Chapter One
Angelica-One year later
T he cafe was crowded for a week day. I assumed it was due to the unseasonably warm weather and the first day in two weeks that it wasn’t raining.
I sipped my tea and wished I had the appetite for the scones in front me. Of all the meetings I’d had over the years where the subject was one dangerous, potentially world ending artifact after another, I would’ve thought I’d be used to it all by now.
But I suppose this is very different. It’s personal in a way all the other artifacts never were.
For the hundredth time I looked at the photo on my phone, and still couldn’t quite believe my eyes.
Viktor Raines, my husband’s partner at the Archive three decades ago. I hadn’t seen him in almost as long, had honestly thought he was dead. Hoped actually; one less person for me to potentially strangle if I ever saw again.
Yet, here he was, showing his face clear as day while holding one half of an artifact of such catastrophic power that if the council knew it existed, they’d definitely go to the extreme to see it neutralized. And that was why they didn’t know about this little tea time I was about to have with Viktor.
In the last four years I’d seen things that should haunt me, the results of artifacts that were both horrific and wonderful. Items that were as capable of good as they were of devastation on a global scale. Some produced torment so personal that the agents handling it were now permanently disabled.
I’d done things that I could hardly admit to, things that I was proud of, things that I had no idea how to feel about.
And yet, with all of that, nothing had upset my inner equilibrium more than this fucking picture.
He held a Ptolemaic astrolabe, the carvings still prominent in spite of its age. And the way he looked into the lens of the camera told me two things.
One, he knew the camera was there and didn’t care.
Two, he wanted me to know exactly what he had.
But why?
Was it to tell me I was doomed?
Was it to shove in my face that he’d found it after all these years of both of us searching?
Although found is a very poor word choice. Stole is more like it.
That was how I even knew about this. A shipment of artifacts was stolen recently. It had been far more aggressive than the usual MO of the Protectors, with the ship’s crew all dead and the ship itself sunk. We thought the cargo was lost, until someone had sent pictures of a secret Protectors installation in the Alps where they were unboxing what had been on that ship. Most everyone had masks on to protect themselves from contamination.
Except Viktor.
I hadn’t paid much attention to the manifest of this shipment, especially when we were desperately trying to find out if any more living artifacts had been created. So if I had really looked at what we were getting, I would’ve had much more security, taken more precautions.
But I had believed the astrolabe was lost, just like everything else having to do with Alexander the Great’s sundial. I should have known better after working here.
The Secret Archive was charged with protecting mankind from mystical objects too powerful to be left in the hands of the public. Our agents scoured the world on dangerous missions to find them, while our specialists discovered the extent of the artifacts’ powers and origins, and how best to store them. The London office was currently the headquarters and I had been Director for four years, a job I was as conflicted about now as I had been when I accepted the position.
My family had a complicated relationship with the Archive, and that was actually putting it mildly.
My husband, David, had once been one of their best agents, until he was exposed to intense Celestial energy from an artifact and absorbed it. The energy gave him powers that had transformed him into a hero our city named Arch Angel.
But over time, the power became too much for him to handle. It split his soul in two. One half the hero, the other half a nightmare villain named Specter. Even when David managed to remain as one entity, he couldn’t seem to keep the darkness at bay. By the time he was locked in a mystical prison, David had become abusive and cruel to me and our four children.
My oldest son broke him out of the prison in the hopes we could cure him but David died only moments after my daughter-in-law had performed the spell to free him of his dark side.
Over the years, when Francesca was in power, my two oldest children were forced to work for the Archive. Francesca had become obsessed with figuring out how to empower agents with artifacts, and all four of my children had inherited power from their father. Much to my relief, unlike David, they could handle it since they were born with Celestial DNA. And Francesca tried to exploit that.
It splintered our family, nearly killing my oldest son, Derek.
After all that, I know everyone was shocked, even appalled, to hear that I would take her position. But I had believed I could protect my family, and others like them, from further exploitation. So far, that had been the only thing I could count as a success during my time with the Archive.
And it could all unravel if I don’t find a way to stop Viktor from using what’s in that astrolabe.
The hair on my arms stood up and a prickling feeling went down my spine, like a ghostly finger gliding down my skin. I looked around, feeling eyes on me but seeing nothing out of the ordinary. This had been happening for weeks now, and I wasn’t sure if it was Viktor trying to throw me off my game, or something else.
Not for the first time since he left, a traitorous part of me wanted to see Trey sauntering through the cafe toward me. For months after he’d told me he was leaving, I looked for him around every corner, hoped to hear him telling me to stop working and eat something. In the middle of the night, when I couldn’t sleep, I would pick up my phone and start to dial his number only to remember that he wasn’t here.
