Laura twisted her hair into a ponytail and frowned. “I’m trying to find something in here on how to stop demons from teleporting, but I’m coming up empty.”
“Because it’s not teleporting.” I plopped into the recliner and stared up at the ceiling, searching for answers I knew I wouldn’t find. “Not really, anyway. When it does that, it’s returning to its own world. Then, it can walk through the demon realm and come back through the veil somewhere else.”
The demon realm sat on top of the human realm. Two sides of the same coin, really. Any spot on earth would have the exact same coordinates of somewhere in the demon world. If a demon wanted to come through the veil at a particular location in our world, it had to find the right spot within the demon realm first. The creatures couldn’t just pop in and out and end up wherever they wanted unless it was planned.
“Right.” Laura snapped the book shut and picked up another. “But there still must be a way to stop it from doing that. Some kind of spell to hold the demon in place long enough for you to grab Dorian and get him out of there. What about your Grams? Would she know?”
I shook my head. “Grams never fought corporeal demons.”
Laura flipped through another book before tossing it onto the desk with a frustrated sigh. “This is useless. Absolutely nothing in here about this kind of thing. I mean, what was the demon even doing with Dorian? Why is it carrying him around and putting him in crypts?”
“I don’t know,” I sunk further into the chair and pressed my hands against my eyes, trying to block out the image of Dorian’s unconscious form. It had shaken me a lot harder than I could admit right now. I needed to be strong. For him. “It’s the strangest thing. The demon didn’t even try to attack me or anything. It just tried to get away. With Dorian.”
“You’re right. That’s pretty fucking weird.”
“It didn’t act like any demon I’ve ever heard about,” I said as Dorian’s words echoed in my mind. “But everything is so different these days, I shouldn’t feel so surprised. The world is turning out to be a lot different than we thought.”
“But why would a demon want to hold onto an Unbound vampire?” Laura asked.
I shrugged. “You’ve got me. If I didn’t know better, I’d say the demon acted like it was following orders or something, like a soldier guarding a prisoner. But that’s obviously ridiculous.”
“Following orders.” Laura gasped, and then shot up off the desk. She paced back and forth in front of me in hurried steps, her hand pressed tight against her chest. “Oh my goddess, Zoe. That has to be it.”
“Has to be what?” I jumped up from the chair, following her lead, even though I had no idea what the hell she was talking about.
“Why would a demon kidnap an Unbound vampire and then guard him?” Laura asked, her frown transforming into a smile. “It wouldn’t. Unless it was following orders of some kind.”
“Okay,” I said slowly. “I thought we just went through this. Demons don’t follow orders. They don’t have a command structure like that. Even though a lot of things are turning out to be a lot different than we thought, this is one thing I’m certain of. These are demonic creatures that consume everything in sight. Not some sort of structured army with strategic capabilities.”
“That’s not what I mean.” She moved over to Dorian’s desk and shuffled through his research, pulling out a sheet of paper I’d long since forgotten. “If a demon is following commands, where would those commands be coming from? Not another demon. Someone else.”
Suddenly, a lightbulb sprang to life over my head, and Laura’s words finally made sense. “The demon is being controlled like when—”
“Like when Vincent bound demons to himself.” Laura held up the paper. The photocopy of the rune that would work the magic, the one that would bind a demon to a mage, the one that required a human sacrifice for it to be complete.
“But, Vincent is dead,” I whispered, not wanting to believe it. “And Ivan Wagner took a truth serum. He didn’t manage to bind any demons to himself before we caught him.”
“Even if Wagner didn’t, maybe someone else did.” Laura gave me a meaningful look. “And I bet he knows who.”
In all the months that Wagner had been tucked behind bars, I’d never once come to visit. I figured he probably didn’t want to look into the face of the person who helped capture him, and Dorian—the leader in our partnership—had taken on the task of questioning Wagner’s role in Vincent’s plans.
