by Linsey Hall
Quick as we could, we staggered to our workshop.
“What will fix this?” Mari asked.
I searched the shelves, heart thundering in my ears. “What’s our strongest all-purpose antidote?”
Mari frowned, looking toward the shelves. She pointed up high, to the top self. “Black bottles.”
I reached for it, but collapsed, my limbs like jello and my body aflame. Mari went down next to me, slumping against the wall, unable to continue.
“Wally.” I could barely speak his name. My heart thundered in my ears.
The hellcat leapt onto the table and onto the shelves, then carefully gripped a black bottle in his jaws. He delivered it to me, then returned to the shelf. I pushed the black bottle to Mari.
She glared at me.
I glared back, then tried to hiss.
She took the potion, her hands shaking as she uncorked it and swigged it back.
A second later, Wally delivered the second bottle. It took all my strength to get it to my lips, and though it tasted like dishwater as I swigged it down, the fire diminished in my veins almost immediately.
I sagged against the wall, letting the antidote get to work.
Wally rubbed his smoky body against my hip, feeling like a strange combo of incorporeal and solid. I scratched his back, which sparked with magic.
Mari thumped her head against the wall. “We’re in trouble.”
“Yeah.” My throat still felt scratchy. “I don’t think that cured us.”
“Not a chance.”
There was still dangerous magic flowing through our veins, a poison that even our strongest antidote hadn’t been able to defeat. It was faded now, and much more tolerable, but it was still there.
“Which problem do we deal with first?” Mari held up the medallion she’d taken from one of the demons.
I stared at it, my gaze riveted by the familiar design on the front. I pulled the other medallion from my pocket. Though I knew what I would find when I looked at it, I did so anyway.
The charm stared back at me, taunting.
“They came from Grimrealm.” I flipped the medallion over, but it was plain on this side. “Same medallion the necromancer and Oraxia demons were wearing.”
“And you said it controls the demon’s motions? Makes them do whatever you want them to?”
I nodded. “That’s what The Weeds said.”
The skinny little mage in Grimrealm was one of the best demon wranglers in the place. I’d only met him once—to question him about the necromancer demon—but if someone wanted to hire a demon, they went to The Weeds.
“So we need to go to Grimrealm.”
I nodded at her words, then staggered to my feet. The pain was still fading from my limbs, but this was a major problem. “First, let’s try to figure out what’s wrong with us.”
I reached down for Mari, and she took my hand. I pulled her to her feet.
“Oh, this sucks.” She hobbled to the shelves of ingredients, her gait improving with every step.
I joined her, nearly feeling normal by the time I reached her. At least, I felt no pain. I could still feel something wrong with me, however.
We didn’t need to talk as we gathered the ingredients for the spell that would help us determine what had cursed us. People came to us for this spell all the time.
This was the first time we’d used it on ourselves, though.
I collected the tools while Mari gathered the potions. Quickly, I found a stone bowl, a silver athame, and a pink crystal from a realm not on earth.
I brought my collection back to the table, which was still pressed up against the wall. We hadn’t even bothered to close the trapdoor.
Mari joined me at the table and set three tiny bottles on the wooden surface. Wally jumped up onto the table to watch us, flame red eyes following our every move.
Tension pulled at my skin as we began to work. Mari measured out the glimmering ingredients, pouring precise portions into the bowl. I dropped the crystal in, then stirred the concoction with the silver blade. The final step was to slice our fingertips and let our blood flow into the mixture.
I did mine first, the silver blade cutting deep. Pain flared as white blood dripped into the swirling potion. Mari took the blade and did her own finger. Black blood joined mine, and a poof of blue smoke rose up from the bowl.
Fortunately, these wounds would heal quickly due to an enchantment. It was necessary, given how many times we cut ourselves.
I held my breath as I watched, waiting for any one of the many signals that would tell us what was in our veins.
The liquid in the bowl turned red.
“Fire,” Mari murmured.
The shimmering solution faded from red to black. My heart dropped.
“Fatal.” The words were a whisper as they left my throat.
I looked up at Mari, meeting her stark gaze. The blue fire that the demon had hit us with would kill us.
We blinked at each other, speechless, then turned back to the bowl. The liquid within lay still and flat. The black faded to gray.
There were no more clues.
“It’s something new,” Mari said. “Or rare.”
I stepped back from the bowl, testing my strength. I felt fine. Almost back to normal. But I couldn't get away from the fact that something inside me felt different. The curse.
“Let me check the book.” I hurried to one of the shelves and picked up a massive leather book.
I turned it over, catching sight of the scrolling golden script. Curses Most Deadly and Rare. Mari came to stand by my shoulder as I flipped through the pages, searching for the curse.
It took a few minutes, but I finally I found something that might fit, given what we’d seen in the potion.
Fire Veins Curse.
Quickly, I scanned the text. I could feel Mari reading over my shoulder.
Words like deadly, days, and burning from within really popped out at me.
“Well, shit. That’s not good,” she muttered.
“No kidding.”
At most, we’d have three days. The curse made fire burn in our veins—or some magical equivalent of it. It would eat us from within, until finally, we succumbed to the pain and decay and died.
