Chapter Nineteen
Angelica
T rey disappeared in a literal blink of an eye. I lunged forward to where he’d stood just a moment ago and forced myself to swallow down the panic. I knew this would happen, that he’d have to go where I couldn’t follow.
But I also knew that he’d be back.
My watch beeped, a countdown to when the stars would align perfectly to destroy the artifact. We had forty minutes, and if the boom in the night, followed by the flowering bloom of a magical force field falling around the temple and the desert beyond, was any indication, Viktor was here.
The sky above me looked like I’d just been trapped inside a light purple and blue glass. Things were distorted and it wasn’t just my new weird eye sight either.
I just hope my backup is under the shield he raised, otherwise this is going to get very interesting.
I drew my pistols, and ran toward the forward position that Trey and I had mapped out with Max a few hours ago. From here, I could look down and see the desert clearly, the red granite altar at my back.
Sweat dripped down my back even though the night was mild, and my eye sight kept focusing on things far away, like hitting zoom on a camera only to have it go blurry a moment after I could see it clearly. I tried to do what Trey had recommended and it did help, letting me see that there was some kind of fight happening beyond the force field but I couldn’t see exactly who or what was fighting.
My only comfort was that Viktor had apparently left some of his forces on the wrong side of his little cage.
“Serves him right,” I murmured.
The force field flared as something struck it and I was able to make out Max’s distinctive angelic form followed by Nathan’s dark purple streak of power. A second later, Ava’s enormous angelic form landed on the force field and she started to beat it with her battle axe. But no matter what she did, the magic held.
So, I guess there’s no backup coming. Okay then.
I took a deep breath, calmed my heartbeat and slipped into that place I’d had to learn to be comfortable with since becoming Director of the Archive. The place that had served me well in London, that had helped me survive David, even if I hadn’t known it then.
When I was calm, I checked the magazine for both of my Sigs, breathed on them and whispered the spell to activate the runes. More spells and flares of power ignited the night beyond the force field and all I could do was wait.
For Trey to return.
For Viktor and Dahlia to come get me.
I paced and glanced at my watch. I observed the foreground and checked the perimeter of the temple, but there was nothing. I was starting to think that maybe the force field was a product of whatever Draconic magic lingered here when I heard voices, and the slide of rocks falling as someone attempted to climb up the side of the hill, instead of using the well-worn and obvious path.
I crouched down below a low part of a fallen wall and prayed my vision would work with me for once tonight. As I slowly looked further away like Trey suggested, I was able to focus on the six figures scaling the side of the hill. They were covered in scarves and I couldn’t tell if Viktor was among them, but I had to assume he was.
If they reached the top, they could fan out and surround me, so best to take them out now.
Breathe in…breathe out…and let’s go.
I took aim, which was easier with my new eyesight, and fired. The front figure fell and the rest of the party were looking around frantically. I didn’t give them time to draw a weapon or say a spell.
I lined up my shots and acted.
One…two…three…
I had just dispatched the fourth figure, leaving only two, when I heard movement behind me. I spun around to see two more running toward the temple, having scaled the other side of the hill.
I would’ve dove for the altar, since it was in an optimal place for cover, but I had no idea if damaging it would ruin our ability to destroy the artifact, or worse, keep Trey trapped.
So I lunged to the right and ran behind a nearby wall. I could barely see the two I’d left alive, and fired at the one I had the best view of. They screamed, but didn’t fall. I tried again, and they fell into their companion. Both of them lost their footing and rolled down the rocky incline.
Behind me, I heard scuffling footsteps on loose rocks and rough breathing.
I had six shots left in each magazine, which should be enough for whoever was behind me, but just in case I slipped a spare magazine in my bra for easy access and then spun around the end of the wall. My senses took in the assailants quicker than ever before, and I raised my weapons, taking the shot.
The front two fell, and the one behind them got two shots off, spraying ancient stone into my face as the bullets hit the wall.
I dropped down and took cover but it was pointless. More bullets shredded the wall at my back and I had to run to the left to a smaller wall for cover.
“You shouldn’t destroy this place!” I shouted. “You never know, your boss might need the carvings.”
My watch beeped and I looked down to see that we had twenty minutes to the conjunction.
But there was no Trey, no bowl and these jackasses were making Swiss cheese out of these ruins.
