Ascended (24 page)

“Knock it off
, Lucian!” Vie shouted forcefully. “I’m not here to play games with you. Where is she?”

Lucian circled her
. “Now to whom might you be referring?” he asked, continuing to toy with her. “I have many souls down here, after all.”

“You know exactly who I
’m talking about, and you’re going to deliver her to me now!” she replied.

H
e burst out in maniacal laughter. “Oh, Violet, you really do entertain me,” he continued to laugh in her face, “but you’re forgetting something. I have a pact—an iron clad contract with the young soul you wish to see. I’m afraid I am going to have to deny your request.”

“Oh, on the contrary
, Lucian. You will honor my request. And I’m going to tell you why, too, since you seemed to have overlooked a very important detail about your pact with Vivian.”

“Do tell
,” he replied, sounding bored.

“Actually, I
’d have thought you would have been a bit more informed about my abilities, especially since you claim to know so much about me,” she said, circling him now. “What you may not know about me, Lucian, is that I have the ability to retain every piece of information that has passed in front of my eyes; it’s called a photographic memory, and it has really come in quite handy for me. Now, while that may seem unimpressive to you at the moment, I can assure you, you’ll feel differently when I’m finished.

“
Remember when you showed me your contract with Vivian?” she asked, stopping directly in front of him. Vie could see his curiosity was growing as he wondered where she was going with her speech. “Well, I remember—every single word of it, in fact,” she said, grinning at him with satisfaction.

She could see that
Lucian had become angered by her audacity the moment she’d begun to speak, and she was enjoying every second of it. It felt good to finally know something Lucian did not, and to be able to use it as a tactical move.

“I must warn you
, Violet: playing with fire is a dangerous game. I would hate to see you get burned,” he said.

Vie could see the fire in his dark eyes as he threatened her, but she was not backing down.

“You’re the one who should be worried, Lucian, because as of right now, your contract is null and void. Now go and get Vivian!” she demanded.

“You have tried my patience for the last time!”
his reaction was swift. He called for his servants to take her away.

Vie pulled out her
blade, ready to fight. She took the Dark Ones out one at a time as they came toward her, until the last corpse hit the floor.

Lucian was thoroughly impressed, but kept his game face on.

Vie looked at him, barely out of breath and pleased with herself. “Are we through playing games now, Lucian? It’s really quite simple; all I want is Vivian.”

“Humor me for a moment
, Violet. What makes you think I would give you anything?”

“You have no choice
, really, Lucian. You see, as I was trying to tell you before, I’ve read every single word in your pact with Vivian. The contract ‘shall be deemed in full force unless one of royal blood chooses to break its bind. Then and only then shall said soul be released.’” She recited the fine print of the pact verbatim, thanks to her photographic memory.

“And…
,” he prompted.

“And I am of royal blood
,
brother
!” she dropped her bombshell. “I have the power to release my sister from the hell you’ve trapped her in, and I’m acting on that power. Now, bring me my sister!”

“Bravo, sister,” he said
, clapping. “It’s about time you put together the pieces of your pathetic existence; I basically served it up to you on a silver platter, you know. However, you’re missing an important detail about your so-called ‘royal’ blood. In order to collect your soul, you would have to align yourself as said royalty. Am I to assume you are here to do that?” he asked, cocking an eyebrow, excited by the thought.

“The contract is not conditional
; you’re just grasping at straws now, Lucian,” she tested him.

Lucian snapped his finger
s and a demon appeared at his side. He ordered, “Bring the girl,” and the dark servant left the room. He studied Violet for a long moment and then said, “I will grant your wish, but you will have to give me something in return. I want your blade.”

Vie
had known Lucian would ask for the blade. He needed it; it would give him great power. It was the sole reason she’d had Enapay retrieve it from Gabriel.

There was something that had haunted her about Lucian when she’d returned from her mission, so she’d taken every opportunity to go through the history of the Fallen One, Dimorte,
studying every detail about the Dark Ones while she was at the Gates. Knowledge was power, and that was the only weapon she needed at the moment.

Vie
nodded her head in agreement and pulled the blade out of her boot. She held it tight, waiting to make the trade when Vivian arrived. She and Lucian glared at one another, locked in an intense standoff.

Although the situation appeared to be working in her favor,
Vie’s internal alarms were going off; it was just too easy.

In the meantime, the Guardians had followed Carter back to the ranch. They’d gone with him unquestioningly, but once they’d arrived, Fallon spoke up. “What are we doing here at the Stones’ house?”

