Night Blade: Blade Hunt Chronicles Book Two

by Juliana Spink Mills

  Alex’s group had caught sight of them and paused, waiting. Camille pretended she’d just seen them and waved, smiling. They walked up to the others, leisurely, although it took all of Ash’s determination not to look at the witches he knew were scattered around the gardens. His back prickled just thinking about them, somewhere behind him.

  “Alex,” Camille said in greeting, voice utterly calm. She dipped her head respectfully. “Baron. Baroness. Good evening. I was just showing the formal garden to Adeline. It’s her first time at Court, as you know, and she was a little overwhelmed. I thought some fresh air would do her good.”

  Del was still shivering. “It’s a little too fresh out here without a coat, though,” she said with a laugh. “We were just thinking of heading back in.” She turned to Cornell. “Baron, thank you for the Court’s hospitality. I’m so amazed by all of this. What a wonderful place you have here. I’d love to read about the building’s history. Perhaps you can recommend something?”

  Ash had to admit, it was smoothly done. Winslow gave Del a pleased smile and offered her his arm. They set off back to the building, chatting together. Camille and Alex were just behind. Ash nodded politely to Livia and offered her his own arm. “Baroness. May I escort you inside?”

  He knew he hadn’t imagined the faint hesitation, or the flash of displeasure at how her game had been turned on her. But she hid her disappointment well and took his arm graciously.

  “You’re James Deacon’s son, am I right?” she asked. Her English was polished, fluent, but with a faint hint of an accent.

  You know exactly who I am, he wanted to say, but instead he answered mildly, “Yes, that’s correct. James Asher Deacon, at your service, ma’am.”

  “Ah, the boy who got away. Who left his daddy’s Chapter to join the Guild of Saint Peter.” Her tone and words were borderline insolent, but Ash forced himself to remain relaxed and smile.

  “That’s right. I opted to take on a different mantle. The Heart Bearer needs a pledged knight at her side. She’s already attracted a lot of interest.” Take that and suck on it, he thought vindictively. You’re not the only one who can play word games.

  Reis’ fingers tightened painfully upon his chilled skin. “Has she, now? Then she’d better take care. It’s a good thing she has such a dedicated protector.”

  Ash didn’t reply, and the Baroness fell silent for a while. They turned the corner of the building and Ash had to fight back a sigh of relief as the side door drew nearer. Just before they reached it, the Baroness paused. He was forced to stop, too, and face her.

  “How old are you?” she asked softly.

  “Eighteen.”

  “My son’s age. A man, already. Of course, my son is dutiful, and is following the path I planned for him. Perhaps if you were less distracted you could return to your father’s side. I’m sure he would welcome you back.”

  Ash wasn’t sure if that was a threat, or some bizarre sort of offer. All he knew was that he had to get away from the Baroness. He gave her a tight smile and began walking again, making her follow.

  “Thank you for your concern,” he said, “but my father respects my wishes, and understands we have different paths.”

  “How nice for you.” She brushed a hand over his chest. “Oh, dear. You seem to have torn your fine tunic.”

  “I fell in the gardens,” he said glibly, thankful that she didn’t have a sentinel’s ability to sense a lie.

  “So clumsy.” Her smile was all thin lips and no warmth. “You should be more careful.”

  Finally they were inside, surrounded by the others, and he gratefully released Livia’s arm and took Del’s instead.

  “If you would excuse us,” Ash said calmly, “I’m going to escort the Blade Bearer to her room. She needs to rest before the banquet begins.”

  “I’ll come too,” said Camille. “I need to make myself a little more presentable.”

  Alex took Camille’s arm. Closing ranks, Ash thought. “Well, in that case,” said Alex, “we’ll all say our goodbyes. Livia, Cornell, a pleasure, as always. We’ll see you both at dinner.”

  Finally they were alone, following Alex’s brisk pace to the elevators. Ash tried to say something, but Alex gave him a warning look. It wasn’t until they were all safely locked away in Del and Camille’s room that he turned to them and said, “Tell me what happened.”

  The next moments were a confusion of garbled words, with the three of them interrupting and talking over each other. Alex eventually held up a hand. “Camille, you tell me.”

