Dark Flight (The Shadow Slayers) (4 page)

This time she didn’t lean back against the pillow but rather held it in front of her, pressed to her chest as a small, inadequate buffer between her and Mazeki.

“First of all,” she began, “there is no effing way that I belong to you. I don’t care what Teras may or may not have promised. Second, just out of curiosity, and for no other reason, I’m curious what you think that means, ‘belonging to you’? And be specific.”

The black-wing looked more like a scholar than a scary Aniliáre when he brought his fingers to either side of his chin and massaged the taut skin there. “I haven’t decided yet. I don’t keep a stable here, but I imagine it would involve at least a little breeding.”

Kara’s jaw dropped. “Dream on, you freak!”

“It’s not so terrible as all that. I know you’ve been visiting this realm for conjugal visits with your risen Mercury Lord, and now that it has come to an end, you’re splitting your time between the island and your home in San Diego. Quite honestly, I find the constant companionship of females tedious, so your living elsewhere would suit me perfectly. I will send a servant to fetch you when I want you.”

“You really are living with your head in the clouds up here, Mazeki. Why would I agree to that?”

He adjusted the sleeves of his robe, starting to look annoyed. “Apart from the fact that your father already gave you to me?”

“Yeah, apart from that.”

“Refuge, if need be. I’m not a weak man, Kara. My kingdom is admittedly small, but because of that tightly focused expansion of my will, it’s absolutely impenetrable. Ailexon in his full fury could not enter here.”

“That is tempting, Mazeki. I’m sure you’re a very powerful guy and all, but I’m not ready to come under your care and protection quite yet. And anyhow, you know I’m a member of a clan now, right? I don’t just visit Mercury Island for the fun of it.”

Mazeki smiled. “Interesting excuses, but you needn’t worry. I have no plans to sequester you against your will in the immediate future. I’d rather you came willingly.”

She hugged Stripey closer and shook her head. “Not likely.”

She’d thought she was coming here to help Julian and then by default, Gavin. But it had been an ambush the entire time. What made it worse was that the attention Mazeki was paying her—same as the men on the island—wasn’t because she was special, not like she’d felt with Gavin or Julian…it was just because she was the right species and had a vagina.

“As for your friends,” he continued, “I said I would help them if you came, and I always keep my word. All I need is one small token of good faith from you.”

She swore the pillow hugged
her
tighter now, maybe sensing her trepidation. “What would that be?”

He rose and held his hand out to her. “A kiss.”

She stood, holding firmly to Stripey, then walked to the black-wing. Leaning in carefully, so she wouldn’t touch her body to his, she placed one quick peck on his cheek. “There you go.”

He grinned and touched his hand to his face. “Wonderful. We’re making progress already.”

Her lips tingled from his energy, and it felt way too good. Maybe coming here for the spa falls wasn’t such a good idea.

“Now before you flee back to the surface,” he said, “let me tell you how you are going to help your friends.”

“I wasn’t going to ‘flee’,” she muttered, but Mazeki simply raised a brow.

“Your black-wing won’t have enough energy to send Brakken to the Abyss as Ailexon sent your father—with pure, brute power. After all, when we’re speaking of Ailexon we’re speaking of the chief of the fallen angels, and Julian is barely one of us. You will need to help him along with something: the feather of the Sanctiáre, freely given. If you provide that token, we may tip the balance against that monster yet.”

“The Sanctiáre? The white-winged angels? Where in the world would I find one of those?”

“At the top of the Mount of Truth, of course.”

“That really exists? Here, in the Shadowland?”

“It’s been here as long as I have been. Perhaps longer. But admittedly, it’s not easy to find. In case you have trouble, I’ll provide you with a map.”

He walked to his book-laden desk and a key materialized in his hand, then he slid the key into the lock of the top drawer. It looked like any regular drawer in a college professor’s office until he pulled it open. Brilliant bluish-white light spilled out, causing Kara to turn her face away and press her eyes shut. She didn’t open them again until she heard the drawer close with a scrape of wood and saw the room darken through her eyelids.

