Chapter 13

 

He helped Zara off the platform and watched the lights fade out. The chamber dimmed to its usual darkness. Silence thickened. It was only minutes before the demons started lining up.

“We have to go back,” he murmured. “You’re not safe here.”

Zara didn’t speak. She didn’t move. Her gaze searched his face with the look of an abandoned child.

“What am I?”

Magnus had no answers. He had no words of comfort. All he could do was fall into her tearful eyes and fight himself against the urge to do something he knew he’d regret later.

“Come on.”

With her small hand lost in his large one, he led her back through the caverns, the winding maze of tunnels to the gateway she couldn’t cross.

“You’re going to leave me.”

Magnus stopped. He turned his head to peer at her through the stretch of shadow separating them.

“Is that what I’m thinking?”

Her head shook slowly even before her voice filled his head. “No, but I don’t see another choice.”

Magnus snorted. “There’s always a choice.” He studied the walls around them as if the answer to their predicament lay engraved in its rough stone face. “But I’m not leaving you. Riley would skin me alive,” he added as an attempt to lighten the mood.

“Do you think they’re wondering where you are?” Zara asked softly.

Magnus sighed. “I’m counting on it. Maybe Octavian’ll know what to do.”

There was a pause that was filled with the muffled shrieks and howls coming through the tunnels. Neither of them said a word while they watched the path between the two buildings for signs of Octavian. Magnus knew his brother would figure it out quick enough once he didn’t show up. He’d come back and think of some way to get Zara out of that hell hole. Literally.

It was the wait that made him restless. It was the growing darkness that seemed thicker in their little corner. He wondered if they should try the portal again, or a different one.

But Zara’s exhaustion was impossible to ignore. She’d begun to slump against the wall, creeping downward with every minute that passed. And whatever color she’d gained had begun to dissipate. Going through that horde twice had done a number on her.

“I’m fine,” she murmured, sounding anything but. If anything, she sounded a bit drugged. “I just need a place to sit.”

There weren’t many of those, unless she just squatted down in the hot ashes. He thought again about taking her to the portal and getting her to sit on the ruins, but it would have been overrun by demons at that point. Plus, it was too far from the gateway and Octavian may not have found them.

Fuck! he thought bitterly to himself. He clearly hadn’t thought this out properly. He should have known Zara’s demon blood would cause a problem. He should have prepared better. He’d been so caught up in ending all the heartbreak in his family that he hadn’t thought things through.

“I’m okay.”

Magnus caught her when Zara started sliding sideways down the wall. He gathered her up against his chest, both arms wound securely around her waist. Her hands bunched into the material of his coat, gripping him to her as her legs tried to maintain support of her body.

“Leave me here,” she slurred into his shoulder. “I’ll be okay. Just … just put me down somewhere.”

Unconsciously, his hold tightened on her. He turned his face into the side of her head and breathed in the subtle scent of night flowers and woman with an undertone of demon.

“Not going to happen.”

She mumbled something he probably should have heard considering it was inserted directly into his brain, but the crack of hurried feet distracted him.

His head snapped in the direction of the alley, but the sound wasn’t coming from outside. It was radiating from deep within the catacombs, and approaching fast.

“Zara.” He shook her gently. “You need to get up and get behind me.”

Her head lifted off his shoulder and turned to follow his gaze in the direction of hell. Her fingers unfurled from his top and she started to push away when the figure rounded the corner.

Magnus stiffened even before the she-demon stepped fully into view.

She wore a silky white blouse tucked into the waistband of a scarlet pencil skirt. Bright, red heels were strapped to her feet and red glasses shaped like cat eyes. Her blonde hair was pulled back from her face and fastened at the back of her skull by a red ribbon. She held a clipboard to her chest and walked with a brisk pace.

Magnus frowned as he tried to remember where he’d seen her before. Everything about her was so familiar, right down to the tail poking out through the slit at the back of her skirt.

“Stop right there,” he warned, positioning himself in front of Zara.

The she-demon came to an exasperated halt. “There you are!” she cried, throwing her arms out and nearly hitting the walls on either side of her. “I’ve been searching all over hell and back for you two.” She lowered her head and scribbled something quickly on her clipboard. “All right.” Her head came back up and she looked from Magnus to Zara. “We only have a short window to do this properly. If you two will follow me.”

She turned as if prepared to head back the way she’d come, but Magnus was quicker.

Magnus moved in, swift and silent. He was behind her before she could take another breath. His hand closed in her ponytail as his free hand set his blade against her throat.

“Not so fast,” he growled into her ear. “Who are you?”

