27. Luc
27
LUC
We land back at MistHallow, and Draven pops up next to us.
“Don’t do anything!” he yells. “And bloody hell, that was fast work, for fuck’s sake.”
“Draven,” Mom says, reaching up to cup his face. He grins down at her and crushes her into a hug. “What do you mean ‘don’t do anything’? I’m here for that bitch.”
“No, you can’t take her to Hell. After you left, Luc, we found out some new information,” Draven explains quickly. “Anu was bluffing about tying her life force to Tilly’s. It’s not actually possible for her to do that.”
Mom’s eyes narrow dangerously. “Are you certain?”
“Oh?” I ask. “How did you figure that out?”
“Morrigan told us.”
I roll my eyes. “Yes, of course. The former goddess to whom none of us went to for advice. How dumb of us. ”
“Dumb or not, we know now,” Draven says. “So the plan is to kill Anu. But, there’s more.”
“More?” Mom asks.
“It’s a long story, but in a nutshell, we need one of those Hellfire cubes you use to imprison the worst traitors and create a never ending loop on it.”
“What the fuck for?” I ask. “Anu’s dead soul?”
“No, a fragment of the Praxian power. We need to use it to generate the syphons for eternity so that magick doesn’t split apart.”
“Well, well,” I drawl. “You punks have been busy while I’ve been gone.”
“Telling, isn’t it,” he drawls back, giving me the finger.
“Boys,” Mom snaps.
“It’s okay, Mom,” I say, giving her a genuine smile. “We are good now.”
Her eyes narrow as she flicks her gaze between us. “Are you sure about that? Or are you pretending for this girl you both fell for?”
“She’s not a girl. She is a total powerhouse,” I correct. “And, no, this has to do with us.”
Mom raises an eyebrow sceptically. “Well, I’m glad you two have worked things out. Now, about this plan of yours. You want me to create a Hellfire prison cube to contain a fragment of Praxian power indefinitely?”
“That’s the gist of it,” Draven confirms. “We need a way to safely contain and channel some of Tilly’s power to maintain the magickal classifications. We know it will be safe with you because you don’t want this magick fusing back together.”
“You got that right,” she mutters. “I’m in. In fact, it will be my finest work yet. Traps, challenges, maybe a beheading or two for those who get too far.”
“Two?” I ask with a smirk.
“Not all Hell creatures have one head, Luc,” she says.
“True,” I admit. “So, will it be both together or separate?”
Her eyes gleam at my interest. This is why we got on so well. Two bloodthirsty creatures revelling in our nature. I catch Draven’s eyes, and I see his face close down. I frown before it hits me that this is part of why he feels abandoned by me.
“What do you think, Dray?” I ask, drawing him into the conversation. “Together or separate?”
His gaze meets mine, and for a second, I think he will tell me to fuck off, but then he smiles. It’s shaky at first but steadies out when he says, “Separately, of course.”
“My boys,” Mom says, with her hand over my heart. “I do love you.”
“We love you too, Mom,” I say.
“So you’ll help?” Draven asks. “We need Gramps to add his level of Devil to it as well.”
“Oh, he will be pleased. He is bored as fuck and making a nuisance of himself. In fact, he can be tasked to set the whole thing up first.”
“Good call,” I agree .
Before any of us can say anything else, Tilly and Vex come bursting out of the main building, hand-in-hand, looking like they just had a great fuck.
And something else.
“What did you two do?” I ask.
“Uhm…” Tilly mutters, glancing at Vex before focusing on Mom. “Annabelle. It’s nice to see you again. I can call you Annabelle, right, or would you rather I call you Devil? Or something else?”
“Annabelle is fine,” Mom says, eyes narrowed. “And nice to see you too, Matilda. Or should I call you something else?”
Tilly blushes bright red while Vex just smirks.
“We have news,” Vex says. “I’ve accessed the full power of my ancestors.”
“How?” Draven asks.
