Out of the Mountain (50 page)

“Worry only about yourself, Vinnie. Your task could fall on no other, and if you fail . . . we all do.” he grunted out in a low and slow imitation of Rowan’s voice that had me snorting out into laughter.

“Hey, I thought that was pretty good!” he complained.

“Maybe too good.”

“I will admit to practicing that in the mirror on more than one occasion.” Malachi grimaced, sending me into another fit of giggles. We joked back and forth for the remainder of the song, and I was happy for the distraction. I took a break and grabbed a drink and a snack from a waiter as he walked by. I exchanged nods with Tasmin and Felix, who were at their post close by me, before I felt a tap on my shoulder and saw them stiffen. I turned to face Silas.

He was a bear of a man, tall and wide. His normally kind eyes were cold and hard. I tried not to look too closely because I knew what I would see underneath. I planted a smile on my face.

“I would like to dance,” he said in clipped tones, and I nodded, allowing him to lead me back out onto the dance floor. When he took my hand I felt the magic recoil and saw his eyes narrow on me in suspicion. I quickly tried to rein my magic in, to stop it from seeping out and into him. When the dark magic relaxed around him, I assumed it had worked. I tried to concentrate on keeping it that way as he whirled me around the room.

“How does it feel to be queen?” he asked, not looking me in the eyes.

“It’s hard to describe,” I admitted, and he grunted in dismissal of my comment. I tried to hide my frown. This guy wasn’t even trying.

“
We are all in position. Be prepared, Vinnie. I can feel magic pooling.”

“I love you.”

“I love you.”

I felt the shift in the room as if it was a physical force. Music stopped, talking stopped, all motion stopped. A rumbling began, and people gasped and jumped back from their friends and neighbors in shock as their eyes reddened and their features began to shift. Silas’s hand came down in a hard grip on my arm. Eyes glowing red, fangs protruding from his mouth already.

There was a moment of complete stillness before all hell broke loose. Grotesque creatures: part shadow, part man, and part animal, sprang forward in attack. At least a third of the guests were attacking the rest. Weapons appeared seemingly out of nowhere. The guards who weren’t under Narissa’s thrall sprang into action. Willa flipped tables on end and began trying to arm the guests with weapons she had stashed underneath. I watched all of this as I was being yanked forward through the crowds of people by Silas.

I was trying to bide my time and allow him to lead me to my enemy, but when I tripped over the skirt of my dress, he turned on me. Blood was being shed, it was in the air, in his eyes. He glared at me.

“Maybe just a taste?” his voice crackled. He had somehow maintained a more human form than the others, but it was equally as disturbing. Huge fangs hung down his jaws, stretching his mouth in an odd angle. Patches of hair were springing up here and there, and his eyes were huge and gleaming red on his face.

I could see that he fully intended to take a bite out of me and decided I had to act fast. I broke my arm free, and in a flash I conjured my daggers. I didn’t have a second to think before he latched onto me yet again, his mouth snapping as I dodged, trying to find purchase anywhere that I could. I planted a hard kick to his stomach that sent him stumbling back, and within a split second I had my dagger in front of me. Silas jumped onto me, knocking me backward, and I swiped the dagger across his chest as lightly as I could while forcing my light into him. He dropped to his knees as darkness pooled out of the cut at his chest. As soon as I saw its eyes, I swiped my dagger out and stabbed into the Shade. A flash of light and it was gone.

My heart was pounding with adrenaline as I helped Silas to his feet. Confusion left him blinking around at the chaos. I could see his mind working in overtime.

“You were compromised. I released you. Grab a weapon, and back me up!” I said as I slapped him on the back and into action. A new kind of rage lit his face. He was a force to be reckoned with, and he was out for revenge. He swept a discarded sword up off the floor and took the lead. My eyes easily found Rowan in front of us. A pile of people were at his feet, looking terrified and confused. He had been protecting us and them this whole time. I jumped into action, running to his side and putting my training to good use.

“If you can’t fight, then run and hide!” I told the terrified women at our feet when I began to feel the pooling darkness spreading. It was almost as if there was a thick fog of it surrounding the dais and the Six who sat upon it. Rowan nodded to me and Silas in turn before we began making our way through the room. Dodging fights and fleeing people as we went, stopping only when forced to fight. I tried to block out the bodies I could see on the ground in my peripheral vision. I had to focus on finding Narissa, getting to her, and stopping this.