Now, with Dorian captured, I was the one in control. There were other Enforcers who could grill the man, of course, but this case was mine. And I was hell bent on being the one to crack it.
“So,” I said, perching on the desk in front of Wagner, who sat back in his chair with his arms crossed over his chest, “you’re the infamous Ivan Wagner, Professor of Rare Books, Grimoire-Hunter, and Treasonous Bastard to Humanity.”
“Zoe Bennett.” He smiled, wrinkles stretching out from puffy eyes. With graying hair at the temples, he was one of the older generation of warlocks. There weren’t many of those left after the war, but he’d managed to make it through the battles unscathed. And now I was beginning to wonder how. “Took you long enough to stop by and say hello. How is your grandmother doing?”
Anger shot through my gut, but I pushed it aside. He wanted to get a rise out of me, and I refused to let him see it worked. When he’d been working with Vincent, Wagner had stalked the streets outside my apartment, watching and waiting for the moment Grams would be left alone. He’d helped Vincent curse her, and for that, I’d never forgive the man.
“She’s doing very well, thank you.” I sent back just as sweet a smile. “And how is prison life? Enjoying the solitary confinement?”
“Actually? No. My accommodation could be better. Perhaps you could do something about that? A large room with a view of the city would work nicely.”
I barked out a harsh laugh. “Yeah, right. Like that’s going to happen.”
“Very well.” He shrugged. “Then, I won’t answer your questions about the demons who are being controlled by mages.”
Despite myself, I sat a bit straighter, my eyes boring holes into his skull. He hadn’t been briefed on why I’d requested an interview, and no visitors had been to see him since he’d been locked up. Which only meant one thing. He wasn’t bluffing. He did know something, but he wasn’t going to share unless I made his life here more comfortable.
And for the man who stalked my Grams, that was the last fucking thing I wanted to do.
Gritting my teeth, I continued to stare him down. “How do I know that you have anything useful to share?”
“Where’s your partner?” he asked, smiling when I narrowed my eyes. “Dorian Kostas, the vampire warlock who would sacrifice himself for a shadow witch.” When I flinched, Wagner’s slight smile stretched into a full-on Machiavellian grin. “That’s right. I know what you are. And so does everyone else in my coven.”
My heart lurched as I glanced toward the closed door leading into the hallway. Thank fuck this wasn’t like a real police station, with cameras and two-way mirrors. There was a microphone, but no one was out there listening to this interrogation. That I knew of. Otherwise, my entire illusion would be blown.
“Now, that I have your attention,” he continued, “I assume that if you’re here and he isn’t, everything is moving according to plan.”
“What plan?” I asked through gritted teeth.
He leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms over his chest. “Like I said, I want out of solitary. A better room, better food, better view. Some fresh air. Something to read. Basically, stop making my life so brutally miserable, and I’ll tell you what you need to know.”
My heart thumped hard as I stared at the man. With everything he’d said and everything that had happened, I wasn’t in the mood to bargain. My shadow magic rumbled within me, begging me to rip the man’s smug smile right off his face. Dangerous, the voice whispered. Evil, it said. Destroy the bl
ood mage.
I blinked. Wait a minute. Ivan Wagner was a blood warlock, one of the only ones in the Boston area. The Blood Hunter Coven had said he was one of their members. Was this just a coincidence or were these bound demons somehow connected to the deaths of the mages as well?
Professor Wagner’s smile widened at the look of realization that crossed my face, and as much as I wanted to punch that smugness right out of him, I had to know exactly what was going on here.
I stood. “Wait here.”
In the hallway, Ben Ackers, the council member who had gotten me the Enforcer job, was waiting for me. “Well? How’s it going in there?”
“You didn’t hear anything?” I swallowed hard and glanced at the table holding the recording equipment and a pair of headphones. If he’d been listening, I was screwed. Luckily, he just shook his head.
