Taliesin Ascendant (The Children and the Blood) (22 page)

Like dominoes, she sent their magic cascading through their neighbors, toppling them all to the ground.

“Nice,” Elias said behind her. “They alive?”

She nodded, eyeing the faint haze of the factory’s defenses. As one massive security system, the barrier was tissue-thin and almost undetectable, though that didn’t stop it from being formidable. Wizards couldn’t pass it, nor could any other living thing, and a single trace of magic nearby was reported instantly to the guards monitoring it in the main building.

If he hadn’t known she was here already, Darius would now.

She glanced back as Elias yanked open the security box mounted to the booth wall. The keypad beeped rapidly beneath his jabs, and he gave a humorless grin to the gate as it began to roll back and the shield flickered enough to let them by.

“Council override,” he told her. “Run.”

The guards hefted Sebastian between them as they rushed toward the security booth on the other side. Darting after them, Ashe tossed a glance over her shoulder. In the darkness, a portal was churning. Her breath catching, she skidded to a stop beyond the barrier.

“Elias, hurry!” she yelled over her shoulder.

Cornelius rushed out, with Darius only a step behind.

“Your highness, wait!” Cornelius called.

Around the gag, Sebastian yelled as he fought the wizards’ grip. Energy surged around Darius, lashing out at the brief weakness in the shield, only to fizzle to nothing as it passed the barrier. At his back, his guards stabbed codes into the keypad.

Elias wove his magic through the booth doorway.

“Ashe, please!” Cornelius shouted. “Don’t do this!”

Magic surged behind him, radiating from Darius’ hands. The barrier flickered, the key commands taking effect.

She spun, racing after the others as the barrier around the gate vanished, Darius’ magic rushed her, and the darkness of the portal swallowed everything.

Puddles splashed beneath her feet as she came to a stop in the alley. Neon lights reflected from the rippling water and cast strange shadows into the doorways of the brick buildings nearby. From behind a dumpster, a cat fled, eager to escape the wizards’ proximity.

“Where are we?” Ashe asked, turning to Elias.

“South side of town. I’m not taking this bastard anywhere near a safe house, so if there’s something you want from him, now’s the time to get it.”

She nodded and then glanced to Sebastian, ignoring his attempt at a smirk despite the magic muffling him.

“Where are they?” she demanded.

His expression turned condescending and she jerked her chin at the guards. They let the magic blocking his mouth dispel.

He spat at her. A guard’s fist slammed into his face, knocking his head sideways.

Ashe wiped the spittle from her cheek and dried her hand on her jeans. “Where are they?” she repeated.

“Darius will know you’re going–”

“Then it won’t matter if you tell us.”

The contempt in his eyes couldn’t hide the sadistic anticipation peaked by her words.

“Where are they?”

He glanced to the guards and then gave a dry laugh. Shaking his head, he worked his jaw around. “Layton Marina,” he said finally.

She looked to Elias. “You know where that is?”

He nodded.

“Take us there.”

*****

After the first few weeks in Croftsburg, Harris had taken to driving the streets at night, hoping to catch sight of things no one else could see. The body count was high enough around here to justify the effort, though the cops attributed it all to serial killers, drug deals and gang crime. The populace was worried and most people stayed in after dark, except for those with agendas and those too burnt out on life to care.

And wizards.

Or so he hoped.

The news made him shake his head these days. Serial killers. Gang wars. They had it half right. They just made the mistake of assuming all killers were human.

But then, everyone always did.

Jamison’s people sent him reports of unidentified murder victims from all over the nation these days, feeding him whatever information he required for his part of their mission. After an initial reluctance, the man seemed to understand Harris’ strategy, though he still left the detective working alone.

But that was alright. After what happened to Malden, Harris preferred it that way.

Shifting his grip on the steering wheel, he grimaced at the red light glaring in his eyes. By one in the morning, most stoplights in the better parts of town had switched to flashing in both directions. But on fringe streets like the marina road, such ground-breaking technology had yet to make an impression. And regardless of the fact he was probably the only car for a mile around, for the past minute and a half the light had perversely insisted on remaining red, while determinedly casting its green glow down an empty frontage road.

