4. Mayhem

4

MAYHEM

W e arrived in New York, and Ember and I waited in the van while Chaos, Ash, and Miles stalked around the auction house, peering into the windows and taking photos of themselves in front of it to feign the roles of simple tourists.

The time they were away would have been perfect for a discussion about why Ember dismissed, with an ill-timed joke, my every mention of our bond. About why she’d pretended to be asleep when I had confessed my love to her.

Unfortunately, Shade remained in the van with us, recovering from his encounter with the Formorian’s blade.

And oh, the noise…

New York City bustled with traffic—both vehicular and pedestrian—the incessant sounds of engines revving, people shouting, and horns blaring grating on my nerves. It was all I could do to keep from sending them all into a fiery rage and letting them battle each other to the death.

“We’ve got a problem.” Ash climbed into the van along with Chaos and Miles.

Ember pinched the bridge of her nose. “In addition to the eight hundred we’re already dealing with?”

Miles shut the side door and slid past the others to reach the back of the van. “Ash found a ward on the building. A fresh one.”

“Fantastic.” Ember dropped her head back on the seat. “Fifty bucks says it’s to keep out anyone with ill intent.”

“Bingo.” Ash rummaged through her bag. “I have the ingredients to get you through, but I’ll need more room to work.”

“And I need more room to move so I can think this through.” Ember started the engine. “Anyway, I’m sure a black van sitting outside an auction house filled with a bajillion dollars’ worth of artifacts isn’t suspicious at all.”

“I believe it’s highly suspicious,” I said. “Perhaps we should find a hotel room nearby.”

She rolled her head toward me, not lifting it from the seat. “That was sarcasm. Did people not use it four hundred years ago?”

Most women did not, but I didn’t dare say that aloud. Ember wasn’t most women. She was unlike any I’d ever known.

Shade swiped his phone screen. “It’s Friday. There’s nothing affordable within twenty miles.”

Ember shook her head, and I could almost hear the conflicting thoughts sparring in her mind, her morals insisting we pay for a room while her logical mind argued this quest required us to work in the gray.

“I believe this is one of your ‘absolutely necessary’ situations,” I said. “Perhaps a little mind magic would take away the burden of your maxed-out credit card.”

“He’s right, Em.” Ash leaned forward in her seat. “The closer we stay, the better. It would suck to get stuck in traffic and miss the whole thing.”

“All right. Fine.” She tugged on the gearshift, putting it into drive. “Where’s the closest one with immediate availability?”

“Two blocks east,” Miles said as he clicked the keys on the computer. “The Royal Dutch Hotel.”

“I’d like to say this is the last time you can use this dark power, but I’m not an idiot.” She pulled into the moving traffic, and the car behind her skidded, the wheels screeching as the horn blasted and the driver gave us the middle finger.

“When this is all over, though… No more.” She ignored the man’s gesture and drove into a parking garage, taking a small ticket from a machine before an orange apparatus lifted, granting us access. We spiraled upward, the low ceiling and dimly lit concrete corridor making me claustrophobic. Finally, she pulled into a spot and turned off the engine before sliding out of her seat and slamming the door.

“I don’t like leaving all this equipment unattended,” Miles said.

“We’ll set up a ward.” Ash opened the side door and climbed out of the van.

I joined Ember at the back of the vehicle, watching as she paced a short distance. She was tense, her jaw working from side to side as her shoulders tightened and drifted toward her ears. How I longed to rub the tension from her muscles like I had done a few days ago. Or was it yesterday? Time was meaningless to an immortal.

The moment the thought entered my mind, my chest pinched, an agonizing ache spreading through my body. Ember was mortal. Even if I found a way to stay in this realm, I would have to watch her grow old and die. For a moment, I forgot to breathe.

I couldn’t bear it. I refused to think about it.

“Are you okay?” She caught my gaze. “You look like you want to punch something. That, or you ate a bad burrito and need to find the closest restroom.”

I straightened, regaining my composure. “I’m fine. My bowels are also fine.”

“Good,” she said as the others joined us outside the van. “Ash, Chaos, head to the front desk and get us one room. Just one, okay? Don’t get greedy.”

Her sister gave a mock salute.

“The rest of us will wait in the lobby.” She looked from me to Miles and Shade. “Be as inconspicuous as possible. Don’t do anything stupid.”

“Got it,” Shade said, and Miles nodded his understanding.

I arched a brow. “Anything for you, my feisty fire witch.”

A ghost of a smile crossed her lips before she cleared her throat. “Let’s go.”

“Hold on. We need to set up a ward on the van so nothing gets stolen.” Ash pulled a bottle from her bag and walked around the vehicle, sprinkling a fine dust onto the windows and doors.

“Cast it together?” Ember asked, reaching a hand toward her.

“No.” Ash returned the empty bottle to her bag. “We need to save our vim, so we can break the ward on the auction house. Miles? Shade, are you up to it yet?”

“I’m good.” Shade clutched Miles’s hand, and they recited the spell aloud. The energy around us thickened, dancing across my skin, before they focused it on the van. They were strong witches, but their power wasn’t nearly as potent as the Holland sisters’.

The fact didn’t seem to bother them in the slightest.

