Chapter 34
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
THANATOS
Iappeared back in the throne room of The House of Shade.
The witches and their guardians still lingered there, except this time a great table had been set up in the middle of the room with chairs all around it.
An array of food was spread down the middle of it, along with books of every shape and size. It looked like one big study session.
“They’re with—”
“Phillis from Sisyphus.” Kylian cut me off mid-sentence. He sat with his legs kicked up on the table and a plate of fruit beside him. The blood had been wiped from his face but remained across his shirt and down his pants.
I paused. “How’d you know that?”
Kylian popped a grape into his mouth, then pointed to himself. “Tracker.”
“We must go to her right away.” I took a step toward him, and he held his hand up, stopping me.
“We need a plan of attack first. You’re up against some serious firepower.” He popped another grape into his mouth.
“Since when is it considered polite to speak while shoving food into one’s mouth,” Atlas grumbled from across the table.
“Says the blood-sucking leech who hardly eats.” Kylian’s voice was deep and smooth.
“Back to what you know.” I didn’t have time for whatever feud simmered between the two of them. “Where is she and how do we get to her?”
Zinnia pushed some books aside, then rolled out a map over the table. It was different than the world maps she’d had in their own meeting space back at Evermore. “From what we’ve gathered—”
“And by gathered, you mean what I told you,” Kylian interrupted.
Ashryn smacked him across the back of the head. “Stop.”
“You’re not any fun.” Kylian waved toward Zinnia. “Continue.”
“From what we can tell, the house on the surface level is a facade.” She pointed toward the blueprint. “It’s your classic mega-mansion, you know . . . with multiple floors and a stupid number of bedrooms with matching bathrooms.”
“The outside was nice.” Kylian shrugged. “Black siding, black trim . . . pretty elegant for being out in the middle of nowhere.”
“Yeah, but the interesting part is what’s below the house. Once Kylian figured out where she was it was easy for Astrid to summon the blueprints.” Zinnia wagged her eyebrows at Astrid.
“I got this.” Astrid winked, then flicked her wrist and another set of blueprints dropped on the desk. “Those are the floorplans for the three lower levels.”
They dropped on the table in front of me, and I raised my eyebrows. “Dungeons? She has dungeons under her home? How interesting.”
Zinnia pointed at a spot on the map. “There’s only one way in or out and it’s heavily guarded. There are soldiers all around the perimeter, on the roof of the house, and walking the grounds. No telling how many are on each floor.”
“Simple enough. I’ll just kill them all. If they insist on working with Phillis, then they’re disposable.” This was all a moot point. I would go to get Anastasia, and I would not leave a single one of them standing.
Ophelia, who continued to sit on the throne that was not hers, popped to her feet. “I’m down with this plan.”
“We all know you are.” Cross chuckled. “I think I’ll tag along on this one too.”
“No.” I shook my head. “I don’t need any of you getting hurt.”
Ophelia hunched over cackling. “Get hurt. You’re funny.”
Everyone else chuckled along with her and shook their heads.
Zinnia met my eye. “You’re going to need her and probably a few others of us.
The house is warded against your power. Whatever witch they’ve got working for them is definitely from the death cast. Which is why her powers can affect you so efficiently.
It’s not impossible for us, but it does make things more difficult.
You can’t just simply walk in collecting souls.
You can’t even magic yourself in there. We will have to portal you there and you will have to walk in the human way .
. . Fight your way through the human way, which is why we should go with you. ”
“It can’t take more than three of us.” Ophelia moved to stand on the other side of the table. “Kylian, Atlas, and me. That should do it.”
“Frankly, that’s overkill.” Kylian tossed a grape in the air and caught it in his mouth.
“For once I agree with the tracker. Just the two of us would suffice.” Atlas slouched in his chair, running his fingers over Poe’s feathers. “Or Ophelia.”
“I’ll bring Cross to make sure I don’t kill anyone that any of you might get upset about.” Ophelia winked at him. “Right?”
“I love that you’re worried about any of us getting upset that you killed someone.” He chuckled.
“Well, it’s not like I’m going to be upset about it.” She pulled a potion out of the potion bag on her hip and gave it a little shake. “Besides, I love to see humans panic when their guns no longer work.”
“You can do that?” I knew they were powerful, but this powerful . . .
Ophelia shook the bottle toward me. “All-powerful Queen of Potions here. I do what I want.”
“Then let us go.” I didn’t want to wait another moment.
Zinnia picked up a necklace with a raw onyx stone hanging from it, then tossed it to me. “That should nullify the wards they have. You won’t be able to use your power, but you’ll be able to walk right in if you’re wearing that.”
