Bloodline Contingency: An Urban Fantasy Academy Novel (Bloodline Academy Book 12), page 2
“It’s my blood magic that mysteriously stains these walls,” I pointed out. “Surely the elite guar…”
Basil had an abysmal poker face. His eyes darted frantically. He’d have had a better time as a doll. It didn’t take a genius to put two and two together. “You haven’t told the guards that it’s my blood magic in there, have you?”
He went into quasi-parent mode. “What would be the point? If the strongest mages of the First Order and the Trinity necromancers can’t find anything, what makes you think you can?”
“You’re not a very good liar,” I observed. “Too bad none of that rubbed off on you while we shared a Bloodline dorm room.”
An orange arcane circle enclosed around us as I tried to step aside and head towards the castle entrance. “Whatever is in there isn’t good, Lex.”
“Tell me something I don’t know.”
He raked his fingers through his hair. I could tell he wanted to pull some of it out. “We’re so far out of our depths here,” Basil pleaded. “There’s no telling what Astaroth’s necromancer might be hiding.”
“What’s the plan then? To just sit around until Astaroth finds a way to infiltrate the dimension even deeper? That barrier is so thin it might as well not be there. Every time I try and do any recon, I get stonewalled. At least Lucifer…”
That was when the light bulb finally turned on. My jaw clamped. Speaking with it glued shut was interesting. Basil somehow managed to decipher my cave-woman grunt. “What did Lucifer say to you?”
This time, Basil blanched. While he was busy trying to come up with an excuse as to why they were yapping at Lucifer’s heels, I broke his arcane circle and stomped away. It was no surprise that I only managed three steps before silver light burst in the air to my right. The devil in question matched my stride.
“There is no need to put yourself in the line of fire, scion of mine.”
I cackled at the absurdity. “Are you kidding? When you wanted me to find your blade, you threw me to the demons at every turn. Now you’re worried about me…”
I couldn’t even fathom what he thought might happen. Especially since he had made a deal to give me to Astaroth anyway.
“I…” Something else occurred to me. “Have you been keeping me inside the manor all this time on purpose?”
How stupid could I get? How desperate and childish. Even my darker half quirked a brow at me. Kai and Leia’s bonding has hit me so hard that I’d crumbled. But instead of putting myself back together again, I’d done the one thing I had kicked and screamed against. I’d allowed Lucifer to hide me away in a stone mansion surrounded by necromancers and undead.
Unlike Basil, Lucifer didn’t even try to hide it. “You’re not in your right mind, Alessia.”
The mangled laughter was frosty even to my ears. “No,” I said. “I have not been. But I am now.”
Increasing my pace, I attempted to reach the castle door before he did. It sucked that his stride was about three times the length of mine. “Alessia.”
Halting, I then whirled on him. “Are you demented or what? If you’re going to sacrifice me to Astaroth, what’s the use in hiding me away?”
Lucifer’s eyes slitted. “Just because I will trade you to Astaroth doesn’t mean you will not be prepared.”
His words were calculated and cold, but the thread of unease that wound around our bond had me stilling. His will was like iron encased by steel. Celestial steel that once upon a time would brook no opposition. It rankled at him fiercely that he was being backed into a corner. Like all possessive, selfish idiots, the more he thought he was going to lose me, the tighter his hold became. It made absolutely no sense.
Love often didn’t.
Love.
I….
No way.
“One way or another, I’m going to get in there. Either I do it with elite guard protection, or I do it on my own. Decide.”
There was steel in my voice now too. But a part of my mind was clamouring a message I didn’t want to hear. If I didn’t care about Lucifer in some small way, I wouldn’t have even given him a choice.
Banishing that frightening thought, I waited while he jostled between using his newly returned powers to extract me from the field and giving in to my demand.
“If you make the wrong decision,” I informed him, “life in the manor is going to become very unpleasant.”
He scoffed. “Like it’s some kind of picnic now?”