Vex and Tilly exchange a look. “We bound our lives to each other. Like a marriage,” Tilly says sheepishly.
“Oh?” I ask with a raised eyebrow. “And we weren’t invited?”
“This is between me and Tilly, and my ancestors,” Vex says with a wry twist to his lips. “You can do as you wish with Matilda when and if you ever want to. This isn’t exclusion, it’s?—”
“Separate,” I say, getting it. “Okay, and this gave you power from a what now?”
“Ancient medallion which encompasses the entire Well line of magick.”
“Wow,” Mom says. “That is some power boost. ”
“Well, I’m sure you know all about ancestral magick,” Vex says smoothly.
“I sure do,” Mom replies.
I find this entire conversation downright weird. It’s like we are all just standing around here chatting when we have bigger things to worry about.
“So, shall we go kill a goddess?” I ask, drawing the matter back to the one that won’t get us kicked out of MistHallow right when Mom is on her best behaviour.
“Let’s,” Tilly growls, earning herself an approving nod from Mom.
“I can kill her with a snap of my fingers,” Annabelle says, stopping our movement forward in its tracks.
“We know, but something tells me that will throw this world off course, and it’s already unravelling faster than one of Gram’s knitted sweaters,” I point out.
Mom snorts. “I won’t tell her you said that.”
“She is a female of many talents. Knitting is not one of them.”
“Oh, you don’t have to tell me. I still have that ridiculous scarf she made that has more holes than wool holding it together.”
We chuckle together, and again, I see that look on Draven’s face. Man, this is hard fucking work. He has to try harder to join in.
But then I sigh inwardly and take the high road. “Remember those socks she made for Mouse?” I ask, mentioning Mom’s pet Hellhound as we enter the main building, with Tilly looking on fascinated.
Draven smiles slowly. “You mean the ones that lasted approximately two seconds before she ate them with all three of her mouths? Grams was fuming.”
“My poor baby was so ill after that,” Mom reminisces with a sad face. “Hellhounds and wool do not mix.”
Tilly and Vex exchange an amused glance as we make our way through the Academy halls, sharing stories about Grams’ disastrous knitting projects. It’s nice, this moment of levity before we face off against a goddess.
“Can I ask why your feet are on fire?” Tilly blurts out as we descend the stairs to secure vaults.
Mom looks down. “Oh, that. It happens when the Devil touches the Earth. Luckily, I no longer scorch everything around me. Apocalypse averted some years ago.”
“Apocalypse?” Tilly’s eyes bulge out. “As in…?”
“The end of the world,” I chime in. “Yep. Anti-Christ and the Four Horsemen.”
“Wow,” she breathes and looks at Mom with more awe. It’s cute. “And I thought this was a disaster.”
“Oh, but it is,” Mom says and stops suddenly. “And one that doesn’t involve me. You are right. My presence here is throwing off the natural order. Can you feel it?”
We all freeze, reaching out with our enhanced senses. “Yeah,” I mutter. “You should go.”
“We need that cube ready as soon as possible,” Draven calls out before she flames out.
None of us move .
“Does anyone else feel that our odds just plummeted with Annabelle gone?” Tilly asks.
“Yes,” I say. “But that’s why she had to go. She isn’t part of this.”
“Right,” she mutters and moves forward again.
As we near Anu’s containment room, the atmosphere shifts. The air feels thick with power, crackling with tension. Tilly’s steps falter slightly, and I reach out to steady her.
“You okay?” I ask quietly.
She nods, but her face is pale. “There are a lot of conflicting energies. It’s hard to focus.”
Vex takes her hand and a soft glow lights up where their skin touches. Whatever bond they’ve created seems to help ground Tilly. Some of the tension leaves her shoulders.
We pause outside the heavy iron door. I can feel Anu’s presence on the other side, a maelstrom of ancient power barely contained.
“Ready?” Draven asks with his hand on the door handle.
We all nod grimly.
“Ready.”