12. Draven
12
DRAVEN
Getting Vex settled takes longer than it should. He keeps trying to ‘conduct’ the magickal harmonies only he can see, nearly knocking himself out on the doorframe in the process. By the time we get him horizontal, he’s finally crashing from whatever magickal high Matilda’s power sent him on.
“We’ll take it in turns to watch him,” Luc says. “You go clean up.”
I nod but don’t say anything. The truce we called is still holding, but those underlying issues are still there, and they will need addressing at some point really soon, or we are going to implode. That won’t help Matilda one bit, but I guess it’s for another time. Right now, I can do something useful, something she needs.
I leave Luc watching Vex and head downstairs. Tracking the scent of power, which tries to lead me to Tilly and I keep having to re-route, I eventually find the entrance to the vaults underground .
The temperature drops as I descend the stone steps. My necromantic nature stirs restlessly. Ever since we uncursed the Praxian, my power has been acting strange. Admittedly not as weird as Vex’s, but it’s reaching out to death echoes I shouldn’t be able to sense, showing me glimpses of things that haven’t died… yet.
I find Anu easily. She is in a vault with a caged door made from iron bars that are a foot thick all around. She doesn’t look surprised to see me.
“I wondered who would come first,” she says without looking up. “Though I expected Blackwell, not you.”
“Black thorn , you old crone.”
She smiles wickedly. “Nope, Black well . I was once involved with a Well. It didn’t end, ahem, well for him.”
I narrow my eyes. Is she talking about Vex? I guess there is still a lot to learn about him.
“Enough bullshit. Who is Matilda’s father?”
Now she does look surprised, her eyes ancient and sinister. “Straight to the point.”
“I’m done fucking about. Answer the question.”
“Xanthos,” Anu says too easily, with a predatory smile. “I seduced him while he slept.”
“Oh, for fuck’s sake. You are sick, just like he was.”
“Was?” Her head tilts curiously.
“Yeah, he’s probably dead now. The underground chamber’s shadow creatures swallowed him whole. Such a shame. ”
She giggles. “You sound so put out. Doesn’t matter. He did the job he was instructed to do.”
“Instructed? You mean when you raped him to create your perfect weapon?”
“Tit for tat, no? Do you have any idea the lengths he and those other Druids went to, to create what I did in a few minutes? A being powerful enough to command Hell itself.” Her eyes glitter with malice.
Her words wash over me, and I snort, shaking my head. “Oh, you dear deluded goddess. This wasn’t about wanting the universe, this was about one domain. One. My mother’s. You intended to use Matilda to power up Hell’s Demons to turn on my mother, to organise a little coup so you could take over.”
She hesitates for all of a second before she claps slowly. “Oh, well done. You are clever, aren’t you? That domain should’ve been mine. That slice of magick that fell with Lucifer and hit the earth at my feet was a sign. An omen. I foresaw what should’ve come to pass, and it wasn’t your bloodline ruling the Underworld; it was mine .”
“And then what? You were going to take over Earth from there?”
“Why not? It would’ve been so easy. It still can be with Matilda.”
“She wouldn’t piss on you if you were on fire. In fact, she’d probably be the one starting it, so I wouldn’t count on her help.”
“I made her!” Anu hisses .
“She is her own being and pretty fucking powerful now.”
“She is my masterpiece.” Anu presses against the bars. “And now that I’ve given you what you wanted to know, it’s time for payment.”
“Payment?” I laugh coldly. “For what? Admitting you magickally assaulted someone to create a child you could use as a battery for your Demon army to overthrow my mother? Are you fucking out of your mind?”
“Information is power, necromancer. And power always comes with a price. Set me free.”
“Not happening. One more time, in case your ancient brain can’t retain the info. Hell belongs to my mother . Give me one good reason why I would set you free so you can attempt your little coup?”
Anu’s eyes narrow, a sinister glint in their depths. “Because, little prince, your love’s life is tied to mine. Did you really think I wouldn’t install a failsafe? I die, she dies.”
I feel my blood run cold, but I keep my face impassive. “You’re bluffing.”
She laughs, a sound like nails on a chalkboard. “Am I?”
“If you bound your life to hers, then killing you would end the spell.” I lean closer to the bars. “Because here’s the thing you seem to have forgotten in your little scheme. Matilda’s immortal. The power you created? Yeah, that made her eternal. So killing you wouldn’t end her life, it would just break whatever binding you think you have over her. ”
The flicker in Anu’s eyes tells me everything I need to know. She hadn’t considered that.
“Now you’re the one who’s bluffing,” she hisses, but there’s uncertainty in her voice.
“Am I? You said it yourself—you created something more powerful than you ever imagined. Did you really think you could bind an immortal being to your life force? That’s not how it works, and you know it.”
