Chapter Eleven

THE CAFÉ WAS PACKED WHEN I ARRIVED, AND several staff members had called in sick, so both Ilianna and Tao were in as replacements and working the floor. Which, in Tao’s case, was a rare event that pleased his many fans—some of whom were young, many of whom weren’t, but all of whom were female. Given most of them were wolves who were not afraid of grabbing what they wanted, Tao ended the shift with a sore butt and more phone numbers than even he could handle in a year. But he wasn’t the only one who’d scored—although in my case, it was offers of drinks rather than actual dates. Obviously, I’d looked as if I’d needed to drown my sorrows, even though I’d tried to be my usual cheerful self.

As the evening shift swept in and took control of the madness, the three of us retreated upstairs, beers in hand. I didn’t drink often—except when Ronan was around—but sometimes, when things got really insane, there was nothing more refreshing than a crisp, cool beer.

And insane was certainly an apt description of my life at the moment.

“So,” Tao said, as he rolled the chilled bottle across his forehead. “Ilianna tells me you’ve found a way to read the book without alerting the Raziq. When you attempt it, I want to be there to help.”

I opened my mouth to say no, then shut it again and took a drink instead. I’d known Tao long enough to realize he wouldn’t be dissuaded. And the truth was, with both Azriel and Lucian barred from entering the sacred site, we might just need him. Ilianna wasn’t a member of any coven, let alone the one that owned that ancient site, so there was no telling how the forest was going to react once she raised her magic in its midst.

And while she might be a powerful witch in her own right, she couldn’t help me and protect herself at the same time.

“You’ll need to wear every magical charm Ilianna can lay her hands on if you do,” I said, meeting his gaze evenly. “The place we’re going is almost sentient. There’s no telling what will happen once Ilianna creates the void.”

He nodded, looking pleased and somewhat bemused. “I was actually prepared for a rather long and drawn-out argument. I think I’m almost disappointed.”

I chuckled softly. “I’m not stupid, no matter what some people think. And I rather like the thought of having someone at my back whom I can completely trust.”

Tao opened his mouth, but before he could say anything, Azriel said from behind me, “I gather by the rather ill-disguised sarcasm in your voice that that particular sentence is aimed at me?”

“At you, at Lucian, and at everyone else looking for these keys,” I retorted, not bothering to swing around and look at him. I didn’t need to—not when I could taste his rising anger in the air around me. “I just want you all out of my life. I’m sick of the lies and the endless threat of danger. I want everything to go back to normal.”

“Then we had best get moving and find these keys,” Azriel said, his voice still cool and collected, even if the air still boiled with his emotions.

“Which all sounds well and good,” Ilianna said as her gaze swept between me and Azriel, “but this spell must be done at the break of dawn. And that’s quite a few hours away.”

“By the time we gather everything you need and drive to the site, it won’t be.” I hesitated, then added, “You’ll need your four-wheel drive rather than Tao’s Ferrari. This spot is a bitch to get to.”

She nodded, then swigged the last of her beer and rose. “I left everything at Mirri’s, but it won’t take me long to get there and back.”

My gaze flicked to Tao, and he said instantly, “Feel like some company? I might be tempted to help out in the kitchen if I hang about here too long, and that would annoy Jacques.”

Jacques was the sous-chef we’d recently employed, and while he was a damn fine chef, to say he was somewhat temperamental would be an understatement. He respected Tao as the boss and co-owner, but when it came to his shift, he was in charge and interference was not appreciated.

Ilianna smiled and patted his cheek. “You lie so prettily. No wonder the girls all love you.”

“The Raziq have already had one go at snatching you,” he said evenly. “I might not have a magic sword, but I can arrange a good old-fashioned barbecue if any of them turns up.”

“Given how they’ve turned our lives upside down, I might enjoy seeing that.” She gathered her jacket from a nearby chair, then looked at me. “Play nicely until we get back, children.”

I snorted softly. I had no intention of playing with anyone right now, let alone a reaper who seemed to be gathering too many human traits.

As Tao and Ilianna trooped down the stairs, I rose and walked across to the fridge, getting myself another bottle of beer before walking across to the windows. Outside, Lygon Street was alive with laughter, life, and music. I closed my eyes for a moment, losing myself in the sound and briefly imagining that everything was normal, that this was all some crazy dream.

