The Council (Darkness #5) (14 page)

“You don’t need to tell me my job. You need to learn yours.”

I couldn’t help but crack a smile. That was his way of saying, “Duly noted, Senator.”

We pushed on, nearly there, when Dave, one of Tim’s shifters, yelled up, “Here they come!”

“Are the guards coming behind them?” I yelled back, reaching with my magic towards those spells.

“No. But damn it, Sasha, they’re fast!”

I unraveled the spell as we reached a giant marble door with the name “Cato” engraved in the middle. Shiny and smooth, it looked like something that would guard a tomb.

“Um.” I didn’t know what else to say. The thing didn’t have a doorknob.

“Push?” Charles stepped forward and placed his palm in the middle of the door. His fingers turned white and his muscles flexed. “Nope.”

“They’re coming!” Dave yelled again.

“More bugs?” I asked in confusion as I tried to peer through a wall of muscle down the hallway.

“No. White-faced males. The Guards. They didn’t like that spell by the look of it. Don’t blame them—hurts like the bejesus.” Charles chuckled. “I’ll take care of this right quick.”

“Let my men handle it,” Tim spoke up quickly. “We don’t know what’s beyond this door.”

“Hopefully an old man with a clue.” Charles stepped back beside me.

“Tim’s right,” I agreed. “Let his people handle it.”

Jonas nodded in approval as I laid my hand on that smooth, cool marble. Tingles entered my palm and tickled up my arm, spicy and light. Some sort of spell.

“So… invite only, then. Hmm.” I closed my eyes and focused on that feeling. That intricate, lacy hum of a delicate mix of elements. Weaves so tight, so complex, I was in awe at the same time as frustrated.

“Blow it up, human.” Jonas stepped back.

“I doubt I can blow through this door.” I shook my head in frustration, my mind drifting back to Stefan. A pang pierced my heart, forcing moisture to my eyes. I took a deep breath, focusing. Trying to let my intuition guide me. Trying to find a way through or around that spell.

A dull thunk permeated the hall.

“Did you just stomp your foot like a housewife?” Charles asked in exasperation. “What, do you think the door is afraid of getting spanked with a spatula?”

“What are you even talking about?” I yelled at him, sounds of battle drifting up the hall. A snarl rent the air, someone having turned into a wolf.

“There goes the neighborhood,” I muttered, my breath getting shallow as I stared at a very real roadblock. If I couldn’t get through, then what? I didn’t have another plan.

Panic crept up, threatening to take over.

“No!” I yelled. I had to find a way through. I
had
to.

I stepped back. And back again. Staring at that door. Then the walls.

The walls.

Three quick steps had my palm flat to the wall next to the door. Wood. Plain, ordinary, non-magical wood. Well, it had some sort of magic protecting it from demons or other creatures. The protective spell was something that ran through the whole complex, though—and judging by the hollow, wispy quality, there wasn’t much juice in it. This wispy quality meant that an angry plant could push on through without any sort of hassle.

Or… I could just blow it up, like Jonas said. Ingenious in his violence, that guy. Very helpful.

“Okay. Everyone stand back!”

The rest of my crew, quiet now that the threat from earlier was gone, and also, three people were animals, backed away. I stared at the wall, pale yellow and slightly stained. I honed in on a black smudge. Fire welled up, mixed with air and only small amounts of the other elements.

With a huge
push
, I rammed the spell at the wall and infused another blast of fire. Right as the spell was soaking in, and one second before detonation, I went to throw up a shield.

I didn’t make it in time.

Jonas’ body crashed into me, taking me to the floor right before the wall exploded. Splinters of wood and debris fired into the hall. His big body covered mine, blocking any sort of shrapnel.

“Shields don’t block physical things, human,” he growled as Charles pulled him off me.

I groaned.
Rookie mistake.

Tim and John filed into the room before me. Charles and Jonas went after me, having to bend through the human-sized hole. The rest of the shifters were wolves and split up, each guarding the entrance but from different sides.

Cato sat at a mahogany desk, a pen in one hand and a piece of paper in front of him. His eyebrows gently lifted as I stalked into the room and faced him. The others fanned out around me.

“Well, hello.” He laid down his pen, entwined his fingers, and stared at me.

In a stern, authoritative voice, I said, “Stefan was taken by Andris. Rudy tried to force a blood link on me. I’m not sure if the two are connected, but I
do
know Rudy knows something, and I need to know what. Also, your guards must know something, too, unless they went deaf at opportune times.”

“I see.” Cato reflected a moment, his faded blue eyes honed in on me, but not exactly focused.

I shifted uncomfortably as he said, “It does me good to see a human own her place within our world. That used to be the way of it, you know. Humans and our kind paired quite often. We were stronger that way. Two opposite halves of magic merging together created a tight bond. I had wondered when I would see it again.”

“Awesome, great. Toa told me all of that.
Focus,
please Cato. I need to find out where Andris’ hiding place is. Where are the guards?” I couldn’t help raising my voice. The guy could drive a saint insane.

Or maybe he had in the past.

