“Your mother sent that cross to you.”
I shook my head wildly, my hair brushing over the shoulders of my leather jacket. “That doesn’t make any sense. I found this in one of the major crypts in Prague. My mother never even went to Prague.”
“It was a hope spell. It was designed to follow you and manifest when you needed it most.”
I was blown away by Sato’s explanation. I wanted to deny it, but I knew Sato – despite his cheeky history – would not lie to me now.
I stared down at the cross, my gaze trapped in the fine filigree work. This time as I touched it, my fingers trembled. It felt like I was touching my mother’s cheek.
I wasn’t ashamed to let a few tears streak down my cheeks. Sato watched, but he didn’t say anything until I dried my face with my sleeve. I let my hand drop, and I drew in a deep, shaking breath. “I need you to tell me what the army of possessed were after and if they got it.”
“We don’t have much time, Eve,” he repeated as he warily stared at the rest of the room. His gaze darted over his expensive furniture as if he expected it would come to life and strangle him.
I leaned forward until I captured his attention. Maybe it was cocky, but I whispered, “You’ve got me, Sato. Until and unless Hilliker comes himself, I’ve got the strength to hold anything back with my Deep magic. Now tell me what it is.”
Sato closed his eyes. I was surprised when a tear escaped one and trailed down his cheek. It looked like the realist thing about him. It caught the light, glimmering even though nothing else in this depressed room dared anymore. “It’s your sister’s ring.”
I stared at him blankly. It took a long time for me to let out a curt laugh, my shoulders shaking slightly. “Wrong chick, Sato. This spell must be going to your head. I don’t have a sister. Only child,” I snapped as I slapped a hand on my chest. If I were being honest with myself, I would have appreciated that my fingers were becoming white and they shook as I locked them against my gray top.
Sato opened his eyes. They glinted with determination and, badly for me, honesty. “You have a twin sister, Eve. She was given to Hilliker so you could survive.”
I stood there. You wouldn’t have been able to move me for the world. Slowly but surely, my lips parted. I didn’t say anything – I couldn’t. I just stood there, my mouth open, my heart desperately trying to tell me this was a lie.
The problem was, Sato continued to stare at me evenly, his mouth drooped in a sorrowful smile.
I went to pull away from him, but he became even more insubstantial. As my stomach kicked and rocked at this revelation, I crumpled back to my knees. My cheeks and forehead became sickly, sickly white as my lips trembled open. “What are you talking about, Sato? I can’t have a sister. I can’t—”
Something struck me. It was a memory, and it was as sharp as a blow to the back of my head. I remembered that woman I’d seen back in the monastery. The one who’d been contained by fifty priests.
I wanted to throw up. She... she couldn’t be my sister. There was no way. I would have known, I told myself firmly – I would have frigging known.
All the while, Sato continued to stare at me evenly. “Your sister is a child of the Deep, just like you – though you are more powerful. She also does not have a resurrection blessing.”
“I... I can’t believe this. I don’t have a sister. I can’t. Because... because she couldn’t have been given to Hilliker.” I couldn’t keep my voice even on the word given. I could barely spit those poisonous syllables out. I was certain they would rip my mouth to shreds on the way out.
Sato didn’t blink once. He was getting worse with every minute that passed, and though he didn’t cough up much blood anymore, that hole in his middle still oozed softly. It was clear that all he wanted to do was conk out, but instead he was wasting his precious energy to look at me – to practically hold me with his gaze. “Your parents had no choice. Hilliker found them when you girls were being born. He allowed your parents to keep you, but....”
“But the bastard got my sister instead.” As soon as I said the word sister, I knew it was real. The way it shook from my lips – the way it trembled into my heart. There was no denying she was really out there.
I stared at my hand briefly. I couldn’t begin to imagine the kind of life she’d been forced to lead. Presumably Hilliker would have kept her locked up. She wouldn’t have known even the smallest sense of freedom. All she would have known was Hilliker’s specific breed of Hell.
