Her eyebrows knitted together. “What?”
Jeremy swiped a drink from a passing waiter. “They already have the headlines for tomorrow’s news.” He drew his hands across the air. “Keep Party Ends in Tragedy. Adrian Wilhelm Claims More Lives.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Sayer wasn’t careful with the plans. Too many people from the office found out what was really going on with this party. Dimitri needed to clean up the mess.”
Maura sensed the oncoming headache of what he was about to say.
Jeremy shrugged and clapped his hands together in the same way he would when a case had gone cold. “You know how The Keep is with resolving problems.”
She looked over the crowd, the dead dancing with the dead. “How’d he still get you all to come here if you knew you’d be killed?”
“The same way Adrian got you to come tonight, I’d imagine.” He cleared his throat. “There’s a man in my home with my wife right now. If I make a run for it or my death isn’t accounted for by the end of tonight…It’s the same for all of the agents in this room.”
The waiter returned with a drink. Jeremy stood, and Maura joined. They clinked glasses together in a silent toast.
“Remember Maura, this was all just an accident.”
She tried not to think just how big an accident this had all been. A sheer stroke of luck on Adrian’s part brought his long waiting plans together. But the thought that everyone here would fall victim to him sparked a flame in her. A flame that would destroy his plans. I can save them.
“Grab the first Vampire you see and fucking kill them.” She looked at Jeremy, his glass still against his lips. “Tell everyone you can.”
The lights dimmed. Hovering candles rose above the dance floor. The orchestra, hidden within the shadows on the balcony, started low with only a handful of violins playing on a deep note. People sitting in the lounging areas disappeared into the dark. Candles within red glass encasements flickered on along the tables and walls. The red illumination was enough to outline the shadows of the people still sitting. The water seemed to pound harder into the fountain.
Maura watched the dark corners and flipped her vision to try to see the trails left behind. She cursed when the glare from the lights skewed traces of magic. She tossed the full glass into the water, where it drowned with an audible plop. Walking forward onto the dance floor, she weaved between the slow dancing couples. A magnetic pull led her through the crowd and to the center.
She knew where it ended.
Maura watched her backside and named the familiar faces dancing. People twirled faster, their heads back when their partners dipped them. Dresses skimmed at hers, almost sending an electric impulse up her leg. The music grew louder. Drums beat to the depth of her heart. A flute played low with the cello’s sorrowful notes.
A wave of fire danced across the tops of candles.
Maura faced forward to find Adrian reaching for her hand. He kissed the top of it and pulled her into the standard waltz position. He spun effortlessly into the dancing crowd without missing a beat.
“I hear you’re the guest of honor tonight.” She eyed the holster strap around his shoulder. When he lifted his arm to twirl her outward, the movement revealed a dagger tucked at his side. Twirling her back, she figured he had another one hooked at his ankle.
“As are you, Ms. Leroux.”
“Guests of honor aren’t invited only for them to be killed.”
He spun until people moved away.
“I see you’ve taken antidote. You’re unfazed by my presence.” Adrian pulled her to his chest. The point of his blade probed at her side.
“No. I’m simply done stroking your ego.”
He flicked her outward and whipped her back to his chest. If she had been human, the violence of the movement would’ve been enough to dislocate her shoulder.
A lull in the music revealed the tangible silence. Like an electric current, it buzzed through the stares of those around them.
Maura placed her lips beside his ear. “What are you waiting for?”
The orchestra met on the same deep note.
Adrian spun her into the crowd where she danced through the choreographed couples.
Maura twirled between exchanging partners and skimmed the outskirts of the halo of candles above. She waltzed from one familiar face to another, knowing by tomorrow morning they’d be no more than names on the Memorial Wall if her plan didn't work. She spun into another set of waiting arms.
“Are you okay?”
She squinted and tested the hold of the man’s gentle hands. “Liam?”
“That would be me.”
“I can barely fucking see with these candles.”
He let out a light chuckle and twirled her under his arm with ease. “I think that’s the point.” Liam pulled her close to his chest.
