So you can’t tell from the energy itself?
No. He hesitated. It has not the feel of anything I’ve come across before.
If our theory was right, and both the sorceress and Lucian had been using dark magic to transform their beings into energy so that they could get onto the fields, then it was logical that he wouldn’t be able to recognize whoever or whatever waited inside that door. Azriel placed a hand on the odd-shaped door. It reacted to his touch, emitting a warm, nonthreatening light. I briefly wondered how it would have reacted had we not been wearing my father’s bracelets. He glanced at me. Are you ready?
I nodded and tightened my grip on Amaya. Her humming became a hiss of expectant fury, the noise jarring against the silence that surrounded us.
He pushed the door open and stepped through. I quickly followed, Amaya raised and my gaze scanning the surrounds. The room was large and circular in shape, with ghostly honeycombed walls defining its area. There was no furniture or adornments – or nothing that I recognized as such – nor did there appear to be anyone here.
But there was something here.
I may not have been able to see it, but I could damn well feel it. It was an uneasiness, a shadow, in a place that was bright and light.
Then that shadow moved, became two, and then three, and I realized what they were.
Dušan.
But these weren’t like our Dušan. These were dark and twisted, their beings radiating a wrongness that sickened me to the core.
And they weren’t alone.
Chapter 13
The Dušan attacked as one, all teeth, claws, and fury. And behind them rolled a writhing mass of sinuous, sluglike forms that had stalks for eyes and that seemed to bleed a white substance from all over their bodies.
I’d battled them on the fields once before. That time, the Raziq had set them on me. This time the source had be our sorceress, but where the hell was she?
Running. Azriel raised Valdis, his voice grim. There’s a door to our right. Go after her. I will deal with these abominations.
And with that, he dived into the midst of the Dušan, Valdis ablaze and spinning fire through the ether. I did as he ordered and ran to the right of the room. The door was easy enough to find – it was a larger honeycomb shape in a sea of them. I paused long enough to punch it open, and found myself in another long corridor. Ahead, disappearing into the grayness, was a long, thin shadow. Our sorceress. It had to be.
I bolted after her. I had no idea if I was running in the sense that I knew, and I guess it didn’t matter as long as I caught the bitch ahead. But it was a weird sensation, being surrounded by honeycombed walls through which other structures were visible, but everywhere was silence. There was no sense of life in this place and no sounds, not even from the battle raging behind me. I hoped like hell that Azriel was okay, that he could cope with three Dušan as well as the slug ball…
The thought froze as air hit from behind. I staggered a little, caught my balance, and swung around. The slug mass hadn’t remained in that room. It was here, chasing me. Fuck!
I sidestepped at the last moment and swung Amaya with all my might. Her blade hit the slugs and stuck hard, just about yanking me off my feet as the mass rolled on, forcing me to run beside it or lose Amaya. She screamed in fury, spitting fire that sizzled and flamed out the minute it struck the oozing sides of the writhing mass. Then I remembered the white muck was glue. I swore again and dug my heels in, pulling back with all my might. She came free with an abruptness that sent me tumbling ass over backward. This world might seem ethereal, but it had the same power to wind if you hit it hard enough. Air stirred around me again, a warning I didn’t dare ignore. I scrambled to my feet just as a second, smaller mass of slugs swept into the corridor. I swung to face it, but it arced away, avoiding the sweep of the blade. As it rolled past, white mucus exploded from its sides, forming a weblike structure as it spun toward me. I twisted away from it, and it splattered against a section of honeycomb wall, immediately sizzling and smoking. Within seconds, there was little left of either the net or the wall.
Obviously, the sorceress had added her own special touches to these slug balls, because the ones the Raziq had sent after me certainly hadn’t had that effect on the gray fields themselves. And if it could affect the fields like that, what the hell was it going to do to me?
There was no fighting these things; not before, and certainly not now that the sorceress had apparently upped their firepower. Not with just Amaya, anyway. But, unlike last time, I simply couldn’t retreat. There was a sorceress to catch and a key to retrieve.
Which left me with running.
And that’s exactly what I did. The slug balls were after me with alarming alacrity. Amaya was a fierce storm battering my thoughts, wanting to stand and fight, and frustrated that we weren’t.
Later, I promised her. We need to catch the sorceress first.
Kill, she muttered. Feed.
If we catch her, you can do both.
Faster run, she muttered.
