Chapter 14
Tina sat on the wide bench before the round window of the attic, which was surprisingly clean and without the stuffy smell of dust. She looked around and inhaled the slight scent of lavender. The small attic full of cardboard boxes reminded her of the small storage room in her home, where as a child she had liked to hide while playing hide-and-seek with her grandmother, and sitting here brought sweet reminiscence and the feel of home. A sad smile played on her lips.
She looked through the window, enjoying the red and orange tones of the setting sun. She knew that as soon as darkness fell and the light illuminated the paths that wove between the trees and small buildings, Aradmas would cover the estate's grounds.
She put her hand on the back of her neck, bent her head and rolled it to loosen the stiffness from staying so long in the same position. She had hidden herself in here to think in peace about Uriel’s suggestion. She sighed. She would have to decide what to do with Uriel, and soon. Uriel was giving her room and time to consider, but she could always feel his questioning gaze on the back of her head.
“Ah, here you are.”
She looked up, toward the attic door and there he stood. Damon. She didn’t want to talk to him or to even spend time with him in the same room, not when, since his talk with Trinity, he’d had this weird look in his eyes every time he looked at her. It made her feel cherished, loved and adored, but when his eyes zoomed in on her, they saw Trinity, not Tina; she knew that as sure as the sky was blue, and she found it annoying.
“You are avoiding me lately.”
She averted her gaze, directed it at the twilight descending outside. “And you are still here, even though I fulfilled my part of the bargain.”
He closed the distance between them and sat down beside her, forcing her to shift to the left to give him more space on the wooden surface. “I promised Trinity that I would take care of the Dumes, and I’m trying to get to know them; she would want that.”
Yes, Trinity would want that and it made Tina glad because of that, it really did. She liked to watch Damon’s clumsy attempts at playing computer games with Haniel, and how Damon’s competitive streak suffered when he couldn’t beat an expert like Haniel. She admired Damon’s patience as he -- with clothes covering every inch of his body, large sunglasses and a big hat -- sat on the grass under the morning sun with Muriel and meditated with him. And she enjoyed the displays of Damon’s sword skill when he and Uriel, in the now half-empty basement, measured their strength, almost growling and snarling at each other as their blades clashed.
“You are still angry because of the ‘borrowing your body’ part, but can you blame me for trying to keep my Beloved by my side?”
“Yes, I can when you are trying to do that at the price of my life. Did you really believe I wouldn’t be bothered by that?”
“I can see your point of view, but you have to understand, you will only use your body for another fifty to eighty years, while Trinity could have used it for eternity.”
“And that should make it all right?” Tina’s nails scratched the wooden surface of the bench.
“There’s no point in getting upset. It’s not like Trinity can use it.”
Tina didn’t want to argue with him; for one thing he was Damon, the leader of the Lost clan, he could snap her neck in a second, and also for these last few days his shoulders seemed slumped and his eyes lacked that spark of determination -- it could have been her imagination or it could have been Damon’s way of dealing with the fact that he couldn’t have Trinity. She stood up.
“Does my presence bother you so much?” He grabbed her wrist and pulled her back to the bench. “Sit down, please. I need to talk to you.”
“She’s not here, she’s still resting.”
“I need talk to you, not to Trinity.”
“I’m just an object to you, why do you even bother?” She tried to wiggle her hand out of his steel grip, and then answered herself. Because she cares. She repeated it out loud, this time as a question. “Because she cares about me?”
“Yes, because she cares and don’t say you are just an object; I don’t see you like that, not anymore anyway.” His fingers slipped downwards and he squeezed her hand before he released her. He combed his fingers through his hair. “I must seem overbearing and cold to you, and I probably am. Born as a Bloodeater, we are like that by default, and having lived for more than seven hundred years -- the battles and ordeals that I have gone through;” -- he gave her a half-smile, where before she would have gotten a smirk -- “everybody would pick up a slight superiority complex.”
“I don’t need you to explain yourself to me.”
“Maybe not, but maybe understanding me will help you accept that you are going back with me.”
“No, I’m not.” She stood up.
“Yes, you are. I made an agreement with Uriel. I’m leaving tomorrow and I’m taking you, Haniel and Muriel with me. But don’t worry, I won’t keep you locked in your room like before. I promised that I will give you as much freedom as keeping you safe allows -- doesn’t that make you happy?”
