Dark Descent (Codex Blair Book 3) Read online

  I nodded my head. That made sense, to me, even if it didn't to anyone else. She had been under the influence of the succubus when she had come here, had been called here most likely.

  Without another word, we walked to the room she had been found in. We didn't know the condition she'd been in when found, the best guess was that she had been on the bed.

  "I'll get to work," Jakub said.

  It was a stroke of luck that no one was working in this room at this hour.

  I took up a position by the door, just to be sure that no one would come in the room.

  “Are you all right?” Mal's question caught me by surprise when it entered my mind, and my eyes jumped to meet his.

  “Why wouldn't I be?”

  “This isn't somewhere you would normally be. I'd expected it would make you uncomfortable.”

  I started to respond, but before I could form the thought my back exploded in pain as the door behind me slammed into it. I was knocked to the ground, the air driven from my lungs, and I dimly heard shouts of surprise and a promise for death.

  I crawled to my feet, whirling to face my attacker, and found them holding fire in their hands.

  A mage.

  His eyes were as wild as his ill kept mess of black hair, the fire in his hands flickering erratically.

  If I had to bet money on it, I would say that he was under compulsion.

  "You. Are not supposed. To be here." His words came out jerky and uncertain as he raised his hands robotically to an aggressive position, clearly seconds away from firing at us.

  "Steady," I said, holding up my hands. Even as I spoke, I prepped a shield spell in my mind, ready to block if it came down to it. "No one wants a fight here. You don't need to do this."

  "I do," he said, and with that he flung the fire at us.

  "Aegis!" The word was out of my mouth as soon as the fire flame left his hands, and the spell disintegrated on my shield harmlessly. "Glacio!" I threw ice at him before a heartbeat had passed, aiming at his feet so that they were encased in ice, freezing him where he was.

  Perhaps I should have frozen his hands, but I didn't want him to get much further. I knew that if he gained entry to the room, then he would have the opportunity to take control of the situation. I didn't want to give him that, but I also didn't want to kill him. I knew that whatever he was doing, it wasn't his idea and he shouldn't be punished for that.

  Dark energy shot over my shoulder, slamming into the man's chest. His eyes widened, shock filling them, and he made a gesture as if to grasp at his chest, but the light in his eyes died before he could.

  I quickly dissipated the ice spell so that when he slumped to the floor he wasn't caught in an awkward position, not wanting to break his ankles if he had survived the spell.

  I darted a furious look over my shoulder at Mal, knowing that the attack had come from him, and then raced to the man's side. I checked his pulse, but found nothing there.

  "You didn't have to do that!" I turned my gaze to glare at Mal, unable to believe that he had killed the man before I could do anything about it.

  "He was attacking, he had to be neutralised before he could endanger you," he said, not an ounce of remorse in his voice.

  I gaped at him, shaking my head. "He was obviously not in control of himself! We could have helped him, freed him of the compulsion. Why are you such an idiot!"

  He set his lips in a grim line, crossing his arms over his chest. "I did what had to be done. I apologise if you don't like the results, but I protect what is mine."

  I gritted my teeth, wanting to scream at him, but a quick look at Jakub told me that he was paying careful attention to our conversation.

  You suck.

  “I will not apologise for keeping you safe,” he said, not caring how I felt about it.

  I wanted to hate him for it, but I understood his reasons, though they were. I was going to have to berate him later.

  "I'm done, if anyone cares about the mission we came here for," Jakub said, his voice a lazy drawl.

  "What did you find?" I ground out the words, still not entirely able to control myself.

  "You're not going to like it." He warned, eyes wavering as they met mine. "I'm sorry to say that this was a very sloppy feeding, and would have been painful for the woman present. I do not know who the succubus is, but I feel certain I would be able to identify her if I met her."

  “Useless.”

  “You were the one who wanted him around.”

  “Do not talk to me right now. I am beyond upset with you.”

  "All right, I'm done," I said, standing up and glaring at the them both. "I'm going home."

  “I'm coming with you.”

  “Do what you want. I don't care.”

  24

  I stomped into my house, leaving the door open for Mal to walk in behind me. I didn't know why I didn't stop him from tagging along—maybe because I wanted to yell at him—but I wasn't going to invite him in. I heard him sigh as he crossed the threshold, no doubt pouting about leaving his powers at the door.

  Hmph. Served him right, being a grade A arsehole as he had been.

  "Still mad at me?"

  I made it to the kitchen and began opening and slamming cabinet doors, not looking for anything but just making a lot of noise to make it clear that I wasn't happy with him.

  "I'll take that as a yes," he said, and damn him, I could hear laughter in his voice.

  It wasn't funny. He had killed a man. A man who hadn't needed to die, a man who we could have helped if we had put in just the tiniest bit of effort.

  "You don't get it, do you?" I turned around to glare at him, hands on my hips. "This is all some big joke to you, isn't it?"

  "You slamming cabinet doors for no reason whatsoever...yes, I admit, that is funny to me."

  "I'm mad at you. I have a lot of pent up energy, and it needs to go somewhere, because your bloody mark won't leave me the hell alone."