“How the fuck did Claus find you so fast?” she shrieked, trying to keep her voice level. “Are you okay? Are you hurt?”
“Maura, I’m fine. Claus did what you told him.” He spun her under his arm. “Adrian wanted me at the party.”
“Claus said he liked to put on a show.”
Liam chuckled.
“You need to leave,” she said.
“Maura, I'm here. I can help.”
She grunted. “The Keep plans to kill everyone here tonight. I need you to disarm the security Shields. Can you construct a Shield that prohibits signals from getting through?”
“From a cell phone?”
“Exactly. Adrian has men in the homes of all these people. One wrong move from anyone, and he’ll send out the orders to kill their families.”
“You’re about to make a wrong move.”
“You sound surprised.”
He traced his thumb over her parted lips, his touch heavier, slower, as if committing her to memory. She swallowed hard. The night flickered behind her closed eyes in red and ended with a depthless black. The end churned her stomach, stole the air from her lungs.
Liam's lips crashed with hers, the candles flaring wildly above. He deepened the kiss, arching her body into his. Her balance relied on the strength of his hands at the back of her neck. His tongue slipped between her parted lips, pulling a moan from her.
The scent of fire invaded her mind. It riffled through memories, dug through thoughts and skated around her conscious. Images of the last few days flashed on the inside of her eyelids.
The Void squirmed under his power, screeching against the butterflies overpowering her body.
Adrian pulled away, his hands still behind her neck, the Illusion gone. Her breath caught.
“I’m afraid giving your friends a head start won’t make much of a difference.” Adrian’s pearly white smile gleamed in the dark.
“Let’s get this over with, Adrian.” Maura summoned the water from the fountain. It charged with the speed of a hundred stallions. The force tore through the dance floor and created a rushing river down the center of the room.
She latched onto the remaining security spells. Electrical shocks coursed through her nerves and tried to rip her hold from them. The powerful recoil sent her flying backward. Her back cracked against one of the white stone columns. The structure crumbled to the hard ground.
Magic surged across the room. People screamed. Several were flung into the balcony. Sayer ushered Dimitri down the diagonal west corridor and disappeared within the shadows.
Maura sent a Flare toward the dozens of chandeliers dangling above. The light momentarily blinded everyone.
“Maura Leroux!” Adrian shouted over the chaos.
She whipped around, searching the faces around her. Adrian twisted around and disappeared into a tunnel.
Maura charged into the dark corridor. With no windows or lights, she relied on the glow from the ballroom to stretch the length of the hallway. She lit a flimsy Flare that extended a foot ahead. She banged into the narrowly spaced stone walls, not realizing when there was a curve.
Maura slammed into a dead end. The Flare extinguished. She held her bloodied face, her fangs dropping on instinct.
A cackle grew louder from behind.
She spun, lighting a Flare that sent a turquoise glow to Adrian’s face.
He took her by the neck and pinned her to the adjacent wall. “We aren’t finished yet.”
Chapter Thirty-Nine: The Dividing Line
Claus stood, numbed. People flew across the ballroom. Chandeliers plummeted to the ground with a roaring shatter. Blood replaced the fountain water. With each blast of magic came a wave of ash. The screams sent an ice cold shiver down his spine. He cringed. Another explosion. Another life gone.
Evrene slithered through the carnage, her golden dress stained with blood. “Come with me.” Taking him by the hand, she pulled him across the dance floor. “I have him.”
Claus’ world muted. Liam. “Where?” Dread choked his words.
Evrene motioned to a long, dark tunnel. Claus followed. Sweat dampened the back of his neck. Incoherent thoughts raced in his head. Evrene. GateKeeper. Adrian. Maura. Another Blue Ruin. His breathing calmed with each step into the cold tunnel. Only one thing stood between him and another Blue Ruin.
