by Becca Blake
“You’re not really considering this, are you?” Orion asked.
“You and I have both used… expression magic,” I said, stumbling over the new term.
“Sure, but—“
“What Ayla’s saying makes sense to me. Besides—my chest hurts like all the hells, and if she can fix it, I’m on board. Even if it ends up driving her to insanity.”
“I appreciate your confidence in me.” Ayla waved at Orion to move, then took his place on the stool. She pulled the bandage aside and dabbed away the healing herbs, careful not to press too hard on my tender skin.
“This won’t hurt?” I asked.
“Just relax. Close your eyes.”
She brushed her finger against my chest, right next to the open wound below my collarbone. Instinct forced me to wince, but there was no pain. Instead, a warm sensation flooded through my body, starting at my shoulder, and a sense of peace coated me like a blanket.
The intensity of Ayla’s emotion flooded through me, and I could feel the strength of the bond we shared. I felt how deeply she cared for me and her regret for abandoning me.
The connection severed as suddenly as it came. I opened my eyes and looked at my chest. At first glance, all that remained of the wound was a pink patch of new skin. On a closer inspection, I could see faint lines left by the hellhound’s claws, slightly puffy like a freshly healed scar.
“That scar may never heal completely, since it was an infernal wound, but the real damage to your body is gone,” Ayla said.
As she pulled her hand back, the mark Raxael had left on my chest shimmered faintly before fading away once more.
Ayla jumped to her feet, shaking her hand as though she’d been stung. “What the hell?”
I crossed my arms over my chest. “Raxael stopped us on our way out of town. He was going to kill Jacob if I didn’t agree to help him.”
“Help him do what?” Orion asked.
“Find Maki. And you.”
His face turned a few shades paler, but he said nothing.
“And, what, he marked you somehow?” Ayla asked.
“Yeah. So I can call him to me once I find Maki and Orion.” When neither of them spoke, I sat up on the couch. “Not that I intend to do that.”
“Lie back down and get some sleep. We can talk about this tomorrow.” Orion started toward the door.
“I didn’t know what else to do,” I said. “You know I wouldn’t betray you, right?”
“I know.” He rubbed his eyes. “We’re just in a really bad spot here. I need time to think.”
He stepped out into the hallway, and though I tried to stay awake until he returned, sleep claimed me first.
***
The next morning, I woke in a panic, gasping for breath. I couldn’t recall what I’d been dreaming about, but sweat drenched my brow. Traveling all over the country on hunts, I was used to waking up in unfamiliar places, but it took me much longer than usual to remember where I was this time. Even when I did, I couldn’t shake the sense of dread that followed me into consciousness.
I got up from Ayla’s couch and shuffled down the hallway. I found her bathroom and took a shower to wash away the previous night’s filth. The heat soothed my skin and calmed my mind. Blood and dirt swirled down the drain, and when I stepped out, I looked human again.
After the shower, I wrapped a towel around my body and poked around the small apartment to search for her. There were two bedrooms, both with unmade beds, though she and Orion were nowhere to be found.
I didn’t feel like running out to my car for a change of clothes, so I stole an outfit from Ayla’s dresser, along with one of her leather jackets. She only had about a million of them in her closet, so I doubted one would be missed. As I dressed, I ran a finger over the pink skin where the infernal wound had been.
All my life, I’d known that magic couldn’t heal infernal wounds. They pounded it into our heads at the academy as a fundamental fact. I supposed it was just one more thing in my world that had been turned upside down in only a few short weeks.
I could almost understand why destructive magic like lightning and fire was forbidden, but this healing magic would have changed so much for us in the field and at home. I shook my head to banish those thoughts. Haygrove wasn’t home anymore, and I needed to stop thinking of it that way.
Once I was satisfied that I was fit to go out in public, I picked up my duffel bag and went downstairs to the bookshop. The shelves were filled with rows and rows of used books, and the air carried the scent of old pages and fresh coffee.
I found Ayla sitting with Orion in the cafe attached to the shop. She took one glance at me and jumped to her feet.
“I’ll go get you a coffee.”
“I didn’t think I looked that bad,” I mumbled.
“No comment.” Orion took a long sip from his mug.
The bell on the door chimed, and a group of teens walked in. While Ayla greeted her customers, I took her seat across the table from Orion.
“So, what do we do now?” I asked, lowering my voice. “How do we stop Raxael?”
“We should rest and recover for a few days. There’s no reason to rush things. We have the enchantment, and we’re safe for right now. The Council doesn’t know where we are.”
“Jacob isn’t safe,” I said.
“Let’s take a breath and figure things out.”
“And what about us—are you sure we’re safe here?” My fingers drifted up to my collarbone. “We don’t know what this thing Raxael put on me does.”
Orion leaned forward, crossing his arms on the table. “I was thinking about that mark, actually. We might be able to use it to our advantage.”
“How do you figure?” As he opened his mouth to respond, my phone rang. I pulled it free from my pocket and checked the screen. “It’s Jacob.”
