Chapter 23

CHAPTER

TWENTY-THREE

The door sealing behind us resonated through the crypt like a dying heartbeat.

We were plunged into a darkness only a subterranean tomb could summon, and I fought down the primal urge to scream back at the emptiness before us.

"We don't have to go far," Zane told us, but I knew he was announcing it for my benefit. "I can guide us there."

Austin clicked on a small flashlight and aimed the beam across the walls, illuminating just enough to show us how far the narrow passage went. The light was swallowed up by depth which made my stomach curl in on itself a few more times.

"I fucking hate this cemetery." My shiver rattled Funus's teeth, and I secured him a little tighter against my ribs. "And I'm going to be vulnerable here and admit I'm not a huge fan of the dark."

Sias's hand came to rest on my back, a soft wave of calming charm magic kissing me just enough to keep me from holding my breath.

Zane reached out and took my hand, guiding it to his waistband for me to hold on to. "The exit connects directly to the council chambers, so we need to stay quiet."

Funus's eyes glowed against the rock as we moved, the smooth surface polished like black mirrors. The chill of being inside the earth cut through the humid air lingering near the door, the smell of rain-soaked dirt and ancient dust sat in the back of my throat. Our symphony of careful, scuffled footsteps echoed through the darkness as my heart thundered in my ears, my grip on Zane's jeans nearly cutting into my palm. Austin's circle of light floated around as he scanned for dangers, letting it rest on the floor so we could see where to step next.

The Thrall's passageway descended like a drill of carved stone steps, the walls covered in murals of rituals and rights I didn't know. I got flashes of Thrall births from the void, the Goddess extending her hand out to rip the heart of her vampire from the darkness, only to place their ashes in urns at her throne. It was her army of Thralls, Funus had said, waiting for their Goddess to summon them again. That would have been pretty handy right about then. I remembered with explosive clarity how I had faired in trying to resurrect one of her ashen pets, only to have the phantom thing blow up and knock me ass over head in front of the council.

Fun times.

Austin's flashlight slid over the paintings in a passing interest, but he stayed vigilant to keep the glow on the steps so we didn't tumble down them.

"Funus?" I whispered, adjusting him in my arm. "The Goddess kept all the ashes of her Thralls, right? Did she keep the ashes of the council members too?"

"We were not cremated. Our heads were removed to serve on the altar, but our bodies were laid to rest in the lower rungs of the catacombs beside the urns of our Thralls."

"Hardcore," I admitted. "Where is the Goddess's door in regard to the main chamber where the council used to be?"

"The Goddess's door is a ritual that must be performed within the council's chambers," Funus responded softly. "They have started the ritual, but I have a feeling they haven't been able to ‘turn the knob' as it were."

"Where will this passageway lead us in the council chambers?" Austin asked.

"Behind the council altar, behind a rune protected door." Funus swiveled his eyes up to us. "I know the incantation needed to open it."

"We can't all pile in at once, it runs the risk of someone spotting us," I told the group, keeping my white-knuckle grip on Zane. "I'll creep in, and assess the situation, then send a signal back on what's going on."

"How?" Austin flashed his light my way, likely to check for signs that I was messing with him. "You suddenly know telepathy?"

I squinted through the interrogation light.

"Kinda. Zane can read my emotions. If the room is full of grunts, I'll think about something sad, like when I thought Kevin had died. You'll know to hang back and wait. If it's clear, I'll think about something provocative and fun, like Zane in assless chaps." I cracked a grin at Sias's chuckle. "He gets it."

"You're an absolute idiot," the annoyed seeing-eye-vampire said. "But that's a solid plan."

"Is he being serious? You can read his emotions?" Austin let out a rush of air through his lips. "Tough break, man."

"You have no idea," Zane sighed. "How long do we wait if you see grunts?"

"Two minutes, or if you hear me scream, "?Oh shit.'"

"I'm not in love with this plan," Sias added, doubt weighing on his words. "That leaves you alone with an army of vampires."

