Page 74 of Hunted
Chapter 25
Dusek
The first explosionwas nothing more than a distant sort of thump, and a ping against the wards.But the second round obliterated the wards and shook the building with a deafening roar.
I was in the lower level in the hallway, drifting toward the elevator to take my turn on guard duty monitoring cameras and wards, when the tremor hit.Pipes groaned.Drywall and stone cracked, sending a shower of dust raining down on my head.Something deeper than noise slid beneath my skin, a whisper in the walls that didn’t belong.Foreign magic.
I sensed the wards flare again, then go ominously dead.
Whoever our attackers were, they had somehow managed to quickly and efficiently overcome Sanka’s spellwork—incredibly strong sorcerer magic, which was bolstered by the magic of all the rest of the court.That explosion seemed to come from the upper level, but it rocked the subterranean level too...which meant it was big.I had to assume that our attackers had made it inside.
I only froze for a second before I retook shadow form and turned to race toward the stairs.The elevator was too risky.If it was still working, it could fail at any moment, becoming a death trap.
The court was already scrambling.Cicely ducked low and sprinted toward the west hallway, hands flying in urgent sign language toward Sanka.I made out his message through the dust as another explosion rocked the place, closer this time—the fuckers were blasting through to the lower levels, too.Not just from above, but from somewhere closer at hand as well.
“Pets.Safe.”Cicely had signed to Sanka.Good.If he was fussing over the animals, that must mean Ruya was already safe.I hoped.
“Ruya?”I growled, taking human form to grab his upper arm and spin him to face me before he could race off.
“Dragon,” he signed quickly.
She was with Robin.That was some comfort.Our princess could handle nearly any attack.And she’d level the entire city to keep Ruya safe.
The scent of blood struck next—burning, fresh,wrong.It coiled through the air, greasy like oil on water.Some kind of blood magic, more foul than any I’d encountered.The vampires then?But I dismissed the thought as soon as it came.I could sense strangers nearby, magic users, but lacking the death-pall that most vampires carried in their auras.
I pulled the shadows tight around me and reached for magic so old it didn’t remember language.The hallway filled with terror, the air warping with my power.I let it unfurl, but carefully.I couldn’t fully let loose with allies nearby.I didn’t want to send court members scampering toward our attackers to get away from me.
Two robed figures rounded the corner, a man and a woman.The symbol of the triple moon was proudly displayed on their chests.I was right, then.Not vampires, but witches.Cultists.The people who had stolen Ruya from her parents, killed her father, enslaved her mother,blindedher and held her hostage while they made her use her magic for their political games.My lips stretched in a sick parody of a smile, and I let them come closer.I didn’t know why they were intent on attacking us now, but I was happy to put them down.
As they approached, I saw that something was different about these witches.Their eyes were all wrong—pupilless, glowing from the inside out with some sick mockery of divine light.They raised their hands.Began to chant.I didn’t let them finish.
Whispers crawled from my mouth like insects—primordial syllables meant to be buried, not spoken aloud.I felt my form changing, growing taller and more skeletal, half-changing into the face of a nightmare.One cultist dropped to the ground with a wet, gurgling thud as his heart literally exploded from fear.The other shrieked as her aura fractured.Not death, exactly.Something worse.An insanity that would make her long for death.
From behind me, Vlad let out a warbled screech, pulling me back from my rage.He divebombed down the hall, his leathery wings blurred with speed.Then he vanished through a branch of the hallway that led deeper into the lower level—toward the entrance to the tunnels.
Good.He was heading toward the fallback route.The lower levels of the private sanctuary were meant to be impenetrable, our place to dig in if the theater was attacked.An attack on the theater above was one thing, but if the cult had managed to breech the lower levels, then we were better off abandoning The Fox all together.
Robin would be furious.She had onlyjustfinished restoring the damaged areas in the lobby from the last time we were attacked.
