The Bone Coven Chronicles: The Complete Series Page 34

  I pulled a few strands of the magic into my mind’s grasp and focused my energy on that small bit of power. To create a ward, it would be enough.

  It would have to be enough.

  “I’m ready,” I whispered, and Dorian kicked open the door.

  Without a moment of hesitation, I threw out my hands and gritted my teeth as the power stormed from my palms. Orange balls with glowing edges of light flew into the crypt, slamming straight into the demon’s dark form. With a deep breath, I pushed inside the building, holding the balls before me and forcing them against the demon’s writhing body. It roared, the harsh sound slicing against my eardrums.

  But the shield held tight as weak as it was, despite the wintry storm that whipped around us and despite the low rumbling that began to shake the earth at our feet. I could barely believe it. All this time, I’d fought so hard for a fraction if this, and yet now, the wards flamed like orange fire around the demon. This was more bone magic than I’d ever controlled, almost as if I were pulling it from somewhere else, almost as if I were getting a boost from someone—

  “Zoe!” Dorian shouted when the magic crackled and popped, throwing me back a few steps.

  “I’m not sure how long I can hold this!” I shouted over the sound of thunder and rolling clouds. Even though we were inside a crypt, we were in the midst of a supernatural storm of magic that swirled around us like twisting clouds, building into a crescendo.

  Dorian nodded and pushed into the crypt. For a moment, his eyes flashed my way, staring in open amazement at what I’d managed to do. But I couldn’t hold on much longer. My fingertips felt flashes of electricity as the magic threatened to explode into fragments. Arms aching and magic beating against my skull, it was all I could do to hold on. This was taking everything out of me, and I only had seconds left.

  “You ready?” Dorian asked, finally locking his eyes onto mine. I nodded as he steeled his body, crouching low and clenching his jaw. “Get ready. Set. Go!”

  I dropped the ward and the bone magic snapped into nothing, knocking me into the stone wall. Dorian rushed at the demon, his fangs flashing against the dying light of my spell. He moved in a blur, too fast for me to comprehend. And then he was on the demon. Or in the demon. Or behind the demon. It was impossible to tell. One moment, Dorian was before it, grabbing at what appeared to be an arm and attempting to clamp his mouth around it. And then the next, Dorian was amidst the shifting shadows, roaring and gnashing his teeth.

  I didn’t know what was happening. Was it working? Did I need to do something to help?

  The demon dropped back its head and let out a screeching sound that sliced through my head. I slammed my hands over my ears and fell to my knees, closing my eyes tight to block out the sound. Through my burning tears, I saw Dorian do the same, crashing heavily while the shadows twisted around him.

  And then the demon spread its wings, flapping them against the stone walls. It cackled, a noise that sounded like laughter, a noise that sounded like pain. The demon’s wings flapped a final time as it turned its head toward the door. It rushed past me in a whoosh of wind, burning embers, and wintry storm.

  With wide eyes, I watched it disappear out of the open crypt, strands of shadows trailing behind it as it escaped into the night. I blinked, shock rocking through my body.

  Demons had always been confined to the four walls and ceiling that surrounded them when they entered this realm. But this one had just been let loose on the world.

  Chapter 18

  “Biting him didn’t fucking work.” Dorian snapped into the phone as he paced back and forth on the soft grass outside of the crypt. “Apologies, Magister Salvatore. I know I’m being short with you right now, but a demon is free in this realm.” Dorian scowled and nodded. “No, I don’t have a fucking clue where it is. It flew out of the crypt. The thing could be anywhere.”

  A moment later, Dorian ended the call and tossed the phone onto the ground before shoving his hands into his thick hair. “He doesn’t have a clue. It’s like this council is even more inept than the last one.”

  It was the first time I’d heard Dorian speak this way about the Bone Coven’s illustrious council. Usually, he was just as respectful as any good Enforcer should be. Maybe my pessimism about their strategies for running an entire coven was rubbing off on him. Or, maybe he was just finally realizing that they sucked at governing when they had little to no experience when it came to anything other than endless meetings.

