Darkness Unbound
Page 32
“Why?” I asked. “And if that’s the case, how do people involved in accidents underground ever get moved on?”
“A reaper’s sense of death is more attuned than the connection I share with you.” He hesitated, as if to say something else, then glanced past me as Tao came into the room. “I think it would be better if we left this place.”
“We’re as safe here as anywhere else.” Tao dumped a large glass of Coke and a sinfully large burger in front of me. It had obviously been microwaved, but I wasn’t about to complain. Food was food, and I needed it badly. He turned to face the reaper. “We have Ilianna’s wards, cameras, and motion detectors activated. No one is getting in here without us knowing.”
“The Aedh have already retrieved the Dušan’s book from this building,” Azriel said. “And my sword is no match if they come in a group.”
“He’s right.” Ilianna walked back into the room, med kit in hand. “The wards are designed to work against evil, but the Aedh—as far as I know—are not intrinsically evil. And the sensors can only detect flesh, not those who are fundamentally energy.” She nodded Azriel’s way. “They didn’t go off when our not-so-grim reaper appeared, and if the Aedh have already stolen the book, they’re obviously not impeded in any way by my magic.”
“I guess not,” Tao said. “But that leaves the problem of finding a place where the four of us are going to be safe.”
“Speaking of that,” I said, looking around, “where’s Stane?”
“Catching some sleep,” Ilianna said. “He was practically dead on his feet, so I frog-marched him to bed.”
Tao snorted. “He took his laptop with him, so I’m betting he’s just retreated to quieter quarters.”
“Has he had any luck finding out who Joseph Hardy is, or uncovering the names of the people behind the consortium?” I asked.
“Not yet.” Ilianna placed the kit on the table, then carefully picked up one of my feet. Her nose screwed up. “Damn, girl, your feet are a mess.”
“They’ll heal soon enough.” And we had bigger problems. “Ilianna, you need to warn your mom about the copies of the book pages you gave her. The Aedh may not go after them, but just in case—”
“She’ll be fine.” Ilianna began wiping down my feet with a lotion that was cool and soothing, and smelled faintly of lavender. “Both she and those copies are at the Brindle, and not even the devil himself could get into that place uninvited.”
“What copies?” Azriel asked.
I glanced at him. “We made copies of the Dušan’s book.”
“An excellent move, but why would you give that copy to the witch repository?”
“Because I need the contents translated.”
“But I told you—”
“No,” I interrupted. “You told me what you thought I needed to know. But there was more than just an incantation in there, wasn’t there?”
He merely lifted an eyebrow. I snorted softly. The reaper, like everyone else, was looking after his own interests first and foremost.
“So what is in there?” Tao said, propping his butt on the table and pushing my burger forward.
I took the hint and picked it up, taking several delicious mouthfuls before answering, “According to my father, it’ll tell me what the keys are.”
Ilianna’s gaze jumped to mine. “You talked to your dad? What’s he like?”
“Ghostly.”
“As in dead and just a spirit?” Tao asked with a frown.
“No. He’s alive, but the ability to take on flesh has been taken from him.”
“Oh.” Ilianna began slathering a thicker, smellier cream over my feet. “Why don’t you just ask the reaper what the keys are?”
“Azriel is my name,” he said, voice holding a slight edge. “Not reaper. And you can ask me questions directly.”
She glanced at him in surprise. “Fair enough. So tell us, Azriel, what do the keys look like?”
“I do not know, because there is no such description in the book. Maybe Hieu lies.”
“He said I was reading it wrong, so maybe you were, too.” I winced as Ilianna’s cream began to sting, then added, “He wants these keys found as much as anyone else. Only he wants me to find them.”
“Why?” Tao said. “That’s what I don’t get. Why you, and why now?”
“Because the keys can only be found and destroyed by someone of his blood, and because his flesh form was ripped from him by the other Raziq, he can no longer interact with this world.”
“It takes powerful magic to rip the flesh being from an Aedh,” Azriel commented. “If they are capable of that, we had better move. Now.”
There was a note of urgency in his voice that hit the rest of us like a storm. I glanced at Tao, but he was already up. “I’ll grab Stane,” he said. “You want some shoes or will your feet be too sore?”
“Grab me a pair of boots and some fresh clothes.” I wasn’t about to run around barefoot and half na**d as well. I gulped down the rest of the burger. Ilianna was finishing up on my feet. “What do you think our chances of being invited into the Brindle are?”
Ilianna said, “Scant to none. But we can try, all the same.”
“Then we’ll contact your mom on the way over there. If not, we’ll have to think of somewhere else.”
