Dark Forsaken (The Devil's Assistant Book 3) (9 page)

Chapter 12

Snapping my fingers, I manifested candles around the apartment. Coiling the power within as tight as I could, I opened the door. Faith, dressed much as she had been in Mab’s castle in biker leather badass-ness, stood there smiling.

“What the hell are you doing here?” I asked.

With a girlish chortle, she said, “Now, Claire, is that any way to treat your new BFF?”

Faith sounded like a perky sorority sister, which was just wrong. She looked exactly like Sydney, minus the multi-colored hair, but her cold eyes made it very clear she wasn’t the quiet one. I stepped back when she stepped forward. She raised her left eyebrow and I erected a protection spell. I didn’t want to be caught unaware, especially if she knew of the prophecy and had specifically come here to kill me.

Craning her neck, she took in the room. “I just love what you’ve done with the place. Such a minimalist approach to lighting.” Spinning back around to me, she asked, “Did you wipe out the entire block on your own or did you have help?”

She chuckled when I didn’t respond and continued her stroll around the room.

Faith paused in front of the mirror by the door. Studying her reflection in the candlelight, she asked, “So you’ve actually met my sister. Is she as pretty as me?”

It shouldn’t have surprised me that she knew about Sydney. She was Mab’s puppet after all, and I was sure Mab had kept her eye on all the contenders. But how did she know I’d met Sydney? Was she just guessing because I’d recognized her or did she know about Sydney’s capture?

I blinked my eyes to see what magic clung to Faith. Unlike Sydney, she didn’t have the eye of Udjat on her forehead, but there was a thin green glow flowing in tendrils all around her. It touched things as if tasting them before darting back into the collective swirl around her. Was this her ability to see the truth?

“There’s really no comparison,” I said, hoping she’d get my meaning.

Turning to face me, her eyes narrowed. “Mother says I’m the prettiest. That’s why she picked me.” Faith looked me up and down, but her general disposition had already told me she wasn’t very impressed with my looks. “I thought you’d be more…interesting,” she said. “Mother called you
dangerous
. I don’t see it.”

“Mab isn’t your mother,” I corrected, then immediately realized how wrong I could be. Sydney and Faith were contenders, which meant they had an otherworldly parent, and that parent could be Mab. Not that an ovum donor makes someone a mother.

Faith snorted. “I’d ask what you call the one that raised you, but oh yeah, that’s right, you were an orphan.”

She made an exaggerated frowny face and I considered blinking her out of existence. Honestly, the power ball I had tightly coiled at my core could probably have her gone in the blink of an eye. Instead I smiled, which caught her off guard. I’d lamented my sucky childhood years ago; she had no clue what would really hurt me. Jack’s death, Thanos’s loss and betrayal, those things meant more to me than how badly I’d had it as a kid. “Hum…Mab, the bitch queen, or thirty-six foster families? Are you sure you got the better deal?”

Faith smiled, but it didn’t reach her eyes. She drummed her index finger on her bottom lip. “I think under different circumstances we might have been friends.”

I barked out a laugh. “No love lost between you and Mab, I see.” She gave me a coy smile, but didn’t say anything. “You being Mab’s untouchable, I’m surprised I haven’t seen you before. Of course, Mab doesn’t strike me as a person who’d actually value a second-in-command. With her arrogance, I’m sure she doesn’t even need one. She gave you that mantle for another reason, probably the same reason she picked you in the first place. But, hey, if you want to believe it was because of your looks, you go right ahead.”

Faith opened her mouth to say something, but I cut her off.

“Why are you here?”

She pressed her lips into a hard line, and then smiled that cheery sorority girl grin—all fake sincerity and too-white teeth. “I need you to fetch something for me.”

I cocked an eyebrow. “Are you serious?”

Faith nodded.

Without giving it much thought, I said, “Sophia Mazie Grant.” The spark of power buzzed as it left my lips. Unfortunately, it rolled right over Faith, not affecting her in the least. “WTF?”