“We’re holding it off with the antidote,” Mari said. “According to the book, we should feel worse now, but we don’t. So that should buy us some time.”
“Maybe it’ll get us a couple days more, but we can’t hold it off forever.” Not only was the antidote made of incredibly rare ingredients, it was toxic when taken in too great an amount.
I looked toward the top shelf. Two bottles left.
Mari pointed to some tiny text in the book. “Rest will help, too. Keeping our strength up will fight off the potion.”
We didn’t have a lot of time for rest, but it’d become inevitable, I was sure.
Cursed. Fucking cursed.
Who would do this?
“We need to track the medallion,” I said. “Find who cursed us and figure out what the true antidote is.”
“Why did they attack our pool, though?”
“So we can’t get help, maybe. But we stopped them in time.” If they’d succeeded, we’d have no way to access the Council of Demon Slayers. They’d have to figure out something was wrong and come find us.
My mind spun. “But the real question is…how did they know we worked for the Council of Demon Slayers? And why did they come for us?”
Mari nodded. “Only one way to find out. We’re going to Grimrealm.”
3
A half hour later, Mari and I stood at the entrance to Fairlight Alley. In a cruel twist of fate, the entrance to Grimrealm was on the same side of town as our home in Darklane.
When we’d escaped Grimrealm, we’d wanted nothing more than to get as far away as possible. That hadn’t been in the cards, though, since the council had wanted us to protect Magic’s Bend as the resident demon slayers.
So we’d gotten our disguises and set
up shop.
Now we were back.
Both of us.
I’d tried to convince Mari not to come. It was dangerous for both of us to go back, considering how we could be used against each other if we were caught by our family. I’d do anything to spare her, including creating dark magic.
“I know you’re pissed I’m coming, but get over it.” She flipped her dark cloak up over her head, hiding her face.
“Not pissed, just worried.”
“It’s too dangerous to go alone. And I’m done being afraid of our past. Anyway, the cure might be down there, and we don’t know how long we have.”
And that was the sticking point. We might be dead in a couple hours anyway. Even now, I could feel the slightest bit of heat in my veins. The fire was rising again.
“I’ll come get you if you don’t report back in two hours,” Claire said.
I turned back to glance at our friend. Her straight dark hair was pulled back in a ponytail, and she wore her fighting leathers.
When we’d called her, she’d been at Potions & Pastilles, having just closed up the cafe for the night. She’d been about to head out on a demon hunt for the Order of the Magica—she was a mercenary who occasionally did jobs for them, so she wasn’t dissimilar from us in that respect.
But now, she was our backup. Since Claire occasionally did jobs in Grimrealm, she was the most qualified to be our safety net in case we didn't return. She still didn’t know we were Dragon Bloods, but she knew we were weird and didn’t care. And if she had to rescue us, I trusted her with the secret, since she might figure it out.
“Remember to check in when you get back,” she said.
I nodded, wanting to hug her in thanks.
What was with me lately, wanting to hug people?
It was weird.
I shoved the thought aside and pulled a small vial of potion from my pocket. I swigged it back, feeling the dark magic inside me swell outward. It didn't grow—I definitely didn’t want that—it just became more apparent. The dark magic that I possessed was a remnant of my upbringing in one of the most horrible parts of the world. Mari had it, too.
In cases like this, it would help us blend in. We’d need a dark magic signature to throw the denizens of Grimrealm off the scent.
I glanced at Mari. She pulled her vial out from her cleavage, then drank it quickly.
Whereas my dark magic smelled faintly of wet dog, Mari’s smelled a bit fishy. Not overwhelming, but not nice either.
Because we were headed back into Grimrealm, Mari had insisted on wearing her Elvira getup. It was her usual disguise for our blood sorcery work. The plunging black dress, black bouffant hair, and massive sweep of dark makeup made her totally indistinguishable from the girl she’d once been.
No one in Grimrealm would recognize her.
Her one concession to the danger of the situation was the black combat boots she wore beneath the long dress. Normally, she’d go for midnight stilettos. She was a pretty mean fighter in those too—demons really had to watch out for their eyes—but the boots would make running easier.
And while we didn’t run from much in life, we’d both be willing to run from Grimrealm once we had our answers.
I, for one, stuck to my ghost suit. I’d need the possible invisibility. I still wore a dark cloak, however, and flipped that up over my face.
I gave Claire one last look. “Thanks for having our backs.”
“Always.”
Before I’d left my house, I’d put a note for Declan on the counter. If we didn't return and something happened to Claire, Wally was instructed to make sure Declan got the note.
It was mostly a come-save-my-ass note, but I’d kinda wanted to draw a heart on it.
I’d resisted, of course.
For one, it was too sappy.
For another, it was a terrible idea.
We left Claire at the entrance to the alley, and I strode down the clean, narrow street. The cleanliness was strange, primarily since we were between Darklane and the Historic District. The heavy weekend partying that went on in both of those places meant that all the local alleys smelled of pee.
But this alley had a repelling charm that kept the drunks out, hence the cleanliness.