I could hear someone approaching me, getting very close, so I let them, gauging their distance by the sound of their footsteps and the puffs of breath they were expelling. Then, when there would be no way to avoid me, I jumped up and fired. The man was close enough that it was practically point blank, and even though he was a giant Orc, the two bullets he took to the chest were magically enhanced. The poor guy didn’t stand a chance.
He slumped noisily to the ground and I looked around, expecting more but no one was there.
I listened, but the only sounds I could pick out were distant noises of battle from beyond the shield.
That can’t be all…
Slowly, heart pounding in my chest, I made my way out of cover, checking in with my senses the entire way.
I’d made it almost back to the altar when I heard the pop of a portal. I spun around, guns trained on Viktor when cold metal pressed to the back of my head.
“I wouldn’t, my dear,” Viktor threatened, “unless you think Trey would like to find his mate with her brain matter splattered all over these ruins.”
I lowered my guns and the person behind me took the weapons.
“Turn around,” ordered Dahlia, the one holding me at gun point.
I did and was maneuvered with my back to the altar, facing both Dahlia and Viktor. It was then that I noticed a terrible burn mark on one side of her face, as if someone had pressed a hot brand to her left jaw.
She threw my Sigs toward the low wall I’d taken cover behind. Viktor wasn’t armed, instead he was carrying a small box, and I could guess what was in it.
“You know,” he said, eyes hard as marbles, “that was a dirty trick you pulled with Dahlia. I had to make an example of her in front of everyone because of you.”
My eyes darted to the young woman, her eyes narrowing with fury.
So that’s where the burn came from.
“That’s not my fault,” I said, “she asked for the safe, I gave it. Maybe you should teach your pupils to ask more specifically when a magical promise is evoked.”
Viktor chuckled and sauntered up to me.
“You think you’re very clever, don’t you?” He back handed me and I saw stars. “But I am the one who will win. And you will be mine, just like I promised.”
“I’d rather die.”
“No…death is a gift. Life, at least for you, is the best kind of torture. You’ll see.”
I jerked back as he tried to brush my hair out of my face.
“Don’t touch me,” I hissed.
“Or what?”
I raised my knee sharply and Viktor just barely managed to move out of the way. I got another smack across the face for it, but it was worth it to see his smug expression crack just a little.
“Now,” he straightened his shirt, “all we have to do is wait for your mate to come back with the other half. Which should be...now.”
The air shimmered around the red granite altar and Trey appeared with a rather smallish, stone basin with the front cut out. The outside was beautiful, the carvings and jewels shimmering in the low light of the moon. He looked at all of us, at the gun pointed at me, the reddish marks on my face from being hit and fire erupted in his eyes. A low, menacing growl rolled through the still air and he bared his teeth at them.
“Ah, the Dragon,” said Viktor beside Dahlia. “And the bowl. Right on time.”
“You’re going to die tonight,” Trey warned.
“No, tonight we change the world,” Viktor said.
Dahlia came forward, careful not to be within Trey’s reach and yanked my back to her front, her gun pressed to my temple. Above us, a crackle of energy that sounded like thunder beat against the force field. I looked up to see Max fall against it, and slide down as he fought with someone. More lightning bolts of magic hit the dome and howls split the night air.
“I don’t think the fight is going your way,” Viktor sneered. “Now, if you don’t want to watch her die, I suggest you give me that bowl.”
Trey glanced at me and I wracked my brain for a trick or pivot that would get us out of this without giving Viktor the bowl.. But my mind was a blank. They had us over a barrel.
“You know, I could rip your head from your body before you could take this bowl from me,” Trey said.
“And I could kill Angelica in far less time.”
“What’s to stop me from killing you while you’re busy with the ritual?” Trey snarled, smoke curling from his nose as his voice grew deep.
Viktor drew a gun from under his jacket, the barrel glowed with power.
“Because I’ve been saving this for you ever since you helped her get away in London.”
Trey snorted.
“Dragon hide is very tough. Even if you have runes on there for Supernaturals, it doesn’t mean—”
Viktor pulled the trigger and Trey’s leg gave out from under him as he screamed in agony.
“Trey!” I yelled, struggling to get out of Dahlia’s iron grip.
She pulled me back and whispered in my ear, “Stay still, this will be over soon.”
“Go to hell, you bitch.”
“Damn it, Angelica,” she hissed, “trust me.”
I stilled and glanced back at her.
Dahlia’s gaze was still cold and resolute, but now it was also filled with hatred and it wasn’t for me. It was for Viktor as he strolled casually up to Trey and plucked the bowl from him.
