A Final Touch: The Complete Series, page 58
As my fingers closed around it, I swear it sang a song in my grip. It got Jace’s attention. He walked over with two solid steps. Without being asked, I handed it to him. His large fingers closed around the hilt, and a low whistle escaped his lips. “This is a truly powerful ancient weapon. I wonder how long it’s been in the library for?”
“I never got a chance to apologize for the last one that I stole.”
“Technically it wasn’t stealing. You were fighting on your own at the time. You simply armed yourself. Then you accidentally walked out with it. This,” Jace’s voice changed entirely, “is stealing.” Without being asked, he dropped to a knee, drew the sheath around my hips, and did it up. It required a lot of firm touching.
As an exhilarated rush ran up my spine, I gasped, “Jace, won’t you get in trouble?”
“I’m currently fighting for the existence of my pack and my city. And you,” he added, his eyes darting right up to mine.
I blinked down in abject surprise at the look on his face. It was so unquestionably confident.
What had Kelsey said? When Jace knew what he wanted, he went out and got it.
But he couldn’t… want me, right?
I could distract myself with that question for a thousand years. But I swear the dagger sang again, calling my fingers to it. They slid down my side and grasped the hilt. And with a flourish, they pulled it out.
Jace watched me with keen eyes. “That is a magical dagger. It will be able to cut through enchantments, attack any kind of magical spell, creature, or discharge, and cut through most other substances. It is the missing arrow in your quiver.”
It sounded like the entire freaking quiver. With this, I could level the playing field. Wolves and other magical creatures had a distinct advantage over me. If they simply cast a spell and walked out of the room, I couldn’t fight them.
Now I’d have a chance. As long as the magical council didn’t take this dagger off me.
Jace knew what I was thinking as I skewered my bottom lip between my teeth. “We simply won’t tell them.”
“And if they find out anyway? The other time might have been an accident. You’re right,” my fingers tightened around the dagger, proving I would take it, “this time we’ll be on purpose.”
An unusual grin snapped across his lips. It seemed to come from a different time in Jace’s history. I had to remember he was never destined to become an Alpha. He’d climbed the ranks to do it instead. Once upon a time, he could have been a hell-raising wolf, going about his day as an irresponsible bad boy.
The thought did all sorts of crazy things to my stomach until it pitched and burned with a pleasant sizzle.
“Try the dagger on me now.”
I sputtered. “Are you out of your mind? I don’t want to hurt you.”
A grin snapped across his lips. “And I assure you, I won’t let you. I meant try it on one of my spells.”
He didn’t wait any longer. His arms spreading to the left, he cast an enchantment. That gorgeous yellow force lapped up in a wall. It was far enough from his chest that even if I did stab it, I wouldn’t accidentally get him.
“Here goes nothing, I guess,” I grunted. Then, with a stupid-looking frown of concentration, I thrust forward and stabbed the enchantment. It wobbled. I’m sure Jace wasn’t using all of his power. He was still an Alpha. Maybe this dagger wasn’t that good after all.
“Concentrate,” he encouraged, his voice a deep, hoarse rasp.
How could I concentrate when every time he used that tone, I wanted to wriggle out of my clothes in front of him?
I had to slap that image out of my head. Then I gripped the hilt harder.
I might not be able to practice magic like other people, but I could still kind of read it and see what magical objects wanted. I couldn’t feed them in the way they desired. Usually. Jace was right. This dagger did feel different. Maybe it came from a purer time of magic when it was less about cerebral mechanics and more about instinctive desire.
It took a few awkward tries where I looked like an idiot, but my fingers tightened, and I got a sense of what I was meant to do.
“Here goes nothing,” I muttered. Then I put my back into it.
The shield bent, and a grin exploded across Jace’s lips.
“You’re almost in,” he encouraged.
Almost? With a snap, I focused properly. It felt like shoving away an entire mountain of dross. It was also similar to how I remotely practiced my force.
I let my mind flow into the dagger. Then I stabbed it down. I didn’t intend to make the magical force field explode, nor pick Jace up and throw him across the room. It happened anyway. Fortunately, the werewolf didn’t strike the wall particularly hard.
I spluttered, dropped the dagger, and raced over to him. But Jace was laughing by the time I helped him up to his feet.
He didn’t need my hand to get to his feet. He quickly walked over, picked up the dagger, dusted it off, and placed it back in my sheath. That meant a fair amount of contact with my hip.
I watched him the whole while, wondering if this would lead to anything real. And no, I didn’t think of Virginia, the world’s evilest she-wolf. Not even once. I wondered if Jace did either?
While it would have been great to stay here and see where those simmering looks would lead, we didn’t have time.
We’d come into this library looking for answers. Instead, the only thing I had was more questions.
Jace might think that vampire had a rotting brain. I didn’t know. His eyes really had shaken with some kind of recognition. And if he was as old as he felt, then that meant I could only be an Engelos.
Did it sit right?
No. I didn’t have a beautiful set of wings, for one. I also lacked an Engelos’ cool, calm reserve for another. Juxtapose me with Velos, and you’d start laughing. He felt larger than life. While I was obviously imperfect.
