The Adversary by Thea Harrison
Chapter Four
Dragos had just enough time to warn Pia before the adversary’s latest spell enveloped him completely.
He slammed into darkness, but this time he didn’t lose consciousness. Iron chains whipped around his body, pinning his arms and legs together, and something shoved him hard. He toppled and fell and fell…
He plunged into icy water that closed over his head, and the combined weight of his body and the chains caused him to sink. He couldn’t breathe or swim, and his lungs quickly started to ache.
He was trapped, drowning. There was no way out. No way to shout for help. Panic beat at him with black insistent wings.
Dragos took a moment to admire that panic and the comprehensiveness of this spell. The adversary had not been idle while Dragos had been talking to Pia. He’d had time to craft this attack carefully.
This was different from the pretty idyllic clearing or the mirror spell by the water. It was aggressive, deadly, and immaculate.
There were many types of illusion spells. Most of them did not hold up under closer scrutiny. The stronger and more complex the illusion was, the more it tricked the mind into believing it was real.
And if you built an illusion spell that was strong and complete enough, it could convince the mind of just about anything. Combine it with a panic spell, and you could literally cause someone to die because they believed they would die. The mind was a powerful thing.
The adversary was no longer looking to subdue him or encourage him to self-destruct. He was looking to kill.
Murdering the host you were possessing, however you chose to do it, was an extremely risky maneuver, because more often than not the body died along with its native consciousness, and there was always the possibility that the host’s death would take the possessor with it.
Either this parasite was highly confident he could maintain control over Dragos’s body after Dragos’s consciousness died, or he was desperate. Or both.
But as beautifully crafted as this latest illusion was, it still had that fatal shortcoming—it did not encompass Dragos entirely. He knew better, and he didn’t believe it. The chains, the lack of air, the dark, frigid water, this version of his body—the only thing that was real was the intricately crafted structure of the spell that created it.
And Dragos remembered very well the time when he existed before earth was formed, when he had no physical body. When he soared through the heavens basking in a sunlight so pure it was a piercing sword of luminous gold. His consciousness knew very well that he did not need a breathing body for him to survive.
But his enemy didn’t know that.
After a few lightning-fast calculations, Dragos continued to struggle futilely. He allowed the panic to sink through most of his consciousness. After he judged that he’d had enough time to “drown” he went limp, and his fake body settled on a rocky bed of sand.
Then he waited, inert, drifting in silent darkness, his mind acquiescent. He had never personally driven someone he had possessed to death, so he could only guess at what would happen next.
If he had truly died there would be no consciousness to cage, so the spell that created this version of his body, along with the chains that bound it, would lose its anchor. At that point, theoretically, it should dissipate.
He sensed the adversary’s silent, sharp attention. This was a game Dragos had been playing his whole life, a game he loved: two predators sizing each other up, calculating odds, and planning their next moves.
Here I am, you bastard, the dragon thought, deep where the spell could not reach. I’m helpless and unconscious. What are you going to do now?
Slowly the alien presence crept closer. As he did, Dragos relinquished his attachment to the fake body, and both it and the chains dissipated. He let his mind expand, a dragon mantling its wings—and then he struck.
When Pia exitedthe master suite, she was freshly showered and dressed in sturdy jeans, hiking boots, and a T-shirt. Eva waited just outside her door and raised her eyebrows as she looked down Pia’s figure.
“What now?” Pia asked.
“Nothing, I would just feel better if I saw some Kevlar,” Eva replied. “A little armor to guard your chest plate, I don’t know, something.”
“I get it, but there’s nothing alive down in that hole.” Pia paused. “Nothing that’s physical, anyway. The biggest danger to anyone is going to be magical in nature.” She handed over the bottles of breast milk. “Please see that this gets off to where it needs to go.”
“Jocasta and Ramone will know who to give this to. Be right back. Don’t leave without me.”
“Of course not.”
Pia walked toward the living room, where there was a large party of people deep into a discussion of magical theory. All of them were dressed in sturdy clothes and leather half armor, with backpacks and weapons. She assessed the group.
Rune and Carling—no surprise there. Rune had not been able to let Carling get too far away ever since she and Pia had been kidnapped. Beluviel and Graydon, also no surprise. Grace and Khalil, Morgan and Sidonie, Bayne, and Liam.
At her arrival, everyone stood. Morgan said, “We decided on an even number for the party going down into the ruins. That way we can stay in pairs and keep an eye on each other in case one of us starts to show distress or act strangely. Bayne has agreed to be my partner, with your approval.”
Pia regarded the sentinel who gave her a sleepy-looking smile. The three gryphons looked like they could be brothers—they were powerfully built and had varying shades of blond hair and suntanned skin. Rune was the most classically handsome, and Graydon’s features were the roughest.
Bayne had a little Gerard Butler action going on, with a strong-boned, weathered face, a firm, sensual mouth, and dimples that made a surprising appearance when he smiled. He ambled rather than walked, and the ringtone on his cell phone was “Staying Alive” by the Bee Gees. Even the wave in his unruly, sun-streaked hair looked relaxed.