Though I doubted anywhere else would be safe from the Aedh. It would just take them a little longer to find us.
Tao came out of my room carrying a backpack and, a heartbeat later, Stane appeared out of the spare room. He looked rumpled and unwashed, his face haggard and the shadow of a beard decorating his chin. But there was a victorious light in his eyes.
“God,” I said, “don’t tell me you cracked it?”
He shoved his overnight bag on the table but kept hold of his laptop. “We now have the names behind the consortium,” he said, and his sudden grin was infectious. “James Trilby, Garvin Appleby, and John Nadler. But the even bigger news is, one of them has a sister who’s a witch.”
“It couldn’t be that easy,” Ilianna said.
“But it is,” Stane said. “The sister is one Margaret Trilby, and three years ago she was banished from the Brindle all-witch society because she was practicing blood magic.”
“Margaret Trilby is the name of the witch who raised the soul stealer?” Azriel asked.
“Yes,” Stane said, looking over his shoulder. “You know, it’s somewhat disturbing to see my uncle standing so calmly in the middle of the room. Especially given I know it’s not my uncle, but a reaper.”
“I cannot help what you see,” Azriel said with a slight shrug. “It is your subconscious that dictates my form, not anything I actively do.”
Stane grunted. “Now that we have the names, what are we going to do with them?”
“The logical step,” Tao said before I could open my mouth, “would be to give the information to Rhoan.”
“He’s not equipped to deal with black magic—”
“No,” Ilianna agreed, “but the Directorate is. They have some very powerful witches in their employ, and I know for a fact they’ve dealt with blood witches before. It is the best option.”
I tossed my phone into the pack Tao handed me. “But it means I’m not a part of the resolution.”
And I wanted that. Needed that. For little Hanna’s sake—and for mine.
Ilianna wrapped a hand around my arm and squeezed gently. “I know. But as you said, right now we’ve got bigger problems.”
I blew out a frustrated breath, then nodded slowly. “Okay, let’s get out of here. Tao, you drive. I’ll ring Aunt Riley—” I stopped and frowned. “How come she’s not here? Does she even know I went missing?”
Hell, Mom would have sensed something had happened to me, and the first—and only—person she would have rung was Riley.
Tao grimaced. “Both she and Rhoan were here. Madder than hell and ready to tear up the world to find you. Azriel convinced them to let him do the finding.”
That raised my eyebrows. “Really?” I said, looking at him. “How in the hell did you conduct that miracle?”
“I can be persuasive when I want to be.”
“Riley basically considers me one of her own. There’s no way in hell she’d be convinced to let someone else do the hunting.”
He shrugged. Matter closed, obviously. “Please, we must be going. We have delayed here too long.”
Again, his words held an edge that motivated. I grabbed my Coke and gulped it down so quickly the gas rose back up my throat. I smothered the burp, then stood. Pain slipped up my legs and I grabbed at the table, swearing softly. I hadn’t felt a damn thing when I was on the run in the tunnel, but maybe fear had killed all other sensations. Now, though, normal programming had resumed. And in this case, that meant feeling all the aches and pains—not just my feet, but the dull ache somewhere deep inside where the Aedh had bludgeoned and ripped.
Tao wrapped an arm around my waist and half supported me as we headed for the door. Ilianna had disappeared, but reappeared moments later with a bag. If the bits hanging out were anything to go by, it was stuffed more with an assortment of magical detritus than clothing. We locked up, ensuring all the sensors and cameras were active, just in case anyone other than the Aedh tried to get in, then walked—or in my case, hobbled—down the stairs.
Ilianna’s Jeep was closer than my SUV, so we piled into her car and headed out. Azriel wasn’t with us in flesh form, but the heat caressing the back of my neck suggested he was still very much present.
Once we were on the road and there was no indication that we were being followed, I grabbed my phone and called my mom.
“Risa,” she said, voice heavy with relief. “Are you okay? The vibes I’m getting suggest you’re hurt.”
“I tore my feet up on some glass. Nothing to worry about.” I hesitated, waiting for her to denounce the lie. When she didn’t, I added, “How are you? Did you sort out whatever was troubling you?”
“Ris, you’ve got far bigger things to worry about right now than me.”
“You’re my mom,” I retorted testily. “There is nothing—and no one—else that matters more to me.”
“And, my darling girl, I feel exactly the same. Which is why you need to get to the Brindle as quickly as possible. They’re out to get you.”
Fear snaked through me. “Who?”
She hesitated. “I’m not sure. But it’s dark and it’s dangerous. Get to the Brindle, Ris. All of you.”
