Chapter 29

Rosabel La Rouge

Alive. He’s alive .

Taland was walking on his own with two guards to his sides, and Bes took us where we came from, to the other door in that square room. Yuri was nowhere to be seen, but her spicy perfume hung in the air like it wanted to remind me that she could materialize in front of me any time she pleased.

My attention was on Taland, and Taland was still walking. I didn’t dare turn my head to look at him because I knew I’d lose it. For now, I just focused my eyes ahead as we walked down the dark corridor to the other end, through a set of wooden doors and behind another that slid to the side and disappeared into the wall.

Finally, we were in what Yuri had called the Regah chamber .

Definitely not what I expected.

It was a rectangular room, except half of it was completely dipped in darkness. Not shadows, no— darkness , like someone had carved out a piece of night from the sky and brought it down here in this room.

The darkness just hung there, shielding everything behind it, while the first part was perfectly illuminated.

LED lights all around the corners of the ceiling. There were two paintings on the walls opposite one another—one completely white with a golden frame, the other completely black, its frame silver.

Bes stepped aside to let us through. I didn’t hesitate, both curious to see where they were going to take us and eager to just get this over with sooner rather than later. Nobody was in there—not a single camera in sight like I thought there would be, and the guy Yuri had sent us here to meet was nowhere to be seen.

Just that bright room, and the dark half of it ahead.

Bes pulled the sliding door closed behind us, and he stood on Taland’s side, while the other guy who’d been in that room with him held him by the arm.

So close. He was so fucking close that I felt the heat of him against my back, yet I still didn’t dare turn to look at him. How could I when he was bruised and battered and bleeding all over, and I couldn’t even touch him yet?

No, I had to get this over with first. I had to make sure they let us leave willingly, and I could touch Taland plenty when we were outside.

Silence.

I could hear him breathing; heavier than usual.

“We’re so dead,” Seth whispered, eyes closed, and head lowered.

I took in a deep breath and tried to calm my nerves, and my phone vibrated for possibly the fifth time in my pocket to remind of that text I’d received a few minutes ago, probably from Cassie.

It was. I took it out just to distract myself for a moment while we waited, hopefully not for long. I skimmed through the words of her text—until they actually registered and made sense.

Ok cool. Just act casual black rugs on the floor, white roses in a transparent vase on that long table that seemed to extend into the darkness as well. White furniture with glossy black details, a TV screen and a stand, a mirror that seemed to show a different white wall than the one across from it, a black piano in the corner.

“Welcome to the Regah chamber.”

The voice vibrated throughout me, and the man, whom I assumed was Hakim, stopped by the side of the long table to the left of the room, hands forward, his fingers spread wide and pressed against one another. He had grey hair that stood upright on his head like he’d been electrocuted—or maybe he’d styled it that way on purpose. He wore a simple black shirt and there were bones around both his wrists, together with a shitload of black leather ties. His eyes were clear, though, a cold blue that looked grey, and he was bulky, but not too much. He was tall, too—as tall as Bes who was behind me, keeping watch over Taland, as if he really thought Taland was capable of doing anything other than standing on his own right now.

“I was told you have something that the Devil will be interested in,” the man said, head slightly lowered as he looked us over—Seth, then me. He didn’t even glance behind us at the guards or Taland.

Seth turned to me.

“Yes, that’s correct. In exchange for Taland,” I said and pointed back, again, too scared of what I’d do, how fast I’d lose control if I looked at him in that condition.

“Taland Tivoux, who failed to deliver what he promised, then turned himself him, I’m told,” said Hakim, resting his hip against the chair. “Noble—yet incredibly stupid.”

It had nothing to do with you, I wanted to say, but bit my tongue so hard I tasted blood.

“However, we are currently the ones who lost in this exchange, and that is why you were given an audience with me.” He raised a hand toward me. “Go ahead. Show me what you think is worthy of my attention.”

Cassie’s warning was in my head though I hadn’t yet properly grasped the gravity of the situation. I raised my hands and they were shaking so badly—goddess, I hadn’t even noticed. Nobody moved or said a single thing for a moment until I pulled up the sleeve of my jacket to reveal the bracelet.

Then Taland tried to say something, but as soon as he opened his mouth, either Bes or the other guy grabbed him by the neck, I thought, and all he let out was a moan.

My eyes closed.

If I reacted now, I was as good as dead. And my magic was so eager to come out of me, to consume everything in its path right now, that I focused on it.

