Mafia Beasts: The Complete Series, page 58
My pulse thumped against my ribcage, sounding too loud in my ears as I strained for any hint pointing to where Vexx had gone. A brighter light up ahead caught my attention, and I warily approached the ajar door from which it spilled into the hallway.
I pushed with a gust of magic, and it silently swung open. Inside was a seemingly empty room—its walls, floor, and ceiling made of mirrors. Mysterious.
Vexx left me no other option but to enter. I wasn’t going to let him escape.
Clenching my jaw in determination, I stepped inside, and the door slammed shut. I spun around, startled.
I watched as the door entirely disappeared into the wall, leaving no trace of its existence. A shiver brushed over me as I turned my attention to the room.
As far as I could tell, I was alone. But if one door could vanish so easily, perhaps this room held others. I let my magic spread out, searching, seeking any trace of concealment.
“Emma Graves.” The disembodied voice was back. “You’ve been much more of a challenge than I’d ever have anticipated.”
“Show yourself, you bastard.”
He ignored me. “Tell me, is Forrest dead?”
I spun in a slow circle, not finding any indication of where he was hidden. “Yes, he’s dead. I killed him myself after torturing him for days.” I saw no point in speaking anything other than the truth.
“Did you relish it? The torture, breaking him, seeing the light fade from his eyes?”
A prickling sensation crawled down my spine. “Yes,” I admitted, and spun sharply but no one was there.
“Then you admit that you are a monster in need of being put down,” he snarled.
“I never said that.” With the aid of the mirrors, I kept a full view of the room at all times, though the numerous reflections were mind-bending.
“I do say that, and my word is law. But first, you’ll pay for your crimes.” Vexx flashed into physical form and blasted my shield with a powerful spell. The protective barrier vibrated, threatening to shatter. I poured more magic into it to fortify it. With the amount of energy I’d expended today, I was going to have to sleep for a week to replenish my strength.
I retaliated with a nasty spell, and Vexx erected a shield of his own while meeting me tit for tat. We dueled in the mirrored room, our colorful magic reflecting in multiple surfaces at once. I held my own against him but had no doubt his strength and skill rivaled my own. I would not underestimate him.
A grin slithered across Vexx’s face. “You’re more worthy of an opponent than I first guessed. I’m glad Forrest didn’t finish you off now that I can face you myself. But you do realize you can’t defeat me?”
I snarled and launched a killing spell. Before my hit landed against his protective bubble, my vision blurred. It cleared a moment later, and I saw myself chained to a pole, naked and bleeding as Forrest cut on me.
I shook my head to clear the vision. What the fuck was that?
Vexx’s eyes were alight with amusement. “Did you enjoy that little snippet? I have many more to offer you before we’re done here.”
“Stay the fuck out of my head!” I pummeled him with magic, so he’d have to work to defend himself.
“You have to decide whether to protect your body or your mind. I doubt you have the strength to do both after all the energy you’ve expended today.”
Another vision slammed into my skull. This time Forrest had me pinned to the floor in the concrete cell as his knife flayed me and I screamed. Agony seared my back with such intensity that it felt like it was actually happening now. I could smell the blood—
Forrest was dead! I’d put three bullets in him.
Get the fuck out of my head!
I shoved Vexx out of my mind and staggered backward as my shield bubble broke with a pop!
He grinned in triumph. “Told you so.” His spells came at me quickly, relentlessly, and I barely had a chance to catch my breath through the onslaught.
Trying to get my panic under control, I concentrated on recreating a barrier around me. As soon as it shimmered into life, Vexx invaded my mind and fed me more visions of Forrest torturing me. I thrust him out of my mind at the expense of my shield. He was right, I couldn’t maintain both a physical and mental barrier against him.
He took the next opportunity to cast a disarming spell, and it hit my hand with a jolt. I dropped my wand, but instead of hitting the floor, it dangled from the string wrapped around my wrist.
“Isn’t that a cute trick,” Vexx sneered. “You’re beat. Admit it.”
