Chapter 14 Cassius
~Cassius~
He was doing well.
Almost too well.
I walked back into my bedroom, the shower running in the ensuite as Velra freshened up, as she’d called it, following our rather voraciously carnal morning.
It was something that Sylas had been driving, something Velra had been needing, and something I had taken to relishing immensely.
However, as pleasurable as it had been, without our wild one present, the loss had been duly felt. It hadn’t been the same. For any of us.
Carrying a mug of coffee that he’d politely requested, I approached Sylas who sat up against the headboard poring over complex spellwork.
He smiled out at me pleasantly and reached out when I was close enough, taking the mug and sniffing it. “Mmm… smells great. Thank you.”
“You’re most welcome. With you switching to coffee now, do not forget to also hydrate.”
He needed the caffeine boost now that he was without his magic, moving from his favored blackcurrant tea to strong, heavily sugared coffee instead.
I could also see that he’d felt the strain of our morning of lovemaking, despite his attempts to hide it.
I was sure that was why he was in bed even though he was still covered in a wealth of sticky fluids from all of us.
He was using his interest in the spellwork he was investigating to shield that fact, having told Velra and I that he worked better solving complex magical puzzles when he was at his most relaxed.
A definite falsity as the revered Sylas Morgrave could do that to the best of his ability even when under the greatest stress and the worst of circumstances. He had a gift for it and that did not waver, no matter what came his way, or afflicted him.
“Got it. Hydration is on the menu,” he told me easily, before taking a couple of big gulps.
He then put it down on the nightstand beside him and returned to scribbling in his leather bound journal, while his gaze flicked back and forth to the papers spread out on the sheets around him.
I perched on the edge of the bed and snatched up the one with Dark Fae markings all over it that had many notations from him beside the formulas and incantations.
“You’ve already solved this? From the additional information Charles Petrone was able to procure for you?”
“That assisted, filled in a couple of the missing pieces. The rest was courtesy of us at Arcanum Order working well together, fusing our knowledge as one.”
“Then what are you doing now?” I asked, returning the paper to him, then moving to lean against the wall opposite the bed as I regarded him curiously.
“You’ve determined the precise details of the spell that certain Dark Fae beings are using to violate the minds of others—in their own realm and that’s now spreading here also. ”
“I thought that too, that we could engineer an antidote based off this. Reverse-engineer the spell.”
I frowned. “And why is that not the case?”
He put his journal down, glanced over at the closed door of the ensuite, then lowered his voice, telling me, “After the call Velra got yesterday from Warlow informing her of the results of the Guardian investigation into how the fuck Sorin escaped from The Void, it got me thinking.”
“Thinking, because Dark Fae mind-meddling was used?”
“The fact it was used on an Ancient, the guard in Sorin’s section of that supernatural prison who opened the damn gate for him and let him out.”
I folded my arms across my chest. “Dark Fae magic, when potent enough, has been known to impact even Ancients before, to even override their own coercion ability.”
“I had Cornelius send me the investigation documentation. I wanted to see for myself. I guess he took pity on me in my current state and convinced Ryker to allow me access.” He gritted his teeth. “Ry probably figured there’s not much I can do to cause issues in my current powerless state, right?”
“Sylas—”
“Either way,” he said, holding up his hand and cutting me off.
“According to the investigation, there were no puncture wounds. The guard wasn’t injected with an elixir, which is one way Dark Fae mind-meddling can be achieved.
Another is through ingestion, and that was ruled out also.
So that means the wielder would have had to call their power and infect the guard that way.
An Ancient Vampire with incredible reflexes.
It’s also not just a matter of calling power, it has to grow as the caster chants, then it has to be sustained.
” He gestured at the spell. “Three paragraphs worth of invocations to get through. That’s how complicated and multifaceted this spell is to be able to do what it does to the mind of powerful supernatural beings. ”
“You’re suggesting that it wasn’t possible to achieve this at all. Not against an Ancient.”
“Correct. The guard would have felt the presence of power being called before the spell was ever able to begin. He also didn’t remember a thing, didn’t recall letting Sorin out, didn’t recall any fucking thing.
