Alex Verus Novels, Books 1-4 (9780698175952) (134 page)

I heard them first, cautious footsteps echoing through the darkness, then the first flickers of light appeared at the foot of the stairs. There was a murmur of voices and I knew they were hesitating; they didn't want another nocturne set on them. A minute ticked by as I stood, tense, trying to stay calm. At last the futures shifted; someone had made a decision. The footsteps started up again and the flickers became the shifting beams of torches as the Nightstalkers descended into the dark. They reached the foot of the stairs and formed a defensive semicircle, and yellow-green light flared up as chemical lights were broken. I shielded my eyes as the lights were thrown outwards, illuminating the chapel in an eerie glow and throwing the murals and the altar into sharp relief.

In the yellow-green glow I saw the Nightstalkers. Gold-hair girl and Captain America were watching the flanks, with Ja-Ja behind in the shadows and Dhruv at the centre. Lee was at the back, along with the girl I'd seen once before; I didn't know her name but I was sure she was their gater. At the front was Will. He'd been already looking across the chapel and he saw me almost instantly, standing in the shadows of the far archway. He began to stalk across the stone floor.

“Will, wait,” Dhruv said sharply, looking from side to side. “It might be a trap.”

“Then check it,” Will said, not taking his eyes off me.

The Nightstalkers advanced slowly, crossing the floor of the chapel. They didn't bunch up but didn't space out as much as they should have either. Their movements looked nervous, and in a sudden flash of insight I realised how I must appear in their eyes. They didn't see me as an ordinary man with a few tricks who'd survived the last few encounters only through help and luck. They saw me as a
mage
, mysterious and powerful, someone who derailed trains and summoned monsters. I knew that together the seven of them could defeat me . . . but
they
didn't know that. To them I was an unknown, standing alone against the seven of them and not running away, and they were afraid. So I stood still, held Will's gaze, and waited.

The Nightstalkers came to a ragged halt thirty feet away, leaving Will out on his own in front of them. Sensing that he was alone he stopped and half-turned his head back towards them. “What are you waiting for?”

“This doesn't feel right,” Dhruv said uneasily. “Why's he just standing there?”

Will let out a breath in frustration, then drew a gun from under his jacket with lightning speed, aiming and firing in a fraction of a second. As he pulled the trigger I spoke the command word for the forcewall and the gold discs flared with energy. The roar of the gun was loud in the enclosed space, echoing and rolling around the stone walls, and several of the Nightstalkers flinched at the din, but to my ears the forcewall muffled the sound, sending the bullet tumbling harmlessly to the floor. The barrier blocked off the archway completely, separating me from the Nightstalkers. Now the chapel didn't have two ways out, but only one.

“There,” Will said curtly as the echoes faded. He lowered the gun. “If he's so tough, why'd he seal himself in?”

Captain America and Ja-Ja moved forward. Captain America had what looked like a submachine gun levelled at me; Ja-Ja had no weapon but for his lethal touch. Both watched me warily; forcewall or no forcewall, they'd obviously learnt to respect me. “How do we get through?” gold-hair girl asked from behind them.

“We can't,” Dhruv said. “Not without bringing the roof down.”

“We could gate,” gold-hair girl said, nodding towards the English girl.

“No,” Will said. “We're not taking the chance. Those walls don't last long; we just have to wait.” He stared at me. “No train this time.”

From above, in the mansion, I sensed gate magic. The Nightstalkers didn't notice. “Why isn't he talking?” gold-hair girl asked.

“I don't know,” Will said. “What's up, Verus? Not going to tell us to go away?”

I shook my head.

“No more threats?”

“No,” I said simply.

Lee had turned and had been looking towards the stairs up to the mansion. “Uh,” he said. “Will?”

“Later,” Will said.

“Will.” Lee sounded nervous.

Will didn't take his eyes off me. I could sense how badly he wanted to kill me, and I knew only the forcewall was stopping him from trying. “Whatever it is, it can wait.”

“Will,
someone's coming
.”

A ripple went through the Nightstalkers and they traded nervous looks. I saw something flicker on Captain America's face and on Dhruv's, and I knew they'd just figured out the problem with their position. I had only one way out . . . but so did they.