"I have the kill switch," I reminded him. "My plan is to deploy it and have us rush in to finish them off once they're not as deadly. Facing them when they're brimming with bio-magic would be like rushing into a brick wall of teeth."

Sias pressed his palm against my back and slid it up to rest on my shoulder.

"I know you can handle yourself, pet, but don't be reckless. You often bite more than you can chew."

"Don't try and be a badass," Zane added. "You dying because you want to face a ‘wall of teeth' alone will piss me off. I'll haunt you in the void."

"Aw. My boyfriends care about me," I practically sang.

"They both just called you irresponsible and dangerous," Austin pointed out, but I ignored him because I was too busy swooning.

It was only a few million more stairs before we reached the bottom, the open floor expanding out like a horseshoe of smooth stone around a statue of a kneeling Goddess. It was the first time I had seen her with both arms, one holding her scythe to her chest while the other cradled a heart in a skeletal hand.

Her face wasn't the stoic, soulless icon staring forward with apathy for the mortals desperate to learn her teachings. This was a deity of compassion and love, moved by the creation of her only true children.

This was the Goddess the way Thralls saw her, and it was transcendent.

"She doesn't look terrifying," Austin marveled in a reverent whisper. "Almost merciful."

"Death isn't terrifying or merciful," Zane corrected lovingly. "It simply is."

"This place is where the Thralls worshipped. It was only meant for them. We tread here respectfully, out of necessity only." Funus sounded like he was apologizing on our behalf to Zane. "The doorway is there, just beyond the statue."

Austin scanned the wall behind the statue at the curve of the horseshoe, his light bouncing back with the shine of the polished stone. There was no obvious door like the one leading into the crypt, which caused us to pause and second guess just where it was he was directing us.

"It's hidden," he assured us softly. "Magically sealed to keep outsiders away from this sacred place. Once I use the incantation, the wall will fall away and allow you access."

I let go of Zane's waistband and passed him Funus, adjusting the duffel on my shoulder.

"Remember, sad thoughts, stay back. Zane in assless chaps, all clear. We good?"

Austin pointed the light at each person so they could affirm, and so I could see Zane roll his eyes more clearly.

"Funus, do your thing."

Funus's eyes flared like the breaking dawn, his voice a haunting hush as it trailed over the black stone walls.

" Pulvis et umbra sumus ."

The stone before us dulled and cracked like peeling paint, falling away like the wall had been made of ash. It fell to the ground and vanished, leaving an angled doorway in its wake, like a coffin had been etched out of the stone.

The silvery glow from the fae fire died behind the empty council altar, the dust of the dead members still resting in neat piles. A pang of sadness bit at me when I remembered their deaths, remembered how they howled against Magnus's ignorance in their final moments.

I didn't miss that Austin looked away, no doubt feeling a similar, horrible feeling, only his involvement likely bit a little deeper.

The doorway was shielded by the tall altar, which meant I could sneak out without immediately getting spotted if I was careful. From where the door was, it was impossible to see past the alter, and only the glow of the fire flickered around the edges.

I glanced back at my boyfriends, brother and friendly skull, and motion for them to stay put before I crawled out of the coffin shaped doorway.

I crouched low, walking in a quick, hunched position as I pressed myself against the back of the dead council's altar. It was silent other than the heatless crackle of the fae flames lining the walls, the stone freezing as it touched my skin. The smell of rotting clothing and stale bone stuck to everything like mold.

I slid to the far end of the altar and peered around it slowly, sweat starting to drip from my temples even as the hairs on my arms lifted from the chill of the tomb. In the dancing shadows of the fae fire, I saw Florence Pierce sitting with her back to the altar, arms lifted and murmuring a prayer. Before her was a broad circle painted with blood, runes slashed all around in the same macabre ink. This was alarming for many reasons, but the main issue I had with the scene was that she was supposed to be very dead. Which meant either I had been absolutely flying on vampire blood and made up the whole vision, or something was sideways about the entire situation.

