I was three steps away from repeating the procedure when the goddamn room exploded.

Chapter 12

Air hit with the force of a hammer and sent me tumbling backward. Wood, plaster, and dust rained all around me, and I threw my hands over my head in an effort to protect myself.

Amaya screamed in fury as her flames erupted to form a protective cocoon around my body. And none too soon, because it wasn’t just wood and plaster coming down, but concrete tiles. The fucking roof had collapsed.

Not that it mattered. Nothing mattered right now, except the reaper who had gone into that room a heartbeat before it exploded.

Azriel! Desperation filled my mental scream. Are you okay?

For several seconds there was no reply, and my fear skyrocketed. Then he said, his mind voice somewhat groggy, Yes. Valdis shielded me from the worst of it.

What the hell were you trying to do? I pushed into a sitting position. Several large sections of wood rolled off Amaya’s shield and dropped onto the top of the mess that surrounded us. There wasn’t much left of the hallway – just several skeletal wooden frames bereft of plaster. Wires dangled from the ceiling, and I fervently hoped they were not going to attack me the minute I moved. Water was spraying from broken fire sprinklers, dampening down the worst of the dust, and somewhere in the distance alarms were ringing. The fire brigade and police would undoubtedly be here soon.

I was attempting to catch that sorcerer before she escaped. His voice was clipped. Angry at himself for not succeeding, I suspected.

So why didn’t you zap yourself to that room instead of running?

Because, as I have said, I cannot zap myself into unknown places without having at least some point of reference. When I was a reaper, it was the resonance of the soul, but in this case, I could not get a fix on her.

I frowned and rose. Amaya’s shield pulsated around me, moving as I did. Why couldn’t you get a grip on her resonance?

Because it was shifting.

Meaning she was?

I suspect so.

At the far end of the hall, a pile of timber and tiles began to move, sliding away as flames began to pulsate through the pile. A second later, Azriel appeared, surround by a halo of blue fire. It faded as he turned, his gaze searching the ruins and stopping when it met mine. Blood oozed from a wound near his temple, but other than that, he appeared unhurt.

“I guess from all this” – I waved a hand at the mess around us – “that she sensed me.”

“She might be powerful enough to summon demons at a moment’s notice, but the explosion would have taken longer to set up.” He stepped over a pile of broken plaster and tiles and walked toward me. “There was a transport gate in that room. I saw her step through, and had a brief glimpse of shadows and stone before the explosion.”

“She’s heading for hell’s gate.” My voice was grim.

“Undoubtedly – though the gate she just escaped through would not get her onto the gray fields. It was nowhere near powerful enough.” His voice held little emotion, but his fury and frustration echoed through me, as sharp as my own. “But she knows we’re close now, so I have no doubt she is headed to the gate that will. She would not want to risk us reclaiming the key before she has a chance to use it.”

“And if she does use it and the Raziq are waiting, the key is theirs.” I thrust a hand through my hair. “Fuck!”

“Yes,” Azriel said. “Our best chance now lies in finding her access onto the fields.”

“And how the fuck are we supposed to do that? There was nothing useful in either of the goddamn warehouses!” Nothing we could access without a lot of time and effort – the first of which we were running dangerously low on.

“We cannot be sure of that because we have not explored the entirety of the larger warehouse. Remember, there was a second pathway you did not explore.”

“Then I guess we have no choice but to go there now and do just that.” Only my skin crawled at the thought of doing it alone. That section of the tunnel had felt nasty. Besides, it was more than likely where the hellhounds had come from, and I certainly didn’t feel like facing more of them alone.

“Perhaps it is time to call in your uncle —” He stopped abruptly and spun, Valdis blazing brightly in his hand. “I sense your presence, Yeska.”

“Only because I intended it, Mijai.” Amusement, and perhaps more than a little contempt, was evident in the Raziq’s voice. “You would otherwise be dead.”

“You overestimate your skill yet again.” Azriel’s voice was even despite the tension so evident in his stance and in the flow of his energy through my mind.

“I overestimate nothing, Mijai. But I am not here to harm you.” He hesitated, and though he had no physical form, it was not hard to imagine a particularly nasty smile as he added, “Not at this present time.”