Carter
’s attitude toward Fallon was downright rude; he was still angry with her for betraying Vie and playing him while merged as Tess.

“Oh yeah
, that’s right. You weren’t on the last mission with us, were you, Tess? Oh, sorry…I mean Fallon,” Carter corrected himself, shooting her a snide look.

Fallon charged at him and Gabriel stepped between them.

“No sparring today, guys. I’m afraid your childish antics will need to wait until after we save Vie,” he spoke evenly, reminding them they were all on the same side.

“Sorry,” Carter and Fallon both uttered in unison
, embarrassed by their actions.

Gabriel knew from the last mission that Carter and Jeremy had entered the Tower through the secret tunnels in his and Sarah’s hidden adventure spot. Though they had sealed the concrete walls after Carter broke through them,
he hoped it was a spot unprotected by Lucian’s impenetrable force shield.

“Good work
, Carter!” Gabriel said as they headed down the property line to Sarah’s secret place.

They all worked together
, pulling out the debris in the effort to get to the wall.

Ca
rter had thoroughly secured that once-majestic hideaway from anyone who tried to enter. It was a place filled with horrific memories of a day he’d tried so hard to forget: the day he’d lost Vie.

Camulus
approached, moved the Guardians and Carter gently aside, and spread his arms wide. He looked up at the sky and seemed to commune with something, or someone, up above. Everything blocking their path disappeared instantly, and an entrance to the Tower suddenly appeared.

No one questioned his power
; they just excitedly moved through the dark, musty tunnel one at a time. The passageway seemed to be a maze, and Carter tried hard to remember which way he had gone before, but he couldn’t think clearly. Anxiety was taking hold of him again.

“Carter
, look at me,” Gabriel said to him. He could barely see into Gabriel’s eyes because of the tunnel’s blackness.

Gabriel put his hand on Carter’s forehead and said, “Where is Vie
, Carter?”

Carter realized h
e could feel Gabe’s energy, and he could see Vie’s light.

Carter looked at the fork in the tunnel and said with absolut
e certainty, “This way.”

They all followed him blindly and confidently through the passageways. Then Carter saw a dim light up ahead, an opening leading into a corridor.

He was thrilled and shouted back with relief to the Guardians, “I see a light up ahead! Gabe, can you see it? Gabe?”

Nothing but silence came from behind him. Carter turned around and realized he was completely alone.

Chapter
Twenty

Walls Closing In

Fallon saw a dim light up ahead and moved quickly along through the tunnel to exit. “Carter, I see a light,” she yelled to him
, still believing he was ahead of them.

The
Guardians entered the room one by one, each of them looking at one another, waiting for someone to explain what in the world happened to Carter. Gabriel was the last to exit and immediately noticed that Carter was not among them.

“Where is he?” Gabriel shouted
to Fallon, who had been directly behind Carter in the tunnels.

“I don’t know
! I thought he was ahead of me,” she replied, baffled by his disappearance.

Gabriel took charge
, telling them to split up and search for him. The tunnels were dark and wound around like a maze, so Gabriel decided to go back the way they’d come to try and locate Carter. He knew somewhere in there was a turn that would lead him straight to Carter, and he hoped he would find him before he got himself into any trouble. Keeping track of Vie and Carter had become a full time job for Gabriel; one he felt he was failing at miserably right now.
Where are you Carter?
he said to himself as he veered back through the maze.

Carter, on the other hand, only had one mission on his mind, and it was not to find the Guardians. Although he believed in the ‘safety in numbers’ theory, his only goal was to find Vie, even if that meant he would have to do it alone.

Instead of going back into the tunnels
, he made the decision to go it alone. He rounded the corner that led to the dungeon where he had been once before, and walked slowly past the cages, hoping and praying he would find Vie; but there was no trace of her. He continued down the long hallway, approaching the last cage. He looked inside but all he saw was a pool of blood on the floor.

Without warning,
an arm reached through the bars and grabbed Carter’s neck, pulling him in close to the cage. His eyes locked in surprise with the cage’s occupant as their heads collided into the bars of the cage, and Carter was released immediately from his grip.

The person in the cage
was Jeremy, and for the first time, Carter was actually happy to see him.

“Carter?”
Jeremy shouted, excited to see him.

“
Shhhhh,” he whispered back while looking around. “Where is Vie?”