Above her, the resting bodies of dead necromancers stood in silent vigil in the catacombs, the tower stretching up into capped darkness.

Beside each body was a grunt vampire in an equally tranquil state, as if waiting for a silent instruction, staring forward with bleeding eyes of glowing malice. If I deployed the kill switch in the center of the tomb where Florence was, I'd have a shot of getting maybe the top row of grunts with the pulse. I'd need to get them to rush down to my level if this was going to work, but my mind was looping back to the same glaring detail missing from the entire scene.

The scythe.

The entire reason for us being there was gone, and that really threw a wrench in the whole damn operation.

I exhaled and sent back a pang of sadness to Zane, warning him to hang back. It also made me miss my fish, and his cute little face.

There would be time to dote over him later and I'd be feeding him all the bloodworms he could possibly handle, but for the time being, I had to get those damn vampires down to my level so I could nuke their stupid bio-magic. I clipped the kill switch to the front of my body armor and pulled my gun from its holster. Yes, a sword would have been much cooler, but I had to keep my distance if I was going to have a shot at surviving this. I was disappointed too.

I took a knee and pressed my shoulder to the altar, peeking around a bit more so I could try and line up a shot. One good bang, and hopefully she'd get pissed enough to send her army after me so we could zap their tech and I could unleash my secret weapons. Once the grunts were handled and Florence was whining about how I ruined her expensive tank top, we'd be able to convince her to cough up the scythe.

I'm sure Sias would love to get back into "finger painting" again.

Florence swayed as she whispered her prayers, long hair dancing as she sang in hushed desperation. Her fingers moved like she was trying to tickle the wind, her voice haunting as it flittered about the silent tomb. I eased further from my hiding spot to line up my shot, staying low to the ground to try and stay hidden from the grunts. They stared forward in one direction, still as death, nothing but muted hunger behind their melting eyes.

I held my breath, and aimed for her shoulder.

My finger had just started to tighten on the trigger when I saw a flash of red and the barrel of my gun fell off and clattered to the ground.

My reality struggled against the shock of the moment, my body stuck in slow motion as I jerked back, a large body with glowing red eyes lifting from where they had been waiting for me.

Hei stood like a mountain, a fanged sneer slicing across her face as she twisted the scythe in her grip.

She spoke low and vicious, blood red eyes stabbing into me with deadly intent.

" Pulvis et umbra sumus ."

I'm not proud of how quickly I tried to run away from the big, scary oni woman holding the Goddess's scythe, but I feel like it would be dishonest to downplay the level of oh shit I felt when seeing her. The first few steps of my attempted escape were more of a crawl, my hand having to catch me as I surged backward in a full panic. My feet slid on the ground from the lack of friction on the slick stone, making my rotation awkward and terribly slow. My duffel fell from my shoulder and was stuck in the crook of my bad arm, the weight of it tilting me a little off balance.

I tried to bolt back to safety, but it was too late.

I had just enough time to see the panicked horror in everyone's eyes as the door sealed shut in a snap.

My escape and backup were now locked behind a solid stone wall I didn't have the power to open, and I had a feeling neither could Funus.

I stumbled to a stop once I was staring at a slab of defeat, and spun back around on my heels to face the devil rounding the altar. She moved like a wraith, a striding confidence only an unnaturally evil and powerful thing could have. The blade of the scythe dripped with the silver of the fae fire, her fingers curled over the bone handle with the relaxed ease of a trained fighter.

I took a measured step backwards and tossed out my best fake laugh, juggling my duffel so I could try and get inside of it. Having two hands in this moment would have been fantastic, because it's hard as fuck to wrangle a duffel with a stump.

"This isn't the bathroom. You take one wrong turn in the damn place and end up totally lost."

"Dallas Wilde." She twisted the blade as she walked, one thick braid tossed over the splatter of blood that had dried like rust across her chest. "Thank you for being predictable enough to come here."

