6. Valtu #2
Then Aleksi says something in a language I don’t understand and the demon loosens its tail, whipping it right off me. It fixes its attention on Aleksi now and the tail that was at my neck is shooting past me.
Saara screams and I feel the magic in my bonds disappear, letting me loose. I stumble backwards, out of the way, falling to the floor and I watch as the demon quickly wraps its tail around Aleksi’s neck, his blue eyes bulging out, his fingers going to the tail in a feeble attempt to get it off.
We all know it’s useless.
With one tight yank, the black tail squeezes Aleksi’s neck so tight that there’s a crush of bone and then a loud popping sound and Aleksi’s head flies clean off.
It lands on the ground beside me, staring up at me with eyes that blink once then close for good, blood pouring from the severed neck.
I yelp in surprise, scrambling to my feet, and look back at the demon, prepared for me to be next.
It’s coming over to me now and before I can react, it picks up the book with its tail, holding it up in the air for a moment before it places it in my hands. Then it drops to all fours and turns back into a shadow, slinking back into the darkness from which it came.
I stare at the book in my shaking hands for just a moment but it’s long enough for Saara to throw her magic my way. An invisible hand shoves me backward against the wall and she does the same to Bitrus and Kate, both of them thrown across the altar.
The book drops out of my hands and Saara is running toward me screaming, but then Lenore suddenly appears beside Saara and literally trips her up. Saara goes flying to the floor and Lenore gives me a nod before she loosens the spell that was pushing me back.
“Took you long enough,” I say to her.
“You’re the one who decided to go off script,” Solon says, appearing on the other side of me.
“We got here as quick as we could. Those plague doctors are something else.” He glances at the floor and I watch as his eyes begin to glow, his pupils dilating.
“Is that it? Is that the book?” he whispers, voice filled with awe.
Saara screeches something, stealing my attention but then Lenore is tackling her, the both of them rolling on the ground in an actual physical fight. “Solon!” Lenore yells for him.
Solon stares at the book, transfixed, then suddenly snaps out of it. He looks over and eyes them in surprise, perhaps enjoying the sight of the two vamps wrestling, but then jumps in to support Lenore.
I pick up the book and hold it to my chest and it requires a lot of effort to take in my surroundings and realize what’s happening.
Bitrus is with Kate and he’s helping her to her feet, telling her—compelling her—to go to the docks at the far end of the island where there are a few boats, which she can take back to the city, and that she won’t remember a single thing from tonight.
She nods and runs off and I feel relief in knowing she’s okay and that she won’t remember any of this, but even more relief that I finally have what I came here for.
And the demon gave it to me.
It gave it to me .
That has to mean something.
It wants me to bring back Dahlia.
“Valtu,” Solon says, and I look over. He and Lenore have Saara lying flat on her back, arms and legs spread like a pentagon. “What do you want us to do with her?”
I stare at Saara. I have the book now so I don’t really care what happens to her and she knows it.
“Is Van Helsing ready at the boat?” I ask Solon.
“I’m hoping so,” he says, wiping his hands on his coat.
I look to Lenore and raise my brow. “Got any gasoline?”
She nods, understanding. “Need a light?”
“No, I got one.”
I go over to Saara and crouch down at her legs, tucking the book under my arm. I stick my hand out in front of her until flames appear on my fingertips.
“This is the only magic I know,” I tell her, waving the flames over her as she stares up at me, her mouth moving but no sound coming out. “By tomorrow, I’ll know a lot more. Too bad you won’t be around to see it.”
Lenore makes a small gesture with her finger at Saara and then walks away, Solon following. I place my fingers at Saara’s feet and watch as the flames leap from my hands onto her calves, watching as the fire travels up Saara’s thighs, to her stomach, then her chest, her body igniting.
She’s screaming soundlessly, blue eyes filled with pain and horror as she’s being burned alive.
I can only grin.
I walk over to Aleksi’s severed head and pick it up, tossing it over to Saara so it lands right beside her. Only fair she doesn’t die alone.
