Chapter 3
Marlena Kosek smiled brightlyand rose to greet her nephew. “Nikolai.”
“Hey.” Nikolai hugged his aunt and kissed her cheek. “You should have told me you were in town.”
“I flew in this morning.” The High Priestess of the Council of the Moon glanced at Bryony. “It seemed urgent.”
“Hi,” Simon Roth greeted them awkwardly.
The new head of the Atlanta coven was doing his best not to fidget in his seat where he sat beside Isabelle West. Rumor had it the pair were currently an item.
“I was only gone a goddamn minute,” Abraham muttered under his breath as he crossed the floor and joined Raven Quinn on a couch.
“I’m sorry.” The witch apologized to her boyfriend with an irate sigh. “I wanted to keep the peace, but that would have involved some pretty powerful destructive magic and I know how much Bryony cherishes those Ming Dynasty vases on the sideboard.”
Bryony cut her eyes to the L.A. coven High Priestess before studying Mae with a frown. “You’re late.”
“Traffic was a bitch,” Mae said thinly. “Also, no one said there was a meeting.”
Brimstone zoomed over to a serving cart holding half a dozen steaming dishes. Bryony’s cat familiar Penley slinked off the desk and joined the fox.
Nikolai maintained a diplomatic expression as he and Mae headed over to a sofa. A stilted silence ensued. It was broken by a loud grumble.
Everyone looked at Mae.
She sniffed. “It’s been two hours since breakfast.”
Bryony sighed. “Why don’t you eat something before we talk?”
Mae helped herself to two sandwiches and a slice of chocolate cake from the tiered trays on the coffee table.
“So, are you really planning to go to Hell?” Karin asked sharply after she’d finished inhaling her food.
“Yes. Once Alicia gets Astarte’s approval.”
Mae hid her unease behind a resolute expression. The truth was, she hadn’t heard from the Soul Reaper queen since she left for Hell over a week ago to seek Astarte’s permission for her to travel to the Underworld with Nikolai and Vlad.
Astarte was the Goddess who headed the alliance of powerful fallen angels opposed to Satanael’s wicked plans for mankind. Once Artemus Steele’s sworn enemy, she was now one of his most ardent allies.
Well, I have a backup plan in case she says no anyway.
Mae was eyeing another slice of chocolate cake when she became conscious of the High Council’s brooding stares. Guilt stabbed through her at their worried expressions.
She could understand their concerns. The only ones who seemed resigned to her decision were Bryony, Raven, Marlena, and Nadia.
Gerard sighed heavily. “How about you give Hellreaver to the Soul Reaper queen and let her ask this Armaros guy to fix him instead?”
The eleventh leader of the Grigori and once Heaven’s most talented blacksmith, Armaros had forged Hellreaver at Azazel’s bequest when Na Ri was born.
Mae frowned. “This isn’t just about getting Hellreaver fixed. I also want Armaros to take a look at the skeleton key that was meant to open the Book of Light.” She raised a hand when Gerard tried to interrupt. “I know what you’re going to say, but I’m still certain it serves a purpose we haven’t fathomed yet. Call it a witch’s instincts.” She clenched her jaw. “And I have to find my father. Azazel needs to know what took place in Europe and the secret Nikolai uncovered when he followed Barquiel to Hell.”
“And if Astarte says no?” Lines furrowed Derrick’s brow. “What will you do then?”
“Then I’ll ask Artemus Steele to take me to Hell instead.”
Bryony sucked in air at this bombshell statement. Abraham stared at her like she’d lost her mind.
“You will?” Nikolai mumbled.
“Who the heck is Artemus Steele?!” Roman hissed at Nadia.
Mae avoided Nikolai’s stunned gaze. She hadn’t told him or Vlad about her backup plan. “That guy knows the layout of the place and Armaros’s location. Besides, I’m pretty sure he’ll want to help.”
She toyed with the bracelet on her wrist.
It was the one Serena Blake had given her a month ago. Forged by Artemus Steele and infused with the divine energy he had inherited from his parents, it had allowed Mae to resist Vedran’s attempts to enslave her and her bonds.
“Artemus wasn’t the one who opened a doorway to the Underworld,” Bryony informed her in clipped tones. “It was Sebastian Lancaster who created the rift that allowed them to enter Hell.” She lowered her brows. “And he’s far more sensible than that idiot. Sebastian won’t cave in to your demands so easily.”
Mae’s stomach plummeted. “The Sphinx opened the rift?”
“Yes.”
“We have a Sphinx?” Roman mumbled.
“We even have a Phoenix,” Raven said.
