“I owe you,” I said, moving to the bar with Jessikah and Ink in tow. I found the trap door and opened it, letting a groggy Peaches down first, before the rest followed. “Kick his ass, but if it gets dicey, get the hell out of here.”
“He may be strong, but he’s in my house,” Grey said with a growl. “No one attacks me in my home…and survives.”
I paused at the top of the stairs.
“It gets bad, you bug out. I’ll make sure the damage is repaired.”
“Damn straight you will. I’m going to expect a new, runed door, Strong,” Grey said, holding up his sword. “Go find Tea-and-Crumpets and make sure he doesn’t step over. Go—now.”
I ran down the stairs.
A few seconds later, the sounds of destruction followed.
FOURTEEN
“Where does this lead?” Jessikah asked as we ran down the tunnel. “Will he make it?”
“Don’t know,” I said, and I didn’t. I knew Grey was tough and powerful, but whoever redecorated the entrance to The Dive was at least on his level if not stronger. “We need to put distance between us and The Dive.”
“You’re not going to help him?”
I stopped running and stared at her.
“What did you say?” I asked. “You want me to go back and help him?”
“Yes, it’s the right thing to do,” she said with a nod. “Whatever destroyed that door is clearly powerful, possibly more powerful than the Night Warden. He needs help.”
I shook my head. Apparently, she had just missed the horror show of watching one of her Black Orchid sect mates going through a lethal doorway. Serious trauma had a way of doing that. The brain can only take so much before it starts deleting the bad parts.
We needed to get this straight now, or I was going to have to cut her loose, which would be a death sentence for her. She was strong, but not nearly strong enough to deal with Talin or Evers.
Neither was I.
“The right thing to do?” I asked, hearing the destruction behind us. “What are you talking about?”
“You’re just going to leave him alone?” she asked, glancing back down the tunnel. “He sounds like he needs help.”
“I strongly advise against returning to that establishment,” Ink said. “The threat level is considerably higher than expected. We should—”
“Yes, I’m just going to leave him alone,” I said, measuring my words. “Grey can probably stand against Talin. You and me? Not a chance.”
“If we stayed, all of us could stop this Talin,” she said. “Together, we are strong enough.”
“Did you hit your head on the way down the stairs?”
“What are you talking about?” she asked. “I’m perfectly fine. I just don’t think running is the best strategy here…it’s cowardice.”
“Cowardice?” I said, taking a deep breath and counting backward from a hundred by sevens. I let out the breath and managed to keep myself under control. “So what you’re saying is that you’re a battle-tested mage…right?”
“Well, no…what I meant—”
“What you meant is that you”—I pointed at her chest—“a veteran of dozens of these attacks, thinks it’s cowardice to run away and stay alive?”
“I wouldn’t say dozens.”
“Hundreds?” I asked, feigning surprise. “Now I’m impressed. No wonder they unleashed you on Monty. You must be one fierce mage destroyer. With that much firepower, I’m surprised the entire sect isn’t out here looking for you.”
“It’s not hundreds either.”
“How many mage battles have you been in?” I asked, letting the anger loose just enough to get the point across. “I mean real fights, where your life was on the line?”
“I daresay more than you,” Jessikah answered, pushing her chin forward. “I was born and raised as a mage. I mean no offense, but you were not.”
“Funny how the words that usually follow that statement of not being offensive usually are,” I said, keeping my anger in check. “You didn’t answer my question.”
“Two battles,” she said, staring me down hard. “The first was a fight for my life, and the second was the one when…”
“When you screwed up and almost got everyone killed?”
“Yes, and that wasn’t my fault. There were circumstances beyond my control.”
“Of course there were,” I said. “There usually are when mages are involved.”
“It may not be much, but I have actual mage training,” she said. “I am equipped to deal with these circumstances. It’s not something I expect you to understand.”
“You remind me of someone I know,” I said, keeping my voice even. “He didn’t know how deep this world was until he was into it up to his neck.”
“My lack of experience doesn’t change the fact that you aren’t a mage,” she said. “I know you have some tenuous connection to Tristan, but you should really leave this to the mages.”
“Monty is my friend, and more importantly, he’s my family,” I said, extending a hand, palm up, gathering energy. “I may not be a mage like you are, but I’ve learned in my short experience not to judge people by outward appearances.”
“Miss, please step back,” Ink said. “I’m registering a large accumulation of power.”
“Of course you are,” Jessikah said, exasperated. “There’s a dark mage risking his life fighting some creature behind us and we’re here jabbering.”
“Not behind us,” Ink said, pointing at me. “Him.”
I had formed a smallish, violet sphere of power in my palm.
It was the orb that formed when I used my ignisvitae command, except this time I had only thought the command. The sphere whirled in my hand, radiating intense energy and nearly blinding me with its intensity. A few more seconds, and I wouldn’t be able to hold it. I ran back to the stairs and poked my head just above the bar.
Grey was surrounded by dark tendrils.
Never a good sign. The light around him seemed dimmer, as if it were struggling to get away from being absorbed by the sword in his hands. Talin—I assumed it was Talin—was in trouble, and his expression showed it.
He was looking for a way out.
He was dressed in the usual black on
