“I’m okay,” I said swiftly, “despite my somewhat inelegant landing.”
“Maybe, but what the fuck is
that
?” She knelt on the other side of the cuneiform stone and tentatively reached out a hand. She didn’t touch it, however, but hovered her fingers an inch above the stone.
“It’s another of those cuneiform stones.”
She frowned. “It’s rather small, isn’t it? Aren’t all the others at least six feet tall?”
“Yes, but don’t let its size fool you,” I said. “It’s as powerful as its taller brethren.”
“Do they all feel this damn nasty?”
“Yeah, but then, a very nasty sorceress made them.”
“I think ‘nasty’ is underdescribing the bitch.” She pulled her hand away and sat back on her heels. “Why bring it here?”
“Because I wanted to know if the warding bracelet you made me is strong enough to withstand the assault of someone capable of
this
sort of magic.” I half shrugged. “I figured if I brought one of them here, you’d have a greater idea of what I face.”
“We are well aware of what you face.” Kiandra stopped beside Ilianna. “But we can give no guarantee as to whether the wards will withstand the type of magic that burns within that stone. It is a very foul mix of both the magic from this world
and
the other.”
I glanced at the stone lying in front of me. “But if it wasn’t actually created with blood magic, shouldn’t the wards hold up against it? It’s only blood magic that’s the problem, isn’t it?”
“Again, I cannot say.” She studied me for a moment, then said, “What has happened?”
I took a deep, somewhat shuddery breath, and said,
voice surprisingly calm, “We walked into a trap. Azriel was taken.”
Ilianna sucked in a breath. “Is he . . . ?”
I smiled, but it felt grim. False. “He’s okay.” Or, at the very least, he was alive. “I’d know if it were otherwise.”
“The sorceress using his life as a bargaining chip for the key is not quite what I had envisioned,” Kiandra murmured. “I had thought it would be Hunter.”
“Our sorceress is nothing if not adaptable.” Once again I shoved fear and the need to be doing something—anything—rather than kneeling here calmly discussing logistics and magic back into its box. I couldn’t allow fear free, because it could all too swiftly become debilitating. And if I rushed, I could kill everything—everyone—I was trying to save. “And given that everyone else who means anything to me is otherwise protected, I guess he’s the logical target.”
“But your reaper would not be an easy target to contain,” Zaira said. She tucked a hand under Ilianna’s elbow and helped her rise. “Creating a cage capable of such a feat should have weakened her.”
“
Should
being the operative word there,” Kiandra commented, “Remember, she has had access to Aedh craft and spells, and we have no knowledge of the effects
that
will have on human flesh and spirit. It may not leave her anywhere near as debilitated as blood magic.”
“True.” Zaira’s expression was pensive. “Perhaps the only safe way to counter any spells designed to capture or otherwise control your actions would be to somehow
not
be you.”
I frowned. “She knows I’m part Aedh. She’d surely take that into account in any magic she aims my way. And given her connection to Lucian, she undoubtedly knows I’m also a face shifter.”
“Face shifting is not the answer,” Kiandra said. “Any alternate form you may take is still you.”
Join,
Amaya said.
Then magic not problem.
I blinked.
What?
Join,
she said again.
Become one. Then not flesh or steel but both.
My heart began to race. As solutions went, it was a pretty damn good one. There was just one slight problem, and that was Amaya herself.
The last time we became one, you decided you liked being in my body and I had to battle to get you back into the sword.
Weak you were,
she said, somewhat huffily.
Not so now.
Which isn’t actually a guarantee you’ll leave when asked.
Can’t eat her soul in flesh.
The huffy tone was even more pronounced.
And eat will.
That’s one promise I sure as hell hope you’ll keep.
Will,
she said.
Together we strong.
Maybe, but it was yet to be seen whether we were stronger than a dark sorceress. Or, indeed, a mad vampire with the power of a god behind her.
“I may have a solution that will work.” I glanced at Ilianna. “But I need to find Azriel fast, and I don’t want to use the stones to do it.”
“No,” Kiandra said. “A very well-prepared trap would undoubtedly wait at the other end of them.”
