“I did this, and I didn’t even mean to,” she murmured, magic crowding around them, Emery forcing it to take shape. “It wasn’t even a spell that I did.” A thread of doubt wormed through her. Or had it been? Maybe she’d accidentally used a sort of spell to give the fog what it had been seeking.
“It doesn’t matter, Turdswallop,” Emery said, his face closed down in concentration, his fingers moving. “This isn’t the only thing that will go wrong. We need to rebound.”
“Yes, exactly. Something was always going to go wrong. Now it has. Adjust,” Darius said.
“How can you be so calm?” she ground out, taking stock of Emery’s spell. Looking back the way they’d come, she felt her chest tighten. Two boats had taken to the water now, drifting after them. They might not be following, but they definitely knew who’d caused all the mayhem.
“My dearest always said that you are the most effective when you are running for your life,” Darius replied, and had the gall to entwine his fingers over his knee. Penny had the presence of mind to notice he didn’t say Reagan’s name. She needed to remember that. “And now you are. Make miracles.”
“Yeah. Sure. Fine.” Penny threaded fire power, magic borrowed from the creature in the boat, through Emery’s concoction. Letting Emery handle the rest, she turned to the creature. It would need to be magically gagged. It would be asked who’d eroded the fog, and she couldn’t chance it spilling its guts.
A swell of power left Emery’s hands, but Penny didn’t look up to see. The bank on the right drifted closer, the creature magically aiming for whatever place Darius had requested.
She pulled ingredients from the magical cloud that constantly traveled above her, weaving the most potent of the gag spells she knew. It might kill the thing but…well, this was life or death. It was time to get serious.
A distant peal of thunder made the boat rock and roll, just barely stopping before it took in water on the right side.
“Do that spell again,” Penny said, letting the gag order dissipate and now working on the spells attached to the river. They kept the boats safe, kept them going to certain locations, kept them from capsizing. The magic was all connected, grounded, like Reagan had described the magic in the Realm.
She peered over the side. Her stomach rolled with what she was about to do.
“Flaming farts, hold on.” Another peal of thunder reverberated off walls and a ceiling she couldn’t see. A ceiling that kept dripping. She ignored it and formulated the spell that deadened Reagan’s magic. She elbowed Emery, and he helped out, making it bigger. More expansive. More potent.
The riverbank drifted ever closer. The boat rocked and rolled some more. The thunder died away, and she glanced around. One boat was sinking fast, two bodies floating away from it. The other was in pieces amid some sludge that probably used to be demon parts. Emery’s spell had taken them out in short order.
“Right, okay, good work.” She breathed deeply, and he worked quietly, accustomed to being around mayhem and carnage, and also causing it. You’d think she would be too by now.
She released the spell and then immediately faced front again and restarted the spell for the gag order. Emery jumped in quickly as Darius waited patiently, watching the bank, the point at which they needed to have all the spells done.
“Wait…” Penny stilled as her and Emery’s spell ate through the Underworld magic like it was nothing. Breaking it apart. Sizzling it. Eroding. The illusion in the river dissolved, and now the torrid current jibed with the rocking of the boat. “We don’t have oars.”
“We do.” Emery continued to work on the gag spell.
Penny glanced downward as the boat caught a current that pulled them back to the center of the river. Darius bent to his feet.
“No, Walrus. That is not your job,” the creature said, still mostly placid.
Penny stilled for the second time as the magic wafting toward her changed. This wasn’t the magic creating the illusion, but that of the creature in the boat. Restrain. Capture. Question.
“Hold on there, Darius,” she said softly, feeling Emery tense. He must’ve caught the tone in her voice. The something is about to go very wrong here tone. “Just take it easy.”
“I’ll handle it,” Darius said, and he all but launched forward, the speed and ferocity of his movements making Penny jerk back and cover her chest. If she had a string of pearls, she’d be clutching them so hard her knuckles would turn white. Even Emery jerked back.
