Taken by the Blood God (Devil Springs #4)

Chapter 17

Chapter

Seventeen

Minerva

They arrived at midnight.

There was no moon. Only the stars lit the sky, so I was nearly blinded by the headlights as the line of cars drove up to the building.

Talant and I had resumed our observation of the building just after dark. We planned to break through the ward around three in the morning. Most people slept deepest that close to dawn. It would give us an advantage if the warlock who set the ward was groggy when we broke through it.

Now it appeared those plans might have to change.

The ward in front of us dropped as the cars drove through the line. As soon as it did, a blast of malevolent power swept past us, raising goose bumps on my skin. I shuddered at the disgusting feeling. Whoever created the ward had to drop the entire thing to allow those cars in. They hadn’t been strong enough or smart enough to create a barrier that would allow certain people in, but not others. Then again, that type of blood magic was rarely taught nowadays. The only reason I knew it was because of my obsessive study of ancient texts.

It could also be arrogance over ignorance. With the magic they’d siphoned from Davian, it was likely that their power had increased to such an extent that they thought they were untouchable. If that was the case, I looked forward to showing them that they were wrong.

Talant’s body tensed beside mine. “Fuck.”

He spat the word, startling me.

“What?” I whispered.

“ Fuck ,” he repeated, his tone even more intense than before.

“What, Talant?” My question was a hiss.

“The new moon.”

“The new—” I realized what he meant, and my body grew tight. “Fuck.” Great, now I sounded like him.

I sensed him turning to me rather than seeing it because I was still nearly blinded from the headlights.

“They came to drain him again,” Talant said. “The new moon is the best time for such a ritual.” The air around us began to warm. Talant’s anger was manifesting in his magic. “He can’t take another ritual,” he continued, his voice low and little more than a snarl. “If we don’t stop them, this will be the one that kills him.”

He started to move forward, but I grabbed his arm. “Wait. Let’s count how many there are. We need to know how many warlocks we’re fighting.”

“Why? I’m planning to kill them all anyway,” he argued.

After sensing the filthy stain of magic surrounding the building I agreed it would be our best option. I hadn’t wanted to kill anyone tonight. That was too dark even for me. But the ward and the magic it held could only have been created through human sacrifice. The death of an innocent. For wards this size, it was likely the deaths of several people. Those warlocks didn’t deserve to live.

“Yes, but you want to make sure you get every last one, correct?” I asked.

His arm was like heated marble beneath my hand, hard and smooth. At my touch, his skin began to cool.

“Stop that,” he growled, shaking off my hand. “Stop trying to use your magic to calm me.”

“I’m not.” The words were whispered, but they were still sharp. “I haven’t figured out exactly how to control the chill yet. It was an automatic reaction from touching you.”

Talant changed the subject as we watched the last warlock exit his car and walk into the building.

“I counted ten.”

“Me, too,” I agreed.

Ten warlocks who practiced dark magic and were hyped up on magic stolen from an imprisoned god. Sure, this would be a cinch.

Goddess, help me. I had to make it out of this alive. I’d promised Ally.

“If I die,” I whispered to Talant, “I’m going to make sure I haunt you for the rest of your very, very long life.”

“You won’t die. I won’t allow it.”

I rolled my eyes. There wasn’t much he could do to stop it if we were both under attack.

“Let’s go,” I said. “We don’t want to wait for them to set up the circle. It will give them too much of a power boost.”

We stepped over the boundary of the original ward just in time. The magic seemed to send out slimy tendrils as it snapped back into place. I shivered at the sensation.

Thankful for the lack of moonlight, I ran alongside Talant toward the building. I quickly fell behind. Damn his long legs and god powers. With a couple of whispered words magic bolstered my speed, bringing me up just behind him.

He glanced over his shoulder but sped up again. Why was he like this? I needed to stay close to him. It was safer. He was two steps from the door when I realized he wasn’t going to stop or even slow down.

I opened my mouth to warn him that the door might be boobytrapped, but it was too late. He burst through the door of the building. Nothing happened, so I followed right on his heels. The building seemed to be one room, and it was completely empty. There were sconces on the wall, each holding a thick candle, tipped in a flickering flame.

These warlocks must have assumed that no one could make it through their ward because they hadn’t done anything to protect the entrance of the structure. There were no wards, spells, or traps. Not even a minion or familiar to raise the alarm of our entry.

Arrogant assholes. They were in for a nasty surprise.

The sound of chanting voices drifted into the room, quiet but growing louder. Magic swelled, thickening the air until it was difficult to breathe.

They were preparing to set their circle, calling up the magic.

I could sense the power building below us, but how did we get down there. My eyes scanned the dark space. The candlelight didn’t reach every corner of the large room, so I couldn’t see clearly.

“There,” Talant said, pointing to a spot in the center of the space.

