Wardbreaker: An Urban Fantasy Novel (The Lillim Callina Chronicles) (13 page)

“Well, at least she recognizes who is here.” Danae scowled at me and turned away, her fingers playing over her top button again. It was weird because she seemed too old and powerful to still have nervous gestures. Time tended to strip away all human gestures from the creatures, leaving the older ones more like statues than not. Then again, she was a succubus. Maybe having human tics helped her seduce her victims.

“It’s one of the perks of working with the Dioscuri,” Logan replied, taking my hand in his and pulling me into a sitting position. It was weird because his flesh felt cold and clammy even though I was pretty sure vampires didn’t sweat. “They’re all so well educated. It makes it easy to impress upon them the importance of the situation. Imagine how much more difficult this would be if she didn’t know who Ariel was?”

Danae tsked, letting out the sound through clenched teeth. She definitely didn’t like whatever was going on. I wasn’t sure that was a bad thing. If there was strife between the vampires, maybe I could use that to my advantage.

The room they had me in wasn’t much to look at. Aside from the steel table I’d been laying on, it was empty save for a couple of metal folding chairs. There was a doorway to our right, but it didn’t even have a door. I wasn’t quite sure where we were, but the cobblestone walls and floor made me think dungeon. Still, this place was built beneath a modern looking building, so how old could it have really been? Unless, of course, whoever built it had a thing for old fashioned dungeons, but if that was the case, where were the bars?

I was about to ask when Logan pulled me to my feet and led me toward the doorway. The tips of my shoes caught on the cobbles, and I almost slipped, but the vampire held me upright with ease. He smirked at me, and I got the distinct impression he was enjoying himself.

Danae followed behind us, muttering in a language I couldn’t understand though it sounded sort of like French. Near as I could tell, she didn’t actually like me at all, let alone in
that
way. It made me wonder how far she would have been willing to go with her ‘interrogation.’ The thought made me shiver and not in a good way. She’d probably interrogated lots of people she didn’t particularly care for.

“I’m sorry,” I whispered, glancing over my shoulder at her instead of watching where I was going.

She looked up at me, her dark eyes a mixture between curiosity and annoyance. “For what?”

“For you having to pretend to like me.” My cheeks heated up as she quirked one well-manicured eyebrow at me. “You know, in that way…”

“Apology accepted,” she stated mechanically, voice even as she stared at me. For a second, I thought I saw a thought swim through her eyes. Then she shook her head and strode past us, disappearing through the door, her short black skirt swishing around her hips in a way designed to catch the eye. I tried not to watch, but even without effort, the succubus was so strong, I couldn’t keep darker thoughts from running through my mind.

Beside me, Logan chuckled. It was a weird sound because it seemed amused rather than cold and maniacal. “I’m not sure if you pissed her off or impressed her,” Logan said, turning to shrug at me, his lips spread into a wide grin. “She doesn’t actually like…” he waved his hand at me, “you know.”

“Girls?” I asked as we exited the room and found ourselves in the hallway. There appeared to be other rooms like ours every few feet, but otherwise it was just a long hallway for several feet in either direction. Like the room I’d been in earlier, lights were embedded into the ceiling, so instead of feeling dark and dingy, it felt cold and unfeeling.

“Dioscuri,” he replied and the tone of his voice made me incredibly uncomfortable, like he was picturing me and her in his mind. “She doesn’t mind girls so much.”

“Good to know, I guess,” I said, looking around for some clue as to where we were going, but finding none. I had half a mind to try to escape, but what would be the point? Logan had said he’d show me what was up. If that was the case, I ought to let him lead me to it. If it wasn’t, well, I could try to escape then. It was a bad plan because, for all I knew, he could be leading me toward a pit filled with monsters, but I’d ridden that particular rodeo a few times now. The only problem was that I was without my swords. Still, I could tell they were close by.

“It’s not your fault.” Logan shrugged. “Her mate was killed by a Dioscuri.” The way he said the words made me feel a little sad which was crazy because she was a vampire. That meant her mate was probably a vampire too. I was not about to feel bad for killing creatures that literally sucked the life from people. You know, unless it was a really sad story. I had a heart after all.