When I saw bright white, my eyes were drawn to it knowing what I would see, before even focusing. Marlowe was on his back. His chest was a gaping wound that was covered in blood. His eyes were still open, his gaze fixed and staring at nothing. I gasped, falling to his side and trying to heal him. Nothing happened.

“Vinnie! He’s gone!” Rowan yelled at me as I kept trying and failing at my attempts to send life back into his body. Rowan and Silas were fighting those who were drawn by the fresh blood, and I tried to pull myself to my feet. I saw the gleam of a dagger in Marlowe’s hand, and I thanked him before I took it, passing it quickly to Silas.

Determined, sickened, and angry at what I was seeing, I headed toward the veil of shadows surrounding the dais with reinforced purpose. He would not die in vain. No one would. I could mourn the loss later, but for now I needed to avenge it. I climbed the steps, and with a nod to Rowan, I thrust myself into the darkness. It quickly retreated from me, opening a path allowing me to reach the center. I stared at the scene in front of me in confusion.

“Mauve?” I asked as I took in her lithe form standing over Dahlia, staff raised and ready at her chest. Zoran and Orion lay dead on the floor at their feet. The others sat obliviously awaiting their fate.

“Guess again.” Mauve’s voice came out high and piercing. Chills spread across my arms as I recognized the voice. Her eyes met mine, now bloodred, and I noted small differences in her appearance as the glamour around her faded. Her hair was a sheet of pure white instead of the gray it usually was, and her skin was smooth and free of any lines. Her body was lithe and thin, but much stronger than she had appeared before. She looked completely different and yet exactly the same.

“Narissa!” I exclaimed, mind catching up to itself.

“Yes. It took you long enough.” The cruelty that coated her voice was enough to tie it all together for me.

“But . . . how?” I asked, confused, and she narrowed her eyes at me and puffed out a sigh, stepping back from Dahlia as if I had just interrupted a haircut and not homicide.

“Mauve is Narissa!”

“I am protecting the dais. Make quick work of the traitor,”
Rowan growled into my mind, no explanation needed.

“It’s actually a really long and boring story, but it was easy enough to glamour myself and slip into society. These people don’t remember me, and those who do would expect me to be as old and decrepit as they are. I have transcended time. All I had to do was cause and solve a wilting crop problem, put a few innocents in danger, save those same innocents, and you’ve got the trust of a bunch of idiots just rallying to put you in charge of something.
Voil
à
,
I’m in charge . . . the way I should have always been,” she babbled as she pointed the staff in my direction.

“Then you come along. Imagine my surprise at such a well-kept secret.” She purred as she walked toward me, hands covered in blood. The very same hands that had killed my mother, my grandmother, and grandfather. This woman was responsible for the deaths of so many in my family and countless members of other families. Rage boiled within me.

“You are a monster,” I spat, and she laughed full and hard. I cringed at the maniacal sound of it.

“I am much more than that. I am the mother of monsters. All that you see before you was born of my blood. I have plans in motion that you couldn’t even wrap your pretty little head around,” she said as I held my position.

“I’m not afraid of you,” I lied, even as my heart sped faster.

“You are, and you should be. At one point, you were central to our plans . . . now you’re more of a backup.” I could see the strings of darkness spilling from her, connecting her to every creature and shadow in this building. I tightened my grip on my daggers. How had I not seen this sooner? Our enemy had been hiding in plain sight.

She circled me, and as she did, my tigress rose to the surface, angry at feeling cornered. I pushed her back down as I noticed the tethers that tied Narissa to the remaining Six were solidifying. Narissa’s eyes shone with bloodlust as she looked me over, eyes narrowing in on the necklace around my neck with malice. She was fully and truly insane.

When she rushed me, I swung my arms out and up in a swinging arch, slicing neatly through the darkness that had become a physical boundary. She was caught off guard by my movement, and I watched as horror lit her face, and her eyes fell on Dahlia as she blinked in confusion. The others followed suit, taking in the scene around them.

“Mauve?” Quillion asked, standing, anger lighting his face and fire igniting in his hands.

