Vesik 04 - This Broken World (20 page)

“Do not draw that in this place, Damian. We don’t have the time to deal with the repercussions. If you must act, use one of those.” She nodded to my pile of weapons on the end table.

“Faerie’s laws are a bit odd, aren’t they?”

“Pfff, like you have room to talk. Commoners have insane laws just as much as we do. The stories Frank has told me …” She held her hand to her forehead and moved her head slowly from side to side.

“Oh yeah, he’s got some stories all right.” I strapped my holster and belt on. I pulled a loose black button-down shirt out of my backpack and slid it over my shoulders. It covered the focus and the pepperbox quite well. Satisfied, I slung the backpack over one shoulder. It would be easier to drop in a hurry that way.

I picked up the staff and tapped it on the marble floor.

“I don’t think you’re hiding that one,” Nixie said.

“Nope,” I said with a smile. “That’s just fine by me.”

She nodded. “Let’s go. We should be able to get back to the Royal Court in ten minutes if we hurry.”

Nixie took off walking so fast I almost had to jog to keep up.

“What is it?” I said.

“We are being followed.”

“By who?” I asked.

A throaty, feminine laugh was my answer.

An undine stepped out of the shadows before us. Her body was translucent. “Dearest Nixie, I’m afraid your death has been ordered by our great Queen.”

“Like hell,” I said as I slid the pepperbox from my holster and poised my palm above the shield rune on my staff.

“Leave us,” Nixie said. “I will not warn you twice.”

“The Queen wishes you to suffer, child. We will start with the demon beside you.”

I didn’t hear the undine behind us. I just saw a sad smile lift Nixie’s lips, and then she moved like a viper. She was facing one way, and then her body simply
changed.
The knife whipped forward in her left hand with terrifying speed.

The first indication I had that something was behind me was a brutal kachunk as the blade impacted …
something.

I turned my head and cursed. The blade was half buried in another undine’s chest. She was mostly translucent, except where the blade bit into her flesh. Nixie’s face no longer wore a smile. Her face was utter rage.

“You dare!
You who betrayed Atlantis to its end!” She snarled as she stepped closer to the witch’s face. “You are lost to the waters,
sister.”
She shoved the blade deeper into the undine’s chest.

The water witch cried out as her body became solid. Her cry was lost after Nixie plunged a second dagger into the witch’s throat. Nixie released her grip and the witch hardened into something resembling gray stone. Nixie pushed the body over and it shattered on the floor before it slowly flattened into a thick, gelatinous ooze. It thinned and spread until there was nothing left but a wet stain on the marble floors.

In the time it took me to turn around, Nixie had grabbed the closest dagger and whirled back to the first undine.

The other witch was shaking, an expression of sheer terror etched across her face.

“Come, assassin. Prove your worth upon my blade.”

She ran. By the gods did she run.

“Don’t follow her.” Nixie bent to reclaim the other dagger.

“You had two,” I said.

She nodded. “Ward gave me two.”

“What are they?” I asked. “It made her solid.”

“Damian, I love you, and I trust you with my life, but it is a sworn oath that we do not speak of these.” I caught another flash of the gray metal as she tucked the blades away in her dress. “I have already broken one oath today. I do not wish to break another.”

I nodded. “Let’s move. We’re almost there.”

Nixie glanced back at the wet stain on the stone floor behind us as we resumed our trip.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

G
lenn was waiting for us when we jogged into the Royal Court. He wore deep black metallic armor, etched with elaborate scenes of war and magic. Small spikes accented his forearms, seamlessly worked into the designs so they seemed to be raised by the images etched around them. He glanced between us and his black eyebrows drew together slightly. “Is the assassin dead?”

“Yes,” Nixie said.

Glenn nodded. “You both have a choice to make. Nixie, your entire race is about to fall into conflict. They see you as a leader.”

She sighed and closed her eyes. “Don’t say it,” she said.

“Without you, the entire revolution may die away before it begins. I will not order you to do this, but for the good of your kind, you should stay in Faerie.”

My heart sank. The thought of being separated from Nixie again so quickly was awful.

Glenn turned to me. “Damian, we need you in the fight against Ezekiel. You think on your feet, and you’re more powerful than you believe.”