  “Did this happen in the war?” I asked him from where I stood by the doorway leading into the crypt. I felt rooted to the spot, hoping the demon would return and just fly right back in on its own accord. My eyes searched the skies for any sign of shadowy wings, but all I could see were thick clouds broken through by moonlight.

  “Demons free to go anywhere they wanted?” Dorian shook his head. “None that I fought. We never would have won if that were the case. Having them contained made the difference between the heavy losses we had and losing the war altogether. I’m sure they wanted to find a way to break free, but they never did. The fact they can now?”

  He didn’t need to finish that sentence for me to know just how serious this was. Sure, it was only one demon, but that was how anything life-changing ever started. With just one person. Just one change. Just one demon. One eventually led to two. Two became four, and then before you knew it, the entire world was overrun.

  “We need to make sure this doesn’t happen again. Starting with the demons in Juno’s shop. Belzus’s demon started with being immune to our power, and then managed to break free. Juno’s demons could as well,” I said. “Of course, we’ll have to figure out how to use your venom to do so, and…”

  Well, I didn’t want to say he’d failed miserably at biting the demon, but we had to face the truth. He had. Not that it was entirely his fault. Neither one of us knew what the hell we were doing.

  Leaves crunched and twigs snapped as Dorian strode from one end of the dirt path to the other, his dark emotions charging through our tight bond. “It was harder than I thought it would be. The demon is like a cloud. There’s nothing to grab onto. This is the entire reason why we use our spells against them in the first place. Knives don’t work. Guns don’t work. And my fucking fangs don’t work.”

  “We could hit the books?” I asked. “See if there’s anything in your collection that talks about this sort of thing?”

  “I have a better idea. Let’s go to Slayerville.”

  Slayerville was just how I remembered it. I’d only spent fifteen minutes in the place, but those moments had been etched into my memory like a tattoo that would never fade. A line of impatient humans and vampires zig-zagged down the sidewalk to our left. They were all clad in black or red, a system to signal their blood availability. Black meant no bitey. Red meant…well, it was a flashing neon sign to get a vampire’s attention. And in Slayerville, it worked.

  The pulsing bass pounded as we approached the warehouse’s front doors that were manned by two surly bouncers with pale faces and red eyes. Their gazes flicked across us, recognizing us immediately. Vampires were rumored to never forget, and we’d made a pretty good—or bad, really—impression last time we’d been here. We’d been looking for information on one of their blood bags—humans who voluntarily let vampires feed from them on a regular basis. And because Laura had been unmarked at the time, we’d gotten into a verbal skirmish with the leader of the Clan himself. That verbal skirmish had been two seconds away from a physical fight where someone would have surely died.

  Needless to say, the bouncers didn’t look particularly happy to see us. “Dorian Kostas. Zoe Bennett. What are you two doing here?”

  “We need to speak to the head of your Clan. Is Christian here this evening?” Dorian asked, though we both knew the answer to that question. Christian Dogaru, the centuries-old vampire master, was at his beloved club every night of the week.

  “You may have been welcome here in the past but not anymore. No Unbounds allowed int
o the club,” one of the bouncers said before turning to me with a sniff. “The Shadow can go in if she’d like, but any and all alliances will be moot if she causes trouble. And her dagger’s got to stay out here with you.”

  Dorian opened his mouth to argue, but I held up a hand to stop him. “It’s fine. I don’t need my dagger in there anyway.” With a flick of my wrist, I tossed my weapon to Dorian. Instantly, I felt as if I’d thrown away part of my soul and part of my heart. Hell, it felt like I was standing there buck naked in front of at least a hundred vamps and humans.

  I was practically powerless without my blade. If they decided to attack me, I would have no kind of defense.

  “You can’t go in there by yourself,” Dorian said, his muscles tight as he took a step closer to the bouncers. “Just let me talk to Christian. He’ll let me in if he knows it’s me. I’ve never once caused any real trouble here in all the years of Slayerville’s existence.”

  The bouncer merely crossed his arms and shifted in front of the door. “The order came from Dogaru himself. You aren’t getting in, Kostas. If your girl here needs to talk to him, she’s going to have to do it alone or not at all.”