“Then
I’ll
search for him,” Ilianna said. “Wait here while I get my athame.”
She turned and ran back to the Brindle. I returned my gaze to Kiandra. “Would destroying this stone have any rebound effect on the sorceress’s strength?”
Kiandra hesitated. “Possibly, but it is not something I’d wish to do within the grounds of this place, as we could not guarantee that the evil bound within the stone would be deflected by the Brindle’s shields once released.”
I frowned. “But you have my father’s warding stones in place now—shouldn’t they work?”
“Again, possibly, but we are talking about a bastardization of magic from this world
and
the next. I will not
risk the lives of all those within these walls on such uncertainty. Not when there are greater perils to be dealt with first.”
Like keeping the final gate to hell safe and secure. She might not have said it, but she was certainly thinking it.
“Besides,” Zaira added, “it would warn your sorceress that her plans have gone awry. That might not be a wise move if you wish to save your reaper.”
“Which is why I came here rather than charging headfirst through the stones,” I said. “And you have no idea how hard it was to
not
do that.”
Zaira gripped my arm and lightly squeezed. “It’s not easy to kill a reaper—and the sorceress would be foolish to even
attempt
it before she gained possession of the key. There is time yet.”
I took another of those deep, shuddery breaths and released it slowly. “I know. It’s just that . . . everything that can go wrong has gone wrong so far. I don’t want Azriel to join that list.”
“That possibility has been there from the beginning,” Kiandra said, “and the reaper was more than aware of that fact.”
I met her gaze. “That may be true, but it’s not exactly comforting right now.”
“You must be prepared to fight
hard
, regardless of who or what is at risk,” Kiandra said. “Because unless you are, you will lose, and you will take this world down with you.”
“I’m more than a little aware of what is at stake,” I said, voice grim. “And more than willing to kill both women at the heart of this mess. I just need help to do it.”
“I know, and I do not mean to chastise you in any way. It is more a warning. The fights that approach—” She hesitated and half shrugged. “It will, in the end, fall to you alone to end all this, no matter what outside help you might have.”
Which was both what I expected and what I feared. That, in the end, it would be just me and Hunter and the fate of the world hanging on the outcome.
Ilianna appeared at the top of the steps, athame in one hand. As she ran toward us, Kiandra added, “I wish you luck, young Risa. Leave the stone where it is—it can hurt no one when separated from its twin. We’ll deal with it when all this is over and done, one way or another.”
She turned and walked gracefully away. I had an odd feeling I wouldn’t see her again, even if I did survive the next nine hours.
Zaira stepped forward and kissed my cheeks. “Good luck,” she said softly. “Not that I think you will need it. You have grown in so many ways over these last few weeks, Risa. I truly believe neither Hunter nor the sorceress really understands the force they now face.”
I smiled, though it felt tight. “I’d like to think that’s true, but I’m afraid they both know altogether
too
much about me. They certainly know all about my weakness.”
“But your weaknesses are also your strengths. Had they realized that, I doubt they would have taken the paths they now have.”
I frowned. The paths they
now
have? “Does that mean Hunter has a kidnap plot up and running as we speak?”
Because if that
were
the case, then I had better warn Rhoan as soon as I could. He might not be happy about me harping on about the risk he was under, but he
was
the only one she had any hope of getting her grubby little mitts on right now.
Zaira hesitated. “I cannot tell you that for sure. I just know both evils are on very similar paths.”
“Fabulous.”
Not,
as Amaya would say.
Zaira hugged me briefly again, then turned and followed Kiandra back to the Brindle. Ilianna stopped in front of me and gestured toward the sword shoved through my T-shirt. “Is that Valdis?”
“Yes.” I pulled her free and held her out.
Ilianna reached out but didn’t immediately take her. “Will she mind?”
“I doubt it. Not if it helps find Azriel.”
“Oh. Good.” She somewhat tentatively wrapped her fingers around Valdis’s hilt. Flames flickered briefly down her bright blade, but otherwise there was little reaction.
