Chapter Ten
Trey
I looked at River, her skin gray and eyes wide as she stumbled into her husband. If I had felt it so sharply, it must’ve been like someone had stabbed River, whose connection to the magic in the ether would’ve been very strong.
“Why don’t you sit down?”
“No, I have to disable the spells,” she heaved, vomiting onto the ground.
“You’re not doing anything but resting,” Angelica declared. “I might be able to siphon magic from the runes on my gun to be able to dispel what you cast.”
River shook her head.
“It’s not that simple.”
“You can’t walk,” Derek protested.
“Okay,” she took a breath, “I can cast from here. My magic is strong, it’s my physical body that’s being affected by the amount of power the other Witch is siphoning. I’ll work on them from here.”
“You just focus on whatever you cast to protect inside the mine,” Angelica said. “I can get rid of the ones I cast inside of the safe.”
River nodded, a sheen of sweat covering her face.
Or at least I hope that’s sweat and not any rain coming in.
While Angelica and I prepared the ropes for repelling into the elevator shaft, Derek twisted his cane while speaking what I thought might be Sumerian. Before my eyes he became younger, his skin glowed golden and his cane became a small sword of all things.
A cacophony of thunder exploded above us, reminding me of the few war zones I’d been in with how the walls shook. My blood pumped hard through me, adrenaline making my body hum with the anticipation of a fight. I could smell Angelica’s fear, the sound of her heart a quick thrum in my ears. I was glad she was with me and not waiting up above, I wasn’t sure my mating instincts would’ve let me leave her side in a situation like this one.
When we were ready, we pushed off into a controlled fall as River sent her ball of Witch light down into the darkened shaft with us. I could feel the spells hiding the safe crackling around me the further we descended and I held still at the bottom, just in case they were incendiary. I had some pretty tough skin, but if it was a strong kind of magical fire, it could wound me.
The shaft was too narrow for my wings, but shallow enough that I might able to jump up and use my talons to pull myself up along the walls.
“It’s safe,” River called.
I unhooked myself from the rope and followed Angelica into the tunnel that branched off from where we were. Twenty feet later, a hole in the wall appeared where the Witch light had stopped. An old safe was wedged into it.
“Okay, I have to do the combination,” Angelica knelt down and pulled out a leather journal.
As she worked on the spell, my unease grew. Every instinct in my body was starting to wake up and tell me that we needed to get out of here, safe or not. I began to pace, checking the passage in front of us and behind us for anyone. It was empty, except for us, and the thunder had miraculously stopped, leaving an ominous silence in its wake.
“I’ve only got one more,” Angelica said.
And then a drop of water fell on my face, then another, and another. Within seconds it was streaming down the walls.
“Rain,” I whispered in horror.
“I just need another minute.”
“We don’t have it.”
Angelica closed her eyes and murmured the spell but her voice was getting softer as the sound of water became louder. Suddenly the ground was a massive puddle around my ankles.
“That’s it, we are out of time,” I said.
“Just wait! This last one is tricky. If I mess it up, we’re in deep shit.”
“We’re about to be in deep water,” I muttered.
I looked down the tunnel and concentrated on the sound of the water. It was getting louder, far more than a simple trickle. I glanced at the safe where it was ensconced in the wall. It was old, probably reinforced metal so it was bound to be heavy. But the door latch made for a good handle and it wasn’t open yet so it should hold firm.
“Can I touch the safe?” I asked.
“This would be easier if you’d shut up!”
“Angelica, this tunnel will flood in a few minutes, answer the damn question!”
“Yes, you can touch it, though I’m not sure—”
I reached into the hole in the wall and yanked the damn thing out by the handle, then settled it on my shoulder like it weighed next to nothing, which right now it did. The instinct to protect Angelica was infusing my muscles with added strength, and there was a growing impulse to grab her and flee. My primal Dragon was being drawn to the surface by the danger. And while it afforded me a greater ability to protect her, it was also going to make putting him back in his place more difficult at the end of this.
A worry for after we get out of this.
She stared up at me with huge eyes made all the more shocked by the watery light.
