Ritual Ink, page 2
part #4 of Ink Born Series
Bite they both pressed.
Not yet I pressed back.
I couldn't afford to act rashly. The lives of my loved ones were on the line.
The room was easily twice the size of my entire apartment with a double-height domed ceiling covered in off-white plaster with intricate gold patterning. I scanned the room as I walked through the doors. No easy exit, and no weapons. I ran my fingers over the bottles of ink in my pockets for some reassurance. The ink network eagerly pressed into my fingertips and whispered that it would delight in helping me remove the problem of the Ceremonials. The only issue with that was, I had no idea where Keirn and Vyx were or what security precautions the Ceremonials had put in place. No, I needed more information. As much as it killed me, I needed patience.
I stopped a few feet inside the doors and waited for the Ceremonials to acknowledge my presence. There were ten of them in total, each in extortionately expensive robes. They were blood red with black panels and gold seams. Given the depth and richness of the colours, I was quite sure that the fabric contained pure shadow magic and, perhaps, night magic, too. If I was right, then each panel would have cost me a week’s wages. The red glistened like garnets. I didn’t know enough about high-end clothes to know the magic they would have woven into that, but I was willing to bet that the gold seams contained real gold. All told, each set of robes would have cost me six months’ rent, minimum.
I stood with my back straight and hands in my pockets while I tried to school an expression of nonchalance on my face. I didn’t think I’d gotten it quite as good as Tyn always seemed to manage, but I was trying. The Ceremonials were seated on a cluster of heavily-padded brocade chairs in the centre of the room. Only one was facing me, and she was ostentatiously talking to the woman on her left. I noticed that some of them had more red or black on their robes than the others. I wondered if the colors signified rank of some form. The woman furthest from me whose chair was facing me had the most red on her robes. Her make-up was flawless, and a necklace with a large sapphire hung from her throat. Given the way half of the group was focusing intently on her and hanging off her every word, I decided that she was the leader or, at worst, the second in command. So, she was one I needed to pay attention to.
Slowly, the group began to quieten and turn their attention to me. I watched them as they did so, looking for weakness and trying to ascertain if, perhaps, one of them would be malleable enough to bring around to my way of thinking. Rex’s face flashed into my mind. He would be able to bring someone around, with the right tools. My blood ran cold. Was I ok with torture? The Ceremonials had all stopped talking and were sneering at me. One of the younger men had the nerve to lounge on his chair with his legs thrown over one arm.
“Mr. Corbeaux, how nice of you to join us,” the woman I’d pinned as the leader said.
She stood slowly, her cold dark eyes never leaving mine. Her mouth was curved into a sharp smile. She moved with a fluidity that made me wonder if she was a viper shifter. It was unusual for Ceremonials to be anything but humans, but it wasn’t entirely unheard of.
I lifted my chin a little and kept my thoughts to myself. Fein’s words rang through my head. I wasn’t going to give them the satisfaction of showing emotion or rising to their bait. The woman stopped some eight feet in front of me and put her hands behind her back as she slowly looked me up and down.
“I’d expected something grander from an ink magician,” she said with disdain.
‘Sorry to disappoint’ danced on the tip of my tongue, but I kept it to myself, instead remaining silent. She pursed her thin lips, and one of the other Ceremonials cleared their throat.
“Yes, George, I’m getting to it,” the woman hissed.
An older man with a receding hairline and heavy wrinkles around his eyes muttered something at her back.
“You always take too long playing with them,” a young blond man said with a heavy sigh.
The woman before me stiffened, but didn’t acknowledge him.
“Mr. Corbeaux, or should I call you Dacian?” she asked.
“Mr. Corbeaux is fine,” I said coolly.
“Dacian, the way this is going to work is really quite simple. You will be given a number of tasks to complete for us, tasks only an ink magician can complete. Once you’ve finished the list, your lovers will be returned to you.”
I held back the smile that came with the image of Vyx’s face if she heard someone thought she was Keirn’s and my lover. I could hear the fury in her voice and the tirade she would have gone on.
