Black Fallen (17 page)

“This is impossible, Vic,” I finally say, and shake my head again. “I don’t understand
how it happened. How something like this can happen,” I say, staring at him, “to one
of you.”

Vic watches me closely. “The Fallen have powers beyond us, I fear,” he says. “More
so than any of us expected. You will have to be guarded much closer. After all, you’re
still only a fragile human, regardless of your incredible strength.”

Something about that just doesn’t sit right with me. Even before the tendencies, I
was far from fragile. “Jake wouldn’t have brought me in if I was just a weak human,
Vic.” I push off the bed and turn to look at him.

Now I’m pissed.

For a flash second, I think I see a slight grin on his face.
Prick.

Not waiting to see if he follows me, I head downstairs. To the others. My team.

Inside, I separate myself into two people. The woman who now has her heart ripped
in half and mourns the loss of her fiancé. I shove the pain aside, and I actually
feel it as it recedes into the darkness of my too-recent memory. There’ll be time
later for mourning. For tears. For heartache.
Not now
.

Because I’m also the woman who not only has a personal score to settle, but my own
race to protect. I’m far from average. I can run. Jump. Fight like a wildcat.

I can kill. And I can make almost anyone do anything with my mind.

And I won’t stop until all of the Black Fallen are nothing but fucking dust.

As I ease down the corridor, I allow the shadowy, eerie halls of the Crescent to consume
me. There’s something here, and I feel it. I allow myself to be enveloped by it. I
become shadows. Aged darkness. Callous. Edgy. Treacherous.

Just as I near the landing to the steps, I see her again. The little girl. She emerges
from a small recess in the wall, an alcove.

Our eyes meet; my green ones to her yawning black ones. With her skin illuminated,
she almost glows. Instead of slowing down, I pass right by her. Before I take the
first descending step, she disappears.

I don’t know why, but we connect.

I’m sure I’ll find out what she wants soon enough.

Downstairs, I slip through the darkened halls and chambers of the Crescent. I find
the others still in the library. As I enter, I pull my loose hair back into a ponytail.
I shake myself mentally, ready for the fight.

And inside of me, I will not give up on Eli. Until I know for absolute, positive sureness
that he’s dead, I’ll not give in to it.

I have a Pictish scathe, holy water cartridges, and an ancient verse for protection.

And I’m going to fucking use them all.

“Riley,” Noah says, rising to meet me. “Sydney found something.”

His eyes lock with mine, and we share a long look before I acknowledge. In Noah’s
face I can see he understands that I’ve compartmentalized my feeling. What I’ve done
to see this through. “What is it?” I ask.

I glance over and see Jake, Gabriel, and Darius all hovering around Sydney. She looks
up.

“I’m pretty positive it’s a clue to the location of the first relic,” Sydney says.
Her blond hair hangs straight past her shoulders, and she glances back down at the
aged tome she’s been searching through. “If my calculations are right and they coincide
with the paragraph I found, it lies somewhere beneath the medical research center
at the university.” She looks at me. “The morgue.”

I blink. “Beneath it?”

“Aye,” Darius answers. “At one time that ground was hallowed. Catacombs run below
Old Town and below the university as well, although many are either filled in or haven’t
been stepped into in centuries.”

“How do we move through the city now?” Noah asks. “The Fallen know we’re here.”

“We can’t be certain that the attack on Eli wasn’t just a random thing,” Jake says.
“They could’ve noticed nothing more than that he was a vampire and wanted to toy with
him. But thanks to some potent root doctor magic, we’ve something to help shield us,”
Jake says, “from the Fallen.” He looks at me. “For a while anyway.”

I already know what he means. Potions. Similar to the ones I took for so many years
to mask the heavy scent of my blood. Preacher must’ve sent some with us. “Let’s go,”
I say, anxious to get moving. I have nervous energy now—energy that needs to be spent.
Pacing, my eyes are on Jake. Waiting.

He watches me closely. As do the others. I already know they have reservations about
me because of what just happened to Eli.

I shake my head. “I’m fine. Yes, I’m dying inside,” I say, and meet their gazes. “But
if you think I’m just gonna sit around while you guys fry the Fallen, then you don’t
know me very well.” I meet Gabriel’s gaze, then Darius’s, then Jake’s.

