14 | Silver
“You seem chipper,” Zeph grumbles.
I roll my eyes at him. It’s late morning, two days after I came face to face with my mother for the first time since I was a child, and Z hasn’t left me alone for a moment since I returned. I spent most of yesterday recuperating with Roscoe, but after a long night’s sleep, I had a brain-wave.
Subsequently, I’ve dragged Zeph outside of The Spire to execute the first part of my plan. If I was Roscoe, I’d probably name it something like my Plan To Take My Life Back and Be a Badass. But I’m not and instead I have a grumpy and confused Z tagging along with me, grumbling because I’ve refused to tell him what we’re doing.
“I got knocked on my ass, but I’m won’t stay down for long,” I tell him.
He huffs. “Are you going to explain where we’re going? I’m still not so sure it’s a good idea traipsing around the city after everything that’s happened.”
I know I’m being annoying by not telling him where we’re going or what my plan is, but I just know it’ll be so much easier to explain once I show him.
Plus... there’s every chance he’d say no if I told him the full details. It’s an assholish move on my part, maybe. But I’m trusting that this is going to go to plan.
“I need coffee and a ton of sugar to function today, and since we don’t have either of those things in the kitchen right now, we need to head out,” I tell him.
When in doubt, deflect, deflect, deflect. I grin at him and batter my eyelashes, and he lets out a grouchy exhale.
“You could just tell me whatever frou-frou drink you want and I’ll get it for you.”
“Or I can do the same thing I’ve been doing for years and get it myself.” I shove my arms into my pockets a little more aggressively than is necessary. “I’m done holing up and hiding from all the people that want to mess up our lives. I spent years hiding from the Archarcans. Much good it did me. And I’ve been hiding out from Felix for weeks. I’m done with it.”
He grumbles and slips an arm around my waist, pulling me against his big body. “Fine. Still think it’s a bad idea, though.”
“What’s gotten you even grumpier than usual?”
“Oh, I dunno,” he replies sarcastically. “Maybe it’s the threat of you being put in a cell somewhere and us never being able to find you. Or maybe it’s having to rely on a damn vamp to track you down, and even then he can’t find you, even though he’s got a damn weird fixation with your blood.”
Ah.
“You and Dante didn’t get along the other day while you were on your grand rescue mission?”
My gut twinges. I may be hoping they can put their shit to one side and get along, but that’s probably wishful thinking. Or delusional.
“He’s a vamp, Silver. He’s not to be trusted.”
I don’t want to argue with him right now, so I just grab his hand and tug him along.
“I want a coffee and a muffin that’s the size of my head.” Something in my tone must finally get it into his thick head that I’m serious. If he tries to stand between me and my caffeine-sugar combo, there may be bloodshed. That earns me the smallest of smirks and a head-shake, but he presses a kiss to the top of my head and lets me steer him along.
Ten minutes later and I’m smiling big as I sip my coffee and tear hunks off the muffin that’s sadly not as big as my head. Still, it’s too big to carry that and my cup, so Zeph holds it for me as I take massive bites as we walk.
“Are you sufficiently caffeinated yet?” he grumbles. “Gonna tell me where we’re going now?”
“Maybe.” I grin at his grumbled response and lean forward to take another big bite of muffin. Z’s eyes heat momentarily as I lick my lips, a heat which is immediately dowsed as I chomp down.
I guess I owe him some kind of explanation. “So, it hit me the other day. We know the Bad Vamps aren’t going to stop. They’ll kill a bunch more people and try again. And I can’t imagine the Archarcans are going to be fighting too hard until they recognize how big a threat the vamps are. They’ll write it off as a fluke or something, maybe have a few meetings and then by the time they’re ready to take action, a bunch more people will have been hurt as collateral damage.”
“Sounds about right.” He raises an eyebrow. “And you want us to be the ones to save the world?”
I shake my head. “I don’t want people to keep winning just because they force themselves into a position of power.”
Part of me understands exactly where the angry people of Nexus are coming from. They’re angry as hell, and I get that. Maybe we should raze the entire city to the ground and start new, with a city and a society that’s not so obsessed with its fucked up classism and obsession with hierarchy.
But then I remember that most of the people in this city are just trying to live their lives. They’re doing their best to survive here and they don’t deserve to have their lives torn apart.
Sure, they might be people whose eyes skimmed over me and Rook when we were homeless kids, or when we were living in barely habitable places. Or when we barely had enough money to feed ourselves. But does that mean they all deserve to be drained by vamps or ground down by witches who are born to the right family and wound up with acceptable types of magic?
I don’t think so.