“You’re strong but not usually that strong. How are you—?”
“I’ll explain later, for now, we need to move.”
I wouldn’t explain it though, not until I knew Angelica wouldn’t run from me.
I grabbed her arm and dragged her up, moving her in front of me as we ran. The ground had now turned from sloshy puddles to knee deep and rising fast. The water was making it difficult to maneuver quickly, though she was trying. I was tempted to pick her up and carry her when we finally reached the elevator shaft and a boom roared behind us.
All it took was a second of pausing like idiots and we were overcome by a raging stream of water. It swept Angelica’s legs out from under her and she went under the rushing water. I was slammed into the wall to my right at the same time, the water rising so fast that it was now up to my stomach.
“Angelica!”
I dropped the fucking safe, and dove down to find her. The current was swirling backwards further into the tunnel. I could see her pop up as the water raged like it had a mind of its own, dragging her down again.
If it’s magical, it does.
I growled and let my hybrid form take over. I leapt onto the ceiling and used my talons to run along until I was ahead of Angelica. Then I jumped down and caught her in the muddy current. The water pulled at me unnaturally and I let my Dragon marks flare. They weren’t just pretty adornments or signs of my lineage. These marks were meant to protect me and my family in times of need. The drawback was that it wouldn’t last long and it would eventually leave my scales vulnerable to wounds if I depleted them.
The magic in my markings repelled the spell with a flash of bright blue light, and the water calmed enough for me to get my feet under me and pick up Angelica. She sputtered and coughed as she dragged air into her lungs. Her hair was plastered to her face and she was soaked to the bone, her body shaking from the chill and the adrenaline.
“Thank you,” she coughed.
I nodded and started toward the exit. My magic hadn’t stopped the flood and it was now at my chest. The ceiling in this part of the mine was shallow enough that the spikes on my head were brushing against it, and soon the water would be above both our heads.
When I made it to the elevator shaft, I reached down and found the safe where I’d dropped it and put it back on my shoulder. But the problem was, I couldn’t climb with both the safe and Angelica in my arms.
“I’ll get you up there and then come back for the safe,” I said.
“No, I can climb the ropes.”
I eyed her bedraggled body, still shaking a little and held her tighter. Letting her out of my arms felt like the worst thing I could do, my primal side snarling viciously at the thought.
My mate needed protection and warmth, she needed to be held.
“Trey,” she pressed her hand to my face, snapping me out of the internal battle. “I promise, I can do it. Let me go.”
My hand tightened just a bit more before I gave her a short nod, not trusting my voice. I brought her over to the rope she’d used before and she got into position to scale the wall.
“Can you toss that up there?” she asked, motioning to the safe.
I looked up, trying to think as the cold, muddy water rose.
“I don’t know,” I admitted, unease opening up inside of me like a chasm. “You go, I’ll handle this.”
“You sure? I could— shit!”
Another rush of water came through, knocking us both against the rock wall. I almost dropped the safe again, my hands slippery both from the water and the fine dust on the safe, which was now a slick clay. The talons on my hand sunk into the metal of the safe as it started to slide off my shoulder and I suddenly knew exactly what to do.
“Go! I’ve got this!” I shouted at her.
I wrapped the rope around my hand and used the talons on my feet to find purchase in the rock wall. My tail and wings I kept hidden, knowing they’d only drag me down. I wrapped the rope more and more around my hand as I climbed, while my other hand’s talons continued to dig into the safe and firmly grip the slippery metal.
I was halfway up, the water swirling and gaining on me fast, when the first tings of bullets sounded above. My heart beat hard against my ribs, and my eyesight and hearing became acutely strong, to the point where it was almost overwhelming.
“She is in danger! Let me out! Let me out!”
My body started to elongate, razor sharp teeth piercing my lips as my snout began to form.
Stop! You’re too large for the mines, you’ll collapse the whole place!
Never had my primal side taken over so quickly, and it was partly my fear that I wouldn’t be able to stop him from breaking out and causing a cave in that seemed to get through to him. The other fear was that if he did come to the fore, if I did become the enormous blue and gold scaled Dragon, then I might lose control and hurt her son. I may even hurt her in the unavoidable cave in.
