Chapter 13
“What’s wrong?” asked Ulseere upon seeing my stricken expression. He immediately put his hand on the hilt of his sword, ready to slay. Super-hot, but it wouldn’t feed me.
“We forgot snacks. And drinks.” In the grand scheme of things, not the worst thing, but tell that to my belly. Stress made me hungry.
His lips twitched. “I am fairly certain you won’t expire.”
“Don’t be so sure of that,” I grumbled.
“I can fetch us something to eat. It won’t be dark for at least another few hours,” he noted, glancing to the sky.
He said I, indicating he’d go solo. Guess he knew I wouldn’t manage to climb down and back up again. “Is it a good idea for me to be alone for that long?”
“The descent will only take a few minutes, and only slightly lengthier for the ascent.”
“You might be able to do the stairs faster without me, but according to my phone, the closest place with food is a good twenty-two-minute walk.” Even as I pointed out the tiny food spot on the map, another text from Flo arrived.
WHERE. THE. FUCK. ARE. YOU.
Flo had been resorting to all caps, a sign of her agitation since she usually preferred proper spelling and punctuation.
Flo’s nonstop attempts to call and text led to me putting my phone on silent early in our trip.
Apparently, my reply of, Talk to you after we defeat the evil prince wasn’t an adequate explanation.
Since we usually shared locations as well, I’d also turned off the Find Me feature, lest she use it to track me.
“Our wait could be prolonged if Gryvak doesn’t immediately take the bait,” Ulseere stated. “Apologies for my poor planning. I should have thought to bring sustenance.”
I rolled my eyes. “Dude, I forgot too.” And then it hit me. “Hold on. I’ve got an idea.” I might not have my credit card on me, but I did have it saved on some food delivery apps.
Would the delivery driver accept an order for such a strange and remote location? They would if they wanted the generous tip I added to our food order.
Once I finished and checked out on the app, I smiled. “In thirty minutes, we’ll be eating pizza and wings and breadsticks.” Which I’d ordered, along with some water bottles and bags of chips covering dinner and a late-night snack.
Explaining to Ulseere the concept of Skip the Dishes proved entertaining, but once he understood someone would be delivering us food, he smiled. “A brilliant idea.”
“You’ll have to race downstairs when the driver gets close. I set the address for that garden nursery up the road. It’s a five-minute walk from here.” I couldn’t use our actual location since, apparently, unfinished buildings weren’t recognized by the app.
“Walk,” he scoffed. “A rapid run will allow me to make it there and back in less than that.”
“While juggling everything?”
Again, he snorted as if I’d said the most ridiculous thing.
When the tracker showed the driver ten minutes out, Ulseere left, and I sat with my knees tucked to my chin, basking in the late afternoon sun.
Since I lacked a chair, I sat on the paper bag holding the Grimoire, speaking of which, I yanked it out and started flipping the pages.
The more I saw, the more my lips pursed.
Most of the spells weren’t very nice. It shouldn’t have surprised, but you’d think a book this old would have some things that would actually help people like healing potions and good luck charms. However, it seemed to be mostly about casting curses and poxes, ways of causing ruin to your rivals, and more summoning-type spells for creatures that, quite honestly, only a fucking moron would attempt.
I mean, why would anyone have need for a basilisk, a lizard thing that turned folks to stone?
Then again, if it petrified the spell caster, it might do the gene pool a favor because stupid shouldn’t reproduce.
I slammed the book shut and headed for the edge of the building and glanced down in time to see Ulseere sprinting for the fence.
If he could move as quickly as he claimed, I’d soon be sinking my teeth into a yummy pizza.
Some might find it odd I had an appetite.
Like, hello, stress always provided an excuse to eat—as did happiness and sadness and anger.
Food had long been my emotional blanket.
When mom died, the corner store made a mint from the many bags of chips and chocolate bars I bought.
“I’m surprised Ulseere left you alone. Did you do it on purpose to rid yourself of the hunter that we might have the opportunity to meet again?”
The voice, unexpected, unwelcome, and yet surprisingly suave and charming, had me whirling, even as I already knew who spoke.
Gryvak.