We made our way inside the hotel, and I sat on a small sofa next to my witch while my brother worked his magic with Ash. Resting my arm on the back of the couch, I pinched Ember’s neck, massaging the tension from her muscles.

She sighed, sinking farther into the cushion and closing her eyes for a long blink. “When we get to the room, can you research the people in charge of the auction? We need to know if they employed a witch to put the ward on the building or if they’re witches themselves.”

Miles patted his laptop bag. “I’ll see what I can find.”

“We’ve got a few hours before the auction starts, and I want us to be as prepared as possible.” She touched my hand and scooted away. “I’m good. Thanks.”

Ash smiled triumphantly as she approached, holding up two small pieces of plastic. “That was easy. Big Oil Boyd is staying in the penthouse. Come on.”

We followed them to the elevator, and Ash tapped the card against a small box inside before pressing a button engraved with the letter P. It lit up, and the doors slid shut.

The elevator ascended rapidly, making my stomach feel as though it would slam into my pelvis. Pressure in my head built, and as I moved my jaw, my ears popped. A ding echoed through the small space, and the doors opened, revealing a large room with paintings and ornately framed mirrors hanging from alabaster walls.

A scent reminiscent of cloves and ginger filled the air, and glorious silence hung like a warm blanket over us, putting me at ease. Three closed doors indicated multiple rooms in the penthouse, and a large archway opened into the shared living area.

“This way.” Ash motioned for us to follow her through the arch. “Can you believe this is considered one room? It’s bigger than our apartment. It even has three bedrooms!”

“I can’t believe you got the penthouse.” Ember stood in the center of the room, turning in a circle. “I told you not to get greedy.”

Ash shrugged. “It was Chaos’s idea. I mean, we’re already stealing from them. Why not go all out?”

“Room service will be delivering six steak dinners in half an hour.” My brother wrapped an arm around his witch’s waist and kissed the side of her head.

Ash leaned into him, resting a hand on his chest. Why could she accept their bond so easily, yet Ember fought ours? I needed a moment alone with Chaos to find out how he did it.

“Steak?” Ember rested her hands on her hips. “If Hecate hasn’t already abandoned us, she sure as hell will now. How can you say eating steak is for the greater good?”

I sank onto the loveseat and stretched my arms across the back. “You almost died today. A Formorian nearly drained every ounce of life from your body to resurrect a long-extinct species that has no business in this realm or any other…and I will never forgive myself for allowing it to happen.”

She crossed her arms, shifting her weight to one leg and jutting out her right hip. “A: You didn’t allow anything. George…or Donal, or whatever the hell he called himself, was a tricky little wart of a man. And B: What does steak have to do with that?”

“We all need to replenish our strength if we’re to retrieve the amulet and save the realm…you and Shade especially.”

She opened her mouth to argue further but closed it instead, blowing a hard breath through her nose before her demeanor shifted. “I suppose I could use some protein. Miles, have you found anything about the auction house on the witchy web?”

I had been so engrossed in watching Ember’s fiery protest, I didn’t notice Miles setting up his computer at a table behind the sofa. Shade sat next to him, his gaze glued to the screen as Miles’s fingers flew across the keys. How he typed so quickly, I couldn’t fathom. I’d seen the keyboard on both the computer and a phone, and the letters were arranged in a nonsensical order.

Miles’s mouth tightened, his eyes darting back and forth as he read the screen. Shade swiped a hand down his face and leaned back in his chair while Chaos and Ash sank onto yet another sofa adjacent to the empty one.

Ember, my feisty little witch, could not sit still. She shifted her weight from side to side four times before assuming her normal pacing. “What is it? I don’t like the way your faces look.”

Miles inhaled deeply and raked a hand through his hair. “The auction tonight is for magical artifacts. It’ll be swarming with witches.”

“Wh…what?” Her expression was incredulous. “The site we looked at yesterday didn’t mention anything about magic.”

He hit a few more keys. “That was the public-facing website. Most of the time, their auctions are mundane. I had no idea…”

“How, then, did Boyd gain entry?” I leaned forward, my body feeling as antsy as Ember looked.

Miles rubbed his forehead. “When I created his fake online persona, I mentioned he had an interest in the occult. I guess that was enough. Unless…”

He slid his finger across the trackpad and typed something. “It’s possible whoever set this up used a spell to make today’s auction invisible to the mundane. Everyone there might be magical.”

“Why did the site appear to be mundane when you registered?” I asked.

Miles shrugged. “A failsafe? Maybe the person running it didn’t trust the spellcaster, so they made it look mundane just in case a human saw it. Who knows?”

“I better get started on the potions.” Ash rose and carried her bag to a countertop on the far wall. Above it, a glass-door cabinet held multiple bottles of liquor, and crystal chalices occupied a shelf to the right.

“It’s okay.” Ember paced faster. “This is okay. It could be a good thing. Witches, beasties, demons, I can handle. This is a good thing.”

“How so?” I tried to keep a neutral expression, but my brows crept upward and my lips pulled into a smile of their own volition. I adored watching the gears turn in her mind.

“It’s good because…” Before she could finish, a buzzer sounded from the hall and a man’s voice called through an intercom.

“Room service.”