Chapter 6
GAELAN
“Tell me everything I need to know before I rip your tongue out and feed it to one of my hellhounds.” A growl vibrates in my chest. The daemon squirms away from me, his eyes clenched shut. His mouth contorts in odd directions, mumbling words I can’t make out.
“Speak!” I bark at him, my voice deeper, using my inner daemon strength to aid my command. Trelor, my darker side, the evil I shift into when my world needs it, has been silent in my mind for a very long time.
Since we lost her again.
“My lord? I don’t know. No witches have been here since the full moons.
” He is telling the truth. Scraper daemons change from their normal pink skin to purple if they are caught lying to a lord, a spell that was cast on their breed a long time again by the Devil for reasons I didn’t understand until I was much older.
No one lies to the Devil.
I lower the daemon to the ground so his feet are planted safely. His eyes snap open and the relief in them makes me chuckle darkly.
We are not done just yet.
I drag him closer to me and look down into his glowing red eyes. For a few seconds, our eyes stay locked, the blue glow of my own burning so brightly they take the shine from his until all I can see is azure.
My powers shift under my skin, electricity radiating from my body.
In my free hand, a blue bud appears, its petals pale like the sky on a hot summer day topside. It’s a bud, less potent than when this beautiful flower is in bloom. This is Irisony, a flower from the marsh lands of Illis.
At this stage, the flower can remove one’s memory; when fully developed, it can kill.
Lifting it, I hold it in front of his face and blow a puff of air over the bud, the scent of sea and lavender rises up into the air and covers him, his eyes roll back in his head before he slumps heavily in my grip.
I drop him to the ground, and he rolls forward onto his face and lets out a loud snore. He will sleep for a few hours, and when he wakes, she will not remember me being here or me asking about any witches or influential books.
Reaching into my dark blue suit jacket, I pull my phone out and dial Mark’s number. He answers after one ring.
“My lord?”
“Can you come and pick me up? I’m in an alley next door to the club you dropped me off at.”
I can hear the radio on in the background. “I am already here; you were a little longer with this one, my lord.” Mark knows me well, but this time he is wrong.
He did drop me off at the club to feed, but then I heard whispers of the Book Reader, and it led me to this alleyway.
Mark has been my driver for a very long time.
He came to me during some of my darkest days and has been by my side, helping to guide me from that day.
My darkest times are always after I’ve lost her.
“I got distracted.”
I hang up the phone, not allowing Mark to say anything else, knowing that he will have more to say when I get into the car.
Placing the phone back in my pocket, I walk to the end of the passage and glance to the left.
Mark’s huge frame is waiting by the car; his long jet-black hair is tied in a bun that sits on the top of his head. He usually wears it loose; he must have cleaned the car. That’s the only time he ties it up.
His green eyes track my moments as I stride closer, and he opens the car door for me to climb in. The way he’s grinning at me tells me that this car ride is not going to be a peaceful one. I roll my eyes
Settling into the seat, I lean back and close my eyes, growling low when Mark starts to speak. “My lord, isn’t it about time you stopped and found someone other than…”
I hold my hands up at his words. I know what he’s about to say, I’ve been looking for my Rose for a very long time, and he believes she has yet to be reborn. But I have this gut feeling that he’s wrong, and I know that the key to finding her is to track any trace of the book’s magic that I can see.
“Mark, look, I know I’m right. She’s somewhere in this world, and I will find her.” I have to; without her I know I’m not living. Mark reaches across to the seat next to his and passes me a yellow file.
“Then you will want to see this, my lord.”
Frowning, I take it from him. “What is this?” I say as I open the folder to see a photo of what looks like a family at the beach, sitting around a log fire. Below that are details on each person.
Mark clears his throat. “That, my lord, is the record of the last time a surge of power like the book was felt. The first picture is Lilly Jay. She was a witch and was killed about sixty years ago by a fire of some kind.” I pick up the picture, and I almost drop it again—those amber eyes.
“The next photo is that of a warlock by the name of Lou Jay. He, from what I can tell, had the same kind of power… But no book has been found yet.” Again, the picture shocks me because he also has the same amber eyes that I look for everywhere I go.
Amber eyes are the only color that belongs to the witches of Westrey. The most powerful the underworld has ever seen.
I place the papers to one side and pick up the photo of a young child, who must be about ten years old.
“Mark? Who is the little girl?”
He grins at me. “My lord, that is Lou’s granddaughter…
Arianna Jay. Lou was killed when she was about ten years old.
A daemon attack, possibly they were after the book.
The details are fuzzy, but we believe that the little girl saw it all.
” I nod slowly, the amber eyes of the little girl drawing me in.
“How long ago was this?”
Mark pulls to a stop and turns to look at me.
“From what we’ve found, that was about fifteen years ago.
Arianna should now be twenty-five, we believe.
” I’m still nodding my head when Mark continues, “We have only had surges of power like the book, but nothing that matches it completely. We still can’t find it. ”
Which means that she’s not taken possession of it yet. We have time. Could this little girl be my Rose? Could this Arianna be my lost love? The Book Reader?
I look up at Mark. “Where is she now?”
Mark grins at me as he gets out of the car. I frown until my door opens and I realize we’re at a private airport, and my jet is sitting on the tarmac.
“My lord, she’s in Sweetville.”
I pat Mark on the back as I get out of the car. “Are all the arrangements made for us to leave straightaway?”
“That is why we are here, my lord. The flight will be ready to take off in about thirty minutes.”
A thought comes to my mind, and I look up at him and frown. “How long have you had this information?” I ask him, trying to keep the annoyance from my voice.
He shrinks back a little, his voice taking on a nervous tone. “It came in just after I dropped you off at the club. You needed to feed, my lord, which is why I waited to tell you. I did not think you were going to be as long as you were,” he confesses.
I bite back my growl.
“Do not hold back information like this from me again. You have been with me for a long time, and you have been loyal. Which is why you still have your job. But do not mistake my kindness, I will kill you.” I know my eyes glow blue in warning, and my markings flash over my body, reminding him of who I am. He shrinks back before bowing his head.
“Yes my lord. Forgive me.”
Without another word, I board the plane and move to the back room. We’re in Elken, a dark and dingy part of topside that’s home to a heavy presence of mafia and gangs at the moment. It will only be a few hours before we land in Sweetville, enough time to shower and read over the files again.
I’m coming, my Rose.