In a display of unbridled violence, Darius reached the boat man and slashed his throat with his lengthening claws, raking them down the gray flesh of the creature’s chest. He punctured the sternum and then wrenched off its head, tossing it aside. The quickly decaying body followed.
With wide eyes, frozen stiff, Penny watched as Darius pulled down a sweater sleeve, adjusted a strand of hair that had gotten out of place, and then bent for oars that had been tucked along the floorboard.
“Now you won’t need to rely on a gag spell,” the vampire said, holding an oar out to Emery.
Emery shook away his reaction and took the proffered instrument. Penny continued to stare.
There was one thing she would never, ever say: Darius wasn’t vicious enough to date a girl like Reagan.
There was one thing she would never, ever do: pick a fight with him.
She’d seen him in battle, but they’d never exactly fought side by side. She’d never watched as he…handled things. It was jarring, to say the least. Reagan had found her match.
Penny licked her lips as the guys put their oars into the water and started paddling quickly. “How did you know he—it—was about to…cause a problem?”
“You advertise your reactions, and Mr. Westbrook…has certain tells when he feels danger coming,” Darius responded. “My solution was easier and quicker, though we need to put some muscle behind these oars or we’re going to miss our point of entry. The sect beyond isn’t as…savory as the one I’m aiming for.”
“Very eloquent speech after that display…” Penny murmured.
“I didn’t see our lives in danger,” Emery said, speaking of his special magical ability to get a mental picture of his demise right before it happened. It allowed him to change things up and avoid death, something that had saved them both a million times, it seemed like. He pulled harder on his oar.
“No, the Boatmen do not resort to extreme violence very quickly or very often,” Darius said. “They are not programmed for offense or even defense. Lucifer could’ve changed their roles to keep people like me out, if he’d wanted, but instead he created the fog. It did its part but left ample room for error. I have not figured out why this decision was made. Possibly one day I’ll be able to ask him about it.”
“After you steal back his daughter and work to thwart him in battle?” Penny huffed. “Fat chance.”
“Yes, there will be that issue lying between us. Can’t be helped, I’m afraid.”
“No, it cannot,” Penny mumbled, leaning to get a look around Darius. The river buckled in places and rolled in others. Rocks marred the way, forming eddies. No plants grew. Nothing floated along the surface, not even the ruins of the other boats or the bodies of the passengers and Boatmen, as though something had sucked them under.
Penny looked down into the murky depths, not able to see very far, wondering if something lurked in these waters. “Don’t tip us over,” she whispered.
“How did you know about the design of the Boatmen?” Emery asked, and Penny knew he was trying to figure out this world, similar to Darius. He’d want to understand the rules, the better to survive. It was a skill Penny needed to learn in case she was separated from them. She’d been helpless under her mother’s care. And although Reagan had a habit of pushing her into dangerous situations to make her shine, she never attempted to take control when traveling with Emery or Reagan, always happy to go along with the stronger personalities. Well, time for that to change. She’d be damned if she’d lose another person she cared
about like she’d lost Reagan.
“I’ve tested them. I have never killed one before, but I did have to thwart an attack. No punishment was doled out for my misbehavior. I am not sure if actually killing one will change matters.”
“Three, and their passengers,” Penny corrected him, seeing the guys strive harder, trees on the bank whipping by. They were going faster now, the river picking up speed. Darius’s movements increased pace and fervency to match, but Emery wasn’t able to keep up. Darius looked back at him with obvious irritation.
“I’m not a vampire. I don’t have the same abilities,” Emery responded.
“So it would seem.” Darius turned and looked farther down the bank. “We’re going to miss it. Pull for all you’re worth, Mr. Westbrook. The next sect over isn’t ideal, but we can make it work. The one after…”
Penny hated when Darius was formal like this. It meant bad things. Dangerous things. A vampire holding on to his fleeting control, tooth and nail.