I hated that I’d let myself become attached to yet another man who was bound to magic.
Hell, he essentially is magic. Dragons are a whole other breed of Supernatural. Magic is in their blood, literally. And I had to go and…
I couldn’t finish that thought any more than I could give Trey that kiss he’d asked for before leaving.
Admitting to any of it wasn’t an option. I had promised myself never again would I allow myself to become attached to anyone. David had broken me, on so many levels. It was impossible to imagine loving anyone as I had him, even if I wanted to.
I have a job to do. The whole world depends on me. I can’t afford distractions. No matter what sexy packages they come in.
My phone dinged with a text from the hostess of the cafe, letting me know that Viktor had just walked in. I sat up straighter, letting out a breath of relief that I had my work to distract me from the ever-growing hole Trey’s departure had left in my life.
Viktor ambled onto the outdoor patio of the cafe as if he hadn’t a care in the world, lobbing a toothy grin at me that I did not return.
I’d forgotten how tall he was, and the dark hair that had been thick and wavy was now almost completely white. When I’d known him, his skin had always had a golden tan from his hours spent swimming, but now he was pale and fine lines crowded around his mouth and eyes. He still knew how to dress, wearing a tailored pair of linen trousers and a button down with the sleeves rolled up. A simple gold watch graced his lean wrist and there was a thick gold band around his wedding ring finger.
“Angelica, it has been far too long,” he said, sitting down when he realized I wasn’t going to get up and even shake his hand.
“Or not long enough, depending on how you look at it.”
He chuckled and shook his head.
“Still the spitfire I see. Of course, you’d have to be to take on Francesca’s job. Bold move and completely unexpected. When I heard about it, I refused to believe it at first.”
“And how did you hear about it?” I asked, not even trying to be subtle. “Was there an organization wide bulletin?”
His dark eyes sparkled and he leaned back in his chair, taking me in.
“I was hoping you wouldn’t want to beat around the bush,” he admitted.
“What I want is to not prolong this conversation. And so thank you for not playing games. Although I have to admit, I never saw you as someone to work for the Protectors.”
His lips parted and a deep throated laugh poured out, souring the air around me.
“Work for?” he asked.
My eyes widened and I drew in a breath.
“You lead them,” I said, furious that he caught me flat footed on this one.
“I do indeed.”
He’s not going to reveal anything if he thinks he has the upper hand with me. I have to throw him off, get him reacting.
“I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised. You were always a power hungry arse, whining about being snubbed.”
“No, I was overlooked in favor of those who played politics.” Now it was Viktor’s turn to try and hide his anger. “Or those who were special, like David.”
“You think David wanted any of that? He was trying to protect you when that artifact blasted him. Though I’ll admit I wish he’d let you have it. Ten to one you wouldn’t have had the stones to handle that power.”
“Well,” his lips curled in a sneer, “I suppose we will find out, now won’t we?”
And there it was, the answer to what the hell he wanted with the astrolabe, given far too easily and with far too much confidence.
What game is he playing, telling me like that? I didn’t rile him enough for it to simply burst out. Also why even tell me? Why ask for this meeting? It can’t just be to rub it in my face, could it?
I did my best to hide the way his words made my stomach plunge with dread. Alexander the Great’s sundial had the ability to send someone back in time to a specific point in their past. It had allowed Alexander to change his defeats, to inflict horrifying punishments on those who angered him. But in the end, it couldn’t save him from death.
I knew now that every artifact had a cost, every single one. And with an artifact that had as much power as the sundial, that cost was significant.
At least he only has one piece of the sundial and with any luck, he won’t get the second half.
I couldn’t think about the implications of Viktor going back in the past and changing the moment when David absorbed that power. The ripples it would have on so many lives were unimaginable.
True, there had been a time when I would’ve given anything to save my family from the nightmare our lives had been. But my children had grown into exceptional adults, using their pain to make themselves stronger as they build their own families. And I’d be damned if I let anyone take that from them.
Not to mention the fact that Viktor could very well kill David the moment he acquires that Celestial power. In which case none of my children would be born, a thought that sent equal parts panic and fury through me. All four of them might be grown, but no one, absolutely no one, threatened my children without consequences.
And then there were the broader consequences of what would happen to the Archive and the world. Francesca had been a psychopath, but I had no doubt that Viktor would not only ensure her reign never happened, but he wouldn’t let anyone else take over either. He’d be an extraordinarily powerful megalomaniac and the implications of that were chilling.
The Archive is, at its base definition, a repository for the most terrifying weapons the world has ever seen. We were all lucky Francesca never wanted to use the threat of that on world leaders. But Viktor is just power hungry and short sighted enough to do it.