He retreated with a deafening roar that poured out of my still elongated mouth, causing rocks to drop from around me. Heartbeats were thundering from the people above me, and I could taste the fear alongside the sulfuric stench of powerful, dark magic.
The Witches are closer…probably at the entrance…if they keep this up they could flood the whole damn mine.
I had just breached the top of the shaft and pushed the safe off my shoulder when a flare of magic nearly blinded me. The crack and sputter of rock rained down on me again and I squinted against the dust in my eyes. When I could see again, I saw Derek, River and Angelica huddled against a small out cropping of rock, using it as cover to my right. To my left were the heartbeats of the assailants and my vision became unnaturally sharp, all the color leaching out of the world.
It was how my primal form saw things and I tensed, waiting for him to break out. But he didn’t. Instead, he loaned me his augmented vision so I could see further. And if the tingling in my muscles was any indication, he’d also done something to my body. I hadn’t even known that was possible, but I’d examine it later. Right now, my primal side and I were of one mind, one purpose: tear those that meant her harm limb from limb, paint the cave walls with their blood.
But first, I had to make sure she was safe.
As I pulled myself up, the dark water licked at my heels.
“We have to get out of here, this water is going to be up here in minutes!” I yelled, picking up the safe and running toward them.
The only response was bullets hitting the safe and my back. They stung like a bitch but none of them penetrated.
They’re not using magic ammunition. That’s good.
I plopped the safe down by Angelica, took her face in my hands and kissed her full on the mouth, heedless of her son and his wife, or the danger. I needed to feel her, taste her, know she was alright after almost losing her down there. Her hands were hard on my arms, skating up hurriedly and back down as if she were also searching for wounds.
“Oh, thank god you’re alright,” she breathed. “I thought— ”
Her voice faded as my eyes did a hurried inventory of her body, searching for injuries. When my eyes landed on tiny cuts on her face and hands my ears started to ring, and my blood pumped like furnace through me. I wasn’t sure when she’d sustained them, or how I’d missed them in the tunnels except that I was focused on getting us out of there. But the sight of her blood was making me lose control of my primal side, and it drew a vicious growl from my chest before I could stop it.
They’d made my mate bleed, they’d made her afraid and almost drowned her.
“And they must pay.”
Yes…yes they must and they will.
“I’ll be right back,” I rumbled.
“Trey, what are you…? Trey!” Angelica screamed as I ran full speed toward the men who were firing.
They shouted as I barreled toward them and roared. Smoke curled up through my nose, my Dragon’s fire begging to be unleashed. But if I did that, I’d shift into my primal form, so instead I just used what I could.
And as I moved, I realized that I was faster, stronger than before.
Bullets struck the scales covering my chest and legs, shredding my clothing as they intensified. I would have a map of bruises tomorrow, but I barely felt them now.
I reached the first male with a speed that was terrifying, his eyes bulging in terror when I seized his throat and squeezed. His bones crunched under my hands, tendons ripping, as warm blood spilled onto my fingers. I flung him to the side when his heart stopped, and spat a snarl at the next one. He was able to raise his gun and fire point blank at my stomach. It felt like someone had punched me, but it didn’t slow me down and I brushed the metal off me with a chuffing laugh.
“You think you can attack her?” I demanded, swiping my claws across his stomach. “You think you can make her afraid, try to harm her?” I swiped at his chest, downward to meet the claw marks on his stomach. “She is mine! You don’t touch what’s mine and live!”
The wet slide of viscera and blood hitting the muddy floor added a coppery tang to the scent of magic in the air. The man stared at his guts spilling from between his hands, mouth gaping just before he fell down in a heap on top of the slippery organs.
The third gunman was trembling as he raised his gun in a halfhearted attempt to defend himself. My hands were coated in the blood of his comrades, and I itched to add his to the gore.
But I heard Angelica behind me and I knew that killing a man pissing himself with terror was not something she’d like.
“Leave,” I hissed, “and never go near her again.”
