when we can ill afford it,” she agreed.
I turned toward the cave entrance. Outside, a wintry dusk was gathering over the river. I’d spent longer with Arnaud than I realized. When fae energy warmed my shoulder, I realized Caroline had come up beside me.
“Are you sure everything’s all right?” she asked softly.
“Yeah, just thinking about Seay. Any word from the half-fae?”
“Not yet,” she said.
Was this Caroline, or was the demon just this good?
“Hey, Everson,” Bree-yark called. “C’mon over and try this fish Gorgantha caught.”
He and Malachi were sitting on opposite sides of the fire, skewers hung with thick filets. Dropsy, done exploring for the time being, sat between them. Gorgantha emerged from the river a moment later, a striped bass hanging from one of her talons. “Plenty more where this came from,” she said.
The cooking fish smelled amazing, but my stomach was an anxious fist. “I’ll be over in a few,” I said, then turned back to Caroline. “Hey, do you mind if I ask you something?”
I could either go back and forth in my mind about whether to trust her, or I could ask her outright if she’d lied about Arnaud’s memories being wiped. In the corner of my eye, I saw the demon-vampire watching us.
Night Rune (Prof Croft Book 8) Page 25
