Ritual of the Broken (Haunted Hearts)

Chapter 21

Chapter

Twenty-One

A drian slid into the driver’s seat of his car after Ollie showed him where it was parked.

Odd to think he didn’t remember arriving here. Or getting out of the car. As Ollie explained it, he was carried, floating between a group of mages and cloaked by magic. He would have died, that much he understood. They saved him from a curse, and who knows where his soul might have ended up if the curse ran its course.

It still made him angry that he allowed himself to get into a position where he was at the mercy of mages once again. That broke his own vow. He’d promised himself he would never let himself be controlled, yet they lifted his body and carried him unconscious into an underground world created by none other than mages.

Nine years he’d been able to stay away from mages. Now, three days in and he couldn’t spit without hitting one, nor could he remember anything after what happened in the cemetery. Coming out of those Forums or whatever they were called was like breathing again.

Ollie climbed into the passenger seat beside him. At least now, Adrian felt like he had some backup. Ollie didn’t leave his side. As unlikely an arrangement as this was, that fact meant something to him.

As soon as the door closed, Ollie began muttering an incantation under his breath. The tight space of the car filled with the ozone stink of magic. Adrian huffed through his nose and scowled.

“What are you doing?”

“Relax,” Ollie said. “It’s just a cloaking spell to hide our location.” He glanced back like he expected someone to be following them.

Adrian forced himself to take a deep breath. Yeah, he considered Ollie an ally, and they shared a pretty spectacular night together, but he still hated magic.

“I guess you’re going to tell me why, right?” Adrian started the engine and pulled out of the parking space.

“In a minute,” Ollie said. He watched out the windows like some mouse sticking its head out of a hole. “Get us out of the Loop first.

“Okay…” They were on Monroe Street. Adrian turned west.

Ollie still acted caged. He watched every person on the street and turned around twice to peer out the back window.

“Are you worried we’re being followed?” Adrian asked. He checked the rearview mirror for any sign of suspicious activity. Suspicious activity that wasn’t sitting in the passenger seat next to him, that was.

“We just need some distance.”

Adrian grunted. He pulled the car into a parking lot at the edge of just past the elevated train tracks and stopped.

“What are you doing?” Ollie stared at him with wide eyes. “Don’t stop.”

“I’ll move again when you tell me what’s going on.”

Ollie’s lips pressed tightly together. Finally, after what appeared to be an argument with himself, he reached into his jacket and produced a worn leather-bound journal—the journal Emmerich showed them in the Archives.

Adrian stared at the book. “You stole property in front of a cop.” Adrian’s tone was equal parts disbelief and admiration.

Ollie shrugged, a mischievous grin playing on his lips. “Borrowed. Without permission. From Emmerich, who I think we can both agree is an asshole who doesn’t deserve anything good in his life.”

Adrian considered that. “Okay. Why? Is there a reason to suspect he wasn’t telling us everything?”

“This journal contains vital information about the ritual, and—” He paused and stared down at the book.

Adrian glanced over at him. “And what?”

Ollie’s brow furrowed as he studied the worn leather cover of the journal. “I found something in here.”

“Something to help us stop the ritual?”

“No. Nothing like that. Well, I don’t know.” Ollie’s lips tightened. “I found a symbol that I’ve only seen one other place before. In my family’s grimoire.”

Adrian waited for more, but Ollie didn’t continue. “A grimoire. What’s a grimoire?”

Ollie stopped and stared like he couldn’t believe what he heard. Like Adrian was supposed to know what the hell a grimoire was. “A grimoire,” Ollie repeated. “A book. It’s the book that’s been in my family for centuries, the place where my ancestors wrote their spells and observations about magic.”

Adrian sat, unmoved. “Okay. What’s so important about this particular symbol?”

The frustration on Ollie’s face drew lines on his forehead. “All throughout my family’s grimoire, there are little notations in the margins. This handwriting, the symbol. It’s all the same as what’s in my family’s grimoire. Considering this journal is a book that contains a ritual that could open doorways the Synod doesn’t want opened…” Ollie paused. He sighed like he was unsure of what he was about to say next. Finally, he said it: “I think this is a personal journal that belonged to Preston Hartley.”

“Preston Hartley.” Now Adrian understood. “The same Preston Hartley whose actions tainted your family name?”