Her face contorts with rage. “You have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“Don’t I? I’m the Devil’s son with an extremely powerful Necromancer. You really want to debate the mechanics of life and death with me?”
Her face contorts with rage before smoothing into that ancient, calculating mask. “Perhaps. But I’m still a goddess, little prince. These bars won’t hold me forever, and I’m not so easy to kill. Ask the last idiot who tried.” Her smile is cruel. “Still eternal. Still powerful. How long do you think your amateur warding will last? How many of your friends will die trying to protect her from me? Because I can wait. I have nothing but time.”
“So do I. And unlike you, I’m not locked in a cage.” I turn to leave.
“When I get out of here—” she starts.
“You’ll what? Try to kill me? Try to hurt Matilda? Yeah, good luck with that. She’s not the scared little girl you and those other fuckers gaslit into believing she was weak and useless.”
“She is weak and useless,” Anu hisses. “She is only this strong because of the Praxian. That belongs to me. ”
“Actually, that belongs to no one. If anyone other than Matilda has a claim on it, I’d say it was Heaven, but even they aren’t getting their hands on it or Matilda. So, if you really want to assume that power is yours, go ahead. It makes absolutely no difference, seeing as everyone wants a piece of that pie.”
She hisses at me again, but I’m done talking to her. I walk out with a smile. I got what I came for. As much as it will disgust Matilda, and with good reason, at least she can know who her father was.
I head back up to Vex’s room and see Luc staring out of the window. “We need to talk,” I say.
“About?” He doesn’t look over.
“Us.”
“What about us?”
“This truce is still just a truce.”
He turns slowly to face me. “And? Are you saying you want to break it?”
“No, I’m saying we need to move past it.”
“Is it that easy for you?”
It’s a challenge, and I accept it. I have to, seeing as I’m the one who started this. “No. I have felt for a long time now that you abandoned me. Left me in the shadows because you burned brighter than I did. You didn’t want to be lumbered with me while you went and had fun.”
He raises an eyebrow in surprise. He clearly wasn’t expecting that. “That’s what you thought? Funny how I thought you pushed me away so that you could do your lone wolf act, cool and aloof and controlled. Never getting into trouble, never being punished, keeping your nose clean away from me, the one who always got in trouble.”
I blink and then stare at him without a word.
“See, that right there. Zero expression on your face. I have absolutely no idea what you’re thinking.”
“And that bugs you?”
“Yes, it fucking bugs me because I want to be able to do that. Every time my temper flares, or I get sad or happy, it shows. It always got me in trouble because I could never just stand there impassive like a fucking statue.”
“So you blamed me for that?”
“Fuck you,” he snarls. “You blamed me for supposedly abandoning your weird ass.”
“Touché,” I mutter.
He rolls his eyes.
I sigh, running a hand through my hair. “Look, we could go back and forth all day about who wronged who. But the fact is, we’re both here now. And Matilda needs us. All of us.”
Luc’s eyes narrow, but I see a flicker of something—maybe understanding—in their depths. “So what are you proposing?”
“Fuck the truce and we become what we should’ve always been—brothers. Not just for show, not just for Matilda. For us. We work together, we have each other’s backs.”
He’s quiet for a long moment, studying me. I force myself to meet his gaze, to let him see the sincerity in my eyes. Finally, he nods. “Fine. I’m in.”
I extend my hand, and after a brief hesitation, he clasps it. The tension between us doesn’t disappear entirely, but it eases. It’s a start.
“So,” Luc says, releasing my hand. “What did you find out from Anu?”
“How did you know that’s where I went?”
“Despite everything, I know you. Who is her dad?”
“It’s sickening, and you really don’t want to know.”
“Xanthos.” It’s not even a question.
“Unfortunately. There’s more. She said she tied her life to Tilly’s, so if Anu dies, Tilly dies.”
“Tilly is immortal now, I’d bet.”
“Yeah, we don’t actually know that for sure. We’re making a big assumption which could cost her, her life.”
“Soul Bond,” Vex slurs from the bed.
“Huh?” I turn to him.
“The Soul Bond. We need to do it. There is no way that whatever Anu did is stronger than that with the three of us. It will likely break or replace the tie, if there even is one.”
“Okay, well we already know we’re in, it was Matilda who put the brakes on.”
“Before she said she loved us.”
“Good point.”
“So we go to her again,” Luc says. “Tell her what’s at stake.”
“Tomorrow,” I murmur. “Let her sleep for now. ”
Vex nods, his eyes on me.
“Go back to sleep. You look like hell.”
“Feel it,” he groans and closes his eyes again.
“I’ll watch over him for a bit. You go get some rest,” I say to Luc.
Luc nods and flames out, leaving me alone with the dark warlock, who has something on his mind.