“I don’t know
,” Jeremy said. “I haven’t seen her, but I saw Vivian. She was here!” He sounded saddened, rather than thrilled, by his encounter with Vivian. “Well, it wasn’t Vivian, exactly.”

“We don’t have time to talk
, Jer. Let’s get you out of here,” Carter said, placing his hands on the bars, ready to separate them.

Suddenly, they heard footsteps. Carter
whispered, “Someone’s coming,” and motioned to Jeremy to step back from the cage.

Carter darted behind the side of the wall in the corner, out of
sight, waiting to see who was coming and what he was up against. He heard voices talking in the halls but couldn’t see anyone.

Jeremy tried to see where Carter had gone, afraid he had left him there. “Carter?” he whispered, but
he received no reply.

Back in the chamber, Vie and Lucian were having a private standoff while waiting for his henchman to return with Vivian. His dark eyes, filled with contempt, fixed on her. Vie had no idea how or why he had become so consumed by her existence, but it was clear that he was. She got an eerie feeling that Lucian was ready to strike, and her guard went up instantly.

The servant arrived empty
-handed and asked to speak with Lucian privately.

Vie was alarmed and asked Lucian
, “Is there some sort of problem?”

He was angered by her suggestion
that all was not running smoothly, and ordered the servant to step forward and speak freely. The quivering demon moved reluctantly closer to him, afraid to deliver his news.

“What is it?” Lucian asked impatiently.

“It’s the girl, my lord,” he replied nervously.

“Go on
,” he pressed him.

“She’s gone!” he said
, bowing his head in shame and terror.

Lucian immediately looked
at Vie, his mouth forming a snide grin, and then spoke to the demon. “I believe we have some unwelcome visitors…FIND THEM!” he ordered. Then he looked back to Vie and said, “You should have told me you brought company.”

“I didn’t,” she said
honestly, not knowing who was there with her.

“No worries
, Violet. We do enjoy the occasional guest. Hopefully your friends will decide to stay awhile; there’s always room here at my inn,” he said, still grinning at her.

They waited for what seemed like hours for someone to return with Vivian. Then Odessa walked in and shook her head at Lucian
, and Vie knew that Vivian was gone.

Odessa moved closer, gliding over to where Vie stood. She looked her up and down
, like she was sizing up the competition, and then stopped directly in front of her. She had the same cold look in her eyes that Lucian did. Her hair was long and black as night, and her face lacked any expression. She was a soulless being with a powerful energy that Vie could feel as she stood before her.

“So this is
she…really? This pathetic little creature?” She started to laugh, looking back toward Lucian while pointing her finger at Vie.

“Violet, I’m so sorry,
” he said. “Where are my manners? I’m being terrible rude. Allow me to introduce you to Odessa.”

Vie knew
who she was as soon as he said her name: Odessa was Lucian’s mother and Dimorte’s wife. She exuded evil in her demeanor and yet was beautiful in a very dark and intimidating way. Vie knew she had to be fierce or be doomed.

“Interesting
,” Vie said, walking around Odessa, as if evaluating her.

This
angered the older woman immediately. She’d wanted to inspire fear in Vie—and believed that she had, at first—but now this girl was sizing her up, and Odessa wasn’t having it.

“I’m sorry
, but your sister seems to be detained at the moment. She was getting reacquainted with an old flame and I didn’t want to disturb her. She seemed to really be enjoying his company, if you know what I mean,” Odessa said, with a nasty smile.

“If anything happens to Vivian
, I’ll—”

“You’ll what?” she shouted at Vie
, her mouth inches from her face.

Vie had had enough. She
hadn’t come here to have words with Odessa; all she wanted was Vivian. She turned her back on Odessa, speaking only to Lucian.

“This game is over
, Lucian! You obviously don’t have my sister anymore; I can see it in your eyes. Perhaps my friends have found her…maybe I should check with them,” she said, her voice shrewd.

“Perhaps they have
. Hmm, Mother, can you think of anything else Violet might need from us before she goes?” he asked Odessa while combing through his beard with his fingers.

“As a matter of fact, I can
.” She made a gesture in the air with her hand, instructing one of the demons to enter the room.

In they walked with a prisoner. He was tied up and had a burlap sack over his head
, and as soon as they reached the middle of the room, they forced him to kneel. Vie couldn’t see the face behind the sack, but she looked down and saw the prisoner’s boots and knew whose feet were attached to them.

Lucian saw the recognition in her eyes. He instructed the guard to lift the sack from
the man’s head and smiled at the horror on Vie’s face when she saw a beaten Jeremy kneeling before them.