“Don’t think of it,” Jace said as he continued to root around in the box. He didn’t find anything useful.
By that time, I’d already spied the door on the opposite side of the room. Who knew where the freaking thing led to? But while we were down here, I couldn’t help but think of what was happening in the rest of the city. Was it going to hell yet? Had Patrick attacked? Or were other wizards vying for the position of King? How about Theodore? And more importantly, what about Kelsey? Would the doctors bring her back from the point of death?
Jace closed the lid, then walked over to me. “Be sure to hide the dagger.” When I didn’t move fast enough – deliberately – he leaned over, pulled out my blouse, and yanked it over the dagger. And yeah, that meant more skin contact than ever.
I watched him, waiting, heart in my throat.
But the wolf didn’t lean in and kiss me. Still, I swear he did something even more arousing. Before he stood up, he smelled me, a long, deep draft like someone savoring their last cup of wine.
I swear to God, I’d never wanted to throw myself at somebody more.
The library was really the wrong place to do it. This thing was virtually alive and likely tracking every single thing we did. It had put us through a number of trials. But maybe it hadn’t really tested our mettle yet. Even without asking, the door on the opposite side of the room shifted open with a grating groan.
I lurched back a step in front of Jace. Maybe I was emboldened with this dagger, because I immediately snapped it up, holding it professionally. And by that, I meant I didn’t stab myself.
Which was surely an advantage.
Jace immediately sniffed the air. “It smells mustier down there. Wait—” he began.
My own nose soon joined in. “It smells… almost like the street. Like a laneway with rotting trash or something,” I added.
Jace’s nose soon picked up the same scent. “You’re right. And you got that before I did.”
Now he looked at me with a different quality.
I had to go back to the fact that Engelos didn’t have a great sense of smell. So I couldn’t be one of them… right?
Hopefully, Jace was thinking the same thing, because his expression as his eyes slid down the side of my face was completely unreadable.
“If that is a laneway leading to the real world, does that mean the library’s kicking us out? It hasn’t answered our question,” I tried, but I realized that was a lie. A self-serving one. The library had indeed told us everything we needed to know. I was ancient. I shouldn’t exist. I could kill everybody. And statistically, I was an Engelos. It had also given us a dagger. What more did we want from it?
A rumble through the door suggested nearby traffic.
We couldn’t see. It nominally led to a dark space, but if my newfound 3D sense of smell was anything to go by, it would quickly turn into a laneway.
The room gave a slight shake. That was library-speak for get the hell out of here while we still could.
Jace clearly spoke it fluently. “Let’s get out of here,” he grunted.
With a slight shove on my back, he pushed me through.
After a short walk down a strange, dark, echoing corridor, we indeed struck a laneway. I immediately figured out why it smelled so bad. Rotting trash was piled up in ancient dumpsters. And I didn’t mean that lightly. They looked like they came from over 50 years ago.
“What the hell is this place?” Clapping a hand over my nose, I demanded that in a short, hissing breath.
Jace didn’t look happy at the smell either, but the werewolf could control himself better. “I’d suggest it’s an unused part of the library. One that backs into the real street.”
“Why doesn’t anyone ever take out the trash?”
“I imagine this part of a laneway isn’t on any recognized city streets. You can likely enter from the library, but not from on the road.”
“Then where does all this trash come from?”
“I suppose the library produces refuse, like any other building.”
They were all good theories. Right now, I needed to get away from the smell.
I took a step forward, then subconsciously recognized my dagger was in my hand. Cramming it into my sheath, tucking my blouse over the top, I walked out of the laneway with Jace.
I didn’t think of all the things that would likely happen next. Jace would have to return to Virginia. I would technically have to still be on the run. And the city would still be going to hell.
For those few short seconds as I walked by his side, I let myself appreciate how right this felt. My heart shook, my back seizing with an odd kind of tension. It wasn’t fear. It wasn’t shame. It was the sense that I would get back to this – to Jace – no matter what.
Chapter 5
We soon exited out onto the real street. A light brushing breeze over my fringe signaled we had indeed struck the real world.
I turned over my shoulder but couldn’t even glimpse the laneway anymore. It was gone. A solid brick wall sat there instead.
I might have seen plenty of magic recently, but this still got to me. With a whistling hiss, I said, “How powerful is the library again?”
“Apparently powerful enough to keep one of the original vampires alive for hundreds of years.”
I shuddered as I remembered that creep. Then my fingers immediately locked around my wrist, my thumb brushing the skin lightly. “You don’t actually think I’ll get everyone killed… do you?”
“Considering all you’ve done so far is save people, I doubt that.”
“Sure, save people and cost the city hundreds of thousands. The flood tunnels—”
“If you hadn’t acted when you had, I would have lost my pack completely.” Emotion flooded into Jace’s tone, making every word tight and shaking.
We did it again, making eye contact. The kind that leads you by the hand, that ties you up in someone else’s attention, that makes you totally vulnerable to the way they look at you.
God, I wanted something to happen.
As if it could out here on the city streets of Mythos.
The first sign I got that something was wrong was the fact the traffic seemed more chaotic than ever. People were honking crazily. I saw a number of people overtaking dangerously.