“The first task will be sent to you tomorrow. Now run along,” she said before she turned back to her coven.
The butler cleared his throat behind me. I was being sent away. I resisted the urge to clench my fists, turned and walked out without a word.
They’d dragged me to their fucking building for nothing more than that? My fingers wrapped around the bottle of ink before I’d realised what I was doing. The ink network pressed against my mind and urged me on. I could end them. Every single one of them. They didn’t have any inherent magic, they were nothing without their rituals and ceremonies. I ground my teeth. No. I wasn’t going to risk Keirn and Vyx’s lives like that. I would play their game. For now.
6
The journey home was cold and miserable. At least the streets and trams were reasonably quiet, so I could watch the world go by and replay the ridiculous meeting in my mind. I had nothing new, nothing of any use. They hadn’t given me their names, I had no clue where Keirn and Vyx were, and they hadn’t even bothered to tell me what they expected me to do. I swallowed down the anger and took a calming breath. I wasn’t alone. I had Fein, the crime lord who seemed to run most of Europe, and his pet assassin. Add in the cougars, and I had a veritable army. I smiled as I watched the light glint off the frost on the bushes at the edge of the park. Vyx would have grinned at the sight. She loved frost. She said the way it made the world glitter was beautiful.
I weighed the words on my tongue as I rode the elevator up to the apartment. How was I going to tell everyone that it was a pointless trip? The doors opened, and a white ball of fur launched itself at my chest. I opened my arms and caught Keirn’s fox, which proceeded to squirm and lick my face, causing me to almost drop it twice. I rubbed its cheeks and behind its ears as I walked into the apartment. The fox’s soft fur eased some of my frustration and fears. It was a piece of Keirn, or at least closely connected to Keirn. It gave me an anchor.
Everyone was seated in the living area. All faces turned to me as I entered with Keirn’s fox in my arms. Kyra was hissing and yowling in her tattoo – how dare that fox get all the fuss and attention? I allowed her out of her tattoo as I sat down in my usual seat, trying to ignore the palpable pressure from the gazes levelled on me. Kyra stalked over to the cougars and settled herself on the back of their chair while giving me dark looks; as far as she was concerned, I’d betrayed her. The fact that I’d petted Keirn’s fox hundreds of times over the years apparently meant nothing to her in that moment.
“It was a waste of time,” I said bitterly.
Everyone looked at each other, but it was Fein who spoke.
“Tell us everything, every last detail.”
I squeezed my eyes closed and gave them everything I had, from the colour of the robes to the pieces of art I could remember. Fein listened intently. Every now and again, his eyes would narrow or his jaw tighten, but he said nothing until I was finished.
“I understand your current frustration, but you need to play their game for now. You have given me enough details that I know which coven has done this. I will speak to some contacts and see what pressure I can apply. Be careful, and we will get your loved ones back,” Fein said.
“I assume Rex is staying in the spare room,” I said as he stood.
He had a habit of putting people he expected us to work closely with in our apartment. I supposed that it made sense, in that we didn’t have to wait for them to get across the city when we needed them on short notice, but it was still a little odd. I didn’t know how the cougars dealt with it. Shifters were notoriously protective over their homes.
Fein gave me a genuine smile. “He’s staying with me, but he will find you quickly should you need him.”
With that, he squeezed my shoulder and took his Cu Sidhe with him.
“We’ll order in pizza. There’s a good movie on the tv soon. The one with the air elemental thief and his trusty corvid-shifter sidekick,” Shadow said with a gentle smile.
Keirn’s fox licked my hand, and I slumped back into the sofa. I felt as though a physical weight sat on my shoulders, dragging me down. It was my fault they’d been taken, and who knew what they were suffering through in that very moment? I couldn’t just sit there and wait for the Ceremonials to send another fucking letter. I needed to get out there and get Snow back.
Keirn’s fox gently bit down on my wrist just before Luka pushed me back down onto the sofa.
“Dacian,” Luka growled.
I glared at him.