“We could swing by the house and pick—”
“No!” she said, and the alarm in her voice had my apprehension rising. “Don’t. There’s no time—and no need. There are some things you can run from, Ris, and some things you can’t. Yours is the former, and mine the latter. I accepted mine a long time ago, but I need to know you’re safe—”
“Oh f**k. Mom, I’m coming—”
“Don’t! You have one chance—one slight, slim chance—to reach the Brindle and safety. Take it, because it just might mean the difference between life and death for one of your friends. I can’t see who, but someone’s life really does hang in the balance. Promise me you will go there, Ris, not here.”
“Not if it means abandoning you—”
“Coming for me would be a waste. I won’t even be here when you arrive.”
“Mom—”
“You’re overdramatizing my problem,” she cut in gently. “I assure you, compared with what’s headed at you right now, my predicament is practically a picnic.”
I didn’t believe her. I couldn’t believe her. Fear for her safety was a deadweight in the pit of my stomach, and right on top of it sat the sick sensation that something bad was about to happen. To her—and to us. Yet I couldn’t deny the urgency of her warning and the growing need to get to the Brindle. I didn’t want any of my friends hurt, but she was my mom. If I had choose one or the other, then my mom was going to win every time.
And yet, if I tried to go to her, she would go elsewhere. And whatever was about to happen to her would still happen no matter where she was.
Fuck, f**k, f**k!
I closed my eyes and rubbed them wearily. None of this was helping the ache in my brain. “Maybe you should leave home. At least if you’re out, you have the Fravardin to protect you.”
“This is not something they can help with.”
Meaning either that it wasn’t a personal threat—and therefore didn’t require the interference of the Fravardin—or that it was beyond the ability of the Fravardin to protect her. After all, they weren’t infallible. Mom’s brother had died despite their protection.
“Promise to be careful, all right?” I said wearily. “I’ll call when I get to the Brindle.”
“Good,” she said. “Just tell Tao to put his foot down.”
“Heard that, and obeying,” Tao murmured, and a second later the Jeep surged forward.
“I’ll talk to you later,” I said, and hoped like hell that I could. “Love you lots.”
“And I’ll love you forever,” she replied softly.
The ache in my heart and the fear in my gut grew worse as I hung up.
“Trouble?” Ilianna said, her expression worried as she faced me.
“A reaper’s sense of death is more attuned than the connection I share with you.” He hesitated, as if to say something else, then glanced past me as Tao came into the room. “I think it would be better if we left this place.”
“We’re as safe here as anywhere else.” Tao dumped a large glass of Coke and a sinfully large burger in front of me. It had obviously been microwaved, but I wasn’t about to complain. Food was food, and I needed it badly. He turned to face the reaper. “We have Ilianna’s wards, cameras, and motion detectors activated. No one is getting in here without us knowing.”
“The Aedh have already retrieved the Dušan’s book from this building,” Azriel said. “And my sword is no match if they come in a group.”
“He’s right.” Ilianna walked back into the room, med kit in hand. “The wards are designed to work against evil, but the Aedh—as far as I know—are not intrinsically evil. And the sensors can only detect flesh, not those who are fundamentally energy.” She nodded Azriel’s way. “They didn’t go off when our not-so-grim reaper appeared, and if the Aedh have already stolen the book, they’re obviously not impeded in any way by my magic.”
“I guess not,” Tao said. “But that leaves the problem of finding a place where the four of us are going to be safe.”
“Speaking of that,” I said, looking around, “where’s Stane?”
“Catching some sleep,” Ilianna said. “He was practically dead on his feet, so I frog-marched him to bed.”
Tao snorted. “He took his laptop with him, so I’m betting he’s just retreated to quieter quarters.”
“Has he had any luck finding out who Joseph Hardy is, or uncovering the names of the people behind the consortium?” I asked.
“Not yet.” Ilianna placed the kit on the table, then carefully picked up one of my feet. Her nose screwed up. “Damn, girl, your feet are a mess.”
“They’ll heal soon enough.” And we had bigger problems. “Ilianna, you need to warn your mom about the copies of the book pages you gave her. The Aedh may not go after them, but just in case—”
“She’ll be fine.” Ilianna began wiping down my feet with a lotion that was cool and soothing, and smelled faintly of lavender. “Both she and those copies are at the Brindle, and not even the devil himself could get into that place uninvited.”
“What copies?” Azriel asked.
I glanced at him. “We made copies of the Dušan’s book.”
“An excellent move, but why would you give that copy to the witch repository?”
