Truth Seer Book Four, page 24
“Her,” I snapped over Beth. “It’s definitely a woman.”
“Perhaps we shouldn’t head to the library.”
I thought it through, but my gut clenched, telling me to go there anyway. “No.” I grabbed the steering wheel around Beth’s glowing form. “We’ll head to the library. My gut is telling me there might be something important there.”
We drove in silence. I imagined both of us thought at the speed of light. Why hadn’t I put these clues together previously? Everyone had told me how important life copiers were. Lord Omega was clearly after something massive.
God. Sometimes for a truth seer I was such an idiot.
We arrived at the library. The snow was weirdly thick here. It looked like it’d been dumping for over 24 hours.
The car park was clear. There’d been a massive fight here only earlier today. I pulled myself out of the car then cradled Bethany. “It’s cold as hell.”
“You just kissed a denizen of Hell. He freeze you to the core? Or did he melt that prudish exterior of yours?”
“I’m not a prude. I climbed onto his lap, grabbed his face, and kissed him,” I spluttered defensively.
Beth paused. “… Seriously?”
My cheeks reddened. It wasn’t just from the clipping, chilling wind. “Yeah. Seriously.”
“How did he react?”
I opened my mouth and almost melted from the memory. “Pretty well, actually,” I said around a stupid grin.
Beth laughed. “You wait until you finally get him into bed. You’ll never regret it.”
“Beth—”
“What? It’s the next logical step.”
“Really?” I reached the input panel beside the electronic doors. “Kiss Lux, ignore the city, sleep with him, and wait for Lord Omega to catch me? Logical, is it?”
“Not when you put it like that. Concentrate.”
“You’re always telling me to concentrate while distracting me. Pick a lane.”
“I judiciously distract you to keep you from stressing out too much. We’ve reached our target. I may not possess truth-seer magic. I still sense there is something important inside.”
My blood boiled then suddenly became ice cold. I walked through the electronic doors. I froze. “Beth… I have no idea what I just felt.”
“Your senses may be changing. Your power is growing. You’ve learned how to sense souls. Your reflection refined another drop of blood for you—”
I frowned. “What are you talking about? It’s…” I opened my hand. I squeezed my fingers closed. I didn’t call on magic yet. There was no point in doing it prematurely. It’d tire me too early. I at least tuned in to it until I gasped. Dear God, Beth was right. My reflection had refined another drop for me.
I shook my head. “I won’t be able to call on it,” I spluttered. “I can’t call on my third drop. It arises on its own.”
“Judge nothing. Wait until you’re in your next fight, and then figure it out. Which I imagine won’t take long. Harper, this place feels….”
“Freaking haunted. The energy has changed. It’s dark as hell. It’s like the walls,” I reached out and tensely touched one of the brown bricks, “are trying to recede in on themselves. Do you think the library’s terrified?”
“Out of its wits. Now, careful.”
I was careful, all right. I inched down the corridor, reached the other door, and walked into the library proper.
I expected the place would be full of magicians fixing the damage. It was achingly quiet.
I would’ve preferred a lot of activity. I stuck out like a sore thumb. Sorry, a flattened thumb, bleeding, tired, and lusting after a certain demon who was now in serious harm’s way.
I found the stairs and walked down to the base of the library, following my truth sense. I still didn’t know what I was doing. Maybe my magic rightly guessed I needed to do more research. Now was not the time to pluck out my highlighters, brightly colored pens, and legal pad.
“Beth—” I began. I stopped. Just as my magic warned me something was close, we heard voices.
“Move,” Beth whispered.
We disappeared behind stacks.
Beth abruptly stopped me, and I knelt.
This morning, I’d hated these stacks. Their constant beating had terrified me. Now it felt like snuggling up against a warm, purring cat. It couldn’t protect me from much. At least it offered me some soothing energy before the next fight.
And speaking of that. The distinct sound of heels echoed out. I just knew it was Jill.
