Allegiance (42 page)

“I have entered it into memory.”

I released the lungs full of air. I had my own personal Terminator. Finally. A bit of luck my way. Silently slipping on my winter coat, I crept to the door on my tiptoes. “Come on, Wraith,” I mouthed, cracking open the door. “And don’t make a sound.”

He was on his feet immediately. “Where will we be going?”

My finger flew to my mouth, to silence him. He looked at me blankly. “Be quiet! We’re going to get Julian and Veronique. And we’re doing it alone.”

15. Impasse—Sofie

I stood with my mouth agape, speechless.

“Yes, it’s been rather interesting, watching your precious little human cuckold you,” Incendia purred, a malicious smile curving his lips. Unda and Ventus joined in with a chortle that pained my eardrums.

I finally found my voice again. “I don’t believe you.”

“Really? It’s quite basic,” Terra began. “Evangeline was linked to Veronique through that pendant. You knew that. When the Tribe released her from its curse, it also released Veronique from hers. The curse of her tomb. I’m surprised you didn’t put two and two together. I expected more from you.”

“That was not a curse,” I began breathlessly. “I did that intentionally to preserve her, to—”

“We considered it a curse,” Ventus cut in flatly. “And so we ensured she was released.”

I stood silently, replaying all that I knew of the spell. Chills coursed through my body as realization set in. If this was true, that meant the same magic coursing through Evangeline’s body was in Veronique. She could be turning into Walking Death. She certainly couldn’t be touched by magic. She couldn’t be turned … My knees buckled beneath me and I crumbled into a heap on my pedestal, my hands holding my forehead. After all this. After all we had struggled through. No … no, it couldn’t be real.

I looked up to see Incendia’s eyebrow quirked as he looked from me to Terra, reading my mind. “No? Not real?” With a flourish of his hand, my surroundings morphed again. I heard feet splashing through shallow water a split second before two forms rushed around the bend. I frowned as Evangeline and Wraith passed by me.

“Why are you in the sewer?” I asked. They didn’t answer. They couldn’t hear me. I wasn’t really there. “What are they doing in the sewers, Terra?” I demanded angrily. “Where exactly are they going?” I already knew the answer. I recognized these sewers in particular. They were just below Fifth Avenue in Manhattan. If one knew the path, they would lead right into Viggo’s garage.

The vision blurred and I was back on my pedestal in front of the Fates. “Well, since you asked,” Incendia stepped forward, thoroughly enjoying being the bearer of bad news. “Your spell over that love-struck Bishop failed miserably. He took off to New York to seek vengeance, your dear friend Mage is chasing after him, allowing this troubled foursome the opportunity to run off to New York and try to change the fate of the world. I believe that about covers it.”

“No …” I whispered. Something didn’t make sense, though. “But why is she alone?”

“She’s not alone,” Terra reminded me.

“Oh, yeah. Sorry,” I rolled my eyes. “Why is she with Wraith and not the others?”

“Because she cares greatly for them and doesn’t want them to die,” Terra explained. “Quite gallant of her, don’t you agree?”

“So … are you ready? We’re granting you one request. One spell. But what will you choose? There are so many fires to put out, aren’t there?” Incendia’s hands clasped together triumphantly.

I set my jaw as I leveled him with a look. “No.”

A small twitch of his lip—perhaps amusement, perhaps irritation—was the only reaction my denial triggered.

“Are you sure?” The space changed again. I was now trailing behind Evangeline and Wraith as they crept up the stairs from the underground garage in Viggo’s place.

God, Evangeline! Why must you torture me like this?
I chased after them as Wraith pushed through the door, as they entered the atrium, the destruction as vivid as I remembered it, right down to the heaps of charred bodies, to the cobblestone I’d torn up during my magical tantrum. Only now the pristine statue that had withstood more than a century, cocooning my sister, lay in chunks.

I didn’t get to spend long mourning that, given the other big difference in the atrium. The army of sorceresses. All staggered through the courtyard. All eyes locked on Evangeline.

