Heart of Vengeance (Alice Worth #6) - Lisa Edmonds Page 0,108
Something else had slaughtered the people of Walliston, and it called to my dark magic as like called to like.
I was still furious about Lucy’s push and Daisy’s betrayal, but all that had to go to the back burner for now. “What can we do?” I asked. My question wasn’t really directed at anyone in particular, and I was referring to more than the dozens—or maybe hundreds—of ghosts haunting the streets.
Lucy had a white-knuckled grip on the steering wheel. “How’s your magic? Sensing any gravelings or their handiwork, like you did back in Oakdale?”
I shook my head. “Not like Oakdale, but something similar. What else can come up out of the Underworld?”
“What can’t?” Lucy pulled to the curb in front of a home with two vehicles still parked in the driveway. “There are creatures and people and gods down there—things you wouldn’t believe even if you saw them with your own eyes. Not that we have much to go on in terms of intel; it’s mostly reports cobbled together from records of things that have made it topside and legends that are probably part truth and part complete fiction. But like I said, stuff getting out is rare here.”
A ghost ran in front of our jeep, calling for someone—her daughter, maybe. Lucy took a ragged breath. When the ghost was past, she went on. “Cultures that worship certain Underworld deities open gateways with some regularity, but traffic through them is tightly regulated on both sides. A lot of inhabitants of the Underworld don’t want anyone from here going down there. Most magic practitioners here don’t want to open any kind of portal, because there are things down there capable of unleashing death and destruction on a massive scale. And once opened, portals are sometimes damn near impossible to close.”
“Well, that sucks,” Malcolm said, his tone curt. He was still angry about Lucy’s push, but like me, he’d apparently decided to put that aside to deal with more immediate problems.
“Yeah.” She turned off the jeep’s engine. Behind us, the Harley rumbled, then went silent.
“What are we doing?” I asked.
“We have to know what happened to these people.” She got out and shut her door. I got out and opened the back door as my little cat-dragon hopped onto my shoulder.
Malcolm floated out. Daisy got up, stretched, and jumped down beside me. She gave herself a long shake and stared at the house in front of us, her lip curled to show some teeth.
I listened. Other than ghostly keening, an eerie silence reigned in Walliston. No vehicles, no music, no dogs barking, no…nothing. Somewhere down the street, a flagpole rattled in the wind. I rubbed my arms.
Ronan joined us on the sidewalk, his helmet and gloves stacked neatly on the seat of his bike. “A house of death,” he said.
I didn’t know how he knew what was inside, but my spidey senses told me nothing was left alive in this house, or in any house on this block.
My blood magic tingled as we crossed the lawn. “It’s a mess in there,” I told my companions.
“I’ll take point,” Lucy told us. “Ronan, watch our backs.”
Daisy growled.
“With the wolf’s help,” Lucy amended. Ronan snorted.
When we reached the front step, I raised my hand and held it near the door. “House is warded.” I closed my eyes and studied the spellwork. “The wards target nonhumans.”
“Most wards around here do,” Lucy said. “Human invaders are less of a worry than all the things that go bump in the night.”
“Allow me to earn my keep.” Ronan placed his palm flat against the door. I flinched as the house wards broke. The flash of pain faded as the magic dissipated.
“I could have done that,” Malcolm muttered.
Ronan raised his boot and kicked in the door. The door, the bar behind it, and the doorframe exploded into the entryway of the house.
“I could have done that,” Lucy said.
I caught a flash of a shadow heading for us. Its dark magic was unmistakable. I knew—though I didn’t know how I knew—that it was death incarnate. A blood magic blade emerged from my fingers.
Ronan drew his sword and sliced the shadow in half. It let out a bone-chilling scream as it disintegrated.
“A shade,” Lucy said grimly. “Shit.”
“I could have done that,” I said.
Ronan sighed. “You are all very difficult to impress.”
“Stop trying to impress us,” Lucy snapped.
He raised his hand. A ball of silver-blue light formed on his palm, illuminating the interior of the house. “No.”