To be honest, I wasn’t sure how I was even holding my own. He could literally sneeze and have us all doing his bidding. On the other hand, I could yank the bond so hard it might stun him into submission.
I waited, breath bated, for Lucifer to lose patience and snap. After a long beat, he swallowed.
“You will be cautious.”
I almost tripped over. “You’re conceding?”
Surely, he was lying somehow. A quick inspection of the bond showed no sign of duplicity.
“What’s the catch?” I prodded anyway.
“The catch is your inability to accept the truth, scion of mine.” He said my nickname with a sigh. “Do what you must, but we will do it with precautions.” He caught me again by the wrist just as I was about to turn away. “I cannot protect you forever. So, you must learn to protect yourself.”
“You’re preaching to the choir, my lord.”
I did a little curtsy to emphasise the sarcasm.
Five minutes later, when the elite guards had been informed of my harebrained plan, I wanted to burrow back behind Lucifer’s protection. For a month we had been training again like we’d done in the Hell dimension. Twice we’d busted up the courtyard between the manor kitchen and the holding barn for the undead.
Training to use the Ley dimension to teleport was the worst. It had always hurt before, but that had dialled up to the stratosphere. Like the Sisterhood, Lucifer didn’t have much sympathy for me.
Lucifer had no qualms about making me strong. My strength was his strength. The more powerful I became, the more he wanted me.
But physical protection was only one side of my human frailty. The only side Lucifer understood. It was the other thing he couldn’t figure out how to protect me from. So, when the air outside the castle blossomed with bright green angelfire, Lucifer could do nothing but stand beside me in erect alertness.
“Alessia,” he drew out a nanosecond before white wings beat in the air just a metre away.
“My lord,” I gritted. No sarcasm in sight. The little girl inside me wanted to slot my hand inside his. Or grip the edge of his tunic. The only way to stop myself was to ball my fists so hard, I could feel my muscles locking.
Apathy coated Lucifer’s half of the bond. It chased between us, wanting to engulf me in his more stable emotions.
My darker side rebuffed him. Putting his considerable presence out of my thoughts, I deadlocked my focus to where Kai was unfurling from his teleport.
2
A pathetic, greedy part of my heart catalogued every aspect of him. He hadn’t come away from his bout with Astaroth unscathed. There was a new scar that ran vertically down the left side of his jaw. When Astaroth had hold of Kai, he’d shrunken into a gaunt shell of skin and bones. If I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes, I would have convinced myself it was an impossible illusion. This Kai, the man in front of me, was glowing with health. Where Rune was darkness personified, everything about Kai breathed life and warmth.
At least on the surface. I was an expert at evil these days, though. In my Ley sight, I rifled through the layers of the bond he and Leia had established until I hit the motherload. Stitched into his soul was now something steeped in death. Kai has been touched by an archdemon.
The world went deathly quiet while he scanned the field. His attention settled on me. For a month now, I had rehearsed repeatedly how I would react when we inevitable faced each other again.
I knew he didn’t remember me. I knew he was bonded to somebody else. But like the universe, hope was a bitch and she enjoyed toying with me. For a fraction of a second, I didn’t breathe. The trap door in my chest burst open, throwing up memories at me. I almost staggered under the weight of a thousand moments I’d taken for granted. All those times he’d appeared, and his focus immediately locked on to me, no matter who or what else was around.
I will always come for you, Blue.
Not this time. Never again.
Kai blinked and the illusion dissipated. Though he saw me, there was no recognition in the perfunctory nod he gave me before he headed off in the direction of the elite guards.
Lucifer stepped into my line of sight, cutting off the image of Kai’s back as he walked away.
“I’m fine.”
“Alessia.”
I lifted my head to meet his eyes. Glacial blue eyes that reflected rage back at me. Was this his fury or mine that was permeating the bond?