“Are you going to kill me?”

His fingers tightened. “That depends, are you going to answer my question?”

She seemed to consider that a moment. “Fine, but you need to remove the knife.”

Magnus snorted. “You’re hilarious. Talk first or you’re going to become a sticky puddle.”

To her credit, she never so much as flinched at his dark warning. She remained lax and calm against him. Even her breathing was even. It was disconcerting.

“I’m a Hiser demon,” she told him plainly. “Had I wanted to disarm you and even kill you, you would be dead.”

As though to make a point, her tail swished sharply between his legs. The sting against his thighs felt like getting whipped, but it was the knowledge that he had the point of a venomous demon’s tail inches from his crotch that made him want to take a slow step back.

He didn’t. His grip remained firm. “I’m a Caster. If I cared about dying, I wouldn’t be here.” He turned them towards the gateway and Zara. “Talk.”

She moved without further prompting. She walked as she had when stepping into the room, with purpose and quick strides. Magnus had to ease his hold to keep from cutting her throat.

“My name is Jacinda. Dru said you needed help getting out. I’ve already opened a ten second window,” she told him, glancing from her watch to the clipboard littered with markings Magnus had never seen before.

It must have made sense to her, because she ticked something. “Our window is shrinking. We need to move faster. Once we get over the barrier, you will need to get to your brother’s car fast. Do you understand?”

“Who are you?” he asked again, knowing he’d seen her before, but damn if he could remember from where.

“Fifteen seconds. Grab her!” She stabbed the end of her pen towards Zara. “Ten seconds.” Her eyes shot up to his face. “Why aren’t you ready? Five seconds!”

Magnus grabbed Zara and hoisted her up into his arms.

“Three … two … now!”

They jumped through the barrier just as it gave a flicker. Magnus wasn’t sure what the consequences would have been if it hadn’t worked, but they landed on the other side without becoming bugs on a windshield.

“Move!”

Then they were running like the devil himself were after them. He must have been because the blonde kept stealing glances back over her shoulder. He was amazed by her ability to do so in seven-inch heels, but she kept pace without faltering.

At the end of the alley, she stopped. She peered down at her watch. She marked something down in her clipboard.

“Where is your brother?”

Magnus gestured with his chin towards the east. “One block that way.”

Jacinda gave a satisfied nod. “Good. Get there and get home. Tell him to stop for nothing.”

He started to ask what they could possibly stop for, but she was already gone, evaporating into thin air.

“I couldn’t read her mind,” he realized after she was gone.

“Me neither,” Zara said into the side of his neck.

He decided that was a question best left for another time. At that moment, they had to get home. There was a celebration to be had.

Octavian and Riley were waiting in the car when Magnus arrived with Zara. He eased her into the backseat before climbing in himself.

“What the hell happened?” Octavian half turned in his seat to peer back at them.

Magnus shook his head. “I’ll tell you when we get home. We need to go.”

Octavian didn’t press. He stepped on the gas and shot them through the city streets.

“Are you okay?” Riley eyed Zara. “You don’t look very well.”

Zara offered her a tired smile. “Yes, I’m fine. Thank you.”

Riley’s inner voice insisted that she wasn’t convinced, but she returned to her face forward position and said nothing.

They arrived at Final Judgment half an hour later and rolled out of the car. Zara, who had taken a ten-minute nap with her head against Magnus’s shoulder, staggered slightly up the steps. Magnus stayed behind her, prepared to catch her at a second’s notice. But she made it all the way to the top and slipped inside the diner.

It was empty, as it had been the last several months. With the loss of the baby, running a bar for demons hadn’t been priority. But something told him things would be returning to normal once they gave the happy couple the good news.

The family was in the parlor. Imogen and his mother were playing a game of Gin Rummy on the sofa. His father was reading a book. Valkyrie stood by the window overlooking the driveway with Gideon behind her, arms around her middle. The only person missing was Reggie.

“Well?” Valkyrie took a single step forward, hands clasped together in front of her as if in prayer. Her blue eyes darted from face to face, the plea in them heartbreaking. “Did…?”

Riley held up the vial, the biggest smile in the world breaking out across her face. It would have been terrifying with her fangs protruding in plain view, but no one seemed to notice that.

“Oh!” Valkyrie swayed when her knees gave out beneath her. Gideon only just managed to grab her elbow. But he had her for all of a second before she was tearing across the room.

Everyone expected her to snatch the bottle from Riley. No one expected her to throw herself at the redhead in an embrace so fierce, Magnus heard the snapping of Riley’s bones. What was even more shocking was Valkyrie bursting into tears, deep, gut wrenching sobs that seemed to fill the whole room.