He nodded, I think, it was hard to tell with how hard he was shaking and threw himself into a clumsy sprint.
The haze of blood lust was clouding my mind, my primal side keening with pride and thirst for the deaths of everyone who was involved in this attack. And I couldn’t remember why I couldn’t just let him out, why we couldn’t tear this mountain down and bury the fools who tried to harm my mate.
We were invincible like this, no weapon could hurt us, no one could escape our fury.
I chuckled as I stared at the bits of flesh caught in my talons.
“We could make them all pay,” I murmured in a voice that was no longer Mundane.
Drunk on power, I wasn’t paying close enough attention to my surroundings. I didn’t sense the woman that stepped out of the shadows until it was too late. Her spell flung me off my feet and onto my back, hard enough to knock the air from my lungs and some sense into my mind.
“Trey!” Angelica screamed.
“Get back!” I growled.
That was when I finally noticed that water churned around me, the cold and filth further bringing me out of the blood lust of my primal side.
You too, get back and don’t come out unless I ask you to.
He snapped and snarled at me, but did as I said, perhaps recognizing that we’d both gone too far because of his thirst for battle.
When I got to my feet, I saw that the passage was flooding behind us, and there were powerful Witches in front of us. One in particular who had just smacked me onto my ass.
“Dahlia, this is insane,” Angelica hissed at the woman who’d cast the spell. “You’re going to cause the entire mine to flood and then what?”
“My friends will make the waters recede and I’ll take the safe from your corpse,” she shrugged. “Or you could give it to me and I’ll call them off.”
“That won’t take care of the flooding,” River said. “The entire weather system in the area will be affected for weeks. This rain could last days after what you’ve done. It’s why we don’t mess with the weather, you idiot!”
“This doesn’t have to be any messier than it already is, Angelica,” Dahlia said, ignoring River’s comment. “Give me the safe and I will call off the Witches at the entrance. You will have a chance at escaping at the very least.”
“You don’t have to do this,” Angelica said. “Your anger is because of what I did, so your quarrel is with me, no one else has to get hurt. Have them hold the water back so everyone can get out.”
Dahlia’s eyes narrowed and I held my breath.
“No,” she finally said. “You made this difficult in London. Now deal with the consequences of your actions. The safe, or I’ll have them raise the waters faster.”
The water was now up to Angelica’s knees. Soon it would be chest level and we wouldn’t make it to the exit before it overwhelmed us.
But we can’t let her have the journal!
“If I give you the safe, you’ll let us go?” Angelica asked.
“I give you my word.”
“Swear it on your magic with blood.”
Her smile turned furious but she withdrew the ceremonial dagger at her side and slid it across her palm, reciting a binding spell that would have nasty consequences if she went back on this agreement.
“Give it to her,” Angelica ordered when she was done.
“Mom, you can’t be serious!” Derek shouted.
“Angelica, no, we’ll find another way,” I said at the same time.
“There isn’t one, and I’d rather live to fight another day.”
I retrieved the safe from where I’d dropped it and tossed it toward Dahlia. She caught it with a magical spell before it hit her legs and Dahlia glared daggers at me.
“Leave this alone now, Angelica. It’s not your fight anymore,” she said, before opening a portal and jumping through it.
The portal snapped closed behind her, leaving us in the quickly flooding cave.
Without another word, I picked up Angelica, while Derek did the same with River, and we bolted in the direction of the entrance.
The water was now around my hips and rising far too fast. It hit me then that Dahlia had bound herself in the agreement, but probably not the weather Witches. They could still be casting outside and causing the water to rise faster.
The cave boomed around us and chunks of rock fell from above into the water. I wasn’t sure if the Witches were making the damn thing collapse or if the water was weakening the structure of the place, but either way, dodging rocks while trying to move fast through swirling water was becoming difficult.
“Watch out!” Angelica shouted.
The rocks to my left began to fall and there was no way to move out of the way fast enough. I spun, gathering Angelica tight against me and shielding her from the boulder headed for us. But it didn’t hit.
I looked up and saw a net of golden magic wrapped around it before it fell a foot behind us. Ahead of us, River’s hand was outstretched, a trickle of blood coming out of her nose.