Ollie nodded. “I don’t know for sure. But you have to admit, it’s a strange coincidence.” He ran a finger over the leather cover of the book. “If it is, that means this journal contains his notes about the ritual he created—which, I now suspect, was this Ritual of the Broken.”

A heavy silence settled between them as the weight of Ollie’s words sank in. Adrian’s grip tightened on the steering wheel, his knuckles turning white.

“This is the thing that got him executed by the Synod,” Adrian said.

Ollie swallowed hard. “Precisely.”

Adrian shook his head, his expression hardening. “Sounds like another typical day in mage land.”

Ollie shot him a sharp look. “Not all mages are like that,” he said defensively. “Preston was... misguided, I guess. Someone doesn’t do something like this unless they’re consumed by their ambition and desire for power.”

Adrian scoffed. “Sounds like a typical mage to me.”

“Adrian…” Ollie’s tone was sharp.

“Relax.” He put a hand on the center console between them, not quite reaching for him but kind of wanting to. He waited until their eyes met. “I’m joking. Sort of. There’s one mage I’m…” What? How should he phrase it? “That I’m getting used to having around.”

“‘Getting used to,’” Ollie repeated. “Wow. You really know how to make a guy feel special.”

“Look. I don’t like mages.”

“You’ve said. At least a hundred times now, and we only met three days ago.”

“A whole psychological scar doesn’t get healed after one night of hot sex.” Now Adrian did put a hand on Ollie’s. “But it’s a step in the right direction.”

Ollie smiled. “You thought the sex was hot?”

“An understatement.” Adrian grinned back. He leaned his elbow on the center console so he was closer to him, where he could smell more of him. “There’s one mage I’m willing to try to put all the shit from my past aside for. So yeah. I’m getting used to having you around, even if it’s been only three days. That’s not something easy for me to say.”

There was a moment of quiet. “Well, I’m glad you’re getting used to me.” Ollie finally said. He turned his hand over so their fingers interlocked and squeezed Adrian’s hand. Adrian squeezed back.

Their eyes locked, and Adrian had the urge to lean over and do things with Ollie that might get a patrol car to stop and knock on the car windows. Clearly, Ollie felt it too. He even leaned closer.

Until he pulled back, his throat working in a gulp. “So, yeah. We need to study this journal thoroughly,” he said. “Maybe then we can understand the ritual’s intricacies and how to disrupt it.”

Right. No matter how much he wanted to put his lips and mouth on Ollie in places that might get them both arrested for public indecency, this wasn’t the time.

As Ollie opened the leather-bound journal, Adrian put the car into drive again and started out onto the street.

A blinding flash of light erupted in front of the car, causing Adrian to slam on the brakes. The vehicle skidded to a halt as a group of figures materialized in the middle of the street. They looked like regular people, except for the fact power moved around them in swirls and whorls as they did whatever mages do to blow shit up .

“Mages,” Adrian growled, his hands gripping the steering wheel tightly.

A woman and a man screamed and took cover. They stared blindly at the car Adrian and Ollie were in without taking notice of the people throwing magic around. More of that cloaking spell crap, most likely.

Ollie reacted. A symbol or sigil or whatever formed in an instant in front of him, his fingers tracing patterns in the air. The stink of magic was almost unbearable.

The mages unleashed a barrage of energy bolts, shattering the windshield and raining shards of glass upon them. Adrian ducked, shielding his face from the onslaught, while Ollie let the symbol go so that it formed a shimmering barrier that deflected the incoming blasts.

“Hold on,” Adrian shouted, his voice strained as he fought the urge to shift into his wolf form. Instead, he floored the gas pedal and rocketed toward the mages standing in their way. They were forced to scatter. More importantly, they were forced to stop casting magic.

Ollie’s brow furrowed in concentration as he maintained the protective shield. As they drove by the mages, Ollie worked another spell, a blinding flash of light that dazzled Adrian’s eyes as well.

Luckily, his vision recovered quickly. “A little warning next time,” Adrian yelled as he spun out onto Monroe.

“Sorry,” Ollie shouted back.

Adrian shot the car down the street, avoiding pedestrians and other cars and running a red light, narrowly avoiding a CTA bus. It was a miracle he didn’t hit anybody. He hoped there were no patrol cars nearby. Even with his detective badge, he wasn’t sure how he could explain this one away.

Another volley of magic hit the back of the car. Ollie’s barrier wavered. He gritted his teeth, pouring more energy into the shield as the car swerved erratically, with Adrian struggling to maintain control. The mages’ spells pursued them, pummeling the barrier, even as they receded in the rearview mirror.