I squeezed my eyes shut and let tears build behind my tightly closed lashes. As they gathered, I curled my free hand into the tightest fist I’d ever made. “What has that monster been doing to her? Why does he need her if it’s my resurrection magic that will ultimately bring the Banished to this realm?”
“She has been feeding the Banished while you have been developing your magic.”
I wanted to punch something – anything – at that revelation. “The bastard has been using her as food?”
Sato just looked at me steadily. “You’re going to need her ring.”
“What?”
“Just like you, she has a magical ring.”
I made the mistake of looking down at my engagement ring. “You mean she got engaged to a demon too?”
Sato arched an eyebrow. “Your other ring. The one you use to fight with. You only got engaged to Sonos like last week.”
I didn’t react to that subtle put-down. As weird as it was, I had completely forgotten about my ring. It had categorically been the most important thing to me throughout most of my life. It had been my primary weapon, my best friend, and the only damn thing I’d ever been able to truly rely on.
Now I brought my hand up and stared at it. I didn’t twiddle the dial to the left and call on my sword – there was no need to. There was nothing to fight. More importantly than that, I’d outgrown it.
That was insane to admit. But I didn’t need a weapon anymore – I just needed myself.
“Lilly’s ring will enable you to reach her power,” Sato explained.
My lips twitched into a sickened frown. “What the hell? What do you mean reach her power? I don’t want to take from her – that’s what Hilliker has been doing since she was born.”
“It’s not like that. You’re sisters – twins. You have the same connection to the Deep, even though yours manifests in a different way. You are here together to push back the Banished. She cannot escape Hilliker. But she can give you her power. You will need it if you are to have a chance of staying out of his clutches and breaking both her and Sonos out.”
I listened to what he was saying, but it took a few moments for the words to sink in. I instinctively went to shake my head. As weird as it was, considering holding onto hope had been the only thing to get me this far, I didn’t want to do it this time. I just... I couldn’t bring myself to believe that I had the power to break Sonos out. Because if I failed....
Sato hadn’t moved this whole time. It had appeared as if he were simply too injured to try. But now he shoved forward, and it was his turn to lock a hand on my shoulder. It shook, and it was hardly substantial, but by god was it there. He looked deeply into my eyes, light glimmering around his round glasses, even though it couldn’t be coming from the rest of this dimly lit room. “You can save them both. Now go and do it.”
“But you were the one who was telling me only a few minutes ago that I had to go home and wait for Sonos to break himself out.”
Sato laughed, his torso shaking out and emphasizing the hole in his chest. “That was a test. You passed. Now take the ring, find out how to reach its power, and shove it down Hilliker’s throat.”
“Where is it?”
Sato laboriously tipped himself to the side as he slipped a hand into his pocket. He withdrew a simple silver band. It was nowhere near as fancy as my sword ring – let alone my engagement ring.
That meant nothing, however. As soon as I saw it, my gut clenched, every muscle in my body contracting as if I was
about to lift the greatest burden in the world.
Sato held it out to me. Trembling, I took it. As soon as it clunked into my open, sweaty palm, I felt its power. It sang through my blood and shivered through my wrist into the rest of my body. I was forced to take an enormous, shaking breath.
Sato’s lips kinked to the side. “You’ll figure out how to use it quickly if it’s already had that kind of effect on you. Now get out of here. I need to go back to being hidden. While you managed to find me – I made it easy for you. Hilliker’s priest assholes won’t be so lucky.” Sato waved me on. Maybe he was trying to force his hand not to shake, but he was failing. Every damn centimeter of it trembled as if mini earthquakes were going off in every cell.
I was still clutching his shoulder. The second I stopped, he’d become fully insubstantial. “You need proper medical attention. I don’t want to see you die for me.”
“Ha,” Sato guffawed right in my face. “For you? Are you really stupid enough to think I’m doing all of this for you? It’s for the whole frigging world, idiot. That being said, you’re a good employee. When this is over, I’ll find you some nice new lucrative contracts worthy of your time.”