But it wasn’t, and no amount of wishing was going to make it so. Part of me wondered if things would ever be normal again, even after this whole mess was resolved.

I opened the beer, took a drink, then said, “Lucian tells me that the Raziq will know our location the minute I touch the keys.”

“That is more than possible,” Azriel agreed.

“So why did he have to tell me that? Why couldn’t you?”

“Would it have made the situation any easier?”

No, but that wasn’t the point. “He also suggested that you’re unlikely to get help from other Mijai. He said you guys are rather thin on the ground at the moment.”

“That is also true.”

I turned around and faced him. He was still standing on the far side of the room, his stance casual and his hands clasped behind his back. But there was nothing casual about the feel of the air that boiled around him, or the fierce light that burned in his different-colored blue eyes.

“So just how did you intend to protect me when I retrieved the keys?”

“With all that I have. With my life, if need be.”

“And a fat lot of good that’ll do,” I retorted, “if you die and I’m stuck trying to undo this mess by myself.”

He raised an eyebrow and said, rather cuttingly, “There is still the Aedh.”

“He’s not you. He could never be you.” The words were out before I could even think about them, and sort of hung in the air between us.

And it hit me then that, as frustrating as this reaper could be—and as much as I wanted the whole situation to be finished and my life back to normal—I’d actually miss him when it happened.

I liked Azriel. More than I should. Certainly more than was sensible.

I swung away from him and took a long drink of beer. I was insane. This whole mess had driven me insane.

Azriel was undoubtedly following my thoughts, but for once he didn’t comment. Maybe he thought silence was the better part of valor.

“Lucian’s offered to help us when we go find the keys,” I said eventually. “I’ve accepted.”

“I do not think that is wise—”

“We don’t have much choice,” I cut in. “I don’t want you to die, and there are few others we can call on for help. Lucian is an Aedh, even if he has been damaged. He knows how to fight them, and he’s eager for revenge as well.”

“Do you trust him? Do you honestly think he is telling the truth about what he’s truly after?”

“He is after revenge. I’m certain of that, if nothing else.”

“That doesn’t entirely answer the question.”

No. But it was the only answer I could honestly give.

“Then I guess I have no choice but to trust your judgment.” He hesitated, then added softly, “And another warrior would make things easier.”

I smiled, recognizing an olive branch when I saw it. How long that offer of peace lasted was another matter entirely. “I’m able to fight, but I don’t think any of my weapons will actually work against the Aedh, especially if they don’t take human form in the attack.”

“Which is why I bought you Amaya.”

“And what the hell is an Amaya?” I said.

“This,” he said, drawing a sword from the sheath at his back, “is Amaya.”

The sword was shorter than Valdis, and much finer. Its steel was an inky black, and in the shadowed confines of the room it seemed little more than a threatening shadow. Yet with every movement, energy dripped from her like lilac rain—a rain that matched the color of my eyes and the Dušan on my arm. I doubted it was a coincidence.

“It isn’t,” he agreed. “I am attuned deeply enough to you now that I was able to uncover a weapon that would accept you as her master.”

“Accept me?” I said, studying the sword a little warily. Did I really want a weapon that had a life and a mind of its own?

“Amaya, like Valdis, was forged during the death of a demon.” He stopped several feet away from me. The sword’s energy rolled across my skin—a dark and dangerous caress that had goose bumps rising. My gaze met his. His expression was neutral and—for some reason—that scared me. “It breathes life into the steel, and gives it the power to destroy the dark ones. They do not submit to a master easily, but once accepted they will serve you well.”

“What’s the catch?” Because there had to be one. The seriousness of his expression told me that, if nothing else.

“You must offer them blood.”

“Naturally,” I muttered sarcastically, but with more than a trace of fear. “It couldn’t be something easy, could it?”

No smile touched his lips, and his bright eyes remained as ungiving as his expression. Fear sharpened, sweeping through me, making me tremble like a leaf in a storm. “Just how much blood are we talking about?”

“You must bury the sword in your flesh. She must become a part of you to serve you fully.”

