17. Chapter Seventeen

Brackley Hollow was a quaint little place in the middle of nowhere. A picturesque village that you’d find on a postcard or jigsaw puzzle. The houses were all built in a bright red brick and the doors were all jolly shades. A longing unfurled in my chest as I stared at the picturesque street of homes. Would I ever live in a place like this? Would I ever have this kind of life? One where I could walk to the park with my kids, watch them play as I sat with the love of my life. A vision of a little girl with long chestnut curls and eyes the colour of honey giggling as she runs past me flew before my eyes and I suddenly couldn’t breathe.

My heart lurched with a want so strong it nearly knocked me off my feet. I’d never been one to imagine a life with someone else, let alone children but there I was, almost struck down with the image of it.

“Alec, you okay over there?” Rae shouted from further down the street.

I rubbed the spot over my heart, almost like there was a phantom pain there. “Yeah. I’m coming. What’ve we got?”

“It’s been cleaned up,” she said as I jogged up to meet her.

That was odd. “By whom?”

“Don’t know,” she replied with a shrug. “I used a spell to portal as close to the Coven as I could. When I left it was a mess. There were holes in the walls, the door was off its hinges. It looked like there had been an explosion.”

“Someone’s covering their tracks,” Cassian added while looking up at the quaint little house.

“No, it’s more than that,” Fenris mused, moving closer, his hand waving through the air looking for something. “There’s something here.”

Wind swirled around me as Fenris drew his magic to him. “What do you see?”

“Someone wants us to see something that isn’t really there.”

“Why?” Cassian asked.

“Whoever it is, they’re an advanced elemental mage,” Fenris said, his fingers dancing through the air as light bent around his figure.

I stepped closer, trying to see what Fenris could see, but it was no use. All I could see was the mirage. “As good as you?”

He laughed, a sound I hadn’t heard in a long time. “No one is as good as me.” He threw his hands in the air and lightning cracked around us. I’d seen Fenris’ magic a number of times, but this was something else. I could feel it vibrating to my very core, a hum that was a powerful as the world I stood upon.

“Holy shit, Fenris,” Rae said, as she stumbled a step back when his power increased. “Where’ve you been hiding all that?”

The image of the neat little house in front of me started to blur, as if there was a haze in front of it. Then it started to fade until I could see the destruction beneath the veneer. There was an audible pop and a wave of air brushed past me as the magic dissipated.

“That’s how I remember it,” Rae said softly.

The house, and the ones next to it, were a mess. Rubble littered the garden, and there were deep scratch marks across the front door and into the hallway.

“Jeez, Rae, how much magic did you use?” I asked.

“A lot,” was the grim response.

She wasn’t kidding. There was still a faint smell of it in the air. Whoever cast the spell to hide all this must have been powerful to be able to construct something that deceived not just sight, but the other senses too.

“Cassian, Fenris. You go around the back. Rae, you’re with me.” I waited for Rae to step in behind me, then I advanced forward across the threshold.

I moved slowly and silently, my training instinctively seeping into my actions. It was a strange sensation now that I’d got my heart back. Before everything was about precision. Being focussed and carrying out the mission. Now I could feel everything. I was anxious. My heart pumping blood furiously around my body. I was sweating and nervous as I worried about my team. I even felt guilty over leaving Lori behind, but I knew she’d be a distraction. Didn’t stop the guilt though.

I paused for a moment and listened to the building. “There’s no one here. Just us.”

“Alec,” Cassian said over the comms. “You need to come see this.”

I walked through the house the the rear garden and came to a sudden stop. Bodies littered the ground. No, that wasn’t really accurate. Body parts littered the space.

“Rae?” I asked, as I knelt to look closer at the forearm closest to my feet.

“It wasn’t like this when I left.” Rae wandered further down the garden path. The flowers were all crumpled, scorch marks were burnt into the grass.

“They’re all mages,” Fenris muttered.

“What?”

“They’re covered in runes and symbols. It’s an ancient tribe. Powerful, old magic.” Fenris pointed to the black marks on the exposed skin. “Why are they dead?”

“Perhaps someone is tying up loose ends,” Cassian said darkly. The set of his mouth was grim, his jaw tight and eyes dark. “Means whoever this is running this thing, is getting close to their end goal.”

Fuck. He was right. He had to be. The mages were being used to manipulate and control witches so if they were now getting rid of mages, it could only mean one thing. They were no longer useful.

“But what kind of weapon could do this kind of damage?” Rae asked, peering closely at a severed leg.

“Something Celestial,” I said. The cuts were clean and straight through the bone. But no blood on the grass. It was as if the hand of the Divine himself had sliced them.