I couldn’t see what he was pointing at, but I followed him as he ran forward. As we drew closer, I saw the hole gaping in the middle of the floor. It was pitch black, so I conjured a light to help me see, cupping the small ball in my hand. A spiral staircase descended from the floor. The steps were narrow and steep, made of roughly cut stone. Each step was nearly two feet tall.

Talant had already vanished into the darkness as I made my way down the steps. He could see in the dark, but I couldn’t. I wanted to run, but I knew I wouldn’t survive a fall from this height.

A faint glow appeared to my left, and I knew I was getting closer to the bottom. As I drew closer to the light, I heard a scuffle.

Then the first screams began. The piercing sounds of agony echoed in the stairwell, stabbing into my eardrums. I resisted the urge to cover my ears with my hands. I needed them both free. One shriek rose higher until it was cut off with a thick, wet gurgle. I winced, knowing that some warlock had died in a great deal of pain.

While I agreed that they had to die, I didn’t intend to make them suffer. It seemed Talant didn’t share my thoughts on the matter.

As soon as I could see without the orb in my palm, I let the light spell fade and focused on getting down the rest of the steps as quickly as I could.

By the time I jumped down from the last step, the magic that had been building dissipated, but different kinds of power had taken its place. Flares of raw magic, fire, electricity, and other sorts of spells were sizzling in the air.

I ducked when a bolt of lightning shot out of the room at the opposite end of the short hall. I dashed into the room and stopped short. It was utter chaos.

Two warlocks were face down on the floor unmoving. The other eight were scattered around the huge room. Several of them crouched behind the huge stone dais twenty feet from the arched doorway. The rest were hidden behind the outcropping of rocks jutting from the rough walls.

It was a cave like the one where Talant had slept.

A ball of fire jetted across the room straight for me. I waved a hand, throwing up a shield. The fireball crashed against the invisible barrier, fizzling into a puff of noxious smoke.

I looked around, wondering where in the hell Talant had gone. Malevolent magic was flying around the room, but none of that power belonged to a certain blood god.

More spells crashed into my shield—curses, lightning, fire, and even what appeared to be venom. The barrage was nearly overwhelming. If I had to fight them by myself, it wouldn’t take long for me to wear myself out and lose my ability to shield.

I dug deep within myself, reaching out and searching for that frigid power—the power that Talant claimed I had. An icy sensation crept through my veins, unfurling from my heart and outward toward my limbs. I could feel it. It was right there. But I couldn’t quite touch it. I couldn’t push through whatever was blocking me from it.

Still, the small trickle of cold magic that spread within me bolstered my ability to shield myself while I searched for Talant in the shadows.

Where was he? I couldn’t see him or feel his power. Between the effort to sustain my shield and the dark magic flying around the cavern, I couldn’t focus. It was as if he’d disappeared completely.

The warlocks seemed to be focused on a spot a few feet in front of me, the bulk of their curses and spells aimed toward that area.

I inched forward until my toes brushed the edge of a ward. I jumped back at the sharp nip of pain that encompassed my entire body. At the touch of my foot, the magic shimmered in front of me, revealing an egg-shaped dome draped in shimmering black oil. It writhed and dripped, the thick liquid covering the spell falling to the dirt floor with dull splats.

It wasn’t a ward. It was a trap. And it had been tripped.

I immediately knew that Talant was inside. Whatever it was had to be insanely powerful to contain him. In my study of ancient texts, I’d read about spells strong enough to trap a god, but I’d never seen actual instruction on how to construct one.

I walked a few feet around the edge of the circle, lightly touching the magic with mine, testing it. The oily residue wanted to cling to me, to suck me into the trap with Talant. It was strong and hungry, almost sentient. It was the darkest of magic, which meant that it had a will of its own, and a desire to create death and destruction wherever it existed.

Still, Talant was fighting to free himself. I could feel the heat of his magic leaking from the trap, as though he was burning it from the inside out.

I let the cold power inside me trickle down my arms to my hands, covering them in a thin layer of ice that extended past my wrist, midway up my forearm. As soon as my magic touched the filthy spell, the oily residue of the trap retreated.

Then, the trap expanded again until it touched my hand before it shivered, trying to pull back. The slimy shell undulated as though it were writhing in agony.

I realized then what was happening. It was reacting to my magic and to Talant’s power. Trapped between the two of us, it couldn’t escape, and it was falling apart.

I pushed with my magic, sinking more power into the trap. The bombardment from the warlocks around me intensified. They seemed to realize what was happening and were desperately trying to stop it.

The shield surrounding me shuddered, weakening.

Groaning with effort, I poured even more power into the trap, trying to force it to crack. The heat coming from within it was nearly unbearable, so I could only imagine the amount of magic that Talant was using.