I looped it over my head, then held my hand out toward Kylian. “I need a weapon.”
Kylian rose from his chair, then dropped down to one knee beside it.
He touched his hand to the hard stone. Dark-orange smoke flowed around his hands and up his forearm.
The stone beneath his fingertips rose to his touch.
Slowly he came to stand, and grains of that rock followed his touch.
It transformed into a long staff with an extended blade jutting from the top of it. “A scythe? Really?”
“You are death.” He held it out to me. “If you don’t want it, then I’ll keep it.”
“Can I keep it?” Ophelia moved toward it.
“No,” Kylian and I said at the same time.
I reached out and took it from him. The staff was rough but not cutting. The blade was solid black and reflected the candlelight around us. “Yeah, this will work.”
“Party poopers.” Ophelia stomped her foot.
“What if I get you one later?” Cross winked. “How grateful will you be?”
“You’ll have to find out.” She blew him a kiss.
“Ew, please leave and go kill something.” Zinnia wrinkled her nose and shook her head.
Ophelia pulled another vial from her pouch and threw it on the floor. A shimmering portal exploded from the puddle. She crooked her finger at us and walked through it. I followed behind her and Poe soared in over my head while Atlas, Cross, and Kylian walked in behind me.
We stood across from a dark, imposing mansion and Atlas chuckled.
He ran his fingers over the dagger tattoos on his forearms, then across the hooded figure on his shoulders.
His blood magic spread over him in a fine mist and a dark hood rose over his head.
The daggers rose from his skin and floated into his hands. “This is hardly a training exercise.”
“You aren’t that fancy.” Kylian knelt and placed his fingers on the ground. That dark-orange smoke poured from him. Dirt and stone rose to his touch. In one hand brass knuckles made of hard stone formed and in the other a hunting dagger appeared.
“Put your penises away, boys. I got this.” Ophelia opened her hand and thick grey smoke poured from her palms, creeping toward the mansion like reaching fingers. It flowed around the building and up toward the roof.
A warning siren broke the silence, and I turned toward her. “They know we’re here.”
“There’s got to be some fun.” She held her hand up just as the sound of gunfire filled the air.
Bullets whizzed past us and Atlas groaned. “O, I do so loathe the feel of forcing bullets from my body.”
“I’m with the leech on this one. Shedding a bullet or two doesn’t seem enjoyable.”
Ophelia pulled out another vial and threw it out in front of her. The bottle shattered over her grey smoke, and it flashed everything bright white for a second and then darkness fell. The gunfire stopped instantly, and Ophelia gave me a mock solute. “Happy hunting, boys.”
She sauntered into her smoke and it seeped around her, swallowing her up. Cross gave a dark chuckle and ran in behind her.
A moment later a man screamed. “Oh God! what is it?”
“Where is it coming from?”
More screams echoed and lifelines that were once golden turned crimson and then went out. Kylian sighed. “I don’t think there will be any left.”
“There are two on the right.” I narrowed my eyes at the golden glow of their lifelines. I could spot them through the thick fog Ophelia had created. They were glowing beacons in the dense coverage.
“Pardon me, gentlemen.” Atlas took a step forward into the fog. “My services seem to be required.”
“So dramatic.” Kylian rolled his eyes.
“There’s three—”
“Come on, Death, leave a bit of mystery for me. It’s no fun if there’s not hunting involved. At least with the fog there’s a bit of a challenge.” He chuckled and then took off running into the darkness.
More screams rang out, and those golden lifelines extinguished one by one.
I moved toward the house, walking through the fog as if it were midday.
A soldier ran toward me, and I twisted around in a circle, swinging the scythe in a smooth arc.
The scythe was like a hot knife through butter as it glided through the midsection of the charging soldier.
The top half of his body slid off the bottom half and a swath of blood splashed over my clothing, yet my footsteps did not falter as I moved to the back door.
Kylian was certain she was here in the bowels of the home.
I pushed the door wide open as another guard charged toward me.
I spun the scythe so the point faced forward and shoved it into his shoulder.
It went straight through, nearly severing his arm.
A bellow ripped from his throat, and I shoved my foot into his torso, kicking him back.
He flew across the room and crashed into the hallway.
I marched down the hall and straight toward the entrance that Zinnia pointed out on the map.
The door was jammed shut with a heavy lock and a crossbar.
Behind it were half a dozen lifelines waiting for me to end them.
One by one they started to dim from the glittering gold to a dull brown.
I tightened my grip on the scythe and smirked at the door.
If they want death, then I will show them death . . .