The thought of world powers jockeying for favor with this man, of those artifacts going to the highest and likely most sadistic leader, made my mouth go dry. It wouldn’t just be my family’s lives that would be destroyed, it could potentially be trillions.
“You’re insane,” I whispered.
“No, I’m not. I’m thinking of you and your family.”
I scoffed at that and pinned him with a glare.
“Bullshit. You’re only thinking of what that power can get you.”
“Think about it, Angelica,” he leaned forward, a manic gleam in his eyes. “If I take the power then David never has to become Arch Angel or Specter. Your children can have a real father, not the monster they got.”
“Watch it,” I gritted out. “It wasn’t…he wasn’t in control.”
The old excuses were shockingly easy to slip back into, as was the old guilt for having parroted them for so damn long.
No, the fault wasn’t his. It was mine for letting him stay around our children as long as I did. But I can’t be thinking of that, not in front of this man.
“You’re still in pain from that, I understand. It’s hard to move past.”
His false empathy made me want to gag.
“But,” he continued with a grin, “if I do this then all of that goes away like it never happened. I know you’ve thought about it, probably more than I have.”
“Why are you telling me your villain plans for world domination? You have the astrolabe, why aren’t you on your way to finding the second half of the sundial and enacting this wonderful change?”
“Because I want you with me on this.”
I stared at him, positive I’d misheard. But when he held my gaze, a measure of sincerity in his eyes, I let loose a laugh.
“You can’t be serious?”
“I know you researched the sundial with David. You two were obsessed with it even before he stopped talking to me.”
“You mean when he stopped you from stealing artifacts.”
“I was trying to help him, but that’s in the past. A past that is unfair and should be changed. You know I’m right.”
I once had a well rehearsed litany of reasons why I should be able to use the sundial to change our fate. But now, I knew, better than ever before, that nothing justified tampering with something as delicate and intricate as time itself.
“No,” I said, starting to get to my feet. “That artifact needs to be in a dark containment vault. It’s too powerful.”
Viktor leapt up and snagged my arm in an iron grip. Again I felt eyes on me, and I swore someone growled but it was more of a rumbling sensation in my gut than something I heard with my ears.
“I will do this, with or without you,” Viktor snarled, dragging me back to this moment. “But I’d rather do it with you.”
I frowned as I studied him, sifted through his words until something wonderful occurred to me.
“You don’t know where the bowl is, do you?”
His jaw tightened.
“Do you know the ceremony to ensure you actually change what you want to change and not some random event?”
More tightening.
I let loose another full throated laugh, the situation was too delicious.
“So you have nothing but an astrolabe that you probably have no idea how to open. And even if you do, all you’ve got then is one half of a bifurcated artifact that will kill you if you ever try to use it. Tell me, Viktor, do you know how to bargain with someone when you’re the one who is the needy party?”
I tore my arm loose and started to walk away when his parting shot froze my soul.
“I’ll succeed one way or another. And when I do, I will kill David.” I heard him step closer. “Slowly, in one of those damned labs that Francesca loved so much. You’ll never see it coming. Maybe I’ll wait until you squeeze out a few of those kids and take them too. Or maybe I’ll wipe him from your memory and convince you that you’re really in love with me. And every time I’m inside of you, I’ll make you remember him, just for a moment so I can see the horror on your face right before I make you climax. I will make your life a living hell unless you help me. How’s that for bargaining?”
I could hear the truth in the cold tone of his voice. There was a chance that he’d do it no matter what I chose, but if I refused him, Viktor would absolutely follow through on his threat.
That is, if he can reunite the pieces and perform the ceremony. He knew about the shipment. He might suspect where the map fragment I have is hidden. He might even know some of the ancient words to activate the sundial. And if he finds my notes on the artifact, he’ll know the rest. It’s risky, too risky. But helping him is out of the question so there’s only one thing I can do. Find the rest of the sundial before he does.
I turned slowly after taking a second to collect myself. After three decades among the rich and bloodthirsty of America and four years as Director of the Archive, I’d perfected the ability to hide what I was feeling behind a mask that could make some grown men piss themselves. This was the look I gave him, infused with a healthy dose of loathing.
“I will never help you, Viktor. But I will make you a promise. You will never use that sundial, and when I apprehend you, you will never see the light of day again.”
He smirked at me.
“You know, as much as I wanted you by my side for this, there was a small part of me that wanted you to refuse. You know what they say about payback, don’t you, Angelica dear?”
“That she’s a cold bitch who always pays her debts in full? Buckle up, because she’s coming for you.”
And I turned on my heel, mind clear with what I had to do next.