Legacy of Flames- The Complete Trilogy, page 15
part #1 of Legacy of Flames Series
“They are,” Astor told Giselle, emerging from the bedroom carrying two viciously sharp-looking knives. “It’s a ridiculous idea.”
Will looked at Giselle. “Ray of sunshine, isn’t he? Is he always like this?”
“When people come to us for favours and take stupid risks,” said Giselle. “Do you know how many hunters stopped off here and then had a change of heart and ended up turning themselves in anyway?”
“Why would they do that?” I said.
“Brainwashing,” said Becks.
Giselle ignored her. “I imagine they did it for the same reasons that a group of shifters would attempt to storm the prison, even knowing you’re likely to die in the attempt.”
“What, to save—” I stopped. Her piercing gaze showed long-buried sadness, and I suspected I’d guessed right—she, along with the other hunters who’d deserted, had been forced to leave others behind. Perhaps Astor had, too. “My sister is vulnerable,” I said instead. “She’s a teenager. She’s never shifted, so god knows what’ll happen if they force her.”
“Then she’s dead. Sorry—Ember, was it? The most powerful shifter wouldn’t survive it. Maybe as a group you can pull off the break-in, though I sincerely doubt it.”
“Forget the doubt,” I said. “We wouldn’t have come here if we planned to give up now. Astor said you knew the prison.”
“I knew it two years ago,” she corrected. “What’s in it for me?”
“Our undying affection?” said Will. He and Becks had exchanged a few words of whispered conversation I didn’t catch.
Giselle looked at me. “It’s on you. Tell me why I should help you. You already endangered Astor’s life, and while he’s an annoying shit, getting killed by a shifter girl is a ridiculous way to die. But you’ve no hope of getting into that prison without me.”
“Fine,” I snapped. “You think I’d have anything to do with you if not for it being an emergency? My sister’s potentially suffering in there. If that doesn’t bother you, then the fact that they’re taking all the shifters in the city over there might. Because it sounds like they’re planning something big. Maybe they’ll come for you next.”
“I’d like to see them try.” She tilted her head on one side. “You did stir up the League. I wonder what makes your sister so special.”
He didn’t tell her? My gaze swivelled around to Astor, who’d fallen silent and looked to be sharpening his blade with some kind of blunt instrument.
“Maybe it’s because you attacked them…” Giselle paused. “Or because you’re a rare kind of shifter who presents a special risk to them. Do you have faerie blood?”
I gaped at her. “No. Definitely not.”
“Hmm. They say shifters and faeries are related to one another, a few hundred generations back. Then again, most of what they said was a lie anyway, so I’m not sold on that one. You don’t look pretty enough to be a faerie.”
“Excuse me?” My face heated. I felt Astor’s gaze on my back, but refused to turn around and see if he looked like he agreed with her. “What the hell does this have to do with whether you’ll help us get Cori out of their prison or not? We’re running out of time.” And my energy was spent. If not for my nap in the car, I’d be flat-out. I stalked over to the nearest mattress, beckoning my two friends over. “Might as well take advantage of the free accommodation. The ceremony’s not till tomorrow.”
“If you’re sure,” said Becks. “Need any help with the spells, Will?”
“Sure, I could use a second person to chant a few incantations.” He marched over to the coffee table, dragged it halfway across the room, and emptied his rucksack onto it. The smell of herbs filled the room, stinging my eyes.
Giselle sat up. “What are you doing?”
“Summoning Satan,” said Will.
“No, he isn’t,” said Astor. “These three have the bright idea of using simple hedge witch tricks to bypass the guards.”
“Simple?” said Will. “You wouldn’t know a hedge witch from one of the rest of us if they turned you into a hedgehog. Though I’d pay to see that.”
“Wait,” I said, halting Astor with a warning look. “The witch tricks aren’t simple, but we might be limited by how many spell ingredients you managed to take from the shop before…”
“Before those shitheads torched it.” Will’s gaze turned downwards and all traces of humour vanished from his features. Half the things in that shop had been his only connection to his long dead witch family.