“Not much longer, dear. I can taste victory on my tongue.”
“Does it taste like Lux?” Jack snarled.
“Don’t be jealous. It’s just a game.”
“Indeed. And my wife never loses. I stopped playing with you a long time ago. Lux, however, has not learned his lesson, has he? Now, I’m sick of wasting time. You’re right. Victory is close.”
“Can you taste it, dear?” Jill purred.
I think they kissed. I did not sneak out of the stacks to spy on them.
Beth hovered close.
They practiced portal magic. I felt it and saw the bright flash.
As soon as it disappeared, I raced out of hiding, found the spot where they’d cast the spell, and sank onto my knees. I desperately gathered the last few remaining scraps of their magic. I held them against my chest.
Beth darted close. “What if it leads us back into their mirror spell? We survived that castle once—”
I shook my head. “I can’t really see where it leads us. It doesn’t feel like that place, though. It’s closer… maybe in the real world?”
“I don’t want maybes right now,” Beth snapped. “I want certainties.”
I spluttered. “Me too. Do you think we should just pause and wait until someone tells us exactly what’s happening? Should we twiddle our thumbs, go buy chocolate bars, and waste our last opportunity, Beth? Or should we, I don’t know, follow the demons and save the day?”
Beth spluttered. “Touché. I’m usually the one telling you to pull your socks up. I don’t have any. But I get it. Now hold onto those scraps of truth. I’ve got just enough magic for another portal.”
I held on. I gripped them until my fingers started to shake.
Beth practiced magic. It arced off her, crackling down her side in waves of bright yellow lightning. It struck the truth and expanded it. A portal opened with a swish. It raced around us.
I’d promised Beth we wouldn’t head back to that mirror spell. My promises weren’t worth much. I’d only just learnt how to do this with portal spells. But I was right.
We headed to a location in the real world. One I remembered all too well. We landed down at the foot of Strathgordon Castle. It reached into the sky above us, a terrifying specter.
I shrank back just as my knees crunched into the snow drift beneath me. “Crap. What are we doing back here? Why would the demons—”
I heard voices.
I glanced at Beth.
“Follow them,” she whispered.
It must be the demons. Had they sensed my portal spell?
Maybe. They were inside the castle, though.
Implausibly, a freaking window was open. Then again, I guess you didn’t care too much about the cold when you carried an inferno around in your tail.
I inched close to the building. My nerves were on fire. They reminded me of my fight with Lord Omega. That day, I’d gotten lucky. Something everyone kept reminding me of.
I was certain my luck had run out.
“Head down the side of the building. I can open a window, Harper.”
“Do we really want to go inside? What if the demons find us?”
“We will fight them.”
“Jack and Jill are way too strong.”
“They are nowhere near as strong as they look. And need I remind you you now have four droplets of blood?”
“Sure. We don’t know what that’ll mean in practice. I’m weak—”
“Balderdash. You’re strong. Because you have the kind of enduring strength that lasts, even when you’re half dead. Your weakness doesn’t matter to you. For other people, it’s a sign to give up. For you, it’s a sign to try harder.”
Beth was handing out some of the greatest compliments of her existence. I should write them down, frame them, and never forget them.
Instead, I stupidly followed her, found a window, and waited for her to jimmy it open. She did, and I slipped inside. It was no warmer inside the castle. Technically, the vampire trust ran it during the day. I guess they didn’t bother heating it. They too were undead, powerful creatures with their own magic sources. Or, more likely, this castle didn’t abide by heat.
Heat would make it comfortable. The cold added to its creepy power, just as Raven would want.
Raven.
Crap.
I didn’t know if Lux had even found the chance to prove that Lord Omega was a vampire. Vince most definitely wouldn’t have told anyone his father was still alive.
What if Raven was in the castle?
The stakes were way too high.
Without Beth, I would’ve just frozen and crumpled as I thought about them. With Beth, I followed her as she navigated through the hallway and led me to an old sitting room.
