A cell phone rang, shaking us out of our thoughtful quiet. Avalon grabbed his phone and stabbed at it until it obeyed. “Hello?” he demanded into the phone. He listened for a moment and then said, “Analisa, we know. We’ve been brainstorming for the last twenty minutes.” He listened some more while all of us strained to hear what was said on the other end. Our Immortal hearing could pick up Analisa’s panicked demands to find her son and grandchildren, but it wasn’t an easy conversation to eavesdrop on. The woman had recently been through hell and now the same lunatic that had terrorized her had taken the only family she had left. I felt a strong wave of empathy for Analisa.
Avalon stayed patient as long as he could, but after a few more minutes of listening to her, he said, “Ana, I understand that you’re scared. But you need to know that we’re going to find them. All of them. And we’re going to bring them home alive. I need to let you go now though. We have a lot of logistics to work out. Is B there with you? Good. I’ll call you the second I know more.” And then he hung up.
For a moment I just blinked at Avalon. Those women, Analisa and Bianca, were these huge matriarchs of the old regime. I had grown up with a healthy fear of them. And now… now Avalon gave them nicknames and hung up on them.
I… Honestly, I didn’t even know what to do with that.
I decided to just move on. That would be best for me.
“Should we split up?” Jericho asked in a measured tone.
Nobody wanted to split up.
“What other Sources still exist?” Sebastian put an arm around me and pulled me tightly to his side. I rested my head on his shoulder and wrapped two arms around his middle. I needed his strength right now. I needed him to center me.
Amelia, Jericho and Avalon all did double takes at the same time. They seemed completely perplexed by our behavior. In fact, the only person in the room who didn’t seem surprised was Olivia.
But I guessed she could probably see this one coming after our earlier conversation.
“What’s going on?” Amelia demanded as if it was something nefarious. Avalon suppressed a smile and tugged his wife back to his side. His hand settled on the back of her neck and she shot him a disgruntled look. “What?” she snapped. “This is not normal!”
“We’ve worked through some things, Mims. Sera and I are… we’re-”
“We’re trying this again,” I finished for him.
He snorted a laugh. “No, we’re not trying anything. We’re back together. For good this time.”
My stomach flipped. I cast a cautious glance at him from the corner of my eye. He did not seem to be joking.
“It better be for good this time,” Mimi all but growled.
“Look how happy they are.” The way Avalon said that made it sound like he was making fun of us. “At least they’ll stop trying to murder each other.”
“Maybe,” I allowed.
“Hopefully,” Sebastian shrugged.
“Congratulations?” Jericho put in. Olivia nudged him with her elbow in his ribs. He squirmed but schooled his expression into an encouraging mask of confidence.
Yeah, yeah, Jericho. Like you’re such a love guru.
Avalon cleared his throat and tried to refocus the conversation. People could place their bets on this relationship at another time and place. “Known Source Magic… West Africa. Maybe more over there… There’s still one somewhere in Siberia. Rumors of something in Mongolia.” He shrugged helplessly. “None of those places are pinpointed though. Unless Dmitri knows something not even Lucan did, then he would have to locate them before he could use them.”
“It has to be Vienna,” I announced. “It has to be. Where else would he take them?”
We looked at each other and waited for the answer to fall from the sky. It didn’t.
I closed my eyes and searched through my Magic. I was Psychic, damn it. I should be able to take some of the guesswork out of this.
My blood tingled with electricity as my senses perused the vast stores of my Magic. I reached for an answer, for some clear indication of where we were supposed to go.
With Sebastian’s Magic intertwined with mine, I felt immeasurably stronger. Our Magics worked together seamlessly. They fueled each other; his Magic made mine more powerful and vice versa.
It was incredible.
I had forgotten the rush that came with this kind of energy. And when we were together before, I wasn’t even half this adept.
I stretched my senses and let the Magic speak to me. I had hoped for a clarifying vision or something credible, but all I got was an intense sense of direction.
But I supposed that was better than nothing.
“Vienna,” I finally shared. “They have to be in Vienna.”
Avalon narrowed his bright green eyes on me and frowned. “How do you know?”
“Because I’m Psychic.”
“Me too.”
“Yeah, but I’m really Psychic. And only Psychic. Also, Ileana alluded to this happening earlier.” Avalon quirked a brow at me, and Sebastian squeezed my shoulder to encourage me to keep going. “Listen, I had a vision. I saw Terletov with the twins. And I saw what happened if he got to do what he wants to do to them. Just so you know… it’s not good. I need you to trust me on this one.” My words came out confidently and decisively, but inside I quaked with anxiety.
What if I was wrong?
What if I led them on a wild goose chase while Terletov murdered my friends and their infant children?
My heart beat frantically in my chest. I could not let that happen.
I could not plunge this Kingdom into a darkness thicker and deadlier than even Lucan.
Terletov had to die. And soon.
“I trust you, Sera.” Sebastian’s clipped voice seemed to shout through the room. His clear trust in my ability moved me at some profound level. Yes, I loved him.
I would always love him.
And this moment was just one of the thousands upon thousands of reasons.