“Riley, don’t—”
I ignored him and swiped the green icon to answer the call. “Are you okay? I’ve been so worried,” I said, skipping a greeting.
My heart caught in my throat as I realized the voice on the other end wasn’t my partner’s.
“Hello, Miss Collins. You should be worried.”
I agreed to do as Raxael asked so he would spare Jacob’s life. Instead, the demon lord put him right back in his father’s hands.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Fears about whether Jacob was hurt—or whether he was even alive—flooded my mind, and I couldn’t bring myself to respond. How far would Marcus go to punish his son?
“Where is he?” I asked once I found my voice.
Beside me, Orion set down his coffee and leaned forward on the table.
“Don’t worry,” Marcus continued, his voice smooth and calm. “My son is perfectly fine. He’s sitting right here with me, actually.”
Across the room, Ayla told her customers to have a nice day. Once they were settled at a table and occupied by their cell phones, she started toward us. I covered my phone and mouthed, Marcus.
She nodded and pointed her thumb at the empty bookshop next door, where we could have more privacy.
“Are you still there?” Marcus asked. He sounded almost amused by my silence, and I could just imagine the smarmy look on his face.
We followed Ayla out of the cafe, and I put the phone on speaker for them to listen. “What do you want?”
“Tell me where you are,” he said.
“I don’t think so.”
“Yes, I thought that might be your answer.” He let out a soft chuckle. “You know, I was confused when Raxael showed up here with Jacob and told me you were both trying to escape. What I haven’t figured out is why he left either of you alive.”
“Is Jacob hurt?” I asked, avoiding his unasked question. If he didn’t know about the deal I’d made with Raxael, I wasn’t going to offer him more informat
ion.
“He was, but we’ve treated his injuries. He’ll be fine.”
“Good.”
“I’m not sure I can say the same for you, however. We have a few things to discuss. So, where are you?” I heard the nauseating smile in his voice. “We can do this the easy way, or the hard way, but I will find out.”
“I’m away on business,” I said.
“Jacob said something similar. He wasn’t particularly forthcoming with details, either.”
“I figured you’d be too busy to worry about me, considering half of Haygrove burnt down. I assume you have better things to do,” I said.
“If you don’t return to Haygrove immediately to stand trial, we’ll have no choice but to consider you an Oathbreaker,” Marcus said.
I’d hoped Raxael would make sure the Council left me alone, but I supposed it made sense that he hadn’t yet. He wouldn’t promise me any protection until I followed through with my end of the deal.
“Consider me whatever you want,” I said. “I’m not coming back.”
“Is Orion there with you?”
“No,” I said, glancing over at him. “I have no idea where he is.”
“That’s a shame,” Marcus said. “I don’t want to offer my own son to Raxael, but if I can’t offer Orion, I don’t see what other choice I have.”
“Let me talk to Jacob.”
“You’ll see him soon.”
“What does that mean?” I asked.
My screen turned dark as Marcus ended the call.
I cursed under my breath and stuffed the phone back in my pocket. “What now?”
Orion pushed aside the curtain and peered out the window that faced the street. “I don’t know, but I don’t like that Marcus called you. He knew you wouldn’t tell him where I am.”
“I agree,” Ayla said. “It doesn’t feel right. I hate to say it, but I think we should get out of here and lie low somewhere else for a while.”
“You’re okay with just walking out in the middle of your shift?” I asked.
“My boss will be here soon. I’ll tell her I’m dealing with a family emergency, and we can head out then.” She shrugged. “No big deal.”
“What about your apartment?” I asked.
“The last thing I want to do is lead them to the place where I’m living.”
“Then we should get our things and leave,” Orion said.
“Well, we can’t go anywhere until my boss gets here to watch the shop, so I’m going to go drink my coffee while I still can. It’s getting cold.” Ayla pushed past me, and I followed her back to the cafe.
The group of teen girls still sat at their table in the corner, giggling over a video on one of their phones. As I pulled my chair out to sit, my skin tingled with the sense that something wasn’t right. Probably just jitters after my call with Marcus, though it felt like something more urgent. Something we were missing.
We have time, I reminded myself. They don’t know where we are.
Orion put a hand on my shoulder. “Everything okay?”
“Yeah. I guess I’m just paranoid.” I shook him away and reached for my drink.
“Understandable,” Ayla said, giving my wrist a comforting squeeze. “But we’re safe here for now.”
I almost wished she wasn’t being so nice to me. She was doing a good job of hiding it, but I could tell how pissed she was that I brought this to her door. Once this was over, I was sure she’d tear into me, and I’d deserve it for putting her in danger like this.
I should have never gotten her involved.
“I’m not sure it’s a good idea for us to wait around,” I said. “Are you sure they won’t find us?”
“I don’t see how they would,” Ayla said. “They don’t know where I live—or that I’m even alive, as far as I know.”
Orion frowned. “Unless they were tracing the call.”
“Can they do that?” I asked.
“They have the equipment,” he said. “But we’re a few hours out from Haygrove.”