Her grin turned to a smirk as she jumped up and down clapping. “I was hoping the rumors were true. You got Raven’s gift, you got Raven’s gift,” Faith sang.

I narrowed my eyes at her. Why hadn’t that worked? It couldn’t be because she was Mab’s untouchable, could it? I was sure Quaid had been spelled by Raven last summer when I dispelled everyone, but maybe I was wrong, and this was the real reason Faith was Mab’s untouchable. Mab had known Raven still existed and she was confident last summer in the museum that she had another that was like me. She must have meant Faith, but perhaps she wasn’t sure Faith would be protected and decided to risk me first. Yeah, that sounded about right.

“Oh, don’t worry,” Faith cooed. “I won’t tell mother about your new power. If I did, she might not let me have it.” With a smug look on her face, Faith sat primly on the edge of the sofa.

How had she known about Raven’s power? Why was she immune? I’d been immune to Raven because she hadn’t realized which name was tied to my blood, but Sophia should have been Faith’s true name, the one she was born with. I considered trying her other names, but that would just seem desperate. I tried another tactic: the direct approach. “Since we’re sharing,” I said, plopping down in the chair across from her, “what can I expect to get when I kill you?”

Her lip curled up on one side. She probably thought I had no chance in hell of killing her. I noticed her head cock ever so slightly to the side. I blinked my eyes and overlaid the scene before me with magic sight. The tendrils of power around her had thinned to the width of a hair as they tried to reach me. Unfortunately for her, they couldn’t quite make it.

Sighing, she folded her arms over her chest and the tendrils pulled back. “Why not? It isn’t like you’ll ever get it,” she laughed.

I blinked the second sight off and sat back, ready for her to dish.

“I can see into the past of an item. I can know all of its deepest,
darkest
secrets. With just
one
touch
.” She opened and closed the fingers on her right hand, as if that was the touch she meant. I supposed physical contact would do the same thing, but the tendrils of power radiating around her were probably the way she gained most of her information.

“Is that it?” I asked, trying to throw her off balance. “Because honestly I was expecting something … I don’t know … more interesting.”

At first glance, all the contenders’ “seeing the truth” powers were underwhelming. I got sensing veils, Raven got sensing names, Sydney got sensing death, and Faith appeared to have sensing the past. But like the rest, I was sure there was more to it than that.

Her eyes narrowed. In a pithy tone, she said, “It may not seem as powerful as knowing a name or seeing a true form,” she said, cocking her eyebrow in a knowing way, “but it has its advantages.”

Interesting. She knew which “seeing the truth” power I’d gotten from Jayne. Obviously, she knew Raven’s, but did she know Sydney’s gift?

She continued, answering my unasked question. “At least I didn’t get the power to see when someone will die—that one just sounds like it would suck.”

“So proof Mab didn’t choose you for your looks?” I goaded.

Faith’s face reddened and I wondered if Mab had been the one to tell her, or if Faith somehow used her power to figure out which gifts we’d each received. Maybe she’d used her power on Mab and taken the knowledge from her or another person in Mab’s court. I couldn’t imagine the big three were the only ones that knew the contenders’ secrets. I tightened my shields. I didn’t want her getting any of my real secrets.

Composing herself, she said, “Mother didn’t know of my gift when she selected me. Like most, she sees my power as a parlor trick. But with one touch—”

“Yeah, yeah, deepest, darkest secrets, I heard you. But mine are practically a matter of public record, so what else you got?”

Faith stood abruptly and I followed, readying my power if needed.

She looked at her hand and then turned her cold eyes to me. “I can see hidden fear—everything that someone would rather no one else ever knew about them and how they imagine others using it against them—which is quite unique.”

Okay, that was potentially problematic. But what could she tell, that I wanted Thanos? Mab had already turned him against me, or he never loved me. Then it hit me: she’d see the power within me, Harry’s blood-induced-power, and there were lots of ways she could screw me over with that information, especially if I handed it to her on a silver platter.

