Chapter 63
The powerless defeat was instant as his body sailed past the darkness’s grip and into the doorway.
Its light seemed subdued now that he was within it.
But even with the pain of the darkness’s torture behind him, Caster’s heart hammered in his chest. Fear, unfamiliar in its warning, coursed through him as his embattled eyes readjusted to the light in this new space he found.
Dim, the space contained by walls that could only indicate a room. There was a presence here, but it remained out of sight, in a darkened corner.
“Show yourself.” His voice was no longer a broken whisper as he gathered his returning strength for a fight. He’d meant it when he said nothing would keep him from Mark.
“I saved you.” A deep voice, many deep voices in unison, emanated from that dark corner. “I have no intention of keeping you away from that particular wolf.” The chorus of voices filled the space in perfect synchrony. “We will need him if we are to battle that little witch.”
Every ounce of him wanted to run, even if there was nowhere to run to, but Caster tamped down on that fear. “I said, show yourself.”
“You have nothing to fear from me.” The voices replied in perfect chorus. He’d seen a lot of things in his long life that nothing much surprised him. But this, this was new.
He kept all his focus on the darkened corner, watching, waiting for the creature to make a move.
When it came, it was slight, non-threatening.
Shoes, concealing human-like feet, were the first to step into the dim-lit space.
What he could only describe as a human male, a Caucasian human male with dark hair and dark eyes, stepped closer to him, his hands raised to communicate his intent.
But this was an illusion Caster would do well to avoid falling for. Handsome features, a lean male body, were a camouflage. This was not human.
It nodded. “Yes. I am not human.” It’s many voices blended into one, losing the depth of the chorus, completing the camouflage. It waved a hand over the male form, concealing its true visage. “But I’ve found this form is less threatening.”
“What are you?” He was more concerned with how easily it could read his mind.
“In your pain, you must have forgotten to fortify it.”
Caster reached for the barrier he hadn’t let slip for centuries and rebuilt its fortifications, keeping whatever this was from his inner world.
“I am not here to harm you.” The dark void that was its eyes faded to a blue color the longer he held its gaze. “Like you, I am a prisoner here.”
“Explain yourself.” He, as the creature, had now become human, was relaxed enough, but Caster didn’t trust him. He remained alert to the threat every instinct warned him against.
The creature didn’t move. “For reasons I cannot divulge, I am unable to give you my true name. But in my time with the witch, I went by Pierce. The humans who gave me the name said it suited me. You can call me that.” He smiled, and Caster could have sworn his teeth were sharp and pointed, animalistic.
“Like you, Ethel betrayed me, imprisoned me here.” He pointed behind Caster at the doorway of light that had since slammed shut.
“Well, out there. But I found this space, another thing we have in common.”
“How do you know Ethel?”
“She summoned me.”
“You’re a demon.”
He nodded. “Yes.”
Caster relaxed his stance a touch. He couldn’t trust Pierce, not even for a second, but if he’d known Ethel, perhaps he could be useful.
“What is this place?”
“That darkness out there is her playground, one I will admit to helping her create. It is where she holds her captives long enough to drain power from their souls.”
Caster could believe that. The darkness in that space had felt like an entity intent on drowning him. If it hadn’t been for Mark’s voice, it would have succeeded.
“This,” Pierce continued, indicating the space they occupied. “This is one of the many voids between the world of the living and the Underworld. With enough strength, a soul can remain here for a long time, although many go mad with the constant noise from the Underworld.”
“What noise?”
He smiled again, this time a more human smile. “You’ll hear it soon enough. Though I suspect you’ll hold on far longer than the others.”
“There have been others?”
He nodded. “Vampires, the majority Made-Vampires, though they don’t survive the witch’s darkness for too long.” He tilted his head. “It’s been a long time for me, so my information may be wrong, but I didn’t think there were many Made-Vampires.”
The implication of his casual, calm pronouncement shook Caster to the core. “How many have you seen?”
“At first, a trickle. But in the past few months, perhaps a thousand.”
Julian had been right. The witch and his uncle had to be making vampires on a massive scale. But why make them only to kill them? “Are you responsible for the witch’s power?”
His stance didn’t change, nor did the calm, even tone of his voice. “I am. It is my greatest regret.”
It was clear what that regret was. Not that she used the power he gave her to threaten the world, but that she’d used it to trap him.
“Tell me about it.”
Pierce looked him in the eye, and for a long moment, they were content to stare at each other. It was as if he tried to break the fortified wall around his thoughts. Caster smiled. He’d have more luck getting out of this trap, and it seemed he’d been here a while.
“When she first summoned me, I was eager, perhaps too eager, to escape my confinement. Witches had reached out to my kind since the dawn of time, and she promised freedom for an ounce of my power, so I gave it to her, showed her how to use it.”
“What is this power? Necromancy?”
He shrugged. “Yes. I am a demon; we feed on death. What I didn’t expect was for her to find a way around our agreement.
” He ran a hand through his dark hair, choosing his words with care, perhaps too much care.
“She was supposed to feed me the souls of the dead, and I’d share some of that power with her. ”
“It didn’t matter how they died?”
If he detected the sarcasm in Caster’s tone, he hid it well. “She must have found a spell, a talisman, or another more powerful demon who didn’t share my aversion to one witch having that much power.”
Caster chuckled. “You unleashed the witch and her necromantic power on my family. Nothing you say can absolve you of that.”
“It is not your absolution I seek, vampire. It is your help, in exchange for mine.”
Caster frowned. Until that night when he and Mark had strayed into the witch’s territory, he’d been convinced demons were not real.
They were a story told to scare children into obedience.
The main moral of those stories: don’t make a deal with a demon.
Nothing he offered would be significant enough to risk the price, and the price, in those stories at least, was always steep.
The even tone in Pierce’s voice changed, a tiny bit of desperation coloring the evenness of his delivery. “Your male witch commands enough power to get us out of here. Your wolf makes a good backup plan.”
Every muscle in his body tensed in readiness for a fight. He wouldn’t let this creature anywhere near Mark. “What do you mean?” His voice was a growl that bounced off the indecipherable walls of the void.
“Ah, that’s right. You were not in the room when he found out the reason for Ethel’s obsession with him.” He held Caster’s gaze. “And trust me, vampire. It is a deep obsession. Only he can grant her the immense power she seeks.”
Caster lost his breath. The revelation that Mark was his soulmate and its implications were the last thing he remembered battling before the witch attacked. What had Edie’s spell revealed?
“Your wolf is special.” Pierce continued, oblivious to the battle he waged within. “The male witch can find us here, but if he doesn’t do it fast, this void will disappear into the irresistible pull of the Underworld and then, only your wolf can save us.”