Of Noble Chains (The Ventori Fables) (14 page)

Aeryn’s eyebrows rose.  “So it’s Mal, now?”

Aeryn couldn’t help but smile to himself as he and Zia waited in the room across from the last vampire in the hospital playing cards.  He couldn’t believe her progress with Specter’s, specifically this Mal kid.  Aeryn knew she had good reason to hate his kind, a very good reason, but she was already calling him by his name.  Without any malicious tone, or anything.

“Five,” Aeryn said, and Zia groaned.  She passed him a small card, and he added it to his pile.  He was winning by a landslide, and she wasn’t very good at memory games.

It was almost midnight, and they were awaiting the arrival of the Black Angel, in hopes of catching him in the act.  Aeryn knew that it would be arriving soon, but they were just waiting on Father Killian’s signal from the security office.  He was watching the cameras, waiting for any of them to black out; that would be the Ventori’s cue to get moving.

As they continued to play cards, Aeryn wondered if Mal was still nearby.  He was a strong Caster, and it was almost impossible to sense him.   He also seemed to have a strange interest in Zia, and proving to her that not all Specters were bad.  Aeryn resisted the familiar twitch his lips did as they stopped a smile; did Mal have a crush on Zia?

“Three,” Zia demanded, hand already held out for the card.  Aeryn shook his head, and she drew from the deck with a scowl.  She said, “It’s almost midnight, you know.  We should radio the Father and see what’s going on.”

“Alright,” Aeryn said, and reached next to him for the small black box connecting them with the security room.  He clicked the button and asked, “Hey, Father, any signs yet?”

When his finger released the side there was only static coming through.  Zia’s eyes met Aeryn’s, and they both instantly knew something was wrong.  Aeryn asked again, but there was still no reply.

“I need to check this out,” Aeryn stood, the card game long forgotten.  “You stay here, and whatever you do,
don’t
go outside.”

Zia nodded her head, but even Aeryn knew that nothing would stop her.  She was too much like her brother, he thought.

Zia wasn’t sure what was putting her on edge all night.  She tried to tell herself that it was just because she was about to catch her first STRAY Specter, and that the uneasy feeling in her chest had nothing to do with Mal.  But she knew it did, and it was a new feeling for her.

Aeryn’s footsteps padded down the hallway, and soon Zia couldn’t hear them anymore.  She sat on her little chair, the table of cards in front of her, along with the reduc-chains.  She had never used them before, but she knew how they worked; just like regular handcuffs, but if thrown right, would automatically latch on to the target.  Although she did wonder how strong a Black Angel would be even with his power taken down.  If she could get them on him before he feeds—

A click caught her attention.  Silently she stood, her hands moving over the chains but not quite touching them…yet.  Something shifted outside, and she yanked the chains from their spot on the table, rushing for the door.  She swung it open to reveal an empty hallway.

Zia stepped outside, and looked up and down under the dim lights.  Nothing.  She pursed her lips, and just as she was about to head back into the room she sensed something.  It was just behind her as she stood looking down the hallway, a shadow on the edge of her mind.  Slowly, she knelt down and reached into her boot, pretending to tie the laces.  When she heard a shuffling, she whipped up and around with her blue chain and hit Mal right across the face with it.

He jumped backwards, barely making any noise despite the large burn that now blazed across his cheek.  Zia pulled the chain backwards and it wrapped around her hand, no thicker than a necklace, but long enough to reach her enemies while she stayed a safe distance away.

“What the Light are you still doing here?” Zia tried not to yell, but it was hard.  And she knew exactly why he was there; he wanted to help her.

Mal’s fluorescent eyes were watery, but he held back any tears he might have had.  Zia felt a little guilty as he reached up and touched at the thin line on his cheek, the burn she had made for him with her magic weapon.  She opened her mouth to apologize, but found she couldn’t say the words to a Specter.

“I am here to help,” Mal predictably said, and he wiped at the wound.  In a single swipe of his hand, it was gone, as if it had never happened.  His eyes fell onto the blue chain wrapped around Zia’s left wrist, and then on the reduc-chains that were in her right.  He asked, “How do you have cobalt?  That is the rarest of ores.”

