Chapter 25
Chapter
Twenty-Five
MALICE
After Moira’s vision made clear what needed to happen to attune War’s weapon, the group returned without incident. We had two weapons down, and now it was my turn. I could only hope it was as easy.
“So I’ve been thinking,” I started without preamble. We were gathered in the strategy room once more, all eyes focused on me. “When it comes to plagues, there are a handful of popular ones, but if we’re talking notoriety, there’s really only one contender.”
“The Black Death,” Pan said, picking up the thread and nodding along.
“Notoriety isn’t everything,” Lilith cautioned.
“Perhaps not, but if we’re looking at the most significant single event, the bubonic plague wiped out over fifty percent of Europe in its prime and is on the list of most fatal pandemics multiple times. It’s absolutely unmatched in that regard.”
“It’s been quite the nasty little bugger,” Pan added, pride in his voice. “Until they discovered antibiotics and spoiled all my fun.”
“Wait, you were responsible for that?” Kingston blurted.
Pan smirked. “I am.”
The wolf shifter’s eyes darted to me. “I thought that was supposed to be your wheelhouse.”
“It is.”
“So what have you done?”
I rolled my eyes. “The bubonic plague first appeared in the Bronze Age.”
“I just so happened to be the one to make it relevant in the 1300s,” Pan stated.
“Like father, like son, I guess,” Dahlia murmured, making Hades chuckle.
“Genetics are a funny thing, baby doll. You never know what you’re gonna get.”
Dahlia placed a hand on her belly, her smile soft. “I can’t wait to find out.”
“I’ll never get used to the god of the dead having a tender side,” Grim muttered. “It’s unnerving.”
Hades shot him a glare. “Pot, meet kettle.”
Merri blushed when Grimsby’s eyes found hers. “I suppose you’re right.”
A few weeks ago, I’d have been so jealous I wouldn’t have been able to see straight, but now that she’d chosen us all and we’d claimed her as ours, all I felt was a sense of calm. She looked at him the same way she looked at me.
“So you’re suggesting we focus on something related to the plague?” Sin asked.
“Yes. But specifically The Black Death. It was arguably the worst of the pandemics as pertains to this particular virus.”
“Okay, but how do we make germs into a weapon?” Kingston asked, eyes bouncing between my son and me.
“The whole point is that all those people are dead. Does that mean we’re looking for bones again?
Or is this a biological warfare kind of situation?
” He stopped and made a face. “That can’t be it. She’d be immune, right?”
“Correct. She can’t be harmed by a virus of any kind. But I wonder if a weapon forged from the earth where the victims were buried would suffice. If I’m right, we will know it when we find it.”
Grim nodded. “When we arrived at Notre Dame, my weapon reacted to my presence before I ever saw it.”
“Same for me,” Chaos said. “I’m confident you’ll know right away whether your hunch is correct.”
“Are any of those gravesites still accessible?” Asher inquired.
“There is a series of catacombs in Edinburgh that were used to store bodies. I know of several that will be mostly untouched. They should have everything we require.”
“Ah, my old stomping ground,” Pan said with a large smile.
“Care to accompany me?” I asked, hope swelling in my chest at the prospect of time spent with my son.
“I do feel uniquely suited to assist with this one,” he said.
“Are you sure?” Rosie asked with a hint of worry. “You were badly hurt last time.”
“Twas but a flesh wound. And I doubt we'll come across any giant spiders this time.” He looked to me for confirmation.
“I don’t imagine we’ll run into significant danger of any kind where we’re going.”
“See?”
Rosie bit her lip but nodded. “As long as you’re sure.”
“I’ll be fine.”
“We will accompany him to make sure,” Lilith offered. “He is my nephew, after all.”
Crombie let out an exasperated sigh. “Ugh. But let’s be quick about it. It’s such a dreary place.”
Kai responded with something between a snarl and a growl. “That’s my home you’re talking about.”
“And? Two things can be true.”
“I think it’s beautiful,” Dahlia said, a dreamy look in her eyes. “The misty air, the beautiful landscape . . .”
“The cries of garde loo before the people empty their chamber pots into the street,” Pan inserted.
“They don’t do that anymore.”
“They should.”
“It’s technically still an active law,” Asher offered.
“How the hell do you know that?” Kingston asked.
“It’s called The Nastiness Act of 1749. Just one of those weird facts I thought was interesting. It’s also long believed to be the origin of the term shit-faced, from all the drunks who got dumped on when leaving the pubs at closing time.”
“Ew,” Dahlia said with a grimace.
“Just make sure you don’t look up if you ever hear someone shout it,” Kai said.
“That’s why I always carry an umbrella in Scotland,” Lucifer said, finally adding to the conversation.
I didn’t much like it when he was quiet. He was at his most dangerous when he wasn’t talking. Not that he was particularly helpful when he was. Lucifer was always problematic, but perhaps that was simply his nature.
“All right, so the four of us—”
“Five,” Kai corrected. “I would like to go as well.”
“Five of us will go find the weapon and return as quickly as possible,” I said, adrenaline making my heart pick up speed.
Merri slipped her hand into mine. “Be careful.”
I lifted her hand to my lips and brushed a kiss across her knuckles. “I’ll be back before you know it.”
“You’d better be,” she said with a smile just for me. “You promised to feed me tonight.”
Against my will, my cock stiffened. This succubus would be the death of me.
“Where the fuck did you bring us?” Kai complained as soon as we manifested deep within the catacombs underneath the city of Edinburgh. “I can’t even stand straight.”