“Because I need the contents translated.”
“But I told you—”
“No,” I interrupted. “You told me what you thought I needed to know. But there was more than just an incantation in there, wasn’t there?”
He merely lifted an eyebrow. I snorted softly. The reaper, like everyone else, was looking after his own interests first and foremost.
“So what is in there?” Tao said, propping his butt on the table and pushing my burger forward.
I took the hint and picked it up, taking several delicious mouthfuls before answering, “According to my father, it’ll tell me what the keys are.”
Ilianna’s gaze jumped to mine. “You talked to your dad? What’s he like?”
“Ghostly.”
“As in dead and just a spirit?” Tao asked with a frown.
“No. He’s alive, but the ability to take on flesh has been taken from him.”
“Oh.” Ilianna began slathering a thicker, smellier cream over my feet. “Why don’t you just ask the reaper what the keys are?”
“Azriel is my name,” he said, voice holding a slight edge. “Not reaper. And you can ask me questions directly.”
She glanced at him in surprise. “Fair enough. So tell us, Azriel, what do the keys look like?”
“I do not know, because there is no such description in the book. Maybe Hieu lies.”
“He said I was reading it wrong, so maybe you were, too.” I winced as Ilianna’s cream began to sting, then added, “He wants these keys found as much as anyone else. Only he wants me to find them.”
“Why?” Tao said. “That’s what I don’t get. Why you, and why now?”
“Because the keys can only be found and destroyed by someone of his blood, and because his flesh form was ripped from him by the other Raziq, he can no longer interact with this world.”
“It takes powerful magic to rip the flesh being from an Aedh,” Azriel commented. “If they are capable of that, we had better move. Now.”
There was a note of urgency in his voice that hit the rest of us like a storm. I glanced at Tao, but he was already up. “I’ll grab Stane,” he said. “You want some shoes or will your feet be too sore?”
“Grab me a pair of boots and some fresh clothes.” I wasn’t about to run around barefoot and half na**d as well. I gulped down the rest of the burger. Ilianna was finishing up on my feet. “What do you think our chances of being invited into the Brindle are?”
Ilianna said, “Scant to none. But we can try, all the same.”
“Then we’ll contact your mom on the way over there. If not, we’ll have to think of somewhere else.”
Though I doubted anywhere else would be safe from the Aedh. It would just take them a little longer to find us.
Tao came out of my room carrying a backpack and, a heartbeat later, Stane appeared out of the spare room. He looked rumpled and unwashed, his face haggard and the shadow of a beard decorating his chin. But there was a victorious light in his eyes.
“God,” I said, “don’t tell me you cracked it?”
He shoved his overnight bag on the table but kept hold of his laptop. “We now have the names behind the consortium,” he said, and his sudden grin was infectious. “James Trilby, Garvin Appleby, and John Nadler. But the even bigger news is, one of them has a sister who’s a witch.”
“It couldn’t be that easy,” Ilianna said.
“But it is,” Stane said. “The sister is one Margaret Trilby, and three years ago she was banished from the Brindle all-witch society because she was practicing blood magic.”
“Margaret Trilby is the name of the witch who raised the soul stealer?” Azriel asked.
“Yes,” Stane said, looking over his shoulder. “You know, it’s somewhat disturbing to see my uncle standing so calmly in the middle of the room. Especially given I know it’s not my uncle, but a reaper.”
“I cannot help what you see,” Azriel said with a slight shrug. “It is your subconscious that dictates my form, not anything I actively do.”
Stane grunted. “Now that we have the names, what are we going to do with them?”
“The logical step,” Tao said before I could open my mouth, “would be to give the information to Rhoan.”
“He’s not equipped to deal with black magic—”
“No,” Ilianna agreed, “but the Directorate is. They have some very powerful witches in their employ, and I know for a fact they’ve dealt with blood witches before. It is the best option.”
I tossed my phone into the pack Tao handed me. “But it means I’m not a part of the resolution.”
And I wanted that. Needed that. For little Hanna’s sake—and for mine.
Ilianna wrapped a hand around my arm and squeezed gently. “I know. But as you said, right now we’ve got bigger problems.”
I blew out a frustrated breath, then nodded slowly. “Okay, let’s get out of here. Tao, you drive. I’ll ring Aunt Riley—” I stopped and frowned. “How come she’s not here? Does she even know I went missing?”
Hell, Mom would have sensed something had happened to me, and the first—and only—person she would have rung was Riley.
Tao grimaced. “Both she and Rhoan were here. Madder than hell and ready to tear up the world to find you. Azriel convinced them to let him do the finding.”
