Cursed: An Urban Fantasy Novel (The Thrice Cursed Mage Book 1) (18 page)

“I’ll bet.” With those words I realized I rather liked the boy. It was going to make the next part even harder because I couldn’t leave him here, and I wasn’t sure what was through that door. For all I knew, I was going to step through it and find myself standing before a fire-breathing dragon. If that happened, I really hoped I knew the magic word for dragon-slayer.

I pushed that thought out of my mind and shoved the finger-laden bag in my pocket next to my darts, glad my trench coat had enough storage for all my knickknacks. Squatting down to look John in the eye, I smiled at him as confidently as I could. “I need you to stay behind me, and if something happens, I want you to run and find a place to hide, okay?”

He nodded, biting his lip as he tried to be brave. I tried to smile reassuringly back at him, but I wasn’t sure it worked because he swallowed really hard and took a step back from me.

“Okay.” He swallowed again. “But, I’m sure you’ll be able to beat up any monsters that come our way.” He reached out and touched the back of my right hand very lightly with his index finger. “You’re a good guy, and good guys always beat bad guys.”

“I hope you’re right,” I whispered as I got to my feet and turned back toward the open door, careful to keep the boy behind me. I really hoped he was correct. Not just about me winning and being able to save his mom, but about being a good guy. If I wasn’t, well, I almost hoped I didn’t remember that part of my life, unless, you know, it helped me kill a dragon and save a princess. If it meant saving his mom, I was ready to be Jack the goddamned Ripper.

I moved toward the door, careful to shield John with my body, and the sulfuric scent of brimstone filled my nose and turned my stomach. One quick glance behind me revealed John standing only a couple feet away. I wouldn’t say he was cowering, but the way he looked reminded me of a scared toddler hiding behind his mother.

“Ready?” I asked, barely resisting the urge to reach out and grip his shoulder. Even though his knees were visibly shaking, he nodded.

A high pitched keening erupted from the doorway as I turned back around. I took a quick step forward, my heart hammering in my chest as I tried to look through the door. I couldn’t see a damned thing. The darkness beyond the threshold was way too thick. Gooseflesh rose on my flesh and dread twisted my guts as I tried to will myself to step through. Another screech ripped through the entrance, setting my nerves on edge, but this one sounded vaguely familiar.

“Mom!” John cried, and before I could stop him, the boy lunged past me through the doorway. He instantly disappeared from view, and I cursed loudly and colorfully before running after him.

Chapter 22

Somehow, someway, I burst into an ice cave. Effervescent algae ran through the patches of snow all around me, casting an emerald glow across every last jagged icicle. My breath came out in a cloud of mist as I stumbled, slipping on the slick ice beneath my feet. My arms flew out as I wind-milled wildly, trying to catch my balance.

It was useless. I wound up flat on my ass. Pain and cold shot through me as I sat there, trying to figure out not only where I was, but where John had gone. Near as I could tell, I was at the top of a winding staircase straight out of Frozen, only you know, more demonic. Stone sculptures of gargoyles chewing on crystalline skulls hung from the ceiling. Their eyes seemed to follow me as I got slowly to my feet and made my way over to the frozen guardrail. A pentagram of emerald fire blazed a few stories below, but near as I could tell, John wasn’t down there. Where could he have gone?

Worry crept down my spine as I turned in a slow circle, desperate to find the boy. Even though it wasn’t a very large room, I couldn’t find any trace of him anywhere.

“John?” I called, not caring if my voice alerted people to my presence because as far as I could tell, I was the only one in this frosty prison. My voice echoed across the icy landscape, and as it faded away, a chill that had nothing to do with the cold settled over me. Something was watching me. I spun just in time to avoid one of those gargoyles as it swung a massive claw at my head.

As I ducked, its thick nails gouged scratches over an inch deep in the ice behind me. Without thinking, I threw myself bodily into the creature. My shoulder struck its torso, and it didn’t even wobble as I slid down its body and collapsed to the floor. Agony radiated from my shoulder. It felt like I’d slammed into a goddamned statue. Which, in retrospect, was probably exactly what had happened.