“Ulseere will be back any second.” I lied because, even if he grabbed the pizza in the next five seconds and then raced back, he’d need at least five more to reach us, assuming he sprinted full speed.
However, he’d have no reason to go all out since he didn’t have a clue the enemy chose to arrive early.
“Don’t bother lying. We both know the hunter won’t make it back in time to save you.
” The shadow elf looked much too handsome in daylight, with his chiseled features, blond hair perfectly layered, in jeans and a snug henley, the perfect outfit for fitting in.
Yet, for all his good looks, the evil in him made him ugly. Repulsive even.
“Who says I won’t save myself?” I lifted my chin and tried to not internally deflate at his laughter.
“Do you really think you, a human witch, is a match for a prince who’s been trained to fight?”
Knowing he tried to psyche me out didn’t make his claim any less true.
“How the hell did you get up here without Ulseere seeing you?” Surely, they’d have passed each other on the stairs?
“Aren’t you going to ask how I found you?” he countered.
“Fine. How did you find me?”
“I’ve been tracking you since you left the hotel. Surprised? You shouldn’t be. Did you think your burst of magic last night would go unnoticed?”
“If you knew where I was, why didn’t you come after me in the hotel?”
“I debated it, however I decided to wait and see if a more opportune moment presented itself.”
“You still didn’t say how you followed without us noticing.” I kept talking, stalling for time.
“The same way I got to the top of this building.” A glow surrounded Gryvak and his feet left the ground. I blinked at the sight of him hovering several inches above the roof. “A good thing I was always strong in air element. I can sustain flight for longer than most.”
Of course, the fucker could fly. “I don’t know why you keep wasting your time coming after me.
I’ve already told you I won’t cooperate, and I’m not afraid to fight.
” To prove it, I dropped into a half-crouch hands out and curled into claws.
Would it do me any good? No idea, but it seemed to be the battle position of choice in movies.
“Do you really think you have enough power to take me on?” he mocked.
“Why don’t we find out?” I challenged in the hopes he’d hesitate if I appeared confident enough.
My feint led to Gryvak releasing a low chuckle of male amusement. “I’m almost tempted to let you try.” His gaze slewed left, and his lips curved. “I see you brought the Grimoire.”
“It won’t do any good. I removed the summoning spell from it.” I lifted my chin, proud I’d foiled him.
“That doesn’t matter since it no longer interests me.”
Wait what? “I thought you wanted it,” I blurted out.
“That was when I thought you a simple Earth witch. However, I do believe there is more to you than that. Much more. I thought there was something familiar about your aura, but now, seeing it again, I’m sure.” A low ominous murmur that sent a chill through me.
“I’m not special. If she weren’t dead, my Grams would be happy to tell you what a disappointment I am.”
“Then she was obviously blind. However, I see your potential, which is why this”—he pointed to the book, which suddenly ignited—“isn’t necessary anymore.”
My jaw dropped because I’d not expected him to simply destroy the Grimoire. I mean, good riddance and all, but still, I never did condone destruction of any books, even the bad ones. And what of Cedric? Would this set him free or harm him given his ties to it?
You’d have expected an ancient tome, compiled by witches, would burn ugly. Sickly flames, black noxious plumes, maybe even an explosion or moan as it disintegrated. It simply turned to ash, and the little bit of smoke it emitted as it disintegrated quickly dissipated.
Gryvak smiled. “Now, time for you and I to get to business.”
“I already told you I won’t help you bring demons over.”
“There’s been a change in plan. I don’t need them anymore. Just you.”
A chilling thing for him to say. “I hope you aren’t under the misassumption I’m going to be your queen, because that ship sailed.”
“As if I’d do you that honor,” he sneered. “My new plan doesn’t need me to abase myself, and where we’re going, females do as they’re told.”
Okay, that was even more worrisome than his last statement. “FYI, I don’t travel well. I’m a puker.” Not actually, it happened only the one time after a full day in the sun eating too much junk and imbibing an ungodly amount of frothy, liquor-laced slushies.
“Enough of the arguing. I can tell you’re stalling in the hopes Ulseere returns.”