“Never,” I growled, letting my inner wolf flash through my eyes.
“Disgusting.” His magic jarred me. “Abomination. Filthy.” He punctuated each hit with another insult. I did my best to defend myself, deflecting his magic, which bounced off the enchanted mirrors. But I lost ground with each bolt of magic he cast until I was almost stuck in a corner.
Sidestepping, I tried to maneuver myself back onto the open floor. Shit, shit, shit. I couldn’t hide. There was no place to run, considering the door had vanished, and my energy was quickly draining away.
A loud bang made me flinch. I glanced toward the sound which seemed to have come from behind one wall. The noise came again, and the mirrors shuddered as if someone was trying to break in from the outside.
The distraction cost me a burning slice across my shoulder. I gritted my teeth and retaliated. Bryon Vexx’s shield was thick—impenetrable. His focus was calm and flawless, as he had decades more experience than I did. I had to find some way to break his concentration because I wasn’t going to admit defeat. Today was not the day I would die.
Shouts accompanied the banging sound on the other side of the wall. I ignored them, as did Vexx. My mind raced for any scrap of information I had about him that could throw him off… and came up empty. Crap.
His mind crashed into my skull again. This time I clutched my head and screamed from the searing pain of the invasion. My thoughts fractured like a kaleidoscope, except each image was unique, drawing physical and emotional pain from the worst of my memories.
When Vexx eased off, I found myself on the cold, mirrored floor with him standing over me. He had one boot on my wrist so that I couldn’t use my wand. Raising his own, he spoke a choking spell and my throat constricted from the dark magic. I clawed at my neck with my free hand which was useless. His intense yellow-green gaze bored into mine as he watched me struggle, the air squeezed from my lungs, never to return.
I writhed on the floor. My face felt tight and hot, and my lungs burned with the need for oxygen. Incoherent thoughts flitted through my head as I grasped at staying conscious. The edges of my vision began to darken and blur, and I knew I didn’t have much time left. With that realization came another one—there was no way out of this.
Defeat took me and I deflated, giving into the inevitable. I’d fought and lost. Vexx was too powerful. Who was I to think I could win against him?
A silly girl.
My sight went first, the world dimming to shadows while my pulse rushed in my ears. My other senses pushed out, trying to latch onto something—anything. Inside, my wolf whined and tried to escape my skin but even she couldn’t break free without air. I had no strength left, and neither did she.
The darkness pulled me under.
A crash and glass shattering against my face startled me back to a state of semi-consciousness. Someone was yelling, but all I cared about was the sudden whoosh of air that flooded my chest. I dragged in several deep breaths that seared my lungs before my body was seized with a coughing fit.
My vision returned in time for me to catch sight of Vexx disappearing in a cloud of purple smoke. What a fucking coward!
Claire’s face swam into focus, her brows pinched. “What on earth were you thinking, facing off with Vexx one-on-one?” She didn’t wait for my reply. “You’re fucking insane, you know that? Ugh, we need to get these out of you.”
“What—?”
Claire started plucking glass shards from my face and I cringed. Fresh, warm blood flowed over my skin. I could only imagine what I looked like right then. Claire did a thorough job of healing each cut with her wand as she went along.
“Okay, that was the last one. Now, get up. We need to search for Vexx’s machine.”
I let her haul me to my feet. “I doubt he’d leave it here. He just teleported away like a fucking coward.”
“I know, but we need to search the building. They couldn’t have cleared out everything of importance.” She frowned as if she didn’t quite believe her own words, but she was too stubborn to admit it. “Let’s go.”
I moved to follow her, taking in the ruined state of the room. Vee, Damian, and Andre were breaking the glass out of all the mirrors with magic and the reaper’s scythe, to reveal hidden doors in the walls. The door I’d entered from, hung half detached from its hinges.
Ash rushed into the room. “Boss,” he said with a nod of acknowledgment to me, then his gaze softened as it landed on Claire. “The battle has moved from the roof into the building.”
“Vexx escaped,” I said. “We’re going to search this place.”