“Wait, you’re a witch?” asked Giselle.
“Half,” said Will. “You wouldn’t happen to know about other witches turning informant and telling the hunters our hiding places?”
“Nobody tells me these things. I’ve lived here since the invasion. It’d be suicide for me to go into the inner city, with this.” She indicated her leg, which was marked with a visible bump. Like someone had broken it, and it’d never healed right. I’d bet I knew who was responsible. I was looking forward to making them pay for everyone they hurt. Even if she refused to help us.
Will shrugged and picked up a spell. A popping sounded, like the cork let out of a bottle. “Imagine that times a thousand, set off in a hunter’s face,” he said to Giselle. “Half the mortal police in central London are still dealing with the aftermath of the last time I set these spells off. Still don’t think we can get into the prison?”
She scowled. “I’ve no doubt one of you might be lucky enough to get in. For all of you to get in and out requires more than luck, if every Elite is there. And if you don’t tell me why exactly they’re hunting you, I won’t help you.”
There it is. I’d never actually said, I’m a dragon to anyone. My friends had worked it out. Cori had told Rhea, before I’d shushed her. Neither of us had told a soul since.
Giselle turned to Astor. “Want to do the honours? I assume she’s put some kind of witchcraft on you, but to be honest, I’m getting bored waiting for it to wear off. This place will smell of herbs for a week.”
All of us watched Astor. He stood back, so the moonlight cast pale shadows on his face. “I knew her already,” he said to Giselle. “That’s why I brought her here.”
Her gaze went to me. “Knew you already?”
“It’s not a compliment,” I said. “Believe me, the day I met him was the worst of my life. He tried to shoot my sister and me dead the day the faeries came. I’m not here because I have any delusions about him being a decent guy, trust me.”
Maybe I needed to speak the words aloud to make them true. Because it looked like he hadn’t lied…
Her mouth dropped open. “You’re the dragon?”
A visceral shock went through me, and my hands turned immediately to claws. “Don’t say another word.” I knew it. Of course he hadn’t kept it to himself.
“Nice,” she said, eyeing my claws. “I’ve always wondered how that works. Do your clothes not rip when you shift?”
“Take one more step and I’ll cut your throat.” Becks loomed up behind her.
“You move quietly, don’t you?” she said. “Like one of us. You know what it’s like to be hunted.”
“Hold it,” I said to Becks. “Wait. The hunters attacked you, right? They hurt you. And—and the others who betrayed them. In the prison.”
“It’s the price you pay when you cross the Elites. It was extremely lucky that the invasion broke out when it did. The first and only time the Orion Stronghold has been escapable.”
My jaw dropped. “You were a prisoner? Why would they imprison one of their own?”
“What crime is worse than being a shifter?”
She’s human. So what…? “Betraying them?” asked Becks. “Deserting?”
“Got it in one.” Giselle grimaced. “I was one of the people unfortunate enough to figure out their real motives before the invasion put a dent in their plans for total domination.”
“Which are…?” Will began. “Supposedly the League had all sorts of amazing plans, but we’ve never seen the evidence.”
“You haven’t met the Elites yet,” said Giselle. “They have no loyalty except to the cause: elimination of all supernaturals. Nothing else matters to them.”
“I’ve heard the stories,” I said. “We all have. But you—they failed. The invasion happened. Non-supernaturals are in the minority now. It’s a new world, and I’m not convinced the League can win. Compared to what supernaturals can do, all the League are capable of doing is scurrying around drains and snatching children, like the bogeyman.”
That, above all, was what bothered me about this whole mission. Regular hunters, with or without automatons, couldn’t beat a dragon. Either they’d used the pre-invasion secrecy as a means to capture each shifter one at a time, or they’d had other, worse ways for slaughtering us that we hadn’t seen yet. Really, until now, they’d been like a monster from childhood reduced to exaggerated stories—harmless.