  Ash sank down on the bed beside Del, watching as Camille went over everything that had happened. When Camille was done, the vampire looked at Del, face troubled.

  “Let me see if I understood. The demons and the witches wanted Elana dead. The demons presumably to stop her telling Del about Rowan, and about Shade’s part in her story. The witches, I’m not so sure. Elana wasn’t part of Reis’ coven. She was from a much smaller coven from the Everglades.”

  Ash cleared his throat. “Perhaps they simply meant to kill us all, and Elana was the first in the line of fire.”

  “Perhaps.” But Alex still looked troubled. “In any case, they did the demons’ job for them. Elana never finished her story.” He looked at his watch. “We have an hour until the banquet. I suggest you get some rest. The three of you should stay here. Don’t leave the room. Camille has a price on her head, and evidently the demons are quite happy to break the Moot’s peace and collect the bounty right here and now. Del, now we know for sure that Reis intends to see you dead. And Ash, I’m afraid you’re just collateral damage.”

  He walked to the door. “Lock up behind me. I’m going to see what I can find out. I’ll be back to fetch you all for dinner.”

  After he was gone, and Camille had discreetly retired to the bathroom to shower, Ash took Del’s hand. He turned it palm up, running his thumb along the soft skin and down her wrist to trace the letters on her forearm. Just the other day she’d been simply Del, his Del. Now, she was apparently some long-dead witch, locked in a curse cycle with Shade. “Rowan,” he said. “So that’s who you are.”

  “Not really,” she answered. “I don’t think that’s how it works. I’m Rowan, yes, but I’m clearly Del, too. The Heart Blade chose Del, not Rowan.” She pulled her hand away firmly. “But the part of me that’s Rowan—” She bit off the words and looked away. “My Rowan side? I’m a traitor, Ash. A murderer. Whatever I— no, whatever Rowan did, it got people killed. Her own coven. That’s… that’s like family. She was cursed, and she — I — can’t rest until the curse is broken.”

  “But what the heck is this task that Elana mentioned? She said that Rowan had been set a job, a duty of some kind.”

  “I think that’s pretty clear, don’t you?” Del looked a little sad. She was watching his face, perhaps trying to get a read on him, but all he felt was confusion.

  “No, I don’t. I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

  “Shade has been hunting and killing Rowan in every life cycle since she was cursed. She spared me in this one, because she thought she could change things by Gifting me. She fears Rowan, or she wouldn’t have spent so much time on her over the centuries. Is it clear yet?”

  “No.” Ash gave a huff of frustration. There were only inches between them, but right now they felt like miles. He didn’t understand why she was pulling away from him. He reached for Del’s hand again, needing to touch, to fix this rift between them. “Look, whatever this is, we can do it together. We’re better together, stronger. You know it. The Heart Blade knows it, too.”

  Del let him take her fingers and tuck them into his own. Her face was no longer sad. It was fierce, with that intense look of determination he loved so much. “I know you want to help. But sometimes I’m going to have to find my own way, without you. Of course I want you at my side, but I can’t be your only reason for existing. I’m not your Crusade. And this… You can’t take this burden.”

  “What are you talk
ing about?”

  “Ash, I need to kill her. That’s the task. I know it. I feel it. And it has to be me.”

  “Kill her?” He knew what she meant, of course he did. He needed to hear her say it, but he dreaded it, too.

  “Kill Shade,” she said. She gave his fingers a squeeze and got up to find clean clothes to wear.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE

  Raze

  Raze plummeted, the carpeted ground rushing up at speed. She shifted mid-air; her wolf form would land easier. But it was still going to hurt. Ben ran toward her, and just as she readied for impact she felt arms grab her, breaking her fall. She landed heavily on top of him, his arms still around her.

  She pawed herself out of his grip, only to stumble as a particularly hard jolt shuddered through the carpeting and tipped them all over. She shifted, struggling to her knees, her shadow spreading out to pool around her. “What the hell is happening?” she shouted above the noise.

  “The time and space warps are shattering,” Lix yelled back, grabbing on to May to keep her from falling over again. Ben hauled Raze to her feet. She flashed him a grateful look.

  “Thanks for the catch,” she said to him.

  “No problem. That’s what friends are for.”

