Chapter Nine #2
“He was framed, just like you were. Only, it was one of his brothers who did it. Now, Kingston is mated to the Goddess of Revenge. He is also one of the Hell Realm representatives on the Supernatural Council.”
“I’m glad for him.” Mordecai’s smile faded. “Would he help us?”
“He will. Since he is the one who basically arranged for me to come here, he bloody well better come help fix things,” she amended darkly.
“That’s the spirit,” he said cheerfully. “Once you return to the Human Realm, you can—”
“No, now. We have to contact him now.”
He frowned. “How are we going to do that? That won’t work in here.”
“This isn’t a regular phone. The Goddess of Tech made it for me. She also happens to be mated to Braxton, Lucifer’s son and the new Death of the Four Horsemen.”
His eyes widened. “There is a Goddess of Tech?”
“There is now. She is able to make technology and magic work together.”
“You really do know some powerful supernaturals.”
She shrugged. “I’ve met them through friends of friends. Despite how large and varied the supernatural community is in the Human Realm, it can feel pretty small at times.”
Mordecai watched as she tried to place a call, but it didn’t go through. Disappointment shot through him, but he didn’t voice it out loud.
“The call won’t connect.”
“Well, it was a good try.”
She turned the phone around and pointed to a pulsing purple square on the screen. “Do you see this?”
“What is that?”
“It’s the icon for the Arcane Assist app. It’s something the Goddess of Tech made, but it is still in the testing phase. It was recently given to me to try. There might be a chance it could work in here.”
Curious, Mordecai shifted closer and watched as Lana tapped the pulsing purple square on the screen. For a heartbeat, nothing happened. Then, the display went completely black before the words Arcane Assist bloomed across the screen in large, luminous purple letters.
The letters shimmered as if alive, each stroke brightening before dissolving into a curling puff of violet smoke.
The vapor swept across the screen in a graceful swirl, leaving tiny sparks in its wake before completely fading away.
A moment later, new words appeared, bright against the dark background.
Welcome to Arcane Assist-Beta Version, your magical assistant app. Having trouble with something magical? Arcane Assist is here to help! Are you in need of assistance?
She immediately clicked the big yes button, then a new message appeared.
How may I assist you?
Lana began typing in the black space provided with a speed that showed just how familiar she was with the device. Mordecai had never used a cell phone before, but he had to admire the skill. When she was done typing, she clicked another button, then rested the phone in her lap.
“What now?”
“I asked the app to contact Kingston for me to tell him that I urgently need to speak to him. Now, we wait to see if it can contact him or not.”
They didn’t have to wait long.
A few seconds later, Kingston Spencer appeared in front of them. Glancing around, he let out an exaggerated groan. “Oh, man. Don’t tell me you dragged me back to this godforsaken prison!”
“Trust me, we would rather not be here either,” she said as she and Mordecai got to their feet.
Kingston grinned. “So, you two found each other. Congratulations!”
“You knew we were mates?” Mordecai asked, surprised.
“A God of Fate told us. We can consider bringing you two together payback for when you saved my life in this hellhole.”
“You survived well enough. Godhood looks good on you,” Mordecai commented.
“My mate is the goddess. I just got a power boost because of her. Even though we knew you were mates, we had to let you meet on your own. You know, rules of fate and all that. But actually getting the two of you together turned out to be a big pain in the ass. Especially since you refused to use the Arcane Assist app,” Kingston said, sending a pointed look at Lana.
“Which meant we had to get creative regarding how to get the two of you to meet.
“So, instead, you sent me to the prison on the day Death decided to destroy it? Thanks a lot,” Lana said dryly.
Kingston’s glowing eyes widened. “Wait, what?”
“Death of the Four Horsemen came here and broke through the wards to kill a celestial inmate,” Mordecai said blandly.
“That can’t be,” Kingston sputtered. “I was just with Brax and Devon a few hours ago. My mate and I had dinner with them at Guardian’s Gate. Now, Autumn is off working on one of her revenge cases, and they are—”
“Raziel, the original Death,” Mordecai cut in, finding it ridiculous that he had to keep differentiating between the two. Someone was really going to have to figure out what the hell was going on with that whole situation.
“But Raziel is in a magical coma right now,” Kingston countered, sounding confused.
“He wasn’t here in his real form. He was able to astral project his spirit into the prison,” Mordecai said. “Now, the safeguards are failing, the lower levels are cut off from the rest of the prison, and the inmates are rioting. Overall, it’s a shitstorm of chaos.”
“Fucking hell, I was wondering why it was so easy to teleport in here. We need to fix things before all the prisoners break out.”
A muffled blast sounded in the distance.
Lana nodded vigorously. “Yes, please do that. Right now.”
“I can’t do it myself,” Kingston growled in exasperation. “I’ve only been a god for like five minutes. I wouldn’t even know where to begin fixing this fucking place. I need to go get help. Has the Queen of the Fairies and her consort been informed?”
Lana shook her head. “We’ve been in here, trying to stay away from everyone.”
“That’s smart,” Kingston praised. “I’m going to go grab my mate, Braxton, Devon, and…hellfire, everyone that is available. Stay here. I’ll come back to get you.”
Kingston disappeared, once again leaving Mordecai and Lana alone. He smiled when she wrapped her arms around his waist and rested her cheek against his chest.
“Well, we did our part. Now, the gods can fix the rest of it,” Lana said.
He pressed a kiss on her forehead. “Let’s just hope nothing else goes wrong.”
She let out a loud groan. “Now, you just jinxed us. You shouldn’t have said that. In the movies, saying that always triggers something else to happen.”
“I think you watch too many of these movies.”
She rolled her eyes. “Just you wait and see. Sometimes you can learn things from movies like—”
A loud explosion blasted one of the walls of the library into pieces.
Mordecai tried to throw up a magical shield to protect them from the blast, but it failed.
Thankfully, Lana did the same thing, only hers worked.
It saved them from being hit by a barrage of rocks and other debris, but the force of the blast was still strong enough to knock them off their feet and send them flying back several feet.
“We have to get out of here,” Mordecai growled as several inmates poured into the room, fighting and flinging magic at each other.
“I still can’t teleport,” Lana admitted.
He grabbed her hand and hauled her to her feet. “Then, we’ll barricade ourselves in the back of the library where we can defend ourselves better.”
But it was already too late.
Before they could move, a deafening screech ripped through the library.
The massive wall of windows shuddered violently as jagged cracks exploded across the glass, branching out in every direction like white lightning.
The fractures spread with terrifying speed, splintering into intricate spiderwebs that stretched from floor to ceiling.
For one impossible heartbeat, the glass held, and everything seemed to stop as the world balanced on the edge of disaster.
No one moved.
No one even breathed.
Then, the glass shattered, and a monstrous wave surged into the library with unstoppable force, instantly flooding the room.
“Mordecai!”
Wrapping both arms around her, he pulled Lana against his chest and tried to shield her with his body as the wall of water slammed into them.
The impact drove the air from his lungs.
It felt like being hit by a meteor. They were helpless as the raging flood sent them tumbling end over end amid shattered glass and broken rocks.
Mordecai fought to keep Lana in his grasp, locking his arms around her tight, using every ounce of strength he had within him as the current swept them out of the library, dragging them out into the open water.
Instinct screamed at him to fight, but he couldn’t even tell which way was up or down.
His lungs burned from lack of air, and his muscles strained, but he refused to let go of his mate.
If this was really the end, then he would gladly spend his final moments holding the female he loved.