armor of magic 02 - rising light (18 page)

I came around another turn and saw the orange flicker of torches dancing against the cave walls. I quietly approached and stood in the shadows.

Cagliostro sat in a large throne made of intertwining metal. He looked bored, yawning as one of his demon henchmen lashed a whip across Julian’s raw and bleeding back. I bit down with each snap as Julian whimpered and sunk a little more. The sight was gruesome and made my stomach tighten. How could I release Julian from that pole and get out of the cave without Cagliostro catching us? I was fast, but not that fast.

Somehow I needed to convey to Julian that he was still wearing his Armor, regardless of the spell Cagliostro had used to manipulate his mind. If Julian could trust that he was protected, he could stand on solid ground. The pain would dissipate and he’d be recharged and renewed by the Light.

If I could communicate through the Logos, maybe my words could penetrate his helmet and he could call on help the way I had done.

“Stop!” Cagliostro shouted to the demon holding the whip. “Do you smell that?” He sniffed dramatically, causing me to roll my eyes. Always with the drama. “I smell the blood of the virgin Protector.”

The brawny demon turned around to face his master and jerked his thumb toward Julian. “It’s all over the place, boss.”

Cagliostro stood up from the throne and strolled to where I stood cloaked and pressed against the wall. He took another inhale and grinned. “Might as well de-cloak yourself, Miss Farrow. You’re never getting out of this cave.”

I took my hand and wiped a handful of my blood onto the wall and slipped away, heading toward the pole where Julian was chained. Standing close to him, I whispered, “Your Armor will work, you must call on it. You must believe that the Light is still in you. Don’t let his fear magic obstruct the truth.”

Cagliostro caught wind of my voice and whipped around. “Come out, come out wherever you are,” he sang.

I really couldn’t wait to rip his head from his body, but at the moment, I needed to concentrate on Julian. Get both of us out of that underground hell hole and back to the others. Besides, if I killed Cagliostro before getting the Scroll, that would be a bad thing.

“Trust,” I whispered into Julian’s ear, while simultaneously cutting away the chains that held him against the pole.

The demon swung his whip toward us, but I deflected it with my shield. The ricochet sent a pulse of electricity through the demon and he was blasted backward against the rocks. Cagliostro glanced at the heap of demon, shook his head and shimmered out.

I pulled Julian away from the pole. His body was limp, but his Armor began to light up and he slowly opened his eyes. “Come on, Julian. We need to get out of here before he brings back an army of those demons and sics those demon-bats on us.”

“Fiona,” he whispered.

“Come on, dude! You have to believe me. Trust the Light. Let it break the spell.” I balanced him against my body, which was still stark naked, by the way. Julian at least had a shroud wrapped around his waist.

“You’re not wearing anything,” he murmured with a Cheshire Cat grin.

I smacked him upside his head and his helmet ignited into a blast of light. He was back.

“We have to use the Logos to get out of here. Can you do that?”

He nodded, his eyes locked in on my chest. If he weren’t so badly beaten, I would have pummeled him. We held hands and began repeating the ancient words. I closed my eyes and concentrated on the tunnels. Just as a path of light filtered through my thoughts, the cave rumbled with a thunderous blast. At least ten of those high-powered vampires from the AOV stood before us. I yanked the chain from the pole and swung it toward them, but they laughed at my feeble attempt. Julian ripped the wooden pole from the ground and lobbed it directly into the pack of bloodsuckers, only taking down one of them. We held up our shields, edging our way out of the cave.

“We’re going to have to run backwards,” I told him.

One of the vampires blinked over to us and grabbed Julian by the throat, right as I began to roar out the Logos. The vampires covered their ears, and the one that had Julian released him. I continued unleashing the roar as Julian grabbed my hand and we hurtled down one of the tunnels. I kept transferring the images in my mind over to him as we navigated swiftly through the underground labyrinth. I’m not sure how we were able to communicate like that, but like Ezra had told us, we were stronger together.

We reached the mouth of the cave and darted across the woods, not looking over our shoulders. We were like streaks of white lightning dashing through the trees, crossing highways and cruising along two-lane roads until we were at a safe distance. We ducked behind a dumpster in an alleyway behind a souvenir shop. We couldn’t go back to the hotel; I didn’t want to lead any demons there. We needed to find Rocco. He had the sonar, we just had to tap into it somehow. But first we needed some clothes.

thirty-three

Julian broke into the backdoor of the souvenir shop, using his sword to pry off the lock. Fortunately, there wasn’t an alarm so we could take our time pilfering through the clothes.

