Infernal Ties (10 page)

I smiled sweetly and said, “Tell Dimitri Evelyn Hawke is here to see him.”

He glared at me and pressed further into my personal space. I blinked slowly and glared back at him. I wasn’t going to back down. After a long moment he snapped his fingers and said something in rapid Russian. A smaller bouncer slipped into the shadows while the original towered over me. I could have taken him down, but then I’d have to deal with the other bouncers, and it would become a situation. I didn’t have time for a situation.

Dimitri sauntered out of the darkness with two Sidhe that I didn’t recognise flanking him. His sharp features were highlighted by the carefully done lighting of the club. The shadows slipped under his cheekbones, and his silver-green eyes glinted with amusement that didn’t reach his delicate mouth. His dark-red leather pants left little to nothing to the imagination; I wasn’t particularly impressed. He was a lean (verging on scrawny) thing, all angles and sharp edges.
 

The bouncer stepped back once Dimitri was within arm’s reach. Dimitri sidled up to me and slipped his arm around my waist; I smiled and relaxed my muscles.
 

“And what brings the great Evelyn Hawke to my door?” he whispered in my ear, his fingers digging into my hip.

I seductively ran my hand up the back of his neck before I dug my fingers in and whispered back, “A coven has kidnapped Quin. You wouldn’t happen to know anything about it, would you?”
 

He pulled back, mock shock on his face. His eyes danced with merriment and his grip loosened.
 

“Let us talk in private,” he said with a hand gesture towards the club.

I gave a small nod and accompanied him around the edge of the dance floor; his arm remained around my waist and his lackies were no more than two paces away. If they decided to try and pull anything I’d be screwed, but I had no choice; they might have information that would help me get Quin back. Time was ticking by. Who knew what they were doing to him.

Dimitri led me down a short set of steps at the back of the dance floor by the side of the neon blue bar. He took me into a large room with pale cream couches against the far wall and a small sleek black bar on the right hand side. A man around about my age dressed in all black set about making drinks when we walked in. The room was sparse, there weren’t any potential weapons, and only one entrance and exit.
 

“Relax, Evelyn, we’re all friends here,” Dimitri whispered, his hot breath curling around my throat.
 

The two lackies lounged out on the sofa, their slender limbs sprawled out around them while they made a show of ignoring Dimitri and me.
 

"I heard about Quin. I also heard you killed Serena,” he said.

I tensed; how could he have heard about that so quickly? He smirked at me and leant back in the seat.
 

“Is that how you treat all your friends, Evelyn? I thought she helped raise you…” he said.

I ignored the drink that the barman placed on the table in front of me.
 

“She proved to not be a friend. Now if you don’t mind, I’d like to get my twin back. What do you know?” I growled.

He pursed his lips. “Really Evelyn, so rude. As it happens, I was expecting you. Azfin said about your little… incident,” he said.

He reached behind him and pulled out a blood-red leather bound book with a collection of magical symbols on the cover. “I promised Kadrix I’d lend him this book. Be a darling and give it to him tomorrow morning,” he said.

I raised an eyebrow. “I’m not an errand girl,” I spat.

He laughed at me and leant close enough that I caught the scent of fresh basil on his breath; his eyes held mine, daring me. “You might enjoy reading the book, Evelyn. Now, be a good girl and run along.”

He dropped the book in my lap and leant back once more. I glared at him and tucked the book under my arm before I left. My ego wouldn’t forgive me any time soon, but Quin’s life was at stake. I couldn’t afford any more injuries, or worse. There was no reason to push my luck, after all.

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

Once I was safely back home, I made a strong cup of coffee and began inspecting the book. The symbols on the cover were vaguely familiar. I’d seen some of them in Serena’s home and on her books. Quin probably would have been able to tell me what they were.
 