Oh, fuck. I gulped down my beer, but it did little to ease the dryness in my throat. I thumped it down on a nearby table and crossed my arms. “You know, I really don’t think I’m that desperate for a weapon.”

“If the Raziq attack, and if the Aedh and I fall, then all you will have is your wits and your strength. Against the Raziq, that will not be enough.”

As had already been proven when they’d kidnapped and tortured me. I swallowed heavily, my gaze sinking to the sword held so lightly in his hand. It still dripped lilac rain, and I had an odd sense it was waiting.

I licked my lips. “I have the Dušan. If I fled to the gray fields—”

“If the Raziq attack en masse, even the Dušan will not be enough.”

If the Raziq attacked en masse and both he and Lucian were killed, I seriously doubted if even a demon sword would make a difference.

“Do not doubt her capabilities,” he said softly. “Swords forged in demon fire are stronger—and more dangerous—than you could ever imagine.”

And it would only work if I plunged it into my flesh. I rubbed my arms and said, “How can you know for certain that Amaya will accept me?”

“As I said, I am attuned to you enough to sense her willingness. All you have to do is make the sacrifice.”

“But won’t burying a sword in my flesh kill me?”

“She will heal you as a gift for your sacrifice. From that point, she will be yours until your life’s end.”

Oh great, I was going to have a fire-dripping sword constantly strapped to my back. And wouldn’t that please the customers?

A small smile broke the seriousness of his expression, and it felt like sunshine breaking through a storm—warm and welcome. “Amaya belongs to the shadows. You can see her, and I can see her because of our connection, but no one else will. Nor will anyone feel her—not unless you bury her in their flesh. And you do not have to wear her all the time. She can be put aside when you sleep.” He hesitated, then added, “Or when you have sex.”

“I’m sure my partners will appreciate that,” I muttered. I ran a somewhat shaky hand through my hair. I could do this. I had to do this. “Okay, so what do I need to do?”

He raised the sword, offering it to me hilt first. “Take her.”

I wrapped my hands around the night-dark hilt. Fire flared along the blade’s edge, thick and dangerous. The hilt itself felt warm against my palm, and something within it pulsed, as if it had a life and a heart of its own.

And given it was forged during a demon’s death, maybe it did.

I licked my lips, then raised my gaze to Azriel’s. “Now what?”

“Place the tip against your stomach.”

I closed my eyes against the rush of fear and did as he asked. The metal hummed—a sound that vibrated through every nerve ending.

“Now we perform the bonding ritual. Repeat after me; we are one mind, me and thee.”

I repeated the words softly. Energy stirred, caressing my skin and making the small hairs at the back of my neck rise.

“We are one spirit, me and thee.”

The power in the air increased as I repeated the words, crackling like lightning through the darkness, until it felt as if I were standing in the eye of a storm.

“We are one body, me and thee, spirit within flesh, bound together until life is over and the soul has moved on.”

I repeated the sentence. The words seemed to hang in the air, electric and alive. The sword burned against my palms, throbbing with life and hunger.

“Now,” Azriel said softly, “make the sacrifice.”

I hesitated. I couldn’t help it. Lucian’s warning returned to haunt me and, for the briefest of moments, I wondered what the hell I was doing—and why I trusted Azriel so damn much.

Then I thought of the Raziq, and the danger they represented—not just to me, but to the people I loved. People like Ilianna and Tao, who were putting their lives on the line to help me. If bonding with the sword could help mitigate that danger, then I had no other choice.

I tightened my grip on the sword hilt and drove it into my flesh.

For several heartbeats, nothing happened. The blade carved through skin and muscle as easily as if they were air, until the sword broke out the other side and I was standing there skewered by a blade that was little more than shadows itself.

Then the power surged all around me, becoming a tornado that tore at my skin, my hair, my body, until it felt as if it were stripping me of all that I was, making me as shadowy as the sword.

Then it exploded, the pain hit, and all I could do was scream. Scream and scream and scream as the sword became a part of me.

And then there was nothing. No shadows, no power tearing me apart, just a deep pit of unconsciousness that I fell into gratefully.

Of course, my life being what it was of late, I didn’t get to remain in that peaceful void for long.