“Sebastian, you realize what’s at stake.” Avalon eyed us like we’d both lost our minds.
“I know that we have no other leads. And I know that we wouldn’t even know Kiran and Eden were in trouble if it weren’t for Sera. Furthermore, I know that if we don’t move now, we’re going to be too late. We have to go, Avalon. And this is the only lead we have. Plus, it makes sense. We know Terletov has something planned for St. Stephens. We just don’t know what it is. And we know that it’s close enough to Paris that he could have driven there within the time frame we’re working with.”
Avalon stood up and nodded. “Alright. St. Stephens. Bastian, organize two-thirds of the Guard here. Jericho, get on the phone with Talbott and apprise him of the situation. He is welcome to meet us there if he wants, but tell him we won’t wait for him to move.”
We moved into motion and didn’t stop. There were all kinds of details to organize and coordinate in the castle. Then we were on a plane and I was breathless and quiet for the entire ride into Austria. I stayed tucked to Sebastian’s side while we waited in anxious agony to get back on the ground and move again.
Once we landed in one of the Kingdom’s private, out-of-the-way hangers, we piled into stored cars and sped off into the early dawn hours. We’d brought an army of Titans with us, as well as the usual team with the addition of Olivia and Ophelia.
Talbott and Lilly were en route, but we didn’t expect them before we stormed the church.
This would be a tricky attack. Speed was at the top of our list. There was an urgency chasing us like hellhounds at our heels. Our entire crew felt the earnestness to get to Eden and Kiran. But at the same time, we couldn’t draw human attention to ourselves.
Usually our conflicts took place out of the way of humanity. The Citadel for example. St. Stephens was smack dab in the capitol of Austria. So… human contact would probably be unavoidable.
This mission called for an insane amount of Magic to pull off. And hopefully we wouldn’t miss any loose ends. We we
re all anxious to murder Terletov and not one of us wanted to answer to a human judicial system for what we would consider justice.
Plus there were so many of us.
We had divided off into waves. We hoped that Terletov was alone, but there was no way to know that for sure.
Avalon had decided his team would be split into the first two attacks and the Titan Guard would trickle in behind us, either to clean up our mess or rescue us.
By the time we reached St. Stephens, the still sleeping city was quiet, but dawn broke on the horizon. Pockets of life emerged around us along the soon-to-be-busy street.
The tall, antique buildings rose over the gray streets. The tram zipped around with lonely passengers. A few vendors trudged to work and lifted gates or unlocked doors, their busy days starting as soon as they walked off the street and into their place of work.
Vienna had the cleanest streets I’d ever seen in Europe, but today they were painted with an ominous brush. I felt the prickles of foreboding as I prepared my mind and body to engage with the most evil thing I had ever known.
These humans were preparing to start their very normal, very mortal days.
I prepared to go to war.
Sebastian squeezed my hand. I looked up at him and met those deep hazel eyes I could read so clearly now. “I love you,” he said. I felt his words punch through me.
He did love me. I could feel just how much.
I could feel his love pulse through our Magic. I could feel it beat with my heart and breathe with my lungs. I could feel it fuse with my blood and wrap around my soul so tightly I knew I would never be the same.
“I love you too,” I promised him.
His eyes softened some, but not much. “Survive this, yeah?”
I couldn’t help but smile. “I was planning on it.”
Intensity seemed to snap inside him. “I’m serious, Sera. I need you to survive this.”
“Alright. But I’m going to need you to promise the same thing.”
He flashed me a cheeky grin. “Nothing could stop me from being with you. Not even this psychopath. I’ll survive, Baby. And then you won’t have any reason not to stay with me from this day forward.”
“Well, at least you have incentive.”
“Believe it.”
He squeezed my hand one more time and then let go. It was time to enter the cathedral. The witching hour had come.
Terletov was going to die.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Sebastian
I kept a tight hold on Seraphina’s hand as we slipped through a side door into the darkened cathedral. Soft light filtered in through the stained glass windows. The sanctuary smelled like candle wax and incense. I breathed in deeply hoping to steady my rapidly beating heart.
I was wound tight with nerves, anxious to start this battle and anxious to end it. I hated that Sera was with me. I wanted her somewhere safe. I wanted her anywhere away from Terletov and the evil he could create.
But I was desperate to keep her near me at the same time.
I knew she could handle herself and I wasn’t about to let anything happen to her. But there were too many variables to completely trust the outcome of this confrontation.
Avalon led the way with Mimi tucked to his side. There was another woman I wished would have stayed at home.
But women never listen to me.
It was rather obnoxious.
Jericho and Olivia followed behind us. In a few more minutes the rest of our “team” would join us. Titus, Xander, Xavier, Roxie, and Ophelia. And then the Titans would come. We spread ourselves out in ten-minute waves.
I wanted Terletov dead before the Guard ever showed up, but that might be wishful thinking.
We used Magic to keep any human suspicion averted from us. It wasn’t hard if you knew how to manipulate gently. And most of us did. Olivia wasn’t allowed to try, but only because of how gently we’d seen Eden act with her new Magic.
