The foul bite of magic got stronger. Amaya hissed in annoyance, the sound grating as it echoed through our joined beings. I ignored it and swept around the room, trying to see what traps—if any—Lauren might have left here. Again, there was nothing to see but dust, and it was only the magic that nipped at our particles that told me anything had changed since the last time we were here. There were certainly no obvious signs of magic—no black candles, pentagrams, or other magical accoutrements, and certainly no conventional types of security, like cameras, guards, or demons.
But then, most of the other times we’d been attacked by some form of demon, they hadn’t actually appeared until we’d gained flesh form.
I did another run around the inside perimeter, just to be certain I hadn’t missed anything obvious—and given my current state of tiredness, that was certainly a possibility. But other than the furniture remnants left in offices that lined the street side of the building, this place was a vast, empty space. Which left only the stairs—or rather, the hole Azriel had created under them when we’d raided this place and discovered the tunnels and caverns our sorceress had created beneath the building.
That was where Lauren was.
That was where Azriel was.
And it was undoubtedly also where any trap would be.
But it wasn’t like I had any other choice. Not if I wanted to save Azriel and kill the bitch who held him.
We one, Amaya said. Magic not stick.
I hope like hell you’re right, my friend, because otherwise we could be in trouble.
Trouble not, she said. Trust must.
I did trust her. It was the sorceress I didn’t trust.
We went over to the hole and carefully looked down, every particle tense, ready to run or fight, depending on what happened. Nothing did, but that only made the tension worse, not better. The hole revealed nothing more than a deep well of blackness, and everything was silent, still.
I half thought about dropping down in Aedh form, but that would probably be a move she’d expect. So I edged away from the hole, hunkered down to present less of a target to anything that might attack the minute we appeared, and called to the Aedh again.
The madmen in my head did their usual mad dance around my brain as I regained flesh form, but I had a feeling the lack of food was causing that rather than it being an aftereffect of the change.
I remained where I was, gaze roaming the building’s shadowed interior, body tense as we waited for something to happen. The concrete was cold against my knees and the air chill as it caressed my body through the newly created holes in my clothes.
But again, there was no response from the magic I could still feel. There wasn’t even any familiar scent in the air. Lauren and Azriel were certainly here, but they weren’t in the chamber immediately below the perfectly circular hole in the concrete.
My gaze returned to it. There wasn’t a doubt in my mind that there was a trap waiting in one of the rooms below, and that we would spring it, sooner rather than later. But if Amaya was right, and Lauren couldn’t spell us when we were combined, then maybe our best chance of beating the bitch was to make her think she had.
Amaya, I said, can your steel still merge with my flesh when you’re inside me rather than it?
Yes, she said. Steel still connected to us. Magic still within.
Excellent. And would it be possible for Valdis to take on a darker shade of steel?
Yes, she said again. Sneaky you are.
I half smiled. I think it’s the company I’ve been keeping. Can you ask Valdis to take on your coloring?
Am. She fell silent for a moment; then flames flickered down Valdis’s sides, blue at first, then gradually shifting to a darker violet. Her steel went from bright silver to a gray that was almost, but not quite, black.
Best can do, Amaya said. Shadowed steel hard to copy.
It’ll do. Neither Lauren nor Mike had actually seen Amaya, so they’d only be going on what Lucian might have told them. Okay, now we need to conceal your blade.
Hold flat, she said. Press.
I rose and pressed her blade against my chest and stomach. Energy stirred, prickling across my skin, its touch heated and clean compared to the foul feel of magic that filled this warehouse.
Harder, Amaya said. Hurt not.
I pressed harder. The hilt dug into my skin but, as she’d promised, didn’t actually hurt. The prickle of energy increased, and the sword began to disappear. It seeped into my flesh, the sharp tip of the blade the first to merge, but the rest of it soon followed, until my hands were pressing against my chest rather than the hilt of the blade. I could feel it within me—it was a weight that was oddly warm, an energy ready and waiting to be called and used—but it wasn’t restricting in any way. I twisted from side to side just to be sure, then smiled and hefted Valdis. Lilac fire rippled down her sides and my smile grew. Lauren would see precisely what she expected to see. Nothing more, nothing less.
Hopefully, it would be enough.