Taliesin Ascendant (The Children and the Blood) (40 page)

Barely breathing, she slid her gaze to the room behind her.

The ceiling was gone. Most of the level above had come down in its fall. A mountain of rebar, steel and concrete now lay behind her, separating her from whatever was left of the conference room.

Her trembling grew stronger. If she’d been a few feet closer…

“Elias!” she shouted. She rushed toward the mess, her eyes sweeping it in horror as her mind emphatically denied any possibility he lay beneath. “Elias!”

“Your highness!”

Relief hit her at the sound of the councilman’s voice. “Here!” she called.

Magic slammed the pile of ruins. She gasped, stumbling back as the blast sent debris cascading down around her.

“Elias!” she yelled.

Another blast followed. From the opposite side of the rubble, she could hear people shouting.

“Elias!”

No one answered.

Her gaze raked the mountain separating her from the councilman, and she grabbed at the first handhold she could see.

“Your highness, get out of here!” Elias shouted.

She froze. “I’m not–”

Magic drove another minor avalanche down.

“Now!”

On the other side of the debris, she could hear him calling orders as magic burned the air. Others yelled, their words unintelligible, and his voice merged with the noise as he left the tumbled mess behind.

Breathless and torn, she stared at the wreckage for a heartbeat and then shoved away. Sliding down through the rubble, she scrambled to her feet and then took off.

Lobby guards rushed to intercept her as she dashed through the remnants of the door. The nearest stumbled in shock, and then his magic drove them all back to the ground.

She didn’t stop running.

Broken glass crunched beneath her as she reached the street and she skidded, looking around frantically. Each direction was the same. Brentworth’s cars were gone and it wasn’t like she had keys for them anyway. Gulping down air, she darted right, racing down the sidewalk and praying for a doorframe deep enough to hold a portal.

Not that she was close enough to reach Joe’s easily. Or knew anywhere else to hide.

Panic surged and she fought to crush it down. Where to go wasn’t the issue and neither was the distance to Joe’s. She just needed to be somewhere, anywhere, without wizards long enough to call Elias or Nathaniel. Then they’d all get out of here. And they’d all be fine.

Clinging to the thought, she cast a hurried glance around.

Her feet stopped before her mind caught up with them and the world tilted, her balance thrown.

A gasp escaped her as reality shifted. Spun. Erased itself and started over again because at the end of the alley beside her, the impossible had just become real and nothing else mattered at all.

And then she was running.

Fear in her eyes, Lily looked back at the sound of footsteps racing across the concrete. Light glimmered from the wooden staff in her hand, and by the girl’s side, Cole turned.

Horror rippled across his face. His hand swung up, holding a gun.

Shock hit her before the bullets left the weapon, and then her magic was there. Ricocheting from her defenses, the bullets pelted the brick and steel while the gun went flying from his grasp.

Cole thrust Lily behind him and shouted for her to run.

Ashe’s heart hit her throat. The girl was stumbling away. Gasping, she started to yell Lily’s name.

Cole slammed into her.

Concrete met her and drove the breath from her lungs. Instinctively, she shoved him away, scrambling to reach her feet before Lily disappeared. Magic rushed through her, begging to be released as he grabbed her again and threw her to the ground.

“Wait!” Lily yelled.

Cole froze. Confusedly, he glanced to the little girl.

Trembling, Lily approached. “Ashley?” she whispered.

Cole’s gaze slid back to her, incredulity painted across his face. He stared, his brow twitching down in shock, and then he backed up, grabbing Lily with one hand as he stood.

Shaking, Ashe rose.

“Ashley?” Lily repeated, desperate hope in her voice.

A rough breath escaped Ashe and in a single step, she crossed the distance between them and grabbed the girl, enveloping her in her arms.

Time slowed. Stopped. Made everything in the stupid, horrible world somehow almost alright again.

“How did you…” she heard Cole ask.

And then reality returned.

Footsteps pounded up to the alley. Magic crackled through the air, racing toward them.

Panic hitting her, Ashe spun, her defenses shuddering as the energy punched them. At the alleyway entrance, the four guards struck a second time, their magic rippling from her shields as Lily shrieked in fear.

The guards flew into the road and didn’t move again. Breathing hard, Ashe lowered her arm and looked back at Cole and the little girl.