I couldn’t tell whether he was joking. No, sorry, I could – and he wasn’t. Sato had that kind of mind. Despite the fact it looked as if I would fail and this whole realm would cease to exist, Sato was still planning ahead for his new hustle. Cash was his king – major existential woes, not so much.
I was surprised when he softened the determined, greedy glint in his eyes long enough to offer me a low, enduring nod. “You weren’t ready to take Hilliker on before, but you are now. Go, Eve. Make the bastard pay.”
“Where are they being kept?”
“I’ve got no clue.”
“... But you acted like you did.”
He laughed again. “You don’t need to be told – you’ll figure it out. Trust in yourself and that ring. Heck, you should even follow your heart.” As he said that, he looked deliberately at my engagement ring and smirked at it. While the rest of him was fading away, that smirk was as strong as a dumbbell.
I actually looked down at my engagement ring. Follow my heart, ha? There would have been a time not so long ago – okay, only this morning – when I would have rejected that outright. Now I smiled at Sonos’s ring until my heart could burst.
I still hadn’t put my sister’s ring on. I thought about where to put it, then realized it belonged right next to my sword ring. I crammed it down over the same finger.
Again, I felt its power. It sang to me. It reached out a hand to me. It begged me to take it and use it to end this all.
I straightened. I didn’t take my hand off Sato’s shoulder yet. I nodded at him, the move almost regal as my hair fanned over my shoulders. “Keep yourself alive and hidden.”
He laughed. “I have every intention of doing that – trust me. I will not let those priests get the better of me again. Now, if only I had a cigar to wile the hours away with.”
I cast around the room for one. There wasn’t anything. Before I could disappoint him, I noticed that some cigar dragons were still twitching. Without leaving Sato’s side, I shoved a hand out and twirled my fingers to the left in an elegant move. I grabbed hold of the dragons and commanded them to reform. It was strong magic – seriously strong stuff, in fact. It lit the whole room up.
Sato’s eyes widened at my display. Then the biggest smile in the world descended over his lips as the dragons grouped together to form the mother of all cigars. It fell into my grip, so much excess magic wafting off it, I could have started a fire.
I wasted no time in handing it over with a demure bow. Sato took it, his eyes wide enough to swallow it whole. He promptly shoved it into his mouth and started chomping on it. He didn’t need to light it – a tiny dragon crawled out of the end and blew on the tip until it smoldered. I fancied the dragon stopped and saluted me with its equally tiny claw.
I saluted back. I held it as I stepped away from Sato and let him drift back into the room. The chair promptly fell over and broke. If I wanted to get Sato back, I would have to mend it. As for anyone else who wanted to find him, they would have to figure out he was in the chair, repair it, and sit it straight.
I took a step back. I stared at the room. It looked too neat. The chair was the only thing that was broken – it would be too conspicuous. I promptly lifted my arms up and out and let out a low chant. A tornado of magic ripped through everything, trashing the place in one satisfying wallop.
I thought I heard Sato’s disembodied voice from somewhere hiss, “Steady on. That furniture set is worth more than you’ll ever be.”
I just chuckled, shoved my hands in my pockets – taking special attention not to scuff my ring – and walked away.
I had a ring. I had a plan. And I had a family to save.
Chapter 8
The word family kept repeating in my head, even as I made my way out of the Emporium. I was crazily gladdened as I walked out of Sato’s sitting room to detect the tiniest scuttling of feet. His spiders were still alive, then. That shouldn’t bring me so much relief, but it did. It spread through my chest, feeling suspiciously like hope.
But while I had hope, I did not have a watertight plan. I had no clue where they were keeping my sister and Sonos. Though I could conclude that they were back at the monastery, I really doubted Hilliker would be that dumb.
... Or maybe he would be. Hilliker, presumably, was still trapped in that vault box in Hell. I had rendered him a pretty bad mental blow when I’d snapped his possession spell. There was every chance he hadn’t gotten out. That meant he would have had a limited capacity to direct his priests. Sonos had only just been captured. What if they didn’t know where to take him yet?