“The demons are close,” she whispered. “Just in the room beside us. Use me as an ear-horn against the wall.”
I grabbed her up and knelt, my cold knees creaking. Then I pressed her against the wall.
It didn’t take long to hear voices.
Jill laughed. Her sycophantic chuckle made my skin crawl. “It doesn’t matter, my love. He’ll soon be dead. And he deserves it. What a stupid meddling creature.”
Who the hell were they talking about?
… It couldn’t be Lux. She wanted to sleep with him first. She wouldn’t call him a meddling creature, either.
… Vince, then?
“Indeed. I’m simply angry that I won’t get to see this,” Jack snarled.
“Beth,” I hissed. “They’ve got to be talking about Vince.”
She hushed me. “It’s too soon to tell. Keep eavesdropping.”
“They’re about to kill someone,” I protested, voice high-pitched.
“You must wait to learn. If you don’t have the truth, Harper, what do you have?”
I think Jill grabbed her husband. It was hard to say. The sound of wings flapping echoed through the ear-horn, then a grunt.
Maybe they decided to kill each other. I’d never be that lucky.
“Come now, Jack. This can wait.”
“Why?” Jack growled. “Saving your affections for him? He’ll never get out of the club.”
“I suppose that’s the point. I would like to see him before the trap locks him in place, however.”
My heartbeat trebled. They were definitely talking about Lux now. Unconsciously, I rounded a hand into a fist that could knock out a god.
Jill chuckled seductively. “The attack should already have started. I long to see his face. He thinks that little club is his castle. Time to tear it down around his ears. As the blood of his staff drips from the walls, I’ll saunter into his office and offer him one last deal.” She clicked her fingers.
Jack snarled through a laugh. “A deal from you is not worth much, dear. You always back people into a corner and get precisely what you want.”
“And then?” Jill purred.
“The lucky stick around.”
“And the unlucky die.”
I pulled back from the wall, incapable of holding my body still anymore. Lux’s club was about to be attacked. It might’ve even started. But Vince was on the line, too. I had no clue where Vince was. I needed to find out.
“Stop pacing,” Beth whispered. “You have to return to Lux.”
“What about Vince? He’s the head of the Council.”
“What about Lux? You kissed him, Harper. You’ve finally caught up to your subconscious. It’s been kissing him from the beginning. Can you really leave him alone? Jill has him exactly where she wants him. Do you know what a full-blooded demon like her is going to do? She’ll kill him. After she has her fun.”
My mind pounded, and a ringing roared in my ears. It drowned out my other senses.
Lux or Vince. I couldn’t decide who to help. I’d faced some gnarly decisions before. This felt worse than all the rest combined. I swear someone had emptied my chest out, grabbed my heart, slapped it down on a butcher’s block, and given me two options. I could stab it myself or wait for someone else to do it.
I could go after Vince, even though I didn’t know where he was, and leave Lux to Jill. Or I could valiantly try to fight by his side.
Could I save Lux? In my current state, I wasn’t certain I could save anyone, including myself. Lux had been right. I should’ve gone back to the mansion to rest. My magic came from my body. If I didn’t look after it, the darn thing would crumble.
I took a lurching step, struck something, and tumbled to the floor.
Bethany shot close. “Dammit, Harper, don’t make too many noises—”
The sound of crackling magic met our ears. I didn’t need to use Bethany to pick it up from the other room. It was loud enough and powerful enough it shook through the floor.
My cheeks paled as I whipped my head around. “What was that?”
“A portal spell.”
“Did it take both of them?”
“I don’t think so. But there may have been two portal spells.”
“Can you hear them, dammit, Beth?” I spat.
Before she answered no, I ran out the door. If one of them was left, they’d hear me – and the fight of the century would ensue. But as I yanked the door open to their room, I saw nothing but a few faint charges of magic crackling through the floor. Beth was right. There were two portals separated by a meter.