As consciousness returned, it became apparent that I was no longer standing. I lay on my back, stretched out on the carpet, my head resting against thighs that were as hard as steel and as hot as a furnace. Gentle fingers brushed sweaty strands of hair from my face.

“Don’t try to speak,” Azriel said softly. “Your throat will be raw.”

From the screaming, no doubt. God, what would the customers think? And why wasn’t a squadron of cops beating down our door right now?

“The magic that binds also contains. The only person who heard your screams was me.”

There was an odd edge to his voice, and I opened my eyes and looked up at him. There was concern and regret in his expression, and maybe even a hint of censure. But at himself rather than me, I suspected.

“You are correct,” he confirmed. “I did not think the binding would affect you that way. It doesn’t us.”

I licked dry lips and somehow croaked, “I’m not Mijai. I’m a half-breed nonhuman.”

A slight smile touched his lips—an echo of warmth that curled through my being, chasing away the chill. “But a very brave one.”

I snorted softly. “Okay, who are you? The Azriel I know wouldn’t be saying shit like that.”

He paused. “Why is it that many humans—or in your case nonhumans—are reluctant to accept a compliment when it is given?”

“I don’t know about anyone else, but for me, I don’t deserve the compliment. I was scared shitless.”

“My point exactly.”

I grimaced and pushed upright, needing to get away not only from the heat of him, but from the gentle caress of his fingers. I glanced down at my body. There was no blood on my shirt, no dark stain on the carpet. I was whole. It was as if the shadowed sword had never been a part of me.

And yet she was.

I could feel her. She was a distant hiss of static that was almost a heartbeat and lingered at the edges of thought, coiled and ready to be unleashed at the slightest notice.

I shivered and rubbed my arms. There was darkness and danger in that static—for me, and for those who opposed me.

“Amaya has accepted you,” Azriel said. I glanced around as he pushed to his feet, the movement economical yet somehow graceful. “You will feel her presence everywhere you go, in everything you do. Learn her song. She is more than just a blade.”

He offered me his hand. I clasped it and he pulled me up lightly. “I’m not Mijai. I can barely understand you, let alone a bloody sword.”

“You understand me more than you might wish to let on,” he countered. “And Amaya’s voice will become clearer as you grow used to each other.”

Maybe. Maybe not. While the sword might have accepted me, it didn’t necessarily follow that we would ever understand each other. After all, according to him, I shouldn’t have felt the pain that I did during the binding. So heaven only knew what else would differ.

“So where is she now?” I said, looking at the floor but not seeing the shadow-wrapped weapon.

“She’s where she always will be, unless you purposefully remove her. In her sheath at your back.”

If I was wearing a sword, then I couldn’t feel it. I reached back and felt the coldness of steel. Damn. I wrapped my fingers around the hilt and slowly drew the sword free. While she was little more than shadows, she was far from light, though her weight rested comfortably in my hand. At my touch, her whispering grew stronger, filled with an eagerness to rend and tear. Another shiver ran through me. I swung her back and forth, watching the lilac fire that caressed her sharp edges spray across the floor, and wondered if—like Valdis—she’d scream when she sliced into flesh. Somehow, I suspected not.

Then I placed her back into her sheath, only briefly feeling the weight of her across my back.

“Are you sure no one can see or feel her? I really don’t need to get arrested for carrying a weapon right now.”

Footsteps clattered up the stairs. Tao and Ilianna returning.

“No one will see her except those whose life you are about to extinguish,” Azriel said.

“Whoa,” Ilianna said, her gaze widening as she came into the room. “Where the hell did that sword come from?”

I raised an eyebrow at Azriel. A smiled touched his lips and lightly crinkled the corners of his eyes, and my pulse did its usual stupid dance. “Well, no one except someone like Ilianna.”

Tao came up behind her, his gaze swinging from me to Azriel before frowning down at Ilianna. “What sword?”

I smiled and waved a hand. “Long story. You two ready to go?”

Ilianna hefted the large canvas bag she was carrying. “All manner of magical whatnot present and accounted for.”

I grabbed my purse and swung it over my shoulder. It settled into place easily, as if there weren’t a shadowy sword strapped to my back. I shivered again, then said, “Then let’s get this show on the road.”