Poor Olivia and Ophelia. So much of the way we treated them stemmed from how Eden had behaved. Which wasn’t fair to them because obviously they were very different from Eden in her teens. Better to error on the side of caution though.
We quietly crept through the sanctuary, sticking close to the walls. The floor vibrated beneath my feet, a ripple of Magic pulsing through the ancient stone. I snapped my head up to catch Avalon’s eyes. Terletov was either here or the source Magic beneath the church was close to collapse.
A renewed sense of urgency rushed through my blood, heating it to a rapid boil. I felt the primal call to war sing through my being, a feral awakening that promised a deadly, gruesome end for my enemy. This unrest, this beast of rebellion would end today.
I would see to it.
The stairs leading to the catacombs were hidden behind the locked iron gate. Avalon used his Magic to unlock it and we walked through without anyone the wiser.
We carried no weapons. We’d left guns and swords behind, favoring our powerful Magic instead. We had Eden’s blue smoke and enough promised revenge to defeat a thousand Terletovs.
The air turned stale and cool as we moved further into the earth. The dead slept on either side of us as we continued to creep silently through the tombs.
The rumbling increased with our progress. The ground trembled and rocks and gravel trickled from the ceiling. The silence lessened the further down we traveled and a crackling in the distance, like electricity at an exaggerated level sparked.
Seraphina looked up at me with an ashen face.
The last time we were down here, I had been the one afraid of the unknown. But today we both felt the sickening crush of fear for what was to come. Gone were my irrational phobias of ghosts and skeletons. And in their place a gnawing, gaping abyss of worry for my cousin and his family expanded and gathered strength inside of me.
All of our thoughts revolved around the children and Terletov’s plans for them.
On the trip over, Sera had explained her dream to me. I had gotten chills listening to the darkness that would descend on our Kingdom if the twins died. If Kiran and Eden went with them.
That could not be allowed to happen.
We descended into the second layer of catacombs. A heaving quake shifted the ground beneath our feet and the entire church overhead shifted violently. I grabbed hold of Seraphina’s waist to keep her from toppling over as we slid one direction and then the other.
Avalon and Jericho both shot a look my way. Were we walking into a trap? Suicide? Would we be able to stop Terletov without becoming victims ourselves?
The corridors narrowed until we had to move in a single file line. Eventually, we couldn’t even walk straight on. We turned to the side and slid through passages that were not meant for visitors.
The light up ahead had been blue the first time we were here, but now it glowed a cloying pale green. I could feel the malevolence radiating from the ancient Source, pulsing its way through the stone and dirt, threatening to crumble this entire structure on our heads.
Avalon was first into the room. The bad Magic crackled and sizzled in the middle of the circular space. We filed in along the wall and watched the Magic expand and retract as if it had to take ragged, painful breaths.
We simultaneously gasped and jumped back when a long finger of rogue electricity whipped out and hit the wall. The Magic bruised the wall, leaving a charred smudge that would have burned anything organic. Nobody was hurt, but it was a close call.
I looked at the curved walls and noticed long slices of Magical black marks all over them. The Magic seemed completely unstable, lashing out at any random moment.
What was happening to the Magic was definitely concerning, but not more so than the absence of Terletov.
We glanced at each other. Avalon held up five fingers that showed how much time was left before the next wave of Immortals would join us.
I felt the pressure to find Terletov before they arrived. Not because I didn’t want their help, but suddenly it seemed important to be
extra cautious. We didn’t want to set him off unnecessarily. Or spook him into doing something drastic with the babes.
Seraphina unlinked our hands and started to slide around the room, keeping her back against the wall. I wanted to believe we were strong enough to withstand a stroke of that Magic, but I remembered what happened when Terletov’s goons had thrown their bodies into it. They had been obliterated.
I was mildly against that happening to Sera.
“Where are you going?” I asked her as I followed right behind her.
She stopped suddenly, pausing just in time to avoid getting electrocuted by another wayward strand of aggressive Magic.
“There’s a crack in the wall. Over there.” She pointed to the opposite side of the room. She was right. A narrow fissure split the wall from floor to ceiling, just big enough for a person to slip through.
How hadn’t we noticed this before?
Maybe it hadn’t been here before…
Avalon and Mimi started to move around the room the same style we were, but going in the opposite direction. It was a gamble to try to predict the Magic in the middle of the room, but one we had to take. Jericho and Olivia followed Avalon.
The next spit of Magic came faster than before. We jumped at the cracking sound of it, but thankfully it hit the ceiling instead of one of us.
Seraphina picked up her pace and I raced behind her. We reached the split before Avalon and without pausing to wait Seraphina pushed her way through, leaving me to follow after her.
I did. And then ran straight into her back. Her hands were raised at her side, her body taut with tension.
I lifted my head and peered over her shoulder.
There he stood. The man of the hour. Dmitri Terletov. He held one baby over the side of a large, seemingly endless pit, just like Seraphina had predicted. The other infant lay haphazardly at his feet in the dirt. She was dressed in something adorably pink but her face was red from screaming and her feet kicked riotously in the air as if she could take out this evil man all by herself.
I smiled at her spunk. Only Eden could create something this wild from birth.