Page 78 of Fate and Fury

“You swear you will tend his grave,” she told Ana. “But I swear revenge on the Vila who put him there. I swear release for his soul. On the Light I swear it. On my gifts I swear it. On the memory of Niko Alekhin, Alpha of his pack, prince among Shadows, I swear he will be no slave to the Dark.”

She stood, still burning, and limped up the path to her cottage, leaving Ana alone in the rain.

47

GADREEL

The Watcher Gadreel strolled the corridors of his new home, scheming.

He didn’t mind it here. It was novel, which was a rare thing. Gadreel had been alive for thousands of years, and there were few experiences he hadn’t been able to claim. The past few months, though, had been a time of wonders. First the Darkness. Then the surprise of Dimi Ivanova. Then Sammael’s foolishness, and the little drama in the clearing. Now this.

It was convenient that Sammael’s harebrained Vila had done most of Gadreel’s hard work for him. In one fell swoop, Dimi Ivanova had been robbed of her Shadow, and the Darkness had been temporarily sated by claiming both that ridiculous Vila and the black dog. It had tried to eat Dimi Ivanova as well, and Gadreel had resigned himself to intervene on her behalf. But, wondrous creature that she was, she’d saved herself. He’d known she had the strength to stand against the Dark. That had been the proof.

Of course, she’d also knocked Gadreel unconscious and sent him hurtling through that damned portal, which had been aggravating. But that was just more evidence of herstrength. She would have cast him into the Void, and his three companions with him, if he hadn’t woken at the last moment and leveraged his bond with the Darkness to take control, steering the four of them to the wasteland between the demonic realms rather than into the Void’s lightless pit. It was a real shame that rescuing himself had accidentally resulted in saving the Shadow, the Vila, and the ever-aggravating Sammael. But it had been fortunate, too. They had their uses, especially the Shadow.

So, into the wasteland the four of them had gone, and from there, it had been easy enough for Gadreel to snap his fingers and transport himself back to his own realm. He assumed Sammael had done the same, not that he’d stuck around to find out.

Yes, Gadreel had gone home, long enough to assure himself that the Darkness had oozed down into his throne room once more. But it wasn’t as if he hadstayedthere. He had business elsewhere, and now that a new, unexpected portal had sprung into existence, he found himself traversing it with great frequency. After all, he had a prisoner to monitor, and he could hardly do that from such a great distance. So here he was, in this glorious place, which was rich with entertainment. Humans were weak and greedy, yes, but they did make such lovely playthings. And their little melodramas—who loved whom, who’d betrayed whom for the sake of power or money—amused him so.

A low moan sounded from the vicinity of his feet, and, annoyed at the distraction, Gadreel cast his gaze downward. His prisoner was huddled there, arms wrapped around his knees, awaiting Gadreel’s command. The Mark on the prisoner’s shoulder gleamed dully in the light from the torches. Gadreel was quite proud of it; it had been an inspired touch. He supposed he could thank Sammael for that. Watching his fellow demon bond with a creature of the Light had been…instructional. Also, boring; Gadreel preferred his infernal unions with a side of bacchanalia. But the little drama between Dimi Ivanova, her Shadow, and the Vila had been entertaining, after all. And it had given him this excellent idea, so he could hardly complain.

The prisoner moaned again, and Gadreel prodded the man with his foot. “Shut up, would you?” he said. “I’m thinking. Or I would be, if you’d cease that irritating sound.”

The prisoner’s eyes rolled up toward him at once, wide with terror. His moaning tapered off into a whine, then stopped altogether. It was amusing, watching him bend to Gadreel’s every whim. And instrumental to what Gadreel had in mind. But, again, boring. Dimi Ivanova would never submit to him this easily. She would pose a challenge, he was sure of it.

