It was too late to hide. I stepped in front of Titus and aimed.
The chief came down the back steps with a tray of Styrofoam iced teas and a Bojangles bag.
“Charlie,” he blubbered in surprise. His big body froze on the landing. “What the hell are you doing now?” But understanding had already dawned on him.
I inched up the steps, keeping the gun trained. “Sorry, Chief.” There was no other choice but to shoot him. He knew it, too. If they found him shot on the steps, he’d be free of suspicion. “It should wear off in a few hours.”
He drew in a deep breath, totally irate. “You can forget about being invited to the company picnic. That goes for you, too,” he said, eyeing Titus. “In fact, you’re both fired. Fired. You hear me?”
“Titus, take the tea.” If the chief was going to drop, I’d rather save the tea because I was dying of thirst.
Titus took the tray and the bag as the chief sat down on the dirty floor of the landing. “Anne-Marie will kill me if I fall and break something,” he said with a growl. “Well, what the hell are you waiting for? Just do it already. And don’t hit the leather jacket.”
He deserved it, and he knew it. The chief would always hold a soft spot in my heart and one day I’d forgive him for his part in the gene therapy. But not today. I aimed and fired, jumping with a start as the stun tag sank into his beefy thigh. He let out one curse before listing to the side and then slumping over.
“Come on,” I muttered to Titus, running by the chief and to the back door.
Outside, I stumbled to a stop. I’d been prepared for daylight, but it was dark. I’d missed an entire day. Titus pointed over my shoulder. “Over there.”
Spurred on, we raced down the steel steps and across the parking lot. The chill of the October night flew through the thin hospital gown and my bare feet dug into the minuscule asphalt pebbles that littered the lot.
I took the driver’s side, sliding into the seat in a rush of adrenaline. The key had been left in the ignition. Once Titus was in, I started the car and drove out of the parking lot with the headlights off. I didn’t turn them on until we were halfway down the block.
It took another five minutes to access the interstate. Thank God, I thought as we joined the flow of traffic. We made it. I glanced at the clock. And we had just enough time to make it to Mott Tech before Amanda’s time ran out.
“He has people at the hospital,” Titus said quietly, gazing out the window for a silent moment. “I’m sorry about my brother. It’s time he took responsibility for what he’s been doing …”
“I’ll hold you to that,” I said. I took one of the teas, pierced it with a straw, and took a long, loud drink. Then I voiced an idea that had been forming in the back of my mind. “The weapon you’re working on with that Adonai, Llyran, the one that can neutralize power,” I said. “I want you to use it on me.”
Taken aback, he blinked. “It’s nowhere near to being ready. And why would you want to use it on yourself?”
“Because eventually, these two powers will kill me, and I’m rather fond of my life. One of them has to go. Preferably both.”
He dug into the Bojangles bag and handed me a wrapped chicken sandwich. I shook my head. “You can have it.”
“I’ll tell you what,” Titus said, putting the sandwich back into the bag. “If we make it out of this, I’ll make it my number-one priority.”
“After the ash,” I said.
He nodded. “Of course.”
There was no one else on this planet who could accomplish the things Titus Mott had. And despite how I felt about him, he was the only one who might be able to help me and most everyone I loved.
We arrived at Mott Tech right on schedule, the guards waving us through.
I parked the sedan at the front of the building, my headlights beaming two jinn as they waited in front of the glass doors. One of them used the radio while the other motioned for me to turn off the high beams. I waited a good five seconds before complying.
“Any ideas?” Titus asked, popping the door handle.
“Yeah. Kill Mynogan.”
I stepped out of the car, practically naked in my bare feet and napkin-thin hospital gown. As the jinn came forward, they leered at me. I leered back. Assholes. One of them grabbed my arm, but I jerked away, falling in behind the other jinn as he led the way around the side of the building.
We followed a flagstone path away from the building and into the landscaped gardens. The cold brush of wind that came off the lake and through the woods stirred my loose hair and covered me in chills. I crossed my arms over my chest as I stepped carefully over the cold stones.
Titus walked behind me, the other jinn bringing up the rear. At least I had Titus at my back rather than the jinn.