“I know,” Zia smirked, “I have my ways.”

“I am sorry for scaring you,” Mal went on, looking like a guilty puppy as his hair hung in front of his face.  Something tugged at Zia’s heart, and she ignored it.

“So how do you expect to help?” Zia placed a hand on her hip, trying to will away her guilt.  He shouldn’t have snuck up on her like he so often did; he was a Caster, and she would not feel bad for hurting him.  Besides, his wound was perfectly healed now.

“I want to help the vampires,” Mal explained, looking towards the closed door next to them, “I was worried that the Black Angel may be hidden with Achaicious’s magic.”

Zia tried to argue with him, but couldn’t.  He had a valid point; if Achaicious used his magic to hide where the Angel took the vampires to kill them, there was a chance that the creature itself would be hidden.  But in the next room, sitting next to the cards, the radio buzzed, and Aeryn’s frantic voice came over the speaker, “Zia, get out of there!  Killian was attacked and the cameras are blank!  The Angel’s there, now
move
!”

She was standing in the doorway now, running to try and communicate with Aeryn when Mal suddenly grabbed onto her arm.  She was ready to strike him again with the cobalt, but when she faced him he wasn’t even looking at her.  Her feet came back into the hallway, and a hiss slithered down the hall.  Zia turned, slowly and cautiously, to find the source of the noise.  The Angel had come, and he didn’t look happy that there was an obstacle in the way.

The Black Angel looked nothing like Zia pictured, but then again, she hadn’t really thought of it.  A man stood in the hallway, shoulders hunched and ready to pounce.  He wore a black overcoat, with long, blond hair reaching down to his hips.  Beneath that was a black suit, with polished black dress shoes.  He was, Zia thought, beautiful, just as beautiful Mal’s eyes.

Mal raised his hand, ready to do a spell when the Angel straightened his back.  The Caster paused, unsure of what to do when the enemy reached inside his jacket, and pulled out a piece of paper.

“No!” Mal cried, but it was too late.  The Angel slapped the paper onto the wall, and with a snap of his fingers Mal was gone in a haze of green and white dust.  Behind the Angel Zia caught a glimpse of that same dust coming around the corner, but she didn’t have time to think about it and jumped away from where Mal had once been.  He had been banished, and Zia found herself hoping it was only temporary.

“From Achaicious,” the Black Angel said, his words thick with an accent Zia didn’t recognize.  “Banish all Casters within area.”

“Doesn’t matter,” Zia said loudly, “I can take you.”

The Angel smiled and pulled another paper out of his jacket.  He grinned wider, “For Ventori.”

Zia acted quicker than the Angel anticipated, and even quicker than she thought she could.  She swung her cobalt chain around her, and flicked it at the angel, knocking the paper out of his hand.  It fell into two pieces to the ground, and burned up as its magic disappeared.  “Nobody’s banishing me to the shadows tonight.”

The Angel hissed at her, claws protruding from his hands now.  Zia swung the cobalt back at him, and it wrapped neatly around his wrist.  She smiled, watching as the chain burned him, even
through his clothes, but he gripped onto it.  His skin sizzled, and Zia tossed the reduc-chains in his direction, hoping they would latch on the way they were supposed to, but they missed and clanked against the floor.  The Angel yanked on the cobalt, and it shattered into a hundred tiny blue pieces.

“Not good enough, Ventori,” he laughed.  But Zia smirked this time, and the Angel paused.  Her eyes fell to the blue pieces between them, and his followed.

On the floor, the cobalt chain that had been taken apart so easily was beginning to meld together, gathering at the center to reform itself.  In a matter of seconds the chain was back together, but still out of Zia’s reach.

The Black Angel moved quickly, and lunged at Zia before she could grab onto her chain.  He tackled her in the chest as if it were a sport, and she flew backwards.  The pain was unimaginable, and she felt a dull throbbing in her bones when she connected with the staircase door, and then the railing.  She went over, and her hands scrambled to grip onto the metal before she plummeted to the basement.  The Angel was gone.