  Dorian puffed out his chest and held my dagger up before him, moonlight glinting off the weapon’s blade. The back of my neck prickled in alarm, warning me that his actions could lead to a terrible fate. Before he could cause any irreversible damage, I pulled him back and put my hand on his chest, pleading with him through our bond.

  “It’s fine,” I said in a whisper. “I’ll be careful.”

  Dorian’s scowl deepened. “Dogaru did this on purpose, knowing we’d eventually come back for one reason or another. He wants to get you in there by yourself.”

  “I said I’ll be fine, Dorian. I’ve spoken to him without you once before. Remember?” And it had been the reason I’d gotten the Enforcer job in the first place. The Dogaru Clan had been convinced that the Bone Coven as a whole had been acting against them. Really, it had just been one rogue agent. One who we delivered to their doorstep after I tracked him down. And killed him. Because of that, I’d been able to negotiate to reinstate the alliance between the covens and the Daywalkers, and the Clan leader had seemed annoyed if not impressed by my grit—although some might call it stupidity.

  “Fine.” Dorian growled and put some space between us. Nothing in his expression resembled anything even remotely close to fine. He not only hated watching me walk into a dangerous vampire club all on my own, but he also hated being sidelined. Dorian was the kind of guy who liked to be in the very thick of it. Doing something. Making a difference. And standing out here waiting for me definitely wasn’t that.

  The bouncer nodded and stepped aside, unclipping the red velvet rope so I could push through the thick double doors. As soon as I entered the club, my senses were overloaded by everything that made Slayerville the vampire club it was. Sensual music thumped loud in the steel-encased warehouse, the heavy bass thundering against my boots. Clouds of incense hung heavy in the large expanse, shot through with the unmistakable scent of iron and sweat. Bodies writhed to the music, and black metal cages suspended from the ceiling held dancers in heavy makeup, their bright red eyes following my every move.

  As I strode through the club, I realized I had no idea how to find Christian Dogaru. He could be anywhere in this large space, though I imagined he kept hidden in a VIP room somewhere in a quieter section than the main floor. Out of the corner of my eye, the long sleek bar caught my attention, manned by the same bartender as the last time I’d been here. A thin, luminescent vampire with fake horns perched on top of his head.

  When I reached the bar, I dropped my elbows onto the counter and leaned forward to catch his attention, though it didn’t take much effort on my part. He’d had his eyes on me since I began to move his way. When he strode toward me, he flashed me a wicked smile and pointed at the sign advertising Slayerville’s signature cocktail—the Cloud Red. The drink that made all one’s inhibitions flit away into the darkest parts of the night.

  I would not be drinking any vampire elixir tonight.

  “It’s been awhile, but you’re back for more, I see,” he said with a wink. “How many glasses of Cloud Red would you like? Surely you aren’t here all on your lonesome. Or are you?” He cocked his eyebrow and waggled it suggestively. “You don’t smell like you’re a stranger to mixing blood with vampires.”

  My whole face went hot, burning brighter by at least a thousand degrees. Was it that easy to tell that I’d tasted some of Dorian’s blood? And that he’d had a drink of mine? While Dorian didn’t have an enhanced sense of smell, the Daywalkers here did. Just how much could they tell from a sniff of the air? Could they actually smell Dorian’s blood in me? If that were the case, every other vampire in this place knew exactly what I’d done. How fucking humiliating.

  “Where can I find Christian Dogaru?” I asked, deciding that ignoring his comments would be better than letting him see me flustered. “I need to speak to him.”

  His horns shifted on his head as he began to laugh. “Honey, we all need to speak to Dogaru, but he only makes time for the kind of people who don’t have to come in here asking about him. In other words, a little witch like yourself isn’t going to be particularly high on his VIP list. In fact, you wouldn’t be on it at all.”

  I’d forgotten how irritating this vampire was. What was his name? I glanced at the name-tag. Fane Dogaru. So, he was an actual direct descendent of Christian. Interesting.