Mazeki walked to her and laid the scroll in her hand. There were bright splotches in her vision when she stared back at him. He unwound the parchment, revealing a map that was finely drawn in black ink. Some sections were intricate, with castles, mountains and strange landmarks, but other parts were completely blank. He picked up what looked like a crystal pointer from the center of the page and stared at the drawings for a good, long while.

Finally, he plunked his finger down on some land mass Kara had never heard of. “The map believes you should start here.”

Kara blinked. “It does?”

“Yes, Raleon’s kingdom. And it looks like…hmm…the fawn.”

The fawn?
She sure as hell hoped someone in the Mercury Clan knew how to get there. “Okay. Got it.”

“Use this to mark the map.” He pressed the crystal stylus into her palm.

“Mark it? Why do I have to mark it?”

He looked at her like she was daft. “Because the Mount of Truth is never in the same place twice, and I don’t know how badly it wants to be found. Unless you have an exceptional memory, you may want to mark down the next steps along the way so you don’t forget. You can’t expect the map to do all the work, can you?”

“Uh… I guess not. Have you ever used this map to find the Sanctiáre yourself?”

Mazeki laughed. “The Fallen rarely have sufficient reason to make the climb. But you…I believe you’re pure of heart in this endeavor, my little Shadow Slayer.”

Oh, great. Now he was making up weird pet names for her. “Does that matter…being ‘pure of heart’?”

She grasped the aging map lightly for fear she’d crush the delicate paper it was drawn on, but Mazeki simply patted her cheek and ushered her toward the door. “Best of luck, dear. I imagine I’ll see you again soon. And to answer your question—yes. Those who petition the Sanctiáre with unclean intentions never come back down the mountain.”

Chapter Four

Abbey and Jaxon had scored pretty much all-new furniture after moving into Gavin and Julian’s vacated apartment. Kara couldn’t help but be slightly envious of her two best friends as she sat on their plush, expensive sofa and stared at the blank screen of a large plasma TV.

Not so long ago, the three of them had been making do in Kara’s cramped apartment with her old-school television—the kind where you couldn’t count nasal hairs on the morning announcers. But since the pair had taken their relationship to the next level, it was better for everyone that they had their own place. Abbey had been loud in the bedroom before, like earplug loud, but after shacking up with Jaxon—a man who’d spent a hundred years in a harem—her vocals were now shooting-muff-worthy.

“No, you’re freakin’ kidding me,” Abbey said from the other side of the sofa, and Jaxon’s hand tightened almost imperceptibly against her calf from his position beside her on the carpet.

“Did they know?” Jaxon demanded.

“Who?” Kara asked.

The muscles in his strong jaw flexed and bunched. It was amazing to see how Jaxon had blossomed into a thigh-clenchingly hot alpha now that he had Abbey all to himself. “The Mercury Lords. They worked for your father. Did they know he’d promised you to Mazeki when you reached maturity?”

“Aiden says he didn’t know a thing about it. Julian wouldn’t remember. And Gavin…I haven’t asked him yet, but trust me, I’m going to.”

“Those bastards,” Jaxon said.

Abbey nibbled her lip, never taking her eyes from Kara. “So what are you going to do? Do I need to talk to the coven about providing you some back-up?”

Kara smoothed a hand over the fabric of the sofa and shook her head. “Nah. I’m going to be okay, you two. Don’t worry about it.” She was worrying enough for the three of them.

“And besides,” she continued, “Mazeki didn’t seem like he was going to push it. What we need to focus on is getting Julian up to speed so he can help us send Brakken to the Abyss. Rachel’s baby is due anytime now, and once he’s in Brakken’s possession…I’m not sure what’s going to happen.”

Rachel’s baby, she called him—or Gavin’s baby. She just couldn’t utter Rachel
and
Gavin’s baby. She couldn’t think of it that way or it tangled her up in emotional knots. She stared out the window for a minute, letting the beauty of the setting sun wash away the bitter taste in her mouth.

“How could anyone, even the worst of the fallen angels, hurt a child?” Jaxon asked. “It makes me realize how fortunate I’ve been to avoid much interaction with the Aniliáre. Although Mercury Island isn’t perfect, the Mercury Lords have provided an oasis of sorts, far away from the danger and drama in the Shadowland.”

