by Jessica Gunn
Kian’s jaw worked, but he lifted his eyes to Jerrick. “Can’t blame a guy for hoping. Demon’s Blood is pretty hard to find these days. Figured I’d come straight to the source.”
“You’re the reason it’s hard to find,” Jerrick volleyed back. “Maybe you learned your lesson a little too hard last time you were with Talon. I think we can do something about that.” Jerrick snapped his fingers over his shoulders. Four demons appeared at his side. “Seize him.”
Kian’s eyes flashed wide as the four brutes—overkill, really—violently yanked Kian from his seat and clamped handcuffs onto both his hands, holding them behind his back, immobile.
No! I knew we’d be separated—Kian being bait was his own plan—but I didn’t think it’d be so soon.
“Where are you taking my partner?” Brian asked.
Jerrick waved him off. “We’ll return him to you, if you want him that badly. But some debts need to first be repaid.”
Debts, my ass. They were going to hurt him again. Kill him, maybe. While Autumn Fire was reserved for magik-users, normal, everyday humans could be turned into demons too. Was that what they were going to do to Kian?
He’d hate himself.
The four demons escorted him out of the building, though their version of escort was to pull him along, feet scraping along the floor, as Kian gritted his teeth.
Jerrick crossed his arms once more. “As for you, pet,” he said as his burgundy gaze fell upon me the way one might look at a treasure you’d never be able to afford. “I know Mason will be very happy to see you here, though he may be upset over the prospect of his own hunt of you being cut short. He’s so much like his previous master that way.”
“You’re not taking them without some sort of compensation on my part,” Brian argued.
Shut up! I called to him in my thoughts. He couldn’t hear me. He had to know he was playing with fire by demanding so much from Jerrick. Yet there he went, doing it anyway.
“You’re one persistent fool, aren’t you?” Jerrick asked.
A few other demons had closed in on the table, all wearing Talon’s uniformed armor. Jerrick reached beneath his cloak, into a pocket on his armor, and retrieved a tiny, red leather drawstring pouch, and tossed it onto the table.
“If you’re in need of coin this badly, perhaps you’re in even more dire a situation than I’ve given you credit for,” Jerrick said. “Walking into Landshaft as a human, loitering inside Talon’s Drum without making a single trade arrangement. Demanding an offer from me. Take this pittance and leave my city tonight before your welcome brand has worn off. And if you ever enter the city again, I’ll have the guard kill you on sight. That is my offer to you, human.”
Jerrick reached over and yanked the chain linking Will and me off the post. We stumbled toward him to compensate.
Take it and leave. If Brian could use this as a way out, it’d be one less person we’d have to ensure the safety of later. And since Kian had one of the syringes, it wouldn’t be a total loss.
My eyes flitted to Will, who was watching the entire scene with wide, scared eyes. I nudged him with my knuckles beneath the table, out of Jerrick’s line of sight. He glanced my way and I nodded almost imperceptibly.
If Jerrick took us both, we wouldn’t be separated. Not right away.
I hoped.
“Fine,” Brian said. He reached across the table and grabbed the pouch. He opened it and glanced at the handful of Landshaft coins inside. He’d have to find a place to trade that in while still inside Landshaft—not that he had use for it anyway. “Good luck with the woman. She’s a firecracker.”
I bit my lip to keep from smiling. Firecracker. Brian used to call me that, his nickname for me when we’d been dating. He was trying to let me know he wouldn’t be going far.
“Good to know,” Jerrick said, sounding not glad at all. “Leave. You have twenty minutes.”
Brian nodded and stood, then made for the front door to Talon’s Drum. Before he passed through it completely, he turned back and made eye contact with me. He nodded once, reassurance on his face despite the wealth of demons watching him.
We’d get out of this—somehow.
I just had to remember that Jerrick buying us and Kian being used as bait had all been part of the plan.
This was all part of the plan.