The sound stunned them all. None of them had ever heard it from the Harvester before. Riley didn’t know what to do first. She darted panicked glances between Octavian and Gideon, but it seemed to come to her and she hugged the other woman back.

“Don’t cry,” Riley murmured, her own voice tight. “We got her back.”

That only seemed to make Valkyrie cry harder.

Magnus turned to his twin. Gideon hadn’t moved. He stood staring at his wife, one hand over his mouth. His blue eyes shone in the firelight, bright with barely suppressed emotion.

“We got her.” Magnus stopped at his side and set a hand on his brother’s shoulder. “She’s home.”

Gideon made a single choked sound and put his arms around Magnus. “You found her,” he rasped into Magnus’s shoulder. “I couldn’t have done it without you.”

Magnus snorted. “Just remember that when you’re naming her. Maggie or Magnus sounds nice.”

The child’s gender had been a thing of debate in the beginning, before it had been taken from them. It continued to be a tug of war between Valkyrie and his mom; the Harvester was raised with the belief that girls were the superior sex. Boys were necessary for the day to day necessities, but the girls made queen. They ruled the west. Kyaerin who had been the only female in a household of men, believed it would be a boy. Everyone else kept flipping between calling it a she, a he, an it. To them, it made no difference.

Gideon barked a wet laugh. “Done.”

He stepped back when Valkyrie approached, the tiny vial cradled in her palm. He left the pair to their privacy, or as private as a room full of people could get by moving away.

Across the room, Riley stood huddled in the confines of Octavian’s arms. He was rubbing her back and murmuring into the top of her head.

At the sofa Imogen and his mom were laughing and crying. His dad had gone to join the couple reunited with their baby. One hand rested on Gideon’s shoulder, while he spoke softly to Valkyrie. There wasn’t a single dry eye in the place, or a mouth not smiling. It was like Christmas morning.

In that split second, the world was a better place.

Kyaerin noticed Magnus still hovering near the door. Her gaze flicked past him, then around him. Her smile dimmed a notch.

“Where’s Zara?” Horror replaced her earlier joy. “Magnus? Did you…?”

“No, she came back with us,” Riley assured the suddenly still room.

It was only in that moment that he noticed the absence of the woman he’d dragged nearly to her death. The spot she’d occupied upon arrival was empty and he had a feeling she’d been gone a while.

“Zara?”

He called for her in the confines of his mind. He tried again when she didn’t respond the first time.

His gaze swept over the room, in case he’d somehow missed her, but she wasn’t there. What was worse was the fact that he couldn’t hear anyone’s inner voices, just the usual babble of conversation.

Magnus left the room in search of the she-demon. He only had to go as far as the doorway.

He spotted her feet first. Still cased in the boots, they stretched out neatly across the carpet. She lay on her side, fingers curled loosely next to her mouth, as if she done no more than simply lain down for a nap.

“Zara!” He rushed to her and dropped to his knees to gather her up. “Zara?” He touched her face, hissing slightly at the cold ting to her skin. The chill mirrored the pallor of her cheeks, the colorless state of her lips. “Zara!” He shook her. “Mom!”

“Magnus?” Kyaerin poked her head around the corner. Her blue eyes went wide at the sight of Zara. “Zara?” She hurried to Zara’s other side. Her small, pale hand brushed lightly over Zara’s cheek. “She’s so cold.” She bent her head and pressed her ear to Zara’s chest. “She’s breathing.”

Magnus hadn’t realized he’d been holding his own breath until the confirmation was given. He exhaled and looked to his mother for instructions.

“Let’s get her off the floor.”

“What’s going on?” Reggie appeared at the end of the hall. “Jesus!” He rushed to them. “What happened?”

Kyaerin ignored the question. “Magnus, get her to her room. Reggie, go with him.”

Magnus didn’t need to be asked twice. He scooped Zara up and stalked down the hall with her hanging limply in his arms. Reggie stayed at his side, rushing ahead only when they reached Zara’s door. He threw it open and stepped aside to let Magnus through.

“Get her coat and shoes off.” Kyaerin came in a split second after them, her basket of herbs in hand.

Magnus took her coat while Reggie peeled the boots off and tossed them to the floor.

“What’s going on?” Riley appeared at the door. “What’s wrong with Zara?”

“Riley.” Kyaerin waved her over. “Good. Come help me undress her. Boys, wait outside.”

“Mom…”

Kyaerin paused just long enough to meet Magnus’s anxious gaze. “She’s going to be fine. Understand? Go.”