Trey was laying on the ground, clutching his leg, which was bleeding too much.
“I’m okay,” he reassured me with a painful grin.
He won’t be for long with how much blood he’s losing, and we still need some for destroying the damn thing.
“I really do want you to see your mate become my wife just before you blink out of existence here,” he said, pointing the gun at Trey, “but maybe you’re more trouble than you’re worth.”
“Wait!” I shouted. “You don’t know the incantation to activate the sundial and I won’t tell you if you kill him.”
“Bargaining for the life of your mate? How sweet. Dahlia?”
She dug around in the pockets of my jacket and found the small, old journal then tossed it to Viktor.
What the hell is her game here? If she hates him, why go this far?
Viktor caught it and then set the box with the dial piece on the altar by the bowl. The moment he opened the box, I could feel the air tighten around us with power. The dial was small and simply carved. When he set it in place, a wave of magic cascaded around us and my skin broke out in goose flesh. Everything went still.
The battle outside the force field.
The night creatures.
Even our breathing sounded dulled.
Viktor laughed in triumph and looked over at us but his smile froze on his face.
Dahlia was now pointing the gun at him.
“What are you doing?” he asked.
“Putting down a rabid dog,” she answered, her voice trembling.
“Oh, Dahlia, such a shame.”
He raised his own gun and fired. I jumped, expecting Dahlia to fall to the ground dead. But the bullet was suspended in midair, a line of magic extending from her outstretched hand to the bullet.
“This is my spell,” she said, twirling her finger and turning the bullet around, “so I control it. I can say where the bullets go and where they don’t.”
I eased over to Trey while she was talking and knelt beside him. My watch was showing five minutes until the conjunction and while Dahlia had Viktor distracted, we had to do this now.
Trey seemed to understand perfectly and let me help him to his feet.
“We have to get my leg up onto it,” he said, with a weak grin, “waste not, want not.”
I snorted and shook my head.
“Only you would make that joke at a time like this.”
We were just at the altar when Viktor fell to the ground gurgling up blood as he drowned. The bullet he’d tried to use to kill Dahlia had gone through his throat.
“You sure cut it close,” I grunted. “Help me get him on the altar so we can start the ritual to destroy this thing.”
“No,” Dahlia said, throwing up her hands and freezing us in place, “I won’t hurt you, but I have a reason for being here, and it’s not to destroy this.”
“Dahlia,” Trey said, his voice hoarse and strained, “you can’t use that. The power is ancient, the price is too great.”
She glanced over at him and for the first time since seeing her in my penthouse, there was an expression of actual grief on her face.
“I can see the thread between you and the artifact, and I’m so sorry, Trey. But I have to do this.”
“Thread? What thread? What’s she talking about?” I asked, struggling to try and move.
“In order to get the bowl out I had to bind my soul to the artifact,” Trey said. “It’s an insurance policy that the priests put on the damn thing, to make sure no one used it again.”
“We’re going to have words about making impulsive deals when this is done,” I turned to Dahlia, trying to think past the cold grip of terror around my heart. “You don’t know what you’re doing. If you say one wrong thing, it could kill you.”
“I’m not stupid, Angelica, I’ve done my homework.”
She started the incantation and Trey’s chest lit up as he let loose a groan of misery.
“You have to…stop her,” he grunted.
The magic that held us in place fell away as her concentration was taken up completely by the sundial. Trey fell to the ground and that’s when I saw it; a thread, silvery white where it attached to him, but turning red where it was connected to the artifact.
“If you come too close, the power will kill you,” Dahlia warned as her hands shook around the sundial.
It was glowing in a chaotic rainbow of colors, and the dial was spinning wildly as Dahlia’s eyes glowed white. Trey screamed and thrashed as the red traveled down the thread toward him. It wasn’t quite halfway yet but it was moving fast.
“Please, Dahlia,” I begged, “you’re killing him.”
“You won’t even remember him when I’m done,” she replied in a strained voice.
“I know that you miss your mother, but she was a terror to so many people. Her death—”
“Was justified.” The chaos above the sundial stopped as the dial froze at two different lines. “She killed my fiancé, and my stepfather, the only two people who ever loved me.”
I looked at the dial and in the swirl of colors, I saw her stepfather standing next to a handsome young man in a firefighter’s uniform.
