Mother May I (Knight Games Book 4) (13 page)

Rick opened his eyes. His lips parted and I could see the reflection of the angel in his widened pupils, a flickering candle flame in the depths of his soul. He stopped shaking.

“
Afipneezo
,” the creature said, voice reverberating around us. What did that mean? The light leaned forward and placed a chaste kiss on Rick’s lips.

Rick sat up, reaching for the light, but the angel backed away. He leaped to his feet to follow. The angel shook its head. “I will,” he promised, although I hadn’t heard the angel ask him to do anything.

“What is that thing, Polina?” I whispered.

“I don’t know,” she said, voice cracking through her tears. “I’ve never seen anything like that. I’ve never felt anything like it.”

“It’s pure light.”

“It’s pure love.”

“An angel.”

“Looks like one, but I’ve never heard of them interfering in Hecate’s affairs.”

As quickly as it had come, the angel retreated, pausing only to bow to Isabella’s remains. The light funneled back into the heavens, returning from whence it came. In its absence, Monk’s Hill seemed cold and dreary, like all of the love had been drained from the landscape.

Rick stared into the sky for a moment, his loss evident on his fallen expression. All at once, he formed a fist and punched it into the earth. The ground quaked again, and iron spindles shot up around the border of the cemetery. They stabbed out of the dirt, one after another, surrounding Monk’s Hill. Once in place, their tops knit into a fence, the fence I recognized as the border of my hellmouth. The border of Monk’s Hill Cemetery glowed red and then faded.

“He’s using magic,” I said. “The angel gave him the element.”

When the fence was in place, Rick climbed the hill to Isabella’s remains. The fire under her had been extinguished, although I wasn’t sure when this had happened, whether it was the earthquake or the appearance of the angel that put out the flames. Regardless, nothing was left of Isabella but black ash, a grainy dark sculpture where the woman once was. Rick reached out to touch her face, fingers trembling and jaw tight with fought back tears. On contact, she came apart. A chunk of her cheek broke off and tumbled down his fingertips, setting off a chain reaction. Her ear dissolved, blowing away on the wind. He sandwiched her head between his open palms, trying to hold her together, but his efforts backfired. The remains of her face sifted through his fingers. There were no bones, no skull. The fires of hell had reduced everything that was Isabella to black flakes that took to the wind. From the top down, she blew apart, black pieces twisting around Rick’s body, until there was nothing left between his hands but the stake.

The howl of pain Rick released broke my heart. It started as a human sob but quickly changed into a preternatural cry, the beastly moan of an injured animal. He shifted as easily as I’d ever seen him, and when he was done, his beast spread its wings and took to the sky.

I wept, Polina squeezing my hand in support.

“We have to go,” she said.

I moaned as a strong case of vertigo had me grabbing my head. I had a brief sense of drowning, a moment of blackness, and then I was back in the room across from Polina. The silver liquid between us sank and re-formed into the tray. As it did, it exposed my ring, which spun like a top at the center of the hardening metal. It slowed and fell, spiraling to a stop.

“Heaven and earth, what did we just witness?” Polina asked me.

“I don’t know.” I reached for the ring but snatched my hand back when it burned my fingers. “It had to have been an angel.”

“I hope not.”

“Why?”

“Because if an angel’s touch is what Rick is missing, I have no idea how to make that happen again for him.”

Chapter 16

Things That Make You Go EEK!

I
was still trying to make sense of what we’d seen in the platter when screams rang out from the bar. Polina rose from her place on the floor and rushed to the door, throwing it open in time for Poe and Hildegard to barrel into the small room.

“What’s going on?” I asked.

“Goblins. They’re here,” Poe said.

We rushed into the hall to find Julius speeding toward us. “We’ve got to get you out of here. Now!”

“Wait. Rick! He’s in the bedroom.”

Julius waved at Poe. “You, go get the caretaker.”

For once, Poe didn’t argue.

“You two. Come with me. My vampires can hold them back, but not for long.” Julius gripped my upper arm and dragged me toward the end of the hall, Polina and Hildegard close behind. The vampire led me inside a room I presumed was once servants’ quarters in the old building. There was a dumbwaiter in the wall. He slid the door open. “Get in.”

