Ritual of the Broken (Haunted Hearts)

Chapter 28

Chapter

Twenty-Eight

A drian maneuvered the car through the Loop’s congested traffic. The streets were crowded with the usual mix of cars, buses, and pedestrians. Usually, that was just how it always was. But now, in that moment, it bugged him. He wanted to get out and rage at the people strolling across the street or the drivers who couldn’t seem to find their gas pedals fast enough.

He stole a glance at Ollie, who sat beside him in the passenger seat, staring out the window. His leg bounced like he couldn’t keep his foot from tapping. The tension between them was thick, a heavy weight that settled like a thick fog.

They left Mary Ann alone in her apartment. Ollie called a friend of hers that he knew and asked her to come over, telling her she wasn’t feeling well. Adrian agreed. He didn’t like the idea of Mary Ann waking up alone, not after what she’d been through. Seeing a friendly face—and probably a face that wasn’t his or Ollie’s—could be a good thing.

And the demon box. That was in the gun safe in Adrian’s trunk. He didn’t like keeping it in there, but it seemed like the best and only solution at the time. They weren’t taking it back to Ollie’s shop.

“Turn here,” Ollie said, pointing at a sign directing them toward Navy Pier.

Adrian’s jaw clenched slightly as he followed the indicated turn, the first words Ollie had spoken since they left Mary Ann’s apartment.

“I know my way around Chicago,” Adrian said, his voice tight and controlled.

“I know,” Ollie replied. “I was just hoping to break the silence a little.”

Adrian’s grip tightened even more on the steering wheel, if that was even possible. “I’m not ready to break the silence yet,” Adrian said.

The pier extended out in front of them and, instead of continuing onto the Pier itself for parking, Adrian turned onto Ohio, the street that took them to the Jardine Water Filtration Plant that stuck like a finger out into the waters of Lake Michigan next to Navy Pier. At the guard station, Adrian flashed his badge.

“I got a call to meet someone here related to a current investigation,” Adrian told the guard when he leaned in toward the window.

After a moment, the guard nodded and waved to a second man in the guard house to open the gate. Then they were through.

They found parking at the midway point of the plant. Compared to the bright and festive Navy Pier punctuated by the flash of the Centennial Wheel, the filtration plant was dark except for the street lamps. Adrian got out of the car, followed by Ollie.

“We have twenty minutes to find this woman,” Ollie said.

Adrian looked to him. “Because of the fireworks.”

Ollie nodded. “The vision was very clear. The harvest takes place when the first fireworks start at Navy Pier.”

“Okay then,” Adrian said. “Lead the way.”

“I don’t know my way around here.”

“Like I do?”

Ollie’s lips pressed tightly together. Adrian felt a little guilty just then. Sure, he was still angry. But the person they were trying to save was more important than that. It wasn’t like him to let a petty argument get in the way.

Adrian turned to face Ollie. “Then let’s go over what you saw in your vision again.” They should have discussed this further already, but Adrian was, well, letting a petty argument get in the way.

“First, I saw the lights of Navy Pier, just as we’re seeing them now,” Ollie began, gesturing toward the distant glow that stretched along the pier. “Then the vision took me inside to what looked like a bunch of dark swimming pools.”

Adrian nodded. Likely where they purified the water. Most of the pier they stood on was taken up by large buildings that looked like huge warehouses. He’d never been here, and he had no idea how the purification worked. But, if he had to guess, these swimming pools were located inside. “Any idea who the victim is this time?”

Ollie shook his head. “No name. The vision followed a security guard, a woman making her rounds,” Ollie continued. “Then the atmosphere around her changed. The dark entity appeared, and we know how that story ends.”

Adrian fought off a chill at the mention of the malevolent force they had encountered before. The place on his chest, now completely healed, still tingled with just how much he remembered how that story ended.

“Okay, then we need to get inside the building and look for a female security guard,” Adrian stated, his tone resolute. He scanned the dimly lit area, searching for an entrance point. “Was it that door?”

