20. Chapter 20

Chapter 20

Mari fell for what seemed like a very long time. But the strange part, aside from that she couldn't see anything at all in the blackness that surrounded her, was that she didn't seem to be accelerating. She fell at a constant pace. The wind barely disturbed her hair.

Eventually, she landed on her feet. Not in the jarring way that she expected after falling so long, just as if she'd dropped down from a step. The darkness persisted for a few seconds, and then began to clear.

The room around her was dim and piled with wooden crates in stacks a dozen feet high. Rio and Dante were flanking her, both looking as confused as she felt. Before them was the tall and beautiful form of Vincent, smiling radiantly at them. Next to him stood a man dressed all in black with slicked back hair who Mari guessed must be the shadow witch from the black tendrils that snaked around him.

Dante reacted first, trying to get between her and Vincent, but the seraphim lifted a hand casually and tsked. Dante froze in his tracks, though it was obvious he was still straining to move. "None of that now," Vincent said in his deep and melodious voice.

Rio leapt into action next, but Grim took care of him, wrapping Rio in cords of shadow that were as thick as his arm. Both of them continued to struggle, but there was nothing either of them could do.

"Their loyalty to you is amusing." Vincent sent a vicious smile her way. "It will be such fun to use that against you."

Mari swallowed, determined to not let her fear show. "If you let them go, I'll do whatever you want."

Rio sent her a pained look, but couldn't speak because one of the shadow arms had circled his neck and covered his mouth.

Vincent chortled. "My dear, you'll do what I want because if you don't I'll flay the skin off them and make you watch. Over and over."

She had wanted to get Dante and Rio clear before she attacked, but that clearly wasn't going to be possible. She hissed in a quick breath, and then struck with her magic, going after the shadow witch first. He was surprised enough by her attack that he dropped Rio, moving his shadows in her direction all at once.

The moment Rio's feet hit the ground, he sprang, his hands wrapping around Grim's throat. Now that the shadow witch was taken care of, she turned her attention to Vincent.

He grinned at her, completely unperturbed. With a flick of his hand, he sent Grim and Rio both tumbling away from him and into a stack of crates. The pile collapsed and a few large crates fell on top of them. She knew Rio could take a knock like that, and she didn't care about the witch in the slightest.

She focused every bit of her magic on the threat in front of her. Gritting her teeth, she pushed at him, trying to knock him from his feet. Her magic parted around him and dissipated in a harmless swirl.

"Is that really all you've got, little girl?" Vincent teased. "The tricks of these earthbound witches? I thought I had seen a glimmer of something great in you." He sighed. "But perhaps I was wrong."

Dante fell to the ground in a heap beside her. Her heart climbed into her throat, nearly choking her.

He made a bored gesture and slapped Mari in the face with his magic, making her head snap to the left. His power was cold and impersonal, and she resisted the urge to cringe away.

She wanted to hide somewhere he'd never find her. He was too powerful. She should just kneel before him now and beg for forgiveness. Maybe he would spare her life.

With a start, she realized that thought hadn't been her own. It was something he was doing to her. She tried to fight back against it, but the terror held her magic in a vice. Her magic didn't feed off of those negative emotions, especially when they were hers.

But she knew someone who did. Balling her hands into fists, she called to Dohal. She poured every bit of desperation she felt into the sending, every bit of fear that haunted her.

The darkness around her writhed. Dohal raced toward her at a speed she couldn't even comprehend. Suddenly, he was all around her. She felt his presence tingling through the brands on her forearms and her necklace. Time slowed.

Rather than looking frightened, Vincent sneered. "You're an even bigger fool than your father ever was. There are already forces gathered outside the city waiting for an opportunity to strike."

"I can protect her," Dohal snarled. His hands rested lightly on her shoulders, the heat of his body so comforting and welcome along her back.