  Raze felt warmth spreading through her. Friends. Yes, she definitely considered Ben a friend. The warm feeling disappeared quickly, though. You’re not here to make friends, she told herself. You’re here to stab people in the back and steal a sword. And then stab more people in the back. She felt an alien ripple of amusement at the thought, amusement that didn’t quite come from her own mind, though it was inside her, somehow. She looked around uneasily, but there was nothing to see besides the chaotic landscape and her fellow thieves.

  Speaking of which… “Where’s the sword?” she yelled. All around them the carpet plain was bucking wildly, seething and bubbling like boiling molasses. The cliff was crumbling, tossing boulder-sized chunks of tan nylon carpeting to rain down around them. Lix pointed at her backpack as she jumped out of the way of a thick slab of carpet-covered floorboard. The sword was strapped to one side of Lix’s pack, unassuming in an old leather scabbard.

  “Is it the right one?” Raze asked. When she’d picked it up, she’d felt nothing special. No tingle of magic, nothing to show this was the mythical Night Blade.

  “It looks like the descriptions I’ve read,” said Lix. “Rapier. Old. Cup-shaped hilt. I can’t guarantee it’s the right sword, but it’s the only one in here. My aunt will have to pay up.”

  The floor shook again, a chasm opening right at Raze’s feet and then closing up again, swallowing acres of carpeting as it sealed shut. She backed up, wary, bumping into Ben’s chest. He grabbed her shoulder, reeling May in with his other hand.

  “We have to stay together,” he shouted. “Safer.”

  The floor bucked wildly once more, shaking her loose from Ben’s grip and sending him flying. He got to his feet and gave them a shaky smile. And then the carpeting split wide open once more under his feet. For a second, Raze saw his face, horrified realization all over it. The next moment, he was gone.

  Raze was still in her safety harness, and so was Ben, both connected by the climbing rope. As he fell, it snapped tight against her waist, pulling her forward. Lix grabbed her just before she toppled over the edge.

  “Hang on,” Raze yelled. “Help me pull him out before the floor seals him in!” She braced herself against the taut line and began to haul it in, Lix and May helping. Ben’s hand appeared at the edge of the rift, gripping the floor, white-knuckled. The floor rumbled and began to close in on itself.

  The three of them gave one last heave, and finally Ben rolled over the edge and onto firm ground. They kept pulling, though, dragging him forward until he was right beside them. He got to his feet, panting, eyes wide and glasses askew.

  “Shit. Just. Shit,” he said.

  The room was shrinking around them at an alarming rate, and Raze was reminded of Jude’s quip about Alice in Wonderland. She had to remind herself she wasn’t actually growing; the room was just readjusting back to its normal proportions. Lix wound the rope around her wrist, nudging May to do the same so they were all connected.

  “Just in case,” Lix said. Her voice was pitched higher than usual, and Raze didn’t need her wolf senses to feel the anxiety rolling off the witch, or hear the unspoken thanks as Lix glanced at Ben and then back at Raze. Whatever the issues between Lix and Ben, they had history. They’d been closer than family at one point, according to Finn. You didn’t let go of that easily.

  The rumbling settled down to a low growl as the last miles of carpet rolled in on themselves. Moments later there was a loud boom as time and space snapped back to reality. Raze clutched her head as pain hammered through her skull, sinking to her knees. May crumpled, too, and even Lix buckled, catching herself with an arm as she fell. Only Ben remained alert, managing to stay on his feet even though his face twisted in agony.

  Seconds after the room collapsed in on itself, there was a shattering shriek, and a huge cat-like creature appeared out of nowhere and launched itself at them. Raze struggled up, ears still ringing from the warp’s collapse. Ben, already standing, was quicker. He flicked a wrist and sent a flicker of green at the beast. It bounced off Ben’s magical blast and crashed against the far wall, taking down one of the cabinets in a spray of glass and twisted metal, and scattering the crushed contents in its wake. Raze stared at it. It wasn’t a golem this time. It was all rippling muscles, fur, and feathers. A lion’s tail swished angrily, and an eagle’s beak snapped the air in front of it as it prepared to attack again, fluttering its golden wings.

  “Griffin,” May said, her voice squeaky. “Half lion, half eagle. They’re supposed to be vicious. Where the hell did Winslow find a freaking griffin?”