Azriel didn’t reply. He didn’t need to when Valdis burned black and her desire to kill was so fierce the air was thick with it.

“Look,” I said quickly, sensing it wouldn’t take much for either being to attack the other right now. “As charming as this little catch-up moment is, the bitch with the keys might now be readying to open the second gate.”

Yeska’s attention turned to me – something I felt rather than saw. It hit like a punch in the gut, leaving me feeling a little breathless. “If the sorcerer steps onto the fields, then he or she will be stopped.”

“You have found the location of her gate?” Azriel asked, before I could.

“On the fields side, yes. We have the location under surveillance.”

Meaning she hadn’t yet tried to access the fields. We still had time to stop her. “And are you going to share the coordinates or are you intending to keep the information all to yourselves?”

“I am here, am I not?”

“Then give us the grid reference, or face the consequences,” Azriel all but growled.

Yeska snorted. “You would not overstep your precious rules, Mijai, and we both know it.”

“I would not be so sure of that —”

“Guys,” I cut in again. “How about we drop the machismo and just concentrate on the keys? You can rattle each other’s chains all you want once we catch this bitch, but let’s just first catch her.”

“Indeed, let’s.” There was amusement in his tone. For supposedly unemotional beings, the Raziq – and Aedh in general – seemed to be full of emotion.

“The location of the gate is at -37.7925000, 144.98635. And remember, if you find this sorcerer first —”

“I’ve got to give you the keys or you’ll kill my friends’ present and future lives,” I cut in wearily. “I know, and trust me, I am trying to get the key.”

“Then try harder,” he replied equably, and disappeared.

“That conversation would have been so much more pleasant had he made the slightest threat toward you,” Azriel mused, sheaving a still blazing Valdis.

“Only because it would have enabled you to kill the bastard.”

“Yes. Yeska’s time is long overdue.”

“Well, you can blame your people for his presence here. You could have done something when you first held him for questioning.”

“With the advantage of hindsight, that is obvious.” He turned. “I suspect those coordinates will take us to the warehouse near Stane’s. Let us hope Rozelle and her friends have been able to break through that shield.”

Otherwise I’d be entering that damn place alone. Again. “It’s probably better to check the location on a computer first, just so we have some idea what to expect. And while we’re home, I can fix that cut on your head.”

He smiled. “It will heal soon enough.”

“Yeah, but humor me anyway.”

His smile grew. “I have heard it said it is unwise to argue with a pregnant woman.”

“I’m betting that’ll happen only when it suits you.”

“A statement I am about to prove. We have not the time to delay. Even now the sorceress could be at the gate, invoking the magic that will lead her into the grasp of the Raziq.”

He was right, damn it. I got out my phone, typed the coordinates into Google maps, and a second later we had our result. It was the location of the warehouse near Stane’s.

Two seconds after that, we were once again standing in front of the building. Rozelle spun as we appeared, one hand going to her chest. “You could give some warning before you pop in like that,” she muttered. “It’s enough to scare ten years’ growth out of a person.”

“We did not mean to scare you,” Azriel said.

“Under normal circumstances you wouldn’t, but in a place like this, when we’re dealing with a spell like this, then, yeah, arrival announcements are definitely appreciated.”

I glanced past her, and studied the three women sitting cross-legged within a protection circle drawn in chalk in the loading bay’s concrete driveway. Sweat beaded their skins and their expressions were intent.

“How is it going?”

“We’re close.” She glanced at Azriel. “Actually, you couldn’t have timed it better. We need to weave an echo of your energy into our threading spell so that you can cross through it unimpeded.”

“What do you wish me to do?” he asked.

“Take my hand.”

He did so. One of the women in the circle raised a hand; Rozelle clasped it, her fingers glowing slightly as she breached the barrier of the protective circle. For several seconds nothing appeared to happen; then the air began to hum with energy and electricity began to dance from Rozelle to Azriel and back again, forming a circle that looped around and around for several minutes. Then it faded.

Rozelle sighed and released Azriel’s hand. “Just a few more seconds, and we should be finished.”

I nodded but couldn’t keep still, and began to pace instead. Azriel merely crossed his arms and watched the witches impassively. I wished I had half of his calm. Right now, my stomach was so full of knots it was getting painful.