Ollie followed his gaze where Adrian pointed. “No.” He peered at the building. “It looked like she entered in between two buildings.” The complex was made up of three buildings in total, two larger flat buildings and a center windowed structure that looked like they might be offices or administration. Between them all was an alleyway of sorts. “I think the entrance she took was down there.”

Without wasting another moment, Adrian strode toward the alleyway, Ollie following closely behind .

They reached a door leading into a glass walkway that bridged between the office building and the main complex. Adrian tried the handle, unsurprised to find it locked. Ollie lifted his hand and traced a sigil in the air before Adrian could stop him.

The door swung open with a groan, and Adrian pressed his mouth into a frown. “Next time, I’ll take care of the doors.”

“I can handle it,” Ollie said, and he pushed his way through the door in front of Adrian.

The dim interior stretched before them, the scent of chlorine heavy in the air along with an underlying mustiness from algae and decay carried in the water pulled from Lake Michigan. Adrian followed and moved in front of him.

“Stay close,” Adrian murmured, his senses heightened as he led the way deeper into the facility, alert for any sign of the security guard—or the dark presence they were there to confront.

They pushed through a set of double doors leading into the larger building, and it was just as Ollie described: a bunch of square pools one after the other, the loud grinding of pumps, and the constant rush of water. It made it impossible to pick out the sound of anything else.

Ollie leaned toward Adrian and yelled, “I can try to find her with magic.”

“No!” Adrian shook his head in a very visible way. “The last time you did that, you teleported, remember?”

“What? ”

“I said the last time you tried that, you teleported.”

Ollie pointed to his ear. “I still can’t hear you.”

Adrian could hear, but then he had heightened hearing, and, like with scents, he was adept at pulling out sound and ignoring others when needed. It was part of being a werewolf.

But then Ollie started working sigils. He pulled something out of a pocket in his jacket before Adrian could really stop him, and a spell snapped into place.

The sudden silence around them made Adrian’s ears feel as if they were going to pop. It was odd, though. He could still hear the sound of water dripping, the turn of some of the machinery, and other small sounds.

“What did you do?” Adrian asked Ollie.

“A spell to filter out the sound of rushing water.”

Adrian straightened. “Oh. Well, that’s helpful.”

“I am helpful from time to time, you know,” Ollie said, and he pushed past Adrian. He called back over his shoulder as he walked. “My magic isn’t always a failure.”

“I never said it was.” Adrian followed.

Ollie stopped, forcing Adrian to come up short, and Ollie turned back to face him. “Oh, but you can imply my magic is flawed every chance you get.”

Adrian squared himself with Ollie. “I’m not the one who almost summoned one of those things the first time I entered a murder scene, I never teleported myself across a graveyard, and I haven’t left a friend catatonic .”

Ollie stared at him, his face almost purple. Clearly, he was apoplectic. Adrian didn’t need to smell the tang of his rage to know that.

But before Ollie could say anything, Adrian took a step forward. “You can’t just go around using magic willy-nilly,” he growled, his voice low and intense. “Especially not here, where it could compromise the entire investigation.”

Ollie’s eyes grew wide. “I know what I’m doing, Adrian,” he yelled. “Don’t you dare treat me like I’m the problem. I’m not some amateur stage magician who has no clue.”

“Oh, really?” Adrian scoffed, his tone dripping with sarcasm. “Because from where I’m standing, it looks like your magic has caused more problems than it’s solved.”

Ollie’s face flushed, his hands balling into fists at his sides. “You don’t know anything about my abilities,” he shot back, his voice rising. “Just because you have some irrational fear of magic doesn’t mean you get to question my competence.”

Adrian’s nostrils flared, anger coursing through his veins. “Irrational?” he spat, his voice echoing in the dim corridor. “You have no idea what I’ve been through, what I’ve seen magic do.”