Throwing my arms out wide, I turned in a circle for his inspection. “Look, I’m in one piece. No harm done.”
Sometimes, you could pretend that physical survival was enough. It would have to be until I somehow defeated Astaroth and got myself out of the supernatural world for good.
That plan would remain firmly locked away.
For now, I just had to do what I did best. I would lie.
“I have a bad feeling about this,” Angus said when I approached him.
“Ditto,” I shot back. “Isn’t that why we’re doing it?”
Kyrie shook his head from where he stood beside Angus. “We’ve had a string of necromancers scrape the place thoroughly. Basil and Professor Flint have tried to do a cleansing of the residual blood magic. For all intents and purposes, this is now a pristine site. And yet…”
By rights, their supernatural instincts were more attuned than human gut instinct. They sensed the bad mojo too. For some reason, I thought of Azrael and found myself saying, “Sometimes, there is nothing that can erase death.”
It was odd that Lucifer controlled the Hell dimension and all the demons, but when I thought of true death, it was always Azrael’s voice I heard.
“I’m going in,” I warned them.
Both elite guards tensed. Angus lifted his head and scanned the surrounding landscape one last time. I could see his lips moving silently, as though he was counting the safeguards they had put in place. The place was now crawling with elite guards and sinister-magic users. Somewhere behind me, Fawn and the green-magic Fae were also congregated. We were as prepared as we would ever be.
“Just get on with it,” Giselle grunted. “For all we know, it might end up being another dead end.”
Angus’s lips bulged with air. Like he was trying to hold back a slew of comebacks. His face twisted as he swallowed them. “Do not do anything reckless.”
I shot him two thumbs up but didn’t actually utter any promises. His eyes narrowed, telling me he hadn’t missed my sidestep.
Gesturing to Basil, I waited only until he was next to me before barging through the door and down those cellar steps. Rune followed right on Basil’s heels. He was deadly serious about facing his fears.
The elite guards had done a stellar job of cleaning the place out. Ten out of ten for effort. All the shelves that had been stacked with gruesome ingredients were gone. The cabinets and cauldron inside the fireplace had also been moved. The fireplace itself had been scrubbed to within an inch of its life. If I didn’t know better, I would have thought it was brand-new. Not a single scorch mark sullied the stone. And yet, ice chips hardened in my veins the second my feet stepped onto the floor.
“It stinks in here,” I commented.
Both men sniffed. Rune scratched the side of his face in confusion. “I don’t get it,” he said.
It was the way Basil’s lips turned down that confirmed my theory. Whatever lingering magic was here, it was of the blood variety in general, and mine in particular. As a precaution, I had given Basil a vial of my blood a while back. We were both intimately acquainted with its residue.
The outline of the circle that had held Rune’s soul was still etched into the stone. It was now a dull, dark brown smudge that held no power. At least none in the present. The way Rune’s shoulder tensed said it was still powerful in other ways. I wasn’t the least bit surprised that Rune went for it immediately.
Basil took a sharp intake of breath as Rune’s boot touched down in the centre of the circle. Even I bit my bottom lip and waited. After a silent moment, Rune huffed in triumph and stepped out again.
“No sweat,” Rune said. The smirk on his lips didn’t change the homicidal glint in his eyes. Nor had his victory cleared the sludgy darkness from his aura. Those were scars that couldn’t be erased so easily. “Your turn, chosen one.”
I wanted to flip him the bird as our paths crossed, but he raised his hand, palm facing me. In spite of myself, I high-fived him on the way past. “You’ve got this,” he reminded me.
My one consolation in all this mess was that I could rub Rune in Conrad’s stupid face. His failure as an honour guard was now my number-one fan.
Too bad I couldn’t pull off anything noteworthy of stardom. The circle was just as dull when I stepped into it. By now the room was filling up with other supernaturals. When it didn’t immediately go boom, they tentatively entered so as not to miss any clues.