Before the inner voice whispering dark warnings of trouble ahead became too loud to ignore.

We arrived at Mount Macedon an hour before dawn. In the glow of the four-wheel drive’s lights, the old metal gates seemed even older and stronger than they had the other morning—a barrier that seemed to forbid passage.

Ilianna leaned her forearms on the steering wheel, her gaze sweeping the gate and the fence to either side of it. “The magic in this place feels ancient.”

“According to Kiandra, it is.” I opened the SUV’s door and climbed out. “It seemed almost sentient to me.”

“I don’t think I’d go as far as that,” Ilianna said, frowning as she walked to the front of the vehicle, “but there’s certainly a great power residing here, and there is a level of awareness within it.”

“There’s also some sort of fire burning,” Tao commented, his hands on his hips as he stopped beside us. “I can feel its heat.”

I swore softly. “The fire elementals must be still present.”

He raised an eyebrow. “Fire elementals? As in, World of Warcraft, Lord of the Rings fire elementals?”

I blinked. “What?”

“You know, that creature Gandalf battled when he was in the pits of Moria?”

“Wasn’t that a Balrog? They’re demons, not elementals.”

“But it was associated with fire—”

“Enough,” Azriel cut in, as he appeared in front of us. His expression was impatient. “The elementals remain near the fire that gave them life. If Ilianna creates the void just inside the gates, we should be able to retrieve and read the book before they become a problem.”

“Should being the operative word.” I’d learned the hard way not to rely on shoulds.

His gaze met mine. “We have little other choice.”

That was certainly true enough. I sighed. “Go get the book. I’ll meet you on the gray fields.”

He nodded and winked out of existence. I glanced at Ilianna. “Time to go see if the ancient power will accept your magic.”

I strode forward, Ilianna and Tao a step behind me. The gates were still locked, but as we approached, the lock fell away and the gates slid silently open.

“I think that’s your answer,” Ilianna said softly. She walked past me, her expression awed. “I can feel it. Around me. In me.”

I shivered and rubbed my arms. I knew all about feeling magic inside of you—Amaya was a dark heat that stirred restlessly on the outer edges of my consciousness. Something about this place seemed to be making her uneasy—or was I transferring my own unease and trepidation onto her?

“The fire elementals are on the move,” Tao murmured as we followed Ilianna off the path and into the trees. “They must have sensed our presence.”

Or the magic of this place was hedging its bets—welcoming us, but at the same time opposing. I met Tao’s gaze grimly. “Will you be able to cope with them?”

He shrugged. “Do we have any other choice?”

“No, but—”

“Ris,” he said, gently squeezing my arm, “I’ll keep Ilianna safe. I’ll keep me safe. Just do what you have to as fast as you can.”

I nodded. There was nothing else I could do. Nothing else I could say. I knew what the elementals were capable of, but Tao was a fire-starter. If anyone had a hope of containing those things, it was him.

We hit a clearing. Ilianna stopped in the middle of it and said, “We can do it here.”

“What do you need us to do?”

She glanced at me, her gaze still glowing with an almost otherworldly luminescence. “You need to stand here. I will create the protection circle and containment void, then invite you in.”

I frowned. “But you can’t be in the circle. It’s too dangerous, Ilianna.” We didn’t know if there were other spells woven into the fabric of the book, and had no idea what would happen once I opened it. The containment spell was aimed at protecting them as much as the void was meant to stop the Aedh from sensing what I was up to.

“I won’t be,” she said. “Once the circle and void are in place, I’ll create a doorway. As long as we use only that doorway to enter and exit, then the circle will remain active.”

“If there’s a door, then other things might be able to get in.” Or out.

“They won’t. It’s a modified spell that will be attuned to our resonance alone. Nothing else will be able to get in or out.” The odd glow in her eyes died suddenly and she smiled. “It’ll be fine. Stop worrying.”

How? They were risking their lives for me, in a place filled with magic, not to mention walking bonfires. I took a deep breath that did nothing to alleviate the fear twisting my guts, then glanced at Tao, who gave me a brief thumbs-up as I walked across to Ilianna. But his gaze had already moved on, scanning the trees, his expression touched with concern. I bit my lip and wondered just how close the elementals actually were.