“You sure you’re still a virgin?” Julian teased.

I threw a t-shirt at him. “Shut up and stop gawking!”

The options were slim at the souvenir shop, but I found an extra-large t-shirt that said
Don’t Mind the Mystic
and some zebra-striped Palazzo pants and sandals. Not the most ideal attire to go after demon mages and vampires in, but a lot better than nothing. Julian came around the corner sporting flip-flops, board shorts and a tank top. He didn’t look much different than how he typically dressed.

“Nice pants,” he joked.

“Whatever. The boy shorts couldn’t get around my hips.”

“I can see why … You have some nice curves, Fiona.”

“You going to stop anytime soon?”

“Nope.”

He grabbed a few handfuls of silver souvenir spoons and took out his sword to begin creating some silver dust.

“Good idea,” I said, following suit.

It was a nice break from all the running around. Just sitting in the dark making silver dust like two normal people …

“So, that cave was pretty nuts, huh?” I asked.

“Dude, I can’t even tell you what he tricked me into seeing.”

“Your parents?”

“Nah. Worse.”

I couldn’t imagine what would be worse than seeing your parents tortured, but maybe Julian wasn’t as tight with his parents as I was with mine.

“Well, what?”

He shook his head, quickly brushing away a tear. “My girl. She died a couple years back in a surfing accident. He brought her back from the dead. Or made me think that.”

“I’m so sorry.”

“It was my fault she died. Shouldn’t have taken her out to that spot. She wasn’t ready.” He looked away, not wanting to relive the memory.

And then something hit me like a bolt of lightning. “If he was messing with our minds in that cave, is it possible he could do it outside?”

He shrugged. “Don’t see why not. He’s a powerful-ass mofo.”

“That means Asher might still be alive!” I stood up and paced up and down the aisle. “How can we find him? Do you think Cagliostro still has him? Should we go back to the caves?”

“Oh, hell no. I’m not going back to those caves. We’re sticking to the plan. Getting some silver dust and heading toward the Grove, calling out to Rocco along the way. If your beau is alive, he’ll show up. Isn’t he a bounty hunter?”

“Ex-bounty hunter.”

Julian had the right attitude. I had to trust that Asher would eventually show up. After all, he was an angel. I didn’t need to worry about him. He’d be fine. Well, at least if he was still alive. As Ezra had told me repeatedly, I needed to focus on my responsibility as a Protector of Light and get the Scroll.

thirty-four

Julian and I decided to play it safe and traveled through the woods. It would be my final attempt to get to Mattatuck State Forest. Third time’s the charm, right? We had placed the silver dust into water bottles with spouts so we could spray the shit out of any vampires or bat-demons that came within sniffing radius. As we rambled through the dark forest, Julian and I whispered the Logos, hoping that Rocco would pick something up with his sonar skills. Julian made a few fast breaks, flashing forward to scope out the path ahead. I stayed quiet, letting my instincts guide me.

“Any thoughts on how to get close enough to Cags and that Scroll?” Julian asked.

“I’ve gotta see the setup first. But I’m hoping we run into Rocco or Asher along the way. Together we’re stronger,” I said.

“Together we’re stronger,” Julian repeated.

A blast of white light streaked across the woods and came to a screeching halt directly in front of us. Rocco grinned, slipping a matchstick in his mouth. It was good to see the old detective.

“Dude!” Julian lifted his hand for a high-five, which Rocco ignored.

“I didn’t think I’d see either of you ever again,” he said, pulling us in for a giant bear hug. He rubbed our heads, causing the helmets to zing with a twinkling energy.

“It was pretty bad,” I said. “He’s got some serious fear and deception magic. Had both of us seeing all sorts of things.”

“Yeah, he got me too,” Rocco said. “That wasn’t Asher hanging from the tree. I’m not sure what it was. But it disappeared the minute you were gone.”

A pleasant relief flowed through me; my assumptions had been confirmed. Asher wasn’t dead. “Cagliostro is using powerful illusions. We have to be careful, extra special careful the closer we get to the Grove. Can’t trust our own eyes.”