I took my cup of coffee over to the sofa and opened the book; there was something about it, the damn Sidhe had hinted at something. I wasn’t going to be beaten. It was the only lead I had until people got out of bed. There was no table of contents, that would have been too easy. Instead each page had a small rune-type thing at the top; some were as simple as a wavy line with a hook on the end, others were complex intersecting circles with arrows and such.
 

None of it made any sense. The few pages that were written in clear English rattled on about how best to worship the hag and keep her happy. I knew that the hag was important to witches. She was their goddess; without her they wouldn’t be witches. Serena had said they were going to become gods, though, which suggested turning away from the hag. She wouldn’t have been happy about that. I’d been told that witches who turned from the hag lost most if not all of their magic, but Serena clearly still had hers. I growled and resisted the urge to throw the book across the room.
 

Two cups of coffee later, and I thought that I might have made some progress. That could have been a mix of sleep deprivation and over-caffeination, but I was running with it. I’d found a few pages with what looked like a blood symbol on them. One of them had the hag symbol slashed through next to the blood symbol. I was clutching at straws, but it was better than nothing. It had to be. My twin was going to be sacrificed the coming night.

I dug around for Quin’s magical books. He thought I didn’t know about them. I’d allowed him to keep them as they made him happy. I didn’t like his attraction to magic, but the bits of alchemy he’d learnt had saved us more than once. I was soon surrounded by books and had pages full of scribbled notes. The sun was rising, but I thought I was onto something. I cross-referenced the words and symbols in Quin’s books to the ones in the Sidhe book. If I’d translated it correctly, then I could have found the ritual they’d be using.
 

There was still a chance that it was an anti-acne spell, but I was willing to jump on anything. A glance at the clock told me that I could get two hours’ sleep before I took the book to the elf. He’d have to speak the magical language, he was an elf and alchemist. If he didn’t, then he’d know someone, he had to. It was my only hope.

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

The lékárna opened five minutes late. I pushed through into the back workshop area where the elf was smoothing out his hair and looking in a copper pot.
 

“I need to make another trade,” I said as I made my way through the mess.

The elf pursed his lips and turned his head from side to side as he continued to inspect his reflection. When I was on the other side of the workbench he sniffed and looked at me, mouth in a tight line. He rolled his eyes and brushed imaginary dirt from his apron.
 

“Good morning, Miss Hawke, I’m quite well, thank you, I’m glad to hear you’ve made some progress on your little quest. Why yes, I would potentially be interested in doing another trade with you, what do you propose?” he said while maintaining hard eye contact.

I ground my teeth and forced a polite smile. “I’m glad to hear you’re well, I was hoping you may help me translate something. Dimitri gave me a book to pass to you, and there’s something in it that might help me find Quin,” I said.

Finally he smiled and looked away.
 

“I might be able to do that,” he said.

I took a long deep breath to calm myself. “I have been told that a coven has kidnapped Quin and plans on sacrificing him. If I translated the spell correctly, then it could be the spell they’ll use on Quin. I could use it to find him.”
 

I heard the waver in my voice. His eyes narrowed and his jaw tightened.
 

“And what type of spell is it, Evelyn?”

I looked away and swallowed down the emotions that bubbled up.
 

“I have been told that he was kidnapped to be used as a blood sacrifice,” I said.

“Now that really won’t do, I quite enjoy Quin. I will give you this information for free, as it’s for Quin. Show me the spell.”
 

His voice carried an edge.

I pulled out the book and my collection of notes. He took them from me and brushed past me while he ran his fingers over the cover of the book. I followed him through the workshop and stood next to him when he placed them down on top of a number of other books. His mouth puckered when he turned to the pages I’d marked.
 

“Well now, this isn’t very good at all.”

I leant a little closer trying to look at the page he was reading. He sighed.
 

“Evelyn, give me some room. I understand that you’re worried, but I can’t work with you practically inside me,” he said.

I set about pacing in the small clear space instead. He made murmuring noises and flipped through a few pages before he began scribbling something down. I watched his hand moving across the paper; was that the information I needed to find Quin? Would I get there in time?