I dropped into a crouch, pretending that I was concentrating and not just so that I could remove Kai from my line of sight. Even then I swore I could feel him moving amongst the crowd. It was inevitable that he would push his way to the front. This was the splatter zone, and he always put himself in between danger and the people he cared about. Sucking in air with my mouth, I beat back the memory of him diving for Leia after Lucifer tried to kill her.
It slugged me like a boot to the chest, making me throw my weight forward. I compensated by slamming my right palm onto the cold stone floor. Something moist dripped from my nose onto the circle. Blood.
I sniffed, scenting salt and metal.
“Lex!” Basil’s frantic voice echoed in the tiny cellar, but it sounded so far away. Too far as the circle below me lit up in silver and black and began to churn. Blinking, I glanced up to find that the others were gone. As a street kid, my gut instincts were honed to razor sharpness. But as the world spun around me, both pools of my magic were eerily quiet. They didn’t react as the Ley dimension slipped around me.
They didn’t react when voices rose in the darkness. By the time the image solidified in front of me, I was as still as the stone underneath me. Which was more than I could say for the two people, the couple, fighting in the room I now crouched in.
As the film of magic wore off, my heart leaped into my throat. Diana had been right all those years ago when she’d said I was starting to look like my mother. At the time, I had been so skinny, my cheekbones were my main facial feature. Now, we were so similar it was like watching myself pace in a circle.
She was about the same age I was now. Probably a little younger even. The women in my family tended to bear children early. The irony that I would never bear children at all wasn’t lost on me.
“…believe this is happening,” my mother wailed. Even our voices held the same timbre. Only hers was laced with panic. “I’m not ready–”
The man grabbed her by the shoulders. My father. Bartholomew.
“Stop,” Bartholomew commanded. My teeth gritted as hatred coated the back of my throat. “Just breathe, Heather.”
I blinked at the sound of my mother’s name. Or more accurately, at the way he said it. As though it meant something to him. Maybe Lucifer wasn’t the only origin of my talent for lying.
My mother twisted out of his hold. “I can’t do this!”
Bartholomew enclosed her protesting limbs and held her in place. He pressed his forehead to hers, highlighting the whole foot of height difference between them. I guessed my mother and I had a type.
“This is a blessing,” Bartholomew chirped as he grinned wide. “I’m stoked.” I bet he was! Not even a single atom inside me believed it was because he was about to become a father. He swallowed past the excitement that flashed across his eyes.
Bartholomew winched his arms around my mother. “I’ll take care of you,” he said. “Anything you need.” He swallowed again. “Have you told your grandmother?”
Her grandmother. My great-grandmother. Hilary Hastings. The then grand mistress of the Sisterhood.
My mother sighed forlornly. “Not yet.”
“Good.”
This made my mother tip her head up to face him. “Good?”
Bartholomew smiled down at her, beaming as though she hung the moon. Yep. All my ancestors were liars and murderers.
“Maybe you don’t have to tell them,” Bartholomew hedged. “It’ll be our secret.”
“Why?” She twisted in his hold.
“I just like the idea of having something just for us for a little while.”
He cupped the back of her neck and kissed her softly, drawing the first hesitant smile from my mother.
That budding hope on her slowly bled from her features as the image blurred. Shifting in my crouch, I attempted to keep my gaze focused on where her form morphed. When she solidified again, her baby bump was showing.
So was the rage of the Sisterhood. They were in a cottage I recognised on the edge of the peninsula that was now a distant storage place at Terran Academy.
Samantha, my old Terran headmistress, shouted, “How could you be so stupid?”
My mother descended into sobs, clutching at her abdomen. “I’m sorry!” She swiped at her face with a shaking hand. “I didn’t know. He–”
“Don’t blame it on him,” Samantha seethed. “You’re Sisterhood. You should have known.”
One of the women in the background, a dark-haired wench with a saccharine smile, piped up. “Get rid of the abomination and let’s be done with it.”