Gryvak lunged for me, and I made a feeble attempt at escape. I bolted away from the shadow prince, only to realize the stairs down were on the other side and I had nowhere to go but down.
If I jumped, would my magic save me? Not something I wanted to risk, so I resorted to plan B and hollered, “Help! Ulseere, you need to come back! Gryvak is here!”
“Shut your mouth.” The cuff to the back of my head hurt, but the more stinging pain came from me biting my tongue.
Mouth bloody, I whirled and spat, “I should have known you’d be the cowardly type to smack a woman from behind.”
His lips pinched. “I’m thinking a muzzle might be in order once we get to Infernal.”
Look at that, he didn’t need to gag me because I lost my ability to speak. A temporary paralysis before I yelled, “Like fuck am I going there.”
“We are going.” He lunged and snagged me by the arm, drawing a cry of pain. Dude had a strong grip.
And then the most wonderful thing happened.
“Unhand the witch,” Ulseere ordered.
I didn’t take offense at the title because, hello, my hero had arrived and he looked pissed. Mind you he came empty-handed—hello, where was my pizza?—but I’d take rescue over a gooey, cheesy pepperoni-laden pie.
“Do not interfere,” snarled Gryvak.
“Or what? We both know I’ve always been the better fighter. How many times have I thrashed you in training?” Ulseere smirked as he taunted, which led to Gryvak’s fingers digging even deeper into my bicep. I really hoped Ulseere had a plan other than pissing off Gryvak.
“You might have more skill in battle, but there are some areas where I exceed you still.”
“Not that I recall.”
“You forget my lack of mercy.” Gryvak thrust me from him, and I stumbled several feet before righting myself.
“Say goodbye to the witch.” The bad prince pointed his finger at me, and I had a millisecond to see the glow of his power building before Ulseere knocked me aside, protecting me from the lightning bolt that came zipping.
The jagged streak of light hit Ulseere, and for a second, I thought he might be okay.
Ulseere glowed bright, and the missile of magic that Gryvak fired flattened against a shimmering shield.
But Gryvak tossed a second bolt, once more aiming for me, leading Ulseere to grit his teeth and tense his body as he extended his shield to me.
With Ulseere concentrated solely on protecting rather than counterattacking, Gryvak kept lobbing magic, and I could see the strain on Ulseere’s face as he struggled to maintain the shields.
When the glow protecting us both suddenly collapsed, the next lightning bolt Gryvak launched smacked Ulseere in the chest, and my hero hit the rooftop, limbs twitching.
Gryvak laughed as he stalked close enough to loom over Ulseere. “And therein lies the difference between us. I would have let the woman die.”
Ulseere’s lips moved, but nothing emerged.
“What, no parting words?” Gryvak mocked as he crouched. “I’ll bet you never thought you’d die at my hands. I’m sure the king will be quite surprised as well. I’ll be seeing him shortly, thanks to the witch.”
A wheezing noise emerged from Ulseere that contained no words, but Gryvak chuckled.
“Surprised I’m planning to return? So am I. However, circumstances have changed since my arrival. A pity you won’t be around to see my triumphant return.” Gryvak stood and lifted his leg as if to stomp the defenseless elf at his feet.
Despite being terrified, I ran for Gryvak and pounded his chest.
“You fucking bastard. What is wrong with you?”
He grabbed me by the wrists. “Calm yourself, witch.”
“I will not, you murderous bastard. You can’t kill a defenseless man.”
“Actually, I could and quite easily, but I won’t if you do as I say.”
I stilled. “What do you want?” A dull response because he’d won. I’d do anything to keep Ulseere alive.
“Open a door to Infernal.”
“I can’t. I don’t have the spell.”
“Spell?” he scoffed. “Earth witches and their rituals. True magic such as you possess has no need of ingredients and fancy words. The power you wield simply requires strength of mind to shape the will.”
“If that were true,” I seethed, “then me wishing really, really hard for you to go back to where you came from would—”
Apparently cause my body to heat, my hair to whip around my head, and for a roaring sound to fill the air as the space holding Gryvak—and by default me, since he still gripped me by the wrists—ripped open.
And we fell, into Hell.