Unperturbed by my assault, the thing raised one giant, clawed foot into the air and brought it down with crushing force. I barely moved in time to avoid having my skull splattered like a cassava melon. Its foot kept going, punching through the icy floor like it was made of balsa wood. It fell bodily sideways, still swiping at me as I rolled away.

It wasn’t my best decision because I wound up tumbling down the frosty staircase. Even though I’d done this a couple of times already, I still didn’t enjoy repeating the whole stairs impacting my bones thing. By the time I reached the bottom, I wasn’t sure if I was seeing double or if there really were two gargoyles unfurling their stony wings above me. They released the frozen ceiling and fell toward me like dive bombers. Not double vision. Damn.

My cheap loafers slipped on the ice as I tried desperately to get out of their way. The monsters crashed into the ice on either side of me, sending a shockwave through the ground that knocked me from my feet. I fell sprawling onto the ice and slid several feet as they turned their beady red eyes on me and gnashed their horrible teeth.

“Ignis!” I cried at the top of my lungs. Hellfire filled my palm just like it had both other times. I flung it at the closest of the pair. The blast struck its stone chest and melted clean through it in a hiss of steam. Molten rock dripped from around the ragged edges of the hole in its torso. The creature looked down at the injury, and then, very carefully, prodded it with one stumpy finger. It pulled a gob glowing rock from its wound and held it up as if trying to figure out where it had come from.

Its eyes shifted from the glob to me and back again as understanding filled its monstrous features. A roar loud enough to shatter my eardrums exploded from its gullet before it launched itself forward, claws scrabbling on the ice like a dog on linoleum. Evidently, having a hole punched through its chest by hellfire wasn’t much of a deterrent. Good to know.

I rolled backward in a somersault that would make any gymnast laugh hysterically and tried to come up on my feet, failed, and crashed back to the ground a couple meters away. The gargoyles were almost upon me, and I wasn’t quite sure what to do since apparently my magic was worthless. Still, I wasn’t going to go down without a fight. Red light streamed off my arm, lighting it up like a Christmas tree as I called forth another blast of hellfire and launched it at the uninjured gargoyle to my left.

As it lumbered closer, the blast struck the monster on the shoulder, obliterating its arm and sending it spinning backward across the ice like a broken ballerina. Its compatriot, undeterred by its partner’s sudden plight, swung a huge fist at me. I barely ducked the blow. Wind from the closeness of the attack stung my cheek as I straight up punched the thing in the face with my demonic fist.

The creature’s head snapped backward with a heavy thwack that reminded me of boulders being smashed against one another. As the monster wobbled backward, I stuck one foot in the melted hole in its chest and boosted myself up into the air. Scarlet flames leapt from my tattoos as I brought the heel of my hand down onto the side of its neck with all the force my gravity-aided punch could muster.

A satisfying crunch filled the air as my hand sliced cleanly through its rocky body, splitting it from the neck to the underside of its right arm in one blow. As my feet touched the ground, the creature slid sideways in two separate pieces. It was strangely satisfying.

I had half a second to applaud myself and relish the fact I’d just cut a rock monster in half with my bare hands when the landing behind it collapsed. The gargoyle that had gotten itself stuck earlier was already pulling itself free of the rubble. I didn’t have long until it got here.

So I did the smart thing. I threw another blast of hellfire at the one-armed gargoyle advancing on me and ran my ass away. I didn’t see if my fireball connected, but I was pretty sure if I had hit the monster, it likely wouldn’t have done much good anyway.

I was almost to the pentagram in the center of the ice when I realized I was sprinting toward a demonic symbol made from emerald fire. Why had I run this way? My last experience with the stuff hadn’t been exactly positive. I threw on the brakes and wound up sliding straight into the flames.

My arms came up instinctively to shield my face from the fire. I’ll be honest, I shut my eyes and cringed waiting for the impact. Only nothing happened. I sat there for longer than I’d cared to admit before slowly opening my eyes and lowering my hands. The ice cave was gone.

I stood in a darkened room about the size of a basketball court. Black curtains covered the several man-sized windows along the walls and sconces illuminated the room with that same emerald flame I’d accidentally flung myself bodily into. I took a deep breath and tried to orient myself to my new surroundings. It was a little harder to do than I’d expected because only a second ago I’d been fighting gargoyles in an ice cave and I was more than a little amped up.