“I’ll come with you.” Ash led the way into the corridor and back to the elevator. We rode up to the main floor lobby. As soon as the doors opened, bellows, shrieks, and thick black smoke filled the air. I caught glimpses of a few Sinful Saints running toward Grey. The fire alarm blared to life and the sprinkler system activated. In seconds, we were soaked.
“This way.” Claire sprinted off toward the stairs.
I ran after her, only to slam into a hard chest.
“There you are.” Zane’s molten silver gaze bored into mine. “What happened?”
“I’ll tell you later. Where are Lucas and Cade?”
He gestured behind him, and they appeared out of the smoke. They were drenched, the rivulets streaming off their bodies were tinged pink with blood. My heartbeat stuttered.
“Don’t worry, sweetness, we’re all fine.”
I nodded. “Come on.” I grabbed Zane’s hand and hurried after Ash and Claire.
Jolts of magic, looking like lightning through the smoke, caught my attention up ahead. Ash shouted, and I urged my tired legs to move faster, taking the stairs two at a time. Lucas and Cade caught up with us as we reached the landing.
I skidded to a halt. Ash sat on the floor with Claire in his arms. She was covered in blood. It spilled from her chest, pooling on the floor and smearing over Ash’s hands. He tried to stop the flow with his palms and magic, but the crimson liquid escaped between his fingers.
“No!” I fell to my knees in front of them. “She’s going to be okay, right?”
Ash gazed at me in horror. “I lost her.”
“What? No. Heal her. You’re a Fae, heal her!”
Cade appeared beside me, his magic glowing in his palms. He skimmed them over Claire’s body, then let them drop to his sides.
“Well?” I asked, my stomach twisted in knots.
“This is evil magic. She’s bleeding out quicker than any magic can heal her wounds.”
I gaped, starting at Cade. No, no, no. Claire had just come back into my life; she couldn’t leave now. This wasn’t fair!
I gazed down at my best friend, my eyes hot with unshed tears. I blinked rapidly to clear my vision. Anger unfurled in my chest, overtaking the grief with a vengeance. Slowly, I stood up. “Find the enchantress,” I ground out.
Zane sped away and returned a moment later with Vee clinging to his back. An annoyed looking Damian arrived too; his glowing red eyes narrowed on Zane.
“My mate only rides on my back,” Damian growled.
“I didn’t have time to argue—” Zane began.
I cut them both off in order to speak to Vee. “Bring her back.” I pointed to Claire.
Vee dropped into a crouch beside my friend and ushered Damian over. “She’s in the in-between.”
“What does that mean?” I demanded. “Bring her back.”
Damian’s features twisted with a frown. “I can’t reach her until she’s crossed into the Underworld.”
I perked up at that. “You mean she’s not dead?”
Vee stood. “She’s between worlds right now—not fully in this mortal realm, but not yet in the Underworld.” Her gaze slid to Ash and Cade. “Between the three of us and Andre, we might be able to bring her soul back into her physical form.”
As if on cue, Vee’s Fae mate flew into view and landed among us. He immediately knelt beside Claire, and Vee said, “We need to act quickly.”
The four Fae soon had glowing palms resting on Claire’s pale, limp body. Her eyes were closed, features too slack, and my stomach lurched. This had to work. She had to come back.
Lucas looped an arm around my waist and drew me into his warmth. My skin felt chilled and clammy from the fire extinguishing system that sprinkled down on us. Any moment now, I expected to hear sirens, then remembered that we’d made sure no one of human authority would come to this building today.
The din of the fight in the lobby below abruptly stopped. I glanced over the railing. Patches of purple smoke thickened the air, one after another, as the witches teleported away. Whatever magic had been keeping us trapped here had to have disappeared. Vexx probably dissolved it so he could teleport out. But why were all the rest of 5th Circle deciding to leave right this instant?
“Why do you think—” I started.
Six deafening booms sounded in rapid succession and the building quaked.