“How long do you need me to stay?” Nixie asked.

Glenn looked away, his eyes focused on the distant side of the Court. He inhaled through his nose before turning his gaze back onto us. “You don’t intend to stay, do you?”

Nixie crossed her arms and leaned against the stone bench beside her. “If you give me access to the Ways, I can travel between all the realms. There are enough waterways near Gettysburg that I can access any number of portals in minutes.”

Glenn nodded slowly. “I know. If your Queen wins the will of the people, this war will become all too bloody. After the loss of Falias, we can ill afford a conflict on two fronts.”

“You already have a conflict on two fronts,” I said. “I don’t see any way around that. Even if you don’t go to war with the undines, you’ve called for Ezekiel’s head. You’re going to bring down one of the strongest Seals between us and the Abyss.”

Glenn laughed, a quiet, menacing sound. “Gaia has spoken to you of the Abyss.”

“While showing me the sights, yes.”

He nodded and met my eyes. “We will need the undines to fight the Leviathans. On land, yes, we may be able to slay them with the help of demons and Fae alike. In the seas and rivers …” He shook his head. “I do not know if I would be capable of defeating a Leviathan in the seas.”

“Happy will be with us. And Vicky,” I said as I stared at the Lord of the Dead.

“And Vicky,” he said.

“Did you know what was happening to her?” I asked.

Glenn eyed me for a moment before he said, “No. Not at first.”

“What happened to Vicky?” Nixie asked.

“Nothing has happened to her,” Glenn said. “Not yet.”

“When an arch demon falls, another must rise to take its place.”

“Okay?” Nixie said. “What does that have to do with …” She grabbed my arm. I turned to look at her, and her eyes looked almost panicked. “It cannot be Vicky. She is no demon.”

“She is darkness,” Glenn said before he let out a sigh. “She is a powerful ally, but I fear she may be lost to you once she fully embraces her role as the Destroyer.”

“There has to be a way to stop that from happening,” I said through gritted teeth. “She’s been through enough.”

Glenn frowned. His eyes glanced at Nixie, and then fell to the floor.

“What?” I asked as I stepped closer to the King. “You know something. If it can help that girl, you tell me now.”

“I would like to convey the fact I have more patience for you than I have had for others,” Glenn said in an even voice.

I caught the unspoken threat behind those words and nodded. “Please tell me about Vicky.”

Glenn paused. “Very well. So long as the seven devils rule the Burning Lands, arch demons will continue their endless, immortal march. It cannot be stopped.”

“Everything can be stopped,” I said.

“What would you have me do?” Glenn said as he leaned against one of the stone benches and spread his palms across it. “Attack the Burning Lands? As we join together to hunt Ezekiel? Invite yet another enemy into the conflict?”

I clenched my fists. I knew he was right, bloody hell, I knew he was right.

Glenn nodded. “After this fight is done, perhaps we can discuss the child once more.”

“If the devils were to die?” I asked.

Glenn looked at me with a stern expression etched across his face. “It is unlikely the laws would continue if the creatures who enacted the rituals were dead. If you wish to commit suicide in the Burning Lands, I would request you do it some other time.”

Nixie’s hands slid from her gown and her posture visibly relaxed.

“I have no quarrel with either of you,” Glenn said. “I would prefer it remain that way. Nixie, please, stay for now. Rally your people. Join Damian at Gettysburg, but let him make the trip alone. Those loyal to you are gathered at the river Styx.

Nixie gently placed a hand on either of my cheeks. “I love you, Damian.” She kissed me lightly, but the rush of emotion I felt was anything but light. “You have the Wasser-Münzen?”

I slid the blue obsidian disk out of my back pocket. “Always.”

She curled her hand around my own. “Be safe.”

“I love you.”

Nixie didn’t look back as she vanished down the hall slightly to Glenn’s right. It felt like she’d walked away with a piece of my soul.

“What now?” I asked of Glenn.

“You do not seem to be afraid of me, Damian Vesik.”

“That’s misleading,” I said. “I just assume Cara will cut your balls off if you do anything to me.”

Glenn’s mouth twitched a moment before he burst into laughter. It was a full, deep, laugh. A small smile lifted the edges of Glenn’s lips. “I suspect you are correct.”