“Get closer!” she yelled. “I can do a shell around us but whatever the Witches did to the magic wells around here…I don’t have a lot of power. It will only last a minute or so.”
I kept close to Derek’s back as we traversed the now chest high waters.
“Get on my shoulders,” I said to Angelica as Derek did the same to River.
She climbed on and I held tight to her thighs while she grabbed hold of the spines on my head. It reminded of last night when she’d tried to use them to steer, which was an odd thing to think about as we fought not to drown in this Fates forsaken mine. Rocks clattered against the shield as we moved through the muddy waters. There would’ve been no way to avoid being hit without River’s shield, but I could tell that her strength was flagging. She sagged where she sat on Derek’s shoulders, and I suspected that his hands were the only thing holding her there.
At last we approached the steep incline that would lead to the entrance just as the magical shell dissipated and River collapsed. Derek caught her and screamed her name. There was something off in his voice, a deeper tenor that I’d not heard before, but I assumed it was adrenaline and worry for his wife. He clambered up the side of the incline, trying to hold onto her at the same time and sliding down over and over.
“Derek, this isn’t helping!” I yelled over the rushing water and grabbed his arm before he could try again.
He spun around and gripped my throat. He shouldn’t have been able to cut off my air with his bare hand but he did. The runes on his skin that he’d activated to give him extra strength and stamina had been glowing white, but now they turned red.
“Derek! Stop!” Angelica screeched on my shoulders.
Derek’s eyes were wild, his face reddening and muscles straining. I didn’t want to hurt him, but I had to get him off me. So I dug my talons into his forearm. The shock of the pain made him loosen his grip and I was able to force his hand away. When he reached for me again, I was ready and I seized his hand.
“I don’t know what’s going on but if you don’t stop we are all going to die here!” I screamed in his face. “Including River, so get a hold of yourself!”
He looked to where River was lying over his shoulder and with a gentleness that was at odds with the vicious way he’d been only a moment ago, he lowered her down, and cradled her in his arms.
“I can climb up the side,” I said, “and when I get there, give your mom a boost then the two of us will get River and you up. Alright?”
Derek’s jaw tensed and he just nodded as he stared at his wife.
I started to take Angelica off my shoulders, but instead of swimming to her son, she went to the opposite side of the tunnel. Her body was shaking, and I thought it was just the cold water and the situation, but then she looked back at Derek and what I saw in her eyes sent a shard of ice into my gut.
I’d seen her face down monsters twice her size, go toe-to-toe with Witches and psychopaths. This was the first time I’d seen her truly terrified, and it was because of her son.
There’s something else to this. Something I don’t know about her past.
“He won’t hurt you,” I said, forcing as much confidence into my voice as possible.
Her eyes were still glued to Derek, but she gave me a short nod.
“It won’t take me long, are you going to be okay?”
“Of course,” she swallowed and gave me a shaky smile.
I dug my talons into the rock under the water and climbed up quickly. When I reached the top, I laid on my stomach and reached down for Angelica. Derek was still holding River but he reached down with one massive hand and boosted her under her foot. Angelica leaped up to reach me and I pulled her up fast.
Next was River. Derek handed her up carefully and actually bared his fucking teeth at me when I was able to grab hold of her arm. I ignored it, sure that I would be the same way if someone was manhandling Angelica, even if it was to save her.
But that’s a Supernatural reaction, a primal instinct we all have. Derek is Mundane. He doesn’t have his Celestial side anymore. So what the fuck is this?
By the time I was laying River onto the ground, Derek was breaching the top of the tunnel. Silently, he scooped her up and all of us bolted for the exit. When we burst out into the desert, the afternoon sun was gone, replaced by a torrential downpour. Either the Witches hadn’t stopped their spells, or River was right; the weather was truly fucked for a while.
The ground was a muddy catastrophe and we had to wade through it to get to the Jeep. The moment we were all inside, Derek gunned it down the road toward his house. River laid in the front seat, which Derek had reclined and Angelica was next to me. I couldn’t keep from touching her and took her hand in mine.