“I’ll call in the clean up crew,” Fenris said before wandering back into the house.

“This is bad, Alec,” Cassian said as he stood next to me.

“I know.”

“We need to get back. If magic is disappearing, and mages are dying, what’s next?” Cassian folded his arms across his chest as he fixed me with a hard stare. “Seems like we’re heading towards an event that could end the world. Maybe the witch was right. Maybe the end is coming.”

“I know,” I ground out.

“So what do we do next?” Rae asked.

I hadn’t got a fucking clue. How to deal with an apocalypse wasn’t exactly in the training manual.

“And you know I love Lori, but after what happened in Strigavallis, and now coming back a vampire, how do we know she’s not tainted by Mordecai now?” Cassian said softly. “How do we know she’s the Lori we all love?”

“We don’t,” I replied. And it was true. We were floundering in the dark, trying to save the fucking world, and I wasn’t sure if I could trust the woman I loved.

“Hey!” Rae snapped and Cassian and I both turned to look at her. Oh, boy. She looked pissed. “That woman has been to Hell and back and you’ve no idea what Mordecai has put her through. I refuse to believe that Lori is anything other than the woman she’s always been. We owe it to her to give her the benefit of the doubt and shame on you for thinking otherwise. Whatever she’s doing back here will be because she loves you and thinks it’s the right thing to do.”

I stood there and let her words sink in. “You’re right.”

“I know.”

“But we still don’t really know why Mordecai let her go. There must be a reason.”

Cassian raised his eyebrow. “Or something he wants.”

My stomach dropped. “You don’t think he wants something from the vault?”

Only the most dangerous artifacts were stored down there. End of the world type things.

“She wouldn’t… would she?” Rae stuttered.

“She would if she thought it was the only way to save us,” Cassian growled.

“Alec! Come quick,” Fenris snapped over the comms.

Parking the conversation about Lori, I ran into the house and into the kitchen where I found Fenris frantically trying to save someone.

“Help me!” he shouted, quickly looking at me before applying pressure to a wound. A mage with runes matching those outside, sat propped up against a cupboard while his chest pulsed a steady flow of blood onto the floor beneath him.

I dropped to my knees and pushed my hands on top of the gaping hole in the guy’s chest. Eyes full of fear met mine and I knew this guy didn’t have long.

“Who are you working for?” I asked.

He grinned, his teeth stained with blood. “Ask me… another.”

“What are you doing with the witches?”

“F… Fuel.” His eyes rolled back into his head.

“Hey.” I slapped his face. “Stay with me. Fuel for what?”

“Fire. To burn… the… world.” His hands shot out and grabbed my wrists. His voice dropped, low and guttural. “The master will purify the earth. Blood will pour and bring forth new life born from darkness.”

“I’m losing him,” Fenris yelled. “We need to get him back to base.”

The mage laughed but it was a wet rasp, filled with blood. It poured down his chin as he laughed away his last breaths. “There’s no escape… no es…cape. She will… kill… all…”

Then he was gone.

“Dammit!” Fenris punched the cupboard next to him, splintering the wood.

“Hey! Calm down. The guy had half his chest missing, he was never going to make it. The fact that he was still alive now was a lucky thing for us.”

Fenris’ brown eyes sparked with his magic, and, for a moment, I thought he was going to lose it. I could feel the team behind me suddenly tense up as they braced for whatever Fenris was going to throw at us.

“This is bullshit,” he snapped. “We’re no closer to figuring this shit out, and our best lead just died.”

“I know,” I said calmly. “But getting angry isn’t going to solve anything.”

“We need to find the rest of this tribe.” Rae pointed at the symbol on the guy’s arm. It matched the severed limb I’d looked at earlier. It was an eye surrounded by the arcane symbols for the elements.

“Can you do that Fenris?” I asked. “Do you know who they are?”

His shoulders heaved as he breathed deeply. Iver was right, damn him. Fenris hadn’t been the same since coming back from the dead. And I’d been too blind to see it. He was becoming more unstable with each passing day, and I was starting to worry if there would come a day when he’d finally break.

“Yes,” he replied. “I know who they are. They call themselves The Wanderers. I’ll speak to my father, I’m sure he will know their last location.”

“Are you sure that’s wise?” Cassian asked and I had to agree. Fenris’ relationship with his father wasn’t exactly a happy one.

“What choice do I have? I’ll check in later.” Then he vanished into thin air with a pop.

Rae gave me a flat look. “You need to sort that out.”

“I know.” I’d add it to the list of all the other serious things I needed to solve. “Come on. There’s nothing more we can learn here. Let’s get back to base.”