The songs of crickets and katydids echoed all around us. Moonlight bathed the area in a soft glow, lighting our way as we wound through the trees. The scent of the lake grew stronger, and the long, drawn-out croaks of frogs became louder. Soon, we were on a path, which skirted the lake.
Ahead was the pavilion. Hank told me once he’d attended a wedding out here. I could see the attraction. It was a romantic setting, with an arched bridge spanning a creek that fed the lake, and the pavilion, which had been built to resemble an old Victorian gazebo.
Figures in shadows waited, lining the path to the pavilion. Three on each side. All dressed in black. How clichéd. Surprisingly, we skirted the pavilion and came to a large meadow at the back of the building where a wide, circular area of soft grass had been cut. Surrounding it was a garden straight out of a Monet painting. My heart began to pound, steady and stronger and faster.
Mynogan stood in the center of the lawn.
Alone.
I marched around the jinn in front of me, the words snarling out of me as his hot hands clamped over my upper arms to hold me back. “Where’s my daughter, you sick sonofabitch?”
“Ah, Charlene. Always a class act.” He folded his hands behind his back, the moonlight glinting off his white hair and skin, making his black eyes even more menacing, like two black holes lost in the shadows. “Your daughter is there in the pavilion.”
I whirled, but then was dragged back around to face Mynogan. “Let me go!” I threw back my head and busted the jinn in the jaw. He stepped back, doubling over. I spun and roundhouse-kicked him in the same spot. Pain shattered through my bare foot as it connected with thick bone.
And then I was running.
Almost there, the back steps of the pavilion just within reach, my heart in my throat, my arms pumping. A hand delved into my flying hair, pulling me up short and so hard that I was lifted off my feet. The breath left me as my back hit the ground. My vision wavered, making the moon bounce back and forth in the sky.
The first tug on my hair made me reach and grab the hand, trying to pry the fingers off as I was dragged across the lawn flat on my back, kicking and screaming. Sharp, stinging pain seared my scalp. I twisted my body but couldn’t get traction to push or pull myself to my feet.
The jinn stopped in front of Mynogan and forced me onto my knees. I lashed out again, my arms flailing as he released my hair and then pinned my wrists behind my back.
Pants came out of me in ragged succession. I glanced up. Mynogan stood before me, smiling.
And then it hit me. My heart stopped.
Oh, God.
This was my nightmare all over again. In the grass. On my knees. Mynogan and Titus both there. Mynogan in black and Titus in his white lab coat. But this time Titus was watching pale-faced and scared shitless.
“What do you want from me?!” My voice cracked, thick with desperation.
“You may release her,” Mynogan said to the jinn. As soon as his hands were off me, I leapt to my feet and moved to counterattack, but an invisible hand had me by the throat. My chest burned with hatred. Power swirled around Mynogan like a vicious wind. Big fucking deal, I thought, refusing to be scared. He was a bully hiding behind power, the same kind of power flowing through my veins. Everything in his makeup was in me, too. I had to remember that, to distance my emotions and remain calm.
“You have a choice, Charlene. I’ll make it simple so you can understand. Your lifeblood, for your daughter’s.” A brutal eyebrow cocked, and I wanted to wipe the slimy smirk right off his face. “All of it.”
“Why not just kill me now?” He had me. He had Emma. Why make a deal?
“You must do it yourself. A willing gift to the primordial darkness of Charbydon.”
I blinked. “Suicide?” Aaron’s words came back to me. The ritual. Mynogan’s belief that only a person with the blood of all three worlds in their veins could raise the darkness. Funny. Aaron never mentioned the suicide part. An unbelievable laugh swelled up, but lodged in my throat. “And I suppose we just happen to be standing on unconsecrated ground.”
Triumph swelled his chest. “Civil War burial ground for criminals and traitors.”
Weigh your choices, Charlie.Carreg’s deep voice glided through my mind. There’ll be no light. No food will grow. Unlike our world, yours cannot be sustained by darkness. If it comes, it’ll spread over time.
“I want to see my daughter first,” I told Mynogan, and then to Carreg, If you’re so worried about it, get your ass out of hiding and fight with me.
Fighting Mynogan now will start a war between the Houses of Abaddon and Astarot. I cannot help you openly. She is one child. His honey-slick voice was nonchalant, almost goading me. What is one child compared to thousands, millions? You can have others.