“You’ll change your mind,” said Giselle. “The Elites aside, every torture instrument in the League’s arsenal is inside that prison. They say they know how to take a supernatural’s magic away for good.”
I gaped a little. “What?”
Can they really do that? It fit in with the rumours—and the fear associated with that place. Nothing was more terrifying to a supernatural than losing their magic. And their ability to shift? Surely killing us outright was the more logical option, if they wanted to wipe us off the face of the earth.
“Just rumour. I’m not a supernatural, so I don’t know if it’s true.”
Does he? I wasn’t sure I wanted to know.
“Why stay so close, if you’re wanted?”
“Because they think I’m dead, and I’m planning it to stay that way. We’re the only people living in this house, but ex-hunters come and go all the time. It’s not generally safe for them to live in the inner city, but neither is anywhere else. Until the mages sort out some of the issues stopping us leaving, we’re stuck here.”
Careful. She might have been open with us, but like Astor, she’d have her own agenda. Ex-hunters they might be, but they’d spent their lives being taught we were monsters who needed to be eradicated.
“Why?” I asked. “There are some places which are safe to live in. Safer than here, I mean.”
She looked at me like I’d revealed my claws for the world to see. “Safe for us? There’s nowhere. All we’re good for is killing.”
Killing people like me? “So what do you do?”
“Get rid of rogue faeries, when we can,” she said. “Sometimes rich people put ads up offering a fortune to anyone who can get rid of faeries on their property. Then it’s a race to see who can get there first.”
“That’s what we did, too. When they caught Cori, we were tracking some kind of giant runaway monster. Now I know they set us up. They fabricated the whole story, because another supernatural sold us out. Even if we weren’t trying to get into the prison, it’s worth going to the event, just to find out what the hell they’re planning. Supernaturals don’t turn on one another. Shifters don’t, anyway.”
“Hmm.” Her eyes glittered in the dark. “If they’ve seen you before, you won’t be able to stride in there, no matter what tricks your witch friend has. Especially Astor, if he goes with you. Like I said—they don’t forgive traitors.”
“I’ll risk it,” I said. “I have a plan. Now will you help us?”
“I can work a little magic of my own.”
15
“What exactly did you have in mind?” I asked warily.
“Firstly, you’ll have to pretend to be human.”
I blinked. “We don’t look human?”
“No,” said Astor from behind me—I jumped. Damned assassin. “You look conspicuous, your clothes are singed, and the smell—”
“Now you’re saying I smell?”
“Like… burning. Not a bad thing, but it might draw unwanted attention.”
I didn’t even know what to make of that. “Fine, be my guest.”
Ten minutes later, the blood rushed to my head as I dangled it over the kitchen sink to wash out the black dye. It was the colour of tar, and despite my best efforts, black inky smudges covered my neck, back and hands.
“You have dye on your nose,” added Will.
“Dammit.” I squeezed more water out of my hair, wishing I’d cut it even shorter. I’d clipped it to chin-length but only an illusion could change my face. And we didn’t have one. Apparently the event was going to be high-class, which meant my hair would be the least conspicuous part of me. “Forget this. We might as well sneak in the back way. None of us have formal wear.”
“That can be taken care of,” interrupted Giselle. “You forget, we have a lot of ex-hunters passing through here. We have enough clothes to spare, including evening wear. You’re likely to be questioned if you show up dressed as an Elite off the bat—every one of them is numbered and carries a special form of identification, and at an event like that, they’ll have strict instructions. Your best bet is to go as guests, then change into uniform once you’ve unleashed whatever diversion you’re planning. And you can wear one of the masks the assassins use on dangerous missions.”
Of course. The masks. I’d forgotten about them, because all the hunters I’d fought recently had had their faces uncovered. But if they were in sneaky assassin mode, it wasn’t unusual for them to cover their faces. “You have enough for all of us?”