“No, you can’t -- What about Uriel?” Did he give up on his freedom? She bit her lip. Uriel was strong and more than capable of taking care of himself, but the thought of leaving him behind... No, not just leaving him behind, but leaving him to Angelica -- that was an option she didn’t want to consider.
“Uriel is bound by his contract to Angelica. I thought you knew that?”
Yes, she did know that. She stood up. She should talk to Uriel, she wanted to face Uriel right now, but yesterday Angelica had sent Uriel to hunt for new guinea pigs, and he still hadn’t come back. “When is he coming back?”
Damon stood up, too, and he put his hand on her shoulder. “You won’t change his mind; you can’t, we already pledged.”
She stood there, her brows furrowed. It would be so easy to just say, okay, Uriel had made his decision, there’s nothing she could do, but --
Tina!
It was Muriel’s voice and it sounded urgent. What is it?
Where are you? In the attic?
Yes. Tina frowned when something shot by the attic window; for a second it immersed the space in complete darkness before it was gone. What was that? A shrilling sound pierced the house. The alarm. Somebody just stepped onto the house’s drive. She leaned toward the window.
Come down into the basement, now, please.
Tina could see black shadows against the grey sky, flying through the air like fish. Shadows. They were Shadows, Angelica’s Shadows. And so many of them.
One of the black hulks separated from the others. It flew toward the window and its mass slammed against the glass, which cracked, and black tendrils wiggled their way inside, reaching for Tina.
Tina jumped away and in the next moment she had Damon’s warm hand wrapped around hers. He dragged her toward the door.
What’s going on? Tina looked over her shoulder, seeing the black whips pushing their way inside the room.
Window shattered with a loud crack and the tendrils shot inside toward them; she could feel their cold brush against her arm. Her heartbeat slowed down and she shifted out of the way. She expected half of the tentacle things to turn toward her, but they didn’t. They brushed by, their touch ice-cold, bringing sharp darkness and the dread of death. Tina could even have sworn that a smell of rotten and burning flesh and damp fog teased her nose. She looked down and saw thin burn lines through the tears of the sleeve’s fabric where the whips had touched her as they reached out for Damon, their tips thin as hair wiggling as they stretched forward.
She pushed Damon through the door, followed him and shut it behind her. Her heartbeat returned to normal.
“What’s going on?” Damon’s hand curled around Tina’s wrist again and he hurried down the stairs. “And what are those things?”
“Angelica’s Shadows.” Tina stumbled down the stairs behind Damon. “Muriel would like for us to come to the basement.” Muriel, what’s going on?
I don’t know, but it seems that Angelica knows about you or Damon. Or even both?
“Did he say anything else?” Damon asked. He rushed around the corner and through the heavy steel door hidden behind the niche of the stairway, pulling Tina along.
“No.”
The door slammed shut behind them. As Tina looked down she saw in the beam of the weak ceiling light Muriel and Haniel standing between the -- no, on the empty basement floor. The last time she had visited the basement, the middle of the basement had been clear, but there had been crates and boxes piled up against the wall. What was going on? Where were all the things?
“What’s going on?” Damon strode down the stairs.
Tina looked at Muriel, who offered her his hand. Tina wiggled her wrist free of Damon’s hold, closed the distance that separated her from Muriel and took his hand. “Where are all the things? And what did you mean about Angelica knowing about Damon or me? Wait a minute. Those things passed me by. They wanted him, not me. But how would she know?”
“We never asked you, but how did you get to the estate? And how did you know where Tina is?” Haniel stepped before Damon and crossed his arms.
Something bumped against the door. The hinges rattled and a fine layer of white dust rained down on them.
“Do you really need to know that right now?” Tina glared at Haniel before she flinched at a new blow against the door; her fingers dug into the fabric of Muriel’s sleeve. “What are we going to do now?”
“Only we and Damon’s Beliyas know about him being here, and we were careful; there is no way anybody saw him, so how does Angelica know?” Haniel glanced at Tina before he focused on Damon. “How did you know where Tina was?”
“I have an insider. And she doesn’t exactly know me or that I stayed on the estate.”