Evrene lit a Flare. She waved it in front of a brick wall. The stones grumbled as they shifted, revealing a set of stairs. They descended into a dungeon lit with large candles on gray stone walls. Small half moon openings with checkered bars were at the base of each wall. The ceiling curved into a dome. At the center was a tall opening with more bars. Trickles of moonlight, not strong enough to make their way down, illuminated the skylight.
Liam laid unconscious on a metal slab that balanced over a large well with unlit coals at the bottom. His arms and legs were chained to the table. His skin reddened where the handcuffs cut deep.
Claus’ chest tightened. His eyes widened until they hurt. “You killed him?” He tried to relax his shoulders, unclench his fists, and maintain steady breathing. His thoughts spiraled again. Adrian. Maura. Blue Ruin. The only thing standing between them.
“Sleeping Dust.”
“What are you doing?” he asked.
Evrene grinned. “He's our GateKeeper.”
Our GateKeeper. Our. He looked to the ceiling where he heard the muffled pleas for mercy from the party. The blood. The screams. The death. Anger charged through his veins, his skin flushing red. He clenched his fists at his sides. I'm not a part of this.
“Claus?” Evrene placed a hand on his shoulder. Lilac and jasmine. Her aura flooded his system, urging him to succumb to her poison.
I'm not a part of this. He grabbed her by the throat and pinned her to the ground. Her fingers clawed at his. She dug deep into his skin to draw blood. Her face reddened, her eyes bloodshot as he squeezed tighter, harder. I'm not a part of this. Hate surged into his grasp. Her betrayal, his brother. Adrian's manipulation, this party. Innocent lives lost, blood on his hands. He bore his weight on her throat. She kicked, thrashed, fought. Her lips moved with silent words, her gaze piercing his. Magic seeped beneath his skin. Soft whispers beckoned him to release his hold. Lilac and jasmine infected the air to cloud his mind. He growled, fangs drawn, and charged an Annihilation spell in his grasp.
A blast from above threw him against a wall. Evrene slipped from his fingers and disappeared beneath a plume of smoke. Claus rolled to all fours and crawled into a clearing. He coughed up ash, his chest aching, his head spinning. A voice, lost in the ringing of his ears, shouted over the chaos.
A hand pulled him by the back of the collar. He steadied on his feet and turned to a Vessel, his face splattered with blood and ash. Kyle.
“Help me,” Claus shouted over the ringing in his ears. “Help me get him.”
Claus wobbled to the table where Kyle waited. They stood at either side, glaring at the thick chains.
“Stand back,” Kyle said.
Claus stumbled into the pile of rubble that had once been a part of the first-floor library.
Kyle conjured a charm in his palms and released it. The yellow hue of the spell skipped along the chains and turned what it touched to ash.
“How do we wake him?” Claus asked.
Kyle conjured another spell that glowed turquoise. It hovered above Liam before cascading down like a waterfall over him. He took in a large gulp of air and jerked into an upright position. Liam doubled over, coughing up dust.
“He has her,” he said.
Maura. “Where?”
“West tunnel.”
Claus gulped. The garden.
“Run,” Claus said as he raced upstairs to a southern corridor that led to the study.
The screams of the party died behind thick double doors. A fire in the stone fireplace crackled louder than the flames consuming the other end of the home.
Claus lit a Flare and drew it in across the fireplace to reveal an empty encasement where Death’s Scythe had once rested. Empty. Claus froze.
This is the end.
Chapter Forty: The Devil’s Lair
Maura dropped into a vast garden with a burning setting sun on the horizon. The smell of salt water thrashing below circled the air. Where am I? The garden stretched before her feet, tumbling over rolling hills toward a cliff’s edge. Statues of Gods sat within alcoves constructed of hedges and marble benches. Pebbled pathways serpentined into the heart of the garden. Behind, the mansion sat in flames at the top of a nearby hill. Muffled screams pierced the air in the distance. She swallowed her panic. Images of Liam and Kyle burning, trapped amongst a wall of flames flashed behind her eyes. Anger surged like a deadly poison throughout her veins at the thought of who put them there. Adrian. The Void rumbled deep in her chest. Uncontrollable magic sparked from her fingertips.