“Are you kidding me? This thing must be a hundred years old!”

“This lowers into the kitchen. The kitchen has a freezer. At the back of the freezer is a trap door to a secret passageway out of the building,” he said. “You must go alone if you wish for me to show your caretaker and familiar the way out.”

“Will we even fit?” Polina asked.

Julius snorted. “You’ll fit. In fact, two women can fit quite adequately.”

“How can you know that?” I asked. “Never mind. I don’t want to know.”

The thought of climbing into the small space made me shiver. Julius was right. There was plenty of room. Though once inside, I couldn’t stand or sit comfortably. I hunched, squatting over my tiptoes. Polina slid in on her knees beside me. She fit, but there wasn’t enough room for her to turn around. Her owl wedged its body between us before Julius closed the door, and we began to descend.

A few seconds later, the lift stopped. Polina nudged my hand and brought a finger to her lips. I quieted my breath and listened. Nothing. Slowly, silently, I lifted the door. We were in the back of an industrial-style kitchen.

I contorted my body to stick one leg out, cringing as my shifting weight made the slightest sound of bending metal. Feeling for the floor, I stretched until my toes met linoleum, then squeezed the rest of me out. I helped Polina and her owl do the same, before closing the door and sending the lift back up, in case Julius needed it for Rick and Poe.

Looking left, then right, I rounded the stainless steel counter. Polina drew her wand, and I felt for Nightshade, taking comfort in the brush of my fingers against her hilt. I’d tucked Tabetha’s wand inside her sheath. If we ran into trouble, I was ready.

A knocking behind us made me jump into Polina. She gave me a little shake and pointed back at the dumbwaiter. The sound was the lift coming to a stop on the second floor. I released a deep breath, until a clank from the front of the kitchen had me ducking behind the counter. From around the edge, I saw a black silhouette enter, a male goblin, bow drawn. He scanned the room, and Polina pulled my head back behind the stainless steel cupboards. Straight ahead, I could see the door to the freezer. I nudged Polina and pointed at it.

I was about to run for it when Polina pointed at the reflection in the stainless steel cabinets across from us. The goblin was drifting toward us, searching behind each counter. Two more and he’d be on top of us. We’d never make it to the freezer. Her eyes widened, and she spread her hands.

Thinking fast, I looked back in the direction we’d come. There was a pot rack near the dumbwaiter. It would have to do. I took a deep breath and blew. An unnatural wind knocked the pots and pans together on the rack.

The goblin shifted, jogging toward the noise. We didn’t waste any time. Sprinting for the freezer, I opened it enough for us to slip through, a quiet process compared to the banging pans. Hildegard’s eyes glowed as I closed us into the dark freezer. With no window in the door, it was the only light. Shivering in the icy darkness, I used a little power to ignite a flame in my palm. Polina’s face came into view first, followed by Hildegard. I pivoted, looking for the escape hatch and had to cover my mouth to keep from screaming.

Polina didn’t fare as well. At the sight of the dead man strung up by his ankles from the ceiling, she let out a yelp before realizing her mistake and biting her lip. I was sure the walls of the freezer would muffle the sound, but I was also sure goblin hearing was better than human. We were on borrowed time. I shouldered around the body and searched the back of the freezer. No door.

“Fuck. Is this even the right freezer?” I muttered under my breath. Something strange caught my eye, a crate of dill pickles stacked in the corner. “Help me,” I whispered, tugging at the crate.

She grabbed the other side. “Are you sure it’s back here?”

“Nobody freezes pickles.”

I had to extinguish my flame temporarily in order to use both hands to pull, but working together we slid the crate back. Sure enough, there was a small door underneath. It was frozen shut.

“Fire,” Polina said.

I directed the flame in my hand toward the ice while she melted the lock on the door. We barely had it open when the door to the freezer jostled. Crouched behind the pickle crate, I couldn’t see if it opened. I slid into the hole, dropping to a rough-hewn floor. Polina and Hildegard followed, silently lowering the door above her head. We listened for several minutes, but if anyone had followed us into the freezer, it did not appear they’d found the trap door behind the dead body and the pickles.

“Should I solder it closed?” Polina whispered.

“No, Rick and Poe might need it to get out.”

