Elemental Light (Paranormal Public Book 9) (8 page)

“Darkness calls to darkness, I can only hope that yours is stronger,” said Risper. “But I wouldn’t cross her.”

Malle turned cold eyes on the man who was about to die.

“I am in charge,” Malle hissed. “She is a mere student I’ve been saddled with, and if she doesn’t want to die she will do as she’s told.” Malle glared at Lisabelle again, but even through the slit, and at some distance, I could see that the darkness mage had no intention of doing what Malle demanded.

“She should leave Lisabelle alone,” Sip whispered, her eyes never leaving our friend. “Lisabelle doesn’t like to be talked to like that.”

“That’s an understatement,” I said. I could still feel the dark power gathering, and it was now obvious that even the demons and other Nocturns could see it. They began to shift uncomfortably.

I shook my head, afraid but mesmerized.

“I won’t kill him,” said Lisabelle.

“So you aren’t really one of us?” Malle said triumphantly.

Lisabelle stepped forward. “You ordered me to come here and watch him die. I will do that. But I will not kill him. He is family.”

“How very respectful of you,” Malle sneered. In that moment she reminded me a lot of Professor Zervos.

Lisabelle shrugged. “Take it or leave it, but let me warn you, I do not take well to orders. Or threats.”

Suddenly Malle whipped out a wand and swung it at Lisabelle. I stifled a gasp at what happened next: the wand had barely moved before the whole length of it burst into flames, scorching Malle’s hand and causing the woman to scream. I could see Caid flinch on the massive screen as Malle dropped the wand, which was now useless.

Lisabelle was still staring at Malle. The dark power was almost palpable, and now no one was looking at Risper, who still waited on the platform to die.

Malle had yet to realize the change that had taken over the room, but I could feel it. All the dark power was shifting to center around Lisabelle, not Malle.

“I will tell the Premier of your refusal,” said Malle. “You will be punished.”

Before she could say anything else, Lisabelle lashed out again. A snake of black fire flashed toward Malle, and she was forced to duck. I thought I saw the tiniest bit of a smile play over Risper’s lips; he was still proud of  his family. Meanwhile, Malle fell to her knees.

“Get up,” said Lisabelle, striding over to the older woman. “If you’re going to order me around, the least you can do is to do it standing up.”

But Malle wasn’t going to get up. Dark liquid oozed from her cheek where the fire had lashed her.

“If you refuse to kill him, we will all know that you are still helping the paranormals,” Malle panted.

“If I take your orders, all will know that I think myself weak,” said Lisabelle.

Malle shook her head. “I am your superior.”

“You are not superior to me in any way,” said Lisabelle with disdain.

There was a shocked silence throughout the hall. No longer about an execution, the show now centered on the power struggle between Lisabelle Verlans and Cynthia Malle.

The older woman gave one last try. With a cry that was half fury and half despair she launched herself to her feet, her power gathering around her. She put everything she had into it, but it wasn’t enough. Lisabelle’s power was like a black wall of burning opals, while Malle’s was wispy gray. Malle slammed into Lisabelle’s power and went flying backward, while the wind swirled around Lisabelle as she called even more power to her aid.

My friend moved forward, slamming Malle onto the floor. The older woman rolled onto her back and stared at the ceiling, stunned.

Lisabelle pivoted on her heel and slammed her foot into the platform Risper stood on. The last thing the man saw before he fell straight down was his niece staring at him.

Sip buried her face in my shoulder. Lisabelle’s expression never changed as ever more darkness gathered around her. One by one the watching screens went black.

Chapter
Seven

The hall was filled with a massive howling. The demons converged on Lisabelle as Malle lay forgotten on the floor. Dark power flowed freely as the hordes celebrated.

There was a new darkness queen.

“What in blazes are you two still doing here?” asked a hoarse voice behind us.

I spun around and Sip quickly moved away from my shoulder, and there stood Vital. A purple bruise bloomed on his cheek and his sleeve was ripped, but he was otherwise unharmed.

“We came to see what was happening,” said Sip, her lip trembling.

I knew Sip was far over the edge, and only a massive effort of will was keeping her upright.

“Lisabelle . . .” she sobbed.

“We have to get out of here,” I said. “Now.” I could hear the thunder of movement coming from the hall as the demons spread out again. We were going to have a very hard time sneaking away.

“Did you get Lanca’s crown?”

I nodded.

“Good,” said Vital. “Come on.”

Halfway down the stairs he pressed the rock and yet another passage opened up.

“Lanca took me all through these passages while we lived here,” Vital explained. “We should be able to make it to the base of the mountain without being seen.”

“We have to get Lanca her crown,” said Sip. My friend sounded numb, and I had to guide her bodily down the stairs with soothing words.

I could see Vital’s blond head bob in a nod. “We will. She’s waiting for it. She handled that well in there, didn’t you think?”

“She did,” I said. “She left when Lisabelle killed Risper, though.”

It was hard for me to even get the words out.

“She didn’t have a choice,” said Vital. He could sense we were devastated. “She is on the side of darkness now.”

Both Sip and I were quiet. We hadn’t told anyone what Lisabelle had done at Carl’s house, and Ricky was sworn to secrecy. Now both Vital and Lanca thought that Lisabelle was a murderous Nocturn.

“All the darkness mages have gone over to darkness,” said Vital. “It’s in their nature.”

“You haven’t gone over to darkness, and as a vampire you have a lot of it,” said Sip.

We made our way silently out of Blood Locke. It was nearly pitch black, so I kept my hand on Vital’s back as Sip clung to me. I could feel the air getting cooler as we got closer to the outside world again.

Risper was dead. That strong man, Elam the master thief, had been killed by his own niece for trying to retrieve the Globe White. But he hadn’t looked angry. If anything, he had looked impressed. I just couldn’t see how that was possible.