He had also been the head of New York’s Wyr Division of Violent Crime for many years, and none of the sentinels had achieved their positions by being easygoing or lax, at least not on the job. She liked Bayne so much and wasn’t fooled for a moment by his jovial, easy-going attitude.
“I approve,” she said, and Bayne’s dimples made a fleeting appearance as his smile deepened.
Liam told her, “I’ll walk with you, at least to the ruins. But like I promised, I won’t go in.”
“Good.” She turned when the front door opened, and Eva walked in. “If we’re all ready, let’s go.”
Morgan gave Sidonie a lingering kiss and the beautiful musician hugged him tightly. As everyone filed out, Bel touched Pia’s hand with a reassuring smile. “I know this is incredibly stressful and scary, but we’re going to figure this out.”
She took a deep breath and squared her shoulders. “Yes, we will.”
This trip to the ruins was far different from the first time when, for convenience’s sake, Dragos had shapeshifted into the dragon and had flown with her over the settlement to the construction site of the new concert hall. The early morning sun had been blazing, and she had caught glimpses of the unseen at the edge of her vision, wispy flickers against the bright sunlit sky.
This time, the group strode quickly through the settlement. It was very late at night, and after the events at the beach party when they had tackled Dragos—the interloper in Dragos’s body—to the ground, the twenty thousand inhabitants had retreated back to their individual encampments.
Despite the lateness of the hour, people lingered in huddled groups, talking in low voices around campfires, and watched the group warily as they passed, but nobody approached. The celebratory attitude from earlier had vanished, and everyone wore weapons.
Thinking back to the unseen during her brief flight with Dragos, she thought of her strange encounter in the clearing and beckoned Bel over. As the Elven woman fell into step beside her, Pia told her telepathically about what had happened.
One moment I could see them plain as day, and in the next moment they had vanished, she finished.
The torches positioned periodically along the path made Bel’s large eyes brilliant. Fascinating. And the change happened when you shapeshifted?
Yes. That first one clearly wanted to touch me, which was not okay, but I don’t think he—or she—meant any harm.Pia frowned. I’ve been too busy until now to even think about it, let alone try to figure out what it means. What do you think?
I think it means you’re even more extraordinary than I already knew.Bel gave her a warm smile. Your Wyr form must be closely attuned to the dimension they inhabit. Their realm lies so close to ours. I wonder what else you could see and hear of theirs? What if you could step into their realm altogether? It would be a form of travel entirely different from walking the crossover passageways or the speed of the Djinn in flight.
She shuddered at the thought. And what if I couldn’t make it back? I could be trapped in some alien place forever. No, thank you.
As they talked, they drew near the construction site.
Bayne said suddenly, “I smell blood.”
The group’s reaction was instantaneous. Liam and Eva flanked Pia and faced outward. Khalil dematerialized and surrounded Grace, causing her figure to blur. Graydon pulled Bel to his side and drew his sword.
Carling, Rune, Morgan and Bayne raced forward. As the others approached, they crouched beside a prone figure. Carling straightened immediately. “He’s dead. His throat was cut.”
“There’s another one.” Morgan strode over to the body, some thirty yards away. After kneeling briefly, he said, “Same here. Looks like a knife stab to the jugular. Very neatly done. With the right approach, the victim wouldn’t have had time to call out.”
“How many guards were left on site?” Bayne asked. He didn’t wait for a reply. Instead, he jogged around the large, jagged hole in the ground.
Pia had been in too much shock to take note, but Graydon, who had also been present, said, “Four. There were four.”
Eva swore under her breath. She knelt, opened her backpack, and yanked out a black vest. “Now do you see why I wanted you to wear some protection?”
Chagrined, Pia obediently shrugged on the Kevlar vest Eva pushed her into. “I did not see this coming.”
“Said every dead person on every damn battlefield everywhere,” Eva snapped under her breath. “Throughout history.”
“Okay, geez, I get it. I’m sorry,” Pia muttered as she fastened the vest into place with shaking fingers. “You can stop chewing on my ass any minute now.”
Eva caught her hand and squeezed it in reply. “It’s only ’cause I care.”
Pia twined her fingers through Eva’s, returning the pressure. “I know.”
Bel and Graydon, and Grace and Khalil, stayed with Pia and Eva while the others fanned out to search the rest of the site. The scene was weirdly macabre, like a graveyard filled with tombs, with piles of construction materials and dirt casting deep shadows, and the wind whispering through the trees.
Or was it the wind? These days, Pia had grown suspicious of that sound. She squinted, trying to look at things out of the corner of her eye to see if she could catch the subtle flicker of movement indicating the presence of the unseen, but it was too dark, and she felt too rattled. She wrapped her arms around her torso, waiting nervously for the professionals to process the scene and report back.
It felt like a long time, but it must have been only a few minutes later when most of the others came back except for Liam, who knelt on one knee at the edge of the hole. “Only three bodies, all with the same cause of death,” Bayne said to Graydon. “They must have trusted whoever came up to them, because there aren’t any signs of a struggle. That fourth guard has got some ’splaining to do.”
Pia couldn’t drag her gaze away from her son. He was so close to that black gaping maw. “Liam,” she said tightly. “You’re working my last nerve.”