"I think you are the very first person to say I'm predictable," I told her. "I have been trying to grow more as a person, and they say routines help with that."

"I will chase you down if you make me," she warned placidly. "Otherwise, you can come willingly and with dignity."

"That highly depends on what you're about to pitch." I slashed my zipper open and started digging around. "Because I'm usually open to try new things, but I feel like you're going to say something batshit insane."

Hei twisted the blade in her fingers, the flames sliding across the curved belly of the blade.

"The Goddess needs your blood to answer my call. I will kill you quickly, and she will answer. Then I will take her place as Death."

My fingers wrapped around the hilt of my sword inside my duffel.

"Yeah, that's about as batshit as I was expecting." I pulled it from the duffel and adjusted my grip. "I'll pass."

Hei pulled the scythe to the side, stance widening as she planted herself like a boulder in front of me. The dancing flames behind her threw her into shadow, only her glowing Thrall eyes pierced through the darkness. Her oni magic made them seem like they were on fire, raging flames licking the top of her head while her tusks sharpened.

Hei was terrifying enough as the only non-human Thrall that had ever existed, she didn't need to punch it up. She was a brick wall of trained muscle and deadly ambition, the scythe fit her grip like it had been made for her.

She didn't give me time to be afraid or to come up with a plan on how I was going to try and get around her. Hei moved like a stampede, thunderous and overwhelming as she surged toward me.

I swung my blade as she neared, slashing to draw her backward and give me room to maneuver, but she simply rotated away like a parent avoiding the flailing of a wild toddler. The undead oni spun the Goddess's scythe and hit my blade with the long hilt, deflecting my blow with such force it nearly ripped my weapon from my grip.

My arm screamed from the reverberation of the deflection, shoulder burning as I brought my blade up to catch a brutal swing aimed for my head. My stance was knocked off balance, my feet desperate to keep ground but forced to stagger backward. Her wide, bare foot lifted and kicked me square in the chest, sending me crashing back into the sealed stone wall while my lungs shriveled up like raisins.

Hei descended on me, eyes burning and blade swung back ready to cleave me in a sideways slash, my air deprived lungs burning as I tried to inhale. I lifted my duffel as she swung down, catching her wrist with the bulky belly of my bag of murder toys. She grunted in annoyance but it gave me a sliver of an opening to take my shot. I kicked out and connected with her hip, rotating her sideways to free up enough room for me to give her a fantastic slash across her belly and up to her shoulder.

The cut would have her guts attempting to burst from her belly unless she got some healing from Florence, which I hoped would be the upper hand I needed.

Blood bloomed across her tunic style vest, but her anger made her mouth fill with shark teeth as she bore them at me.

My duffel was ripped away from my arm and thrown, my second attempt at gutting her had my only good hand trapped in a vise grip of thick, strong fingers. Hei twisted her hand, sending a searing line of pain from my wrist up to my elbow until my sword went clattering to the ground.

I threw my free elbow at her face, tried to kick at her kneecaps to force her down or backward, but she took the blows in order to get close enough to slam her forehead into mine. The knock to my head had me flirting with unconsciousness, a blast of painful, dazzling stars erupting through my vision as my brain rattled around inside my skull. My knees buckled as she grabbed my throat, closing off my airway as she dragged me across the floor. I kicked at her feet and tried to pound my fist on her arm, my lungs still fighting to recover and my head swimming.

Blurry dots of silver danced around me as I was dragged to the center of the crypt, a vague outline of Florence swinging her arms around comically hovered just within sight. Only when I was dumped onto the floor was I allowed to pull in a choking inhale of breath, my hand holding where my head connected to the ground.

The smell of dust and old bone got caught in the back of my throat as I gasped for air, the familiar, metallic scent of blood piercing through as I blinked focus back into my eyes. Florence was sitting a few feet away, legs crossed over each other with her arms in the air. A fountain of dried blood stained a stripe down her body starting at her throat, which had been split all the way around. Her lifeless eyes stared forward like icy orbs, colorless lips murmuring nothing.