“Are you sure?” Muriel asked. “Who is it?”
Damon frowned, looking as if he didn’t want to tell, but then he said it anyway. “A small blonde. I don’t remember her name -- Tristian deals with her -- but she used to be an Aradma of one of Prva’s white-haired boys.”
“Gillian?”
“Gillian? Yes, something like that.”
Gillian? Was that the same girl that had talked to her while they were preparing the hall for the party? Tina looked at Haniel. Their gazes met; Tina raised her brows. “Gillian?”
Haniel nodded, before he fixed his gaze on Damon again. “She was Nathanael’s Aradma before Prva appointed her as Angelica’s servant.”
“I know about that,” Damon said. “Being close to Angelica is what makes her so valuable.”
“She could be a double agent, pretending that she works for you, while she’s really working for Angelica. And even if she isn’t, you can’t trust her, not when she would do anything for a minute with Nathanael. ”
“I only trust my Beliyas -- and she’s not one of them. And as I said, she shouldn’t have -- no, she didn’t know about me being on the estate, she only knew about Tristian.”
“Maybe she recognized you.”
The blows against the door become louder and the strength of them increased.
“Could you two stop that? Shouldn’t we think about those things?” Tina pointed at the door. She could imagine the large, black blobs slamming against the door, scorching the metal. She scratched the burns that still lingered on her skin, even though Damon’s blood in her system should have already healed them.
“They can’t come inside.” Muriel said.
“But we can’t go outside either,” Tina said. “What are we going to do? Just wait here until morning? Or until somebody comes? Do you know what will happen if they come? They will find Damon.”
Damon raised her brow. “Aren’t you getting too worried?”
“And you’re not getting worried enough.” Tina wrapped her arm around Muriel’s. “They are after you, not us. And the Ceremony still going on -- wait a minute. Why isn’t anybody noticing those things? Shouldn’t there be already somebody checking out what’s going on at the house? Where is everybody?”
“I could feel a reflection spell just before those things gathered at the roof,” Muriel said. “Nobody is going to notice anything. It seems Angelica prepared. She even went to the trouble to send Uriel away.”
“Does he know what’s going on?” Tina asked.
“Yes, Muriel talked with him.” Haniel went toward the light grey wall opposite the stairway. He touched something in the middle and part of the wall slid open, revealing a dark hallway.
“He’s on his way to Angelica, he has a package to deliver,” Muriel said as he pulled Tina with him toward the square hole. They stepped into the darkness, Haniel and Damon following them. The wall behind them closed and submerged them in darkness.
“Shouldn't Uriel be here? Or at least doing something to get us out of this?” Tina held on to Muriel's arm, not because she needed somebody to guide her in the dark -- she could see quite well in the dark -- but because the damp smell of the walls, the narrow hallway and the sound of small claws darting across the stone was making her shudder.
“It’s not like we need his help.” Damon pushed his way beside Tina. “I'm positive that the boys have an emergency exit and that we are using it right now.”
“But he's going to Angelica --”
“Don't worry about Uriel.” Muriel patted Tina's hand. “He's going to be careful and he might even find out what's going on.”
“I'm not worried about Uriel.” She wasn't. She knew that Uriel could take care of himself, but Uriel was the one that knew Angelica the best and he was also a strategist, which meant that in this situation he was the most useful one. “I'm worried about myself. And you should be too.”
“But we are worried about you, too,” Haniel said.
“I didn't mean that you should be worried about me, but about the situation.” Tina looked over her shoulder at Haniel; she couldn't exactly distinguish his expression in the darkness, but she got the feeling that he was smiling at her.
They came to the -- dead end. Tina frowned, holding tightly to Muriel. It wasn't enough that Uriel was absent; now they had no way to go. “Are we lost?”
“No.” Haniel elbowed his way up to the front. “It’s the end of our tunnel, and on the other side of the wall are the Underground’s hallways and chambers.” He took something from the pocket of his cargoes and directed it at the wall.” We might run into some people. Damon, you should use that disguise trick.” The part of the wall split up and showed another dark hallway.