Soon, he would have her in his hands. Together, they would right the balance and banish the hungry Darkness, and then he would secure his base of power with the Dimi at his side. She was undone right now, fragile; Gadreel had seen as much in the clearing. Perhaps she would even be grateful for what he could offer her. Look what the Venom of God had done with his weak Vila and her hapless Shadow. It was pathetic, the way Sammael had been felled by his desire for that woman. What Gadreel wanted from Dimi Ivanova was far greater. Noble, even.

And if, after that, he chose to do…other things…with her, then that was his prerogative, was it not?

Gadreel licked his lips at the thought, and the prisoner’s eyes grew even wider than before. Which reminded him: there were places his prisoner needed to be. People who were expecting him. And it simply wouldn’t do to be late. His guests might get…ideas.

Gadreel yanked the prisoner to his feet and surveyed him. The prisoner gazed back, chin high, his expression as prideful as the first time Gadreel had seen it. Waiting for instructions.The contrast made Gadreel gleeful. There was nothing quite like making a vainglorious creature submit to your will.

“Leave this room,” Gadreel said quietly. “Do what you must. But remember: I can hear through your ears. See through your eyes. And should you deviate from my requests, I will damage you.” Not too much, of course; Gadreel needed him. But enough.

He smiled at the prisoner. The prisoner, predictably, flinched. Then he scuttled from the room, walking backward as if by keeping his eyes on Gadreel, he could defend himself against an unfortunate end.

Watching him go, Gadreel sighed. Mortal beings were such fools, their every action easily anticipated. All except Dimi Ivanova, who managed to thwart all of his expectations. What fun they would have together, now that her troublesome Shadow was out of the way. She would see what it was like to stand by the side of a truly powerful entity. To fight for the Light alongside the Dark. To accomplish the unimaginable. How delicious it would be.

Oh, yes.

When next they met, he would surprise Dimi Ivanova as she had surprised him.

48

KATERINA

Katerina stood in Baba’s cottage, waiting for the old woman to arrive. Her stomach growled, but she ignored it, her attention focused on scanning the books that filled Baba’s shelves.Magick and Mysterious Herbs.Treating Demonic Wounds. The Ancient History of the Magiya.All of it was useless to her—though what had she expected? A volume entitledHow to Rescue Your Shadow from the Clutches of a Dark Vila and Set His Soul Free?

When Katerina was younger, her mother used to tell her stories about a famous volume called the Book of the Lost. The complement of the Book of the Light, it was said to have been inscribed by the Saints themselves. No one alive had seen it, her mother said. No one knew for sure that it really existed. Still, tales of it had been passed down through the generations—the secrets it held, the miracles it could conjure.

Katerina had joked that of course it was called theBook of the Lost—if it was real, which she doubted, it had been misplaced centuries before. What else would you call such a thing? But as she perused Baba’s shelves, paging through one pointless book after another, she remembered how she and Ana used to jokeabout the miraculous spells the book might contain:How to produce an endless supply of sugared syrnyky. How to spell Baba Petrova so she’d sleep through training. How to give demons duck-heads and make them dance.

That was what she needed right now—a book that contained miracles. Too bad such a thing didn’t exist.

There were just five days left until the Reaping, and Katerina still had no idea how to make good on any of her promises—to save Niko’s soul, to protect Kalach, to bring her friends in Rivki home. The fields were failing badly, the wheat withered. The fruit and vegetables were dying on the vine. And the hunters were afraid to go too far afield, lest they fall victim to an attack of Grigori or of the Darkness itself. There was an inky nothingness nibbling at the edges of Kalach, and the few times hunters had gone out, flanked by a Shadow and Dimi pair, they’d come back empty-handed. Even the animals in the woods acted spooked and anxious, as if they sensed the evil that was afoot.

Katerina had volunteered to go out with the hunters, including Konstantin. To protect them. But the hunters had shied from her offer, and Baba had flat-out refused to allow it. Part of it, she realized, was that she was a distraction; no one trusted her anymore, and they could ill afford errors with the Darkness on the loose. But part of it was that her powers were no longer under her control. Without her Shadow, she was ungrounded. And out in the woods, without a black dog, she was vulnerable to possession, should the Darkness come.

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