  “It isn’t alive,” Ben said grimly. “It isn’t breathing; it’s just animated, somehow. Go! The door’s clear. I’ll hold it back.”

  Lix ran for the exit and rattled the handle. “It locked itself again. May!”

  “On it.” May’s hands were shaking as she tried to ignore the griffin’s shrieks and focus on unpicking the wards on the wooden door. The griffin pounced again, spreading its wings to leap over Ben’s head. It was clearly aiming for Lix and the sword. Ben made a complicated little movement with his hands, snagging the griffin in mid-air and snapping it out of its leap to dash it against the floor.

  “May,” Lix shouted. “Move!”

  “I’m trying!” May wailed back. “The wards keep shifting!”

  “I knew this room was too easy to break into,” Raze heard Ben murmur, readying another blast of magic. The griffin sprang, and once again Ben threw it back. “Lix,” he shouted, “I can’t keep this up forever! It’s taking too much firepower. Have you got anything left in your bag of tricks?”

  “Just hold it off a bit longer,” Lix replied. She muttered to herself as her fingers dipped efficiently through the multiple pockets inside her backpack, “No, no, no, oh come on! Wait. Ice spell. That could work.”

  She threw a vial at the floor in front of them just as the griffin pounced again. The glass smashed, and the potion erupted into a glittering white-blue barrier that sparkled in the green spell-light dancing at Ben’s fingertips. Trapped on the other side, the griffin screamed in frustration. It flung itself at the ice wall, talons out. Lix grimaced. “That won’t hold long. Come on, May.”

  Raze shivered as the griffin’s sharp nails scraped a long line down the ice. Cracks splintered out from the gouges like spider webs. The beast’s eyes glittered malevolently. Raze glared back, a wolf’s snarl on her lips. She was not dying in some tower like a fairytale gone bad. There had to be another way out. Once again, she felt that alien sense of otherness, and an amused mind-voice that wasn’t her own whispered in her thoughts. You’ll have to do better than that, Thief. Use your cunning. Think fast. Hang on. Fast. Blast.

  “Ben,” she blurted out. “We don’t need May to escape, we
have Ben.” She grabbed his arm and spun him so he faced the wall. “And you call yourselves witches… Who needs a door when we have a demolitions expert? Just blast us a way out.”

  Ben stared at the wall, eyes wide. “Okay. Okay.” He closed his eyes and touched the wall gently. Then he looked at Lix. “It’s magically reinforced. But not warded. I can take it out, I think. But I could use some extra juice — I’m already low after hitting that thing out there. I need you and May to feed my strength ward.” He pointed to the one he was talking about, near his wrist.

  “What do we do?” asked Lix.

  The griffin attacked the ice barrier again, shrieking in triumph when it cracked further. Ice chips bounced off the creature’s body as it renewed its assault.

  “Whatever you’re doing, do it quickly!” Raze said.

  “It’s easy,” said Ben. “Just touch the ward and send some of your power into it. It will feel as if you just used a large dose of magic.”

  First Lix, then May, stepped forward to touch Ben’s arm. Each time, the skin around the tattoo glowed briefly. They both moved away, and Ben nodded. “That’s good. I can do it.” The hairs on Raze’s arms prickled as Ben gathered his magic, hands shimmering green. He looked over his shoulder at them. “You might want to stand back…”

  Ben’s magic poured from his hands, licking against the wall like flames. Sweat gathered at his brow. “Come on, come on.” He threw his whole body into it, leaning in, his weight supported by the magical stream as he pushed with everything he had. “Aaaahhhh!” he yelled, as the wall exploded. Debris scattered into the night, still glowing green from the force of his energy blast. Without his magic holding him up, Ben stumbled forward, falling out onto the walkway and grabbing the railing for balance. He wiped his forehead on his sleeve. “Fuck. Remind me never to do that again.”

  Behind them, the ice cracked ominously under the griffin’s latest onslaught. Lix pushed Raze and May out through the hole in the wall and lowered the ladder. “We need to get moving.” She took the lead, descending fast with May following on her heels. As she waited for her turn, Raze took a moment to wriggle out of her climbing harness, and to help Ben with his.