In a flash, she threw her hand out toward me. I had no time to switch on the second sight, but I felt the tiny pin pricks of her gift bump against my protection. I smiled at her when I saw the moment she realized it wasn’t working. Taking a second look with my sight, I saw the lines of her magic shriveling as they touched the barrier that surrounded me.

She lunged forward. I stepped back, throwing a light touch of will at the coffee table, putting it in her path and causing her steps to falter. She was Mab’s untouchable, so I couldn’t hurt her with magic. And using my will to toss her though a wall would just show her how strong my power had become.

Killing an untouchable wouldn’t be an easy task. It would have to be done by hand—my hand—with the power of all four, which I wouldn’t have if she learned of Harry’s blood. So getting close enough for her to touch me was going to be a problem. I would need to make sure I could kill her if I tried. I wouldn’t get a second chance.

Laughing, she said, “This is going to be fun, this little dance of ours, Claire. When we’re through, this whole town will be in ruin at our feet. Or my feet—you’ll be dead.”

“What exactly has crawled up your butt? Did your boyfriend dump you?” Faith's lips pressed into a hard line. “Or did Mommy start ignoring you once her real child was back?” Faith's eyes narrowed. “Or both?”

“You don’t—”

“Whatever. Why are you here? Clearly it isn’t to start the apocalypse. You said you needed something. What is it?”

“Sydney, of course,” she said. “My little sister and I have some unfinished business.”

Fuck, I should have tried to save Sydney the moment I got my powers back, but I let the situation with Thanos derail me. Now Faith was demanding I bring Sydney to her. “X has her because his ninjas thought she was you.”

Faith chuckled in that cutesy way I imagined all sorority girls laughed. “The Black Hearts, isn’t that cute? X’s pathetic little band of
warriors
. He may not even know they have her yet. I’m sure they took her to his warehouse on third. You should hurry before he figures out his mistake.”

“Why does he want you anyway?”

Faith rolled her eyes. “He’s under the misguided impression that I can bring back his lost memories or something like that.” She waved her hand as if the issue was irrelevant.

“What lost memories?” I challenged.

She shrugged.

“Why so quiet? You’ve been all Chatty Cathy about everything else.” Mocking her fake perky tone, I said, “Come on girlfriend, dish.”

She narrowed her eyes. “It’s your fault.”

What the hell did that mean
?

“I was downtown, minding my own business.” She checked her manicure. “Mother was off hiding out in the museum. So I decided to screw around with the rubes you know, betting them I could
guess their age
,” she said, making air quotes. “Then this guy came in, all cocky and sure of himself. So I made him my next mark. Only I didn’t see what I thought I’d see and then something hit me like I’d been stabbed in the leg. I later figured out that was when you killed Raven—good job, by the way. Unfortunately, I had X’s hand in mine, reading him, when it happened. He didn’t feel the pain, but he did get a shock and his thoughts just went wild for a minute. I pulled away and got the hell out of there. He’s been looking for me ever since.”

“What did you see?” I asked.

“When I mentioned his age, I got a really big number—like Mab big.”

“Okay, so he’s old.”

She shook her head. “I don’t mean old—I mean Ancient, but he didn’t know it. When the power hit, he had all these memories flooding in. I saw this locket and someone that looked like Mother, but wasn’t. A bazillion battle scenes and then a muddled image of my prophecy—you know the one with the dragon—and this really odd mirror thing. It was kind of like an old “Twilight Zone” rerun, you know.”

My head was spinning with all the details. “No,” I said, then immediately wondered if she picked the last name Dragon because of her prophecy, because clearly that was the most important thing that she said—not. “Wait, how do you know which prophecy is yours?”

She smiled. “Claire, you really have no idea who you’re dealing with. Now, story time is over. It’s time to start threatening. Because you
will
bring me Sydney.”