Page 17 of Mardi Gras Murders & Midnight Masquerades
The heat from my dragon fire intensified. The white-hot flames revealed weak points in the tunnel's structure.Society members retreated from the increasing temperature. My sisters pushed back against their dark energy. Then their void spaces flickered as the power balance shifted.
"The support structures are weakening," Dre called out. Sweat beaded on her forehead as she maintained the protective barrier around us. "One more blast should do it!"
I gathered more power, letting my dragon fuel the flames until they burned with supernatural intensity. The stone began to glow, and their magical containment failed under the assault. Society members started disappearing as the tunnel groaned ominously.
"Now, Dre!" Lia shouted as she grabbed me, and we took off running. The others were already headed down the tunnel.
Dre's telekinesis ripped through the weakened structure like a tornado. Stone shrieked and shifted as the tunnel began to collapse. The void spaces contracted before shit started falling in earnest. They took the rubble and our enemies with them while leaving behind that sickening cold sensation.
"Run!" Lucas shouted, pushing us toward the exit. We sprinted through falling debris.
Their void had either quit or couldn’t keep up with the rock coming down. Dre's power held back the worst of the cave-in. The tunnel was coming down faster than we could move. Centuries of dark magic was being released in violent bursts around us. Maybe that wasn’t such a great idea. But we had to get out of there.
Phi's witch fire lit our way as we navigated the collapsing passages. Each step threatened to trigger more soul traps. We had to keep moving despite the risk. The magical backlash from the failing containment spells felt like it was going to rip me apart.
We burst out of the crypt entrance just as the finalsupports gave way. The night air hit us like a shock after the oppressive atmosphere below. The ground shook as sections of the tunnel network collapsed. Tremors rolled through the cemetery. Damn, was I glad this place was locked up and mundies could no longer wander around in here as they pleased.
We looked back, and I could see minute evidence of their foul magic still wreaking havoc below ground. "Damn, we’re good. Got out of there just in time,” Dani muttered as she wiped her face. I wasn’t so sure. Something felt wrong about how easily we'd escaped. My instincts warned that this had been too simple.
"Everyone okay?" Dre asked, doing a quick headcount as dust settled around us.
Nodding, I calmed myself to allow my transformation to revert. It was harder to hold a partial transformation, and the longer I held it, the more work I had to put into reverting back to normal. Slowly my body began to return to normal. Though my dragon remained alert and wary. The void magic had left an oily residue on my supernatural awareness that even my dragon fire couldn't completely burn away.
"Define okay," Lia muttered, still clutching the mask we'd retrieved. Its surface seemed to absorb the moonlight. If I hadn’t known it was magical, it would feel like nothing. "Because I'm pretty sure we just made some powerful enemies."
"Made?" Phi laughed without humor. "More like confirmed their existing hatred of us." She extinguished her witch fire but remained tense and ready to respond to any new threat.
"The Society clearly knew we'd find that chamber," Dani said, leaning against Noah as she caught her breath. "They were waiting for us. Everything down there was staged."
"Which means this was probably a test,"Dea added, her hands still trembling slightly. "They wanted to see what we're capable of. How we'd react under pressure."
I stared at the ruined crypt entrance, my supernatural senses still detecting traces of life despite the devastation. The network of tunnels hadn’t completely collapsed, and the power was still active and filling them. It was still moving beneath the city like a dark current. There was no doubt in my mind that this was just one small part of a much larger system.
"You’re right about that, Dea. They'll have other ways in and out of those tunnels," I said. "We’re going to need to be careful getting back to the car. We don’t want to repeat that topside where it can be filmed."
"Especially now, they know exactly how we'll react to a threat," Dre concluded grimly. "We need to be smarter about this. More strategic. They showed us exactly what they wanted us to see, not what we need to know."
Lucas nodded, pulling Lia closer. "The pack will pick up patrol around the city and watch for more Society activity. We'll coordinate with those we can trust on the council to set up a network to track void space and anything suspicious."
"We should also warn Marie," Dea suggested, wrapping her arms around herself. "If they're using soul-trapping magic, maybe she can help us understand what we're really up against. After all, she was an expert in it not that long ago."
The night air was thick with humidity and the lingering scent of dark magic as we made our way back to our vehicles. Every one of us remained restless. It was hard to relax when you knew something larger loomed on the horizon. The Society had revealed the tamest of their capabilities tonight. Anticipation of what else they could do was horrible. While I wanted to put off the inevitable fight forever, I also wanted to get it over with.
Walking through the cemetery, I noticed how the surrounding graves pulsed with residual energy. The Society's magic had tainted everything within this sacred ground. It broke my heart to see how they’d corrupted families’ tombs. Those were sacred places and should be off limits. It seemed these assholes had no scruples. I wanted to cleanse the area, but knew there wasn’t a spell strong enough. This kind of darkness had sunk too deep.
I was vigilant as we walked swiftly down the street to the lot where Lia and Noah had parked. The drunk tourists barely registered our presence, and the supernaturals out nodded their heads in acknowledgment. I kept expecting someone to jump out of an alley. I was exhausted by the time we reached our vehicles.
My hands shook slightly as I climbed into Lia's car. Something felt off about our escape. The void magic had left its mark, but I sensed there was more to it. "What do you think Kota?" Dre's voice broke through my thoughts. "Didn’t it seem too easy? Like they let us collapse those tunnels."
"I was thinking the same thing," I replied as I clenched my jaw in frustration. "They had us surrounded and had powerful void magic at their disposal. Why let us destroy their network so easily?"
"Unless what we saw wasn't real," Dani added with a troubled expression. "The magic down there was layered with so much there had to be illusion magic too. Old and new woven together. What if they wanted us to think we'd won?"
"I can see them wanting us to get overconfident," Lia muttered as she drove down the road. The mask lay between us on the center console, its surface rippling unnaturally in the moonlight. "But we should probably deal with this thing before we take it home. For all we know, it's exactly what they wanted us to grab."
"Could be packed withnullification spells," Dre agreed from the backseat. "Or worse. We should contain it before it gets anywhere near the plantation's wards."
I studied the mask, noting how it seemed to absorb magical energy. "There's definitely something off about it. It feels like it’s sucking everything into it. Almost like it's been specially treated to hold power, but also syphon it."