Between us, we’re all plenty powerful in our own way. The Nexus mages have money and connections, but the rest of us have connections to some of the hidden corners of the city and beyond.
“What’s the plan, then?” Zeph asks.
I’m conscious, despite having raised my mental walls sky high, I don’t want to just blab my brainwave out loud in the middle of the street and risk Ember overhearing.
“I’ll tell you as soon as we get to where we’re going,” I tell him.
“You’re being cryptic,” he mutters. “It’s annoying.”
I go up on my toes and peck him on the jaw, grinning up at him as he scowls. “Do you think that maybe there’s a reason I’m holding off on telling you?” I widen my eyes, hoping he remembers we both have a snoop in our heads. There’s no way I’ll be able to focus on my mental walls while I have this much sugar buzzing through my veins.
We reach an ancient, crumbling building that’s just a few streets away from where the judiciary took me for their little interrogation. The entire area is pretty run down and has a few office blocks and not much else. It also has a little-known chamber inside what used to be a laboratory, which has long been abandoned for a fancier location in another part of the city. There’s one thing they weren’t able to move though, which now is barely used apart from as a niche tourist destination for magic lovers.
“The Dead Zone?” Zeph mutters, his eyes scanning up from the dirty old carpets and grubby walls to the sign in front of us. It’s covered in a thick layer of dust, which makes the words barely visible.
“Have you ever been here before?”
“Have I ever been to a place called the Dead Zone before? Can’t say I have. You have some pretty weird ideas of date locations, Little Witch.”
I snort and shake my head at him. Until I wound up in this area the other day, I hadn’t thought about this place in a long time. Not until my panic over my magic being nulled triggered a buried memory from my teenage years.
“Rook and I used to sneak in here when I was about fourteen,” I tell Zeph. “When my magic was this overwhelming thing that would greedily try to suck up anything and everything, he brought me here.”
“It’s kind of creepy, no?” Zeph says.
I glance around at the smooth walls and door. It’s like being inside an egg made of solid metal.
He lowers his voice, pressing his body close to mine. “Is this a kink thing? Like a sensual deprivation thing where I fuck you against the wall and no one can hear you scream?”
“Maybe later.” I smirk at him. He doesn’t look opposed to the idea. “It would be nice to let go, knowing that Ember’s not accidentally listening in.”
“The fuck?”
Ah, seems like I hadn’t shared that little traumatic tidbit with Zeph.
“So, this place is a kind of magical Faraday cage,” I tell him. “It nulls any magic that’s trying to influence us from outside, and it nulls both of our powers as soon as we’re closed in here.”
It’s like my insides are totally relaxed. The usual grasping of my magic is totally calm. My shoulders loosen and my jaw relaxes.
“Allright then, other than fucking you against one of these walls, what else are we here for?” Zeph spreads his tree trunk thighs and tugs me to rest between them until I’m straddling his lap. “Spill.”
I’m still trying to hold off, because I may be about to wreck the mood.
My phone buzzes just as there’s a knock at the metal door. The entire room reverberates with the sound, and we both wince.
“Want me to tell whoever it is to fuck off?”
“Ah, no, I know who it is.” I pause. “I asked Dante to come too.”
Any warmth and cheeky joy in Zeph’s expression drops and he leans back, creating distance between us.
Not telling him I’d invited Dante is a dick move, I know that. But Dante’s a good guy and I like them both a lot. Zeph might not trust him, but I do. And if this thing between me and the mages and Dante is going to be anything real, then they can’t avoid each other forever.
“I slept with him,” I blurt out. “With Dante, I mean.”
Yeah, I should have told him that earlier too, and let Zeph chew on it for a while.
Pretty sure I’ve fucked this whole day. He’s going to storm off and I’ll try to do my plan by myself, or maybe with Dante at my side, as long as he’s not pissed with me too.
“Dammit,” Zeph mutters, running a hand through his curls and blowing out a long breath.
“I should have talked to you first. Roscoe too.”
“Ro bet you’d sleep with him before you sorted your shit with Fabian. I said the opposite. That’s ten bucks in his pocket.”
I stare down at him, trying to read his mood. “You’re... not mad? Upset? Betrayed?”
Maybe I shouldn’t be putting words and feelings into his mouth right now, but I want to get my head around this.
“I’m not blind, Silver. You”ve been dancing around each other for months now and making googly eyes for just as long. Am I happy he’s a vamp? No. Do I want to invite him for a sleepover? Also no. But I guess I’ll put up with him and try not to punch him in the throat if it means I get to spend the day with you.”