Speaking quietly and quickly, I filled him in on Wagner’s request for better accommodation. “As much as I hate to say it, we have to give it to him.” I started ticking things off on my fingers. “Not only will we get information on how to find Dorian but we’ll get important information about these demons. Hell, maybe even a way to stop them that doesn’t involve Nosferatu fangs. And I have a serious hunch that this will solve the blood mage serial killer problem. Or at least lead us to the murderer.”
“You think Wagner’s wrapped up in that case, too?” He frowned. “But how? He’s been locked away for months.”
“Obviously, he didn’t do it himself,” I said. “But I think he has information that can lead us to whoever did.”
“Right.” Ben cracked open the door and peered into the room before latching it quietly behind him. “The Magister isn’t going to like this, but I’ll go ahead and give it the green light. We’ll move Wagner to a room with a window, he’ll get a Kindle with some books on it, and we’ll let him make a phone call once a week.”
“And the fresh air?” I asked.
“Hell no. He can forget about having time outside,” Ben said. “Tell him he’ll be able to crack the window.”
With a nod, I turned back to the door, but Ben grabbed my elbow to stop me. My heart hammered against my chest. For a moment, I could swear he was going to tell me he’d overheard our discussion after all, that he knew the truth about my powers.
“Zoe,” he said. “I just want you to know we’re doing everything we can to find your partner. We have a couple of teams scouring the streets for any sign of him. They’ve gone back to the cemetery. Nothing’s there, of course, but we’re looking.”
Tears pricked my eyes, but I blinked them away. “I know you’ll do whatever it takes to find him. And so will I.”
“I know you will.” He frowned and glanced behind him before lowering his voice to a whisper. “Just one question. How did you find Dorian in the crypt in the first place?”
“Just a hunch,” I said, pressing sweaty palms against my black pants. “That was where we first saw the demon, so we thought he could have ended up back there somehow.”
Since Seek was a shadow spell, I couldn’t tell Ben that was how I’d found Dorian. Instead, I’d told the council that Laura and I had stumbled upon him while we were out searching—in physical form, of course. They seemed to buy it, for now, but I knew the longer I did this job, the more at risk of discovery I would be.
Because eventually, I’d use my magic in a way that I couldn’t explain away.
“Remind me to always listen to your hunches.” He patted my back and smiled. “Now, listen, if you want to take a break, I’m happy to take over with the interrogation. You look like you could use some sleep.”
“It’s alright,” I said. “I’ve got this.”
Back inside the room, I perched on the table so that I towered over Wagner. He thought he held all the cards right now, but I wanted him to remember that I was the one in control of his fate. I could snatch his new privileges away just as quickly as I’d granted them.
“Your new room is a go. Now, tell me everything, starting with where the fuck Dorian Kostas is.”
He let out a light laugh and shook his head. “I can’t tell you where your partner is.”
With a growl, I jumped off the table and glowered down at him. My power rippled through my veins, coaxing my anger to flame. “Are you kidding me? What the hell was the point of this if you don’t actually know anything?”
“Oh, I know plenty.” He laced his hands behind his head, his smug smile a permanent fixture on his weathered face. “I don’t know where your partner is, but I can tell you who does. See, I don’t control the demon myself. I wasn’t lying when I said I never cast the spell to control one of those creatures.”
“Then, who did?” I asked. “Who’s controlling it?”
“The Magister,” he said.
Shock and horror pounded through me at his words. “Magister Salvatore? But I don’t understand. What the hell makes you think he would ever do such a thing?”
“Not he,” Wagner said. “She. Piper Maddow, the Magister of the Blood Hunter Coven. Of course, the demon may be controlled by one of our other members. They have all conquered that particular brand of magic.”
“Wait. You mean the mages who started that splinter coven.” I sunk into the chair, barely believing his words. “The ones who broke away from the main coven.”
“That’s correct.” He nodded. “Why do you think we formed our own? The main coven doesn’t approve of our methods.”