“When everything is ready,” Ilianna said, making me jump a little. “I’ll say, How do you enter the circle, Risa Jones? Your response should be, In complete trust of the powers that reside and protect within.”

When I nodded, she returned to her bag of tricks and withdrew her athame, four candles, and a box of matches. She placed these on the ground, then marked a large circle in the dirt around them. Next she picked up the candles and placed them at four points—the green one to the north, yellow to the east, red in the south, and blue in the west. I knew from past experiences that these points represented the four elements—earth, air, fire, and water.

With that done, she raised her arms and made a sweeping motion. “Let this space be cleared of all negativity and inappropriate energies, and may any lost souls inhabiting it be returned where they need to be.”

Air stirred and became imbued with warmth. I clenched my fingers but otherwise remained still.

Ilianna bent to light the first candle. “Guardians of the east, I call upon you to watch over this circle and guard the two allowed to enter. Powers of knowledge and wisdom, guided by air, keep watch over us and let no others enter by body or deed.”

Then she moved to the red candle and lit it. “Guardians of the south, I call upon you to watch over this circle and guard the two allowed to enter. Powers of energy and will, guided by fire, keep watch over us and let no force or ill intent enter.”

She moved on. The blue candle was next, then finally, the green. “Guardians of the north, I call upon you to watch over this circle and guard the actions of the two allowed to enter. Powers of endurance and strength, guided by earth, we ask that you protect us against deeds of strength and might.”

When the last of the ritual words had been spoken, she picked up her athame and said, “The circle has been cast. How do you enter the circle, Risa Jones?”

I took a deep breath and blew it out slowly. “In complete trust in the powers that reside and protect within.”

She slashed her athame across a small section of the circle, first to the right, then to the left. “Enter.”

I did. She caught my fingers in hers as I stopped beside her and squeezed lightly. “Good luck.”

“Thanks.”

Then she stepped out of the circle and made that slashing motion with her athame again, effectively closing the circle.

I blew out a breath, then sat down, legs crossed. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. As I slowly released it, I released awareness of everything and everyone else around me, concentrating on nothing more than the slowing beat of my heart. The world around me began to fade as the gray fields gathered close. Warmth throbbed at my neck—Ilianna’s magic at work, protecting me as my psyche, my soul, or whatever else people liked to call it, pulled away from the constraints of my flesh and stepped gently into the gray fields that were neither life nor death.

But on the gray fields, the invisible became visible. The real world might fade to be little more than shadows, but those things not sighted on the living plane gained substance when viewed from here.

The Dušan was one of those things. She exploded from my arm, her energy flowing through me, around me, as her lilac form gained flesh and shape, until she looked so solid and real that I wanted to reach out and touch her. She swirled around me, the wind of her body buffeting mine as her sharp ebony gaze scanned the fields around us, looking for trouble. I wondered if she was actually sensing it, or if she merely reacted to the knot of fear growing in the pit of my stomach.

I saw Azriel before I felt him—he was a blaze of sunlight in this ghostly otherworld, a force whose very presence seemed to throb through my body. As if he, like the Dušan and Amaya, were a part of me. And I guess in many respects he was, given he was attuned to my Chi.

He stopped in front of me, his energy so fierce and bright that I winced. He gave me the book and, like everything else in this place, it appeared ghostly. Yet it felt heavier here than it had on earth.

The second I touched it an odd twist of power seemed to shudder across the fields, then sparks exploded from the book. But these were no ordinary sparks flying high then dying. These sparks converged into several separate masses, each one dancing around the other, growing bigger with each movement, gaining flesh in much the same manner as the Dušan had.

Only these things weren’t dragons—winged or otherwise—but rather snakes. Fat, ugly snakes with bodies as thick as my torso and fangs longer than my arm.

The Raziq had spelled the book all right—just not in the way we’d expected.

“Go,” Azriel commanded, drawing his sword. Valdis burned with blue fire, her scream echoing across the silence of the fields. It was a scream that found an echo as his Dušan exploded from his back—a winged black dragon who spat blue fire. “Read the book and find the keys’ location.”

“But I can’t leave you—”

“Go!” he shouted, then raised his sword as the first of the serpents coiled in.