I skidded onto my knees, my hands shaking. I reached out to one, then lurched over to the other. I knew what was happening. Jack would’ve gone to Vince. Jill would’ve gone to Lux.
I had to decide who to follow. Now. Right now.
My brain refused to do it. If I let Vince die, the Treaty surely would crumble. If I let Lux die… the Treaty may survive. He wasn’t the head of the Council. But he was the head of the dark side… and dammit, I’d kissed him, and for the first time in my life, it’d really meant something.
My body shivered at the memory of his touch. A touch that’d soon disappear for good when Jill had her way.
I didn’t know how much time I had.
“Beth,” I blubbered, “what do I do?”
“You follow your freaking heart, Harper. You can only choose one of the portals. Which will it be?”
This wasn’t what I wanted from her. I needed a coldhearted answer. She was usually so good at pulling her gloves off and telling me exactly what to do. Even if it came along with a litany of insults, I’d take it. I just needed to know the right path.
My heart trembled, skipped a beat, and felt as cold as a chunk of ice. It knew I’d make the wrong decision. There was no freaking right decision to make.
I palmed tears from my face as I reached toward the closest portal. I froze. I tuned in to my magic. Or it tuned in to me. It was always there, waiting, this massive reserve like a huge underground aquifer. I just needed to stop and look within.
If I couldn’t decide on my own, maybe I could use the thing that’d kept me alive until now.
Time was of the essence. The evidence was disappearing through my very fingers as it crackled into the floor never to return. I still breathed deep, closed my eyes, and waited.
My magic often took its own time. Not now. I wrapped my arms around it and pulled. Please, I begged. Just show me what to do.
It didn’t reply. I was on my own.
I was—
Sometimes we search around for external facts when we know what we want. We’re just not brave enough to appreciate it. We run and search and hide and dig and waste time. All we need to do is turn around and stare in the mirror.
Beth was right. I’d known what I wanted from the beginning.
I couldn’t leave Lux alone now. Maybe Jack was going to Vince. He could head to some other practitioner. Even if he was going to Vince, I wouldn’t have a chance. Vince was presumably with the life copier.
Lux had his staff who could help us. If I could get there, I could make a difference. I was certain of it.
It wasn’t a clamoring, loud, strong certainty but a soft one.
I darted over to the other portal before it disappeared for good, shoved my hands onto the floor, dragged my nails in, and grasped the last few scraps of magic. I held them against my chest, my whole body bucking like someone had severed my most important tendons.
“Beth,” I croaked.
Wordlessly, she raced over and locked herself against my chest. I fed magic into her, and she commanded the portal to open. It snapped around us, spinning out from my feet and twisting wide. It glowed a bright white-yellow.
Then click. It pulled me away.
I’d made a decision. I’d have to live with it for life. If it lasted much longer than today.
Chapter 19
I arrived at the club. I chose Lux’s office. A mistake. I fell down onto my knees. Lucky. Something sliced over my shoulder. It looked like a wing tip. It moved like a sword.
“Roll,” Beth snapped needlessly.
I tucked my arms around my knees, pivoted, and rolled. As I twisted over the floor, I opened my eyes and took in the chaos. Curling black smoke filled the room. I choked hard.
If that weren’t bad enough, occasional flashes of fire darted through it, tiny slices of yellow lightning, too.
Something banged into the wall. A grunt echoed out.
“Lux?” I roared.
I shouldn’t advertise my position.
“No. Thanks for letting me know you’re here, fresh meat,” something grunted. Heavy feet tore up the floorboards. I heard them being thrown into the air carelessly like somebody tossing pasta at the ceiling.
It sounded like a bull snorted, and a massive body reached me. It powered into my shoulder, but Beth twisted me to the side before I could take the brunt of the impact.
I would’ve broken my arm if she were a second too late. “Blood magic, Harper. Now,” she roared.
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