Called by Darkness Read online

  But the bodies were thickening. I shouted at people to move but I might as well have been shouting to the deaf. I bounced from dancer to dancer like a pinball in a machine, grasping forward as though I might be able to somehow latch onto her.

  With a massive push, I broke through to a clear space. I spun in place, chest heaving. Gone. She was totally gone. I’d lost her again. And unless she was as dumb as a ghoul, she’d know better than to hang around.

  “Skylar!”

  Asher broke through beside me, Colson easily brushing people aside as he came up behind him. I continued searching for the woman until Asher spun me around to look at him. “Who’d you see?”

  “I think it’s whoever took Mia.”

  And the one who’d done…something to me. But I couldn’t say that. I couldn’t have them thinking I was crazy.

  “What do they look like?” Colson said.

  “A woman…she looked like…” I racked my brain, trying to think of distinguishable features, but any concrete details slipped out of my head just as fast as I tried to hold onto them. “I don’t know. I could feel her magic though. Same as before. I know it was her.”

  Colson turned, towering over everyone, eyes sifting through the dancers. “I can’t tell if she’s here or not. We should get off the floor.”

  “Skylar.” Asher’s grip tightened on my arm. “Why didn’t you tell me you saw someone? We’re partners. We’re supposed to have each others’ backs.” His eyes were full of annoyance and…concern. “I can’t do that unless you let me.”

  I looked at his hand on my arm. All of a sudden, what we were doing seemed incredibly silly. We were dancing our way to someone who might not even have answers, all while Mia was still out there and some insane lady was lurking after us. What did partners matter in the face of all that? “Let’s go. We’re wasting time.”

  I thought he’d argue, but after a long moment Asher slowly nodded and took his hand off. With Colson parting the crowd—which I realized only now he could have done from the start—we made our way to the stairs on the other side of the dance floor and went up to the glass box.

  Before we could walk inside, the shadows on either side of the doorway moved. I instinctively went for Valkyrie, but Asher put out a hand to stop me as a pair of women slipped out and approached on either side. My blood ran cold. I knew who they were: silver tongues. Super rare. Super dangerous. I was pretty sure they were cousins of banshees, except they didn’t look old or haggard. They were impossibly beautiful, lips and nails blood red, skin smooth as glass. But the second they opened their mouths we could all be dead. If they got close enough, they could magically coerce you to do anything. Jump off a bridge. Pull out your own entrails. Murder your family. You were under their complete control.

  Asher went rigid as one of the silver tongues dragged a fingernail down his arm. “Ladies, you’ll find we have an appointment.”

  The other silver tongue brought her face closer to me, until I was about a second away from shoving her down the stairs, screw the danger.

  “They’re good,” a voice from inside the room said. “Let ‘em through.”

  The silver tongues immediately backed away, one of them trailing her hand on Colson’s arm.

  “Interesting choice of gatekeepers,” Asher muttered.

  “They do their job,” the voice snapped. “Hurry up. You’re wasting my time.”

  The three of us filed into the room. There was only a single plush chair set in front of the panoramic window overlooking the club. A man stood in the corner, golden eyes watching us.

  I gave him a jerky bow, or curtsey, or…whatever. “Nice to meet you, Duke…sir.”

  “You’re not very bright, are you?”

  A figure sitting in the chair shimmered and the wraith manifested into a more physical form—at least more physical than the half ghost, half vengeful spirits they were. This wraith was vaguely muscular and man-shaped. When he turned toward us, I could kind of read his expression, as though a silk cloth had been dropped over a grinning skin, showing teeth and gaping eye holes beneath.

  “Colson, good to see you. You haven’t visited Ricky in a while. Hear you’re an Academy man now. I’m sure Ricky’s proud.”

  Colson gave a curt nod. “Thanks. And he’s not really, sir.”

  “You’re right. Suppose he’s too dense for emotions. Does good work for me, though. Says you needed to ask me something—hold on.”