“I warned you,” I told Will quietly.

Just for a moment I thought I saw something in Will's eyes, then footsteps echoed from the stairs and he turned just as Cinder and Rachel stepped out into the chapel behind him.

The plan had always been very simple: get the two people who most wanted to kill me and put them next to each other. The layout of the chapel meant there was only one way into the deeper basement, and my forcewall was blocking it. Will needed to get past the wall to reach me, and Rachel needed to get past Will to reach the rest of the basement. As long as the wall held Rachel and Will would be forced to stay there.

I'd followed many different paths to this meeting, but I hadn't been able to see beyond it. I didn't know what would happen next or how this would play out. All I could do was wait for Will to act like Will, and for Rachel to act like Deleo.

Cinder and Rachel had come prepared. Cinder was wearing some kind of black-plated body armour I hadn't seen him in before, and red light licked at his hands. His eyes roved, passing over each member of the Nightstalkers in turn, ready to strike. While Cinder was dressed for war, Rachel looked as though she'd stepped out of a masquerade. She wore opera gloves, a black feathered cape and dress, and an elongated mask in the shape of a beak that left only the lower half of her face bare, her skin pale against the black cloth. It should have looked silly but to me it only looked frightening. As she twitched her head left to right, she made me think of a human bird of prey, and I felt a tingle as her eyes locked onto me. “Alex,” she said, and her voice was cold.

I saw Will stiffen as he heard her voice. “You,” he breathed. “It's you.”

Rachel ignored him and the beak of her mask turned as she surveyed the Nightstalkers. Her movements carried an aura of menace so strong it was almost tangible, and I saw some of the adepts flinch. “Is the Council sending children now?” Rachel asked softly.

“We're not with the Council!” Will snapped.

“Will!” Dhruv whispered. He was looking between me, Rachel, and Cinder. “Really bad idea.
Really bad idea!
”

“Why should I?” Rachel said suddenly. Her head was turned and she was talking as if to thin air. Once I wouldn't have understood what she was doing; now I did.
Shireen? What are you saying . . . ?

“Will?” Captain America said quietly. His hand was by his side and I knew he was poised to pull a weapon. “Who is she?”

“No, I haven't,” Rachel said.

“Kid,” Cinder said. He was watching Will steadily. “You get one warning. Get out.”

“I've never seen him before!” Rachel snapped.

“You've seen my sister!” Will shouted. “Catherine! Remember her?”

Rachel turned to Will in surprise; it was as though she'd forgotten he was there. “Who are you?”

“You killed my sister,” Will snarled. “Remember me now?”

Rachel looked at him curiously for a moment. “Not really.”

Will's eyes flashed with insane rage. “You. Killed. My. Sister.”

“Who?”

“Catherine,” Will said slowly. I knew he had to be seething with fury but he kept his words clear. “She used to live here in this country. You wanted her magic so you hunted her down and killed her for it.”

Rachel thought about it, then shrugged. “Not ringing any bells, sorry.”

“You killed her right here in this mansion!”

“Doesn't narrow it down much.”

Cinder gave Rachel a glance. “You killed more than one Catherine in this mansion?”

“Well, I might have done,” Rachel said in annoyance. “It's not like I stop to ask their names.”

“No!” Will shouted. “I won't let you forget who she even was! Her name was Catherine Traviss! Remember it!”

Rachel had been looking at Cinder, but as she heard the full name she froze. She stared at Will for a moment before turning to me. “Catherine Traviss,” she said slowly. “You wanted to know about her.” She shifted her gaze back to Will. “But then you'd have to be . . .” Her eyes went wide suddenly. “No. I don't believe it.”

“Yeah,” Will snarled. “You remember now, don't you?”

“It
is
you,” Rachel said softly. Suddenly she threw back her head and laughed. The noise was loud in the enclosed space, startling, and I flinched as Rachel looked back down, eyes shining. “Now I remember! The little brother. We thought we'd got all of you, but we didn't, did we? You were the one that got away!”

“Del,” Cinder said, a note of warning in his voice. He hadn't taken his eyes off the Nightstalkers and red light hovered at his hands.