  Already it was burning against my skin, egging me on to fight him and teach him a lesson.

  "I could think of a thing or two you could do with that energy," he said, without even the decency to blush at the innuendo.

  "Are you seriously flirting with me right now?" I stared at him, incredulous. "You killed a man."

  "That's what I do!" His eyes widened, tinged with an undercurrent of annoyance and anger. "Lest you have forgotten, I do not quibble over the life of a mortal, certainly not when it comes to your safety. Yes, Blair, I will kill every human that comes against you as a threat. You would do well to learn that."

  "No. No, I won't learn that. It's completely unacceptable," I said, stepping closer to him, a warning slipping into my own voice. I did not cower at his shouting, did not think to be concerned for myself. He might be Fallen, but he had made it clear that my safety was paramount to him. Any threat he wanted to make to me would forever be tainted by that. "You are going to have to learn, Mal, that what you did is not OK, and that I will not stand by and let you murder people. You are accountable to me, just like every other entity that comes through London. That was a man I am sworn to protect, and you are lucky I don't rip your heart out right now."

  The room turned dark suddenly as Mal closed what distance there was between us, his face dangerously close to mine. "Do not think to threaten me, Blair. You would do well to remember who and what I am."

  I held his gaze, refusing to give in, refusing to blink. Inside, my heart was beating far too fast for comfort, slamming against my ribcage while my brain screamed at me that I was an ignorant child that had woken a sleeping monster. I had threatened him, a Fallen. While it might be logical to entertain the idea that I could take on a demon like Jakub, it was not to think that I could take down a Fallen Angel. He was powerful beyond my ability to comprehend, and he was right. I would do well to remember that.

  Too bad I'm stupid beyond words.

  "I am not afraid of you."

  "Maybe you should be!" He snarled, crowding me so that I had to back
up, the cold surface of my stove pressing against my behind.

  "Are you going to kill me?" I tilted my head back so that I could maintain eye contact with me, daring him to do it.

  "What?" The darkness around us flickered for a moment, then held. I saw the surprise in his eyes.

  "Are you going to kill me?" I repeated myself, fighting for the calm that was somehow in my voice. I did not feel calm at all, but I knew better than to let him think he had got the better of me.

  I was calling his bluff.

  The darkness evaporated, and he shook his head as he looked at me, frustration writ on his face.

  "No, Blair, I'm not going to kill you."

  "Good, now that that's settled, you can stop killing people to protect me. You seem to be forgetting that I am more than capable of taking care of myself. I don't need you babysitting me, I don't need you killing people willy nilly. I had that mage frozen, I could have handled the situation, you didn't have to kill him."

  He paced away from me, dragging a hand through his hair, having difficulty accepting this. "He was trying to kill you," he said, turning back to look at me.

  I leaned against the stove behind me, placing a hand on either side of me. "And? People try to kill me every day. Did you forget that?"

  "I am not there when they try to kill you." He practically growled the words out.

  "And more the better for that, obviously! You have to allow me to make my own judgment calls."

  I watched as a muscle in his jaw ticked when he clenched it shut, struggling with the concept of letting me do as I needed to. He shook his head.

  "I'm not apologising for protecting you."

  "Well, you need to," I said, shrugging my shoulders. "Because what you did is not OK. I am not going to let you throw your weight around and get away with whatever you want. Maybe you got away with it for a couple of centuries, but you're not anymore. Either accept that or get out of my life." I lifted my chin defiantly, hoping that he would back down. I didn't want him out of my life, not at all. I wanted him to acquiesce, to say he was sorry, so that we could move on.

  He stormed out of the kitchen and into the living room. I followed him, cautiously, and found him glaring down at the unlit fireplace.

  "Mal?"

  "I'm. Sorry." He ground the words out between clenched teeth.

  I let out a sigh of relief and came over behind him to envelope him in a hug. "Thank you." I let go of him and took a step back. "I know this is going to be hard for you, I know it's going to be difficult to adjust to, but it's what I need."

  "Don't ask me to agree with you, Blair. You've tried my patience enough for one day." He turned to look at me, his eyes dark and haunted.

  I swallowed nervously, my fingers jumping to fidget with a spare thread on my jeans. I pulled at it, as if I was trying to unravel the fabric, unable to stop myself. It was a nervous tic, something I had always done and would always do. Until I couldn’t.

  "Topic change?" I suggested, trying to smile at him.

  He gave me a tired smile in response, nodding his head. "Sure. Actually, now that you mention it, there was something I wanted to discuss with you."

  "Oh, what's that?"

  "I didn't want to mention it around the incubus, for obvious reasons," he said, looking warily at me, as if daring me to defend Jakub. "But there is an event taking place where it is possible the succubus might show her face. I would like for you to attend with me."

  "Wait, so you think there's a possibility of running into the succubus, and you decided bringing the one person who could identify her was a bad idea?"

  He glared at me. "I knew you wouldn't understand."

  "No, I don't understand you being too jealous to see logical sense," I said, though I couldn't help but laugh. It felt good to laugh, after all that stress.

  "I feel confident we can do it ourselves," he said, almost pouting.