Vie shouted, “Jeremy!” and tried to run to him
, but Lucian stopped her.

“Not so fast
, dear sister. I believe the negotiating table is open,” Lucian said, back in charge and loving every minute of it. He walked over to his throne and sat down, pleased with the latest turn of events.

“Fine,”
Vie said, ready to negotiate her terms. “First, I want you to destroy the pact you have with Vivian. We both know I have the power to terminate it, and I am using that power. Second, you will release Jeremy, unharmed, immediately. And third, you will leave Devils Tower and never return.”

“Ha
! Oh, Violet, you do make me laugh,” he said. “You have quite a long list of demands, don’t you think?” 

“No,
I don’t. Actually, Lucian, I didn’t forget my bargaining power,” she said, holding up the black Angel Blade.

His eyes widened as he looked at the blade. Vie did indeed have something he wanted, something he needed very badly.

“Don’t let her place demands on you, Lucian! Finish her now!” Odessa shouted, angry about the control Vie seemed to have over her son.

“Silence
, Mother!” he shouted. Lucian paused as he considered Vie’s deal, glaring at the magnificent blade in her hand. Power had made him greedy for even more of it; he would have done just about anything for that blade and wasn’t about to let anyone stand in his way.

Vie was counting on
it.

“Deal,” he said
, entranced by the blade.

Lucian instructed the demons to bring Jeremy
to her, and Odessa glided back over to Vie to make the exchange.

Vie
held tight to her bargaining chip until Jeremy was safely in place behind her. She saw Odessa staring at her with a strange look of satisfaction on her face.

She had studied
the facts about Odessa, too, while back at the Gates, and knew she was a very powerful creature in her own right. She was said to be Dimorte’s wife, but was not the one who lived in his soul. It was said that Odessa was well aware of his lust for another, and it haunted every second of her existence. Her soul fed off her anger, which made her a very dangerous and impressive adversary.

“And the contract
, Lucian?” Vie reminded him. She wanted to make sure she saw it destroyed.

He nodded his head
to Odessa and she held up the pact.

Vie opened the scroll, making sure there were no tricks up his sleeve. Satisfied with the contents, she nodded back to him and instantly Vivian’s contract disintegrated before her eyes.
That’s one down
, Vie thought.

Back in the tunnels, Gabriel was restlessly feeling his way through the darkness. Just when he thought he would have to turn back, he saw a light at the end of the tunnel, literally.

He entered a long hallway lined with torches that lit up the corridor.
He heard footsteps coming his way, but there was nowhere to hide, so he ran to the end of the hallway and peered around the corner to see what he was up against. There were demons scrambling around the halls, agitatedly looking for something or someone. There was only one explanation for the chaos: someone had been exposed, and he feared it was Carter.

What Gabriel didn’t know was that Carter had managed to stay safely out of sight
, watching Vie and waiting to see how her own deal the devil would play out. Since he was separated from the others, he couldn’t risk allowing himself to be seen just yet, so he waited patiently. He was positioned to pounce on Lucian, and would do so in a heartbeat if he put one finger on Vie. Gabriel had taught him well; patience was a virtue, and he was counting on that patience being a benefit to his plan.

Meanwhile, Fallon and the other Guardians had circled around the catacombs and had met back in the chamber as discussed. None of them had had any success in finding Carter—or anyone else, for that matter.

As
they saw the shadow of an approaching figure, Camulus motioned to them to step back quickly.

Fallon didn’t wait for the
order; instead, as the lone figure got closer, she grabbed it by the neck and pulled it into the room. Fallon was as surprised as the person she’d grabbed; it was Vivian, and she looked scared to death.

“Please
, don’t hurt me!” she said, petrified.

Fallon released her immediately
. “Vivian, we’re here to help you.”

Vivian stood up and looked at them
, and then jumped into Fallon’s arms, squeezing her tightly as she sobbed on her shoulder.

Fallon pretended to be annoyed by the human’s emotion
, but Camulus smiled, knowing differently. Fallon put up a good front—she had to, as a Guardian—but she was not devoid of feelings, even human ones. Camulus knew Vie had to be with Lucian and making progress because of the way Vivian appeared to them. She looked like her former self.

They filled Vivian in about what they knew
, and asked for her help. She had been down there for some time now and she definitely knew the layout of the Underground.

“Vivian
, have you seen Violet or Jeremy at all?” Camulus inquired.