Embracing Magick: an Urban Fantasy Novel (The Witch Blood Chronicles Book 3)
Page 18
I rapped my fingers on the table. “If Gateway or Nagalok won’t help, then we’ll just have to make sure we can stop Malachi before the eclipse. I’ll check in with the coven and find out how they’re getting on with the spell to bind Malachi, and work on a plan to lure him out. Meanwhile, we need manpower against Malachi’s supernatural army, and the djinn.”
“You think the djinn will act against us?” Melody inquired.
“Who knows what they’ll do. They have an alliance with Malachi, and we don’t know the terms of that alliance. Plus, there are members of their council that would love to get their hooks into our world. For all we know, Malachi may have promised them territories in exchange for their aid. We can’t take any chances.”
“She’s right,” Melody said. “We need to assume the worst and be prepared to counteract it.”
“The asura are ready to fight,” Vritra said firmly.
Good. That was good. “I think we’re going to need more. More soldiers in the ground.”
“We have the gods,” Malina said. “When the void attacked, not all the gods were awake, but they are now, right?” She looked to Varuna for confirmation.
Varuna dropped his gaze, shifting uncomfortably in his seat. A prickle of unease skimmed across my scalp. Uh-oh. I didn’t like the look of this.
“Varuna?” Malina pressed. “What aren’t you telling us?”
He puffed out his cheeks and blew out a breath. “The gods are gone.”
Had I heard right? No... Wait...“Sorry, what did you say?”
Varuna licked his lips. I’d met the god several times now, and I’d never seen him thrown. He was always together and on the ball. Right now, he looked like a naughty kid caught with his hand in the cookie jar.
“Varuna?” Malina snapped.
Varuna’s jaw tensed, and he pushed back his shoulders. “The gods have fought for this world time and time again. This time they chose not to. Many believe that this attack is a sign that it’s time for them to move on to new pastures. Gateway offered them a new home before they shut down access. Many took them up on the offer. The cosmic gods want humanity, they don’t care about the gods of our world. There are plenty of new worlds being born, worlds that could benefit from divine guidance.”
“So they just... abandoned us?” I couldn’t believe this. It was insane.
Beside me Malina choked on a laugh. “Well, fuck you too,” she said. “Fuck you all!”
Varuna held up his hand. “Not all of us. I stayed, didn’t I?”
Anger was a silent wave inside me, sudden and exaggerated. “Yeah? And why did you stay?”
The corner of his mouth turned up. “Because I’ve never been one to run from a
challenge.”
Vritra’s hand slipped onto my thigh, a sign of comfort, or a signal to stand down, I wasn’t sure, but I was grateful for it. I let the rage seep out, and closed my eyes. There had to be another way to get hands on deck, fighters to work alongside the asura. My eyes snapped open as the idea came to me. “You said many of the gods had gone, but what about Yama? What about the god of the underworld? He must have reapers he can lend us? If we can get hold of one of those rogue reapers, maybe we can get a message to Yama himself.”
Malina sat up straighter. Yama had been her almost-lover. She’d known him as a man with no memory of his past, and she’d loved him in her own way. The gods had taken his memories to protect his mind and when it had been returned to him, he’d shut them out of his realm.
Varuna blinked at me. “You want to find the rogue reapers that tried to kill you not too long ago?”
I waved a dismissive hand. “They were only doing their job, and now that Banner is... gone, I doubt they give a shit about killing me. I just need to find a way to contact them.”
Varuna shrugged. “I can’t help you with that. I suppose only someone who has contracted them would have that answer, and the only two people we know who’ve had contact with them are dead.”
“In that case, I’ll have to find a way to get into the underworld.”
Malina squeezed my hand. “Babe, you know the gates of the underworld are closed to the living, right?”
I refused to admit defeat on this one. “Well, there has to be another way to get a message to him. Warn him that he may be getting an influx of souls.”
Melody spoke up. “Do you think the coven can help by using magick?”
It was worth a try. “I’ll speak to the high witch. Meanwhile, we can recruit supernaturals—rakshasa and yaksha. We’ll call a meeting and let them know of what’s going on.”
Varuna frowned. “That’s a good plan, but, once again, we have the problem of how to get the message to them.”
Melody and I locked gazes.
“Nathaniel,” we said together.
Varuna cocked his head. “The Night Owl?” His brow cleared. “Yes, of course. I read the report. He can place a call to action in his online newsletter. Do it.”
It was as if my mind was on a roll because with this tiny win, another idea presented itself, and, suddenly, I knew where to hide our citizens. We could hide them under the city in Garnet’s night realm. Sure, it was filled with vamps, but Garnet was the boss, right? He would be able to guarantee the civilians’ protection.
“Carmella?” Vritra said. “You look like there should be a light bulb above your head.”
I blinked at him, and then grinned at his pun. “Yeah. I think I may have a place we can stash our people.”
“Well?” Varuna raised an inquiring brow. “Are you going to share?”
“I need to get the go-ahead first.”
Melody met my gaze across the table, and the glint in her eyes told me she’d come to the same conclusion. She’d been there with me, after all.
“But as soon as I do, we can get moving, but we need a plan to mobilize the citizens without Malachi finding out.”
“We have the technician, Kevin, working on that,” Varuna said. “We’re planning on setting up a series of localized broadcasts, instructing one district at a time to convene at a particular location. We tell them it’s for their own safety, that there is a gas leak in the city and they must vacate their homes.”
“And then?”
“From there, we sedate and move them to a secure location.” He locked gazes with me. “The secure location you will hopefully provide.”
The plan was coming together. Now all we needed was a way to speak to Yama, a meeting with the supernaturals of the city, Garnets support to hide the humans, and a way to mobilize the citizens without Malachi detecting that we were up to something.
Yeah, not a tall order at all, right?
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Other books by Debbie Cassidy
The Gatekeeper Chronicles
Coauthored with Jasmine Walt
Marked by Sin
Hunted by Sin
Claimed by Sin
The Witch Blood Chronicles
(Spin off to the Gatekeeper Chronicles)
Binding Magick
Defying Magic
Embracing Magick
Unleashing Magick
The Fearless Destiny Series
Beyond Everlight
Into Evernight
Under Twilight
The Sleeping Gods Series
Forest of Demons
Desert of Destiny
Novellas
Blood Blade
Grotesque – A Vampire Diary Kindle World book
Books under the pen name Amos Cassidy
The Shadowlands Series
Shadow Reaper
Shadow Eater
Shadow Destiny
The Crimson Series
Crimson Midnight
Crimson Darkness
Crimson Dawn
Crimson Chaos
Standalones
Aurora
Hawthorn
Novellas
Raven’s Call
Scarlett’s Path
A Kiss of Silver
Tainted Snow
Ash Rising
About the Author
Debbie Cassidy lives in England, Bedfordshire, with her three kids and very supportive husband. Coffee and chocolate biscuits are her writing fuels of choice, and she is still working on getting that perfect tower of solitude built in her back garden. Obsessed with building new worlds and reading about them, she spends her spare time daydreaming and conversing with the characters in her head – in a totally non psychotic way of course. She writes High Fantasy, Urban Fantasy and Science Fiction. Debbie also writes dark, diverse Urban Fantasy fiction, under the pen name Amos Cassidy, with her best friend Richard Amos. Connect with Debbie via her website at debbiecassidyauthor.com or twitter @authordcassidy.