7. Chapter Seven

My heart thudded heavily in my chest. I still wasn”t used to the sensation of it constantly beating. To the continuous thud that echoed loudly in my ears. It had been so long since my heart had resided in my chest, that I was more used to it not being there. I”d refused the Witch Queen”s advances many years ago and as a reward, she”d cursed me to walk the earth without my heart. But thanks to Lori and a deal she made, the Witch Queen had to put it back where it belonged. I just couldn”t seem to make sense of anything that I was feeling. Everything just felt extreme. Like now. I was anxious. Fretful. We had come back to the Conclave after Jasper”s attack and Lori”s kidnapping — not that it looked like kidnapping when she seemed to have gone willingly— and everyone was looking to me for answers. I had de Santis breathing down my neck, demanding to know how Jasper could have turned on us, Octavius Crowe, Fenris” father, and an Arch Mage, wanting to know where his precious Shadow Mage had gone, and the rest of the team needing to know what to do next. And on top of that, I was learning how to feel emotions again. Not going to lie, I was all over the place.

”She didn”t go willingly!” Fenris roared. ”She”s clearly being manipulated.”

”I should have been there,” Cassian snarled, his bright ice blue eyes darkening with his anger.

Saskia shook her head, her flame coloured curls bouncing with the motion. ”This really isn”t helping.”

I needed to get a grip on the team, or this was going to descend into a bloodbath.

”Guys!” I shouted, grateful that they all shut up immediately. Three sets of eyes spun to face me, and a deafening silence descended. ”Arguing among ourselves isn”t going to solve anything. Yes, Lori is missing under questionable circumstances, but that doesn”t change the fact that she has been taken. We still haven”t solved the mystery of the missing witches, or why the mages are being used. We need to focus on that for now.”

We still needed to discover why the angels were using witches to control the mages. The current theory was that one of Lucifer’s own creations couldn’t destroy him so Camael, the angel protector of the Upper Realm, was somehow getting the witches to control the mages to destroy Lucifer and anyone who stood in their way. There was also the fact that Violette, the Witch Queen, had sacrificed some of her witches for what she thought was the greater good. She”d told me that at the Yule Gathering, blatantly said it to my face, that the sacrifice of a few outweighed the loss of the whole. We needed to get more out of her, but she”d gone to ground in Strigavallis after Mordecai”s attack. Well, Jasper”s attack. He was the one that attacked us all at Mordecai”s request. Whatever hold the original vampire had over Jasper was stronger than the Sirebond that de Santis had over him. I”d been shocked to learn that. I had never known that about Jasper, that he was working for the vampire who had sired him. It just went to show how little we all really knew about each other.

My heart clenched. Was that sadness? Was I sad that I didn”t know enough about my teammates?

“Is there any word from Rae yet?” Saskia asked interrupting my thoughts. A concerned frown sat above her cornflower eyes, and she twisted her fingers together in agitation.

Rae, Lori’s best friend, and a powerful witch, was still trying to find a witch willing to talk to her about the ones going missing.

“Not yet,” I replied solemnly. ”We just need to hope that— Fuck!”

Black shadows unfurled in front of me, and Torsten popped into existence. I hated when he did that. Ever since getting my heart back, his random appearances made me jump to high fucking heaven.

”Forgive me for arriving unannounced.” A smug grin spread across his face. Yeah, right. He didn”t want forgiveness. The guy enjoyed making me jump way too much. ”I thought you might like to hear the news from the Under Realm.”

”Of course.” I really hoped Lucifer had a plan because I was struggling to come up with what to do next and that terrified me.

Torsten sat into one of the arm chairs and I followed suit, sitting opposite him. His mismatched eyes didn”t seem to glow like they did when Lori was here and I knew it was something to do with the servitude bond being severed. By killing her, all be it momentarily, he”d destroyed the bond that made her his mistress. She”d been terrified that Mordecai had meant to take her, to use her for something and she hadn”t wanted that, so she”d ordered Torsten to end her life so that she wouldn”t become a weapon. Once an order is issued to a Shadow Fiend bound in a bond of eternal servitude, it cannot be undone. The command becomes irreversible. But, little did we know, her death was all that was needed to complete the transformation into a vampire.

I hated Mordecai for what he”d done to Lori. I might only be relearning my emotions, but I knew what hatred felt like. It was driving me, demanding vengeance, and by god, I was going to have it.

”My King has released Iver from the Pit to infiltrate Mordecai”s hideout,” Torsten said.

”What? Is he insane?” Cassian shouted.

