Chapter 37 Des
Des
To think, it had all come down to one fucking key.
Des hadn’t slept last night, going over the rest of his plan detail by detail, convinced that if he imagined every possible
outcome, he could somehow control the future. And he may well have, if it hadn’t been for the damn key.
When had Aurelie swapped it? he wondered. It could have been at any point; he’d been so vulnerable around her, so trusting.
Of course, he’d been so racked with guilt at all the ways he was betraying her that he hadn’t stopped to think she might also
betray him. Or worse, that she didn’t trust him in the first place.
He had gone to the university gate as planned with Daisy, Jasper, and several Iron Swords. Commander Yew and the rest of the
team had gone to Everard’s house to arrest him, assuming they’d find him in a weakened condition given Kobal’s entrapment.
But as soon as Des arrived, he knew something was wrong. There was a feeling in the air, a heavy foreboding that he didn’t
think was simply fear. They were early, and yet it felt as though he was far too late for whatever was about to happen next.
They had planned to go and check on Kobal first, before Everard’s arrival.
Des removed the key from his neck and tried to fit it in the lock.
At first, he was sure he was inserting the key incorrectly.
Daisy had even sighed in exasperation and tried it herself.
But after her third attempt, she had turned to look at Des with a pained expression.
“Des.”
He swore, kicking the snow. “Why would she do this?”
“Because she knew you’d come,” Daisy said. “She clearly wants to protect you.”
“Of all the foolish, reckless, irresponsible things.” He thrust his hands into his hair.
“There has to be another way in,” Jasper said, eyeing the height of the gate in front of them.
Des blew out his breath, trying to regroup. “There’s a tree at the back, near the clock tower. I think we can get over the
gate that way. Jasper, with me. Daisy, I need you to wait here in case Everard comes.” He started running, not checking behind
him to be sure they were following orders. By the time he reached the back of the university, the bells were chiming a quarter
till.
He was relieved to see Jasper right behind him. “You go first,” he said. “I’m too heavy.”
“On it.” Jasper shimmied up the tree easily, followed by one of the other Iron Swords.
“Go and open the gate as quickly as you can,” Des called.
“Where are you going?”
“To check on Kobal.” With the other two guards already on the other side of the gate, Des climbed up the tree as fast as he
could and crouched low as he walked along a thick branch over the fence. It was only a moment later that he heard the groan
of a limb breaking, but by then, he was hanging below the branch and dropping to the ground.
Des’s thoughts were racing as he hurried to the grotto, every fiber in him wishing he could check on Aurelie first. But something told him that whatever was happening to Kobal would inform every other decision he made from here on out.
To his surprise, the demon was lying on its side, breathing heavily, pressed to the back of the grotto. It tried to rouse
itself when it saw Des, but immediately fell back again with a whimper. It was weakened, near death. He should have felt immense
relief. And yet, he didn’t.
“Des!”
He whirled around to see Jasper behind him, gripping a wound in his arm.
“What the hell happened?”
“It’s bad. Demons at the gate. A dozen or more. They look like the one we killed here the other night. No word from Yew or
the Iron Swords.”
Des’s stomach felt like it was in free fall, like the world was opening up beneath him. “Where’s Daisy?”
“She’s fighting with the others. We need you.”
Swearing, Des broke into a run behind Jasper. “Your wound?”
“Not from a demon, thank goodness,” Jasper said. “One of your Iron Swords threw me out of the way. I cut my arm on someone
else’s blade.”
“Did you warn the others about the venom?”
Jasper nodded as they reached the gates.
It was utter chaos. There were demons everywhere, snarling and snapping at the guards, lashing out with their venom-tipped claws.
To his relief, Daisy appeared unharmed and was fighting back-to-back with one of the Iron Swords.
But as he pushed through the gate to get to her, a demon flew at him, knocking him aside and making a break for the open door.
Des caught its heel with his dagger, but as with the demon he and Aurelie had killed in the well, this one hardly seemed injured.
“Decapitate them!” he bellowed as he pushed to his feet. “Cut off their heads!”
But before anyone could heed his command, the demons broke for the open gate in unison, nearly trampling Des as he dove out
of their path onto campus.
The wind was knocked from his lungs as he hit the ground. He struggled for air, trying to get the other guards’ attention,
still unable to draw breath. Fortunately, Daisy saw what was happening and spread the order.
“Everard must have gotten here before us,” she said as she helped him to his feet. “Did you find his thrall?”
Des nodded, managing a feeble wheeze. “Impaired but alive.”
“Then Gareth was wrong about thralls?”
He shook his head. “I don’t know.” If the intel was wrong, Des would never forgive himself. Commander Yew should be back here
by now, assuming he’d arrived at Everard’s townhouse and found him gone. He could only hope they had rescued Dr. Blake in
time.
As they raced across the campus toward the tower, his thoughts turned once again to Aurelie. She must have realized this was
a trap by now. She wouldn’t finish the portal, couldn’t possibly fail to see how dire this had become. To his surprise, the
door to the basement workshop was open, but the moment Des began to descend the steps, a demon flew at him, its claws missing
him by inches.