“What happened?” I asked even though I probably shouldn’t have. I didn’t want to go forming attachments to a creature I might have to kill. We passed by another room, but it was empty inside save for a table and chairs similar to the ones that had been in my own cell.

“She was a human girl hung in Boston a little before the Salem Witch Trials,” Logan said, staring off into space like he was trying to remember something. “A Dioscuri accused her of being a witch, and it worked because people weren’t quite so forgiving of the whole lesbian thing back then. He was trying to use her as bait to lure Danae out of hiding, but she wasn’t even in the state at the time. Needless to say, she was quite enraged when she returned.”

I squinted at him, trying to decide whether or not I believed him. “You’re telling me a Dioscuri accused an innocent person of being a witch to lure out Danae, but she wasn’t even there?”

“Pretty much,” Logan replied, and I suddenly felt sick. The Salem Witch Trials were the example of why it was important to keep the supernatural world secret from the humans because they tended to overreact, and well, kill everything in their path until they felt safe again. To think that the event may have been perpetrated by a Dioscuri was even more unnerving. “I wouldn’t feel too bad about it though. Time heals all wounds…” Logan shrugged.

“You seem like such a caring friend,” I grumbled as he placed his hand on a door at the end of the room. It was shiny and metallic. I got the distinct impression it might actually be made from silver or at least coated with the substance.

“Oh, make no mistake,” Logan replied, glancing at me and narrowing his eyes. “We’re not friends.” With that, he shoved me through the doorway. The threshold felt heavy and warm, sliding over my skin like I was being shoved through a vat of warm raspberry jam. Magic zipped over my skin, and for a moment, it was all I could do to stand there and not feel overwhelmed. Wards flared to life all around me, blue flame bursting from their edges as we stood there, unmoving.

The wards lifted up in the darkness in front of me until they coalesced into a seething mass of light before exploding into a million scintillating shards that cascaded across the ceiling, illuminating the room before me.

We were standing on a marble balcony overlooking a room about the size of a basketball court. The stone floor was made up of darkening shades of red rock so it started off as bright as blood in the far corner of the room and flowed into a sort of black morass beneath where we stood.

A marble altar stood in the center of the room surrounded by acolytes dressed in purple robes with gilded owls embroidered onto their backs. The altar looked like it was big enough to sacrifice a bull on top of it. Only there wasn’t a bull on it at all. Jean Luc lay in its center. He had been stripped down to his underwear and tied to the dais with his hands splayed out to the sides.

One of the acolytes lifted a copper bowl encrusted with glittering gemstones and gestured toward Luc with it. Foul smelling pink liquid sloshed inside as another acolyte produced a jeweled bronze dagger and raised it in the air before sweeping her hood off her head to reveal her blonde hair. The little girl Luc had saved earlier turned and looked up to us, her lips twisted into a smile.

“Hello, Lillim,” she said, eyes twinkling as she gestured at Luc with the dagger. “You’re just in time to watch the show.” The way she spoke made me think she wasn’t worried I’d try to stop her. But why? If she was misbehaving, I’d have to stop her. Then again, it’d be really easy for her to use the blood in my body to turn my brain into mush. Was that why she wasn’t worried, or was it something more?

Logan’s grip tightened on my wrist, and my heart pounded in my chest as she turned back around and raised the dagger over Luc’s chest. I’d been a fool. These vampires were planning on sacrificing Luc, and I’d been almost feeling sorry for them and chatting?

Words in a language I didn’t understand spilled out of the girl’s mouth as Logan removed his necklace and leaned near to me so his lips were nearly touching my ear. “If you want to save your friend from Ariel, now is your chance. Her speech will be almost a full minute long.” Before I could even ask what he was doing, he fastened his necklace around my neck and took half a step to the side.

I glanced from him to Ariel and back again. I wasn’t sure what Logan’s necklace did exactly, but as it rested against my skin, I could feel power emanating from it. So why had he given it to me? And what sort of game was he playing?

He leaned forward on the balcony and clasped the marble like he was enjoying the show and made a shooing motion with his hand. “Move along, little Dioscuri. Times a wasting.”

