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Great. If my demon sword didn’t know what the hell was approaching, what chance did I have? I glanced back at Azriel. Maybe you were right. Maybe we should get the hell out—
I broke off as the cuneiform stones came to life. Light flared between them, warm and soft, shimmering softly in the candlelit darkness.
Someone is using the stones.
And that someone is undoubtedly our sorceress, Azriel said. There are no Razan left.
That we know of. But she was using blood magic to create her own twisted version, remember?
They were little more than programmable killing machines, he bit back. The warm light was getting stronger and sent slivers of light swirling across the darkness, lifting it, revealing more of the barren concrete space. It was bigger than it had seemed.
It doesn’t matter who it is, I said. We can’t get to them thanks to the goddamn barrier!
Then perhaps we should see if we can remove the barrier. As the light between the stones grew brighter, he raised Valdis to shoulder height, then glanced at me. Step back.
As I did, he drew Valdis back, then plunged her into the middle of the barrier. For an instant, nothing happened.
Then Valdis screamed, the invisible barrier abruptly came to life, and the room exploded.
Chapter 11
The force of the explosion picked me up and threw me backward. Amaya’s flames flared around me, cushioning my fall somewhat and protecting me from the concrete and heat that spewed all around us.
Azriel? I screamed mentally. Are you okay?
There was no reply. Panic surged, but there was little I could do until the shrapnel and whatever else was flying around the room had stopped. If there was one thing I did know, it was that he’d be madder than hell if I put myself in harm’s way just to see if he was okay.
And surely to god he had to be. He was a reaper, an energy being, and no easy kill.
But that didn’t mean he couldn’t be killed, and he’d been a lot closer to the explosion than I had.
I took a deep, shuddery breath, but it didn’t do a whole lot to ease the fear-based churning in my gut. As the noise, the heat, and the shards of metal and concrete calmed, I ordered Amaya to lower the shield and carefully rose. Dust, thick and heavy, swirled through the large room, making it difficult to breathe, let alone see.
Azriel? I cocked my head sideways, listening intently, trying to catch even the smallest sound. What I did hear was coming from behind us—footsteps, running toward the room. Obviously, the people still working in the offices had heard the explosion.
I swore and took a tentative step forward. Metal crunched under my feet, the sound like that of old bones. I shivered and hoped it wasn’t an omen of some kind.
Azriel, please, answer me. I took another step. Blue flickered through the dusty darkness up ahead—Valdis. Hope surged. If Valdis had survived, then surely Azriel had as well. But as
much as I wanted to rush over there, I couldn’t. I needed to do something to stop those people from coming in here. I had no idea what other tricks Lauren might have up her sleeve, but I doubted this explosion would be the last of them. I didn’t need innocent bystanders getting caught in the middle of a firefight.
So even though it went against every instinct I had, I resolutely turned around, raced back up the stairs, and closed the door. Azriel had destroyed the lock, but there was a heavy old dead bolt near the top of the door, so I slammed that home, then brought Amaya down on the handrail, chopping off a chunk of metal and wedging it under the door. They’d force their way in eventually, but at least I’d bought some time.
I spun and went back down into the dusty darkness. Valdis’s light pulsed across the shadows, reminding me oddly of a lighthouse beacon. I hoped like hell it was a beacon that was guiding me toward good news, not bad.
I swallowed heavily, my stomach churning faster and faster the closer I got. I couldn’t see anything resembling a dust-covered body, be it alive or dead. I couldn’t smell blood or ruined flesh, either, and that was comforting. At the very least, he hadn’t been blown into little tiny pieces.
Valdis’s light got stronger, angrier. She was lying on the cracked and filthy concrete, the flames flaring down her sides pulsing between blue and red. She was furious, and I can’t say I blamed her. I’d be furious, if I wasn’t so scared.
I stopped and looked around. The dust was beginning to settle, and Valdis’s light was strong enough to lift the thicker shadows. The standing stones were still and dark once more. I had no idea what had activated them, but certainly no one had come through them. But maybe that had never been the point. Maybe all along the barrier had been the trap, and the stones nothing more than a distraction.
It was a trap Azriel had not only sprung, but been ensnared by.
I flexed my fingers, trying to control my fear, trying to think rather than panic. He had to be alive. He couldn’t be dead. Not like this.
Is not, Amaya said.
I frowned. How do you know?
