Page 50 of Wicked Warlock
Logan shook his head and waved my comment away. “Yeah, I wanna be done with myself right now. So, I’m coming.”
“I gotta stay for Tilly.” Maze looked up toward the second floor where his room was and where Tilly was still sleeping. “I have to keep an eye on her.”
I grabbed the pendulum and shoved it into my back pocket. “Yeah, you do. Keep and eye on her. The rest of you, let’s go.”
Ophelia rummaged through the potion pouch on her hip and pulled out vial of clear liquid. “I got this.”
She dropped it onto the ground and stepped on it. A clear portal sprang up from where she stepped. It looked like shimmering air, so different than Beckett’s and the ones I was able to produce in Unseelie. She waved me toward it. “After you.”
Cross stepped in front of me. “No offense, Astrid, but I think I should go first. Your powers… Well, Beckett would kill me if anything happened to you, and we don’t know what we’re walking into here.”
I ground my teeth together. I wanted to go through, to use my magic the way it was intended to be used. But here I was, powerless and on my way to find my soulmate who may or may not have lost his mind. Frustrated didn’t even come close to describing the tornado of emotions I was feeling right now. “Go ahead.”
Cross stepped into the portal, and I followed quickly after him. These weren’t turbulent like Beckett’s portals could be or effortless the way mine felt in Unseelie. This was more like walking through warm water. Not unpleasant but not easy. When we walked through to the other side, I was standing in a forest with snow steadily falling overhead. It gathered around my boots and clung to my hair. There was a cave standing off to the side that looked like a hole had been blown in the side of it. When I looked farther down the hill, it seemed like something had crashed through the forest, knocking down trees and creating chaos. In the distance, there was a blood red patch of snow gathered around the base of a tree and what looked like someone leaning against it. Just leaning there, bleeding.
“Beckett?” I didn’t wait for the others to get through the portal. I took off running down the hill. The person was the same size, same build as Beckett. Please don’t let it be him. I pumped my arms and ran as fast as I could. The snow made it impossible not to slide and be off balance. But I had to keep going. My shoulder slammed into a tree and a branch caught my hair, ripping it out. Pain shot through the side of my head, but I didn’t care. The others called after me, but I wasn’t going to stop.
The tree grew closer, and I planted my feet but my body just kept sliding over the snow and right by the tree. I twisted around to get to him. “Bec…”
My words died on my tongue, and I closed my eyes tightly. The others all caught up to me and we stood there, frozen. I opened my eyes. “Did he do this?”
Cross kicked at a rock on the ground. “What do you think?”
“About time, I say. The asshole deserved it.” Ophelia got in closer to Corvin, examining the stake jutting from his chest and the vacant look in his eyes. “It was a clean kill, though.”
I wrinkled my nose. “What does that mean?”
“Means he didn’t torture him.” Logan’s voice was so calm and steady. “Which is what he deserved. Beckett just put him out of his misery.”
“But this… this isn’t like him.” Corvin was pinned to that damn tree and then stabbed through the heart.
“Maybe we’re dealing with a new kind of Beckett,” Logan sighed.
“A better kind.” Ophelia moved in closer to the body. “Just getting it done.”
I didn’t want to stand here anymore to witness what he was doing. This wasn’t my Beckett. We had to find him before something else happened. I looked around through the forest. “I don’t think he’s here.”
Cross walked up to Corvin and placed his bare hand on the man’s neck. “Nah, he’s long gone. This dude is an icicle.”
“Time to go.” I pulled the pendulum from my back pocket and motioned for Ophelia to open the map. She spread it out and held both sides of it for me. The pendulum didn’t even swing, it just shot across the map to another place I hadn’t expected. “Is that the Midlands… in England?”
“Yeah, let’s go.” Ophelia pulled out another vial and dropped it into the snow. She stomped on it and another portal sprung up. “Can’t what to see what’s next.”
I really don’t want to see it at all. But I had to, to find him before he killed someone else or, even worse, himself. My stomach was a ball of nerves that I couldn’t control or calm. Cross ran into the portal and I followed right behind him. If we were going to do this, we were going to do it fast. I pumped my arms, moving through the portal as fast as possible. When I popped out on the other end, Cross caught me around my waist and jerked me to a halt. A putrid smell assailed my nose, and I heaved, my stomach trying to empty onto the floor. I shoved my hand over my face, covering my mouth and nose.
I gagged again and Cross let me go. “Not on these boots.”
I straightened and Ophelia walked in and sucked in a deep breath. “This place reminds me of my dad’s dungeon. Creepy as hell. Smells like death and decay.”
Cross walked over to a bundle of rags on the floor up against the wall and kicked it over. Jiovanni Archer rolled onto his back, but his head stayed twisted the other way. “Broken neck. Looks like he threw him into the wall.”
“Quick and painless.” Logan walked from the portal and stood opposite Cross. “Interesting tactic.”
“Why?” I looked at the both of them. “Why is it interesting?”
“It’s impersonal. This is a cold kill. There’s no emotion behind it.” Logan bent down and pressed his fingers to Jiovanni’s neck.
“It’s clear he’s dead. He’s not going to have a pulse.” I ran my hands through my hair and began to look around at all the atrocities, the skeletons left on the floor and in cages. Bubbling potions in the corner; the wall of torture devices. A small sphere on the table with tiny spikes pointing out of it. Even I had to admit this was horrifying.