Maura sprang to her feet and faced Adrian, alone, in the distance. “Where is he?”
Adrian paced between two faceless marble statues, grinning.
“Where’s Liam?” she screamed.
Images of Liam screaming within a dungeon flickered between the folds of reality.
“Adrian,” Maura warned. Her heart climbed into her throat, palms sweaty.
His malicious grin spread.
With each step forward, her surroundings melded into a familiar scene. The sky melted into trees, dark homes, the grass transforming into lush hills. Out of the corner of her eye, a fire waned to reveal her childhood home.
Adrian’s figure fazed in and out. His malice-laced sneer set fire to his image and replaced him with another. Her hair was black as night, skin as white as snow. Her arms, slender and long, had comforted Maura during long nights in Abysm. Her red lips, once always turned up in a smile, faded to blue.
“Mother,” Maura breathed and squeezed her eyes closed.
Adrian’s spell sizzled on her skin, painful, like needles stabbing her all over her body. This isn't happening. The stinging rain she'd felt the night she killed her family splashed onto her face. This isn't happening. Tears clogged her throat as the unforgotten words of her mother dragged her into the past.
Maura stood at the heart of her memories – the uncharted territory of her subconscious. Blue and silver sparks from Adrian’s spell surged like veins along the outer shell of the memory. It drew the outlines of her old kitchen, the figures of her and her sister, and the storm that roared overhead. The spell strengthened until the fine line between present and past disintegrated, and Maura found herself young again, waiting for Mother and Father to come home.
Maura and her siblings press their noses against the bay windows. Rain tears apart their summer day. Dark clouds rolled in all morning. They made bets through breakfast as to when it would rain.
Thunder rumbles over the home with premature flashes of lightning. Reds and blues ignite the sky in chaos. The air stills. A high-pitched ring grows sharper. Darkness charges over the hills in the backyard and plummets from the heavens.
They freeze.
“Get away from the windows,” Eric says. “Get away from the windows!” He takes Kerli and Maura
by the shoulders and pulls them to him. Bryce propels a Shield over them.
Windows in every room shatter with deafening crashes.
Maura covers her eyes, pressing close to Eric. Kerli trembles beside her. She screams over the exploding glass that rains down and bounces off the tiled floors with a ring.
Everything stills.
Black fog slithers toward the home. It tumbles over door jams, spills through windows, and thickens.
“We need to leave,” Bryce says. They follow after him and run toward the side door.
“What about Mother and Father?” Kerli cries.
“Mother and Father will find us.” Eric's words bounce with his running stride. He reaches for the silver handle into the garage. The door bursts into flames. Fireballs erupt from its center, spewing across the room, taking Eric with it. His body flies through the air and collides with the furthest wall. He tumbles through the crater into the kitchen.
Maura screams.
The sound of her high-pitched squeal shattered a portion of Adrian’s spell. Reality filtered in like sunlight through a porous veil. Fragmented images of her family surrounded her. Adrian smirked in the distance, pulsating black magic streaming from his fingertips.
Maura muttered a spell to The Void. Its purr to life rumbled. Eyes closed, she slammed her open fists to the ground.
The earth roared and the ground lurched forward. Winds picked up speed. They howled, bringing the ocean with it. Waves crashed onto the quaking ground.
Maura threw her arms behind her to create a wall of water. Adrian slammed against the solid form. She charged at him. Taking him by his drenched collar, she threw him onto his back. He knocked her into the wall with a red Flare. The charm burned her skin. She clapped the small flames along her clothing.
Adrian jumped to his feet. He whipped an Annihilation spell at her, and she blocked it with a Shield. The force of the impact shattered the spell and knocked her away from the water – her one salvation. The wall crashed down with her. Water tore her away, and she rolled within the tide. Adrian’s spell weighed her down beneath the waves like an anchor, drowning her in memories.
Blue Ruin (The Phoenix Series Book 1) Page 24