"Can you?" Vincent let out a bitter laugh. "Do you even know what's coming?" He walked toward them. "If Basilio's death had been the only one, they might have ignored your little coup and let you cower here." As he spoke, he seemed to be getting taller. At first Mari thought it was a trick of the light, but soon he was as large as Dohal, towering above her. Huge feathered wings sprang from his back. "But after Argento, after this." He gestured at Dohal with a vague look of disgust. "They will fear you. And nothing motivates the powerful like fear."

Mari didn't care about his vague threats. She didn't care about the forces aligned against them. She only cared about the hearts of those she had claimed for her own. The ones that were hers to protect. Hers to cherish. "Where is the phoenix?" The walls shook with her rage. The ground trembled. Tendrils of her magic began to curl outward from her, hungry and sharp.

Dohal's magic swept into her, so hot she almost gasped as it burned through her body, scathing her nerves. He was bursting with power, and every scrap of it was hers if she wanted it. She had only to ask.

Vincent glanced over her again, as if he hadn't seen her before, fear widening his eyes. "Oh, gods, what are you?"

Mari felt her lips curl into a smirk as the presence inside of her surged forward, taking over between one blink and the next. "You should have asked that question much sooner, seraphim." The goddess within her drew deep on Dohal and lashed out with their joined power, wrapping Vincent up without any trouble even in his true, more imposing form. "I am the Divine made flesh." She let out a laugh like waves breaking. "But I am not the answer to your prayers."

She lifted him from the ground as he struggled feebly against the thick strands of her magic that wrapped him. "I can make your death take eons or moments. Tell Me Where He Is!" She let him breathe enough so that he could answer her.

"He's in the basement," Vincent gasped. "Over there." His eyes moved to the left because he couldn't move anything else. "I can help—"

The goddess cut him off by tightening her grip. She pulled him closer, until he was only a few inches from her. "You are fortunate that I do not wish to take the time to punish you for every wrong you have done to those who are mine. Consider this act of mercy theirs."

She pulled with her power as hard as she could, ripping him to pieces as the tendrils of her magic tore through him. His blood bathed her, the sticky warmth of it filling her with such a fierce sense of pride. She took only a moment to revel in the power that surged into her from the seraphim's death.

Dohal's hand skated up her throat, tipping her chin back so he could meet her gaze. His eyes were as dark and deep as the cosmos. "I should return soon. May I speak with the witch?"

"Kiss me first," the goddess commanded.

"It would be my pleasure," he whispered as he slowly turned her around and then leaned down to claim her blood-drenched mouth with a searing kiss. Desire unwound in her belly, making her magic swell.

Mari regained control when the goddess stepped back, shivering as she tried to restrain the swiftly-growing power from bursting free. She groaned when Dohal broke the kiss and smiled down at her.

"Hello, little rabbit." He stroked her cheek. "I didn't want to miss the opportunity to greet you properly before I had to return to my cell."

Guilt twisted inside her chest. "I hate the idea of you being there alone. When will you be able to leave for good?"

Dohal smiled sadly. "I can only fully protect the city while I am there. I won't abandon my post now, knowing it would leave you vulnerable to those who wish to tear you down."

"I'm not afraid of them."

"I know you are not, but you should be." He faded slowly from her view as time flowed gradually faster and faster, until it settled back to normality.

Rio was next to her in an instant, checking her for injuries.

"It's not mine," she assured him absently, remembering the blood.

Brow wrinkled in concern, Rio leaned over Dante where he lay on his side next to her.

"Is he okay?" Mari rasped.

"Yeah. Just knocked out." Relief eased his expression until he glanced her way. "What the fuck happened? Was it Dohal again?"

When he asked her that she looked down at herself again, drenched in blood. "It was me," she said with a sigh.

One eyebrow raised, but he didn't ask more questions.

"He said Tris is in the basement." She pointed to the area where Vincent had indicated. Indecision passed over his face in a quick flicker. "Go, I'm fine."

With a nod he moved away, reluctantly at first, and then with growing confidence.

Light poured into the building as Cisco burst through a door. He headed straight for her, inspecting her briefly to make sure she was alright. "What happened?"