Swallowing past the fist that had lodged itself in his throat, Magnus did as he was told. He joined his brother on the other side of the door. But unlike his brother, who slumped back against the wall and waited, Magnus paced. He dug his fingers back into his hair and willed the nauseous feeling in the pit of his stomach to subdue.

“Hey, what’s going on?” Octavian stalked down the corridor, Gideon a step behind him. Both their strides wide.

“Zara collapsed,” Reggie supplied when Magnus couldn’t even pretend to think rationally.

“What happened?” Gideon demanded, looking from Magnus to the closed door.

“I shouldn’t have taken her,” was all Magnus could force out. “I shouldn’t have.”

“There were too many voices,” Octavian told them. “Zara’s lived in a temple for most of her life with a handful of other women. Even here, there aren’t very many of us. The market was too loud for her.”

Gideon frowned. “Too loud?”

“She’s a telepath,” Octavian reminded him. “She channels voices.”

Realization dawned with a quiet, “Oh!” from Gideon. He ran a hand over his face. “Christ, Mag, I’m so sorry. This is my fault.”

“No—”

Gideon cut off his protest. “I should have been the one who went with you.”

Magnus shook his head. “It wouldn’t have mattered. I needed … she needed to be there, or Damier wouldn’t have made the trade.”

Plus, he’d been so sure he would need her to block out the voices for him that he hadn’t considered what it would do to her. He hadn’t realized she could get hurt.

“Hey, I’m here, whatever you need. We’ll fix this,” Gideon vowed, gripping Magnus’s arm. “I swear.”

The promise pissed him off and jerked him out of the terror crippling him. The concern in his brother’s face, the sympathy that seemed to be coming off the three of them annoyed the fuck out of him. But what really made him want to kick a wall was the fact that they felt he needed it, that he’d allowed himself to fall apart like that, that he’d allowed her to get under his skin.

“Shouldn’t you be with your wife?”

Gideon blinked, but never got the chance to respond when the first boom rattled the walls. It shook the chandeliers, making the crystals tinkle wildly and the lights sway. The ground beneath their feet vibrated with the force of a level one earthquake.

“Someone’s at the door,” Octavian mumbled, head already turned in the direction of the front doors.

“I’ll go see who it is.” Reggie pushed off the wall and started away from the group.

Octavian followed him.

“Magnus.”

Magnus ignored Gideon’s voice when falling into step with Octavian. He couldn’t stay there. This was the exact reason he refused to fall, to imprint. To become a snarling, pacing beast trapped in a cage built by a faceless curse designed to destroy a man. He would not be caged. He would not bow to weakness.

He had no fears.

He was a fucking warrior.

He was a Caster.

He did not fall for a demon.

Smothering the bloom of terror beneath a blanket of rage, he went to greet their visitor, itching for a fight.

Reggie reached the doors first. He swung them open to miles of darkness and a rail thin figure on the porch.

Draped in shadows, the silhouette seemed misshapen, a slender lamppost with curves at the hips and a wide, flat head. It wasn’t until it moved over the threshold and merged into the light that she became clear.

She was unlike anything Magnus had ever seen before, not merely in size, but sheer beauty. Stunning with skin the satin smooth perfection of dark chocolate, full, pink lips and eyes a fierce and frigid blue so pale, it could have been white. She wore a form fitting African tribal dress in bright hues of blue, green, and orange. It matched the headscarf wrapped tall around her head. She extended a slender hand to Reggie, filling the air around them with the musical clutter of wooden bracelets.

“I am Akilah.”

Reggie accepted the long, graceful fingers. “Reggie.” He released her hand and motioned to Octavian and Magnus. “My brothers.”

Akilah inclined her head ever so slightly. “It is a pleasure.”

“Was there something we can help you with?” Reggie prompted when nothing further was said for a full second.

Akilah descended further into the room, pale eyes sweeping over the empty tables and chairs before pausing on Octavian. Then Magnus.

“Please.” She turned back to Reggie. “I wish to speak to your leader.”

Had Gideon been there, he probably would have made some crack about aliens, but there was nothing about this woman to suggest she would take kindly to it. There was a regal grace to her that commanded respect. Demanded it even.

“I’ll get him,” Octavian said. “Please.”

He elbowed Magnus on his way towards the kitchen doors, a subtle gesture to pull out her chair, which he didn’t need to. Nevertheless, he stepped forward as Akilah did and withdrew a chair from the closest table. She thanked him with a quiet murmur and folded her frame into the seat. Her shrewd gaze remained level on him the entire time, like she was trying to read his very soul.