  The Duke leaned forward. I wasn’t sure how, but one of his non-physical fingers depressed a button on a keyboard fastened to his chair arm.

  “Blair, I see a group of shifters at the northeast corner of the bar. Look like Roy’s gang getting a little too rowdy. Keep an eye on them. They go above an eight, they’re gone.”

  “Any mementoes?” a woman replied.

  “Leave ‘em with plenty of mementoes.”

  “Copy, sir.”

  The Duke leaned back and held up a hand. The man in the corner withdrew a couple bottles from a fridge, mixed them together, poured the mixture in a glass and handed it to him, his golden eyes never leaving us the entire time. The Duke downed the drink in one sip.

  “Where does that go?” I asked before I could stop myself.

  The air in the room seemed to still.

  “Excuse me?” the Duke said.

  “I mean, you’re…” I gestured to his non-physical lower half. “It doesn’t come out on the floor, so…you know what, never mind. I don’t want to know.”

  The Duke continued staring at me. Asher gave him a pained grin. Colson looked like he wanted to face palm. I bit my lip, waiting for him to snap his fingers and have us all thrown out. Or worse.

  “Interesting pals you run around with, Colson.” The Duke handed the glass back to the man in the corner. “I wear many hats, work with many people in what I do. So what are three nice, clean cut looking kids needing to talk to me for?”

  “My—our—friend was kidnapped,” I said.

  “So?”

  “What do you mean so—?”

  “So…” Asher held up a hand to stop me from doing something I’d regret. “It’s not just a normal kidnapping, sir. The same people who kidnapped her also attacked the Academy.”

  I almost missed the Duke’s sharp glance before his face settled into nonchalance. “Getting more interesting. They have some guts, then, I’ll give them that. And you come to me, thinking I know who did it?”

  “You’re a man with many connections,” Asher said, smiling. “I’m sure such a small request is nothing to you.”

  The Duke chuckled. “Charming. First rule of anything in life, business, whatever, kid: Nothing is free, so don’t do nothing for free. Especially when it comes to what you’re asking. You said they attacked the Academy?”

  “And left us a message,” Colson said.

  “This is getting more fun. Yeah, I have a good idea who it might be. And if I’m right—which I am—you’ve pissed off some very scary people. Almost as scary as me.”

  He raised his hand and another drink was delivered. He sipped it slow. I wanted to shove the glass down his throat but I forced myself to breathe. This was his game. He was toying with us, showing us that he had all the power.

  “I don’t think I want to send three nice kids into that sort of danger.”

  “We can’t do it without your help,” Colson said.

  The Duke tilted his face toward us. “Is that right?”

  “No,” I fumbled out. “We have other people we could go to who know. We’ll ask them—”

  “No, we don’t. You’re the only one who can help us,” Colson said. “What do you want in return?”

  The Duke was nodding along like Colson had finally said the magic words.

  “Straight to the point, I like that, Colson. If you didn’t have such a bright future ahead of you I’d ask you to come work for me. Ha!” He swiveled back around in his chair. “Here’s my deal: you run a little errand for me, and I’ll tell you what I know. I’ll even
make it an easy errand: I want the crystal skull.”

  I frowned. “What is that, some kind of ancient artifact?”

  “Something like that. All you need to know is it’s something I desire very much. A witch at the Eden’s Gardens has it.”

  “The penthouses on 45th?” Asher said.

  “The very same. You get me that, you get your answer.”

  I gaped at him. We didn’t have time for this. We were here to help save my—our—friend, not play errand boy for a narcissistic undead. I opened my mouth to tell him just that—

  “Done,” Colson said.

  “We’ll be back soon,” Asher said. He grabbed my arm, but I yanked myself free, fuming as we walked out. I could feel the golden-eyed man’s gaze drilling into us as we made our way back across the dance floor and outside.

  “See ya, cuz,” Ricky said.

  It took us a moment to get our bearings, then we started toward Eden’s Gardens. The usual New York nightlife I was used to grew louder as we went.