A crack appeared in the greasy black surface, incandescent orange and red light radiating through the small space. A shaft of scalding air shot through the gap, hitting me in the chest. I gasped as the molten beam burned straight through my shirt, scorching my skin. I barely had time to throw up my hands and shift my shield to protect me.

It still wasn’t enough. The oily shell around the trap exploded in a burst of brilliant red light and flame. I flew across the cave, slamming into the stone wall. The magical shield surrounding me cushioned some of the impact, but pain engulfed me, searing my muscles, my vision turning black at the edges.

I fought to remain conscious and shielded my eyes with my hand. The blazing light faded, revealing Talant. The intense heat of his magic had burned his clothes away, leaving him naked. Black smudges streaked his skin, and he gleamed with sweat. Red and gold flames danced beneath the soles of his feet and around his hands. Tongues of fire even drifted through his hair, moving the strands so that they seemed alive.

He strode forward into the barrage of black magic, the curses and spells hitting his body before falling harmlessly to his feet. Lightning cracked across the room, heading straight toward me.

I inhaled sharply, trying to gather my magic to protect myself, but I was going to be too late. I knew it.

I flinched, expecting the electricity to seize my muscles, but nothing happened. The bolt crashed against an invisible barrier, splitting into hundreds of tiny threads of lightning and surrounding me.

“You dare!” Talant roared, bringing my attention back to him.

The fire licking at his hands grew as he lifted them in front of him, his elbows bent. An orb of flames formed between his two hands, the bright red and orange inferno growing lighter and brighter until it was pure white, tinged with the faintest blue.

The heat from it was so immense that the candles surrounding the stone dais melted within a blink, the wax running across the floor, sizzling and vanishing. I was close enough to Talant that I should have burned as well, but I felt nothing. There wasn’t even a hint of the blaze within the barrier around me.

The ball of fire expanded until it was several feet in diameter. With a roar, Talant thrust his arms forward, flinging the fire toward the warlocks. At least two of them managed to portal out of the cavern, but the rest were incinerated as the sphere shattered, becoming a sheet of white-hot fire that flooded the room washing across the floor in a wave. The bodies of the fallen warlocks vanished as their brethren panicked. Some made an effort to shield themselves with the magic they’d stolen from Davian, others just tried to flee in sheer terror.

There was no escape. The decimation was total and complete, burning away everything in the path of Talant’s fury.

For the first time since he’d carried me out of the cave in Devil Springs, I truly feared Talant. He was death and destruction personified. His power was terrifying now that I was seeing its true potential.

As his flames faded, the lower portion of the cavern walls glowed with residual heat. The cave was completely dark except for that, but it was fading quickly. All the candles had melted into oblivion beneath the wash of his power.

My ears were ringing, and the only other thing I could hear was the sound of my own panting breaths.

I remained still, worried that if I moved the shield that surrounded me would collapse, and the scalding stones around me would blister my skin.

A gasp escaped my lips when a faint red light seemed to fill the cave, revealing Talant’s naked form standing over me.

“Are you hurt?” he asked, his voice raspy.

I took stock of my body. My back and neck ached from where I’d hit the stone wall and then the floor. I knew without looking that I would develop bruises all over me from the multiple impacts. The burn on my chest throbbed in time with my heartbeat, feeling as though it seeped down into my sternum.

“Nothing serious,” I finally answered. “Just banged up a little.”

“Can you stand?” he asked, crouching down next to me.

Resolutely, I kept my eyes on his face. Now was not the time to get distracted by the fact that he was completely nude.

“I think so,” I answered. “Is it safe for me to move?”

His head canted to the side in an unspoken question.

“Will the heat from the rocks burn me if I try to move around?” I clarified.

He glanced around the room, finally seeming to notice the way the stone walls glowed.

“You’ll be protected by my magic,” he finally answered.

Talant held out a hand to me. I took it and immediately felt the heated kiss of his power against my palm. The sensation traveled up my arm before spreading rapidly over my entire body.

My skin tingled beneath the wave as he pulled me to my feet. He was right. His power prevented the residual heat trapped in the rocks from touching me.

“How do you feel?” I asked him.

His ever-changeable eyes were a dark bronze, shot through with a burgundy so deep that it was nearly black. I’d never seen his irises turn this color before. In the red light from the spell he cast, he looked primal and terrifying, especially with the black streaks left behind on his skin from the charred remains of the trap and the smoke that had briefly filled the cavern when he flooded it with fire.

The air was surprisingly clear now, only a faint haze of smoke remained in the large space.

“I am fine,” he answered.

I shivered at the low rumble of his voice. It was deep and seemed to vibrate inside me. Not because it was loud but because of the sheer magnitude of his magic.

He hadn’t been lying when he said that he had returned to his full strength.

“Are you ready?” he asked.

Not really, but it seemed I had no other choice.

I took a deep breath and nodded.