Everything hurt; she had never been tackled before, especially by something as strong as a Specter.  But like most of her feelings, she ignored it, and pulled herself upwards.  It was easy to get over the railing once she had regained her footing, and she launched herself towards the door when she heard footsteps.  She only wished she had her chain back.

The door had shut, and Zia didn’t wait for the Angel to come and get her; she kicked the door open, fists up and ready to attack.

“Whoa there!” Aeryn said, an amused smile on his face.  He was holding her cobalt chain, along with the reduc-chains.  Without a word Zia grabbed the blue links and wrapped it safely back around her left hand, leaving a small length to dangle at her side.  She sighed, as if everything was all better now.

“Let’s go,” Zia ordered, and Aeryn just shook his head.  “What?”

“No hurry,” he shrugged and moved out of the doorway to show Zia the Black Angel.  He was pinned to the wall by pale bindings, as if the paint itself had come alive to trap him there.  It was slick and appeared as if it could break any second, but each time the Angel moved it only tightened on him.  Across from him stood Mal, just staring at him with a blank expression.  Zia walked up with a little too much fury, and Aeryn only trailed behind.

“What’s this?” Zia pointed to the Angel as her feet slid through the green dust.  It was Caster dust, the green indicating an intermediate spell.  But everyone there knew that banishing someone was forbidden, even to a Specter.

The Angel roared at them, and another piece of the wall came out to cover his mouth.  Mal said, “Are you alright?”

“What—yes, I’m fine,” Zia lost all her anger in that moment, as Mal looked at her.  He looked so worried, so ashamed that she had been hurt, and she felt another tug in her chest.

“A-are you?” she managed to ask, though the words felt thick and awkward across her tongue.  She had never thought she would ever ask a Specter if he was okay.

“I am fine,” Mal gave a small smile, and Aeryn held the
reduc-chains to Zia.

“I think this one can go to you,” he said, and absentmindedly Zia took them.  She placed one part of the chain around the Black Angel’s wrist, and Mal let him down.  Zia finished handcuffing the Specter behind his back, and he was now powerless.  Aeryn added, “Let’s get to Ventori Ark then, shall we?”

As they walked out of the ward, Zia couldn’t help but notice more of the green dust coating parts of the hallway.  She knew it wasn’t from Mal’s banishing, but that meant another Caster was there.  Zia bit down on her bottom lip, wondering who it could be, but she had a feeling she would find out soon enough.

Aeryn couldn’t help but notice how quiet Zia had been after catching her very first STRAY Specter.  He had thought she would be ecstatic, and bugging him for another case.  But as they walked into Ventori Ark, she seemed to be lost in thought.  Mal had gone off once Aeryn had told him to, and he went too willingly.  Aeryn wouldn’t have been surprised if the Specter was following them.

“Over there,” Aeryn pointed Zia towards a small line on the far end of the room, and she obeyed without a word.  The Black Angel seemed drained of all his energy, whether it be from the
reduc-chains, or not eating, Aeryn didn’t know.

“Do you think he really wants to help me?” Zia asked, never taking her eyes from the front of the line.  Aeryn had a feeling it was because she couldn’t face him, and he sighed.

“I think so,” he confessed, “he isn’t a bad kid.”

“He’s a Specter.”

“That doesn’t make him bad,” Aeryn shrugged, “it’ll be good for you.”

“I don’t like Specter’s,” Zia stepped forward as the line moved, taking the Black Angel with her.

“Are you sure?” Aeryn stepped up.  “You shouldn’t judge one man based on what his race is doing.”

That earned a chuckle from the Black Angel.  He kept his head low, his eyes just barely opening to reveal that his eyes had begun to turn black; showing a weakness in his power.  He said, “You think that a Specter and Ventori could be together, Rinehart the Unbreakable?”

“I do.”

“You think a Specter and Ventori could love one another?”

“I do.”

Aeryn was hoping Zia was listening carefully, and when he peeked at her from the corner of her eyes, he saw she was watching the Black Angel.

“It comes,” the Black Angel declared, and even Aeryn had to hold back a shiver, “you will see.”