Then I turn and hurry after the others, knowing that Lenore probably has this whole island set to burn up. I can only hope Kate makes it off the island on time, though I know at least the other end of the island is far from the buildings.
We get outside into the fog and are just coming to the docks, Van Helsing starting up the motorboat, when explosions start and the buildings go up in flames. I swear I finally hear Saara scream, then nothing.
* * *
The boat ride back to the city feels like it takes forever, especially as we have to take the back routes in.
With the buildings in flames, fire boats will arrive shortly to fight the blaze and even with Lenore holding us under her cloaking spell, there’s a chance we could collide with another boat.
All of that doesn’t seem to matter now, not with the book cradled against my chest, hidden under my coat.
I can feel its power seeping into me, something dark and smoky that leaches through my pores and into my bloodstream.
It calls to me like a siren, seductive and destructive.
Everything I need to get Dahlia back is right here in my arms. I have no need for anything else.
We’ve just docked the boat and stepped into my backyard, moving swiftly as to not call attention to ourselves while the misty air fills with the sounds of the fire boats, when Lenore’s cell phone rings.
We all exchange a look, perhaps picking up on the strange energy of the call, and step inside the back doors to my kitchen as she answers her phone.
“Hello?” she says into the phone. “Ames?”
A shrieking sound emits from the other end and Lenore’s eyes widen.
“What? Slow down,” Lenore says, sounding panicked. “What happened?”
All of stop and listen, hearing Amethyst as clear as day from the other side of the world.
“They took him!” Amethyst cries out. “They took Leif!”
“Who is Leif?” Bitrus whispers to me. I’m not entirely sure myself but Solon quietly informs us, “Their son.”
“Amethyst, who took him?” Lenore asks. “What happened?”
Amethyst just screeches and cries, a heartrending sound if there ever was one. I grip the book tighter to me, once again reminded what loss can bring us, how deeply it cuts and scars us.
There’s a muffled sound and then Wolf’s voice comes through, his voice deep but strained. “Lenore, is Solon with you?”
“He’s right here,” Lenore says.
“I can hear you,” Solon says toward the phone. “Wolf, what happened?”
There’s the sound of Wolf’s ragged breathing while Amethyst continues to wail. I hear another male talking in the background, then a baby crying. “We were ambushed. They broke through the wards. Witches.”
My chest goes cold.
Witches.
“Witches?” Lenore repeats. “Do you know who?”
“One knew who you were. Ezra says his name was Atlas Poe.”
“Atlas Poe!” Lenore cries out, looking at us incredulously.
“And the other was an older man, wizard, whatever the fuck you want to call him. I think Atlas said his name, but it could have been a last name. Billings or Bellamy? Something like that.”
A fist tightens around my heart at the sound of Bellamy’s name.
“Oh my god,” Lenore says, and I feel the world starting to tilt on its axis, enough so that I have to lean back against the fridge, my nails digging into the book’s worn cover even tighter. I swear I hear the book calling to me.
Yes, yes, open me. I’m all you need, the book says. None of this matters.
“Do you recognize the name?” Wolf asks, his voice going louder with desperation.
“I recognize both their names,” Lenore says grimly. “They’re witches, Atlas was expelled from the guild years ago, and Bellamy, Bellamy is supposed to be the head of the guild. But I don’t understand why they took Leif? Why would they target a baby? Is Liam okay?”
But now I’m walking away from them and around the corner to the living room, my feet moving as if on their own accord.
There’s a part of me that wants my revenge on Bellamy for what he did for Dahlia.
And yes, of course the fact that the witches are now abducting vampire babies for no apparent reason.
But mostly for Dahlia. That revenge has been burning in me ever since her death, because I know it’s what she’d want me to do, I know she’d want me to avenge her parent’s death, avenge the life of service and murder that Bellamy subjected her to.