Mae chewed her lip. Dammit. This Sebastian guy sounds even more uptight than this lot.
“Anyway, the reason I called all of you here is because you need to see something,” Bryony said.
Her tone had Mae stiffening. Brimstone glanced over curiously from where he was demolishing his third dish of beef.
Abraham went to Bryony’s desk and brought an envelope over. He took out the contents and spread them on the coffee table, his lips pressed into a grim line.
It was a series of photographs.
Isabelle made a horrified sound. She covered her mouth with a trembling hand, the color draining from her face. Simon clasped her shoulder, his own expression turning strained.
“Look familiar?” Bryony asked in a brittle voice.
“Shit,” Nikolai ground out.
Tension knotted Mae’s shoulders. Brimstone joined her.
The bodies in the pictures had the same appearance as Isabelle’s butler and housekeeper when they were found buried in shallow graves on her property, after she was kidnapped and held hostage by the Dark Council. Except there were dozens of corpses piled haphazardly atop one another on the scorched ground.
Mae’s pulse raced as she tried to understand what they were looking at. Bryony’s next words sent a chill down her spine.
“They are Dark Council members,” the older witch stated in a flat voice. “And they all died from injuries consistent with black magic.”
Mae’s eyes rounded. “What?!”
“We found the first…group twelve hours ago,” Abraham said sourly. “We’ve discovered three more since then.” A muscle ticked in the sorcerer’s jawline. “The crazy part is these witches and sorcerers aren’t even from around here, yet we keep finding their bodies in our territory.”
“The only silver lining to this incident is that it hasn’t made the news headlines yet.” Bryony looked her age all of a sudden. “The bodies are turning up in areas of New York under the strict jurisdiction of our coven,” she explained wearily in the face of their stares. “I’ve had to inform the mayor of our findings and Jared is doing his best to keep things under wraps so no one in the NYPD leaks information to the press, but I don’t know how much longer we can keep this from the eyes of the ordinary public.”
“Why would they kill their own?” Nadia said stiffly in the fraught silence.
“Maybe it’s some kind of message,” a pale-faced Roman hazarded, his gaze locked on the macabre images.
Nikolai went as still as stone at his words.
“I think Roman is right,” he mumbled. He traced one of the figures in a photograph with a finger. “This wasn’t a normal fire. It looks like Hellfire Magic was used on them.”
Alastair rustled his wings restlessly on his shoulder.
Ice formed in Mae’s veins. “So, this is Vedran’s work?!”
Nikolai met her anxious gaze and bobbed his head.
“But how?” Derrick leveled a hard stare at Mae. “Wouldn’t you have picked up on the Sorcerer King’s presence if he was in the city?”
Mae shared a wary glance with Nikolai. “Not if he’s using Void.”
“The only way to cancel that spell is with pure white magic from a ley line,” Nikolai elaborated.
“If he was in New York, he would have come after Mae,” Raven said dismissively. She lowered her brows. “More importantly, why is he killing his own sorcerers and witches?”
Brimstone nosed at the photographs. He must be in need of their magic, my witch. It is the only logical explanation for him to sacrifice his army.
A sour taste filled the back of Mae’s mouth.
“Mae?” Nikolai asked worriedly.
“Brim thinks he’s after their magic.”
Another thought struck her then. Her stomach grew heavy with dread and guilt.
Could it be that our attacks injured his core? And he needs his subordinates’ powers to heal himself?
“Oh fuck,” Nikolai said hoarsely.
The color had leached from the sorcerer’s skin, leaving him ashen. His crow familiar made a worried sound.
“What is it?” Mae said tensely.
“I think I know how he’s killing them,” Nikolai replied numbly. “And he doesn’t even have to be in New York to do it.”
“What?!” Karin gasped.
Blood pounded dully in Mae’s skull as the truth Nikolai had just grasped emerged from her subconscious.
“The spell your father put on them,” she mumbled. “The one I erased from your core.” A dizzy feeling swept over Mae. “That’s how he’s killing them?!”
“It has to be,” Nikolai murmured, his knuckles white.
Derrick cursed.
“How utterly evil,” Marlena mumbled.
Mae swallowed. “He must need the black magic he put inside their cores to recover from the wounds Nikolai and I inflicted on him during our last battle.”
Abraham drummed his fingers on his armrest. “It still doesn’t explain how or why he’s choosing to leave those men and women’s bodies here though.”
“His black magic can open rifts.” Nikolai cut his eyes to Mae, his expression haunted. “As to why?—”
He paused, his face darkening with disquiet.
“It is a message,” Mae stated flatly. She scrutinized the photographs on the table. “He’s telling us we’re next.”