His words lit a raging fire in the center of my chest, burning a path through every neuron and cell until it engulfed me. I had to clench my fists tightly, nails digging painfully into my palms, to keep from cursing him out loud. He knew nothing! Emma was my world. How could I look in her eyes and sacrifice her? How? Carreg was dumber than a doorknob if he thought for one second I’d make that choice. I’d find another way because I wasn’t giving up my kid. I’d die before that happened.
So, you’ll just stand by and let the darkness come? I shot back at Carreg.
I will not try to stop him, no. There are things, reasons, you don’t understand.
Agreeing to my demand to see Emma, Mynogan motioned to a dark figure standing next to the pavilion.
My mind racing, I thought, I’ll make a deal with you. Carreg didn’t give a shit about me or Emma, and he certainly didn’t know what it meant to be a parent. He obviously didn’t care too much for my city or the planet, either. He wasn’t about to put his plans on the line to help. But I knew the one thing he’d find beneficial. Mynogan dead. When the time comes, you keep my family safe.
And in return?
I’ll kill Mynogan.
Carreg’s laughter filled my head. You’re going to try to do that anyway.
Not if you don’t promise me. His DNA is inside of me, Carreg. I have the same powers, the same strength. Who do you think has more to fight for? Who do you think won’t quit until he’s dead? I can do this. And if you don’t keep Emma and the others safe, I’ll let him live within an inch of his life and turn him over to ITF. How long before you think his lawyers get him out? How long until he’s back in control of the Council of Elders and realizes you helped me? You want him gone? You want control? Then you place your bet with me. You have nothing to lose. Just free the others from the lab and get Em out of here when I spill my blood. That’s all I’m asking.
Desperation nearly overwhelmed me, and I wasn’t even sure I was making sense, but he was the only one I knew who could do it. There was no one else. I’d run out of options. And I needed insurance. There wasn’t a doubt in my mind that whatever happened, the jinn would kill Titus and Emma if Carreg didn’t act.
Get her to my sister, I said softly. Please.
“Momma?”
That one small, terrified word burst through the night like the brightest shooting star. The hold on my throat vanished, and I spun to see Emma being led from the pavilion by a dark-figured Abaddon.
It wasn’t an Abaddon. It was Carreg.
“Emma!”
“Mom!”
Carreg released her and she ran to me, launching herself into my arms. I caught her and held on for dear life. My chest swelled with her presence. I breathed her in. My hand cupped her head, the other on her back. I squeezed her hard, nearly bursting with love. It sang through me with such wonderful relief, tears spilled down my cold cheeks. She was all that mattered.
Finally, I lessened my hold and held her back from me, cupping her face and staring into her eyes. So happy she was all right, yet heart-stricken to be here, like this, with her. “Are you okay?”
She nodded, her bottom lip quivering, tears trailing lines down her cheeks. “Are you?”
I grinned, denying my tears, refusing to show her the fear coursing through my system. “I’m much better now. I told you I’d come.”
The urge in me to become hysterical was overwhelming. I hugged her again and kissed her cheek. “Listen to me. You trust me, right?” She nodded. “You see that man over there?” I glanced at Titus.
“Amanda’s uncle.”
“Right. He’s gonna take you somewhere safe while I finish up here.”
She glanced around the field, her face so pale and full of fear. “Hey,” I said, drawing her attention back to me. “I know what I’m doing. This is what I do, remember? The superhero of Atlanta and all that.” I squeezed her arms and smiled, remembering her words only a few days ago when I’d wanted to transfer to a desk job. A half-hearted laugh escaped her. That’s my girl.
I gazed over her shoulder to Carreg’s stony face. His head dipped in a faint nod. Deal on. Relief washed over me. I winked at her. “Chin up. I’ll see you in a bit, okay?”
She lifted her chin and swallowed hard. “Okay. But hurry up.”
My heart constricted, but I forced a light voice. “You got it, kiddo.”
