Bind the Soul (20 page)

“We don’t have time,” Piper said, glancing fearfully at the door.

“You can’t run anywhere without shoes.” She darted through a door and into what was presumably a walk-in closet, and came out with black hiking boots. “Biggest shoes I have.”

She tossed them over and grabbed a pair of leather boots for herself.

Piper stuffed her feet in the shoes and quickly laced them up. “Let’s go.”

“One more thing.”
The girl ducked back into the closet and returned with a backpack over one shoulder and a belt of weapons in her hand—two guns, a sheathed sword, and assorted daggers. “Ash helped Zala sneak these in for me. Want something?”

“Hell yes. Gun and a knife?”

They split up the weapons and the girl gave Piper a belt to strap hers to. Piper took a moment to wrap the Sahar’s chain tightly around the opposite wrist from Lilith’s pendant, leaving enough slack to hold the Stone against her palm.

“Look, uh—what’s your name?” Piper asked.

“Seiya.”

“Seiya. Do you know how to use those?” She nodded at her weapons belt.

Seiya gave Piper a scathing look. “Of course I know how. Don’t worry about me, human.”

“Haemon,” Piper corrected sharply.

Seiya shrugged, effectively saying it made no difference. Apparently, the girl hadn’t learned much tact under Samael’s cultured tutelage.

“Let’s go,” Piper muttered. Zwi and Zala ran ahead of her as she charged down the stairs. She leaped the gap in the floor and dropped into a neat roll to absorb the momentum. God, it felt good to be wearing real clothes. And shoes. Even if they hurt her feet.

“Holy hell.” Seiya sprang lightly across the pit. “Go overboard much?”

“The Sahar is a little hard to control, okay?” Piper growled.

“I can see that.” Seiya glanced at the wreckage. “Where is Ash?”

“He’s in this big, low building in a corner of the estate with three symmetrical mountain peaks directly behind it.”

Seiya thought for a second. “The Chrysalis building.”

“The what?”

“Chrysalis is the largest company owned by Hades. They develop and sell all kinds of magical technologies—a lot of it really nasty.” Her face went cold and hard again. “Eisheth is mine. That bitch owes me for my brother.”

Piper said nothing. If she saw Eisheth first, she wouldn’t hold back. “Do you know about the collar on Ash?” she asked.

Seiya nodded. Her tough façade cracked as fear crossed her face. “We have to save him.”

“We will,” Piper said fiercely. Or die trying. Urgency made her heart pound. “Come on.”

They made it halfway back to the front doors before the guards caught up. Zwi and Zala herded them back before the troop spotted them. Piper and Seiya ducked into an empty parlor.

Piper frowned at the deserted room. “Where is everyone?”

“There aren’t many of us left,” Seiya whispered. “The others must be hiding upstairs. I’m sure everyone hid when you blasted down the front door. They probably thought you were Samael or one of the others in a bad mood.”

Piper turned toward the window. “Stand behind me,” she said.

Letting the violence within rule, she threw her fist toward the window.

The force of the concussion knocked her backward into Seiya and they both hit the wall. The whole building trembled. Shouts echoed from somewhere near the front door. Piper didn’t wait for the dust to settle. She leaped up, grabbed Seiya’s hand, and dove out into the night. The entire wall was gone.

“Whoa,” Seiya breathed, looking over her shoulder at the damage.

“Hurry!”

Seiya whistled. “Zala!”

The dragonet landed in front of them. Black flames engulfed its body, then burst outward and died away. A horse-sized, snarling dragon had taken the dragonet’s place. It spread its massive wings.

Seiya pushed her toward the dragon. “Get on, Piper.”

Heart pounding, Piper pulled herself onto the dragon’s smooth back. Zwi jumped on behind her, grumbling loudly. Zala took two running steps and bounded into the air, wings beating hard. Piper grabbed the dragon’s mane before she slid off backward and craned over her shoulder to see Seiya, who was still on the ground. The girl’s body shimmered as her glamour disappeared.