Jerrick turned back to Will and me. Will straightened next to me, his body going rigid. I met Jerrick’s stare with all the fire I had inside of me.
“Now,” Jerrick said, “let’s see about bringing you into the fold, shall we?”
Chapter 25
Despite his tough demeanor in Talon’s Drum, Jerrick wasn’t vicious about bringing us outside the pub and doubling-up on the chains around our wrists and ankles. I’d expected him to be malicious toward me and Will, especially since he seemed to know who I was and what had transpired between Veynix and me. Although I was beginning to suspect that everyone in Talon knew what had happened in the same way the other Hunters in the Fire Circle did: everyone was aware something had transpired, but no one had all the details, never mind correct ones.
“One last thing before we go,” Jerrick said. “I’m aware that appearances back there might have been deceiving.” He looked at me in particular when he spoke. As if he’d seen through everything. “I’m also aware another Hunter addicted to Demon’s Blood assisted you, Christine, in your attempts to take down Veynix. I would be remiss to not acknowledge the coincidence that Mr. Farley was also in your presence today, given the history he has with my organization.”
I didn’t give him a single inch as I stood there staring at him. So he knew about Kian and me—whatever. It was a risk we’d willingly taken. But there was no chance at all that any of the demons here knew why we’d come. Not the real reason. And how many others knew who the other members of my team were on sight? The connection between Brian and me was sure to be indecipherable.
“Speak,” Jerrick said, his commanding tone back. He tugged on the chain. “I know you aren’t mute. Neither are you, witch.”
“I’m holding my tongue so I don’t say anything I regret,” Will spat out.
Jerrick chuckled at that, but I knew better. Will had always been colorful with words, especially in defense of me. He was keeping quiet to keep from inviting a beating—or worse.
“My name is Ava,” I said. “Not Christine.”
“Hmm. Interesting.” He touched his free hand to my cheek as if we were significantly more acquainted. I shuddered, pulling away, but didn’t get far. He held a much tighter grip on the chains than Brian ever did. “Requirem. Can’t have the old one wearing off, can we?” He did the same to Will, then said, “Shall we?”
Like we have a choice.
A teleportante later found us inside another dimly-lit space. But instead of torches or lanterns, this place had actual lights, small and dirt-covered. A wooden floor creaked beneath our feet even louder here than at Talon’s Drum as Jerrick pulled Will and me along down narrowed corridors. Some of the walls had the same wood paneling as the floor, but others were made from sheets of metal or actual plaster. Like the entire ramshackle structure had been under renovation a number of times, none of them actually completed. A dirty, musty smell followed us around, as if nothing really ever got clean here.
A low, undulating sound permeated the doorways we passed in waves. Like groaning or crying or… wailing. The other prisoners.
I gulped. What were the chances that Jerrick had taken Will and me directly to the main storage facility of magik-users for Autumn Fire? It was only a week or two away at this point. Another fourteen days and we’d both be demons right along with the rest of them. Mason was sure to order Will’s full transformation. And me? Well, I guessed that depended on how Mason or Jerrick were feeling when the time came.
Finally, Jerrick stopped outside one of the many doors in the hall. My heart stopped.
What was on the other side?
After unlocking the door with a key I hadn’t ev
en seen Jerrick produce, he pushed it open. I couldn’t tell how big the room was on the inside, only that when dim light from the hallway hit the darkness, the only thing revealed was the front portion of a cage. Metal bars surrounded the space, holding in only one other person. It was too dark to see if that person hiding at the back of the cell, swathed in shadows, was a demon or not.
“In,” Jerrick said, motioning toward the doorway. Irritation creased his brow. I wondered how often Jerrick was in charge of imprisoning new trades. Maybe Will and I were too special of a circumstance for Mason to risk charging to anyone else.
Which led to another question: If all of these doors each had some number of prisoners behind them, how in the hell did they keep all of these magik-users contained?