“We have to go,” she said.

She paused. We. The simple word registered and hysterical joy almost overrode the adrenaline racing through her veins. Roughly, she drew a breath, struggling to stay focused.

Cole stared at her. Lily stared at the guards. Moving mechanically, Cole reached out and pulled the little girl around so she couldn’t see the bodies.

“Yeah,” he agreed reflexively.

Swallowing down her residual panic, Ashe glanced to the alley. The guards lay in one direction, and there might be others coming behind them. At the opposite end, the alleyway split around two blind corners, but one of the resulting paths led away from Chaunessy.

It would have to do.

“Come on,” she said, shifting her grip down to Lily’s hand. Her gaze caught on the wooden staff in the little girl’s other fist.

Her brow drew down, memory fluttering at the edge of reach, and then the insistent drum of adrenaline drove it away. There wasn’t time. The Blood could be coming. Taliesin. Anyone.

Clutching Lily’s hand, she headed for the turn. Beyond the edge of the building, the alley was empty, and when she came to the far end of the next stretch, an equally empty corridor of concrete and brick waited. Heart pounding, Ashe kept going, tugging out her cell as she moved.

She hesitated, clutching the phone. Elias could be dead. Captured. Her eyes flicked to Lily, panic gripping her again, and she cursed never having come up with code phrases the way Carter had done.

But it was too late now.

She thumbed the speed dial.

“Where are you?” Elias snapped upon answering. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah. You?”

“Great,” he said tersely. “The Taliesin are dead but the Blood escaped. Now where the hell are you?”

She trembled, trying not to envision the Blood around the next corner. “Alleyway. About two blocks north of Chaunessy.”

“We just reached Brentworth’s. Can you get there?”

Ashe’s gaze flicked toward Cole. “Not exactly.”

“What? Why?”

“Just get here, Elias. Please.”

He paused. “On my way.”

The phone went dead. A moment passed, and then a portal spun inside a doorway near the end of the alley.

Cole swore. With a shriek, Lily skidded and then yanked Ashe’s hand as she tried to retreat.

Elias rushed from the portal, Nathaniel on his heels, and they both looked terrible. One of the councilman’s sleeves was soaked in blood and a roughly healed gash covered half his forehead. Nathaniel had fared worse, with thickly dried blood on his face and arms, and burn marks scoring his clothes.

“Are you alright?” Elias demanded as he spotted her. His gaze flicked to the others as he strode closer, and his brow drew down.

Ashe tugged Lily back to her side. “It’s okay,” she told the girl. “They’re friends.”

The little girl swallowed hard, clearly doubting the words.

Ashe’s gaze returned to the wizards. “Elias. Nathaniel. Meet Cole and…” she hesitated, trembling. “Lily.”

Incredulous, Elias looked between them.

“We need a car,” Ashe finished.

Blinking, Elias regrouped. “Done.” He clasped a hand to Nathaniel’s shoulder and then headed for the alley exit.

Ashe turned to Nathaniel. “You alright?”

Silent, he nodded and then raised an eyebrow at her. She echoed the nod.

“The others?”

His pause was answer enough.

She looked away. Her gaze fell on Lily. Wide-eyed, the little girl was staring at Nathaniel in horror.

“It’s okay,” Ashe repeated. She glanced to Cole. Distrust was blatant on his face. “I told you. Nathaniel’s a friend.”

The distrust barely faded.

At the end of the alley, Elias pulled up in a sedan.

“Come on,” Ashe said, pushing Cole’s reaction away.

Nathaniel hesitated and she could see the desire to search Cole and possibly even Lily written on his face. Visibly, Cole tensed.

“It’s alright,” she said to Nathaniel. “He’s the one who saved us when the Blood killed my dad.”

Nathaniel’s gaze went from her to the pair and back again. Briefly, his eyes narrowed and then he turned, taking the lead as though nothing had happened. Tightening her grip on Lily, Ashe started after him.

A moment passed before she heard Cole follow.

Scanning the street, Ashe opened the door and motioned Lily inside. Cars zipped past the intersection several hundred feet away. The sound of sirens was conspicuously absent and along the pavement, pedestrians strolled blithely on.