I glared at him before turning my gaze on the scene below. I didn’t have my weapons, there was an immeasurably strong vampire down there about to sacrifice Luc, and worse still, she was surrounded by several other goons. The odds didn’t look good. But I was Lillim Callina, and I didn’t let little things like impending doom stop me from being stupid.

As she raised her dagger into the air, I leapt over the balcony.

The air rushed around me as I fell with my hands outstretched. I gathered as much power as I could in the time it took me to fall from the second story balcony down to the ground. It probably would have hurt, but thankfully, I had a vampire to break my fall. He crumpled against the stone altar as the impact traveled up my body, but I’d been planning for it. The vampire beneath me? Not so much.

Ariel’s eyes opened wide in shock as she turned toward me, but bless her heart, she kept chanting. It made me wonder what would happen if she was interrupted. It was time to find out.

My blood pounded in my ears from the thrum of energy next to the altar as I threw my hands outward, slamming my palms into her pint-sized body. I released all the magic I’d been gathering at once. The surge flung her backward across the floor, slamming her haphazardly into the stone wall at the far end of the room. The wet smack of it was so violent, it almost made me cringe away, but as she slid to the floor, the vampire narrowed her eyes and glared daggers at me. She slowly got to her feet, acting like I’d barely hurt her. That wasn’t good. Not at all.

The closest vampire came at me, but I managed to dodge his clumsy swing and drive my foot into the side of a knee. A horrible crack filled the air as he toppled into the dais, but I was already moving past him. A swipe of claws tore through my sweatshirt and pain shot through me. Scarlet flames leapt from the wound, drowning me in agony as I staggered.

That misstep was all it took for another vampire to wrap his unnaturally strong hands around my throat and hoist me into the air. My legs kicked outward, connecting with something soft and squishy. I fell, slamming backward onto the stone. I lay there, trying to remember how to breathe as my hand instinctively went to my wounded side.

It no longer burned, but there were still four more vampires surrounding me. Their eyes blazed from beneath their hoods as they lunged for me, undead fingers wrapping around my limbs and pulling at me. My sweatshirt tore as I struggled, and for a second, my hands were free. I drew upon my magic and smashed my fist into the vampire with the copper bowl’s face. The blow flung him backward like a ragdoll, and he hit the ground a few feet away. The bowl slipped from his hand and crashed to the ground, spilling the pink goop onto the stone.

The smell of burning rubber filled my nose as the stone began to bubble and crack. I leapt off the dais, landing in the place the vampire had occupied and used one well-placed sidekick to shatter the hip of the vampire who had been standing next to him. He flopped to the side as Ariel’s chanting reached a crescendo. Thunder cracked within the cloudless room, splintering my hearing as her words reverberated through the air and pounded in my ears like bass drums. My stomach clenched in horror as I spun in time to see her striding toward Luc, ritual dagger in hand.

“No!” I screamed, knowing I couldn’t leave Luc tied to the altar. I shifted and brought my elbow down onto the altar with all the force my magic-infused body could muster.

Pain exploded through my limb as power flared across the surface of the stone. Purple light exploded from the spot I’d struck, rippling outward along the surface of the altar and everything went totally silent for a moment. The altar shattered into powder. Luc’s body hit the ground just as Ariel reached us, dagger slashing through where he had been a second before.

“You’re ruining everything!” Ariel cursed, whirling on me and extending her free hand toward me. Everything went sort of black and hazy around the edges as the taste of blood filled my mouth. I toppled forward, falling to my knees across Luc’s body as pain racked me, distilling everything down into indescribable agony. Then all at once, the necklace around my neck went as cold as ice, chilling me to the bone. “We were supposed to have an agreement!” Her voice was an erupting volcano of rage.

Instead of replying, I tried to breathe. Only it felt like my lungs had filled with fluid. Try as I might, I couldn’t draw in any air. Bloody foam sprayed from my lips as the necklace froze my flesh. It was like someone had filled my veins with ice as the necklace throbbed and pulsed, and then, like magic, I could breathe again. How the hell had that happened? Had Logan’s necklace protected me from Ariel’s magic somehow? I was pretty sure it had, but why? Why would he help me stop her? What was in it for him?