Victorian, now standing behind me, puts a hand to my lower back. “I’ll stay by her
side—”

“The hell you will,” Noah says angrily, and stands and moves directly in front of
Victorian, meeting his hard gaze head-on. “I still don’t trust you, Arcos. Eli never
did, and I damn sure don’t trust you with my dead friend’s woman.” He steps closer.
“So back the
fuck
off.”

When Noah gets pissed, it’s something you have to witness for yourself. Usually a
flirt, a jokester, when he’s pissed off he is a force to be reckoned with. In that
quiet, crazy, Mel Gibson in
Lethal Weapon
kind of way.

I put a hand on Noah’s arm. “I’m fine. Seriously.” I look at Vic. “I can handle myself
without a babysitter.”

“Riley, you’ll be with Miles, Gabriel, and me,” Jake says, making the final decision.
He looks at Vic. “Arcos, you’re with Darius and the lupines.”

“What about Sydney?” I ask.

“She stays and continues her research through the volumes,” Jake says. “Gabriel has
a protective ring surrounding the Crescent. She’ll be safe for now.”

Just then, old Peter bustles into the room.

“Come get your magic juice!” he calls out with a chuckle. He reminds me of Tootles
from the movie
Hook
. And, yes, I truly believe he has lost his marbles. He has two pots of steaming something
on a large tray. He sets it down on a side table, then bustles back out. Moments later
he returns with another tray, this one loaded with cups. A paper sack, top rolled
shut, sits beside them. One by one, he sets out the cups and fills them with the hot
liquid. My root doctor grandfather’s art at work.

“Drink up,” Jake says, and steps over to grab a cup for himself. He takes the paper
bag, opens it, and pulls something else out. A smile touches his mouth as he loosens
the object, and a small silk satchel attached to a leather cord dangles from his fingers.
He hands one to each of the vampires and the lupines, and even though I don’t believe
it will work on me, I take one anyway.

“Preacher says this is just in case our blood or venom won’t accept the potion,” Jake
offers.

I slip mine over my head, bring the pouch to my nose, and sniff. Immediately, the
inside of Da Plat Eye, Preacher and Estelle’s potions shop, rushes to my memory. For
a second, I’m so homesick I can feel my stomach actually hurting. Dried jasmine, crushed
sand dollar, burnt saw grass, and a few other scents I don’t recognize. All of it,
I’m sure, is blessed with one of Preacher’s root-doctor charms. It rests against Eli’s
medallion on my chest. I grab a cup, bring it to my lips, and drain it.

You know I am just a thought away, Riley. If you need me, call. I will come.

That from Vic, and I shoot him a quick glance and nod.

“Let’s get out of here,” I say, anxious to move. Anxious to ash the bastards who took
Eli away from me.

Everyone drains their cups. Those who have Preacher’s talismans slip them on. Noah
doesn’t think twice about his. Ginger and Lucian, the lupines, both sniff it, make
a face, and tuck them beneath their shirts. I think about taking the scathe, but I
decide it’s not time yet. I leave it stashed in my room. Soon we’re all geared up,
swords hidden beneath dark coats, and talismans filled with an ancient Gullah charm,
and we head out into the misty Edinburgh night.

Darkness had fallen again since I’d returned from the streets this morning. God almighty,
I’d spent all day sleeping and dreaming. Before we take off, a hand finds my arm.
I turn to find Ginger standing there, her eyes wide.

“I’m sorry,” she says, and doesn’t take it further. “If you need a girl to talk to,
I’m here.”

I give a short nod. “Thanks, but I’ll be ok.”

Ginger looks at me with a solemn gaze, returns the nod, then finds her mate, Lucian.

If I give in to that, to spilling my guts to another female, I’ll lose it.

I can’t afford to lose it. Maybe later, but not now. Hell, no.

Jake stands before me, his impossibly hulking figure throwing a shadow completely
over me. I glance up.

“Can you handle this?” he asks. He’s not condescending, not sympathetic. He’s matter-of-fact.

I nod. “I got it.”

He watches me a few seconds longer, then nods. He addresses the others. “Let’s go.
We’re headed to Teviot Place, at the university.”

The groups separate once more, and Darius takes his one street over, to Cowgate, and
we slip into the sidewalk crowd and head up the Royal Mile, toward the castle. I walk
fast, one hand in my coat pocket, the other against the hilt of my sword. Locals amble
up and down the Mile, some heading to pubs, some just getting off work. Jake is in
front of me; Noah’s behind me.
Eli should be beside me. . . .