Sure, the Trade probably had enough demons to walk around and requirem everyone on some sort of schedule, but that seemed an unlikely course of action. For one thing, the length of time requirem lasted on any one person was different than the next one. There wasn’t really a rhyme or reason to it. So unless they really did send in demons to use the word-magik on everyone every couple of hours—impractical—they had to be using some other method.
Will and I exchanged a weary look. Why was this person kept away from all the others?
“Let’s go,” Jerrick said. He produced a stick from his hip that I swear I’d seen before. Only when he pressed one end of it into Will’s stomach did I remember the horrific details. Ether sprung to life at the tip of the stick, essentially electrocuting Will with magik energy.
Ether sticks. I’d only ever heard of those being used in the Ether Head Circle, specifically at Ether Circle Prison.
Will yelped and jumped forward toward the cell. I followed with Jerrick close behind me.
Jerrick paused to look at the person in the cell. From this close distance, I realized it was a woman huddled in the corner, her knees up to her chest. She was maybe Will’s and my age, possibly younger. Or maybe that was just the way she was cowering, all dirty and scared.
Jerrick waved his hand over the bars and a wall of energy dropped—an ether shield like the one that had encompassed Midnight’s ring three months ago, trapping Kian and me inside. And like the dome over the city of Landshaft.
With the shield down, Jerrick produced another key that unlocked the cell door, and he shoved Will and me inside. Within another few moments, the cell was locked again, ether shield in place.
So that was how they kept the magik-users in place in between requirem hits.
Jerrick reached up above him on his way back out into the hallway, pulling on a string. A click sounded and a light came on above us, illuminating the twenty-foot by fifteen-foot room. The cage only took up a third of the space.
“Behave,” Jerrick said. “Or I will murder your friend, Christine. If Mason wanted to reclaim him for the program, he would have by now.”
“Then why keep us alive?” I asked.
Jerrick looked at me over his shoulder, an evil gleam in his eye. “Because if it keeps him happy and on target, Mason can have all the revenge he wants.”
“War with the Neuians is suicide,” I shouted.
“He knows.” The quiet response came from the woman on the floor of the cage. She lifted her head long enough to add, “But it won’t be his life that paves the way, so he no longer cares.”
“Stop reading me,” Jerrick spat, then slammed the door behind him. The force of it shook the cage bars and the light fixture on the ceiling.
But for the moment, Jerrick was gone.
Will grabbed my shoulders, jolting me from whatever dark reverie I’d fallen into. “What the hell was Brian thinking?”
“That his plan would work.” I reached up to pry Will’s fingers loose, but he held on. “Will.”
He blinked and let go, then stood there, hands at his sides. After a moment, he shook his head and wrapped his arms around me. “This is dumb. Now we’re trapped here and we’re going to die and—”
“I doubt it’s your fault,” said the young woman on the floor. Her central European accent was thick.
Will pulled back from me to glare at her. “Excuse me?”
“They’re demons,” she said. “They do what they want, when they want. Especially Talon. So even if you came here of your own accord to… what was it… kill Mason Whitmore, the fact you got captured isn’t really your fault. Or your companion’s. It’s theirs for poisoning you in the first place with the Ember serum that’s been going around.”
Will’s jaw slid open. Suspicion narrowed his eyes. “What in the hell are you going on about?”
“The truth,” she said simply, her voice even. She was sitting up even straighter now that Jerrick was no longer in the room, at least from what I could see of her. Her eyes were still blanketed in shadows despite the new lighting.
I turned to face her, placing Will behind me. Which was sort of a joke because had our magik been intact, Will would hands down outpower me. But without access to our powers, I was all that stood between Will and this mysterious woman.
“Who are you?” I asked.
Her head shifted in the shadows, allowing light to reveal her chin, nose, and cheekbones, her eyes only just still hidden. “A prisoner just like you.”
“Why are you in this cage alone and not with the others, then?” Will asked.
The woman pressed against the wall, using it for leverage as she finally stood into the light. She was wearing torn dark pants and a tunic top, not modern clothes like one might expect from a witch or Hunter trapped in Landshaft.