“What happens if we land there?” Penny asked in a small voice, trying to think of a spell that might help. She just didn’t want to rock the boat too much. She didn’t want to misjudge the amount of magic that was needed and send them flying into the water. Something told her a dangerous sect, whatever it was, was better than what possibly waited in these waters.
“Then we must use all our speed and stealth, and hope that you do indeed work best when your enemy is closing in.”
Six
“I see you are up and going today.”
I paused with my hands in the air, having just taken down a fake wall. My intention was to change it into some sort of mind-fuck, but I was having trouble narrowing in on a good one. These people had a patent on mind-fuckery—I had to come up with something vicious.
“Say, listen.” I dropped my hands and turned to find Father Dearest, wearing the same clothes as the last time I’d seen him. Then again, I’d gotten another set of clean clothes that morning, as had Cahal, and they were exactly the same as the day before. Still no underwear. This time I’d described what I needed, though. Commando with leather had the ability to chafe. I wanted to nip that problem in the bud. “What’s a gal gotta do to get a little whiskey around here?”
Lucifer pushed away from the wall, uncrossing his arms. I didn’t mention that I hadn’t heard him approach. Or that I had no idea how long he’d been standing there. Cahal and I would have to have a little talk about what things to mention, and what things to omit. No, I didn’t need to know when I looked tired, but yes, it would be nice to get a heads-up when my kidnapper-rescuer was watching me unravel the handiwork of his minions…
“Whiskey…” He looked skyward in that way people did when they were thinking. “Remind me. I’m not placing that one.”
“Yeah, my mom wasn’t really into the hard liquor. She was a wine and beer kinda gal.”
“Your mother, yes. I wanted to speak to you about her. I have something to show you.” Butterflies filled my stomach and longing grabbed hold of me, like it always did when I thought about her. I still missed her. I would always miss her. I wanted to talk to her, just once more. I wanted to tell her about Darius and Penny. To let her know that I’d connected with Callie and Dizzy. I wanted her.
She was beyond my reach, but I could maybe learn a little more about her while I was here.
“First, whiskey.” He wandered closer, an easy sort of stroll that held all the swagger of a prized pony. Not that I knew what one of those really looked like. “Remind me. I’m sure I know of it.”
I filled him in as I stepped away from the wall I’d torn down, wondering if I’d be chastised. It had been a good one, intricately made and pumped full of power, completely solid. I’d marveled at it before I labored to rip it away, knowing in my gut that it had been created by the Great Master himself.
“Hmm, yes. It has a burning sensation.” He smiled. “I remember it. We have something similar here. I’ll show you. It’s more potent, though. You’d best watch yourself.”
“That sounds like a challenge.”
He laughed. “Indeed, it is.”
His eyes twinkled as they beheld me, velvety soft but brimming with power. Brimming with an ego he had earned. He was the master of his domain, and he knew it. I felt the call of it, stirring in my blood. The power welling up in me. The excitement for what was to come.
I squished it down. That wasn’t the right frame of mind to fall into down here. I couldn’t let the siren call of my magic change me. I was perfectly content being nothing more than what I was—a girl who liked her bad neighborhood, full of people who would take a bat to someone’s head on her behalf. Some might accuse me of thinking small, but I didn’t want to think big. If I wanted servants, I could get them from Darius. If I wanted to rule people, I could just hire a staff…
With Darius’s money.
Lucifer tilted his head to the side. He’d heard that thought—I’d let it slip. He probably also read the annoyance in my posture.
I gritted my teeth and focused on appearing neutral to him. I needed to be better about watching myself around him, about not letting him realize how good it felt when I fully gave in to my power. That was something he could exploit.
Without commenting on my slip, or whatever he saw in front of him, Lucifer shifted his attention to the illusion I’d torn down. “I am incredibly impressed.”
I lifted my eyebrows, following his gaze. Cahal, his eyes on my face, took this opportunity to step into my line of view. His focus was fixed on me. He thought I’d just messed up something, I could tell. I’d probably get a lecture later. A very dramatic lecture.
Hopefully Pops came through with the whiskey beforehand.