When I’ve rarely had to resort to puppeteering a vampire, I can ensure that they don’t remember me doing so.
That guard reported losing time, which has been put down to this Dark Fae spell. ”
“But you believe a necromancer was involved?”
“I’m saying they had to be, that the Dark Fae spell component was used as merely a cover.
And with it being able to be used as a cover and not actually violate the mind of the Ancient in question, it means this magic, this spell…
it can be controlled by the spellcaster and even nullified.
It was in the vampire’s system but not actually activated. ”
“Left dormant, enough to serve as misdirection.”
“Precisely. Spells of this nature have immediate effects. With that not being the case here and the spell being dormant within a being’s system, we’re looking at a much more dangerous situation.
Those infected having that unknowingly in their system for a long time, which could impact their body chemistry, their minds, on a more fundamental basis.
Not just for the immediate impact of the spell, of having somebody do your bidding, like vampiric coercion, necromantic domination, that sort of thing.
Now, in order to develop an effective antidote, this facet needs to be considered and further researched. ”
I scrubbed my hand over my face. “The fact that a necromancer was likely involved in Sorin’s release is also of a great concern. Especially when paired with the murders of five necromancers all happening around the same time.”
“Five?”
“My spell located another a couple of days ago, also found murdered.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I didn’t think it necessary.”
“You mean, you were worried I’d have a breakdown over it, knowing that yet another chance at me being cured was killed—literally?”
“Sylas, I—”
“It was a week and a half ago, the day Cornelius performed the binding spell on me. I had a mild breakdown immediately afterward. That’s all. Nothing since.”
Yes, because he had been heavily immersed in his research the entire time since. The only time he took a break was to eat with us or to make love. Then there was also sleep. But any other time he was conscious he kept himself incredibly busy, non-stop about it.
“You also haven’t mentioned it once since your magic was bound.”
He flinched.
But then he shifted his weight, his fingers clenching around his journal, averting his gaze. “Is that what you’d prefer? Me to wallow in something I can’t currently change? To fall apart? To be a weak little fuck about it?”
There it was.
That word. Weak.
He followed it up with a bitter laugh. “Come on, Cassius, do you really think this is the first time I’ve found myself powerless? I deal in complex, high-level magical architecture. Things happen.”
“I think this is the first time you’ve found yourself magically powerless since you lost your family before you’d come of age and schooled yourself in the magical arts to such a significant degree.”
His jaw ticked.
But of course he had a rebuttal once more.
“Well, my family is long dead and fucking buried, so I don’t find myself in the same circumstances, do I? And those I have allowed close to me are powerful supernatural beings who can definitely hold their own against whatever enemies may come our way. Twice, then. Twice your point is moot.”
“Hmm. You are correct that the circumstances are different. You see, you are still exceedingly powerful. Your knowledge base rivals that of myself, Cornelius Martel, perhaps even approaching that of Ryker Morgan’s, especially with your gift of devising solutions to the seemingly impossible.
You currently being without your magic does not negate that.
It doesn’t even so much as touch it. With the enemies that we find ourselves confronted by, that is exactly what is needed.
Not magical might, but what you bring to the table.
Because despite great power, our enemies are not deterred. They have already hurt us.”
He stared at me for several moments, his expression briefly softening, before a smile graced his lips.
And then he cleared his throat and said, “That’s what I’ve been trying to hold to as well.
And with that in mind, when it comes to what we were talking about, I believe there’s a strong case to be made for the attack on Velra not being about Sorin’s personal hatred for her, that it was much more than that.
I believe it was engineered down to the tiniest detail, the reactions from each of us being anticipated by Puritas and whoever this necromancer is that they allied themselves with in order to free Sorin from The Void. ”
“Yes. With your revelation about the investigation, I would call it a certainty.”
He arched an eyebrow. “What do you know?”
“Excuse me?”
“You didn’t tell me about the fifth necromancer. You’re keeping something else off my radar too in a misguided bid to protect my mental state, which, as you can see, is nowhere near fragile like you’d worried.”