“We have to talk about Caid,” said Sip as we hit the last step. I felt dirt under my feet along with a sense of relief I could hardly contain.

“Caid’s a pawn,” said Vital in disgust. “I know he’s a friend of Dacer’s, but that goes back to childhood. Caid shouldn’t be president of the paranormals. He isn’t adaptable enough, or brave enough.”

I had to agree with Vital, but Sip was silent. She still ran the Sign of Six, even if the organization was fragmented. Sip was an excellent leader, she had been since we’d first met, and I knew it chafed at her that Caid was afraid of a battle. She was also worried because she hadn’t heard from her co-founder, Nolan. For all we knew the demons had him.

Well, now the battle had come to Caid. But we had other things to think about in the immediate moment.

I felt Vital’s muscles shift under my hand as he reached out and touched the rock. It swung open silently to reveal a pre-dawn landscape where the darkness of deep night still tried to hold on.

The horses waited for us. Razor gave me a look that said, “Really? You again?” I just ignored it. Sip transformed into a werewolf as I clumsily mounted the black horse.

“We can’t waste any time,” Vital urged. “Come on.”

He quickly trotted away, Razor and I followed, and Sip came last. On the return trip Sip would follow behind, since we felt more danger from what was at our backs than what was in front of us, and in her werewolf form she would sense it sooner than the rest of us.

I glanced back at Blood Locke. It looked different now. Fires burned all over the mountain and there was a massive blaze coming out the top. Had they lit Risper’s body on fire?

I swallowed hard, thinking of Lisabelle inside the stronghold celebrating. She couldn’t really want that, could she?

I shook my head and returned my attention to the terrain. I thought I saw a dart of movement to my left, but when I looked there was nothing there but shrubs. Shaking off a growing feeling of unease, I urged Razor to move faster.

“Did you hear something?” Vital asked over his shoulder after we’d been riding for about an hour. I could have been imagining it, but I thought I felt the heat from Demon Locke on my shoulder blades and had unconsciously been trying to ride faster.

“No,” I said. The wind carried demon howls to our ears, and the brittle shrubs rubbed against each other, but otherwise the ride had been silent.

I looked back at Sip.

My friend had stopped, her head cocked to the side as she listened to something. As she saw me looking she turned.

There was a split second pause, and then Vital yelled, “Run!”

Not that I really had a choice. Suddenly there was a high-pitched screeching and Razor broke into a gallop.

The demons had known we were there after all. I looked back the way we had come and saw that out of every window of Demon Locke, darkness poured. Even through the fire that burned at the summit the demons came flying, filling the sky. I glanced back once to make sure Sip was still with us and was horrified to see that she wasn’t moving as fast as the horses. Her leg wasn’t healed!

I tried to call out to Vital, but there was too much noise. Between the pounding of hoof beats and the whipping wind, I couldn’t hear anything, and obviously, neither could Vital. I met Sip’s eyes and I knew she was telling me to go on.

Looking forward, I could see that we would never make it. We weren’t in entirely open country; there were trees and scrubby bushes in front of us. But Dunne Ai Dorn was a wink in
the distance, and we had maybe three minutes before the demons were upon us. Vital must have realized the same thing, because he came to a sudden halt. Razor stopped next to him, and I held on for dear life as I was jarred forward.

“You okay?” Vital asked. He was scanning the sky and the ground, seeing every option. Sip reached us a few precious moments later and transformed into her human self. Her skin looked sallow and she was breathing harder than she should have been.

I nodded, grabbing my saddlebags. I let my power course through me, sweeping through the wind, racing through the ground, and centering on my ring. The blue of the diamond blazed on my hand.

Vital razed an eyebrow. “I can’t say that’s a bad idea at this point,” he said grimly. “We won’t make it back in time without some kind of help.”

“I know,” I said.

Vital nodded at Sip. “You should rest,” he said. “Get behind the horses.”

“Like ever,” Sip sputtered.

“You’re hurt,” I said. “You two are both best in up-close combat, and we’re not there yet.”

“A beating’s a beating,” said Sip, shrugging. “These demons aren’t going to know what hit them.”

“Alright,” said Vital. “Get ready.”

When the three of us turned to face the horde, I realized that I should never have turned my back. There were so many black waves speeding toward us I couldn’t keep track of them. Next to me both Sip and Vital also turned to face the enemy. They had brought explosives, which I had been skeptical about when we had planned this venture. Now that I saw what was barreling down on us, I decided that the explosives had been an excellent idea after all.

“Sip,” Vital called, “you get the ones on the ground.”

“Okay,” said Sip. “You get the ones in the air.”

I saw the corner of Vital’s mouth turn up in a smile. He was used to hanging out with paranormals who didn’t take orders well.

“What do you want me to do?” I asked.

Vital glanced at me. “Destroy everything you can,” he said. “I imagine some Nocturns are coming. Your biggest advantage is that they probably don’t know how to fight elementals.”

The first wave to hit us were hellhounds. I found out the hard way that bracing for an attack was harder than being attacked; once I was forced into motion, I didn’t have time to think. It was three of us against hundreds.

The burning red eyes came at us carried on powerful haunches, and when they got close enough, Sip threw her grenades. I hadn’t realized what they were, a mixture of pixie dust and nightmares, until they landed with a loud pop and a gust of wind was slammed back in into me. Hellhounds went flying and I smelled singed fur.

“Sip, do that again,” I called out, readying.

“Sure,” said Sip. She threw another handful of grenades. This time when the blast of wind slammed back into me I grabbed it and threw it forward.

“It’s kind of like bowling,” I cried thoughtfully.

“What’s that?” Vital asked. Inwardly I rolled my eyes.