“Then enlighten me,” Ollie challenged, stepping closer to Adrian, their faces mere inches apart. “Tell me why you’re so hell-bent on treating me like a liability. And need I remind you that it was me who saved your ass from getting mauled by a shadow creature. So, enlighten me if you’re so smart. ”

Adrian’s gaze hardened, his jaw clenched so tightly he thought his teeth might crack. For a moment, he considered walking away, but the words tumbled from his lips before he could stop them. “Because I’ve seen what magic can do in the wrong hands,” he growled. “I’ve seen how all that power corrupts a person. I’ve borne the brunt of that corruption.”

Ollie cut the air with his hand. “I’m not like that. I’m able to control myself.”

“Oh? Really? Are you?”

Ollie’s face reddened. “Adrian, stop.”

“Because in case you’ve forgotten already, you’re the one who thought it was a good idea to let a demon out of a box just to get some answers. Now it’s possibly scarred one of your friends in a way she can’t come back from.”

“Adrian, I said stop!”

He took a step closer to Ollie, his presence looming. “I let my guard down once before, let a mage get close to me. And you know what happened? He used me. Manipulated me. Made me into a weapon, a monster.” Adrian’s voice cracked with emotion, the pain of the memory etched onto his face.

Ollie’s eyes widened, his defiant stance faltering as Adrian’s words sank in. He opened his mouth to respond, but Adrian wasn’t finished.

“So forgive me if I’m a little hesitant to trust someone who wields that kind of power,” Adrian spat, his words laced with venom. “Especially someone who seems to have so little control over it. ”

For a moment, the air hung heavy between them, charged with unspoken tension. Then Ollie’s expression shifted, his eyes hardening with a resolve Adrian hadn’t seen before.

“You don’t know what it’s like to have your abilities questioned,” Ollie said, his voice low but steady. “To be constantly dismissed and underestimated because of something you can’t control.”

He took a step closer to Adrian, his gaze unwavering. “I grew up in a world where my magic was seen as a curse, a burden. No matter how hard I tried, how much I studied and practiced, I was always the outcast. The one who couldn’t quite get it right.”

Ollie’s hands clenched into fists at his sides. “And you know what that does to a person? It leaves scars. Deep, psychological scars that never fully heal. Every time I mess up, every time my magic doesn’t work the way it’s supposed to, I hear those voices in my head, telling me I’m not good enough. That I’ll never be good enough.” He stared up into Adrian’s face. “You think you’re the only one who’s been treated like shit by mages? Well, I got news for you, buddy. I’ve been treated like shit by mages my entire fucking life!”

Adrian felt himself recoil, as if Ollie’s words had physically struck him. He had never considered the toll that constant doubt and dismissal could take on someone, especially someone who, in spite of everything, he’d come to see, oddly enough, as confident.

“Hey! What the hell is going on here?”

A flashlight shined on the both of them, and Adrian turned to squint into it, raising a hand to block out the light. It was a security guard. Behind the light, once Adrian’s eyes adjusted, stood a woman with brown skin and a serious expression on her face.

Adrian glanced over at Ollie, and Ollie happened to catch his gaze at the same moment. He gave Adrian a short nod. This was the woman, the next victim.

“I asked you a question. What are you two doing in here?” She stepped forward, and her expression changed to one of confusion. Her flashlight trembled and she stuck a pinkie into one of her ears and gave it a shake. She must have stepped over the line of Ollie’s spell. She was hearing—or, rather, not hearing—what Adrian and Ollie were hearing.

“Ma’am,” Adrian said, stepping forward. He reached into his pocket to pull out his badge.

Her flashlight reoriented itself. “Stop where you are.”

Adrian held up his hands. She wasn’t armed, but it didn’t seem like a good idea to make her fear for her safety either. “Ma’am.” Adrian read the name on her uniform. “Officer Starks, I’m a Chicago PD homicide detective.”

“Homicide?”

“If you let me, I’ll show you my badge.” Adrian watched her until she nodded, then he removed his badge from his pocket and showed her.