By the light of the flame in my hand, we stood shoulder to shoulder, facing a root- filled tunnel that stunk of death.

She gritted her teeth and motioned to Hildegard. The owl took off down the passageway. We waited. I glanced at the door above me, heart pounding. When Hildegard returned, Polina’s face lit up. She gestured for me to follow her and took off. Over packed dirt, wood beams, and the occasional bones, we navigated the tunnel to a crude stone stairway.

“Where do you think it leads?” Polina asked.

“Only one way to find out.”

We jogged to the top and Polina nudged the door open with her shoulder.

From the cold, filthy tunnel, we emerged into an office space decorated with warm wood and stained glass. Not only did I recognize the office, but I recognized the man sitting behind the desk, staring at us with a scowl.

“Logan,” I whispered.

He folded his arms across his chest. “What the fuck did you two do to my wall?”

* * * * *

Once the door closed behind us, it disappeared into the wall of Logan’s office. “As good as an enchantment,” Polina said, feeling for the seam.

I wondered if this was how Gary had reached Logan to compel his cooperation in getting my things. I decided not to bring up the topic. Some things are better left unsaid.

A brief explanation later, we climbed into a booth at the back of Valentine’s. It was past closing time, and the restaurant was empty.

“So Rick and Julius are still over there?” Logan asked.

“I think so. We were separated. Poe is with them too. Maybe we should circle back.” I wrung my hands.

“Give them a few minutes,” Polina said. “Nobody knows that place better than Julius. They’ll make it out.”

Logan scratched his temple. “I’d heard about the tunnels, but I never realized they were still functional.”

“Julius made it sound like the vampires regularly use them to move around during the day,” I said. “I didn’t know either.”

“A huge network of bloodsuckers thriving under the city.” Polina stuck out her tongue in a yuck face at Logan.

“Thanks for the image, Polina,” Logan said. “At least now I know how Julius kidnapped me when he rescued me from Tabetha.” Julius had kept Logan in his safe house for a time when Tabetha had threatened to kill him. Of course, what she really wanted was to kill me. Still, I appreciated Julius keeping Logan safe. The thought made me anxious to learn the fate of the vampire, my caretaker, and my familiar.

I didn’t have to worry long. There was a knock on the locked front door. Logan motioned for us to wait while he peeked behind the window shades. A moment later he unlocked the door and Poe, Rick, and Julius hurried inside.

A sigh of relief broke my lips. I couldn’t help myself. I bound out of my seat and threw my arms around Rick’s neck, kissing him on the cheek. “I’m so glad you’re safe.”

He hugged me back and stroked my hair. “I am safe, but I fear you are not.”

I backed away. “What do you mean?”

Julius answered for him. “Lives were lost today, Grateful. The goblins want you dead, and they are willing to do anything and kill anyone to get to you. I’ve never seen anything like it. We barely made it out alive.”

Rick nodded. “If it weren’t for Julius convincing me to follow him through a tunnel barely large enough for a dog, we’d be dead.”

“I encouraged him to mist, but he could only manage a partial transformation,” Julius said. “It was enough.”

“You misted?” I asked.

“Not exactly,” he said.

“He softened around the edges,” Julius explained.

“Well, that’s something,” I said encouragingly.

Rick glanced away from me. Through our connection, I could sense the process had been painful. “It’s okay, Rick. It’s not your fault. Polina and I think that Tabetha’s persigranate poisoning did more than make you forget me; it undid part of the magic that happened after I died. The caretaker spell was never completed.”

Every face turned toward me. “Polina and I went back in time. We saw the whole thing. After I died, an angel came down from heaven and completed the spell. That’s the part Rick lost. Whatever the angel did is gone.”

Poe, who was looking rather cozy huddled on the coatrack next to Hildegard, perked to attention. “Angels do not interfere in the realm of Hecate.”

“The bird is correct,” Julius said. “Angels keep to the human realm. No witch includes angels in her spells.”

“I know what I saw.”

Polina shook her head. “I was skeptical too, but it sure as hell looked like an angel to me. The thing was made of pure light.”

“How do we find out? Is there some spell we can do to conjure angels and ask if any of their kind helped Rick in the past?”

With a scoff, Julius slid in next to Polina. “Never. No supernatural being has access to angels.”