Kara took a breath to avoid rolling her eyes. “You’re right about the danger in the Shadowland, but drama…Mercury Island has plenty of that.”

“True,” he replied, “but arguments over who gets time with a female aren’t quite the same as gutting those who displease you or sending an adversary to the Abyss.”

“Sheesh, you guys.” Abbey rubbed her palm over Jaxon’s short, silky brown hair, using his head like a stress ball. “You’re making running a coven sound tame by comparison.”

Jaxon took her hand and kissed it. “Not hardly. I’m wondering why I ever encouraged you to take your place as high priestess.”

“Why do you say that?” Kara folded her legs under her and turned more directly toward Abbey. “Is something happening that I should know about?”

Abbey flicked the rim of Jaxon’s ear with a shiny pink fingernail. “Nope. He just worries too much. You know that. And I hate to be the one to bring this up, but are you sure Julian is still going to help? I mean…you guys aren’t really talking anymore, right?”

“I…uh… He said he would. I haven’t heard otherwise.” If there was one topic Kara wasn’t ready to cover, not even with her best friends, this was it. The pain was like a fresh burn on her heart, and removing the iron didn’t take away the sting. She leaned over the coffee table and picked up her mother’s journal. “Anything on this yet, Jaxy?”

“I’ve wasted so much time with that damn journal, but I finally figured out the problem. Deanna’s journal isn’t in a language I’m unfamiliar with—it’s encoded.”

Kara’s eyes widened. “Seriously? Wow. I guess if I were married to Ailexon I might resort to something like that, too. So we’ll never know what it says then…” The thought made her sad. She didn’t know what she expected to find in the journal, but it would have been enough just to hear her mother’s words.

Jaxon laughed. “Do you have so little faith in me? Now that I know what I’m looking for, I’ll try to discern the key for breaking the code.”

Kara stared at her friends and smiled. “Abbey, how’d you score a man with brains and a body like that?”

Abbey ran a hand over Jaxon’s pecs and kissed his cheek. “I know, right?”

“I don’t want to be a pain, but do you think you could flash me to Mercury Island, Jaxon? I really need to talk to Gavin, and every time I summon him, he comes with swords drawn, expecting an emergency. And if anyone’s drawing a sword tonight, it’s me.”

“Of course,” he answered. “Do you need me to wait for you there?”

Kara could tell by the carefully neutral expressions on Abbey’s and Jaxon’s faces that they’d already planned something else for the evening besides running errands with Kara. “No. I’ll get one of the other silver-wings to bring me back if I need to.”

“I can take you now.”

“Thank you.” Kara patted Abbey’s knee and stood. “He’ll be back quicker than you know it, Abbs.”

“It’s not Mercury Island I’m worried about—it’s the whole battle thing. Can you bring him back from that?”

Jaxon’s nostrils flared as he rose and came to Kara, then he looked back at Abbey. “It’s been decided. I will help bring down that bastard.”

Kara frowned, hating that she’d involved Jaxon in this. “It’s not really your fight, Jaxon. I’m not your mistress anymore, and you aren’t training with the clan. No one would think less of you if you stayed with Abbey.”

If his nostrils were flared before, now they looked ready to shoot fire. He met Kara’s eyes, and she’d never seen his gaze as hard. “I will be part of the battle. Heaven help any man—or woman—who tries to keep me from it.”

Surprised, Kara glanced to Abbey, but Abbey looked away. For the first time, she wondered if Jaxon had unfinished business with Brakken that she didn’t know about. “Okay. Sorry.”

“Jaxon…” Abbey said softly.

“We’ll talk about it when I get back,” he answered, grasping Kara’s arms and plunging them both into the darkness.

They materialized in the square as the sun was just coming up over the mountains. The aftereffects of their travel made her feel like her brain was rattling around in her skull, and she squeezed his arm to steady herself. “Am I missing something here? What’s going on with you and the battle plans that you and Abbey don’t want me to know?”