“So, we’ll be gone before they get here, right?” I asked.
“We can leave in about an hour,” Ayla said, checking the time on her phone.
“Then we should be fine,” Orion said.
Ayla picked up the coffee mugs to clear the table. “You two should head upstairs and start gathering your belongings so we’re ready to go.”
She hardly finished her sentence before the bell on the door chimed again. The civilian kids quieted as a group of heavily armed Arbiters packed into the small cafe.
Metal chairs scraped against the tile floor as we stood up.
Celia pushed her way through the line of hunters. Instead of the more formal knee-length skirts and heels I was used to seeing her in, she wore leather pants and boots.
I relaxed my grip as relief flooded through me. We needed as many allies as we could get. “Celia—”
She put up a hand to stop me. “Come back with us peacefully, and no one has to get hurt here.”
“Come back?” My fingers tightened around the hilt once more.
One of the girls in the corner gasped as weapons were drawn all around. For them to confront us in public like this, right in front of civilians who had cell phones out, they had to be desperate to get us back. This sort of exposure would take headquarters months to clean up—if they ever could at all.
They were never this sloppy.
“We don’t need to do this,” Orion said. “You know we haven’t done anything wrong.”
“I’m not here to hurt you, but we were ordered to use force to bring you back if necessary.”
“You know what they’ll do to us if we go back,” I said. “And you know it’s wrong.”
She pulled out her handgun and aimed it in our direction. Her finger hovered beside the trigger. “Don’t make me do it.”
Ayla set the mugs on the table, then dove for the weapons in my duffel bag.
Celia fired a shot in her direction. I lifted my hand and flung the bullet away with a quick ward.
Another gasp came from the corner, but we didn’t have time to worry about the civilian girls. At Celia’s command, the Arbiters rushed for us, and another swarm of bullets flew in our direction. This time, Orion held up a ward to stop them.
“This way!” Ayla bolted for the back room.
Orion and I alternated barriers as we followed her. As soon as all three of us made it into the room, I kicked a wheeled cart full of books toward the doorway. It slammed into the first Arbiter to enter the room. He tumbled over the cart, sending books flying in every direction.
We kept running through the next door Ayla opened, which led to the alley behind the building.
“My car isn’t far from here,” I said.
Sirens sounded in the distance, drawing closer every second. The civilians in the cafe must have called the police, though it wouldn’t matter much if they showed up. Arbiters would flash their fake FBI credentials and send the civilian cops on their way.
The teens and their phones would be a much more difficult mess for them to clean up, but that wasn’t our problem.
I fumbled in my pocket for the keys and unlocked the Cavalier just as Celia and the other Arbiters emerged from the building and continued shooting at us.
Our wards couldn’t catch everything.
Orion cursed. “There go the tires.”
Celia gestured for the hunters to move forward, and they surrounded us.
I let the fury of my flames ignite along the steel of my blade as I spun into action. I thrust the flaming sword into the gut of the first guard to approach me, then turned to meet the next. Her sword clashed into mine as she parried my attack, and the force pushed my arm backward.
She took advantage of my momentary stumble to lunge forward and wrest my sword free from my gr
ip.
The force knocked the sword free from my grip. Fiery magic surrounded my hands, and as she tried to restrain me, I let the flames surge up my arms. She stepped back with a sharp scream, staring at her burnt hands, and I picked up my sword.
On my right, I got a glimpse of Orion fighting off Celia, while two of the other guards closed in on Ayla.
I sent a blast of flame shooting toward her, and she backed away to let it strike her attackers.
“Watch out for dark magic!” Celia called out to her hunters.
More Arbiters came from the street and flooded into the alleyway, blocking off any hope of escape we might have had. I let my sword guide my arms as I slashed at them, carving my way through the swarm of bodies, but there were too many. Only a few of them had confronted us inside, but there had to be dozens more after us now.
I dodged one hunter only for another to tackle me. My head smacked on the pavement, and my vision flashed a bright white.
Someone rolled me over onto my stomach and pinned me down, their knees digging into my arms. Rough hands brushed against me as the hunter pushed my hair to the side, baring my neck.
Rocks and dirt bit into my skin as I shoved against his weight with all the strength I had, but my attacker didn’t budge. My hands heated up, but without the ability to move my arms, I couldn’t direct my magic at the Arbiters.
I tried to look through the mass of legs surrounding me, but I only got quick glances of Orion and Ayla, who had been overpowered just as I had.
“Wait,” I said. “This is a mistake. I—”
Before I could finish my sentence, something sharp pierced the skin on my neck. I thrust my body from side to side, trying in vain to wiggle free as fire scorched through my veins.
The Arbiter on my back released me, and I writhed on the ground, screaming. The effort became too much, and though the pain still tore through me, I couldn’t fight it any longer. Distantly, I became aware of the fact that I’d stopped screaming.
As exhaustion took me and my body stopped moving, one of the Arbiters slung me over his shoulder. My gaze settled on Celia until my vision blurred, and everything went black.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