  “That could have been a lot worse,” Colson said after neither of us said anything for a while.

  “Did you see the man in the back?” Asher said.

  Colson grunted. “Couldn’t miss him. Ricky told me he’s a demon-kin.”

  Asher let out an impressed whistle. “Glad we didn’t piss him off.”

  “No chance of that happening with how much brown-nosing you two were doing,” I said.

  Asher glanced back at me. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  “It means Mia’s still out there and we’re running delivery for a Supe thug!”

  “I haven’t forgotten what we’re really doing,” Colson said stiffly. “Or who we’re doing it for.”

  “Oh, really?” I pointed to Asher. “You tried to charm him—all that smiling and smooth talking. You seriously want a guy like that to like you? And you…” I pointed to Colson, “just gave in!”

  Colson screeched to a halt. “And you nearly got us all killed,” he snapped, seeming to swell with anger. “Then we really wouldn’t be of any use to Mia, would we?”

  I was temporarily at a loss for words. I had rarely—heck, I don’t think ever—seen Colson pissed.

  “Sometimes barreling through things isn’t the best way,” he went on. “Sometimes you have to sacrifice something to win in the end.”

  He turned and kept walking before I could reply. Not that I would have. I’m pretty sure I stood there gaping like a goldfish.

  “I’m…sorry,” I finally said. “I know I shot my mouth off, but…we were wasting time and we needed an answer.”

  Asher sighed. “I get it, Skylar. Really, I do. But he’s right. I think this thing’s a lot bigger than we know. And we can’t help Mia if we just attack everything in sight.”

  “But it would be a lot easier.”

  The corners of his mouth quirked up. “Sure would.”

  “It’s just…that’s what I’m good at, you know? If it doesn’t work, I keep trying until it does.”

  “Maybe that’s not the best way to go about things. If something’s not working, you probably want to look at it from a different angle.”

  “I’m not really the best at that.”

  “Which is why I’m here.”

  I frowned at him. “What’s that mean?”

  “I mean as your partner. That’s what partners do. Each of them approaches problems in a way the other might not have thought of.”

  “So if we suck then it’s both of our fault.”

  “I…guess that’s one way of looking at it.”

  Asher nudged his head toward Colson’s distant back. “Let’s not let him get too far ahead. Trust me, he can stew like it’s nobody’s business.”

  I took off after them, going to see a certain witch about a certain crystal skull.

  Chapter Nine

  “Okay, this is so not fair.”

  We were standing in the lobby of the Eden Gardens Penthouses (“Your Divine Paradise in New York!”). Everywhere we looked was decked out in extravagance: gold-gilded bannisters, three marble fountains, a live band playing inside a fancy restaurant, while live peacocks strutted around, letting out squawks every so often. Peacocks. Seriously. This place was something else. All ninety-two, glittering, swanky, look-how-rich-I-am stories of it.

  “I mean…” Asher’s jaw seemed to drop lower. “How does she afford this?”

  “Maybe she’s in tech?” I suggested.

  “Or a partner at a big firm,” Colson said.

  “Or she steals the souls of innocents and sells them for obscene amounts of money to shady characters on the black market,” Asher said.

  We both looked at him.

  “But it’s probably tech,” he conceded. “And I might be a bit jealous.”

  “You have a fridge that restocks itself with drinks and snacks. Your life is fulfilled,” I said.

  The man behind the concierge desk (Really, they had one of those, too?) was looking at us like we’d crawled in from the gutter. To be fair, we probably looked a little wrung out. Maybe a little sweaty. Possibly bloody.

  Colson pointed to a directory of the floors. There was one for laundry, the gym, valet…no blatantly obvious sign that indicated where a witch harboring a probably deadly magical crystal skull might live.

  “My guess is she’s near the top,” Asher said. He tapped a finger where it said: Private Residence. On floor ninety-freaking two. “I think they house both Supes and Norms here. And if I was a powerful witch living among them, I’d want some privacy.”