To my surprise, she did. I towelled off my newly jet black hair and followed the others into the living room, where Astor had laid out several heaps of assassin uniform.
“Cheery as necromancer wear, this is,” said Will, picking up one of their plain coats, which appeared to have several extra pockets to store weapons in. The clothes were lightweight and durable yet built with enough padding to absorb attacks.
“Not me,” said Becks. “I’m going in cat form. This mission calls for listening at doors and hiding from at least one of us.”
“Then I’ll transform, too,” added Will.
I looked at him. “No offence, but you’re almost conspicuous as I am. Do they even have gargoyles at the estate?”
Giselle gave him a curious look. “You’re a gargoyle and a witch?”
“I’m one of a kind.”
She snorted. “Unfortunately, that’ll only make you more memorable, no matter which form you go in.”
“Not many of them have actually seen me transform,” said Will. “I’d go as far as to say none of them have, not directly. Nor Ember here. They don’t know which of us is the dragon shifter.”
“Doesn’t matter,” said Giselle. “If you get into the jail, you’ll all meet the same fate anyway.”
“Cheerful,” I muttered. “Well, we’re in. I am, anyway. Becks…”
“I’m going nowhere,” she said. “You and Cori saved my life. We’re here until the bitter end, now.”
“Let’s just hope it won’t come to that,” said Will. “Anyway, I have some good news. I packed all the rarest spell ingredients in my rucksack before we cleared out, in case we had to run to another shelter again.” He held up his rucksack. “We aren’t done yet.”
“Will, you’re a genius.”
“Obviously.”
I’d hoped to snatch a couple of hours’ sleep before the big event, but right now, my hair trailed black inky smudges wherever I put it. I wiped it with an old towel, seeing Astor looking at me.
“What?” I asked. “More ink on my face?”
“No, you look… different. I wouldn’t recognise you.”
“Because I have an inky moustache.” I sighed. “They won’t fall for it.”
“They don’t know you’re the dragon shifter. None of them caught up with us before you transformed. I think Becks is the only one of you who’s fully transformed in front of them.”
“Maybe, but they have a one in two chance of guessing, and I thought they wanted all of us anyway.”
“Don’t worry.” Will waved a handful of spell ingredients in the air. Oh, that’s why Astor hadn’t moved from the door. Probably didn’t want to be in the same room as Will’s spells again. “I’ll fix it so nobody can see us.”
“It won’t work,” said Astor. “It wouldn’t surprise me if they had a defence mechanism built in specifically to target supernaturals. None of the ones they brought in put up a fight.”
“We will,” I said, trying to sound confident enough to cover up my disquiet at the idea of Astor standing on the side as the Elites brought innocent shifters into the jail to be tortured. Even though I knew his history. I ought to by now.
And we were relying on him to get us into that prison without any of us getting caught.
“Is the prison really underground?” Becks asked. “How’s nobody found it before?”
“Because its owners pay vast sums of money to keep it off the map,” said Astor. “We’re talking about an operation which has survived for decades without anyone having any idea.”
“Except every supernatural in London,” said Becks.
Yeah. But not for much longer. If our plan works… everyone will know about it.
I couldn’t settle. While Will turned a corner of the living room into a lab to set up any spells we’d need, Becks turned into cat form and curled up on a spare mattress. The lights were off, so when Astor crept up behind me, I jumped.
“You startle easily, for a dragon.”
“What is it?”
His silence went on a little too long. I turned to face him. The moonlight cast half his face in shadow, the other in eerie light that brought out the colour in the ink visible at his collar. Marks he’d never be able to wash away even if he wanted to.
But could I really take him at his word? Sure, let’s assume he’d been acting alone the whole time. Giselle seemed entranced by the idea of someone giving the League what was coming to them. But Astor’s motives had slipped further and further away until every contradiction made me certain I’d been taken for a fool.