He hated Croftsburg.

For a long time, he’d wandered from city to city, kept afloat by funds from Jamison’s coffers and chasing one empty lead after another. But of all the cities east of the Mississippi, this sprawling metropolis had the most unidentified bodies, a statistic that hadn’t diminished as the weeks ground on. Some of the corpses were written up as outright homicides, while others were allegedly the victims of drug deals or overdoses. A few had been chalked up to suicide, while the others were filed under causes unknown.

None were burned, but it didn’t matter. Harris suspected her involvement in them all.

Some nights, when the streets were empty and even the criminals had gone to bed, he could almost picture himself catching her. With his car parked on the deserted stretches of dark city roads, he’d imagine seeing her again, the innocent victim act fallen from her face and the true intent finally revealed underneath. And he’d know what he’d done was right.

He’d have to call Jamison’s men to take her in; he knew that. Against so many of them, she’d have less chance to set anyone aflame. And they wouldn’t take her for any trial he’d be accustomed to, but he wasn’t certain anymore if that was the point. He’d have captured her. She couldn’t hurt anyone ever again.

The rest was immaterial.

Overhead, the infernal light finally deigned to become green, and with a sigh, he took a left turn. Past his window, the glimmering lake shone beneath the full moon, silhouetting the hulking storage buildings of the abandoned marina and the rotting boats dying slowly nearby. Yellow security lights dotted several buildings in an attempt to dissuade the local teenagers from using the harbor as a hangout, though the graffiti scrawled across the walls proved how ineffective the measures had been. He regarded the mess dryly as the rough pavement grumbled beneath his tires and potholes set the car lurching every few yards.

A group of people emerged from one of the warehouse doors. Instinctively, Harris’ mind ran a swift count, noting the ten men too large to be teenagers, the one body suspended between them, and the narrow forms of two women at the center.

The buttery light caught their faces as they glanced around.

His car nearly went off the road.

Turning, the group headed deeper into the marina, hauling the body with them. Heart pounding, Harris guided the vehicle to the shoulder by instinct, his eyes locked on the people disappearing between the buildings. Fumbling with the seatbelt latch, he shoved the car door open and then clambered outside.

It was her. Months of searching. Months of nothing. Months and months and…

He drew a breath and tugged out his cell phone.

“Layton Marina. Southeast Croftsburg. Get here. She’s inside.”

Before anyone could speak, he hung up and shoved the phone into his pocket. Dryly, he licked his lips, ordering himself to concentrate.

Jamison’s men would be coming. They were better equipped to handle her. But she had a victim with her right now.

There wasn’t any time.

He couldn’t let it happen again.

Harris drew his gun.

*****

She could hear the water lapping the lakeshore as they emerged from the portal at the edge of the marina. Overhead, a security light glared, turning the corrugated sides of the warehouses to gold. Gravel crunched as Elias and the others arrived, but she didn’t turn.

Her eyes were locked on the graffiti scrawled on the metal siding.

“Your majesty?”

A breath entered her lungs sharply, and she looked back.

“What is it?” Elias asked, concerned.

“Nothing,” she answered, her voice more choked than she’d have liked. Blinking, she turned to Sebastian, unable to keep the fury from her eyes.

He smirked vaguely, seeming confused by her expression, and his gaze twitched to the wall curiously.

Her heart jumped. “Where?” she demanded, letting her anger cover everything else.

For a moment more, he looked between her and the markings, and then he jerked his chin toward the heart of the marina. “Dry storage. End of the row.”

“Go,” she ordered the others.

They hauled Sebastian with them as they headed away from the security lights into the deeper shadows of the yard.

Her gaze returned to the three large scribbles of graffiti amid the common vandalism coating the building.

Trap. Run.

The last symbol was unfinished.

Swallowing hard, she turned and followed the others.