28
EMMA
That can’t be good. The floor shook, and for a moment, I thought it was because of an earthquake. Those did happen around here from time to time. Somewhere below us, metal screeched, glass cracked, then shattered as the walls gave in. The elevator doors dinged open, and a fireball whooshed out, followed by shrieks.
“Everyone out!” Grey’s voice boomed from the lobby. The Sinful Saints raced out of the front doors on their motorcycles. The rest of our people were spread out across all eighteen floors and the roof.
Vee clasped hands with Ash, Cade, Andre, and Claire, and they vanished in a violet haze. I turned to Zane who typed out a short text on his phone before shoving it back in his pocket. “Let’s go.”
“I can teleport us out,” I said, glancing at Lucas and Damian.
Zane shook his head. “Not this time. You’ve used a lot of magic today and I won’t risk it.”
“Then how—?” A section of the roof tumbled down and took out part of the railing.
Zane scooped me up in his arms, then the world flew past in a blur as he used his vampire speed to get us out of there.
Panic seized my chest and squeezed. Lucas. What about Lucas?
I must have muttered that question aloud because Zane said, “Don’t worry. Damian has him.”
All the anxiety left me with a dizzying rush. I clung to my vampire, as exhaustion tugged at my consciousness, and let him carry me home.
I watched the news report about the random act of terrorism in downtown Seattle today, from where we were all gathered in Claire’s room. Some had caught footage of the building completely collapsing seconds after we’d left. For anyone who was specifically looking for it, they would also catch the blur of two shadows at the edge of the frame. Luckily, so far, the humans were focused on the bombing and its aftermath, instead of the two vampires zipping by in the footage.
5th Circle had blown up their own headquarters. Anything that we might have discovered was now lost beneath all the rubble. Or, Vexx had taken it to a new safe location that we knew nothing about. Our mission had failed.
Most worrying of all was that they’d been expecting us. How? Was it because we had Claire, and Vexx knew she’d choose his solstice gathering to attack? We could have gone a different route and hunted down each of the thirteen witch families in their homes. There were any number of paths we could have chosen to take out 5th Circle. How had Vexx known?
I glanced over to where Claire slept. Ash remained at her side, trying unsuccessfully to not doze off. Andre, Damian, and Vee sat in chairs on one side of her bed, while my mates and I occupied the couch across the room. The tension in the air was thick, palpable. No one wanted to bring up what was clearly on all of our minds.
I sighed. “That was a shit show.” My gaze fell on Vee. “You told us today, 5th Circle would be wiped from the earth, that we’d have victory. So what went wrong?”
She gestured toward the television. “In a way, they were.”
A growl tore from my throat. “You know what I mean.”
“Yes, I do.” She glanced at each of us in turn. “I was ninety percent sure my vision of defeating 5th Circle today was correct—until you put three bullets in Forrest Nightling.”
I gaped at her. “So this is my fault?”
A prickle of anger whirled though the mate bond. The guys leaned forward on either side, closing in around me.
“I can’t say for certain.” Vee pursed her lips. “All I know is that I saw you taking Forrest prisoner and using him against his own people. Once that future was no longer possible… Well, I didn’t see us failing, so I thought today was fated to be our victory. Clearly, I was wrong.”
“How did Vexx know we were coming?” Cade’s tone held a threat.
Damian bared his fangs at Cade until Vee placed her hand over his. “That, I don’t know.” Vee huffed an irritated sigh that didn’t seem aimed at us. “Vexx used those local wolves—Eclipse—to do his dirty work here in the city, so we know that he will use other supernatural types to do his bidding. At this point, my best guess is he has a Prophecy Fae working for him. One powerful enough to evade me, because I can’t see who they are.” Her eyes glazed over with a faraway look. “I wonder… I must look deeper into this. Emma, will you accompany me?”
My brows shot up. “Why? Where?”
“There’s a room in the attic that will suffice.” Her gaze was clear as it landed on me. “As for why? Our fates are entwined with Bryon Vexx’s. Having you near me will help focus my visions of what is to come.”