I glanced at Mari, catching sight of her pale face beneath the cloak. I squeezed her shoulder, remembering what I’d felt the first time I’d come back to Grimrealm. Hell, my insides were still freaking out over this.
At my touch, Mari winced just slightly.
Shit.
My nullification magic. It was making her sick. I withdrew my hand.
“It’ll be okay,” I said.
“If death weren’t the alternative, I’d listen to this repelling charm and get the hell out of here.”
Yeah, I had to agree with that. It felt like hell.
We reached the end of the short alley, and I pressed my palm against the brick wall. I pushed hard, and my hand sank into the stone. I shoved my foot through next, finally managing to walk through the wall. It felt like making my way through viscous goo, but I appeared on the other side, clean and unharmed.
Mari followed, popping out beside me. “Weird.”
“No kidding.” The alley on this side was just as clean and boring. We approached the far end, and I stopped in front of the wall.
“What next?” Mari asked.
I pointed to a spot behind me. “Get ready for a trapdoor to open right there. Then we walk down a passage and hope the protections have not changed since I was here last.”
Mari raised her hand, her fingers crossed.
She tucked herself back against the wall while I studied the brick surface in front of me. Last time I’d been here, Claire had done this part. But I’d memorized her motions. The pattern returned to my mind, and I pressed my fingertips to different bricks, repeating the order that Claire had shown me.
Magic swelled on the air as stone scraped against stone. I turned around, looking at the ground.
A hole opened up, a gaping square that belched black magic.
“That’s it.” I approached, staring down. “Just jump.”
I didn’t wait—I couldn’t. The tension was too great. I stepped off the ledge and let myself fall into the hole. I plummeted, my stomach heaving upward. Near the bottom, magic slowed my descent, and I landed gracefully.
Mari followed immediately. She’d never been one to shrink from a challenge, even a terrifying one.
I turned to face the tunnel that stretched away from us. Dark magic filled the space, smelling of rotten eggs and sewage. Green-flame torches burned along the walls, illuminating the flat ground of the tunnel.
I stared at it. “Shit.”
Mari looked toward me. “What?”
I pointed to the flat ground. “When I was here last, the floor of the tunnel had a mound upon which you could walk. It helped you avoid the flame charm that would light you up for trespassing.”
“So we don’t know what the new protection charm is.”
“Nope.” I searched the tunnel for any clues, but spotted nothing. “We’ll just have to go slow.”
Mari drew a shield from the ether, and I followed suit. A moment later, Wally appeared at my side, slinking along.
“Here for the fun?”
And the souls.
I shrugged, just glad he was here.
Tension prickled across my skin as we crept down the passage. Dark magic roiled in the air, a threat that I couldn’t ignore.
When the first icicle shot from the side wall, I was too slow. It nearly pierced my side.
Wally leapt up, shooting a blast of flame at the ice and melting it right before it hit me. His fire warmed my side, nearly burning.
“Thanks.” I smooshed up against Mari, directing my shield toward the side. She did the same.
We moved forward, our steps triggering the magic. Icicles shot, one after the other. They clanged against our shields, shaking my arms with every blow.
Wally melted as many as he c
ould, but it was impossible for him to keep up.
“Faster,” Mari said.
I hurried alongside her, my arms aching from holding the shield.
Up ahead, the ice flew from all sections of the walls. Even with the shields, some would hit us in the legs.
This wouldn’t work. Our shields were too small, and Wally couldn’t get them all.
“Hang on.” I stopped. “This way.”
I shuffled toward the closest wall, and she followed. Every inch closer meant that the icicles hit my shield with more force. My arms were nearly dead.
“You better have a plan,” Mari muttered. “Because I’m about to drop this shield and become an icy shish kebab.”
“I do.” Kind of. Sort of.
I reached the wall and pressed my hand to the rough stone, calling upon my nullification magic and feeding it into the wall.
At first, nothing happened. I tried harder, calling it up from the depths of my soul. If I was going to live without touching anyone, then this magic had better come in handy.
This time, the power surged from me. In midair, the icicles slowed. They didn't stop entirely, but Wally was able to leap into the air and kick one away with his feet. Mari reached out and batted one to the ground.
“Nice.”
“Yeah. Let’s go before I lose it.” This magic could be a serious drain on me.
We walked forward, and I kept my hand pressed against the stone, dragging it along and feeding my magic into it. Mari swatted the icicles out of our way as we progressed.
Finally, we reached the end, and I withdrew my hand.
The icicles dropped, but my attention was on the enormous cavern in front of us. It was the size of multiple football fields, sprawled outward with a bustling hub of activity and dark magic. Quickly, I stashed my shield in the ether. Mari did the same.
We didn’t need people seeing that we hadn’t known how to get past the protection charms. If you didn’t know, you shouldn’t survive them. And if you somehow managed to, then you definitely weren’t invited here.
The stench of Grimrealm rolled out toward us, followed by the feeling of a gut-punch that nearly bowled me over. Mari flinched, too.
“Ugh, that’s new.” I searched for the creature that was giving off that particular magical signature, but saw no one.