I blink. Blink again, just in case this is a dream and Z’s about to strip off and slather himself in chocolate, which I help to lick off before—
Another knock at the door interrupts the beginning of my fantasy, but I don’t mind too much. My mind has melted.
For someone who I used to think couldn’t string two sentences together without insulting me, Zeph sure can express some nice sentiments. He’s like rock candy—you have to break your teeth to find it, but his center is surprisingly gooey and sweet.
“All right.” He grunts and gets to his feet, hoiking me up and placing me down on the bench. “Any more revelations before I let him in?”
I shake my head as relief courses through me. I didn’t realize quite how much this was stressing me out until all the worry oozes right out of me.
“Other than your plan, right? I’m excited to hear it,” Zeph deadpans as he heads to answer the door to a bemused-looking Dante.
“This is certainly cryptic,” Dante says, gazing around as he closes the door behind him. “I half wondered if I was going to be lured here and murdered.”
Zeph snorts but somehow tamps down whatever snarky comment he has floating around in his head right now.
“Good to see you again, Silver. I’m assuming we’re here for a reason?”
“Silver has a plan she’s refused to share until we were all safely hidden away from prying telepathic ears,” Zeph replies.
“Ah.” Dante pauses. “And what happens if we think about whatever you’re about to tell us as soon as we leave this place? I assume the nulling effects of the room wear off instantly?”
“Good question,” I reply. “I’m pretty sure there’s no easy way around having Ember potentially spying on us at any time, but I figured maybe I could absorb the nulling magic from this place. If it works how I’m hoping it will, I should be able to recreate a kind of shield around us once we’re outside of it.”
I jump to my feet, popping the door open and feeling my magic filling my gut. I then focus on relaxing the tensed muscles inside of me that are usually pushing down my magic’s absorbency and I let it go free. Sucking in a breath as the force of this place’s power hits me, I cling onto the door and steady my breathing.
“Holy shit.”
The magic here packs a fair punch.
Barely a minute later and I’ve absorbed it. I guess we’ll have to test out the effects later. First, though, I need to quit with the cloak and dagger routine and tell both these guys what I’ve been mulling over in my head.
I snap the door shut and take a seat beside Zeph and opposite Dante. It feels a bit like we’re inside a sauna or something—not that I’ve ever been to a sauna, but I’d imagine it’s a little awkward... and kind of sexy.
“So as long as we’re with you and you have the nulling shield over us, we should be able to do and think whatever we want?” Dante asks.
“That’s the idea.” I twist my fingers in front of me. “I figured the alternative is that we do any important meetings inside Second Circle. That way, if Ember’s listening in, he’ll be distracted by the sexy thoughts going through our heads and he’ll dip out again.”
“Weird plan, but okay,” Zeph replies.
“Is that why it’s just the three of us?” Dante asks, leaning back against the wall and focusing his intense amber gaze on me. “To make it less likely to spread by being in fewer people’s heads?”
“Uh, no.” I choke out a laugh. “You’re giving me too much credit there. Fabian’s swamped right now and Ro shouldn’t be wandering around the city. And what I’m planning will involve us needing to actually leave the house. Plus, now the cafe’s burned down, Hanna and Rook need to find new jobs and I just know it wouldn’t be Luna’s thing at all.”
“It sounds like you’re saying we’re the best of a bad bunch,” Dante replies drily.
“People with nothing better to do,” Zeph adds.
“Available and willing.”
Zeph’s lips twitch in an almost smirk.
Glory of glories, it’s a miracle! They’re not actively winding each other up and are actually riffing off each other.
I take a deep breath. “So there are two parts to my plan. The first part involves the city’s ghosts—”
They both look at me and then at one another—Dante raises an eyebrow and Zeph gestures for me to continue.
“I don’t know why I didn’t think of it before when we were trying to track Simpson down. But I figure, who knows more about what’s going on in the city? The ghosts, right? They’re everywhere, all the time. And what we could really do with is a head’s up the next time the Bad Vamps are planning to drain a club full of people and then create zombies.”
“Or the Archarcans are planning to lock you in a quiet cell somewhere,” Zeph adds.
“Exactly.” I nod enthusiastically. “I figure, I offer them something they want and we can create our own invisible spy network.”
“And do you have anything that all the ghosts in this city might want?” Dante asks.
“I think so. I figured... most of them are bored, right? Cursed to observe life going on around them while they’re stuck without being able to engage with it. We give them a job to do and it gives them a purpose. And I dunno, maybe I could help them pass over if they needed a nudge? I have necromancy magic, right? It means I can talk to them, so I don’t see why it wouldn’t mean I can’t do more. I’m going to look into it.”