“You want to save them…”
“I have to.” Tears cascaded down Dahlia’s cheeks. “Everything went wrong when they died. If I can save them, then it will all be better. I will take out Francesca, I swear I will, but I have to save them first.”
Trey let out another scream, his blue scales starting to lose their color the closer the red threads got to him. I had to find a way to reach her, I couldn’t watch Trey die in front of me.
My skin tingled, eyes focusing to the most minute detail in front of me. When I glanced down, my skin was covered in blue swirls and symbols, just like Trey’s.
I wonder…maybe my skin is tough enough to withstand the power. I have to try.
“I can’t lose him,” I whispered, tasting my own tears on my lips.
“I love you,” he panted on the ground. “I love…you.”
“I love you too,” I said, resolve settling like a stone inside of me and turned back to Dahlia. “You have no idea if it will save them or not. What you’re about to do, it will change things, but how do you know they won’t still die? How do you know that you won’t hurt others? Dahlia, please! This won’t fix anything!”
I moved closer as I spoke, the magic hitting my skin like thousands of needles. But it didn’t matter. If I could get her away from the artifact before she completed the spell, then I could save Trey.
“But it might,” Dahlia argued, her entire focus on the spell she was trying to hold onto. “I lost everything! If I could have it back, just for a moment…”
“I used to think that too,” I admitted, glancing back at Trey, “but I had to realize that I was spending so much time in the past, trying to fix everything, I was missing what was right in front of me. My family, a chance at love again.”
Trey’s eyes widened as I took another step toward her and he shook his head. But it was too late. Those thousands of needles had now been heated in a fire; the pain was searing and blood was blooming across my body in hundreds of small dots.
“You’re going to…destroy my life,” I said, so very close to her, “and you’ll destroy…what you could have here…now.”
“I have nothing here!” Dahlia screamed. “I’m a pariah, alone and shunned by everyone that I once called family!”
“Not by me. And I swear…if you stop…I’ll do everything I can to…to help you. Just…please…stop!”
Dahlia was sobbing by now, her hold on the spell weakening enough that I could force my way through it, and I tackled her to the ground. The spell snapped viciously around us and the blow back caused my ears to pop and ring. Dahlia lay unconscious on the ground, blood streaming from her ears and nose. I checked quickly to make sure she had a pulse and then half-crawled, half-ran to Trey.
“Oh my god,” I sobbed, as I saw him sitting up slowly. “You’re alive…you’re alive.”
“I think we need to have a conversation about your impulsivity too,” he said as his arm circled around me.
I laughed through tears, not caring that the contact with him was pressing on the hundreds of tiny cuts on my torso and chest.
My only answer was to crush my mouth to his. But we couldn’t linger.
My watch alarm went off and the red granite altar started to glow crimson and gold.
“Let’s finish this,” Trey said.
I helped him up and he drew a knife from his pocket, spelled to cut his scales.
“Your bullet wound,” I protested.
“It’s already slowing, Dahlia’s spell on the bullet was only good while she was conscious.”
As if to emphasize the point, the bullet fell out of his leg, pushed out by the healing tissue and muscle.
“Are you ready?” he asked.
I nodded and drew up the sleeve of my jacket and shirt. I was already bleeding from the wounds I’d incurred from the spell, but it wasn’t enough, I could see that.
Trey said the Draconian words we’d rehearsed and sliced into his forearm from the crook of his elbow down to just above his wrist, careful not to nick the veins there. As the blood poured out, sparks flared up from the artifact and the blood flow increased. Trey, already weakened by what he’d gone through fell against the altar and used it for support.
Hurrying, I spoke the same words and cut my forearm in the same way, but instead of just one, I did both.
“Angelica…what the hell are you…doing?”
“You’re weak, I’m not,” I gasped as the artifact drew blood from me.
It took it fast, and I became dizzy, also falling against the altar.
The sparks increased until blue and gold flames spun and licked at the artifact. I could feel the power grab a hold of my blood and pull it from my body, sucking the life from me. The unbinding magic wrapped around my arms and held me in place.
I looked over at Trey. His eyes were half-lidded, and he looked drugged.
“Trey…?”
“I…I’m okay,” his words slurred.
My vision started to go dark around the edges and I wondered if this was it for us.
At least…we will be together.
The flames rose higher and higher, until it surrounded us in a hurricane of fire. I swore I saw two faces, Dragons clothed in ancient robes, one holding a scythe and the other an ornate cross of some kind. They smiled at us and bowed just before everything went dark.