I scowled at the fae. “It’s not like I made a secret of it. You’re the one who volunteered to come with us, surely you knew what you were getting into.”
He grumbled and hunched down as best he could, the top of his dark head still nearly scraping against the stones of the abandoned tunnel.
Lilith was the only one among us who wasn’t similarly positioned.
The tunnels under the city were low and dark, with the exception of the ones owned by tour companies who loved to shill their “haunted Edinburgh” tours.
They weren’t even close to the real thing.
Not like this one. This area was dripping with spiritual energy, heavy with the aura of suffering and death.
I could almost smell the bodies that had once been piled up all the way to the ceiling.
I wondered how many tourists realized what the city they so loved was built upon.
The city had a bloody history, and for the most part, every step they took was atop a grave.
Sort of a psychopath’s version of Disneyland.
Kai shivered and cast a wary look around the dark corridor. The only light came from the glowing ball of magic Crombie had conjured as soon as we arrived. It was barely enough to see by.
Pan must have agreed because he jogged a little ways away and picked up an abandoned torch. “Here,” he said, thrusting the wood into Kai’s hand. “Do your thing.”
It only took the dragon a second to breathe fire and create a second, brighter source of light.
“There’s nothing of note in this godforsaken place,” Crombie complained. “It’s empty.”
“Patience, darling. There’s something here. I can feel it in the walls, can’t you?” Lilith took his hand and closed her eyes as she touched the stone with her free palm. “Agony. Terror. Despair. They were brought down here to die. Not after they were dead.”
“Quarantine looked a lot different back then. Now we’d simply call it what it was: burying them alive.”
I gave my son a knowing look. He wasn’t wrong. But at that time, there weren’t many options. It’s what made our viruses so successful.
Lilith leveled her blue gaze on me. “What about you? What do you feel?”
It was her way of asking me where the weapon might be. Truth be told, I didn’t have a lock on any one specific point, not in the way Chaos and Grim had. This entire area was drowning in energy that called to me. For them, it had seemed like a beacon; to me, it was a sea of possibility.
“I feel it everywhere. Every granule that makes up these walls is contaminated.”
Kai frowned. “Is that safe? To bring it back with us, I mean. Many in our party are half-human. Could they still be infected?”
“No. The virus is no longer active. But it is very much present.”
“If you say so,” Kai muttered, keeping his hands as far from the walls as possible.
I didn’t blame him. No one wanted to watch the bubonic plague ravage someone they loved.
“Not to pressure you, darling, but we are on a bit of a tight schedule. Any ideas on how to hurry this along?” Lilith asked.
The short answer was no. But then instinct had me reaching out a hand to press against one of the many bricked-up sections.
A tremor ran through the wall, and for a moment, I thought it was just me experiencing the sensation.
But Lilith took a step back, and I followed her gaze to the ground at her feet.
The small rocks and dirt were visibly shaking, as though we were in the middle of a small but ongoing earthquake.
“Whatever you’re doing, keep doing it,” Crombie murmured, eyes intense as he scanned the area for potential threats.
Releasing a breath, I closed my eyes and added a second hand to the wall.
The vibrations increased, little jolts of electricity shooting up my arms and making my hair stand on end.
Searing heat replaced the electricity, and I had to grit my teeth against the burn.
I had no idea what was happening, only that something was.
Opening my eyes, I watched as two glowing fissures spread from under my palms, splintering and spiderwebbing out like a pane of glass cracking under dramatic temperature shifts.
I barely had the chance to shout, “Watch out,” before the stone exploded inward.
Large plumes of dust had all of us coughing as the contents of the mass grave were reunited with the living.
“Oh, I hate it here, Lilypad. My suit is ruined.”
Lilith smirked as she wiped at a smudge on his cheek with her thumb. “You could always take it off, poppet.”
“Not here,” Pan grumbled. “Please, not here.”
I didn’t even look back at them as I waited for the dust to clear. Kai shook out his hair and asked, “Is there supposed to be something inside this tomb? I don’t see anything other than dust and rubble.”
A heavy weight that wasn’t there before filled my still outstretched palm, and when I pulled it back, a glowing arrowhead sat where nothing had been moments ago.
“Fuck me,” Kai whispered.
“An arrow. How appropriate.” Pan’s voice was laced with amusement.
“Why is it glowing like that?” Kai asked.
“It’s already attuned,” I answered, feeling the truth of my assertion in my bones.
“Well, that’s convenient,” Crombie said. “I do love a twofer.”
Pan reached for the arrowhead, but I jerked my hand away, instinctively guarding my precious weapon. “Okay, then. You keep it. But how is it already attuned? I thought there was a whole ritual we needed to figure out.”
“I suppose it stands to reason this weapon was already washed in the power of its circumstance. At Notre Dame, there was no power. In Khan’s tomb, no ley lines. But here . . .”
“All the echoes of death and disease never left.”
“Exactly.”
“As I already said, convenient. Can we go now?”
I glared at Crombie, not appreciating his interruption. The fae prince’s nostrils flared, and Kai stiffened at the same time.
“Are there booby traps set in this place?” Kai asked.
“Not that I can see. Why?”
“Something is coming. Can’t you sense it?”
I frowned and looked to my son, who shook his head. Lilith’s attention, however, was locked solely on her pet.
“Drystan?” she asked, voice low so as not to startle him.
His eyes were wild, dare I say panicked, as his entire body went rigid. The scent of ozone rolled through the tight space.
“We should go. Now,” Lilith urged.
“It’s too late,” Crombie countered in a voice filled with dread. “They’re already here.”