All with flames at the ready.

They would kill her.

“Evangeline! Get out of there!” I screamed, knowing my words were heard by no one but the Fates. I watched in horror as she stole through the atrium quietly, heading toward the red doors. What was she doing? Couldn’t she and Wraith see the danger in front of them? I inhaled sharply when I realized that was exactly the problem. The witches had to be using a cloaking spell. They were walking straight into a trap.

“Evangeline!” I screamed out, stepping forward. The mirage fractured and I heard little crunches beneath my feet. I gasped as I looked down to find dozens of shattered worlds.

“Oh, don’t worry. Only four of those worlds were populated,” Terra confirmed, plucking the horror from my thoughts.

“That is quite the predicament your human is in,” Incendia goaded. I barely heard him. My mind was spinning in dizzying circles. How was this all possible? What was she doing? And how did she manage to evade every vampire and Max to get there? The wolves, I understood. They couldn’t smell her. But the others? Caden would never allow this! No, it couldn’t be real …

“It is real,” Terra purred.

I frowned, already shaking my head, playing the logic out in my head. “Then how did they make it into the atrium thirty seconds after being in the sewer?”

“Time means nothing to us,” Ventus explained. “You think you’ve experienced thirty seconds but really, it could have been five minutes, or five hours, or five days of your time. Regardless, I assure you, what you just saw is happening as we speak.”

“I don’t believe you,” I finally stated. “You’re trying to trick me.”

“Trick you? How? We’re simply giving you a chance! Think of it as a token thank-you for all your hard work and suffering.” Incendia’s thin lips curled. “Go ahead! Do nothing. In a few moments, none of this will matter anymore.”

I looked at Terra—my champion. She didn’t deny it; she didn’t try to convince me. She stood quietly. In that moment, I knew they were telling me the truth. All the turmoil that oozed out of Evangeline … it was over this, over burying such a deep, dark lie. But why would she?

Of course; because I would’ve stormed the place to save Veronique. Or Viggo and Mortimer would have. Either way, it was guaranteed doom. My little girl knew me too well.

“That is correct. Your Evangeline endured quite the internal struggle. She is stronger than we expected.”

“No shit,” I muttered. That girl couldn’t keep a secret for anything. How she had managed to stay silent on this was beyond me. But when Viggo discovered her lie … “Where is Viggo?”

“Do we look like an information center?” Unda retorted, her voice calm but nothing about her words were friendly. “We have agreed to grant you one spell. You can take advantage of that, or you can lose everything.”

16. Operation Veronique—Evangeline

My heart hammered against my ribs as I skulked along the fifth-floor shadows toward the Red Room. “I don’t get it. Where is everyone?”

“I agree. Based on the expected inhabitants, this is suspicious.” Wraith didn’t skulk. He stalked forward with a stiff spine, unfazed by the bizarre emptiness of Viggo’s place. Where my head almost rotated three hundred and sixty degrees, looking for hidden sorceresses in crannies, his dead blue mirrors stared straight ahead. No fear.

Since sneaking in through the underground garage, we hadn’t crossed a single soul. Hadn’t heard a step, a voice, a yell. Nothing. It was as if the place had been abandoned. Every fiber of me screamed,
Get out of here!
I ignored it. Not without Veronique. Not without Julian.

As we rounded the last corner before reaching the Red Room, a low sound drifted down the hall. A confusing mixture of dread and relief swarmed me. They were still here.

“Wait,” Wraith commanded pointing to the marble floor. My feet obeyed instantly. With his shoulders back, his strides naturally confident, he pushed open the double doors and disappeared.

“Who are you?” a muffled male voice boomed, followed by a distinct clicking sound—a gun. Wraith didn’t answer. “Stand back or you’re dead!” the man threatened. I pictured him holding the gun up to Wraith’s head.