Riley, get it together, babe.

I turn and shoot Noah a look.
You get it together.
Noah stares, waiting for a decent answer, I guess, but I give myself a mental shake
and push Eli back to the shadows of my mind. Noah’s right. Gotta have my head fully
in this. Fight now; everything else, later.

Weaving through people carrying steaming coffee from the local grind, others moving
fast, head down, hands shoved into their pockets, and others—youth—moving in groups,
loud and raucously, we finally turn left at George IV and head toward the university.
The mist is heavy now, not only visually, but also the scent of the Firth of Forth
hangs thickly inside of it, filled with rotting seaweed and sea life, saltwater and
God knows what else. Taxi horns blast every once in a while, and as I glance up, the
lights illuminating Edinburgh Castle form a beacon to the city. Voices fill my head,
and they’re the voices all around me, in front of me, behind me.

Meet me at the Mercat Cross in thirty minutes.

I’m no’ feckin’ tha’ bitch! Are you feckin’ daft, girl?

Vinegar and brown sauce?

Give me a pint, aye?

I concentrate, push aside the voices, and filter through the mass of people’s random
conversations until the only sounds surrounding me are those of my footsteps, of Noah
walking behind me, and Jake and Gabriel walking ahead of me. There’s something else
I hear, too. I’m not sure what. I can only describe it as a low, subtle hum. Almost
like an electrical buzz, but even more faint than that. It’s weird. No matter how
much I try to push it out of my senses, it stays. It won’t clear out. Soon, we cross
Candlemaker’s Row and onto Teviot. University goers mill about, and a young couple
passes us. The guy has a cigarette dangling off his lips, and he’s walking with his
arm draped around a pretty girl dressed in head-to-toe black, with a bright purple
scarf wrapped fashionably around her neck. The girl looks at me as they pass, her
eyes darting to my inked wings. “Feckin’ ripped,”
I hear her whisper to her guy friend, who gives me a curious look. “Aye,” he answers
her. But just that fast, they move away and into the other passersby meandering along
the walkways.

Jake leads us down a narrow close—I don’t even catch the name of it—but it goes down
a long, even narrower flight of aged steps. The walls are close and smell of wet stone,
and not a soul is around. Just us. Ahead of me, I look at Jake’s wide, broad back
and shoulders and wonder how in Hell he and Gabriel can walk straight through. Then
they stop and half-turn to us. I throw a look over my shoulder. Noah is behind me,
and Darius, Vic, Ginger, and Lucian have joined us. Jake’s eyes catch a slender beam
of light pouring in from the streetlamp above us.

“We’re beneath one of three medical labs in this section of the university,” he says.
“They’re side-by-side, as are the chambers through this entrance. “It’s dark as Hell
in here, and passages you don’t even think exist, do.” He looks at me. “Easy to get
lost. I’ve done it. Many times.”

“So this is just another entrance to the catacombs?” I ask.

“Aye,” he answers. “They virtually run course beneath all of Old Town. Some are caved
in; some are easy enough to navigate.” In that beam of light I see Jake’s eyes narrow.
“But be careful. They can be treacherous even for the experienced.” He inclines his
head to my pocket. “Use your torch, lass.”

“What are we looking for, Andorra?” Lucian asks.

Jake glances over my head to stare at Lucian. “According to Sydney, a stone embedded
in the corner wall of a chamber. The stone will have a tilted impression of a cross.
By now ’tis barely visible, so it won’t be easy to spot. Once we find the stone, we
have to wedge it out. Whatever the relic is, ’twill be there.”

Lucian’s silence signals an okay to proceed.

My hand goes for the mini flashlight I carry in the pocket of my coat.

With a final glance at us all, Jake pushes open a rickety old wooden door and ducks
through the entrance. I turn my light on and follow.

“I’m right behind you,” Noah says in my ear. “Don’t do anything stupid.”

I jab his gut with my elbow. “You mean like that?”

Noah’s grunt is the only response I get. Along with a nice swear word.

My eyes try to focus in the dark, but they don’t. Can’t. It’s an absolute pitch-black
abyss down here and the only thing I can see is what my flashlight beam alights on.
It’s crazy. The floor is stone, some loose pebbles, and dirt. Uneven. Good thing I
wore my Nikes, or I’d surely bust my ass. This is worse than the cobbles on River
Street back home.