I hugged her tight one last time and drew on the emotions coursing and building, hoping that it would be enough. Opening my mind, I tapped into the same emotions as I had earlier to heal myself. Our bond. Mother and daughter. I imagined a path to her mind, a link open and accepting. Once the familiar hum of energy pushed against every cavity and crevice of my body, I poured it into her. “Sleep,” I whispered to my daughter. “Sleep, baby.” Please work. Profound gratefulness went through me as she went slack in my arms. I braced for the full force of her weight.
Whether using my power weakened me or not, I didn’t care. I was determined to keep Em from witnessing what was about to follow.
I faced Mynogan. Emma was not going back into that pavilion. “Once this is done, she goes with Titus. They walk out of here alone and unharmed.”
“Agreed.”
I kissed the top of her head, letting my lips linger as I carried her over to Titus. Gently, he took her in his arms, but his gaze was fixed on me. “Charlie. You can’t do this,” he whispered, glancing at Emma. “I understand, but the city …”
“Just … don’t say it. I know what I’m doing. And if you don’t keep her safe, I’ll be coming after you next.”
Two jinn fell in behind Titus as he sat in the grass with my daughter. My only option was to continue with the ceremony and hope to hell Carreg would come through if I couldn’t find a way to thwart Mynogan’s plan and get to my kid.
My legs felt wooden as I proceeded voluntarily toward the center of the circle. From the corner of my eye, I saw Carreg edge back into the shadows of the pavilion. Weariness swamped me. I was so tired. And I really didn’t think I could handle any more emotion.
That’s good, I convinced myself, just center yourself and focus. Bryn’s crystal charm warmed my chest and gave me the calming comfort of her presence. When she’d given it to me after my death experience, I’d never really asked about its properties. And the only thing she’d told me was that it would help protect me. Fat chance of that now. But if it eased some anxiety, that was good enough for me.
The soft ground dipped beneath my feet, the cool dewiness against my bare skin sending chills up my arms and releasing the scent of tangy grass into the clean air. It’s too beautiful a night for blood and death.
The six figures, Abaddons no doubt, surrounded us, widely spaced around the large circle of grass. My blood pressure rose. How did one kill an Abaddon noble? I drew in a resigned breath. I guessed I was about to find out. Strategies darted through my mind, elusive and insubstantial as I came to a halt in front of Mynogan. I’d become brain-dead. Great.
A victorious gleam came into Mynogan’s eyes as he pulled a dagger from his coat and held it to the moon. It was iron. Black. And so sharp the moonlight glinted off the blade. There was no decoration of any kind on the weapon, giving it an even more sinister appearance.
If there was ever a death blade, this was it.
He chanted in Charbydon, which sounded similar to ancient Hebrew or Aramaic. His confident, rhythmic words stirred power into the night air. Energy gathered and coalesced within the circle. Every hair on my body lifted. Even the ends of my hair curled up as though acknowledging a change in the atmosphere around us. I thought I heard the faint echo of drumbeats, the sound vibrating through me like a second pulse. But there were no drums here.
I swayed as memories darted just out of reach, evading me like teasing fireflies. Not my own, but familiar. Primeval. Basic. Like the drums. On an elemental level, I recognized the power growing within the circle. It was earth. It was matter. Water. Life. Creation. My eyelids grew heavy, my thoughts hazy. Somehow I knew I was connected to this in a way no one else could claim. I was part of three worlds. The individual energy that ran through them all, and made up them all, ran through me.
The cold, rough iron hilt of the dagger pressed into my palm. I glanced down, seeing my hand, a pale contrast to the coal-black dagger. Shivers snaked through me, and it took all my effort just to stay lucid and focused, the chanting having some kind of hypnotic effect.
With a slow glance over my shoulder to Emma, sleeping in Titus’s arms, his face stricken and white as a ghost, and Carreg edging ever closer to them, I drew in my courage, squeezed the blade tightly, and held out my left arm. This was going to hurt like hell.
My pulse beat hard and fast like the drums inside of my head. Tensing, I pressed the blade into my flesh until vivid red blood blossomed over the pale skin. Then, I drew a burning, stinging line from the middle of my forearm down to my wrist, cleanly slicing the artery. I’d seen enough successful suicides to know how to do it right.