I had to start thinking like Hilliker and his monsters. It would help if I knew more about the Banished and how it worked. I could easily assume that without Hilliker to guide them, and importantly give them power, his priests had taken Sonos to a spot they could easily defend. The question was where that would be.
“Could they really have taken him back to the monastery?” I mulled over that as I strode through the flood tunnels. There hadn’t been a single sign of life in here when I’d strode through previously. Now as I muttered to myself, I thought I heard the scuttling of rat feet.
I stopped dead on the spot. With rigid neck muscles and a growing sense of unease spilling through my belly like freshly let blood, I turned my neck ever so slightly. I didn’t want my attacker to know I was onto them.
I heard another faint scuttling. I whirled, punched a hand out, and sent Deep magic slashing out.
It smashed into a rat. Before I could rip it apart, I opened my hand and commanded my magic to dim. The rat was lifted up in a waft of power, its high-pitched screeches filling the room.
I frowned. I didn’t need to get too much closer to realize it was possessed. It was all in the fact it was eight times bigger than an ordinary rat and had teeth that looked as if they’d literally been ripped from a saw blade.
I also saw a darting spider trying desperately to keep out of sight as it dove into the little guy’s fur.
“Hilliker,” I snarled as I snapped forward, grabbed the spider, and crushed it as easily as someone stamping out the butt of a cigarette with their shoe.
Instantly the rat slowed. Then its eyes opened wide as it realized it was far from on its feet yet. Hilliker might have left it, but it was still suspended in the air with my magic.
Twiddling my fingers, I canceled out my spell and let the little guy descend. He instantly looked for a place to race off to, but I got in his way. I loomed above him and crossed my arms hard. “Can you speak?”
“Yesh,” the rat said with a significant ratty accent. “Me sorrish, me possessed.”
“Okay, first things first – I need to give you a vocal upgrade.” I twiddled my fingers again, and magic danced into the rat’s throat.
“What?” the rat stammered in perfect British En
glish.
“Hilliker was in your head, right? He left you here to spy on these tunnels in case I came along. What did you see?”
“I saw you walking along, stopping, then attacking.”
“You didn’t see me in Sato’s Emporium?”
“No.”
I let out a belly-shaking sigh of relief that could have taken the ceiling down. Wiping my stiff hand over my head and dislodging a bead of sweat, I actually managed a smile. A small one – the world was still going to Hell, or chaos, rather.
I crunched further forward as I settled my palms on my knees. “Can you tell how powerful Hilliker was? He’s been in your head awhile, right? Could you tell if he’s gotten out of Hell yet?”
The rat looked thoughtful. It pulled its little lips away from its monstrous saw blade teeth and narrowed its eyes. “I doubt it, my lady.”
I arched an eyebrow at being called a possessed rat’s lady. I did not interrupt.
“Hilliker’s power was not nearly direct enough. I am confident in concluding that he is still in the home of the damned.” The little rat bowed low.
I let out a laugh – both at the guy’s proper demeanor and what I’d learned. Leaning back, I indulged in closing my eyes for a few seconds before letting them blast open wide. “Right. You were here for the attack on the Emporium, right?”
“Correct. I participated in it – through no choice of my own. I was sent to kick down Christmas ornaments.”
The rat said that with so much severity, it was clear I wasn’t allowed to laugh.
I remained crunched down close. The guy smelled – awful. Most possessed did. I didn’t let it bother me as my eyes darted across his face. I was 100 percent certain that I had kicked Hilliker out of this rat’s head. That meant it would be a font of valuable information. I couldn’t question him here, though. Hilliker would be sending priests to intercept me right now.
I leaned down and plucked the guy up, securing him under an arm.
“Oh my,” he muttered properly. “A warning would have been appropriate and appreciated, my dear.”
Better off Dead Book Three Page 10