That second part is pretty pie in the sky. I won’t go around claiming I’m a ghost whisperer or whatever, but I figure I can work out those specifics later.
“You killed all those zombies with the snap of your fingers,” Dante replies.
They both seem to accept this, which has me feeling hopeful for the second part of the plan.
“Right, exactly.” I nod a few times for good measure. “So, uh, for the second part, it seems pretty obvious that the Archarcans are suppressing all news of what happened on the Solstice. Keeping people ignorant to maintain control.”
Dante nods, leaning forward. “Not surprising. They’ll no doubt flip the narrative their own way.”
“Yeah, exactly. I figure we should keep bombarding the forums, let people really know what’s going on. Keep it in people’s heads so they don’t convince themselves that the Solstice was a weird fever dream.” I’m planning on leaving that part up to Seb, since he seems the most tech-savvy of us all.
“And what happens when Simpson or the Archarcans find out that’s what you’re doing?” Zeph grunts.
“I’m pretty sure that’s bound to happen.” I shrug. “But if the alternative is a choice between doing nothing or siding with one of them, I”m not willing to do either.”
“What’s the second part of your plan, Little Witch?”
This is where things get kind of dicey. I turn to Dante and keep my attention on him as I answer. “I think we need to find a way of taking out Simpson and his cronies. There must be something we can use against them. I can’t imagine they’re the first set of power-hungry vamps in the past to have suped themselves up.”
“You want to find an off switch for them or something?” Zeph frowns. “Pretty sure there isn’t one, or it’d be common knowledge.”
I shake my head. “I don’t think so. The vamps are notoriously secretive, that’s why getting into the Forbidden Archives is like solving a mystery wrapped in a puzzle while someone throws knives at you.”
“True enough,” Dante replies.
“But there must be something down there we can use, right? Hundreds of years of history and surely at least one vamp has to have gone nuts in the past and tried to take over the world, right?” I spread my arms out. “Well, clearly they weren’t successful since we’re not all blood slaves, so we just dig around until we find something.”
“There are hundreds and hundreds of books down there, Silver,” Dante says quietly, like he’s afraid to pop the bubble of my optimism.
“Well then, we’d better get started, hadn’t we?” I stretch my arms above my head and add, “My Plan B is for me to sponge off Seb’s magic and then borrow some super-powered blood from somewhere and make every one of Simpson’s crew and all the Archarcans forget their whole damn lives. If they don’t care about people’s futures, why should we care about their pasts?”
“Very poetic,” Dante says.
“Ruthless,” Z adds. “I like it. Makes my cock rock hard when you talk like that.”
I snort, but then cock my head as my eyes scan down to the evidence he’s not joking. “Good to know.”
The tone of his voice plus Zeph’s growl have sensation prickling over my skin and I shiver. I imagine Dante sliding onto the bench beside me, his hand sliding up my thigh as the two of them bookend me to teach me a lesson for my naughty tongue. In my mind’s eye, Zeph spins me around and I lean back against Dante’s solid body as he licks and kisses the delicate skin of my neck and Zeph buries his face between my legs.
“Silver?”
“Yep. I’m focused. Focusing.” I blink away my little fantasy, my cheeks burning and my thighs clenching. “
“Are you sure you want to go down this route?” Dante asks. “If we find the way to take out Simpson and his gang of merry murderers and then we’ll be the ones with the knowledge of how to end them. It’s always an option not to throw yourself directly into danger, you know.”
I pop up and press a quick kiss to his cheek. He grips my wrist before I can dart away again and presses the gentlest of kisses to my wrist before releasing me.
“I know that. But Simpson is one sick fuck. He poisoned Fabian, and we all know that there’s no one currently hunting him and his cronies down to stake them, despite them being a genuine threat to the city.”
“They’ll be too busy trying to reason with him,” Zeph says.
“Exactly. It wouldn’t surprise me if they try to appease him somehow. Add him to a new subcouncil or something. They can’t seem to get it into their heads just how much he wants power and how few shits he has to give.”
I could see the kind of feral desperation he had the night of the Solstice Ball.
“So... we fight back?”
“We fight back.” I nod. “Information is power. That’s what Fabian’s always saying, right?”
Maybe it’s the caffeine and the sugar coursing through me or something else, but I feel like I could take on the world right now.
“Information is power,” Dante repeats softly.
“Fuck running and hiding,” Zeph says.
I give a wobbly smile. “Is that all right with you?”
Dante just nods and reaches forward to squeeze my hand. “I’m with you, Silver.”
“I’ll fight with you to the ends of the earth, Little Witch.”