My feet crunched on the gravel-strewn ground as I took a step forward. The floor appeared to be an intricate web of cobblestones in various shades of green. They were clearly laid out in some kind of pattern I didn’t immediately recognize, but then again, ancient demonic hieroglyphics was never my strong suit. At least, I didn’t think it was. I couldn’t remember for sure.

I strained my eyes, trying to see through the gloom, but nothing was visible beyond the dancing shadows cast by the sconces. Worse yet, I couldn’t hear anything either. It was like being enveloped in a bubble of silence. Like with the gargoyles, my spider sense began tingling, only as I whirled around this time, fists raised, I encountered all of nothing.

A long slow breath escaped me as I turned back around to find myself staring straight into the face of Van, the man who had abducted Sera. He grinned at me, revealing a mouthful of off-white teeth. He had John clutched by the back of the neck with one hand. He slowly raised his demonic hand in amicable greeting, and his tattoos glowed brightly, casting the boy in sickly green light.

Chapter 23

“It would seem you got past my master and the gargoyles,” Van said. His voice seemed more annoyed than anything. “You must be really good at bar games. Usually I have a lot more time.” He stared past me and rubbed his chin. “One time, I managed to leave the country in the time it took for Vassago to miss during a game of pool.”

“I’ve played darts a couple times.” I ran my left hand through my hair, trying to play off how nervous I’d suddenly become.

Amusement filled Van’s eyes, and he gestured to my bloody hand. “Apparently not that many times.”

“You can’t win ‘em all.” I shrugged again. “Now, let John go before I do something you won’t like. I’ll be honest, I’m not exactly sure what it will be because no one has ever refused to give me the hostage before, but I’m open to the possibilities.”

“You honestly expect me to just give you—”

“I’m also a little excited by it.” The look of rage on his face filled me with a sick sense of glee. I guess no one had interrupted him with snark in a long time. I grinned.

“Whatever the girl is offering you, I can make you an offer so much better that hers will seem insignificant. What do you say?” He held out his glowing hand, offering it to me. It was a little weird because he seemed genuine about it. Shouldn’t he have just gutted me like a fish and moved on? No, there had to be a reason why he had bothered to have Vassago detain me and was now trying to deal. Did he think I could stop him?

I stared at his hand for a long time, and I’d be lying if I said I didn’t think about taking it. Doing so wouldn’t have been the nice thing to do nor was it the heroic thing to do, but it was probably the smart thing to do. I was really, really sure this guy could probably help me find the people from my memory. Hell, being that he’d talked his demonic sponsor into delaying me, he could probably snap his fingers and save them. All I had to do was walk away right now.

“Don’t do it!” John squeaked before his voice was cut off by a harsh slap. The sound of it rocked my entire world, and I felt my pulse speed up in response.

My vision went red around the edges as I looked from the boy to Van and back again. John was trying to be tough, trying not to whimper as a red handprint became more and more visible on his cheek. That couldn’t stand. That had to be answered for even if it was the dumb play. Sometimes there are things that are just plain wrong, things that need to be avenged because if they aren’t, they will seep into us and change us. That is how a good man dies. Not through one terrible act but with one tiny transgression after another.

“I can see the wheels spinning in your brain, Mac,” Van said, and his voice was more confident now. “Let me tell you what your hamster will find at the end of this road. It will find that you should have just walked away right now.”

“I know,” I said as I curled my right hand into a fist. Scarlet light exploded from my arm so brightly even my trench coat and shirt couldn’t diminish it. Instead, my clothing came awash in hellish flames. “Ignoring the plight of others is always the smart play, but it’s never the
right
play.” I took a step toward him, leaving molten footprints in my wake.

“And what do you know about being right?” Van sneered, flinging the boy behind him. John struck the cobblestones hard, bounced once, and skidded to a stop just beyond the edge of shadows. “You sold your soul to a devil just like me.” He smacked his hand with his chest, and the sound of skittering claws on rock filled my ears as millions of green eyes peered at me from the surrounding darkness.