She studied Adrian’s ID then lowered the flashlight and straightened. “What’s a homicide detective doing in here?”

“An investigation.”

“Did somebody die in here?” She looked around.

“No.” Not yet, at least. Adrian hoped to keep it that way. He had to think fast. He and Ollie hadn’t discussed what would happen when they found the victim.

“Officer Starks, I’m Oliver Hartley.” Ollie stepped forward and offered his hand. She only looked at it. Adrian could have told him that anybody trained in police work or security would rarely shake hands. But Ollie only smiled and withdrew his hand. “We’re part of a special task force investigating a series of unusual occurrences in the city,” he said smoothly. “My colleague here is a detective, and I’m a consultant brought in to provide... expert testimony.”

Testimony? Adrian pressed his lips. But at least Ollie had some sort of plausible cover story. He kept his expression neutral, however, letting Ollie take the lead.

Officer Starks frowned, her gaze flickering between the two of them. “Expert testimony? On what exactly? Like a court case?”

“That’s right,” Ollie replied without missing a beat. “I have a background in water safety, and a recent suspicious death involved possible water contamination. We’re here to test pH levels.”

Okay, that was at least a save. Adrian had to hand it to him; Ollie was a convincing liar. He hoped the officer would buy the story, at least for now.

Officer Starks’s eyes narrowed Ollie skeptically. “Nobody informed me about detectives or—” She eyed Ollie. “Expert witnesses being on site,” she said, reaching for her walkie-talkie. “I’ll need to call this in and verify your claims.”

As she raised the walkie to her lips, Adrian tensed. His ears began to ring. He should stop her. If she spoke to anyone on her walkie, they were done. But before she could speak, the light overhead flickered and dimmed. The three of them turned to look up to the high ceilings of the warehouse-like structure.

And there was a scent—the bite of woodsy citrus. He was really starting to hate that smell.

Just then, the sound of fireworks filled the warehouse. The vibrations in his ears grew, and Adrian picked up on a scent like burned matches. If his human skin had hackles, they would have raised.

He whirled around. A dark, ominous presence coalesced behind Officer Starks, growing larger and more menacing as if emerging like a dark djinn from a bottle.

Adrian erupted into a throaty growl. Ollie whirled around at the sound then followed where Adrian stared. His eyes widened.

Adrian shifted into a defensive stance, his muscles coiled and rippled, his wolf seeking to be free. But for a moment he hesitated. The memory of the pain across his chest and the curse from the previous dark monster stood too fresh in his mind. He hated that he hesitated.

But Ollie’s hands moved, tracing intricate patterns as he prepared a spell. As he sounded off some strange syllables, he tossed something at Officer Starks and at the creature.

Officer Starks sputtered as she was covered in whatever Ollie threw. “What the hell are you doing?” She sputtered some more. “Is that salt?”

But Ollie kept speaking, finishing whatever magic he worked with a final flourish, and throwing more of the salt.

The creature howled. Whatever Ollie did, it had some effect.

Officer Starks turned behind her. Any further protests were cut short as she finally caught sight of the looming horror behind her. She stumbled backward, her flashlight clattering to the ground as she screamed.

Another of Ollie’s spells coalesced, a brilliant burst of energy erupting from his outstretched hands, slamming into the dark entity and freezing it in place, at least momentarily.

“Let’s go!” Ollie shouted.

Adrian didn’t think. He grabbed Officer Starks, hooking a hand onto one of her arms and dragging her to her feet using his werewolf strength. They turned and ran along the metal and concrete walkways between the dark, swirling pools of water.

Thankfully, Ollie’s sound-dampening spell only worked on the noise of rushing water. He could hear the hiss of the monster behind them as it finally shook off the spell Ollie used on it.

Ollie heard it too, and he stopped. Adrian stopped with him, still dragging a terrified Officer Starks along.

“Get her to safety,” Ollie shouted. “I’ll try to hold it off.”

Adrian shook his head. “I’m not going to leave you.”

