Chapter 35 Eryx #2
Eli and I kept to the outer walls of the building. We could see Av, but it would take effort to get to her if things went sideways. As she moved further into the warehouse, a dim light cut into the deep shadows. Above us, rain still poured on the metal roof.
Despite the noise, I heard Blaire speak before I saw him. “You’re early.”
I moved behind a stack of crates. I could see Eli across the warehouse because I knew to look for him, but otherwise, he blended into the shadows almost seamlessly. Av shrugged.
“Where are the scrolls?” Blaire snarled. “You were supposed to bring them.”
So, she’d meant to go back to the island.
It was all I needed. I knew where Rhiannon was—she had to be at the cottage.
Myrine had probably tried to break back into the underworld through the basement.
Hauntings could end, but they left residual energy, and Cassandra had promised the cottage would only open for Rhiannon and me.
But I had a feeling Myrine knew ways to get around such details.
I crouched down, taking my phone out to text Ares to tell him we’d be there as soon as we could and where they’d find the others. When I had a reply that they’d turn back, I shut my phone off.
“I wasn’t so stupid as to bring them here,” Av said. “I want insurance.”
We needed to get Av and go. Now. But I couldn’t risk blowing her cover.
As I peeked around the stack of boxes I hid behind, I realized that Blaire was armed.
There was an adamantine blade on the table next to the gurney, along with an array of medical instruments and a device that looked like it was something for brewing potions.
We needed to move carefully here. We also needed to get that blade.
Blaire sighed, picking a syringe up from the table and moving towards his potions device.
Av or Ares probably knew what all that equipment was called, but I wasn’t sure.
“You’re not rethinking things, are you?” he sneered.
“We agreed. A new race of immortals will shift the balance. It will, as you say—” he gestured towards Av.
“Normalize parapsychism somewhat, and make things better for your people.”
“But you’ll control them,” Avaline murmured, not sounding much like Myrine.
But Blaire didn’t seem to notice. He just kept talking while he drew liquid out of the device, into the syringe. “It’s only fair. It evens the playing field. And then you and the others can come out of the mists. With Silea out of the way, our plan will work.”
I’ll never know what Avaline was thinking, but she said, “You don’t need the scrolls. I lied.”
Blaire turned, his buggy eyes narrowed. “What do you mean?”
Av smiled. “I’ve always known it all.”
Blaire smiled, walking towards Av with the syringe in hand.
“Just one more dose, my love.” The two of them were in a relationship?
I struggled not to gag. “One more dose and the ritual, and she’ll be the first true immortal since you made the Maere.
” He slid an arm around Av’s waist. “Are you as excited as I am?”
“Yes,” Av breathed, somehow managing to sound like she was taken in by the idea. I still wanted to vomit, and apparently, so did Eli, because he appeared suddenly behind Blaire, and hit him so soundly on the head that he crumpled, the syringe in his hand shattering as it hit the concrete floor.
The sound caused the woman on the gurney to stir. Av pointed to Blaire’s gun. “Get rid of that,” she ordered, moving towards the human woman.
Eli had been right. She was human, but also not.
Whatever Blaire had done to her, he was obviously trying to turn her into an immortal, like the Maere, somehow.
She was a pretty thing, tall, a little thinner than Rhiannon, but voluptuous.
Her head had been badly shaved so that sensors could be attached to her scalp, but her hair had been brown at one time.
From the table, Eli gathered all of Blaire’s papers into a file folder. “We need to get out of here,” he murmured.
The girl was waking up as Av freed her from the restraints. She sat up, gasping, then stared at Blaire on the floor. “Is he dead?” she asked, not really looking at any of us.
“No,” I answered her, though our next move should probably be to kill him.
“I have to get out of here before he wakes,” she said, her voice hoarse, as though she hadn’t used it in a while. “He wants to make me a monster, like the rest of them.”
Eli spoke gently to her from the table, not moving any closer. It was obvious she was upset, traumatized. “What’s your name?”
The woman shook her head. “I’m not telling you anything.”
Av nodded. “That’s wise of you.”
The sound of a door bursting open came from the back of the building. Soldiers in tactical gear streamed in. Eli pointed at Av, “Get her out of here.”
But the girl was gone, as though she’d simply disappeared into thin air. I wasn’t sure how she’d done it, but it didn’t matter. What mattered was that we’d wasted time and let Blaire live.
I ran, following Av and Eli towards the front. As we slipped through the back door, I looked back, dread curdling my gut. Behind us, the soldiers gathered around Blaire, picking him up. A tall figure emerged out of the shadows.
Eli turned back to grab me, but his eyes arrested on the thaumaturge who’d been set to take over the Thaumas Dynasty in Aradios before coming here last fall. “Fucking Leo Atrior,” he swore dragging me to to the door. “Rotten to the core. Let’s go.”
But the thaumaturge’s dark eyes held no trace of triumph as we made eye contact. If anything, the man was so full of self-loathing he could hardly breathe. I recognized the feeling easily. I carried it with me wherever I went.