I nodded. “You want to send me on my merry way?”

“In a moment.” Glenn turned and glanced down the hallway Nixie had disappeared through. I had a feeling it was just for show. I doubted Glenn needed his eyes for much of anything in the Royal Court.

“What?” I asked.

He turned his gaze back to mine. The infinite pits of black were not as unnerving to me as they’d once been. “Ezekiel was spotted in Cumberland, Maryland by the local pack.”

“Doing what?” I asked.

“The Cumberland Pack has long been an ally of my reign. After Ezekiel’s latest attack, most of them are dead. I can only guess that Ezekiel made such a spectacle out of it to dissuade any other werewolves from joining the fight.”

“A spectacle?” I asked.

Glenn nodded. “You will see the broadcasts when you return to your realm.”

I ran my fingers through my hair and gritted my teeth. “And you didn’t say this while Nixie was here, because you didn’t want her to follow me.”

“We need the undines on our side. If their Queen destroys the rebellion before it begins, we will be left alone to battle the Leviathans and their brethren.”

I frowned slightly and stared at the stone bench behind Glenn. “She’s probably safer in the middle of a goddamned revolution anyway.”

“You are a mystery to me, Damian.” Glenn narrowed his eyes and leaned forward slightly. His black armor was as silent as cotton against the stone. “You can be brash, and ruthless, but you maintain a head for strategy. You proved it in the defeat of Azzazoth, and you proved your ability to improvise with Prosperine.”

“And?” I said.

“Most of the brash warriors I have known did not survive more than one or two battles.

I looked away and laughed, but it was flat. “I would have been dead without Foster and Aideen.” My eyes trailed back to Glenn. “I would have been dead without you, as I recall.”

Glenn nodded. “I know.”

“I know” was all he said. Not, “you owe me your first born,” or “don’t worry about it, we’re pals.” I’m not sure which one would have scared me more.

“Take the road through Lexington,” Glenn said. “Break your travel into two days. I do not want this battle to end before it begins by having an uncoordinated arrival in Gettysburg.”

“No plan survives contact with the enemy,” I said.

“Moltke?” Glenn asked as he raised an eyebrow. “And here I thought you were an uneducated heathen.” The Lord of the Dead stepped forward and clasped my shoulder. “Damian, we are on the cusp of a great darkness. I hope you will fight for us until the end.”

“I will fight with you,” I said.
“Who
I fight for, that’s an entirely different story.”

“That will do.” Glenn lowered his hand. “Come, let us get you back to your realm.”

We walked to the center of the Royal Court. I stared at the intricate Celtic knot in the center of the room. Glenn took up a position on the other side.

“You should know your shirt made an impression.”

I raised my eyes to meet Glenn’s as my lips slowly curled up into a smile.

He laughed once more. “I rather thought that was the point.” He waved his arm and reality broke into a sickly vortex between us. “Travel well.”

“And you,” I said as I adjusted my backpack and stepped into the Warded Ways.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

“O
h, you son of a—” I squawked as the river came rushing up to meet me from twenty feet below. I performed a graceless, flailing belly-flop while I kept an iron grip on my staff, remembering the Leviathan I’d seen not so long ago. Water is not overwhelmingly soft at that height. I grunted as the cold river cut off my cursing. Its dark, wet chill closed over my head. It only took two quick strokes to surface.

My backpack was water resistant, but I still pulled it off and held it above my head as I reached the shallower part of the river. The roar I’d heard while beneath the surface was once again the peaceful, relaxing flow of the Missouri River.

All of my clothes dripped onto the muddy shore and I began slogging my way back to my staff. The river had carried me a fair way from my drop point. I heard someone laughing, and I looked up to see two kids pointing at me. Their dad was shushing them both. I gave him a small wave and he nodded. I ran my fingers through my drenched hair and pushed forward, jerking my feet out of the mud as I went. Some small part of my mind was impressed with how not sick I was after travelling the Warded Ways. Maybe Glenn was just being nice. By dunking me in the river?

I blew out a noisy breath while I wiped the mud off my staff and shoes as best I could on the nearby grass. In the future I’d have to remember not to piss off the fairy king who’s in charge of my travel arrangements.