Hei had killed the being she was tethered to and somehow still lived. Knowing how intense and intimate the necromancer-vampire bond was, I couldn't fathom how Hei had managed to do something so undeniably vicious. Every ounce of Florence's pain, agony and fear would have lanced through her like a searing knife, but the oni vampire seemed immune to feeling much of anything.

I was not a fan of Florence Pierce and was happy she was a zombie, but the whole situation still made my skin crawl.

Forcing my eyes away from what used to be the badass CEO of ReNew, I scanned my surroundings for my duffel. It had been thrown not far from me, the contents peeking out from the open zipper.

Hei had dropped me in the middle of the circle surrounded by runes, her looming figure standing over me. The blade came to rest at my throat, and she kneeled down to pluck the kill switch off the front of my armor.

The device was examined before being thrown over her shoulder, the pieces of it shattering and flying in multiple directions.

"This is sad," she mocked dryly. "I wanted you to be more of a challenge."

"You're gonna be dumping your guts from that slash soon," I reminded her with a grin. "Judging from the blood covering your stupid tunic, you don't have much longer before you pass out, and your necromancer is kind of very dead. How the hell you're even still alive is a damn mystery to me, but maybe you're just too shitty to die."

"You speak as if you know what's going on. It's a flaw of humans. You really believe you are smarter than the rest of us."

She pushed to her feet and delivered a swift kick to my ribs that kept me from standing, forcing me to curl in to protect my torso and deflect any more attacks.

"God, you are such a prick," I groaned through my teeth.

She unfastened the belt that held her tunic vest shut and let it fall, pulling the clothing from her broad shoulders to hang at her waist. The slash I had given her was healing quickly, the muscles knitting together like a fastening cocoon of flesh and sinew. Within her chest, I saw a pulsing light that thumped along with her heartbeat, the glow a haunting shade of green and purple that made her ribs stand out against her skin.

"I am more than your pathetic human necromancy, Dallas Wilde. My heart beats with fragments of old and new magic, technology weaving together powers of a demigod."

"You have a fucking mechanical heart?" I winced up at her glowing ribcage and shuddered. "Is that why you killed her? What the hell did she do to you?"

"A heart sleeve, comprised of necromancers' ossified feldspars to give me the power of a Thrall, death opal to keep me healed and stabilize my body so the magic can't rip me apart, a few patented techniques involving magic feedback loops and enhancements." She set the scythe down and let the shine of the fae fire dance across the blade. "I'm everything a vampire Thrall is and everything an oni warrior could be. And I will be a Goddess."

"Why not do something more fun, like take over the world like a cartoon villain?" I pitched. "Being a Goddess sounds boring as hell."

My plan, albeit a shitty one, was to try and keep her talking while I attempted to make a mad dash for my duffel. I was running low on options at the moment, and knew that if I didn't try something desperate and stupid soon, Hei was going to dice me up and throw open the doors to the Goddess's realm.

"If being a Goddess sounds boring to you, Dallas Wilde, we truly have nothing to talk about."

"Nooo, no, we have tons to talk about. Tell me about Florence. She was a real piece of work, right? Did you two date long or…?"

Hei rubbed at her eyes like she was trying to massage the annoyance from them, a move I was used to seeing, so I took my shot and bolted. I rushed for my duffel to grab whatever I could get my hands on, hoping for the acid projectiles or maybe a leftover concussion ward I could throw in her face. I had grabbed the handle just as I was getting my feet under me when I felt an intense pressure slam into my kidney.

My movement stopped as I was jerked backward, the death grip I had on my duffel had the bag falling open to let a few more of my goodies escape. I tried to fight past whatever had grabbed me, when I noticed I hadn't been grabbed so much as impaled.

The curve of the Goddess's blade arced out from my belly and around my hip, nearly slicing me in two.