“Remember what Fein said. If you try to force your way in there, there’s a very good chance that you will have Keirn and Vyx’s blood on your hands,” Luka growled.
I swallowed down my anger and slumped back against the sofa.
“Keirn is your life bond, but he and Vyx are our friends, too. We want them back alive and well. So, take a breath, and think,” Luka said.
I closed my eyes and took a long calming breath. He was right. Charging in there throwing ink around might feel good at first, but it wouldn’t achieve anything good. I dug my fingers into the fox’s fur and anchored myself in the softness of it around my fingertips and the memories of the times it had curled up in my lap with Keirn next to me. We were going to get them back. We had to.
7
The cougars had done everything they could to keep me distracted and in a reasonable state of mind before we all retired to bed. Kyra and the fox made themselves comfortable on Keirn’s side of the bed, thus taking away some of the horrible cold emptiness of the space. I was quite impressed with how much room the two small creatures could take up. I switched my pillow for Keirn’s and fell asleep with his clean, cool scent bringing some comfort.
My sleep was fitful and led to my getting up at sunrise. I woke up and reached my arm across the bed, hoping to feel Keirn’s soft skin and firm muscles. My hand fell on the warm fur of his fox instead. A swell of emotion rose within me. It had taken me too long to really see and understand how much he meant to me, and now there was a chance that I was going to lose him. My heart ached in my chest at the thought of not running my fingers through his hair again, or seeing his bright smile. He was my world. Kyra rubbed her face on mine, purring while Keirn’s fox rolled over and demanded belly rubs. I laughed despite myself. I wasn’t alone in the world. The fox wriggled under my attentions, and I pulled myself together. Dwelling on the worst-case scenario wasn’t going to help anyone or anything.
Something moved out in the living room. I hadn’t heard the cougars’ door open. I grabbed my silver knife and quickly pulled on my boxers before I headed out to investigate. My sigils should have kept any intruders out. A small scrap of hope rose in me. The idea of harming one of the bastards that had done this brought a sharp-edged smile to my face. The shadows stretched across the floor in defiance of the weak dawn line that seeped through the cracks in the curtains. I pressed myself against the wall and leaned forward just enough to see around the living room. I didn’t know what I expected to see – some unknown assassin, perhaps.
There was nothing. I shook my head and mentally scolded myself for being a paranoid idiot. Keirn’s fox bounded past me and growled at something white on the floor near the elevator. My heart skipped a beat, and I ran over to the elevator, looking for some trace of someone. Something I could grasp onto. Nothing. The fox shoved the letter towards my feet with its nose. Kyra pounced on it and took a corner in her mouth. I took it away from her before she had a chance to shred it. That was not a conversation I wanted to have; ‘I’m sorry, but my cat shredded your extortionate demand…’ The Ceremonials wouldn’t take that.
Kyra huffed and climbed up my body to perch on my shoulder and look at the letter. Of course, that meant that the fox wanted to be up there, too. I shook my head and went to my seat on the sofa. The letter was the same heavy paper stock as the previous had been. The handwriting was neat with small loops and pitch-black ink. The ink network dipped into my fingertips and I allowed it to run over the edges of the ink. Maybe there was some clue in there.
The ink network pressed a feeling of disdain into the back of my mind. The ink wasn’t pure, it contained some alchemical dust. I filed that away for future reference and tore the envelope open. The note inside was simple and to the point:
‘You will bring through a wyvern for one of our brethren at 2pm this afternoon at the following address.’
The address was on the other side of the river in an expensive area nestled around the castle. It was the home of diplomats and other overpaid pretentious pricks. I wasn’t surprised to find that was where their kind lived. Once the flare of anger had dissipated, I re-read the note and frowned. Wyverns were incredibly rare tattoos. What were the chances that he actually had a wyvern tattoo? Were they demanding that I pull through a tattoo their brother didn’t actually have? The idea that they were going to make me a murderer turned my stomach. It was one thing when I was defending someone, but killing a stranger I knew nothing about was something else entirely.