He left it to the other guards to kill it as he dodged and barreled down the stairs to the workshop. He skidded to a stop the moment he hit the bottom step. Before him stood Everard, surrounded by six demons, the portal behind him. And in his arms, gagged, was Aurelie.
Des braced himself for the demons to attack, but they were as eerily still as the stone gargoyles they resembled. His mind
raced. How was it possible that Everard had these creatures in his thrall as well? If Des killed one, would it harm Everard?
Or would he only be endangering Aurelie?
“You must be Destrier Whitlow,” Everard said, terrifyingly calm given the chaos around them. “Allow me to introduce myself.”
“I know who you are,” Des growled. “Let her go.”
“You know me as Everard,” the man continued calmly. “But my real name is Florian Hawthorn, rightful heir to the throne of
Wisteria.”
Des looked at Aurelie, wondering if he’d gone insane. But tears streamed down her cheeks, and if the most intelligent person
he’d ever met believed this lunatic, it had to be true.
“What do you want?” Des asked. He could feel Daisy, Jasper, and the others behind him, weapons drawn, ready to help defend
him should it come to that.
“Of you? Not a thing. Miss Blake was just about to finish my portal when you all decided to join us. I can see you’re tempted
to try to save her, but I assure you, there’s no need. Once she completes the portal, she will be freed along with her uncle.”
Aurelie mumbled something against the gag, shaking her head vehemently no. Des scanned Everard for some sign of a weapon,
but all the man had was a small dagger strapped at his waist. He must be very sure of his demons to not even bother drawing
the thing.
Everard turned Aurelie toward the portal and gave her a light shove, sending her stumbling forward. Des noticed there was a tool in her hand, the one she and Kiara had used for the engravings.
“Aurelie,” he called, but she didn’t turn. Something had happened since he last saw her, something that had convinced her
that Everard—or Florian, or whoever he was—was a liar, that this plan would not go as he’d promised. Otherwise, she wouldn’t
have hesitated to finish the portal. “Whatever he’s told you, don’t believe him. We’ll figure this all out together. I promise.”
He knew she heard him by the stiffening of her spine, but despite it, she raised her hand to the metal plaque and began to
inscribe the final rune. He started forward, as Everard must have known he would, because he released the demons in that moment.
Everything that followed was pandemonium. There were as many hunters as there were demons, but in this enclosed space, it
was difficult to tell what was happening. Claws and teeth came at Des from all sides, and meanwhile there was a growing wind
and a loud, distant roaring, like thunder.
“Aurelie!” he screamed as he stabbed a demon through the eye, but she couldn’t hear him, or she chose not to. Behind him,
he heard a woman shriek, and in a panic he turned to see a female guard—not Daisy, he thought with mingled relief and horror—eviscerated
by one of the creatures. A moment later, Jasper cut the creature’s head off at the shoulders, nearly choking them with a cloud
of brimstone.
Des turned back to Aurelie just as she finished the last mark.
The rune was wobbly and crude compared to the others, and a part of him was desperate to believe that she had some last-minute trick up her sleeve that could get them all out of this.
He kept one eye on Aurelie, the other on the demons as he continued to fight his way toward her.
As soon as she’d finished, Everard caught her under her arms and raised his blade to her back. Des screamed a warning, but
Everard was only cutting through the gag tied at the back of her head. Aurelie immediately spat it from her mouth to scream.
He couldn’t hear her over the roar, but he could see her calling his name. Telling him to run. As if he would possibly leave
her now.
Everard then turned the knife on himself, slicing a deep wound in his palm. He pressed his hand to the center of the portal.
In that moment, there was only silence.
Des watched in horrified fascination as the metal plates began to whir and click, the metal channels on their sides locking
into place, one after the other. This was what Aurelie had spent so long perfecting, and in any other circumstance, he would
have marveled at it. But as realization dawned that she hadn’t foiled Everard’s plan after all, Des found himself numb. She’d
said a dozen times that she wasn’t going to let her uncle die. He should have believed her.
The runes began to glow, a soft blue at first that grew steadily brighter until it was a near-blinding shade of violet. The
center stones receded backward, and in their place, a swirling purple vortex of light appeared. She’d really done it, had
somehow taken Everard’s stones and plates and wielded dark magic. He cast his glance at one of the nearby demons and jumped
aside when he realized it was struggling, as though it were being pulled backward by a great force.
Blood and bones, the portal was sucking the demon in.
The creature tore great gouges out of the stone floor with its claws in an effort to hold its ground, but a moment later, another demon crashed into it, and then they were both flying backward through the portal, disappearing into that brilliant, sickening light.
Everard laughed in delight. Aurelie was staring at Des, her face so pale he worried she might lose consciousness. Seizing
the opportunity, he ran to her, gathering her in his arms before she could respond.
“I’m so sorry,” he whispered, pressing a kiss to the top of her head. “I should never have gone behind your back.”
Something changed in her then, and she pushed free of Des’s arms with surprising strength. “Where’s my uncle?” she demanded
of Everard. “You promised he’d be safe. Where is my uncle?”
But the man wasn’t listening. He was peering into the vortex as though he were waiting for something. And that was perhaps
more frightening than anything else Des could have imagined.