He held up a hand without looking up. “I hear you, Mom. It’s okay. I’m only looking. Do you know if they left ropes going into this hole when they pulled you and Dad out? Because there’s one here now.”
“I don’t think so.” Graydon relaxed his hold on Bel and strode over. “There wasn’t any reason to leave a rope dangling. Don’t touch it without evidence gloves. It’ll mess up the scent. Here.” Reaching Liam’s side, he dug into his pack and brought out some thin gloves.
Together he and Liam pulled up the rope, and Morgan, Bayne, and Rune gathered to inspect it. A few feet away, Carling stood gazing down into the hole. The Vampyre said almost contemplatively, “There’s a lot of residual magic down there.”
Every instinct Pia had was shrieking. Unfortunately, most of it was contradictory stuff. She. Did. Not. Want. To. Go. Down. There. Again. And yet here she was, determined to do just that.
And she couldn’t stand how close Liam still stood to the gaping hole, even though he was surrounded by some of the most competent and dangerous people she’d ever met. Even if he was one of the most competent and dangerous people she’d ever met. Man, those mom instincts. They could be exhausting.
Forcing her leaden legs to work, she walked to Liam’s side. It might be entirely irrational, but she felt better as soon as she laid her hand on his arm. He patted her fingers absentmindedly. Most of his focus was on the rope and the others.
“There’s Pia and Dragos, which is to be expected,” Rune said. “And there are traces of many other scents. Also not unusual at a construction site where all the materials were shipped in. But then there’s one fresher scent overlaying it all.”
“And all of those scents are Wyr,” added Morgan. “I think your fourth guard went down there. The question is, did he come back up again?”
“Only way to know is to get down there and find out,” Bayne said. “Let’s light it up.”
Breaking open several glowsticks, Bayne and Graydon tossed them into the hole. Everyone gazed at the uneven floor below strewn with rocks and dirt. A hint of large carved columns edged the cavernous scene that faded to black in the distance.
Nothing happened. There was no sound, no movement. Rune looked at Pia. His lion’s gaze picked up the faint glow from the glowsticks and gleamed. “If our fourth guard is still down there, he’s either unconscious or dead.”
“Or possessed,” she said.
“Right,” said Morgan briskly. “Only one way to find out.”
He took a step forward and dropped into the hole. Pia and the others watched as he landed below with an inhuman grace. As a werewolf, in some ways he was stronger than a Wyr wolf would have been.
“Aw now, you don’t get to have all the fun by yourself,” Bayne told him. The sentinel leaped to join him.
Khalil offered, “I can transport everyone else down.”
“That might not be the best idea,” Carling said. “When you Djinn arrive somewhere, you’re like a mini tornado. We don’t need for your Power to trigger some kind of magical trap. Let’s go down with as little disruption as possible, at least until we can gauge whether or not it’s safe to do anything else.”
“Rune and I can take three or four people each in our gryphon forms,” Graydon said. Rune gave him a nod. “If anybody’s uncomfortable with that, they can always climb down.” Graydon took the length of rope and let it fall down into the hole again.
Pia patted Liam’s arm and smiled. He didn’t smile back. He said, “I don’t like letting you go without me.”
“But you will, because you promised,” she said.
His mouth tightened. “I will, because I promised. Besides, I think I’ve figured out my next job.” He called down, “Any sign of a body?”
Bayne looked up. “Not yet. I’m thinking he climbed down, did a little graverobbing to go along with his murders, and then climbed back out again. He didn’t need the rope any longer, so he didn’t bother to recoil it.”
Liam looked at the other sentinels. “Let’s assume Bayne’s right and he made it out again. I’ve got his scent. I’m going to start tracking him up here.”
“Good idea,” Rune said. “Report back when you know something.”
“Will do.”
Rune and Graydon shapeshifted. Each gryphon was massive, roughly the size of an SUV, with the head and wings of an eagle, and the heavily muscled body of a lion. They were so outrageously magnificent that despite everything Pia’s spirits lifted.
She turned to Liam. He told her grimly, “Be careful. I’ve already got one parent I’m worried about.”
“You be careful too.” Her mouth tightened. She wanted to send half a dozen bodyguards with him, and she couldn’t, not when he was so focused on establishing his adulthood and independence. He would never forgive her if she babied him too much in front of the others. Besides, he might not be an accomplished sorcerer like someone as ancient as Carling or Morgan, but as a dragon, in his own way, he was the most Powerful one there. “I’m trying to think of a good reason why a Wyr would betray his fellow guards, kill them, go into the ruins and then disappear, and I’m not coming up with any scenarios that I like. If he was graverobbing like Bayne said, he might be carrying some dangerous artifacts. Don’t touch anything with your bare hands.”
“I hear that one loud and clear.” He took her by the waist and hoisted her onto Graydon’s back, behind Bel, and Eva leaped behind her. “I’ll check back soon.”
“Okay.” She touched his cheek.
Then he stepped back. Moving with predatory grace, he glided into the shadows.
She didn’t have time to watch Liam’s departure and fret. Graydon launched, and Pia plummeted once again into the scene of her worst nightmare.