Black wings spread wide and Seiya leaped into the air. She ascended quickly, flashing past Zala as she rose another fifteen feet above them. Piper gaped.

“I’ll try to hide us,” Seiya called down, her draconian voice sending a shiver down Piper’s spine. “Watch for danger. As fast as you can, Zala!”

The air sizzled with power as Seiya wove a cloaking spell. Piper clutched the Sahar, wishing she could help. Maybe if she’d known how to use magic herself, but at this point, she was relying on the Stone to perform the magic—and all it seemed capable of was mass destruction. The disconcerting duality in her head was getting worse. She felt as though another person were in her head, someone feral and full of rage, trying to push her out of the way.

She craned her neck, scanning the ground between beats of Zala’s wings. There were people running everywhere but none looked up. Smoke rose from the main house. When had
that
happened? She tried to remember whether her explosion had started a fire.

Zala banked toward the far building where the draconian youth had looked when she’d asked him about Ash. Please let the boy be right. Raum’s reaction suggested he had been. She looked down again, squinting for signs of—

“Look out!” she screamed.

Zala swerved—but not fast enough—as a blast of blue light shot for them. It hit the dragon’s back leg. Zala roared in pain, wings beating frantically. Piper strained to spot their attacker.

“On the roof,” Seiya yelled from above.

Piper twisted. Behind them, a
group of guards were standing on the roof of the draconian compound. Clenching her teeth and hoping for the best, Piper punched out her fist holding the Sahar.

Thunder shattered the air. The rooftop exploded in a ball of fire.

Piper’s heart leaped into her throat as she snatched her hand back. Oh God. Please let her not have hurt any of the draconians inside. The Sahar was expanding its repertoire, adding fire to its blasts of power. Was it because Piper had noticed the smoke and had been thinking about fire?

“Piper!” Seiya yelled in disbelief.

“I’m sorry,” she cried. “I can’t control it!”

Zala folded her wings and dove for the roof of Chrysalis. Piper held on for dear life as they dropped. The dragon landed with a heavy thump and immediately buckled. Piper slid off, staggering away on shaky legs.

“Zala!” Seiya landed beside the dragon.

Piper got a brief glimpse of her true form—very similar to Ash, in a black outfit with dark scales running along her cheekbones. She only had two horns on each side of her head instead of Ash’s three. Glamour shimmered back over her form as she rushed to check her dragon’s injured leg. An open wound wept blood from the large muscle in the dragon’s hindquarter.

“Damn it,” Seiya said. “I have to try to heal her. You’ll have to get Ash.”

“W-what?”

“Go get him! Bring him up here. I have to patch up Zala.”

“I—right. I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

Seiya nodded curtly, panic shimmering in her eyes. “Hurry.”

Piper ran across the rooftop. At the far end, a trapdoor opened to a ladder. Zwi leaped in ahead of her. Piper climbed down as fast as she could, landing on a metal catwalk. Below, a huge room full of humming equipment and pipes stretched in twisting maze. Piper ran along the catwalk, following Zwi. The dragonet led her to a metal door. Piper used the Sahar to slice open the lock, and the entire door fell apart in pieces. She clenched her teeth against the twisting wrongness in her head. She didn’t know how much longer she dared to use the Sahar. It was out of control.

After the darkness outside, the white, brightly lit hallway blinded her. Zwi chirped urgently, rushing ahead. Piper followed, passing door after door. Windows revealed small rooms full of laboratory equipment and strange metal devices. One room was filled with shelves containing different kinds of collars. She ran past them. Another stairway. She charged down it.

They reached the building’s main entrance. Zwi darted straight across the spacious, professional foyer. The building was empty of any signs of life. Piper glanced around nervously at the abandoned space. A sign directed clients to ring the bell on the reception desk for service. Since Chrysalis was a business—versus, say, the bastille—it made sense for the employees to go home at night.

