Hi!
I hope you all had a great weekend! Mine was great :-)
Back to the story. The noose around Anna's neck is tightening. It will take a miracle to get her out of this. I hope you all like this one.
Lara
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Chapter 12
I learned two things since my run-in with the head vampire. One: the magical null bombs weren't the only objects of power the Raven coveted. Two: I knew for a fact that he didn't leave them in the part of the sewer system we were currently hiding in. I was pretty sure that he retrieved the magical objects from a place that was safe, a place that he himself had chosen for safe-keeping. That in turn meant, he was going to use them. Soon. If that logic was to be followed, it meant he kept them close at hand â at all times.
I masked my face with an expression of nonchalance before the scowl could make its way to the surface. When I asked about the promised photocopied pages from Elena Larosa's diary, he said I hadn't fulfilled my task. Not yet.
The Raven didn't hand me back my pendant either. In fact, he gave me nothing at all. He'd gone out on a prowl in the city, taking me along the ride without invitation or clarification of what we were doing. The travel via portal made me nauseous to the point of throwing up.
No news there.
I peered into the night sky. Where are we?
I suppressed the question, tied it in a knot and buried it deep down inside. Right next to that damned black box that was on the verge of bursting. Contemplating what would happen once and if it did burst? No, I wasn't going to go down that road.
We were on one of the thousands of rooftops in this city, stranded in mind-boggling heights. We joined what looked like a small group of lookouts that had been cowering in the shadows for what must have been a long time.
Remaining still and calm on a skyscraper is harder than it looks. The wind kept whipping back and forth with the force of a miniature hurricane. Apparently the rogues had mastered the art of feeling at ease in niches like these.
I hadn't. We were too high above ground for me to feel comfortable looking down without vertigo-induced nausea.
I blinked several times, took deep shallow breaths. The checkered conundrum of streets looked bizarrely familiar in the dim glow of streetlights. I looked down, then up again. The words on top of a skyscraper directly in our line of vision were what caught my eye. The letters glowed in a bright red color, as if they were blushing at their own presence.
My head whipped to the Raven. Then went back again. Searching. Contemplating. Waiting.
Minutes stretched into what might have been near an hour. The rogues remained where they were. All waiting. All in silence. Stone-faced.
There were about two dozen. All of them dressed in black cloaks that nearly reached the ground, allowing them to melt into the shadows. I caught glimpses of automatic weapons, knifes and other weapons. It made me feel uneasy for more than one reason. It meant they were prepared for hand-to-hand combat.
I was worn out. Unsure of how to play what little cards I had left. If I truly wanted them to believe I wanted to be one of them, I would have to show them I was putting the same trust in Medici as the rest of rogues. That meant not questioning his decision. Not asking why we were here. I wasn't sure I could feign that kind of devotion and sense of duty, but I had to try.
Trying was tough. The question wormed itself into my mind, mixed and mingled with a healthy dose of fear. What if? What if Medici was here to put a death sentence in the form of a sweet betrayal on me, sealing the deal we'd begun that night I willingly stepped into a portal with Medici. And then the worst of all: What if this was the ultimate test? What if we were here so I could harm and betray someone? What if it was someone I knew?
"Why are we here?"
The words were out before I could stop myself. Apparently I had no cards left to deal. Or, maybe, I'd just run out of nerves. We were one block from the Circle's headquarters. The need to know why was too great.
"It's started. This city is in the middle of collapsing into a state of total chaos. I told you, we're going to make use of that, Anna Johnson," the Raven said softly. "And you're going to help us do that."
Make use of the mess New York is in? Use me to do it?
No. I wasn't going to do that.
"What do you want to do? Attack the Circle's headquarters? Are you out of your mind?" I said it, and bit my tongue. That last comment hit closer to the truth than I liked.
Raphael Medici smiled. "Who knows, Anna Johnson. I am many things. Oh, and no, we're not going to attack the Circle headquarters. Not tonight, anyway."
"Why are we here then?" I said absently, trying to get any clues from our vicinity.
The streets were surprisingly empty, cars randomly passing by. No people on the streets. Apparently the riots I heard of had stopped. If they had, what I was looking at might be the beginnings of fragile détente, or the calm before the storm.
The buildings around us looked like a silent army of concrete statues, ready to come to life at the slightest misstep from our side.
I peered over the edge. And froze. I was wrong.
Scraps of motion at the Circle's parking lot. A black limousine was rolling down the street.
"So the information was correct," Medici murmured beside me.
"What information?" I said slowly.
His eyes were closed, as if he was caught up in a short-term vision no one else could see. And maybe he was. He had a whole swarm of ravens at his command.
"When the piper calls, the rats come flocking into the city," he said, eyes still closed.
Talking in riddles, again.
I peered over the edge again. A black limousine. I was long enough part of the Circle to know it meant someone important was coming, but not long enough to guess just who it was.
