Chapter 5 Chapter 4
I didn't choose to surrender, but I didn't exactly choose to fight either.
What I chose was survival, and in that moment, survival meant letting Kael Thorne drag me through a portal of shimmering darkness while demon creatures with too many teeth poured through my shattered window. Azrael shouted something behind us, his voice raw with fury or pain or both, but then the world twisted inside out and I was falling through nothing and everything at once.
We landed hard on cold marble floors. I gasped, my stomach heaving from whatever the hell that transportation method had been. Kael was already on his feet, pulling me up with one hand while barking orders at the vampire soldiers who'd materialized around us.
"Secure the perimeter. Full lockdown. No one in or out without my direct authorization." His voice was pure command, and the soldiers scattered immediately. Then those silver-blue eyes were on me, assessing. "Can you walk?"
"Where are we?" I managed, looking around at what appeared to be some kind of grand entrance hall. Vaulted ceilings disappeared into shadow overhead. Chandeliers dripped crystals that caught the light from wall sconces. Everything was black marble and dark wood and screamed old money with a side of immortal predator.
"The Nightfall Court," Kael said, as if that explained anything. "The Queen will want to see you immediately."
"I didn't agree to this." I yanked my arm from his grip, anger finally cutting through the shock. "You kidnapped me. That demon thing was about to kill me, and you used it as an excuse to kidnap me."
"I saved your life," he corrected, his voice infuriatingly calm. "Those were hellhounds. Lower demons Malakai uses as trackers and executioners. They would have torn you apart and brought your corpse back to the Shadow Realm as a trophy. So yes, I took you without your permission. And I'd do it again."
The worst part was that he was probably right. I'd seen the things coming through my window, all shadow and teeth and hunger. I wouldn't have lasted thirty seconds against them. But that didn't make this okay. Didn't make the fact that I was now trapped in some vampire stronghold any less terrifying.
"How do I get out?" I asked.
"You don't." Kael started walking, clearly expecting me to follow. When I didn't move, he turned back with something that might have been patience. "I understand you're frightened and angry. But right now, every demon in this city knows you exist and where you were. Your apartment is destroyed. Your human friend is in danger simply by association. The only safe place for you is here, behind our wards, until we figure out what to do with you."
"What to do with me," I repeated flatly. "Like I'm a problem you need to solve."
"You are a problem." His bluntness shouldn't have stung, but it did. "You're the last Shadow Witch. Your bloodline was supposed to be extinct. The fact that you're alive and your power has awakened changes everything. The balance of power between vampires and demons has been teetering for twenty years. You could tip it either way, depending on who controls you."
"No one controls me," I said.
"Then you'll die." He said it matter-of-factly, like he was commenting on the weather. "Without training, without protection, without understanding what you are, you'll lose control of your power and destroy yourself. Or Malakai will get his hands on you and use you to tear down the Veil completely. Either way, you won't survive the month. So you can hate me for bringing you here, but at least you'll be alive to hate me."
I wanted to argue, to throw his logic back in his face, but I couldn't. Because standing in this cold marble hall, still shaking from what had just happened, I knew he was right. I was in over my head. Way, way over my head.
"Fine," I said finally. "But I want to see Luna. I need to know she's safe."
"We'll send someone to check on her," Kael said.
"Not good enough. I want to see her myself."
His jaw tightened. "That's not possible right now."
"Then we have a problem." I crossed my arms, trying to project confidence I absolutely didn't feel. "Because I'm not cooperating with anything until I know my best friend is okay."
For a long moment, Kael just stared at me, and I couldn't read the expression in those ancient eyes. Then he pulled out a phone that looked absurdly modern in his hand and typed something quickly.
"I've sent a team to retrieve her and bring her somewhere safe," he said. "She won't be harmed. You have my word."
"The word of a vampire who just kidnapped me," I said. "Forgive me if I'm not reassured."
Something that might have been amusement flickered across his face. "You have spirit. Good. You'll need it." He started walking again. "Come. The Queen is waiting, and she's not known for her patience."
This time I followed, mostly because I didn't know what else to do. The Court was a maze of corridors and staircases, all decorated in that same dark elegance that managed to be both beautiful and deeply unsettling. We passed other vampires, and they all stopped to stare at me with varying degrees of curiosity and hostility. I tried to ignore them, tried to pretend my heart wasn't hammering against my ribs.
"The wards you felt when you tried to use your power," Kael said as we climbed a wide staircase. "They're designed to contain magical threats. You won't be able to leave the Court grounds without permission. Don't bother trying."
"So I'm a prisoner."
"You're protected," he corrected. "There's a difference."
"Not from where I'm standing."
We reached a set of massive double doors carved with intricate patterns that seemed to move in the flickering candlelight. Two vampire guards stood on either side, both watching me with expressions that made it clear what they thought of having a witch in their home.
"She's in a mood," one of the guards said to Kael. "Fair warning."
"When isn't she?" Kael's hand settled on the small of my back, steering me forward as the doors swung open. "Stay quiet unless she addresses you directly. Don't use magic unless you want to spend the night in a cell. And whatever you do, don't lie to her. She'll know."
"Comforting," I muttered.
The room beyond the doors was some kind of throne room, all soaring ceilings and dark stone and windows that looked out over Chicago's glittering skyline. And sitting on a throne that looked carved from a single piece of black stone was the woman who had to be Queen Thalia Crane.
She was beautiful in the way a knife was beautiful. Sharp. Cold. Dangerous. Her blonde hair fell in perfect waves over shoulders wrapped in a dress that probably cost more than my annual rent. When she turned those ice-blue eyes on me, I felt the weight of her gaze like a physical thing, assessing and dissecting me in a single glance.
"So," she said, her voice smooth as silk and twice as deadly. "The Shadow Witch finally shows herself. I was beginning to think the prophecy was a myth."
"Your Majesty," Kael said, inclining his head. "May I present Seraphine Blackwood."
"I can see who she is, Kael." Thalia rose from her throne with fluid grace, descending the steps toward us. Every movement was calculated, predatory. "The question is what she is. Tell me, little witch. Do you know why your bloodline was hunted to extinction?"
"No," I said, proud that my voice only shook a little.
"Because your ancestors created the Veil," Thalia said, circling me slowly like a shark. "The barrier between our world and the Shadow Realm. They did it to protect humans from demons. Noble, in its way. But they also made it so that only Shadow Witch blood could strengthen or destroy it. Which means you, little Seraphine, are the most powerful weapon in this city. And everyone wants to own you."
"I'm not a weapon," I said. "And no one owns me."
Thalia laughed, the sound sharp and cutting. "Oh, you sweet, naive child. You became a weapon the moment your power awakened. The only question now is whose weapon you'll be. Mine, or Malakai's. Choose wisely."
And standing there in that throne room, surrounded by vampires and trapped by wards I couldn't break, I realized the demon who'd crashed into my apartment had been telling the truth.
I was never going to be free again.