It didn't hurt. I think I was beyond anything like that hurting.

I had skipped the line from agony to complete shock, because there was no way in hell I was going to survive it.

"Crap," I muttered, hating that it was probably going to be the last thing I ever said. Hei had given me the worst belly button piercing ever, and had used it to throw me back into the center of her stupid ritual with my duffel still gripped in my hand.

The blade was ripped from my back, which gave my body permission to start bleeding out every ounce of blood I had in my body.

I hit the ground like a bag of wet defeat, my hearing starting to take on a watery, muffled warp as I started to slip into dying.

Hei said something, probably like how I bleed pathetically or something, so I used the last bit of my strength to lift my arm to flip her off. Except it was the arm with the missing hand, so she didn't see the phantom middle finger.

Goddamnit.

Something in me made me try and shake an item loose from my duffel, my last dying attempt to make the situation not completely suck.

But I was cut almost in half.

I was bleeding out at an alarming rate.

And anyone who could help me couldn't get to me.

I was pretty screwed, and not in the fun way. I was going to die, for good this time, taking Zane with me to the void and leaving Sias alone and heartbroken. I was going to kill one of the men I loved, and abandon the other. Barnaby would never forgive me. Austin would blame himself. Kevin would shit on my grave.

I would never get to tell them how much I loved them. How much they meant to me. How I was a better person because of them, how desperately I wanted to love them back with everything I had.

Something rolled out of the duffel as I shook it and bumped against my head. There was a crack along the side that was splintering into sharp lines up to the lid, the gray contents inside tumbling along as it rolled.

My poor dying brain had to spin to put the pieces together, and remember why I knew what that glass jar was.

It was Zane's ashes. I hadn't packed them. I hadn't been sure what to even do with them. For some reason they were there, rolling into my face in a breaking jar while I bled out on the crypt's floor.

I began to feel a thundering boom radiate through the room, my vision developing little black dots that swam around like hungry gnats. Hei's voice was bouncing off the walls as she commanded her entry into the void, pacing and raging, white knuckles wrapped around the bone handle of the scythe.

The tips of my fingers were numb as I touched the lid of the jar, picking at a piece of tape stuck to the top of it. There was something stuck under the clear strip, trapping it against the lid like a fossilized bug in amber.

Who would have stuck tape to Zane's lid? Kind of rude. The jar felt sacred to me still, even with the vampire walking around again. No one should be sticking crap to his ashes.

God, I would have killed for some water. I was so thirsty.

I got my fingernail under the tape and peeled it back, bringing the strip close to peer at what was stuck to the adhesive side. My tongue was stuck to the roof of my mouth, vision darkening as my body began to shut down. The chill of death was crawling over me like tendrils, and I felt safe.

It was a bloodworm. That's what was stuck to the tape on Zane's ashes. I tried to laugh but I couldn't seem to put air back into my lungs. A damn bloodworm.

Kevin.

It was Kevin who'd put Zane's ashes into my bag, that cheeky little fish. Why the hell would he do that? What could I possibly do with a jar of dead vampire ashes? Throw them in Hei's face as a distraction? That might have worked when I wasn't bleeding to death, but it certainly wasn't going to do me much good now.

My eyelids were so heavy it was hard to keep focus on the jar. The darkness tunneling my vision had grown so solid it felt like I was peering into the void out of my peripherals. I thought I saw them ripple.

I thought I saw the Goddess beside me, thought I heard Zane's voice whisper to me.

Thought I saw the flick of a fish's tail.

The tendrils pulling me into the void changed course, traveling from my chest to my arms as I slowly flexed my hand. Death magic flowed from the darkness in my vision, bleeding out to meet my command. The palm of my hand was heavy with ice, the wisps of spider silk tightening as I spoke to the ashes.

You said you could always find me.

My heart was slowing down. My limbs heavy. My hand held on to the slippery tendrils of magic.

Find me now.

Find me now.

Find me ? —