I snorted softly. Like I wasn’t already running as fast as I could. The trouble was, even though this world was destined to become mine on my death, it wasn’t yet, and the constraints of flesh were affecting me here. I wasn’t a particularly fast runner in the real world, despite being part werewolf, and that – unfortunately – translated over to the field.
But at least the promise calmed Amaya’s storm. She still wanted to fight, but the promise of blood had quieted her for the moment.
The wind of the approaching slug masses grew stronger. I bit my lip, reaching for greater speed. The slender shadow I chased was no longer in view, so either this corridor turned or she’d already left it.
Door, Amaya said. Left.
I flung out my free hand, saw an answering flare of warm light, and threw myself through it. As I hit the ground and rolled, the slug balls went past. I jumped up, pressed a hand against the door to close it, then ran after the shadow.
We were in a wide expanse of what looked like a courtyard. Buildings soared above us, casting no shadows even though they dominated the skyline. Something swooped, and I ducked instinctively. Two forms appeared out of the gray, one that was black and winged, the other lilac and serpentine. The Dušan – mine and Azriel’s. Relief slithered through me. The Dušan might have as little luck against the slug mass as me, but at least they’d be able to delay the progress of the things.
Maybe enough for me to catch the bitch ahead, anyway.
From behind us came an odd cracking. I glanced over my shoulder. One section of the honeycombed tunnel was smoking, collapsing. A heartbeat later, the two massed balls rolled through. They didn’t even slow, just made a beeline for us.
The Dušan screamed and dove into their midst, sending gray forms scattering as they bit and slashed. Several rolling lumps re-formed out of the main two masses, the smaller ones immediately skirting around the larger two to come after me.
Amaya, flame and encase!
I jumped out of their path and swung Amaya. Purple fire trailed from her blade, hit the two masses, and rolled around them, sizzling and spitting as it encased the sinuous forms in a flaming lilac cage but didn’t actually touch them. The mass writhed with greater agitation and white muck splattered against the fiery cage. Amaya hissed and the trailing edge of her flames snuffed out, leaving the mass encased together but free. It did a long looping turn and came at me again. I jumped aside, then ran like hell.
The shadow had disappeared around the corner of a building that had an impossibly small base against a wider top, reminding me somewhat of a pyramid turned on its end. As I rounded the corner, the Dušans screamed. I glanced back, saw the Dušans rise from the midst of the two larger masses, their skins dripping with white matter and god knows what else. They twisted in midair, then dove again, teeth wide as they chopped down on gray forms and flung them left and right. They might be stopping the main two masses, but every time they tore them apart, they were creating new, smaller masses. And those smaller masses were coming after me.
I swore, but kept running. There was little else I could do. The sorceress had to be stopped, and it seemed I was the only one who could do it.
God help our worlds, I thought bitterly.
I wasn’t gaining on that shadow, but I wasn’t losing ground, either. We ran across a vast empty space, but in the distance the vague outline of a structure gradually became visible. It seemed to glow with an odd light – it was neither bright nor warm, and yet it wasn’t cold or unwelcoming. But it seemed to draw me forward, as if it were something I had to see.
It is the gates that lie ahead.
The voice was male, and it came from everywhere and yet nowhere. It hung on the ethereal air and yet reverberated through my mind. It held no threat, but I sensed it could kill without a moment’s hesitation or thought.
My grip tightened on Amaya, and yet – oddly – she didn’t react. Whatever – whoever – this being was, my sword had no sense of immediate threat.
Which didn’t mean there wasn’t.
Meaning that light is the gates? If a mind voice could come out croaky with fear, then mine undoubtedly did just that.
Yes. It is what you would call the gates to heaven and hell.
Surprise rippled through me but it was quickly pushed aside by frustration as a small sphere came out of nowhere and charged toward me. I leapt over the top of it, but it flung white goo at me, forcing me to twist in midair to miss it. I landed awkwardly, and felt pain ripple up my leg. But was that even possible when I was energy rather than flesh?
The mass began a long looping turn. I kept an eye on it, and said, Wait, what do you mean gates? Are they both here? Together?
Why should they not be? There was an odd sense of amusement in the reply, and it filtered across the gray world in much the same manner as his words did.
Because… My reply faded. In all honesty, I couldn’t actually think of a reason why the gates to heaven and hell wouldn’t be together. I guess I’d just imagined the two would always be separate. Instead I asked, Who are you?
Who am I? He seemed to ponder the question for a second, then said, I am of this place. I am all that remains of what we once were.