I swore softly but clasped the book tightly to my chest and closed my eyes. Valdis’s scream echoed through my body as my soul stepped briefly back into my flesh. I placed the book on the ground and opened it. I was vaguely aware of heat and noise and shouting, and wasn’t sure if it was coming from this place or the gray fields. Then I thrust it all aside as the pages began to flip on their own accord. The movement stopped several pages past the one that had held my Dušan, but there was no writing on it. No pictures.

Because the words can only be read while I’m on the grey fields. Fuck.

I closed my eyes and pulled free of my body once more. The moment I stepped onto the gray fields, my Dušan appeared again, but this time she screamed, her fire burning all around me as something fat and sleek lunged in my direction. The fire hit it head-on, exploding in a rush of air that rocked me sideways but seemed to do little more than push the serpent aside.

I shivered, knowing I was in trouble, my fingers itching to reach for Amaya. Her song was a hiss of anger that burned through me. She wanted out. She wanted to taste serpentine flesh and blood.

I licked my lips, ignoring her, ignoring the shadowy, sinewy shapes that twisted and turned just beyond reach. I had a book to read. The sooner I did that, the better.

I stepped forward, closer to the edge of the fields, until there was only the thinnest of veils between this world and my own. Viewed from here, the book— like everything else—was a shadow without substance or weight, but the words unseen on Earth glowed like fire when viewed from the gray fields.

The keys wear the veils of an ax, a dagger, and a shield, respectively. The first was sent to the west of Melbourne, to where the wild—

Something hit me hard, knocking me sideways, away from the book. I staggered, trying to regain my balance, vaguely aware of screaming—high, harsh screaming. I twisted around and saw the Dušan and a serpent coiling around each other, each creature’s teeth tearing into the flesh of the other. Then another serpent appeared, coiling past my Dušan to lunge at me. I threw myself sideways and drew Amaya. She didn’t scream, but she spluttered and hissed, the sound so ferocious it reverberated through the shadows of the gray fields.

White fangs slashed at me. I swung Amaya, her purple fire dripping like venom. The blade hit the serpent’s oversized teeth, slicing through them as easily as a hot knife through butter. Liquid gushed, thick and yellow, stinking to high heaven and stinging like acid. I swore and jumped back as it lunged at me again, this time attempting to use its head as a battering ram. I ducked under the blow, twisted around, and brought Amaya down as hard as I could just behind the serpent’s neck. It felt like I was hitting stone. The force of the blow reverberated up my arm and made my teeth ache. For a moment, nothing happened. Then the blade hissed and burned, her fire crawling across the serpent’s back like a living thing. And as the creature coiled its body around to face me again, Amaya began to burrow down, into flesh and then bone. The serpent screamed—a high pitched, almost human scream—and began to flop and twist its body, trying to shake Amaya off. It pulled me off my feet, throwing me around like a rag doll, but Amaya kept her grip. She kept slicing into flesh—a demon sword with blood on her mind and murder in her heart.

Then she was through, and the serpent’s head dropped clear of its body. As Amaya’s hissing became victorious, I hit the ground and rolled clear of the dying serpent, coming to my feet, demon sword at the ready once more.

But the gray fields were suddenly still. Quiet.

My Dušan pulled free of the coiled form and swirled around me once more, her purple scales battered and bloody looking. I wondered suddenly if they could die, and hoped not. I had a feeling I was going to need her more often as the years wore on.

I took a deep breath that did nothing to ease the tension still coiling through me and looked around for Azriel. He was standing where I’d left him, in a sea of broken, twisting bodies.

He looked up and said, “Did you read the book?”

“No.” I sheathed Amaya and stepped across the snake’s still-twitching body. “A serpent hit me before I could get full directions.”

“Then get them now.”

A horn rang across the silence—a long, haunting note that oddly filled me with fear. I bit my lip, my gaze searching through the shadows of the gray fields, seeing little. No ghosts, no reapers other than Azriel, nothing that seemed out of place. And yet, something was.

“Hurry,” Azriel said. “The Aedh hunt the gray fields. They are coming this way.”

I swore and stepped closer to the edge of the fields. The book came into view, but whatever magic had allowed me to view the words had dissipated.

The page was completely empty.