  Before I could get another word in edgewise, the bar hushed from behind me. The thumping music even softened to a distant hum. Turning, I found Christian Dogaru standing with his hands clasped before him, flanked on each side by impossibly large vampires. Everyone around us stared. The humans, the vampires, even the stone gargoyles that decorated the walls.

  “Zoe Bennett,” Christian said, arching a perfectly-plucked eyebrow. “Imagine my surprise when my bouncers informed me you were here.”

  “Zoe Bennett?” Fane Dogaru asked from behind me. “So, you’re the witch who stopped the war?”

  Not really, I thought to myself. Sure, war had been a threatening shadow on the coming hillside, but that was all it had ever been. I’d only put a stop to the threat of it. Temporarily. The vampires were just as aware as I was that the alliance was now shaky between us. One wrong move on either side, and the momentary peace would be a forgotten pin in an otherwise long and brutal history.

  Ignoring the bartender, I gave a nod to Dogaru. Most vampires bowed when they approached him, but that was a bit too much for me. “Sorry to burst in here unannounced, but we have a pretty big problem. And, as it turns out, you might be the only one who knows how to stop it.”

  Christian Dogaru’s lips quirked. “You want me to help you? Our debts to each other have been paid, Miss Bennett. I have neither the time nor the inclination to assist the Bone Coven with anything else.”

  “This isn’t for the Bone Coven,” I said, curling my hands into fists. “At least, not solely. It’s for everyone. Me, you, the humans who come here. It’s even for the vampires in your Clan. All I need you to do is answer a few questions, and it may end up saving us all.”

  “How very dramatic.” Christian Dogaru considered me for a moment before nodding and flicking his fingers. “Very well. Come with me.”

  The bodyguard vampires—or at least that was what I assumed they were—led us through the thick crowd, past a velvet rope, up some stairs, and into a room on the second floor that hung over the main section of the club. The small balcony jutted out over the bodies that were dancing and drinking below us, giving us the perfect view of every corner, every table, every customer. Up here, it was clear that Christian Dogaru could see every little thing that happened in his club. Even if he stood at a distance, he was in full control of it all.

  “Sit,” he said, motioning to a chair just at the edge of the balcony.

  With a nod, I sank into the seat and watched him do the same after pulling a second chair
to my side. A moment later, he flicked his fingers at a server waiting in the shadows. “A drink for the lady? A Cloud Red perhaps?”

  “Yeah, you’re not going to get me with that one. Sorry.” I turned to the server. “Just an iced water for me, thanks.”

  Not that I would even drink that. Not in here.

  “So polite,” Dogaru said with a patronizing smile. “Quite the opposite of how you were the last time you were on my premises.”

  “Yeah, well, the last time I was here, two of your vampire friends were eating my best friend. Didn’t really give me the urge to be polite, if you know what I mean.”

  He leaned back in his chair and gave me an appraising stare, one that made me want to squirm, though I forced myself to remain still and calm. “Why are you here, Zoe? I can see it’s not to make small talk.”

  “You fought in the war,” I said without further preamble. No reason to beat around the bushes. Dorian and I needed answers fast, and I had no desire to get caught up in the whirlwind of this place, drinking vampire elixirs and forgetting myself.

  “That’s correct.” He rubbed his jaw. “Is that why you’re here? To ask me about the war?”

  “In a way,” I said. “The thing is, I’ve never truly understood what it was the vampires did in the war. You can’t banish demons like we can, and they aren’t corporeal. How do you fight something that’s more like a cloud of smoke than an actual being of flesh and blood? Something so intangible?”

  Christian Dogaru tapped his chin, sizing me up with his dark and stormy eyes. “One might wonder why you’re asking these questions. Is this for some kind of research you’re doing as part of your little training? Or are you doubting our involvement in the war?” Dogaru leaned forward, and his voice turned dark and dangerous. “Because I will not be questioned in my own home, especially not about the deaths of so many of my sons and daughters.”

  Even though Christian Dogaru wasn’t the birth father of most of the Daywalkers in his Clan, he was their father nonetheless. His blood and power ran through their veins and hummed in their hearts. They were his, and he was theirs. And he took any insult against one of his own more strongly than he took an insult aimed at himself.