”Cassian. Back the fuck down.” He turned to face me and if looks could kill, I”d be maimed, sliced up, and dead in seconds. ”I get that you”re angry, that you want to be doing something. We all do. If Lucifer thinks this is the best option, then we have to trust him.”

The dragon shifter strode towards me, fury burning brightly in those blue orbs. I stood up to meet him in the middle of the room, standing toe to toe with him.

”How can we trust the demon? Iver has been in that hole for centuries. He”s probably just as insane as the other two.”

I was about to answer but Torsten cut me off.

”My King has made a deal with him. In return for his help in rescuing Lori, he will help find a wielder of the scintillam vitae in order to save Iveri.”

”And what the fuck is that?” Cassian spat.

I had to agree. It sounded Latin, but I had no clue what it meant.

”It”s a life spark,” Fenris stated.

”Come again?” I replied.

”A person who has the ability to create life.” Fenris ran his hand through his already ruffled hair. The guy looked a mess. Like he hadn”t slept in days. Hell, like he hadn”t slept in weeks. He clearly loved Lori, but he was engaged to Elissa and refused to do anything about it. He was an idiot. Anyone could see that he and Lori were meant to be together. He was just being a stubborn asshat and hurting both himself and Elissa in the process.

”But didn”t Lucifer do that with his original creations?”

Fenris pursed his lips. ”I don”t think so. Doesn”t the story say he infused his creations with parts of his soul? Greed and lust into the vampire, magic and pride into the witch and wrath and the ability to shift into the demon. They came from him. He didn”t create them from nothing. Not like—”

”The Divine One,” Saskia said with a smile that immediately fell when she realised what that meant. He was never going to help Lucifer, so we needed to find another life spark wielder. And if we”d never heard of one existing, what was the likelihood we were ever going to find one. None. Absolutely fucking zilch.

”You are correct,” Torsten commented. ”My King would appreciate your help. Perhaps your doctor will be of use.”

Levi. Of course. I was an idiot. ”Fenris, you seem to know a bit more about this than the rest of us. Go and talk to Levi. Get him looking into this scintilly—”

”Scintillam vitae,” the Shadow Fiend added helpfully.

”Yes, that. See if he can come up with somewhere we can start looking for this. We need some answers.”

”I”m on it.” Fenris then shot out of the room. I just hoped this gave him something else to think about other than whatever was keeping him up at night.

I rubbed my hand on my chest. My hound was getting antsy. He hadn”t been out for a run in a long time and I could feel him pacing under my skin. He was just as worked up about the situation with Lori as I was, and now that we”d got our emotions back, there was this ever growing need to find her. To mark her as ours.

Rut.

The word was a loud growl, deep in my mind. He barely ever spoke, we were always on the same wavelength and didn’t need to speak to communicate, but I knew that he thought I was holding us back. It wasn”t the case, but in his eyes, I was the one who wasn”t running out the door to track her down. It just wasn”t that simple.

I turned to Torsten and found him watching me with a curious gleam in his eyes. One bright gold, the other a liquid silver. One for seeing life and the other for seeing death. Shadow Fiends were born with one foot in each world, and they could see into the Shadow Realm where a person”s soul resided. He could see my very soul right at this minute, and it felt creepy as fuck.

His mouth curled into a grin as I scrutinised him.

”Your dog seems to want to break his leash today,” he said smoothly.

A growl left my lips. My hound did not like being baited. Torsten”s smile widened.

”Perhaps you should go back to Lucifer and relay that we will help,” I snapped.

He stood. ”As you wish.”

Torsten pulled his shadows around him and disappeared back to the Under Realm.

”I don”t like that guy,” Cassian spat. He was normally cold and didn”t care about anybody one way or another, but since coming back from the dead, and finally giving into the tension between him and Lori, he was like a different person. He even used words instead of grunts and growls. But I could tell he needed to be doing something other than waiting. We all did. Otherwise we were all going to end up murdering someone.

I clapped Cassian on the back of his shoulder. ”I don”t like him either, but Lori does. We will just have to bear him. You never know, he might even improve on closer acquaintance.”

Cassian snorted.

”After all,” I said with a grin, ”you did.”

He snarled at me and went to grab me but there was a loud fizz followed by an even louder bang.

”What the Hell?” I shielded my eyes from the blinding white light and my blood ran cold when I looked back into the centre of the room.

Rae was stood there, all covered in blood, with an unconscious woman in her arms. There was a moment of silence as we all tried to make sense of what we were looking after before she muttered one word.

”Help.”

Then her knees buckled, and she collapsed in a heap in front of us.

What the fuck had happened now?