  I let out a sigh. “And I doubt the elevator’s going to take us—”

  “Excuse me?”

  We turned to find the concierge standing behind us. “Can I…help you three?”

  The way he looked us distastefully up and down made me think his “helping” was going to end with us tossed out on the sidewalk.

  “We’re looking for our aunt,” I said before Asher could open his mouth and try to be charming.

  I pointed to the sign. “We think she lives at the top. She wasn’t really specific. Personally,” I lowered my voice, “I think she’s going crazy.”

  The concierge just gave me a not-so-friendly smile. “I’m sure she is. I could try to call the Miss who lives up there, but I think we all know that’s a waste of time” A couple of burly Norm bodyguards stepped up behind him. “Why don’t you three come with me?”

  Well, we weren’t tossed out on the sidewalk, but a hearty shove from behind didn’t make me feel any better.

  “Stupid magical statutes,” I muttered, rubbing my shoulder. I’d been given an especially hard push after commenting on one of the bodyguard’s attempt at growing a beard. “We totally could have taken them. Maybe do a little mind control spell or two.”

  “Yes, how silly we are trying to keep our kind a secret,” Colson said.

  “You’re right.” I sighed. “And I don’t know mind control.”

  “But we do know something,” Asher said. He pointed up. “A woman’s on the top floor, and she’s pretty well guarded.

  “That’s great…” My eyes trailed up the many, many floors. “But that doesn’t help us get to her.”

  Asher grinned at us. “And for that, we’ll need a little back door assistance.”

  “Clear,” Colson said.

  We dashed over to the gate at the employee parking entrance. Asher placed his hand over the key reader. I felt the small buzz of magic and the gate trundled open.

  “I didn’t think you literally meant the back door,” I said.

  Asher shrugged. “It worked, didn’t it?”

  Couldn’t argue with that logic.

  We double-checked there was nobody around before stealing inside and bundling ourselves into an elevator. One spell later, we were whooshing our way up to the staff entrance. Thankfully, nobody else was there when the doors opened. We hurried past a couple of changing areas and a break room until we wound up in a hallway I was pretty sure paralleled the lobby. The three
of us ducked out of sight as voices carried from around the corner. A few of the maintenance staff passed a moment later. Colson pointed over our heads to the end of the hall.

  “Stairs.”

  We hurried over and started up, trying to make as little noise as possible. I tried to not think about how many floors up we had to go, but by floor sixty, I was flagging. My shirt stuck to my back. My legs were letting me know just how much they hated me.

  “At this rate we’ll be sludge before we even find the witch,” I panted.

  Asher nodded, apparently too winded to verbally agree. Colson continued steadily plodding up. We took it slower after that, mostly because I wanted to make sure I could actually stand instead of flopping on my face before we reached her.

  We had a few witches at the Academy. The Coven in Greenwood Heights usually trained their own in the traditional ways, but those who weren’t associated with them, or were special cases, came to the Academy and were classified as spellslingers like us. They didn’t have the same affinity toward healing as the druids did, and their magic was earth-based. Rituals, star-sign spells, third eye casting, that sort of thing. Most didn’t care about getting super powerful, but there were always the outliers. Like the dark witch my mom had tackled in Washington. She’d never talked in detail about it, but I got the feeling it’d been one of her harder battles.

  I sucked in a sharp breath that had nothing to do with the climb. If we ran across someone like that…things would not end well. Beside me, Asher paused. He looked to be thinking along the same lines as I was.

  “We could always ask nicely for it?” he offered.

  I merely gave him my most sardonic look.

  “Worth a shot,” he added.

  “Tell you what, you ask her nicely, and I’ll grab the crystal skull while she’s busy hurling spells at you. Sound good?”

  Colson paused on the next landing up. “Do you two feel th—”

  The moment we joined him I felt a buzz travel from the top of my head down through my feet. My eyes widened.

  “Alarm charm.”

  “She knows we’re here,” Colson said through gritted teeth. “Hurry.”