It’s okay, I told myself. As good as over. Let’s calm down…

The spell to call forth light had become second nature to me by now, and so I whispered it with ease, without really thinking.

Even so, the magic that came out of my shaking hand nearly fucking blinded us all.

All the colors of the rainbow gathered in my hand, eager to obey my call. It was so powerful, the spell, more powerful than ever before because my emotional state was overwhelming, and the magic always responded.

I saw nothing, heard nothing but the magic, and when it faded away after a second so that only the ball of light remained, I imagined the man would laugh at me and tell me, that’s it?! That’s all you got? Pathetic!

Then I imagined another scenario in which he’d throw us out and kill Taland, and my blood boiled.

I prepared myself, gritted my teeth, and accepted death right then and there. I fisted my hand, put out the light, and I expected laughter to ring in my ears.

Instead, when the buzzing in my head stopped and I focused on the room, I realized that nobody was laughing. In fact, nobody was making a single sound, and the man, Hakim, was looking at my hand like he was having trouble trusting his eyes.

But he did—he saw. And when our eyes locked, I could have sworn I saw hatred in them—raw hatred, which made me wonder, was this guy the Devil? Was he just introduced to us under that name to protect his identity or something?

Except the actual Devil was in the Tomb, and as crazy as it sounds, I soon saw him with my own eyes.

Hakim turned toward the darkness that covered the other half of the long room, raised his hands toward it and whispered words, threw them like they were daggers.

The darkness began to let off.

It began to lift like a curtain, and it slowly revealed the other side that could have been a fucking mirror—the same table and the same furniture and the same flowers were there, too. Except two things were different: the bars on the far-right wall, and the two recliners across from one another close to the middle.

In the one facing us sat a woman with a book in her hands, watching me curiously. And across from her sat someone else, someone I couldn’t see the face of yet, only his hand over the armrest.

“That was quite impressive, Agent La Rouge. I’d like to see it again, if you don’t mind.”

The voice sent ice-cold shivers down the length of me, and a part of me insisted that I knew what was happening here, even though I didn’t. A part of me insisted that we were somehow looking into the Tomb right now, that this room was connected to it, that that cell that didn’t look like a cell at all was where the Devil was for real, yet we could see him. From a world away, we could hear him—and not just that.

I’d forgotten how to breathe completely when he stood up, and I expected an old man, someone with barely any hair, a face full of wrinkles.

But when he turned around with his hands in the pockets of his black pants, he was anything but.

Dark eyes—as dark as that magic that had kept him shielded from us until now. Hair more salt than pepper, perfectly combed behind his head. Barely any wrinkles on his pale skin, and his mustache had only greyed around the corners of his mouth. He was at least six feet and he wore fluffy black loafers and he was real-real-real.

The Devil. He was the Devil, the man that was more myth than man—or so I’d thought. So, they gossiped at Headquarters. It’s a network—not an actual man, some had said. He’s the IDD’s eyes on the inside, that’s all, said others. No way is he real—just stories. Completely made up!

Wrong. They were all wrong. Because the Devil was really real and he was a man, and don’t ask me how I knew but I was as sure of it as I was of my own heartbeat.

As sure as I was that I was going to die.

Silence in the room.

I could see it now, could see the magic that reflected against the many lights, like a veil in the middle of the long room. Except it wasn’t an actual room, or if it was, the entirety of it wasn’t in the same place.

Here I thought I knew what went on in the world, that I’d seen all there was to see out there in my missions, when the truth was that I’d barely scratched the surface.

This man—and the woman in the recliner who had continued to read her book, completely unbothered—were in another place, miles and miles away, and here at the same time.

And it made me wonder, if only for a short second, what else was out there that I didn’t know? What exactly were the limits of magic—or was there such a thing? Because right now I was pretty sure there wasn’t.

“I was surprised to see your face, I’ll admit. But it does make sense now, it does,” the man said after a moment. He took a step closer, smiled a little.

My goddess, he looked so… normal.

“And I understand that this is all very overwhelming, but do know that I do not grant this right to just anyone. I keep away from sight for the most part, but today…” He said all of it like he expected me to think that he was doing me a favor by showing me his face. “Today, Agent La Rouge, I saw something one really doesn’t see every day.”

Another step closer and he looked down at my hand. Raised his. Moved his fingers to tell me to come closer, too.

Like hell, I thought, except when a second ticked by and I didn’t move, Hakim did.