That raised my eyebrows. “Really?” I said, looking at him. “How in the hell did you conduct that miracle?”
“I can be persuasive when I want to be.”
“Riley basically considers me one of her own. There’s no way in hell she’d be convinced to let someone else do the hunting.”
He shrugged. Matter closed, obviously. “Please, we must be going. We have delayed here too long.”
Again, his words held an edge that motivated. I grabbed my Coke and gulped it down so quickly the gas rose back up my throat. I smothered the burp, then stood. Pain slipped up my legs and I grabbed at the table, swearing softly. I hadn’t felt a damn thing when I was on the run in the tunnel, but maybe fear had killed all other sensations. Now, though, normal programming had resumed. And in this case, that meant feeling all the aches and pains—not just my feet, but the dull ache somewhere deep inside where the Aedh had bludgeoned and ripped.
Tao wrapped an arm around my waist and half supported me as we headed for the door. Ilianna had disappeared, but reappeared moments later with a bag. If the bits hanging out were anything to go by, it was stuffed more with an assortment of magical detritus than clothing. We locked up, ensuring all the sensors and cameras were active, just in case anyone other than the Aedh tried to get in, then walked—or in my case, hobbled—down the stairs.
Ilianna’s Jeep was closer than my SUV, so we piled into her car and headed out. Azriel wasn’t with us in flesh form, but the heat caressing the back of my neck suggested he was still very much present.
Once we were on the road and there was no indication that we were being followed, I grabbed my phone and called my mom.
“Risa,” she said, voice heavy with relief. “Are you okay? The vibes I’m getting suggest you’re hurt.”
“I tore my feet up on some glass. Nothing to worry about.” I hesitated, waiting for her to denounce the lie. When she didn’t, I added, “How are you? Did you sort out whatever was troubling you?”
“Ris, you’ve got far bigger things to worry about right now than me.”
“You’re my mom,” I retorted testily. “There is nothing—and no one—else that matters more to me.”
“And, my darling girl, I feel exactly the same. Which is why you need to get to the Brindle as quickly as possible. They’re out to get you.”
Fear snaked through me. “Who?”
She hesitated. “I’m not sure. But it’s dark and it’s dangerous. Get to the Brindle, Ris. All of you.”
“We could swing by the house and pick—”
“No!” she said, and the alarm in her voice had my apprehension rising. “Don’t. There’s no time—and no need. There are some things you can run from, Ris, and some things you can’t. Yours is the former, and mine the latter. I accepted mine a long time ago, but I need to know you’re safe—”
“Oh f**k. Mom, I’m coming—”
“Don’t! You have one chance—one slight, slim chance—to reach the Brindle and safety. Take it, because it just might mean the difference between life and death for one of your friends. I can’t see who, but someone’s life really does hang in the balance. Promise me you will go there, Ris, not here.”
“Not if it means abandoning you—”
“Coming for me would be a waste. I won’t even be here when you arrive.”
“Mom—”
“You’re overdramatizing my problem,” she cut in gently. “I assure you, compared with what’s headed at you right now, my predicament is practically a picnic.”
I didn’t believe her. I couldn’t believe her. Fear for her safety was a deadweight in the pit of my stomach, and right on top of it sat the sick sensation that something bad was about to happen. To her—and to us. Yet I couldn’t deny the urgency of her warning and the growing need to get to the Brindle. I didn’t want any of my friends hurt, but she was my mom. If I had choose one or the other, then my mom was going to win every time.
And yet, if I tried to go to her, she would go elsewhere. And whatever was about to happen to her would still happen no matter where she was.
Fuck, f**k, f**k!
I closed my eyes and rubbed them wearily. None of this was helping the ache in my brain. “Maybe you should leave home. At least if you’re out, you have the Fravardin to protect you.”
“This is not something they can help with.”
Meaning either that it wasn’t a personal threat—and therefore didn’t require the interference of the Fravardin—or that it was beyond the ability of the Fravardin to protect her. After all, they weren’t infallible. Mom’s brother had died despite their protection.
“Promise to be careful, all right?” I said wearily. “I’ll call when I get to the Brindle.”
“Good,” she said. “Just tell Tao to put his foot down.”
“Heard that, and obeying,” Tao murmured, and a second later the Jeep surged forward.
“I’ll talk to you later,” I said, and hoped like hell that I could. “Love you lots.”
“And I’ll love you forever,” she replied softly.
The ache in my heart and the fear in my gut grew worse as I hung up.
“Trouble?” Ilianna said, her expression worried as she faced me.