“Are you hurt?” I asked, my eyes scanning her.
She shook her head, glancing at Derek before away.
“What the hell was that?” I demanded, mostly pissed that he’d scared Angelica like that.
Derek’s only answer was a tightening of his hands around the steering wheel.
“Hey, answer me! You could’ve gotten us killed in there.” I put my hand on his shoulder.
Derek turned toward me and snarled, black veins on his face.
“Pull over, right now!” Angelica demanded.
The car wasn’t even fully stopped when she opened the door and jumped out. In spite of the rain, she walked away from the Jeep with jerky steps as if she was determined to walk home in this storm. I had to run to catch her and when I did, the slightest touch of my hand caused her to cry out and flinch away from me.
“Angelica, it’s me,” I said.
She stared at me, hugging herself as rain streamed down her face.
“I can’t be in that car with Da…Derek. I can’t…He…”
David. She saw her dead husband in Derek’s face. How fucking bad was it that she’s reacting like this?
I knew the very simple story of David Dearborne and what he’d gone through. Most of the Archive did. His was the cautionary tale they told new recruits so they wouldn’t forget to use their gloves and neutralizer. But here in front of me was proof that it wasn’t just a snappy anecdote to teach recruits. Here was the real, terrible side of the story that no one seemed to know.
“Okay,” I slowly put my hands on her arms and gave her a reassuring squeeze. “I will fly us back.”
“In this?”
It was dangerous for certain. One good lightning strike…
And as if to prove how dumb the idea was, a jagged bolt lit up the sky not that far away from us followed by a crack of thunder that I felt in my bones.
“I won’t let him hurt you.”
She looked at the Jeep and then at me and I could almost see tears mixed with the rain. I moved my hands up to her face and blocked her view of the car so I was the only thing she could see.
“I swear it. No one is going to touch you while I’m here. Not even him.”
Angelica swallowed and then nodded.
If I thought she wouldn’t throw a fit, I would’ve picked her up and carried her. Instead, I put my hand at the small of her back, and noticed a small bulge.
“What’s this?” I asked, and pulled out a small pack that seemed impervious to the weather.
That brought a very small upward curve of her mouth and she shoved back where it had been.
“Dahlia got the safe, and I got the journal,” she said simply.
And in spite of the storm, and her terror a moment ago, in spite of how we’d almost died back there, I let loose a full throated laugh toward the thunderous sky.
“You’re fucking amazing, do you know that?” I asked, framing her face with my hands and planting a firm kiss on her mouth.
“I do actually,” she said, pulling back. “And I’m freezing so…”
She looked back at the Jeep, and any humor fled. I guided her back to the vehicle and climbed inside first then pulled Angelica over to me, my arm around her shoulders. It was a clear testament to just how unsettled she was that she didn’t put up any kind of fight; she leaned against me like I was the only thing holding her up. Derek didn’t drive off immediately, and I was about to ask him to go, when I noticed the slump to his shoulders. The runes on his skin had faded and there were dark circles under his eyes when he turned around to look at Angelica.
“Mom…I’m so—”
“Just drive, Derek. Please?”
His eyes closed and he nodded before turning back around. The ride was quiet except for the thunder that boomed around us and the patter of the rain against the car.
Derek didn’t say anything as he got River out of the car and carried her into the house, limping now where he hadn’t before. We followed a bit of distance behind and when we walked inside, the others had already gathered, asking Derek questions about River and the mine.
“Mom, are you okay?” Max asked, walking up to us.
“I need a hot bath,” she gave him a tight smile and handed him the bag. “There’s a journal in there with symbols and bits and pieces of legends about the sundial. Can you run it through your software and see what comes up? Not just translation, but also any hits on the legends. There’s also what your father and I once thought might be coordinates but they never matched any locations that had anything to do with the sundial. If you could—”
“Mom,” Max cut her off, his brow furrowed, “I’ve got this. Why don’t you go to your room and get some rest.”
“I should see about River…”
“Alexis and Tessa are already on it,” I said. “Max is right, you need rest.”
“Alright,” she sighed and let me lead her upstairs.