“The guards are dead, of course.”

Growls ripped through the room. Three wolf bodies braced on our side of the hole, staring outward. Someone must’ve been coming. Cato waved his hand. The huge marble door
popped
. It silently swung inward an inch, making another hole into the room.

Which was not great for defense.

Everyone now changed their position, protecting me from what was coming, leaving me to deal with the old guy with wandering thoughts.

“Someone killed the guards?” I asked, aghast. “Well, where’s Rudy?”

“Rudy has disappeared. Well, he thinks he has, anyway. It was him that killed the guards, of course. And while I do not have proof, they met their end shortly after he visited Andris. He has never been cunning or effective when under pressure. It is his greatest weakness. And one must always understand their enemy’s greatest weaknesses.”

I was waving my hand at him, trying to drag the words out a little faster. “Your enemy? Didn’t you let him have the run of the place?”

“Oh yes. He and my mage. You see, I have been around long enough to know how power corrupts. I have witnessed it firsthand on many occasions. It is only a matter of time. The issue has always been ferreting out the guilty parties. Using a man such as Rudy—young, ambitious, charming—and pitting him against someone like June, who is organized, logical and hyper-moral, one can really see the cracks that form within the ranks during the struggle for control. Especially when the master is at rest.”

“Great. Super. Except now my life is falling apart because of your stupid reindeer games. And if Rudy
thinks
he disappeared, that means you know where he went.”

A grin lit up Cato’s face as shouting started from the doorway. “Are you okay, sir? Shall we cut these males down?”

“Do you not see the merits in my methods?” Cato spoke to me. “Now, let’s notice you, shall we? A human within the upper reaches of the black magical power slide. A human trained by one of the great magic workers we know, even though his magic is nearing only the middle of the white slide. You are linked to a god-like specimen—he has power, strength, command, inspires loyalty, and even has a heightened appearance. Your new father is the most brutal, vicious warrior I have ever seen in action. And no, I have not seen your future mate in action, so maybe Dominicous has a rival—”

“
What is your damn point?”
I interjected. My wrist was tingling where my imaginary watch ticked away.

“Impatience. A trait of the young. My point is just this—Fate has gathered the most essential of players to open a door to our past. In doing so, it will secure our future. Through you we will establish a link all but lost. We will rebuild what has been destroyed. We will reform what has been torn apart. And we will live on into the next generations to come as a united species.”

I started pacing. “Well that is just fucking awesome. God damn Fate. But here’s an issue you might be able to help me with—I’m just kind of
rounding
back to square one, here.
Where the hell is Rudy?”

More shouts came from the hallways. Swords clashed. A zip of red magic beamed past the hole in the wall. Cato’s men streamed into the room. My guys backed up so they could.

A new threat had shown up.

“Ah. So. It has begun.” Cato stood from his chair. “I had no idea Andris would be so effective—he was the enemy I should have been watching closely. I misjudged. And now it will be up to you to set my folly to rights. But first, you need another lesson. Toa has been too easy on you.”

A blast of white hot magic slammed into me, throwing me back and plastering me to the wall. “I have magic to equal yours. We are on par, you and I.”

My lungs squeezed. Swirls started to block my vision. I grappled with the spell, just as intricate and fine as the one on that door. Sound cut out. My senses started shutting down. Air escaped my lungs and wouldn’t work its way back in.

“Embrace your magic. Don’t hide from it. Don’t struggle with it.
Embody
it,” I heard through the din. Almost like it was said directly in my head. Those words were the only sound I heard.

Panic griped me as the air ran out. The pain from his spell set off alarms just as my vision started to fade.

He was killing me!

I sucked in more magic, filled to the brim, working at that spell. Trying to find the chink in the chain.

“Embody it.”

What the hell does that mean?
I wanted to scream. I couldn’t though—I had no air.

My lungs burned. My body tingled fire. The magic threatened to overrun me, which wouldn’t kill me as fast as Cato planned to.

Black flog encased my brain. My eyes bulged.

Just need air. Just one gulp of air.

My consciousness started drifting. I reached out with magic, feeling for help. Touching on Charles and Jonas who were trying to work past a spell to get to me. To the strange but fascinating magic of Tim and his guys, sparkling green and earthy. I felt the jagged edges of someone bursting into the room looking for a link. I grabbed on.

My power flowed through me and into the person immediately. Joy dripped into me even as my life force dwindled away, my body and brain both starved for oxygen, while my blood pumped with the sweet elixir of magic.

That link cut out. Ripped away.

No. Transferred, somehow.

Suddenly I was on the precipice of a rolling, surging, flowing power exactly polarized to mine.

Another magical conductor!

Cato.

Of course it was. No one else would last this long without some sort of crazy-ass power. It was both great to know it could be done by me, and horrible to realize I had no way to overpower him. Not even with a link.

“Embody it.”

What the fuck does that mean?

And then I knew. As everything was slipping away, and my struggle for life faded, I let go. I let it all go. Threw the doors wide, stopped trying to fight it, stopped trying to control it, and just surrendered.