“Well, if you’re sacrificing humans in order to bind demons to yourselves, then no fucking joke.” Narrowing my eyes, I stalked across the room and leaned down to stare into his dark and beady eyes. “Don’t you realize what you’re doing? The more you do this, the weaker the veil gets.”
“If we’re controlling the demons, we don’t need to worry about the veil.” He shrugged and tapped his finger against his chin. “There’s no reason to worry about merging our worlds if we’re the ones in control.”
I pulled back, shocked at what I was hearing. “You’re delusional.”
“And you’re not thinking about the bigger picture,” he said. “If we pull the strings, then this world will be forever safe.”
Anger pulsing through me, I turned my back on Wagner. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. It had been one thing to hear Vincent speak this way, but it was another to discover this view on the world was far more widespread than I’d originally thought. It wasn’t just one mage who thought humans should be sacrificed to gain these powers. There were almost a dozen. And those were just the ones I knew about.
“Besides,” Wagner said, “the demons aren’t the creatures that we need to worry about. Not right now. We need to focus our efforts on the bloodsuckers.”
I whirled on him. “Is that why your coven has taken Dorian? You have something against vampires?”
“My dear.” He laughed. “I’m a blood warlock. We’ve always hated vampires, and I imagine we always will. Sometimes, I wonder if we’re the only coven who truly sees how evil they are. We have been suppressing our ancient calling for far too long. It’s time we take matters into our own hands.”
“And, so that’s why they took Dorian. Because they believe he’s another vampire they need to destroy?”
“No,” Wagner shook his head. “And yes. As an Unbound vampire, Dorian has eternal life. He will never die of old age. Any demon bound to his form will remain bound to him forever.”
My mouth dropped open, and blood roared in my ears. “You’re binding demons to Dorian?”
“Through Dorian.” Wagner smiled. “As long as he’s in his dreamless sleep, we can control the demons through his unconscious mind. And they will never be loosed upon this world because he will never die.”
“This is insanity.” I curled my hands into fists. “You can’t do this.”
“Oh, but we can.” He continued to smile. “And we did. There’s nothing you can do about it, Zoe. Any time you try to go after him, the demon will be there to protect his body. And soon, my entire cov
en will have multiple demons under their control. You’ll be up against ten blood mages and their demon army. You might as well just let them do what they need to do. The Daywalkers nearly destroyed your coven. Let us take care of them for you. You can even join us if you like.”
Despite the terror of his words, my mind zeroed in on one fact that stood out from the rest. Ten blood mages. After the murders, there were now only six, not including Laura. Which meant…he didn’t know they were getting murdered. And if he didn’t, that meant their deaths weren’t part of his twisted plan. Someone had found out what they were doing. And they were trying to stop it.
“What’s the whole point of this?” I asked. “Why would you even want to bind demons to yourselves? Why risk it?”
“Because demons can kill vampires. And every single bloodsucker must die.”
Chapter 26
The Magister, Ben, Laura and I all sat around a large oak table that had enough seats to hold two dozen. In fact, there were only four of us, because that was all the manpower they could muster at the moment, what with the task teams combing the streets.
“We can’t attack the Blood Coven, Zoe,” the Magister said, placing his calloused palms flat on the table. “Not even a smaller offshoot that is currently going against the headquarters’ orders.”
I couldn’t believe what I was hearing.
“But they’ve kidnapped Dorian. They’re burning down vampire clubs. They’re sacrificing humans, and they’re binding demons to themselves. Ones that are becoming immune to our powers and taking on physical forms. How is this even up for debate?”
“It isn’t up for a debate,” the Magister gave me a thin smile. “We cannot do it. End of discussion. The Blood Coven is one of our only allies, and I will not risk that when everything is on shaky ground. And that is more important to us than our alliance with the Daywalkers.”
Witch's Storm (The Bone Coven Chronicles Book 2) Page 18