He grabbed me by the arm and pulled me closer to the middle of the room, to that veil, and so much magic was in the air it was miracle I could still breathe. The guy stopped me when I was still three feet away, for which I was thankful, and then the other—the Devil proceeded to look at my hand, my bracelet secured around my wrist.

“Don’t be afraid, Agent La Rouge,” he said, and that smile of his turned up—but the strangest thing. It didn’t look evil. It didn’t look psychotic or anything—it looked nice. Almost grandfatherly. Genuine.

He waved a hand at the shimmer of magic that separated us. “ This is only a trick I created to give myself a bit more freedom, that’s all.”

I shook my head because I was still trying to understand what my eyes were telling me.

The magic looked almost like a screen, a moving screen, and I still couldn’t wrap my head around it, and so I said, “ How ?”

Even though it wasn’t important. Even though it wouldn’t serve me.

But the man’s eyes sparkled as if he was pleased by the question.

“Same as I do everything else.”

He raised a finger and sort of touched that veil from his side, and dark flames sprung out, leaving a trail behind where he moved his finger in a curvy line—which told me he was Blackfire.

“Magic is like art, and we’re artists, you and me. You’re given the power and the tools, and I wait and see what you’ll come up with, what you’ll create,” he said, his voice cheerful. Goddess, he looked happy. “Much like a painter has a canvas and his colors, I have my magic, and with it, I create.”

Again, he tapped three fingers onto that veil of magic, and the ripples spread all around, to the ceiling and the floor, before they disappeared.

“But the question is, Agent La Rouge, how did you manage to master all those colors I just saw? Was it with that bracelet on your wrist?”

I swallowed hard. “Yes.”

Dangerous, dangerous man. Not because he was threatening me but because he was putting me at ease with his smile and his slow movements and his melodic voice. I didn’t think I’d ever come across anyone like him before. I felt his magic, so damn powerful, and we weren’t even in the same place!

“I thought so,” he whispered. “May I ask for another demonstration, please? That first one was hazy—I only saw it through the darkness.” He leaned in his head a bit. “Between you and me, the darkness takes away a lot of beauty from the world—just as much as it brings forward.”

My mind kept screaming for me to run.

I looked the man in the eyes, and I said, “Of course. If you give me your word that you will let us go when I give you this. Unharmed. All three of us.”

The man didn’t hesitate for the slightest second. “I give you my word in front of my people. All debt to me will be paid in full the moment you hand that bracelet to Hakim.”

Goddess, can it be? Would it really be that simple?

Of course, it would—it was colorful magic and I was so damn glad I stole it from the Vault. Right now, I thanked my lucky stars that I had it, that I could trade it for Taland’s life.

I didn’t hesitate, either. The moment he said those words and I realized he meant them, I raised my hand and called for fire this time, just to give the whole thing a more dramatic effect. I really wanted him to want that bracelet enough that he’d want us out of his hair right away as soon as I gave it to him.

The colors of the rainbow gathered, came out of me through the bracelet all at once—what a relief. The flames remained, bright and orange, so much like what my magic used to be before this madness began.

I imagined how we’d walk out of this place, back to that house, outside, through that neighborhood. I imagined how Seth and I would carry Taland and everyone would be looking at us but we wouldn’t care. I imagined how we’d go to the car, get in and drive away, and how many healing spells I’d call for Taland until he wasn’t bleeding or bruised anymore.

I imagined and imagined and imagined…

“That is quite something,” said the Devil, the fire making his eyes burn orange. He looked… greedy just now. Almost envious, and that’s why I put the fire out. “I’ll admit, I’ve never seen colorful magic from close up. And I didn’t think it was possible, not anymore.”

“The bracelet for Taland’s life,” I whispered. “Just like you promised.”

The Devil met my eyes again. Smiled. Put his hands in his pockets and nodded.

“Give it to Hakim and he will make sure you’re out of my lair safe and soundly—just like I promised.”

“All three?—”

“All three of you,” he cut me off.

I pulled the bracelet off without looking away from him, aware that he wasn’t even there, yet I could feel his presence exactly as if he was.

“I am curious to know, though,” he whispered as he watched me step back. “Your grandmother doesn’t know about you…does she?”

The way he said that word— grandmother. The way he looked when he asked me that question, the way he paused. There was just something there, but I wouldn’t even know how to ask about it.

Goddess, I had never lived a stranger moment in my life.

“She doesn’t,” I said and reached out my hand to give the bracelet to Hakim, who was patiently waiting with both his hands out.

Then something exploded.