He stopped writing and looked at me. Creases had formed around his eyes and at the corners of his mouth. He held out a piece of paper for me.
 

“The ritual will occur at moon-rise tonight, in a location that fulfils all of these things,” he said.

I snatched the paper from him and tried to decipher his scrawl.
 

“Bring him back in one piece, Evelyn,” he said coldly.

I glared at him.
 

“He’s my twin. I am not going to allow them to hack him up,” I growled.

The corner of his mouth quirked upwards. The writing, or more appropriately scribbles, meant no more to me than the witch’s symbols. I muttered a thank you and headed out into the lékárna in the hopes that the guy would be able to translate it for me again.
 

The guy grinned at me and pulled out a notepad and pen, I restrained myself from pacing as he noted down the elf’s words in a legible handwriting.
 

I squeezed his upper arm and said, “Thank you,” when he handed me the updated instructions.
 

They were a list of requirements. Quin would be in the location that fulfilled all of them. I read the list three, four times trying to think where would fit the bill. It had to be on a hill, but still close to cherry blossom trees while over-looking two churches.
 

I’d been pacing around the lékárna for half an hour when the guy approached me, a smile on his face.
 

“Can I help?” he asked.

“I have to find a place that fulfils all of these things,” I said, gesturing at the list.

He held out his hand to look at the list. I showed it to him before returning to pacing.
 

“Well, it needs to be in Vinohrady because of the wine connection, so that narrows it down a bit. The cherry blossoms are quite common about Náměstí Míru,” he said thoughtfully.
 

It suddenly clicked. I had a good idea of where Quin would be. If I was right, then he was within walking distance of home the entire time. I pulled the guy into a hug and ran out the door. There was no time to spare.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

The trams seemed to take forever. Didn’t they know what was at stake? People moved away from me and gave me odd looks. I smiled inwardly; a little more personal space was never a bad thing. I practically leapt off the tram and ran across the road and up the steep hill to the road I needed. People were casually wandering along the pavement having inane conversations as if the world was exactly as it should be; they had no idea. The houses were all behind ornate gates with scruffy little gardens, all except the one I was looking for. I choked down a laugh when I saw it; it was comically obvious. It looked like something out of a movie, practically screamed ‘evil stronghold’.
 

It was only five minutes away from home. My dear twin could have been so close all that time and I had no idea. I mentally kicked myself. It hadn’t even crossed my mind to look there; who puts their coven in a comically obvious place like that, anyway? I laughed to myself. The entire thing was absurd.

Unfortunately, the air began to hum with magic some ten feet away from the tall metal fences that surrounded it. The small pillar with a red snake wrapped around it begged to be touched. I had no doubt that anyone who did would be zapped or worse. The white square building stood in contrast to those around it, entirely devoid of greenery and covered in varying magical symbols, from zodiac signs to old Greek and bits I didn’t recognise. The piece of artwork above the back door depicted a gruesome scene with angels slaughtering people, a theme that cropped up quite frequently in Prague. The door had more art carved into it, showing a three-headed dog eating a sword-wielding hero.
 
The angels of death guarding the roof weren’t much better. The entire thing screamed ‘stay away or bad things will eat you’.

I did three full loops around the perimeter and couldn’t see a way in. The moment I got too close, the magic would be triggered. The best case scenario would be the witches made me sacrifice number two, worst case it zapped me on impact. Even then, I didn’t really know which would be worse. Kadrix hadn’t actually told me what the ritual entailed. I hoped that they needed Quin in good shape to do it. I was so close.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

After an hour of scoping out every inch that I could see of the coven headquarters, I admitted defeat and returned to the damned alchemist. I needed some of his gadgets. If nothing else, I needed his magic dispersal powder. I hated having to lean on him, to admit that I needed his help.
 
His pretty mouth spread into a predatory smile that made his eyes glint; I reminded myself that I had no choice.