Rachel laughed again. “I know, you don't know. But don't you see how perfect this is?” She extended her arms, looking between me and Will. “It's like our own little reunion! We just need Tobruk and we'd have everyone!”

The Nightstalkers shifted uneasily. I knew what they were thinking—that Rachel was crazy. Except the scary thing was that Rachel
didn't
sound crazy anymore, not to me. “For me?” Rachel asked the air curiously, then turned to Will. “Is that true?”

Will stared at Rachel. “What the hell is wrong with you?”

Rachel's laughter cut off as if with a knife, her smile vanishing. “You're after me, aren't you? That's why you came.”

“No,” Dhruv said quickly.

“Shut up, Dhruv,” Will said, not taking his eyes off Rachel. “You thought you wouldn't have to pay for what you did?”

“You don't even know what that means, you stupid child.” Rachel's voice was ice; she stalked towards Will, her eyes glittering in the darkness. The Nightstalkers stepped into a defensive stance, and I saw Cinder ready himself to cover her. “Yes, I killed your sister. I drained her life and turned her body to dust and she was too weak to stop me.” Rachel spread her hands and light flickered around them, sea-green energy seeping out of the darkness. “So what are you going to do about it,
boy
?”

“Will, this is a really bad idea,” Dhruv began.

“I said
shut up
,” Will said.

“Dhruv's right,” Captain America said with a warning note in his voice. He glanced towards the English girl. “Get us out of here.”

“No!” Will snapped. “We can end this!”

The English girl hesitated, looking nervously between Will and Rachel. “This is the one you were telling us about? Rachel?”

Rachel's right hand flicked up and a greenish ray stabbed from her hand. Will dodged in a blur of motion but it hadn't been aimed at him. The ray struck the English girl and for one instant she was backlit in an eerie, lethal light, spine arching, face twisting in agony, mouth opening to scream. Then there was a flash and her body and clothes disintegrated into dust, a cloud of fine powder puffing out to swirl downwards towards the stone. The other six Nightstalkers stood frozen, and I stared at the dust that a moment ago had been the girl's body. I hadn't known her name, and now I never would.

Only Rachel didn't turn to look. She hadn't taken her eyes off Will, and now she spoke slowly and clearly. “Don't call me Rachel.”

For a long moment everything was still.

Then everything happened at once. Will charged Rachel, his shortsword flickering into his hand, and Ja-Ja darted in by his side. Fire flashed from Cinder, forming a barrier and driving them back. Rachel shifted targets to gold-hair girl, light strengthening at her hand as she aimed another disintegration ray, but before she could get her spell off Captain America had pulled an assault rifle from nowhere and opened fire. The bullets glanced off Rachel's green-blue shield, but Dhruv threw something into the air that looked like a metal fan. It twisted, opened out to form a disc, and slammed into Rachel's shield like a saw blade; the shield bent and held but the impact made the ray go wide.

Everything was so fast it was hard to follow, like eight cats all fighting at once. Images caught in my mind, brief moments in the chaos: Captain America pulling a transparent riot shield and throwing it to Lee; Will sliding back to dodge a disintegration ray by inches; gold-hair girl's ground fire meeting Cinder's dark flame. The Nightstalkers were fighting with a berserk fury at the loss of their friend and for a moment Rachel and Cinder were on the defensive, two bears surrounded by a wolf pack.

Captain America pulled a grenade, hurled it. Dhruv's magnetic field caught it in midair and sent it arrowing in, driving into Rachel's water shield. Will and Ja-Ja jumped clear; Lee crouched behind his shield, and the others dived behind Lee just as the grenade went off. Rachel's shield took the blast but not the momentum; the explosion lifted her off the floor and she hit the stone hard. Will and Ja-Ja charged but Cinder was ready, and a glowing dark-red sphere exploded in a roar and a flash of flame right in the middle of them. Cinder, Rachel, Will, and Ja-Ja were all caught in the blast, but Cinder and Rachel had shields. Will and Ja-Ja didn't. Ja-Ja was thrown backwards, screaming in pain, one arm alight; Will's speed left him only smouldering. Cinder sent another fireball streaking towards the rest of the Nightstalkers; Lee hunched his shoulders and crouched into his shield as the flash of searing heat rolled past them. “Will!” Dhruv shouted.