As the whip recoiled, I leapt up and followed it, Nex and Vita gripped tight in readiness. Lightning rolled down their sides and filled the darkness with their eagerness to kill.
The man-mountain turned and ran.
My footsteps were loud on the old flagstones as I chased after him. Both blades were afire, the lightning deadly snakes ready to strike.
I dashed out onto the pavement and skidded to a halt. The man-mountain was a dozen buildings away already. For a big man, he was fast.
But not fast enough.
I crossed the knives and smoked his ass.
As his ashes washed down the drain, I went back into our store and locked the door behind me. I had no idea if there were more Durants or demons out there, but it never hurt to be careful.
The stairs creaked, and I glanced up, my grip briefly tightening on Nex’s hilt.
It was Mo, not more bad guys.
“What happened up there?” I sheathed the knives and walked across the room. The Durant’s breathing was rapid and thready, but her eyelids fluttered, suggesting she was on the cusp of consciousness. Which was good, because we definitely needed to question the bitch.
“A couple of minor demons attempted to get through, but it was nothing I couldn’t handle.” Mo followed me through the room. “Who’s this?”
“The Durant who was attempting to install a gateway in your magic so a man-mountain with an energy whip could enter.”
She frowned. “Most Durants aren’t capable of magic—”
“Luc and two of his sisters are, and they surely can’t be the only ones.” I squatted next to my captive and started going through her pockets. They contained her car keys but nothing else of importance.
“Yes, but Luc is also a knight of the round table.”
I frowned up at her. “Becoming one of the twelve gives them magic?”
“In a sense, yes. When they’re matched with the soul blade, they gain the knowledge and power of the witch within. And his sisters inherited their magic from their Lancaster grandmother, did they not?”
“Yes, but that only adds weight to my initial comment.”
She grunted—though whether that meant she agreed or not I couldn’t say—then knelt beside me and lightly pressed her hands either side of the woman’s temple. Her fingers lit with a golden glow as she probed the woman’s injuries and then began the healing process. After several minutes, both the cut on the woman’s arm and the skin where her fingers had been severed healed over. Which I suspected wouldn’t please our captive, but missing fingers were a small price to pay for working with Darkside.
Despite Mo’s healing touch, the woman didn’t wake. In fact, she seemed to slip into deeper unconsciousness. I frowned at Mo as she withdrew her touch. “You’re not going to wake her so we can question her?”
“No, I’m not. As I said, I’m a little peeved over these constant attacks. Besides, she’s a Durant. They don’t crack easily.”
“Speaking from experience, I take it?”
I unzipped the woman’s jacket and patted her down, but there was no ID or anything else that might provide a clue as to who she was. I guess that wasn’t really surprising; she obviously knew the danger of attacking us and had no doubt divested herself of any means of identification beforehand.
“I came across a couple of them back in the day when I was working as an interrogator for the High Council,” Mo was saying, “Not all Durants followed legal lines.”
“Which I guess could be expected given their skill set. They’d make excellent thieves.”
“It was more the assassination business that called them to our attention.” She frowned. “It’s rather an odd move for Darkside to send a Durant here, though.”
“Not really. Not if their goal was simply to kill you and capture me.”
“But in failing, they’ve very much revealed the depth of their infiltration into witch families. I wouldn’t have thought they’d be so sure of their position and strength at this point to risk it.”
I motioned to the sword. “She was bearing what I think is a revamped version of the soul swords. Maybe they intended to sow confusion and doubt.”
“Unlikely, given no one who knows anything at all about soul blades would ever mistake that thing for one. Whatever the hell it contained, it certainly didn’t follow the light.”
“Most of those in soul blades didn’t either. They were placed in the sword as penance for fraternizing with Darkside.”
A smile twitched her lips. “I think it safe to say they were doing a whole lot more than merely fraternizing. But still I don’t believe a soul inhabited this blade. I think it was a demon.”
My gaze darted to the sword. “An actual demon? How in the hell is that possible?”
“Anything is possible when it comes to the right spell, and dark elves do have a history of subjugating others to their will.”
No doubt. “But what use would an actual demon be? It’s not like that can impart any sort of magical energy to help with a kill.”
“No, but it’s not beyond the realm of feasibility that they could imbue the user with physical strength. There were plenty of such items in ancient times.”
I frowned. “I was under the impression that the means of creating soul blades—and whatever this thing is—had been forgotten.”
“We did. They obviously didn’t.” She rose. “I’ll keep an eye on our captive. You might want to grab her keys and go see if you can find her car. And call Luc on your way. He can organize for the preternatural boys to come and pick her up.”
The Preternatural Division was a part of the National Crime Agency and had both witches and psi talents on their books to help investigate supernatural and magical crimes. They’d gotten involved in this whole mess after a number of possible heirs for the Witch King’s crown had turned up dead.
Max, eliminating the competition and ensuring he was the only one able to draw Elysian.
My eyebrows rose. “And you can’t call him because …?”
“Because I’m an interfering old bird who has a vested interest in seeing you and him hook up.”
“Do I want to know what this vested interest might be—aside from the satisfaction of proving you were right about him being my destiny, that is? Or should I just ignore the whole thing as per usual?”
She grinned. “Luc knows. I’ve gone into great detail with the man.”
I gave her a long look. “About what?”
“Grandbairns, of course. I want lots of them.”
I rolled my eyes. “Don’t be expecting babies from me anytime soon—especially when we haven’t even had sex yet. And, besides, you already have two.”
Which had been an utterly surprising revelation and no real cause for celebration. Max’s only intention in having kids had been to secure his line of succession. His twins—a boy and a girl—were currently under our guard, and while Max had made no attempt as yet to get them back, I had no doubt he would.
Mo’s amusement faded. “Yes, and I suspect it’s going to take years for us to unpick the damage Darkside has done to them both.”
I frowned. “Riona seemed relatively untouched by darkness.”