Adrian’s knuckles turned white on the steering wheel as he fought against the instinctual urge to transform, his werewolf nature clawing at the surface. He could feel the change bubbling beneath his skin, threatening to break free. The blasts of magic raining down on them from above didn’t help.

“Hoo boy, they’re strong,” Ollie said. “I can’t... keep this up,” Ollie gasped, sweat beading on his brow as the barrier flickered dangerously.

Adrian risked a glance at his companion. He saw through wolf eyes. Considering he never tried driving with claws or paws, he forced it back once more. “Hold on,” he growled, his voice deepening as the wolf within him stirred.

With a burst of speed, Adrian weaved through the traffic, the mages’ spells glancing off Ollie’s waning shield. As they rounded a corner, the magic barrage stopped. Ollie let go of the barrier with a gasp. He pulled at a bracelet he was wearing and tore it off. It glowed as if hot.

Gripping the wheel, white-knuckled, Adrian pushed the car to its limits, his heightened senses guiding them through the chaotic streets in case the mages somehow followed them.

As Adrian turned the car at another corner in a direction to take them farther out of the city, the car coughed and sputtered. It lurched to a stop, causing Ollie to slam into the dashboard.

“What’s happening?” Ollie turned in his seat and peered behind them.

Adrian stared out the shattered windshield. He growled. “In front of us.” Two more people stood in the middle of the road. People on the street stopped and looked at Adrian’s car. None of them paid any attention to the two mages standing in the middle of the street, their arms held high, visible magic working between them. “How are they tracking us? I thought you said?—”

Ollie groaned next to him. “They’re not tracking us.”

“Looks to me like they’re doing a pretty good job of it,” Adrian said.

“They’re tracking the book.” He had his hand on the cover. “There are tracking wards on the book.”

The two mages in front of them moved toward the car in deep strides, readying a spell that Adrian figured wasn’t going to be fun.

With another growl, Adrian pushed open his door. He began to undo his shirt.

“What are you doing?” Ollie got out of the car too.

“Put one of your hiding spells on me so the mortals don’t see.” His voice was already guttural, and he was finding it hard to form human words.

Adrian’s muscles rippled as he tore off his shirt and discarded it onto the pavement. He could feel the wolf clawing its way to the surface, his bones shifting and reforming as the transformation took hold. Fur sprouted across his skin, his hands elongating into powerful claws. With a growl, Adrian’s human form melted away, and a massive wolf now stood in its place, hackles raised and teeth bared. He roared. He didn’t know if mage hiding spells worked on sound, but he didn’t care at that point.

Ollie’s magic cloaked Adrian. In his wolf, the stink of it was almost overpowering.

The Synod mages were forced to turn their attention to Adrian. They readied another barrage of spells. Adrian tensed, his lupine muscles coiling, preparing to launch himself and rip out whatever he could get claws and teeth on.

He launched into the air…

And found himself knocked aside.

He rolled onto the pavement and came up in a stance ready to rip something, anything, apart.

But a ghostly figure suddenly appeared between him and the mages. It was the female specter that had been haunting Ollie. Time seemed to slow as Adrian’s piercing eyes met the ghost’s hard gaze, her expression intense and unreadable. For a heartbeat, Adrian hesitated, uncertain of her allegiance.

But then, the ghost turned to face the Synod mages, her form flickering with otherworldly energy. With a wave of her hand, she unleashed a blast of power that shattered the incoming spells, scattering their magical remnants like shards of glass.

The mages faltered, their concentration broken, and the ghost seized the opportunity to counterattack. Tendrils of phantasmal energy lashed out, ensnaring the mages and rendering them immobile.

Adrian watched, awestruck, as the ghost’s form danced in the chaos, her wrath unbound. Seizing the moment, he turned and bounded back toward the car, his powerful strides carrying him swiftly across the pavement.

By the time he reached the vehicle, his form had reverted to human, his bare skin glistening with sweat. He at least snatched up his pants and jacket on the way. Ollie stood beside the car, his eyes wide with a mixture of awe and disbelief.

“We need to go. Now,” Adrian panted, yanking open the car door.

Ollie nodded, his gaze lingering on the ghostly battle unfolding behind them. Without another word, they slipped into the car and peeled away, leaving the Synod mages at the mercy of the ghost’s fury.