Yet now that I have the book, the book has me. I won’t dare be separated from it. This book holds the key to my future. It holds the key to what I really want, which isn’t revenge, but actually bringing Dahlia back to life. Only then can the two of us seek out her vengeance.
Their conversation continues in the other room but I’m not listening. I already have the book on the coffee table, my fingers tracing the strange cover, made from some animal hide, both pebbled and smooth, with fine hair in patches.
“Valtu,” Solon’s voice says sternly and when I look up I realize that all of them are standing in front of me. From the look on their faces, I think they may have been there for some time. Perhaps I’ve been in a trance.
My throat feels thick and I attempt to clear it. “Yes?”
Van Helsing frowns. “Didn’t you hear any of that?”
“Valtu, we have a problem on our hands,” Solon says.
I can’t help but laugh, the sound a boom echoing off the walls, making the string instruments sing. “Now you realize we have a problem? How astute of you, Solon. Yes, we have a problem, I believe it started when I accidentally murdered my wife!” I practically yell the last part.
“Hey,” Lenore says softly, coming closer to me but I practically growl, swiping the book out of her reach.
“We’re not interested in the book, Valtu.
We know that belongs to you now. You took it fair and square.
But our friends are in a great deal of danger and we’re going to need you—and the book—to help them. ”
I slowly shake my head, averting my eyes. “I don’t think so.”
“Valtu,” Bitrus warns. “We have been working together like a team so far. No reason to stop now.”
“Yes there is,” I say with deliberation. “I have what I wanted. This book will help me bring Dahlia back. It chose me.”
“Black magic isn’t to be trifled with—” Solon says but then I’m leaping across the coffee table and on him like a flash, slamming him against the wall, holding the book under his chin like a knife. Sick of his fucking lectures.
“Don’t you dare tell me what to do,” I snarl at him, baring my teeth.
“You’ve been collecting magic for centuries and everyone turned a blind eye.
You barter with witches for your powers, you hand over vampires to them like a traitor.
There’s no difference between that and me using a book that is accessible to us, especially not one taken from vampires that were going to use that to destroy the human race. ”
His pupils go to pinpricks and I know what he’s thinking. He’s afraid I’m going to do the same thing.
“I just want Dahlia back,” I add, rather pitifully, my voice cracking.
“And none of us will stop you from trying,” he manages to say, his throat bobbing against the book’s spine, “but this is about more than that. You want revenge for her, don’t you?
You want to kill the man that killed her parents, who made her into the witch she was, who did the same thing to many others who probably didn’t deserve it? I know you do.”
“Not as much as I want her,” I say. I let him go and turn away, going to the end of the room, my grip so tight around the book that I feel my skin has fused with it. “I just want her.”
“Valtu,” Lenore says, her eyes wide and pleading, “Bellamy did all of that to Dahlia. But he also invaded our home. Wolf, Amethyst, and Ezra fought them off by the skin of their teeth. Those witches are powerful, powerful enough to nearly destroy three vampires in a ward-protected home and abduct one of their children. Look, we know this is bad timing, but we won’t have any luck fighting back or finding them without that book’s help. ”
I give her a tight smile. “You don’t need my help. You’re a witch. Solon has magic. You’ll be just fine.”
“We won’t be,” Lenore says. “I know when I’m outmatched.”
“Don’t turn your back on us,” Solon says, more of a warning than a request.
“I’m not turning my back on you,” I tell them, the guilt starting to creep up.
“I want to help. I will help. One day, I promise. I pledge myself and the book to help with whatever you need. But right now, I don’t even know how to use the book.
It’s too dangerous to travel with, and too dangerous to use.
Solon, you just said that black magic isn’t to be trifled with.
I agree. Let me learn the book first. Then we’ll talk about revenge. ”
“There is no time.” Solon shakes his head and sighs in disappointment. “We’re going to have to fly back. Tonight.”
I raise my chin, having made my decision. “Then I wish you a pleasant flight.”
Yes , the book seems to hiss to me. You’ve made the right choice.