Mynogan’s breath hissed from his thin lips, his eyes drawn to the gush of red spreading out in a warm thick line against my skin. I swayed again, but kept my arm out where he could see it, his reaction stirring something in me and triggering a sudden hunger. To kill. To take.
My grip flexed on the dagger. My blood pounded in my ears, blending with an ancient memory of frenzied, writhing bodies dancing around fire as the chanting grew louder. The power in the circle fed me, making these images in my mind, images as old as time. My vision warbled and tilted. I tried to swallow, but my throat and mouth had gone hot and dry.
I blinked slowly. Once. Twice. Then, Mynogan’s fuzzy form came snapping back into view. He remained transfixed and distracted by the blood. And I knew then. I knew what I had to do. It all made perfect sense.
Gathering my waning strength and knowing I had to be fast, I pulled back my right hand and plunged the dagger into Mynogan’s neck.
Startled, he stumbled back.
I was on him like some crazed lunatic in her hospital gown before he could draw on his power, arms and legs wrapping around him and sending him to the ground. Instinct took over. Thighs clamped firmly around his torso, I held his head down with my hand on his forehead and locked my mouth over the wound, pushing the horror of what I was doing from my mind.
The first taste of blood on my tongue threw me into another time and place. The time of Charbydon curses and rituals. The warm, sticky liquid slid down my parched throat, easing the hunger. I bled my blood into the aromatic grass and replaced it with pure evil.
The House of Abaddon had been cursed by blood. Blood to sustain them. And without blood, it would kill them.
Mynogan cursed loudly and struggled beneath me, trying to draw upon his power, but the source of it was his blood, the raw essence of life. And I was taking it for my own. His hand beat frantically at my back, but I ignored it. His power tried to shove me off, but I ignored that, too, taking it from him in long, thirsty gulps. His panic was raw and fierce, but he was weakening under the loss of blood.
No blood. No life. No Mynogan.
Desperate screams tore from his throat. Like a worm, he writhed in my grasp, his movements violent and fast. His voice broke. His nails dug into my back, carving deep, bloody ditches. I felt the skin open, but didn’t feel the sting.
I kept him pinned, sensing that all around me the circle of dark figures was frozen, taken aback by what they were witnessing. The power swirling within the circle threatened anyone stupid enough to enter.
Carreg, I forced out of my chaotic mind, get them away from here now.
He didn’t answer, but I sensed an agreement muted by shock.
Time slowed.
It felt like ages had passed, but, little by little, Mynogan’s body went limp. I relaxed my thighs and hands. The scent of blood hung heavy and sweet in the sticky air. My lips were numb, and my throat and cheek muscles sore from drawing and drinking.
I sucked hard at the last drop of blood from his being and, feeling full and disgustingly sick, I rolled off the body onto my back, my gaze connecting with moonlight and stars. My breath came heavy and fast. The blood that flowed from my arm slowed to a trickle.
My eyelids drooped, my heartbeat slowed.
The ground beneath me shuddered, rousing my waning attention. The moonlight and stars slowly disappeared as a cloudy haze filled the sky. Darkness shot up through the earth like smoke through a screen, swirling in the circle, the force of its wind making my hospital gown wave across my knees and stomach.
A deranged chuckle bubbled from my throat.
There was no way Mynogan’s blood could sustain me. I was human, not Charbydon, and I was dying here in a circle of smut. Smut that grew and burgeoned and would soon cover the city.
Way to go, Madigan. Way to fucking go.
My laughter mixed with hot tears. I should have taken a desk job. I rolled to my stomach and crawled from the circle on my elbows and the insides of my knees, trying not to focus on my left arm flayed open like a butterfly shrimp.
Damned if I’d die in this crap.
Using the last of my will, for it was all I had left, I made it outside the circle and into cleaner air, the creek somewhere close by. I lay down, one side of my face cushioned by the soft grass.
I’d chosen to save my child and to try to save the city, too, and I knew in my heart that I’d done the only thing I could. If I made it out of this, I’d figure out a way to fix things. There was always a way to fix things.
A small one-syllable chuckle eased through my lips, my breath stirring the grass and tickling my nose. Stupid thought. Stupid, unhinged Charlie. I wasn’t making it out of here.
No regrets, I thought on a sigh that ended in blackness. No regrets—