“What on earth—” a female voice said, but broke off. I imagined her incomplete sentence was courtesy of Wraith’s hand clamping onto her wrist as she fell to her knees, dying. Three ear-splitting shots rang out and I stumbled back, my heart in my throat, wary of stray bullets. With my back pressed against the opposite wall, my heart pounded in my ears as I scanned the halls, straining to listen for footsteps. Surely with all that noise, someone would come. Surely we’d be caught. Surely—

“It is safe now,” Wraith announced, poking his head out, a calm, disinterested expression on his face. Clambering into the Red Room, I almost fell over the male prone on the floor—chest down and face up. A little farther over, I saw the woman, the witch, who had the clear misfortune of believing her magic could stop Wraith, now nothing more than a shrunken corpse. Looking away, I concentrated on the frail shell of a body lying on the king-sized bed, taking in her swollen mess of bruises and burns, her clothes in bloodstained tatters.

“Veronique?” I called out in a strangled gasp. No answer. No flicker of life. Terror’s icy hand seized my organs as I ran to her. I leaned over to inspect her face. “Veronique?” Glossy slits opened to gaze back at me.

“Eve?” My name came out in a croak.

My knees buckled with relief. “Oh, thank God, Veronique. Yes, it’s me. We’re going to get you out of here. Now.” One tear rolled out the corner of her right eye, trailing down to hit the red pillowcase. What they had done to her …

What they must be doing to Julian. I did a sweep of the room to confirm it was empty. “Do you know where they’ve taken my friend?”

All I got was a small negative grunt in response.

An ache formed in the back of my throat. He could be anywhere! How would I find him? In that moment, I prayed for Sofie and Caden. They always knew what to do. They were always taking care of things. Not this time. This time, I was alone. It was all on me.

God help Julian and Veronique.

Okay.
I took a deep breath.
First things first.
I turned to Wraith. “Can you carry her? And make sure you don’t accidently kill her …”

Without answering, he quickly swooped in and, with gentle motion I didn’t think possible of Death himself, he slipped his arms under her frail body. She wriggled her brow. “Nathan?”

“Hurry,” I demanded, ignoring her confusion. There’d be plenty of time to explain later. He scooped her up and followed me out. We tore down five sets of stairs, struggling to keep quiet, rushing blood in my ears disorienting. I barreled through the red doors into the atrium …

And slammed into Caden. “Evangeline!” Caden hissed, grabbing my biceps with a death grip, murder on his face. “Are you fucking crazy?” He wasn’t alone. Amelie, Max and brothers, the wolves, Lilly, and her posse stood in a wall behind him with equally unimpressed faces.

“I had to …,” I faltered, my face burning.

He wasn’t having any of it. “What the hell do you think you’re doing in here! I tell you you’re not coming in here and so you sneak out?” His eyes turned cold and hard. I had never seen him this angry. It was a struggle not to be terrified. But now was not the time. I swallowed back the tears forming as a storm of indignation brewed within me over his chastising.

“They have Julian, Caden. I saw it. They had him and they wanted you all here so they could kill you.”

“Where?” Amelie’s lips trembled, her head whipping around in every direction.

I shook my head. “I don’t know. No one’s here. Would they have left?”

“Not likely,” Lilly murmured, cool eyes rolling over the atrium.

Caden took Veronique from Wraith’s hands. “Wraith—you idiot. You shouldn’t have brought her here. But you need to get her out. Now. Lilly, Amelie. The rest of you. Go find Julian.” They vanished without a second’s delay.

To Wraith, Max, and his brothers, Caden directed, “Help me get them both out of here and we’ll come back.” We took off, picking our steps around the upturned cobblestone and charred bodies across the atrium, back to the entrance that would lead to the garage.

“Hurry up!” Caden hissed, his brow wrinkled. “This is too easy,” I heard him mutter.

Prickles ran down my vertebrae.

Halfway across the atrium, Caden and Max stopped dead in their tracks, sending Wraith and I swerving to avoid them. “What is it?” My eyes skimmed the thousand barriers someone could hide behind, expecting they had finally spotted someone.

Caden didn’t answer.

We’re spelled! We can’t move!
Max yelled.
Get out of here, now!

Spelled. That meant only one thing. Witches.