I took a calming breath and tried to speak to the ink network. It would be able to give me some idea about whether the person actually had a wyvern tattoo. Of course, the network refused to speak to me. It was upset at the quality of the ink. Or perhaps I’d offended it in some other way. Frustration clashed with heartache. I felt like I was drowning. Keirn was my anchor. He’d have known what to do. He would have had some wise words for me.
“Surely they wouldn’t risk killing their brother?” I asked the fox.
It cocked its head from side to side before it gave me a big foxy grin and threw itself over to demand belly rubs. I laughed. It had its priorities pretty set.
“Is this Keirn’s way of trying to comfort me?” I asked it.
Its tail wagged briefly. That could have been its pleasure at the belly rubs, or it could have been a confirmation. I had no idea just how the bond worked between the fox and Keirn. Kyra gently bit my ear and pressed hunger. I smiled, she was another constant, something to cling onto. No matter how rough things got, Kyra wouldn’t let her stomach go empty for long.
I rubbed her cheeks and headed into the kitchen, where I realised just how hungry I was.
“Do I have it in me to be some twisted assassin? Or do they think that’s what an ink magician is?” I asked myself out loud.
“Keirn’s been gone for fewer than twenty-four hours, and you’re already talking to yourself?” Shadow asked with a good-natured smile, his hands tucked into the pockets of his jeans.
I shrugged.
“Never noticed,” I said turning my attention back to the bacon I was cooking for a sandwich.
Shadow nodded to the letter and tilted his head slightly, a distinctly feline motion.
“Is that from them?”
“Yea. They abandoned it just outside of the elevator. I was too slow; I should have run and grabbed them.”
Shadow reached around me and pulled out the box of cereal that had been perched next to fire stones. The warmth of his body radiated around me and made me look away. I missed the tactility with Snow. We’d always been tactile with each other, even back in college. I felt adrift without someone to share the little touches with, to have the reassurances from.
I’d given up trying to arrange the kitchen cupboards in a way that made sense to me. I didn’t know who kept putting what where, but I was clearly out-numbered when it came to what I felt were sane and normal placements. The bread had been abandoned next to a stray tube of one of Vyx’s alchemical paints. A lump formed in my throat.
“What did this one say?” Shadow asked, drawing me back out of my head.
Kyra stretched forward and tried to snatch a bite from my bacon sandwich. I swatted her on the nose and pointed at her bowl of chicken breast. It wasn’t as though I tried to feed her some awful kibble stuff - she ate fresh meat - but she still insisted on trying to steal my food.
“They’ve given me a time and place to pull through a tattoo. A wyvern,” I said softly.
Shadow paused with his spoonful of cereal halfway to his mouth. His eyes had widened, his body tensed.
“Seriously? A wyvern?”
“There’s a wyvern in the city?” Luka asked as he came over to the kitchen.
“There will be soon,” I said.
8
Wyverns aren’t something you screw around with. They were on the list of tattoos that must be reported to the council. While dragons are large and vicious, they bond strongly with a single person and can be tamed, as was demonstrated by the dragon riders. Wyverns, however, are smaller, far more vicious, and, as far as anyone can tell, entirely untamable. They’re usually some twelve or so feet long with a long tail tipped by a very sharp spike that they’re prone to stabbing into people’s backs. Their jaws are longer and narrower than a dragon’s, but equally as full of two rows of teeth sharp enough to bite someone in two without any effort. Then there are the claws, which may as well be five-inch-long daggers. All in all, wyverns are savage predators that have very hot tempers and a penchant for killing.
Given I was dealing with the Ceremonials, I assumed that I wouldn’t be reporting the wyvern to the council. That was, assuming that the recipient was strong enough to be able to contain a wyvern. The ink network remained quiet and hidden somewhere in the back of my mind and refused to answer any of my questions about the wyvern. The cougars had been called away to do something for Fein; they didn’t explain what, and I didn’t ask. They were good guys, and I was coming to terms with Fein’s role in the city, but there were still some things I’d rather not know about.