“You assume I’ve been captured recently,” she said. “Although you were right about one part.”
When the light finally reached her eyes, they were as red as every other demon’s.
My breath hitched, eyes narrowing, as I pushed Will back another step.
“Watch it, Ava!” Will said. “If this ether wall is anything like the quarantine chambers at Headquarters, I want none of it.”
“Your friend is right,” the demon woman said.
Her lithe form and young face mirrored my first impressions of her. She was definitely younger than Will and me. Maybe nineteen or twenty years old, when she was turned. There was no way to know how old her demonic form actually was without asking.
“Fifty-two,” the woman said. “If you must know.”
My lips clamped shut—although it appeared it was my mind that I had to keep closed. “You’re telepathic.”
“For real?” Will asked, looking from me to her. “That’s a real thing?”
I nodded. It was easy to forget Will didn’t know as much about the Hunter Circles and Darkness as the rest of us.
“In a manner of speaking,” said the woman as she paced down one length of the cage. “Telepathic and a prisoner.”
“And a demon,” I said.
She smiled softly. “Yes, and a demon. But not by choice.”
“I bet that’s what they’d all say if asked,” I said.
“Telepathic?” Will asked again, his eyes wide.
I turned to him. “Will, I love you, but you really need to keep the surprised thoughts to yourself before you look like a fool.”
“To myself and her you mean,” he said.
“Not for much longer, William,” said the demon woman.
He blinked again. “Well, if you’re going to be using my full name, what’s yours?”
She brushed a lock of messy black hair off her shoulder. “Veres Evelin. I’ve been imprisoned here for a little over six months, if the delivery of food rations is any indication.”
“And you’ve been a demon for thirty-two years,” I said, doing the quick math in my head. “What’s the connection between them turning you and Talon imprisoning you?”
“I was hidden,” she said. “Much like you were, until recently.”
I crossed my arms. “Hidden from what?”
“The rest of Darkness,” she said. “It turns out the monsters of the night are indeed all afraid of something.�
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“Which is?”
“Power absolute,” said Veres. “I was transformed into a demon to preserve that power. Until Talon received word and I was brought here. And here I have remained ever since.”
Something tugged on my brain, a tiny little nudge telling me that not only was she leaving out something important, but that I already knew what that something important was. I just couldn’t figure out what I was missing.
“Why did Jerrick house you with us, then?” I asked.
“I have no idea,” she said. “Perhaps because you’re as prized as I am?”
“To him?” I asked, an eyebrow raised. “No. Mason Whitmore.”
“Whom you came here to kill?” she asked.
“Creepy much?” Will said. “Can you turn it off or something?”
“I anticipate the telepathy will dissipate soon.”
“Yeah, and then what?” I asked. “He’s got to know we’re going to try to break out of here.”
“Can we?” Will asked. From what you said about the ether shield around the ring three months ago, we aren’t going anywhere.”
I nodded. “Especially if they come back to requirem all of us. Unless…” I turned back to Veres. “What exactly is your special power? Could it help us escape if we worked together?”
Her gaze jumped from me to Will. “Maybe. But it will leave your friend helpless.”
My breath hitched, that nagging in the back of my mind growing larger. No way…
A smile grew on Veres’s lips. “You know.”
“Know of,” I said. I’d only heard of this magik in passing, and then again when Dacher and Ben had revealed the full extent of the war to Kian and me. The Neuians, the cianzas, and… the Power. A magik so ancient it preceded the rules of elemental and ether magiks, allowing a user to wield both, but not at the same time. To be a home to both magik types. Something that would normally kill anyone else.
But according to Dacher and Ben, only three people in the last five thousand years had been recorded—written or through oral history—as having the Power. A whole three. And one of them was Ben’s son. One was Kinder, the Fire Circle’s most wanted criminal, ex-Hunter, and ex-wife of Aloysius, creator of all of Darkness, himself. The other…