Mari blinked up at him. "I pulled Vincent apart. Can you check on Dante?"

He moved away from her reluctantly and crouched next to him. "I think he's okay, just knocked out. He should come around soon."

The rest of the guards had come in behind Cisco and were busily checking various corners of the room to make sure there were no more threats hiding. Grim was already being restrained by Tilly with some magic nullifying cuffs.

When Halcyon and Clarion drew closer, she pointed the way she'd sent Rio. "Vincent said he's down there." The two of them turned as one and headed to the now open trapdoor. "I'm not sure what they'll find down there, but I've got a bad feeling."

Cisco hefted Dante up into his arms. "Let's go check."

They crossed the room and looked down into the darkened basement. The sounds of an argument rose up to meet them, voices not yet raised, but certainly getting there. Mari headed down the stairs first, wary of tripping during the dark descent.

As soon as she hit the concrete floor below, she wanted to be anywhere else. This was a space that had been used to torture people for a very long time. It smelled of blood and piss and unwashed bodies, and under all of that, the distinct scent of decay. The filthy drains in the floor made her skin crawl.

Pain and hopelessness very nearly bled from the walls. At the far end of the space was a line of cells. Halcyon, Clarion, and Rio were crowded into one of them, blocking her view of what she assumed was Tristan within.

The only other occupied cell was the one that drew Mari's gaze. Inside a dark-skinned man was strapped to a table. There was some sort of mask strapped over the man's head and attached to a machine next to him. His mouth was held pried open so that tubing ran inside. The slurping sounds made it clear that something was being forcefully drawn from his mouth. He was awake and in terrible pain.

Without thinking, Mari closed the distance to the cell. Cisco made a noise of protest, but she refused to listen. She ripped the cell open with her magic and ran inside. The moment her hands touched the man, he jolted.

She pulled as much pain as she could away from him, but it was an endless ocean and she was barely making a dent. Karma was across from her a moment later, taking in what was going on with a quick sweep of her eyes before setting on the machine with a vengeance. She smashed it to bits while Mari looked on in mute desperation. His pain rattled through her. No matter how much she drew there was always more.

As soon as the machine was no longer making noises, Karma moved to try to get whatever it was off his head. It took her a few tries, and some anguished grunts, but she finally managed. She carefully pulled the tubes out of his mouth with a disgusting squelch and then looked to Mari.

Now that the pain was no longer compounding, she was finally making progress. The man stared up at her, his eyes empty. He was clearly confused about what was happening, but he had no strength left to fight.

Mari's heart sank. He had given up. She couldn't blame him. He was broken in ways beyond counting, but she could only heal the physical. He'd have do the rest himself, if he had the fortitude to do that, and she couldn't worry about that right now. She patched him up as best she could over the next few minutes. Healing was not her strength, but she managed to close the wounds in his mouth at least.

When she looked up a while later, Cisco was standing outside the cell watching her with Dante still in his arms. "Greta is already en route," he said quietly.

Mari sighed. She rested her hand on the man's shoulder as carefully as she could. "I've done all I can. We've got a better healer coming."

He stared up at her with no expression at all. She wasn't even sure if he understood her.

Karma smoothed a hand over his head and made a soothing noise. "It'll be okay, Luis."

The argument in the next cell had quieted while she was distracted. "Everything okay next door?" she asked Cisco.

"There was a disagreement about where Tristan was going to be taken. He's still out and will likely be for a while. The hellhounds finally agreed to come to the compound so Rio didn't have to get out his claws."

It took the rest of the night to secure transport for the two people who needed to be carried and monitored. Greta barked orders for the care of her patients that everyone around her jumped to obey lest they catch the even sharper side of her tongue.

Dante came around after a while and Mari stood quietly with her arm around him, watching the orchestrated chaos. She was more restless than tired. She'd reached the end of the help she could be and she had entirely too much time to think.

Dohal was determined to stay in his prison to protect her, but as soon as she'd seen the captives in the basement, she knew she had to permanently get him out of there as soon as possible. She just had no idea how to do that.