“Yeah, dude. In fact …” Julian stepped back and swung at Rocco, slamming his fist into the large Protector’s jaw.

Rocco didn’t budge, but he rubbed the spot where Julian’s fist had hit. “It’s me, kid. Nobody else can use the Armor except us. That’s how you’ll know.”

Julian nodded, grinning. “Got it. No glow, no go.”

“Can we discuss our plan?” I asked.

“After the bats took you, I went to the Grove to scope it out. It’s heavily guarded. I hate to say it, but I don’t think we’re gettin’ in. Not from the perimeter anyway. And they’re obviously gonna be expectin’ us.”

“We could use Asher right about now,” Julian said.

“We can get in,” I said.

“How?” they both asked.

“Same way we got into the offices of IP Montgomery. From above. You can ask your buddy Drake to copter us in.”

Rocco rubbed his chin, staring off into the distance. “Yeah, that might work.”

After Rocco contacted Drake, the three of us went to the location he gave—an empty corn field. The ground was covered in brittle stalks that crunched under our feet as we paced toward the middle of the open space.

“Don’t know about you two, but I’m totally stoked about jumping again.” Julian’s eyes were popping with excitement.

I wasn’t thrilled, but it had to be done. “I think we should jump in unison, land in the trees near their creepy-ass gathering. We can create a back-to-back formation, shields up and cloaked, and make our way to Cagliostro. Rocco, will you be able to home in on the Scroll with that sonar?”

“Yeah.”

“Well, you’ll be our guide. And I’m not surfing down, that’s too erratic. We need to use our shields like parachutes. Got it?”

They nodded, but I could see the disappointment in Julian’s face. I could also detect some worry lines across Rocco’s forehead.

“Have you ever crashed an evil ceremony of this size, Rocco?” I asked.

“Yeah, sure. Back in the day. How do you think I got to be where I am?” He smiled with a wink.

I wasn’t sure if he was teasing … A lonely, hard-nosed detective who ate most of his meals in diners and was afraid to get too close to anyone for fear of losing them. But what did I know? Maybe he was content.

A loud thrumming came from the south and a spotlight broke through the thick clouds. The nearby trees began to sway as the helicopter moved closer. As Drake lowered down, the dry pieces of stalks scattered in the wind. When he touched down, the three of us ran to the loud machine and hopped inside. Drake and Rocco gave each other quick nods, and we began to rise up into the sky.

“Glad you called,” Drake shouted. “Been wanting to see that son-of-a-bitch go down for a long time.”

Though he didn’t say names, I knew he was talking about Cagliostro.

“Gonna be tough sneaking up on him,” Rocco yelled over the
thith-thith-thith
of the propellers.

“We don’t have much of a choice,” I yelled back. “No Asher, no cloaking. I’m banking on the element of surprise.”

Julian leaned in. “I’m banking on speed!”

Rocco grimaced and looked out into the black night. “Yeah, well I ain’t bankin’ on shit. Except a wing and a prayer.”

“I might be able to help,” Drake shouted, twisting around toward us. He wasn’t wearing a pilot’s helmet and you could see his whole face. Well, it was more like half of a face, since the other side had been burned off and was mostly just folds of puckered skin.

“How’s that?” Rocco asked. “You ain’t been in the supernatural game for a while.”

Drake grinned wickedly, looking like an insane clown. “My mage powers are only a little rusty. I can still cover up sounds. Quiet this old bird so they won’t hear us coming.”

Rocco slapped Drake on the shoulder. “That’ll work.”

As we approached the dark and dense patch of Mattatuck State Forest, Drake began chanting something that sounded like Latin. He closed his eyes, which didn’t help assure me as far as flying goes, but I had to trust a guy who had a vendetta against the same demon mage as me.

Suddenly, the
batabatabata
and
whop whop whop
of the spinning propellers was muffled out. Not a single sound rose from anywhere. It was like the entire world had been encased in cotton. Utter and still silence. Rocco’s eyes were closed as he scanned the area with his sonar, and then his lips were moving, but I couldn’t hear a sound. Drake had blanketed the area with an overwhelming stillness. Rocco pointed to me and Julian, then to the wide opening on the side of the copter. He made an arch motion with his fingers. It was time to jump.