I dipped fingers into the magic around us, tentatively. Night lifted like a veil and I found myself in the middle of a gray conundrum. Second sight confirmed what I knew: whoever was in that limousine was damned powerful. No, scratch that: he or she had shitloads of power. The red was so strong, one of the great witches herself could have been in the car and-
I stilled. Turned to Medici. His eyes were wide open.
Upon seeing my expression, he smiled. "Yes, you guessed right, Anna Johnson. It's one of them. One of the great three."
If we'd been a few minutes late, we would have missed her arrival. The magical barrier around the premises of Spira swallowed up anything I might have seen through second sight. How did the Raven know she'd be coming? One of the great three witches. Damn. Who else was there? And what exactly was the Raven planning to do?
"Why is the information relevant?" I sounded out of breath, like someone punched a fist into my stomach, or maybe it was my head after all. "Why are we here?"
"Don't ask questions you already have the answer for. Close your eyes and see," the Raven said.
I stilled, stretched out my senses and crossed that line that would carry me to the world of auratic gray matter. The deep red spots around me like ink dispersing in water. Leaking out. They were nothing against what I sensed in and around the magical barrier of the Circle. It was strongest there, close to where the black limousine just glided down the street. Strong, red auras, blindingly bright.
I'd only seen auras this bright once. Who, or what were these witches?
I turned to the Raven. "We've got to leave. Now. If these witches sense us-"
"They're too busy guarding. Rats or piper, doesn't make much difference to them. They'll not change or leave their positions tonight." He cocked his head. "Now, why don't we get down to business? Magenta Warrens wasn't the only one that collected and treasured up magical artifacts."
"Why are you telling me this?" I said impatiently. The danger level had just risen to vertigo-inducing heights. I was eager to leave.
His eyes went to the direction of the Circle headquarters, the bright light of red neon tubes that read Spira, as if it held the answer I was looking for.
"Thanks to our ally within the Circle, we know that magical artifacts have always been stored underneath the library, even the illegal ones," he said evenly.
I froze. He was probably talking about Travis. I'd always assumed Travis was of interest to Medici because he knew everything about security and could gain access to the computer system. But of course, the Raven would have taken any information he could get his hands on.
"Things have changed since you and your friends exposed our ally. Even though he's still on trial, they restructured the whole security system and access codes. All standard procedure, of course." The Raven's head turned back to me. "Where did they put the rest of Warrens' artifacts? I need to know."
I stared at the building in the distance, reread the word Spira. The red letters were swimming in front of my eyes until they were a blur of red color that might have been wet blood.
"Tell me and I'll give you the last Pentagram's diary." He whispered the words into my ear, standing too close. "I have the only copy still in existence. I'll do more than that, I'll give you the last ingredient to controlling the dark magic. How I managed to survive that long â isn't that what you wanted to know?"
The texture of his voice changed, flipped sides from calm and fairly normal to unsteady and threatening. "Refuse, and you'll no longer be of use to us."
I knew. The great three witches help me, I knew now. I stared back at him. The psychological meat grinder he put me through ever since I walked into that portal with him was nothing. The isolation and the constant moving from one hiding spot to the next were nothing. This was the real test.
There are lines â big ones that you simply don't cross. If you do, willingly or unwillingly, you know that the reflection you have to look at in the mirror every day will change into something you can't look at. That maybe all you can do is revert your eyes to keep going. It will be your first and maybe last step on the road to damnation.
If I gave him the location, the Inri Brotherhood might get their hands on powerful objects â objects that had the potential to tip the scales in the wrong way. The rogues would have magic at their disposal that made the Circle's most powerful witches look like kindergarteners.
If I didn't hand over the information he wanted, Medici was going to kill me. Two options that were unacceptable.
I blinked. Unless there was third option, and I was willing to take the risk. Unless it wouldn't matter whether I told him or not.
And it didn't.
For the first time since the new regulations had been introduced in the 1990s, the Circle didn't store confiscated material in its own vaults in the center. They divided whatever they found in Magenta Warrens apartment and hid it in various locations. I knew of three.
At least one of them I knew he wouldn't, couldn't touch or access. Yes, that was it. If I gave him the location of what he wanted, and he couldn't access it, he wouldn't be able to do much harm.
I straightened my spine and looked him in the eye.
All or nothing.
"It's in the second compound, in the basement of the Invisibility Cloak's department." The words came out in a breathless rush, as if increased speed might make them void.
"How heavily warded?"
On point. He asked the one question I expected him to ask. The one question I bet everything on.
"The security's been tightened ever since Warrens' death," I said. "Five rings. Magical wards on each level and the parameters. Intricate and powerful. Unbreakable. No one's going to get their hands on it." It was the truth. I held his gaze, showed him that I was telling the truth. "Not even you can get in, Medici."
I was waiting for his expression to morph in to something else. Disappointment. Anger.
It was impossible to get through. He had to realize that. Yeah, he was going to have to abandon this plan.
The Raven's face remained as it was. Not an ounce of anger, or emotion.
I licked my lips. I wondered what he was going to do instead. I was beginning to think the alternative might not be better.