Cole paused on the opposite side of the sedan, casting an unreadable glance to her and Nathaniel. His mouth tightened, and then he got into the car.

Over the top of the vehicle, Nathaniel caught her eye.

She buried a grimace and slid in after Lily, not knowing what to say.

Elias glanced at her in the rearview mirror as the door closed. “Joe’s?” he suggested, his tone only half-questioning.

She nodded, taking up Lily’s hand again and gripping it in both her own. “As fast as you can.”

A familiar wry grin tugged his lips, the expression marred with blood, and then gravity pushed her deep into the seat as the sedan surged forward.

*****

By one of the many gaping holes in the conference room walls, Brogan paused. Wires dangled overhead, sparking fitfully. Rebar protruded from shattered concrete and occasionally, small bits of debris pattered down on the destroyed floor.

It would take a tremendous amount of repair, assuming Jamison decided to stay.

Dismissing the damage from his mind, he continued into the room.

“What happened?” he called.

Simeon grimaced as he looked up from the corpse by his feet. His normally neat ponytail was disheveled and dust covered his clothes. A few yards away, Isabella glanced over. A large splash of blood, obviously not her own, marred the eggshell white of her knee-length coat, though her pale blonde hair was smooth as ever. On her cold face, the lack of expression was even more pronounced than usual.

He’d rarely seen her so furious.

“Merlin queen,” Simeon stated succinctly. “She got away.”

Brogan paused. His gaze snapped between them.

“Any survivors?” he asked, his voice betraying nothing.

Isabella’s eyes narrowed slightly. He raised a brow at her in response and the woman looked away.

“No useful ones,” Simeon supplied, glaring at them both before he caught himself. Swiping a sweaty strand of hair from his face, he turned the glare on the bodies. “And most of our side is dead as well, thanks to her guards and whatever the hell happened back there.”

The man gestured abstractedly toward the remnants of the far wall.

In Brogan’s pocket, his phone buzzed. He drew it out and listened briefly to the wizard on the other end.

He returned the phone to his pocket.

“It doesn’t matter,” he told them.

Isabella looked back at him, a flicker of incredulity in her ice blue eyes.

“Why?” Simeon demanded, not bothering to hide his own surprise.

A humored expression touched his face. “Because we know where they’re going to be.”

*****

Harris didn’t look up at the sound of the lock turning, knowing there was no point. Throughout however long he’d been handcuffed to a chair in this hellhole, the questions had never changed, and he’d grown tired of them. Hours or days or years before, he’d fastened his gaze on a slight discoloration on the concrete floor of his cell, and now it was all he bothered to see.

Because he’d almost had her. Almost killed her. He’d come so close, only to fail, and the thought tortured him more than anything the damn wizards would do, once they got done playing nice and finally resorted to using pain to make him answer their incessant questions.

Assuming they didn’t just give up and kill him first.

The door swung open, and then shut again a moment later.

“Well, aren’t you a sorry sight?”

Despite himself, the unfamiliar voice drew his gaze up even as the words made his blood boil. He didn’t recognize the man in front of him, though he was fairly certain he knew all the wizards Ashley kept around. And the little bastard certainly didn’t have any room to talk. Layers of moldering coats covered him and his face looked like it’d been shaved by a weed whacker.

“Who’re you?” Harris growled.

Ignoring the question, the little man shuffled around him. “I mean,
damn
,” he continued, coming to a stop behind the chair.

“I asked you a question,” Harris said, twisting to see the little man.

The man snorted. “Like you care.”

On Harris’ wrists, the handcuffs shifted and then clattered to the floor.

Alarmed, he rose to his feet.

Days of motionlessness made themselves felt and he nearly crumpled to the ground. Stumbling, he caught himself on the cinder-block wall.

“What’s going on?”

“Damn, you just don’t quit,” the man replied as he returned to the door. When Harris didn’t follow, he glanced back, an irritated look on his face. “Mud, okay? The name’s Mud. Now can we get going? They don’t want you left behind and we don’t exactly have a lot of time.”

“They?”

“The Blood.”

“You work for Jamison?”

At this, the man snorted again. “Yeah, right. I work for me. Always have, always will. Jamison’s just the best game in town right now, and I’m not stupid. I want to survive, I side with the big dogs. Simple as that. Now, come on.”