“Won’t anybody stop us?” Tina whispered. From the corner of her eye she watched Damon unhook something from his thin leather bracelet. She leaned closer to see. It was a small bean. He crushed it over his head and sparkling dust rained over his upturned face. “What are you murmuring?”
“It’s a spell.” Damon gave her a small smile as his features distorted into a stranger’s.
They stepped through the opening and continued their journey across the hallway, this time with Haniel in the front guiding them.
At the second crossing a shadow emerged from the wall of the hallway. “You took your time.”
It was Uriel. Tina peeked over Haniel’s shoulder and there was something big leaned against the wall beside his feet. She strained her eyes. It looked -- it looked human. A tinkle drew her gaze up and she could see Uriel passing a ring of keys to Haniel. “What’s going on?” Tina frowned at how familiar that question had become to her.
“It’s seems that you are going to leave a little sooner than planned,” Uriel said.
Tina released Muriel’s arm and stepped closer to Uriel. She put her hand on his arm. “What about you? What about...?”
“It’s a little too late for that.” Uriel patted her shoulder. “But I’ll figure out something else, don’t worry.” He turned his back to them. “You better hurry, Prva might end her evening meeting any time now and after the after-party starts there will be too many servants running around.”
“Yeah, we better hurry,” Haniel said before he stepped into the left corridor, gesturing to others to follow him. “Come on, guys.”
“You are not even saying goodbye?” Tina resisted Muriel’s pull as he followed Haniel.
“But we are not parting, not really.” Muriel looked at Tina over his shoulder. “We are always together” -- he pointed at his head -- “in here.”
“Can we go already?” Damon passed them, patting Uriel’s shoulder on his way. “We will see each other again.”
“But until then I’m leaving them in your care. You better not disappoint me.” Uriel leaned down, grabbed the man that lay unconscious at his feet and threw him over his shoulder.
“How can you all be like that?” Tina’s fingers dug into Muriel’s arm.
“Because we don’t have a choice. Now, come.” Muriel tugged Tina behind him.
Tina didn’t want to go, but she rushed with them through the labyrinth of hallways anyway. They hid in niches at every hint of approaching steps, becoming even more cautious when they came out into the open, on the other side of the estate -- or so Haniel said.
Haniel led them across the grass toward the two-story high wall that framed the estate. They stopped before the wall.
“Uriel said that Tristian should be waiting for us on the other side,” Muriel said.
Tina touched the smooth surface. “How will we go over it?”
“That’s quite simple.” Damon jumped up, his hands finding support where Tina could see none; in the next second he stood on the top of the wall, his three braids flapping in the wind. He squatted down and offered his hand. “Jump.”
“Like I could,” Tina said, then yelped as Haniel grabbed her and tossed her in the air. Hands caught her and pulled her up. The nerve of some people. Tina glared at Damon, who just smirked at her and jumped down the wall, landing on the floor gracefully.
Haniel climbed up the wall and then with a jump joined Damon on the other side.
Damon spread his arms. “Jump.”
“Are you crazy?” Tina carefully first squatted down, then sat on the edge of the wall, her feet dangling down. She looked around. Where did Muriel disappear to?
“Come on, jump, don’t be such a sissy,” Haniel said.
“If you didn’t have your special powers, I bet you would be scared, too,” Tina grumbled. She took a deep breath.
“Tina, you have to jump, now.” Damon’s voice sounded urgent.
“Why?”
“Jump. Jump. Now!” Haniel yelled, looking at something above and behind Tina.
Tina glanced behind her, eyes widening at the black shapes that closed on her like arrows. She pushed herself off the wall.
She fell and her heartbeat accelerated. She floated in the air. The black tentacles reaching for her, almost touching her. How could they be so fast? She managed to evade them, but barely. Moving through the air in slow motion was like swimming through jelly.
She slowed down her heartbeat; her body hit something warm and solid -- another body.
The black threats were upon them, they shot down, aiming for Damon. She sped up her pulse again, and pushed Damon out of the way. Instead of Damon, the wisps touched her, icy cold, so cold that it burned, and her body became numb, unable to move. How had that happened? She was a coward, more of a spectator than a player, so why had she even tried to play the hero?
The threads slowly crawled around her, the burning touch embracing her, until there was only blackness and the red pain. She tried to scream, but nothing came out from her opened mouth.