Ilianna moved several feet away and placed Valdis at her feet. She raised the athame, holding it forward and slightly to the right of shoulder height. Facing east, she drew a pentacle in the air, then said, “Masters of the Watchtowers of the East, Masters of the Air; I wake and summon you to witness my works and to guard the Circle.”
She turned to the south, then west and north, repeating the pentacles and beseeching the masters of fire, water, and earth for their protection. A light wind sprung up, teasing the ends of her hair and tugging lightly at her clothes. Then it died, replaced by a sense of watchfulness.
She sat cross-legged on the ground, placed Valdis across her lap, and began the finding incantation.
I paced. I simply
couldn’t
stand still. I needed to be moving, to be doing something, and pacing was better than nothing. It was certainly better than worrying over the fact that I couldn’t ring Rhoan right away because the phone was in bits or over what might be happening to Azriel . . . I shoved the thought away. He was alive. For now, that was all that mattered.
I have no idea how much time passed, because I wasn’t wearing a watch, but it seemed like hours rather than the ten minutes or so it probably was before Ilianna made a move.
She rose, made a motion with her athame to remove the protection circle, then walked toward me. The night’s shadows played across her face and made her look tired
and worn; my requests were taking a toll on her, and guilt slithered through me. No more, I promised mentally. She’d done enough for me, and so had the Brindle witches. As Kiandra had said, the fights from now on were mine, and mine alone. It was time to acknowledge that and just get on with it.
Though that
didn’t
mean I would walk into any fight unprepared. I wasn’t
that
stupid.
“Any success?” I asked, even as I feared the worst.
She smiled and handed me Valdis. “Yes, although he’s protected by some very fierce barriers.”
“That’s not exactly unexpected.”
“No.” She ran a hand through her hair, pushing it away from her face. It just made the tiredness more evident. “He’s at that second warehouse you and Jak found.”
Surprise ran through me. I thought they’d be somewhere new rather than someplace we’d been before. But then, I guess it
was
situated on a ley line, which enabled the sorceress to tap into that magic and use it to power her own. She might even be able to siphon the force of the ley-line intersection near Stane’s through it.
I shoved Valdis back through the tear in my shirt. “Then that’s where we’ll head.”
“You really shouldn’t go alone—”
“There is no other choice,” I cut in gently. “Kiandra’s right. This is my fight. You’ve all done what you can to help me, but in the end, I’m the only one who has any chance against them.”
And I had to hope that the Brindle’s barrier had kept my Cazador watcher out of earshot. Because if it was Myer rather than Markel, then I’d just outed myself to Hunter.
Ilianna stepped forward and wrapped her arms around me, her hug fierce, almost desperate. “Just be careful. Please. I couldn’t bear to lose you as well as Tao—”
I pulled away slightly. “Tao’s doing fine. He and the fire elemental have come to an agreement. He has to spend his nights up at Macedon, but he’ll have the days free.”
“Oh, thank
god
,” she breathed. “When did you see him?”
“A couple of hours ago. He was just heading back to the sacred site so the elemental can take over.”
“That’s a good sign, then.” She gave me a twisted half smile. “Now I just need you safe, and all will be good in the world again.”
“Believe me, I have no plans to become a dark angel just yet.” I hugged her again but kept it brief, then pulled away. “You’d better go back inside and get some rest. You look like crap.”
She laughed. “There’s a case of the pot calling the kettle black, if I ever heard one.”
“True. Go. Amaya and I have to prepare ourselves for our meeting with the sorceress.”
Her laughter faded, but she didn’t say anything, just turned and ran for the Brindle. I had a suspicion she didn’t want me to see her fear. Or her tears.
I waited until she’d disappeared inside and the Brindle’s grand old doors had closed once more against the night, then drew Amaya. Lilac flames rippled down the sides of her shadowed blade, and her expectant, excited hum began to roll across the outer edges of my mind.
“Let’s get this party started,” I said, voice grim. “Amaya, become one with me.”
For a moment, nothing happened. Then the lilac fire exploded, becoming a minifireball as power surged across the night, the steel, and me with equal ferocity. It was a storm that tore my core apart, then pieced me back together, all within a heartbeat.