The day the Underground had caved in on Ava was— and would always be— the worst day of my life. And I knew today would be the worst day of Marcus’.
But I could deal with my trauma later. I had to shut my emotions off in favor of winning at all costs. That’s what my grandfather had taught me, and that’s what I would do. We’dhandle our business with this guy, dispose of him, then go after the key. It was as simple as that. Feelings would only get in the way right now. I was the leader, and I was the only one pushing this team forward. Get in, get out, get it done. That was all that mattered. If we let the Dollmaker go and allowed him to live, he’d come back. He’d find Kallie again, and make sure to finish her off next time.
No fucking chance. We were putting Valen in the ground—today.
Not to mention this asshole threw a wrench in my plans, and I couldn’t let my grandfather down. We were eliminating this piece of garbage from the planet, then we were getting back to business and going after that key. We were already running way past our schedule, and the clock was ticking.
I wasn’t a guy that lost. I won, every time, and this degenerate fuckhead had bested me once. I wouldn’t let Valen live long enough to do so twice.
He’d know we were coming, but let him… this guy always wanted an audience for his work, and if he wanted to play games, I was willing to play. We’d show him he was nothing more than a pawn on a board full of powerful pieces, and it was checkmate, bitch.
We stepped out of the portal and headed to the place where we’d found Kallie first.
“Do you think he’s around?” Marcus asked lowly.
“Oh, he’s around,” I replied. “In fact, I bet he’s watching us right now.”
“In that case, why not see if he’ll bite?” Marcus seethed.
He took a deep breath beside me and began to yell. “Come on out, Valen! I know you can hear me! I only want to play… with your organs.”
A hissing laughter echoed throughout the factory grounds, but I couldn’t tell where it was coming from— the dickhead wasusing illusion magic to project his voice.“You’ll never find me, warlock. I’ll kill you one by one, then use your bodies as my toys. I need some new dolls.”
Metal clanged loudly as Valen used a pipe to bang on the walls. It was distracting, and there wasn’t a clear source of where it could be coming from.
“He’s in one of these alleys,” I noted, just as we turned a corner.
The metallic scent of blood filled the air, and I knew it was the same alleyway we’d found Kallie in earlier. My foot caught a rock, and I stumbled to catch myself on the side of the building. Cool, sticky liquid coated my hands, and I could still feel the remnants of Kallie’s magic flowing through it.
It was Kallie’s blood, smeared all over the wall. He’d painted the area with it after we’d left.
“Guys,” Chancey said in a hoarse tone.
A noise of rage erupted from Marcus’ throat. He immediately spun around and went storming out of the alley, screaming, “VALEN! I’m coming for you!”
Valen’s haunting laughter vibrated around the area once again.
“What did he do?” I asked Chancey.
“He took Kallie’s blood and used it to draw on the walls of the alley,” Chancey told me under his breath. “Her name, gruesome pictures of what I think is her face. This character’s really messed up.”
That was a light way of putting it. I turned to follow Marcus, trailing the noise his shoes made as they crunched broken glass and discarded trash underneath his feet.
“Come out, come out, wherever you are!” Marcus sang. His voice had developed an eerie quality to it— one I hadn’t heard in months, not since we’d left the Institute. A shiver ran up myspine as Marcus’ breaths became ragged and shuddering. He sounded like some sort of monster hunting for his prey.
“I will never be found. The Arcanea Alliance failed to bring me in, and the woman who swore to kill me has fallen,”Valen responded in a creeping resonance that made the windows on the buildings creak.“You cannot take me, little warlock.”
“It’s too late for you to run away!” Marcus conjured a high-powered battle orb, and it went sizzling to my left. The entire building beside us caved in and crumpled once the orb hit it, and the smell of smoke rose into the air.
Playing hide and seek with a serial killer wasn’t how I’d planned on utilizing my morning, and recess was over. Marcus conjured another orb and tossed it into a different factory structure. I listened to one of the smokestacks groan as it toppled over and crashed into the lake.
“I know you’re scared!” Marcus screamed. “Why not come a little closer, so I can enjoy watching the sparkle leave your eyes as youfucking die?!”
I think the falling buildings must’ve scared Valen and made him realize who exactly he was dealing with, because he didn’t respond. He was definitely fleeing, and we couldn’t let him do that. I turned on the spot, trying to get some sense of where Valen was or where he might’ve crawled off to.
I scanned the area with my magic, but I couldn’t read a signature. My senses were fucked up by Kallie’s blood, because her magic was stronger than Valen’s, and it was everywhere. It made Valen hard to track.
“I saw a shadow over there,” Chancey said, grabbing my arm to lead me. We ran that way, but Marcus sprinted past us. We ended up in some sort of epicenter of the factory’s hub— I could tell, because the air was expansive here, and the wind currents had more space to move.