The sound of the water grew louder as they moved toward the end of the gravel drive. Stenciled numbers in chipping paint differentiated the identical buildings, most of which gaped emptily in the darkness. At the final building on the row, Sebastian grumbled instructions to stop.

“That one.”

Drawing a rough breath, she started for the entrance, when Nathaniel grabbed her arm. With a warning glance, he shook his head and then moved ahead of her toward the rusting metal door. Despite their weathered appearance, the hinges made no sound as he pulled the door wide.

The smell hit them before anything else.

Ashe’s hands flared to life, and the shadows fell back. Nathaniel turned quickly to block her path.

“Your majesty–”

“Move.”

Nathaniel hesitated, but at her expression, he just turned and led the way inside.

Not breathing, she followed. Behind her, one of the guards fumbled for a light switch.

“Oh sweet God,” she heard Katherine whisper.

They’d tried to make it look like an argument gone too far. She could see it in the way the bodies were laid. Six people, arrayed as though trying to escape the seventh, the latter of which held a gun. Murder-suicide. So neat. So easily dismissed by the police.

She was trembling so hard the ground felt like it was shaking, but somehow her feet still carried her past the empty boat racks and across the room. Behind her, the others followed, and she could hear them dragging Sebastian with them over the rough floor.

Numbly, she stopped at the edge of the circle of bodies and looked down, nausea twisting her insides. The pools of blood had mostly dried on the concrete. Ragged holes peppered the backs of those staged as fleeing, and the seventh was missing part of his skull. Their eyes were glassy, empty and cold.

She didn’t recognize them.

The thought was distant, and she questioned it absently. Had they been at the Abbey? Had she just not noticed them? Could they have known Carter, and that’d been why they came?

Seven more cripples, killed because the wizards sent word on her behalf.

A short burst of chuckling broke out behind her, silenced almost instantly by the sound of a fist hitting flesh. “What the hell is this?” she heard Elias snarl at Sebastian.

Her gaze slid back as the man scoffed again, refusing to answer.

“The cripple forces,” she told them. “The ones who came to fight the Blood.”

Bafflement colored Elias’ face as he looked between her and the bodies. “They sent them home,” he protested. “The cripples didn’t find anything and they…”

His words caught up with his eyes and he looked over at his wife in desperation.

Ashe ignored them, watching Sebastian. “Darius did this?”

“Probably the minute you found out about him, my
lady
.”

Air scraped her lungs, carrying the rank stench of the room. She choked and then swallowed hard. “Are there others? Other locations?”

He seemed to weigh whether to answer. Her hand caught fire again before she could stop it.

His theatrical expression melted into disdain. “No,” he grudged. “We’ve been short supplied for awhile now. Even had to start culling some of our informants. Your precious cripples got smarter, you see. Stopped coming in such large numbers when their buddies didn’t answer calls anymore.”

She looked away.

“I’ve got to say, though,” Sebastian continued conversationally. “That could change, especially if you keep treating me like this. Darius was well aware you knew more than you let on. Heaven knows what you gave up without realizing. You let me go, maybe we can make a deal. Otherwise…”

Her gaze darted to him as he trailed off meaningfully.

“You know,” he said as though she’d asked him to explain. “Like hiding places. Some of their darling ‘Hunter’ secrets. You always were so transparent. Like back by the–”

He cut off as she crossed the distance between them swiftly. “What does he know?” she demanded.

“What makes you think I’ll–”

Her hand wrapped around his throat. Gasping, he tried to recoil as, beneath her fingers, his flesh began to burn.

The guards didn’t let him move.

“What does he know?” she whispered.

“Nothing,” Sebastian spat hoarsely. “Just rumors. He was going to set something up to get you to tell him more.”

Her hand grew hotter. Skin sizzled as smoke curled up from his neck. “Is that true?”

“You little cripple-loving–” he snarled and then cut off as the guards jerked him in her grip. “Yes! Yes, damn you–”

She released his throat, leaving a blistered and bleeding imprint of her hand. She stepped away, her gaze returning to the cripples lying dead on the floor.