Narissa’s eyes turned on me in disbelief before she slipped into the shadows, disappearing for all but me as she rushed through the crowds and chaos for the door. I gave chase, hurtling over bodies and dodging claws and teeth as I went, desperate to reach her in time. I tripped over a body and gasped when I saw the lifeless eyes of Cassia, her red curls sprawled around her face. Oliviana was on the floor beside her, weeping. My heart lurched, but I couldn’t stop. I couldn’t lose Narissa. I had no choice but to quickly move on. I heard her yell out after me, and I winced at the sound.

I spotted Narissa waiting in the corner, hidden and watching the scene unfolding in front of her with glee. I was sprinting toward her when I was ambushed from the side. The air was knocked out of me in a whoosh as I hit the floor, daggers flying from my grasp. A creature was atop me, appearing to be part panther, jaws snapping as I pushed against its neck with all my might. I shifted, swatting at it with a giant paw, desperate to live. Blood seeped from a wound I had opened in its belly. I cried out in anguish as it fell.

I conjured my dagger and disposed of the Shade, legs buckling when I saw the young girl lying in front of me.

“Alyssa!” I heard Griffin cry as he slid to a stop above us. My stomach was churning.

“What have you done?” he screamed and I winced. The sound of his voice was harsh, startling both me and the girl. She was still breathing. I could only assume this was one of his younger sisters.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry!” I cried as I took his dagger, laying it to the girl’s wound and surged all the power from it into her. I could not use my own; I had to get to Narissa. The wound closed, and the girl cried out, jumping up to hug him.

“Go!” he yelled, relief in his eyes as he held his sister and ran to get her to safety.

I lost sight of Narissa and panicked before running for the exit. I saw her just about to slip out.

“Coward! You run from a fair fight!” I yelled at her back as I fought to reach her in time. She turned on me, shocked that I could see her still. I froze feet from her, unsure of what I should do next. I conjured my daggers back into my hands, heart beating in my ears.

“You do not survive as long as I have without being smart. I had a plan, and you are an unknown, much more powerful and valuable than we originally thought. It would not do well to kill you now and waste such . . . potential.”

“I will not stop. I will keep coming for you until I avenge what you have done to my family. You will die by my hands,” I growled, my tigress roaring behind my words, and an evil grin split Narissa’s face.

“So be it.” She shrugged as she turned the staff on me and sent a wave of darkness that knocked those surrounding us to their knees. The power slipped around and away from me easily, with no effort on my part. I stood taller, crossing my arms, and cocking an eyebrow.

“Is that all you’ve got?” I goaded her, and she screamed in rage, sending a blast of power at me again. This time I felt it, just a little bit. My hair stood on end.

My smile dropped as hers grew, determination in her eyes. I squeezed my daggers tightly in my hands and lunged, hoping to catch her off guard. She brought the staff up to easily block my advance, and I tried to push through her defenses. She pushed back with a force that I didn’t think she had, knocking me back. I circled her, trying to find the right time to advance.

She blinked, and I brought a sweeping kick up at her head. She managed to block it with the staff with a loud smack, and my skin was immediately on fire. More than the normal sting from a slap; I saw the blood welling up on my leg and growled. The staff was tipped by a hidden blade! Her laugh was cut short by the staff as it began to glow hot and white. She yelped, dropping it to the floor as it burned her hands. No longer hidden, everyone turned to stare at her as I lunged for the staff and picked it up, pointing it at her. I could feel the staff, almost as if it was begging me to help it, to release it from the darkness.

I sliced my hand on my dagger and quickly laid it against the wood of the staff and pushed, my magic pouring into it, darkness trying and failing to flee as it was obliterated by the light of my blood. I watched Narissa frozen in fear as she fell to the ground in front of me. I surveyed the room, and a sob broke from my throat. Blood and death, injured and helpless, people were either lying on the floor or fighting for their lives. Rowan was behind me, focused and fighting with all he had, outnumbered already. A bundle of a person with red hair was on the floor in front of him. Briony! Luca was at her side, blood flowing from a gash at his neck. He was shaking her . . .crying out to her. I couldn’t find the others in the fray, didn’t know who had survived to this point. I had to end this.