She followed Zwi out of the foyer. The bright, clinical halls were replaced by a dark, metal stairway leading down to the basement. At the bottom of the stairs was a security entrance. Piper slowed; the reinforced metal door was opened a crack. Zwi stopped in front it, teeth bared and mane standing on end.

Piper pulled the gun from her belt, breathing hard from running. Weapon raised, she toed the door open and slid through. The dark hallway beyond was still and silent. She glanced around for a light switch. Nothing.

“Damn it,” she whispered. She didn’t know how to make a light with magic and if she tried, the Sahar would probably blow up the hallway. “I guess we’ll have to go slow. Come on, Zwi.”

The dragonet whined. Piper looked back. Zwi stood on the other side of the opened door, wings quivering and tail lashing with agitation. She paced along the line of the threshold and whined again.

“Zwi? Come on.”

Zwi sat in the middle of the doorway and mewled.

“You can’t get through?” Piper swallowed hard. It must be warded. “Okay. I’ll get Ash. You wait for me here, okay?”

Zwi whimpered. She laid her head on her front paws, staring at Piper with miserable gold eyes.

Steeling herself, Piper set out by herself, moving as fast as she could through the dark. The glow from the Sahar cast just enough light to navigate. Gun raised and ready, she pushed open a metal door at the end of the hall. Silently, it swung open into a junction of sorts. A large desk filled half the room, a single lamp glowing above it. Several halls led off the room, conveniently labeled with large signs: Examination Rooms. Equipment and Supplies. Subject Occupancy.

She rushed toward the third one. As she passed the end of the desk, something lightly struck her lower back.

Pain exploded up her spine. She screamed as her body convulsed. She hit the floor, arms and legs jerking in a helpless seizure. The gun skittered across the floor. Something tapped her back between her shoulders. Agony slammed through her, lighting every nerve on fire. The scream that ripped out of her nearly tore her lungs.

“Fancy seeing you here, Piper,” a female voice crooned delightedly. A boot hooked under Piper’s shoulder, turning her over. She squinted through her tears.

Eisheth smiled at her, her red reaper eyes alight. She leaned forward and pressed her black rod against Piper’s stomach.

Lightning blasted through her belly. She retched, choking on bile before managing to flip over to gag onto the floor. Blood dripped from her mouth as she gasped for air.

“That hurt, didn’t it?” Eisheth purred. “How about this?” Her boot landed on Piper’s back, pinning her, and the tip of the rod dug into her lower spine.

She screamed as blackness swept over her vision. Before she could pass out, Eisheth lifted the rod.

“Tsk tsk. You can’t handle much, can you? Not even ten seconds. Pathetic. Ash can take that for five minutes before he blacks out.”

Piper tried to figure out which way was up. Her head spun and her body ached. Her arms and legs barely responded.

“Samael will be quite pleased with me for catching you. I figured you would come for Ash. Children are so easy to predict.”

So Samael was still alive? Piper squeezed her eyes shut against the stabbing regret.

“It was completely pointless, you know,” Eisheth went on with cruel humor. “You should have run for it. It’s too late for him. Ash isn’t worth saving now.”

Piper’s throat constricted. She slowly drew one arm closer so she could push herself over onto her back.

The rod jabbed her in the back again. She screamed and convulsed. Eisheth laughed, her good humor returning.

“When I hand you and the Sahar over to Samael, he’ll be very pleased with me, don’t you think? Where’s the Sahar, Piper? I think I should remove it before we continue with your punishment. Ah, there it is.” She grabbed Piper’s wrist, twisting her arm around painfully, and tugged on the chain until it unraveled. She kicked Piper in the side, making her gasp. “Roll over, girl. I want to see your face.”

Piper whimpered as she rolled onto her back.

Eisheth swung her prize like a pendulum, smiling cattily. “You lose, little girl. Did you really think you could escape?”

She swallowed to get some moisture into her throat. “Actually,” she rasped, “
you
lose.”

She lifted her other hand. The Sahar flashed brightly, hanging on its chain from her other wrist.

Eisheth’s eyes widened.