Ollie gave him a half smile. “You’re not. I’ll be fine.” As he said so, he touched a hand to the bracelet on his wrist. Adrian smelled the ozone of magic again, and he even saw a shimmer of something as it encircled Ollie. “Now! Get her out of here!”

Adrian looked from Ollie back to the dark creature. It crept forward slowly, as if it tried to work off the rest of Ollie’s spell. Whatever he did, it was pretty effective. Why hadn’t he used that before?

“I’ll be back for you,” Adrian said.

Ollie nodded, then he turned back to the dark entity, his hands tracing sigils once again.

Adrian turned to where he suspected they might find an exit. He pulled Officer Starks with him. She was nearly catatonic with fear. But then, it wasn’t every day a mortal came face-to-face with what was essentially a demon.

Before he could get very far with her, the lights dimmed again. Dark smoke swirled straight ahead of them. Another creature.

Adrian turned to pull Officer Starks in a different direction, cutting over to the next row between the pools of churning water.

Another entity appeared.

Fuck .

Still another across the pool they stood next to. Adrian searched for any other way out. There wasn’t one. And all the entities were heading toward them. And toward…

“Ollie!” Adrian shouted.

Ollie turned. The expression on his face said he saw the other creatures. He went back to working his magic with more focus.

Adrian shoved Officer Starks to the concrete floor against a metal railing. “You stay here. Don’t move.”

She didn’t respond much except to whimper as she caught sight of the creatures moving toward them.

With a guttural growl, Adrian embraced the change, his body contorting and shifting as he assumed his hybrid form—a towering amalgamation of man and wolf.

The shreds of his clothing fell away. He turned to the nearest entity, letting out a roar of challenge. As he did, Adrian’s heightened senses detected a new scent cutting through the stench of stagnant water.

Magic. Strong and pungent, that seemed to come from a direction in front of him—opposite from where Ollie worked his own magic. He didn’t have time to pinpoint the source.

The dark entity closest to Adrian moved in. His claws raked through the creature’s form. It hissed, but Adrian wasn’t sure his attack even hurt it. The creature retaliated, a shadowy appendage lashing out and striking him with surprising force, sending him rolling onto the grated metal and concrete floor.

As quickly as he could, Adrian got to his feet. Was it too much to ask that the ghost Isabell would make another Hail Mary appearance?

A bolt of magic hit the entity nearest to Adrian, and Adrian allowed himself to hope Isabell had shown up. But it was only Ollie, working more magic. And from what Adrian could see, it was a lot for him. Ollie’s spells intensified, but he couldn’t keep up with the sheer number of entities converging on them.

One of the creatures finally reached Officer Starks. She screamed.

Ollie did something and the creature standing above Officer Starks lost form, swirling dark and hazy tendrils in confusion for one blessed second.

But still, more of the creatures moved in. They drew closer to Ollie by measures. Adrian leaped to his aid, only to be cut off by another group of dark entities.

Suddenly, a new wave of magic washed over them, its scent so potent that Adrian’s eyes watered. Ollie cried out, his body levitating as an unseen force spread his limbs apart, rendering him helpless.

Without hesitation, Adrian launched himself toward Ollie, his previous anger and resentment forgotten. All that mattered now was saving his newfound companion. But he stopped.

He stood straight, arms at his sides.

Unable to move.

A sickening ball formed in his gut. He’d been here before, experienced this very thing. First, his body. His body was no longer his to control. Then, his mind. Soon he would gain that sense of observing himself move and do things against his will.

Someone was in control of him. Someone had his blood.

Just in his peripheral vision, one of the entities towered over Officer Starks. It pulled her soul from her body, and there was nothing he could do about it. He couldn’t even scream in rage.

The entities swarmed him, though they didn’t attack.

The last thing he saw was Ollie being engulfed by one of the dark entities, his agonized screams echoing through the corridor.

The sounds of rushing water and machinery came over him like a tidal wave. Ollie’s spell was no more.

Then, he became nothing more than a distant passenger in his own body.