A frown quickly whipped across Jace’s lips. “Stay here,” he grunted. Then he disappeared down the road for a few short seconds.
He soon came back, ashen from head to foot.
Heart beating hard, I demanded, “What is it?”
“The cathedral has burnt down.”
It took me a few seconds. I wasn’t really into architecture. Plus, I’d grown up in Mythos City. When you do that, sometimes important landmarks kind of filter into the background. He meant Saint Christopher’s Cathedral, in the middle of the Old Town, an incredible feat of architecture. Or at least it had been when it was built a thousand years ago. In the Gothic style, it looked a lot like Salisbury Cathedral in Britain, with all of those tipped, towering spires and old, austere gray stone.
My brain caught up with a bang. “It’s burnt down? We were barely gone for… what, an hour?”
“The whole building has been razed to the ground.”
More people honked. I doubted they were all church aficionados. This was another in a series of attacks that was logically leading to a single place. Mythos really was at war with the Kings.
By now, news of them must have spread. Something that would have only been known to the heads and a select few would be talked about in papers. The whole populace would understand what was going on.
And that was the origin of the aggro, the reason people wanted to get to their destination as fast as possible. I wondered how many of them were planning on leaving.
A cold rush of dread raced down my shoulders. “Is there any sign it was foul play?”
“A man walked into the cathedral, set himself alight, and warned everyone that the Kings were on their way. He told them to repent, pray, and wait for the new world order.”
My mouth slid open in aghast horror. “He… he killed himself?”
Jace paused, then nodded.
I immediately called bullshit on that. I bet you that guy was off his face with the berserker drug. But I doubted Jace could find out those details yet.
Though I wanted to stick by his side, he took an uncomfortable step back from me. It reminded me of the giant new dividing line in our relationship. I’d been his, and his pack’s… but now I was on my own.
A cold wind rustled my hair, making the empty feeling in the pit of my stomach even worse.
“I have a place where you can go. Virginia,” he paused, even though she wasn’t around, “doesn’t know about it.”
“Jace, I’m sorry—”
“We discussed this,” he said with all confidence, suggesting he wasn’t judging me. “You did what you had to. Though I hate to admit this, you have a better chance of finding your sister on your own. That said….” his voice dropped with a rumble.
I lifted my hand. “You really don’t want me doing anything stupid now that I’ve got this,” I patted my dagger and smiled.
“Stupid?”
Oops. I should honestly and confidently be able to tell him that I wouldn’t do anything. But this dagger would embolden me rather than slow me down. It’d help me realize that I could go out and make a real difference now.
Jace knew that. With a quick step close, he growled in a low voice, “Stay safe. Don’t court the Kings’ trouble.”
“If I come across one of those bastards—” I growled.
“You’ll strip his power. I know. You told the whole city.” An impressed look flashed in his eyes, but it was quickly replaced by a stern glare. “But don’t go out courting danger. Not alone. Not until I’m ready to help you.”
That floored me. It kind of felt like Jace was letting me free, as if I was some caged-up bird he’d taken outside and thrown into the air.
“You don’t think that I’m leaving you entirely alone, do you? I’ll take you to my safe house, set you up, and wait. When I get a chance, I will investigate with you. Please don’t go anywhere on your own.” A lot of emphasis fell on please until his voice shook.
He knew he ultimately couldn’t stop me.
Which was a crazy thing to think of. The most powerful Alpha in the city was apparently no match for me and my blunt pigheadedness.
But that plea changed everything. My stomach quivered. Before I knew what I was doing, I nodded and made a promise. “I won’t go anywhere without you. And Virginia—”
“Will be distracted. I’ll ensure that. Now come with me.”
His place wasn’t that far from here. Maybe he liked to keep an eye on the magical library. Perhaps it was because this was the older part of town. It made it easier to have safe houses. As the library proved, there was a hell of a lot of random, magical architecture squeezed in between different buildings.
I thought Jace’s safe house would be some impressive penthouse apartment. Nope.
He took me around into a more business-minded district. There were little apothecaries, supply stores, even a wizard-robing shop. Right now, I watched a bevy of wizards in the front windows arguing about something. I bet it was Theodore. The argument looked pretty heated. One of them even threw a coat hanger at the other.
Jace moved quickly down the street. He couldn’t afford to be recognized, especially with me. But thankfully, Mythos City’s troubles were distracting everybody.
We reached a standard chemist and a general supply store. There was a small door leading to an even smaller set of stairs squeezed in between them. It evoked a private detective’s office, giving me the feeling that up those cramped, stained stairs was a little sunless room belonging to some grim, stiff-lipped old guy.
Jace slid a finger down the glass door and grunted, “Allow the woman behind me permanent entry.”
A fancy magical lock unclicked.
“Permanent?” I whispered under my breath.
Jace definitely heard. But he didn’t respond. Instead, he led me up the stairs.
My gut twisted itself into all sorts of origami-like knots. Virginia didn’t know about this place. Which made it safe. But I had to go back to the fact that Virginia, Jace’s soon-to-be wife, had no clue about this apartment, and I’d be staying here at Jace’s behest.
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