  "You just don't want to share me." I stuck my tongue out at him, aware of the childish nature of it but unable to contain myself.

  "Careful, I might bite that," he said, his voice a dark whisper.

  My cheeks flamed, and I looked away from him. "Stop that." The words came out little more than a mutter. "You can't say things like that."

  "And why not?"

  "Because I told you not to." I shot him a dark look.

  "Fair enough," he said, nodding his head. "Anyway, it's a party. For demons. For all I know the incubus has his own invitation and will be there anyway."

  "You want me to go to a party full of demons? What happened to you not wanting me around other demons?" I quirked an eyebrow, folding my arms under my chest.

  "You performed admirably today," he said with a grin. "And I want to spend more time with you. It will be a bore of a party if I go on my own."

  I smirked. It was fun to make him admit that he enjoyed my company, even if it was easy to do.

  "I'm not going to a demon infested party without Emily," I said.

  "Emily?"

  "She's a friend. And a Warrior of the Lord," I said with a pointed look at him. "So, you'll have to be on your best behaviour."

  "You want to bring a paladin to a demon party? Have you lost your mind?"

  "No. I just want to have some collateral. If I have her with me, it's highly unlikely that someone will try anything."

  "If you have me with you, it's impossible that anyone would try anything."

  "But if I have Emily with me, then I know you won't try anything."

  "What exactly are you afraid of me trying?" He tilted his head to the side, a smirk spreading across his lips.

  "Exactly, all of that. Maybe you'll be afraid of her, since you aren't of me."

  "I don't want one of the Lord's chosen there, Blair. That's a bad idea." He sounded serious now as he shook his head. "She'll invite a lot of antagonism that we otherwise wouldn't have to worry about. It will be impossible for you to blend in. Others will be bringing mortals with them, you won't be the only one there, but she will be the only one of her kind. I cannot guarantee her safety."

  "I don't think it's her safety that you have to be concerned about," I said, musing on that point. There was a high likelihood that Emily would hear about a party of demons and go into full on slayer mode.

  He shook his head, though. "She would be bound by guest rites, if I brought her."

  "Ah, so wouldn't that mean that no one would attack her?"

  "Like I said, I cannot guarantee that. There is always the possibility that someone will disregard the old ways, some young demon with something to prove. She would be within her rights to attack in return, but only that demon, and there's no saying that others wouldn't come to its defence. It's a powder keg, Blair, you have to see how nonsensical this idea is."

  I pursed my lips. "Why don't we run it by her, then?"

  "I don't want her there."

  "But you want me there, right?"

  He glowered at me. "Do not make me barter for your attendance, Blair."

  I shrugged. "I'm not going to the party without her, and that's final. If you don't want her there, then you cannot have me either."

  "Fine, let me meet your paladin. I will decide for myself if she is allowed to attend."

  I grinned. "Glorious."

  25

  I waited patiently on the couch for Emily to arrive, watching Mal pace from one side of the living room to the other.

  "This is a bad idea," he said.

  "Why?" I tilted my head to the side. "You said you wanted to meet her."

  "Only because you were being stubborn. It's not a good idea because I do not want to kill your friend, especially after that speech, and now you're putting me in a room with a paladin...It's not a good idea."

  I shrugged. "She knows what you are now."

  It had been a calculated risk, telling Emily that I had a demon I needed her to meet and play nice with. I had been afraid of losing her friendship, of course, but I didn't want to go to that party without her. I needed her around m
e to feel safe. I needed her to keep Mal accountable too—he had to have a healthy amount of respect for someone the Lord had chosen to hunt his kind.

  I didn't know if Emily could take on a Fallen, but with everything I had seen her do, I wouldn't put it past her.

  Long stretches of silence passed before the knock sounded at the door that announced Emily's arrival.

  Swallowing nervously, I stood and opened the door.

  "Hi," I said, searching her face for the signs of hatred and condemnation that I expected. Instead, I found sympathy and worry.

  "Blair," she said, breathing out my name as she wrapped me in a tight hug. I felt metal under her loose blouse and realised that she was wearing some armor underneath. My eyes widened—she expected a fight.

  "Emily, you promised," I said.

  "And I intend to keep that promise. The Lord has not asked me to break that promise, but I would be a fool to come here unprotected."

  I bit my lip and nodded my head. "Come in," I said, inviting her into the house. Emily was one person I trusted to bring her powers in with her, I knew that she would not use them against me, and I didn't want her to feel that she had been brought here to be at a disadvantage.

  I knew Mal would not attack her, so there was little reason to be concerned.

  When she entered and I shut the door behind her, I turned to look at Mal.

  I had expected him to look grim, but there was blatant male interest in his eyes when he looked at her. I arched an eyebrow, surprised. Emily was a beautiful woman, I was not immune to her, but I hadn't expected Mal to be taken with her, considering what she was.

  "Enchanté," he said as he approached, taking her hand, and kissing the top of it. "I have forgotten the beauty of one touched by God."

  "He was yours once upon a time as well, Fallen. You can find your way home to him." Emily did not hesitate to bring that subject up, her green eyes defiant, though I detected a slight blush beneath her bronze skin.