“Not your soul,” she said with a teasing little quirk of her smile. “And normally, I find the whole practice barbaric. An invasion of privacy.”

“Yet that doesn’t appear to have stopped you,” Magnus retorted without an edge.

Her smile widened into a full, toothy grin that only seemed to amplify her radiance. “Forgive me. Your thoughts are very loud.”

Magnus sighed. “I’ve been told that.”

His mind flickered without his consent to the woman upstairs before he could shut it down.

“Zara.”

Her name coming from a perfect stranger gave him a start.

“Do you know her?”

Akilah shook her head. “Not at all. But you were just thinking about her. You’re concerned. Is she unwell?”

Uncomfortable sharing anything that intimate, Magnus turned away.

“I apologize. My husband always said I lacked the grace to keep my thoughts to myself. Please don’t close those.”

Reggie froze in the process of shutting the doors against the night. His gaze shot to Magnus, bemused, before jumping back to their guest.

“Excuse me?”

Akilah turned her chin a fraction to peer at him. “The doors,” she clarified. “Please leave them open a moment longer.”

Reggie exchanged another glance with Magnus, but left them open.

Liam took that moment to arrive with Octavian right at his back. His gray eyes settled on the woman.

“Hello.” He stepped forward, hand already extended. “I’m Liam Maxwell.”

Akilah remained seated, but she took the shake with her own smile. “Akilah. Thank you for seeing me.”

Liam withdrew the chair next to hers and sat. “Of course. What can I help you with?”

Akilah studied him a long moment, a moment where Magnus knew she was probably reading his mind. But if she was and his father knew it, he didn’t seem to mind.

“Maxwell,” she said instead. “That is a very new name for such an old family.”

Unfazed by the sway in topic, his father chuckled. “It used to be Avery.”

“Avery.” Thin shoulders lifted with a deep, thoughtful inhale. “I knew an Avery once. A long time ago. Medge, I believe her name was.”

Liam’s smile faltered. “She was my sister. She passed during the Siren Wars.”

Genuine remorse darkened Akilah’s soft features. It pursed her lips together in sympathy.

“I’m sorry. She was a lovely girl.”

His father only nodded.

“And the rest of your family?”

“Gone,” Liam murmured. “It’s just my sons, their wives, and my wife.”

Akilah’s head bobbed slowly in understanding. “Family’s so important. I recently lost my husband.”

“I’m sorry,” Liam said automatically.

Akilah sighed heavily. “It’s funny how we can be with someone for thousands of years and then just lose them one day. But that’s something we all must deal with, mortals and immortals alike. It’s the cost of things.”

“Can I ask how he … passed?” Liam hedged carefully.

Dark lashes lowered. Her head tilted a notch to the side as if she were listening to something in the ether. One hand lifted from her lap and settled lightly on the lip of the table. She ran the tips of four fingers along the curve in the wood.

“He was shot. Right here.”

Magnus didn’t need to be able to read minds to know the exact moment it clicked in all their minds. It shifted in the air. It reverberated through the tension like vibrations through Jell-O.

“Please,” Akilah murmured as Magnus inched a hand towards the blade in his pocket. “That isn’t necessary.” She raised her chin and met Liam’s wary gaze. “I’m not here to harm you or your family.”

She rose. The fabric of her dress rustled faintly as she moved out the door. A moment later, she returned with a massive hulk of a figure ambling after her and the hand of a five-year-old boy clasped in hers.

Magnus recognized the eyeless beast with its black skin and bulbous head. It had been the same creature who had ambled into the diner nearly a year ago wielding that exact sword. It crouched as it had the first time and bent its stone-like body through the doors.

“You have already met Zane,” Akilah said motioning to the creature. “He came with my husband to see you, to warn you.”

Magnus didn’t remember a whole lot of warnings during the brief visit, but Reginald had given them the elixir that had ultimately saved Valkyrie’s life.

“I remember,” Liam said softly.

Akilah moved closer, but kept her son between herself and the creature. “I saw what would happen. It’s a talent of mine. I see things. I saw what would happen to him if he came to you. I warned him, but Reginald was so sure you would be the ones to stop the war. He considered it his duty to help you, to help our son, to give him a future without being a slave to whichever power was highest. He sacrificed himself to give you and your family the chance to win.”

It had been so long. Magnus barely remembered what the man had been there for. He remembered Reginald’s death. He remembered having to help clean it up. But other than the antidote to the siren’s blood poison, Reginald’s visit was a blur.

“And we are grateful,” Liam said gently. “He has given us something we can never repay.”

“You can.” Akilah set her free hand on her son’s shoulder. “You can protect his son.”