“With…what, exactly?” I asked Lucifer.
He furrowed his brow at me then indicated the large space in front of us. “I put up this wall myself.”
“Yeah, I gathered. It was really well done.”
“It was at the height of the power scale.”
“Also that, yeah.”
“How long did it take you to rip it down?”
“Oh…” I formed a duckbill with my mouth and glanced at Cahal. “Fifteen minutes? Twenty? It was a doozy.”
“Seventeen,” Cahal replied.
I took a moment to try to read Cahal’s face, because that had been very specific. All those planes and angles were very attractive in a hostile, severe sort of way, and very hard to get a read on. One would think I’d be better at it by now. Then again, he was incredibly closed down when Lucifer came around, and with him, that was saying something.
“Okay, then,” I said, pulling my gaze back to the large area that used to hold a solid wall made entirely of magic. “Seventeen minutes, says the guy without a watch.”
Lucifer laughed. “What our brooding druid is not telling you is that he is constantly comparing you with your predecessor.”
“Your other kid?”
“Yes, exactly. It took him months to learn which walls were magical and which were real, and months more to work out how to tear one down. But you can do it in”—his eyes darkened as they flicked Cahal’s way—“seventeen minutes. Did our illustrious druid teach you that?”
“No. Demolition was always one of my strong suits. He basically taught me how to take a punch.” I grinned, then frowned when neither of them reacted to my joke. I let it go. “But I can’t make anything solid. I can’t build as easily as I can take down.”
“Curse breaker,” Cahal said, clasping his hands in front of him. “The very magic that allows you to stay down here will make it harder for you to create down here. That is the magic that has allowed you to gain admittance to carefully constructed worlds and then, well, ruin them. You are the true demolisher, for not even the land of angels would hold up to the Underworld magic you wield.”
Curse breaker.
I didn’t know if that thought came from myself, Lucifer, Cahal, or a memory. Callie had said it. She’d told me I was one. She hadn’t elaborated, though, a
nd certainly Cahal had never mentioned anything about it. But now, as I watched Lucifer’s eyes spark with a cunning gleam, I wondered what exactly Cahal was playing at. Clearly that was something he should not have advertised.
“This other magic…” Lucifer let the sentence trail away.
“The godly power, on her mother’s side,” Cahal replied, and I was getting closer to knifing him so he’d shut up.
To my surprise, though, Lucifer snorted. “Godly power? Is that a joke, druid? Those meddling fools are no more gods than those fool elves. Than you. They are cowards, truth be told. But fine, your point is made.”
I wanted to think at Cahal, to ask him what he was getting at, but I couldn’t without Daddy Dearest hearing it. I wondered if I could section off my thoughts.
I wondered if Lucifer would allow me to learn.
“Well,” I said, trying to steer this conversation like a train that had jumped the rails and was hurtling toward a sleepy village. “Be that as it may, I can build, to a degree. If I work a little harder at it, I’m sure I can create something passable.”
“Of course you can. Come.” Lucifer turned and jerked his head. “Let us have a tour. I’ll give you your first lesson.” I stepped forward to follow, Cahal quickly falling in behind me. “No, no.” Lucifer flicked his hand and an intricate sort of wall curled into existence, stitching into the air, starting at chest height and barring Cahal’s way. “Not this time, Master Shadow. You are best taken in small doses, and I have had my fill.”
I slowed, glancing back, considering whether to tear down that forming wall and push the issue. But Cahal stepped back and tilted his head to me.
Go, he thought. I will be fine.
“Of course he will.” Lucifer hadn’t slowed. “What am I, a barbarian? I would never harm my heir’s treasured pet.”
“Cahal as a pet…” With stinging doubt, I turned and hurried to catch up to Lucifer. I needed his instruction, and it wouldn’t hurt to have more knowledge of his kingdom. If Cahal wasn’t put out, he’d be fine. “I suppose it does make sense that I would have the surliest pet I’ve ever met.”
Mentored in Fire Page 5
