Black Heart

14

I READIED MY MAGIC FOR AN ATTACK. WE ALL TOOK AN inward breath as he passed under the doorway and into the room.

Nothing happened. I hurried after him, so that he wouldn’t be alone if some horrible thing came snarling out of the darkness. The smell was overwhelming now. I was worried we were about to stumble onto a pile of dead bodies stored here since the vampire invasion. Nathaniel paused for a moment, directing the nightfire around the room so that we could see all around.

It was a pretty standard-looking storage area. The room was long and rectangular. There was a maintenance supply closet to the right. J.B. quickly checked the door to confirm that it was locked. The rest of the space was filled with floor-to-ceiling cages in two rows on each side. Each space was padlocked and stuffed with items that people didn’t want or need inside their condos. Bikes, kayaks, Christmas decorations—it all seemed safe and normal and not menacing in the least.

“What the hell is that?” J.B. said behind me.

I glanced back at him and saw him pointing toward the floor at the end of the storage rows. Nathaniel turned up the luminescence on the nightfire with a wave of his hand. The shadows receded, and we could all see what J.B. was indicating.

Some kind of green slime coated the floor at the very end of the room. It glistened like a live thing in the blaze from the nightfire.

“Oh, no,” Beezle said. “The last time there was viscous liquid, a bunch of us ended up inside a chrysalis.”

“Shh,” Nathaniel said, and began moving forward cautiously. J.B. and I followed. I wondered whether Bendith was still holding the door open upstairs, or whether he’d gotten bored and decided to wander away.

“But you weren’t in the chrysalis, so what do you care?” I asked softly.

“There are not enough red shirts here for my liking,” Beezle said. “I might end up getting cocooned just because there’s no one else around. I’d climb inside your pocket but you didn’t bother to put any pants on.”

“And thank the gods above and below for that,” J.B. murmured behind me.

“How can you think of sex at a time like this?” I hissed.

“I’m a guy. And you’re not wearing pants,” J.B. said. “It’s kind of hard to concentrate on imminent peril while I’m walking behind you, actually.”

“Will the three of you cease?” Nathaniel said in an undertone. “Why do we not simply dispense with all caution if you are going to bicker so loudly that we cannot hear danger approaching?”

The three of us subsided, chastened.

The path between the storage areas was just wide enough for two people to walk side by side. I moved up so that I was at Nathaniel’s shoulder.

He glanced down at me like he wanted to argue, and I shook my head.

“You’re the one who doesn’t want to bicker,” I whispered.

He gave me a brief smile at that. He was so thin now that his face looked like carved stone in the nightfire glare. There was not an ounce of softness on him anywhere, just muscle and bone and fierce blue eyes.

There was now one storage space between us and the stuff all over the floor. I held up my hand so everyone would stop.

“It’s coming from there,” I said, pointing to the last storage area.

We couldn’t see what was inside because the lockup beside it was stuffed to the gills with junk. But it was very apparent that the slime was leaking from something inside the last space.

I summoned a ball of nightfire to hurl at anything that might pop out at us, and wished I held my sword instead.

The three of us crept closer. I winced as my bare feet touched the goop on the floor. The last storage area came into view.

“That . . . is . . . disgusting,” Beezle said.

“What are they?” I asked.

The space was filled with dozens of hanging sacs roughly the size of footballs. Each one was attached to the cage by a kind of looped tentacle that protruded from the top. They were connected to one another by a long cord, almost like a vein with nodules jutting from it. Each sac was dripping slime, and some of them were wiggling, as though the living creature inside was shifting.

I automatically put my hand to my newly swollen belly, covering it protectively. My baby fluttered beneath my touch.

“Whatever they are, they don’t belong here,” J.B. said.

“Quick, get a form,” Beezle said. “I’m sure you’ll need to file some paperwork on this.”

“Why does everyone think I love paperwork?” J.B. said.

“Because you do,” Beezle and I both said together.

“So how do we kill them?” I asked. “It looks like they’re all connected to that vein. I bet it’s some kind of sustenance for them.”

“We’re just going to kill them without knowing what they are?” J.B. said. “They haven’t done us any harm.”

“J.B., anything that grows in the basement in a slime-covered chrysalis is not going to make nice with humans,” I said. “We should count ourselves lucky that they’re still inside and not out running around on the street. I don’t think people could handle another panic so soon after the vampire attacks.”

“But it seems wrong to just slaughter something so helpless,” J.B. said.

“Better them than us,” I said.

“Can we at least find out what it is we’re killing before we kill it?” J.B. asked.

“How can we do that?” I said.

“Hang on,” Beezle said, giving the colony a good hard stare. “It looks like some kind of green insect, kind of praying mantis-y, but not exactly the same.”

“Green insect?” I asked, dread filling me. “Nathaniel, can you put that nightfire closer to one of the cocoons? I want to try to see the shape of the creature inside.”

Nathaniel sent the nightfire close to one of the closer sacs. A shape was silhouetted inside the slime-covered membrane. The shape of a Cimice. I knew suddenly why the smell had seemed familiar. The stink of the insects had pervaded the air around the mountain, but it hadn’t seemed so strong then, as the space wasn’t enclosed.

“I don’t understand,” I whispered. “How did they get here?”

“Who?” J.B. asked.

“The Cimice,” I said. I started to explain about the Cimice, because I hadn’t had a chance to really tell Nathaniel or J.B. about my adventures, but Nathaniel cut me off.

“The gargoyle explained,” Nathaniel said.

He frowned at the colony of eggs, for that was what they were. Tiny little eggs holding tiny little Cimice that would grow into mating pairs. I remembered what Batarian and Sakarian had said about how quickly the creatures bred. They could overrun the city in no time.

“We have to kill them all,” I said.

“Yes,” Nathaniel said. “If they are as dangerous as you say, then we have no choice.”

We both looked at J.B. He nodded with obvious reluctance.

“If we have to do it, then let’s do it,” he said. “But how did they get here, in this building?”

“Good question,” I said. “Who put them here, and why?”

“There are no clues to be found here,” Nathaniel said. “Except only the obvious one, that this is somehow linked to Titania or a member of her court.”

“Yeah, but what’s the point? Are they after J.B., or Bendith, or me?”

“Maybe it’s got nothing to do with you at all, solipsist,” Beezle said. “Maybe this is just a convenient launching place for an attack.”

“And it just happens to be the building in which J.B. lives?” I asked. “Color me skeptical. Plus, this isn’t exactly a strategic location.”

“Why not?” Beezle asked. “It’s close enough to the Loop to cause chaos, and far enough away that it’s not under the same tight security as most of the other buildings.”

“And maybe I would get blamed for missing the threat under my nose,” J.B. said. “Titania is still technically my sovereign, and she would love to have an excuse to take my crown away and put her own puppet on the throne in my court.”

“Let us destroy these creatures and then worry about where they came from,” Nathaniel said.

“Yeah,” I said, staring at the mass of eggs. “My first instinct would be to set them on fire. But how do we do that without burning the whole building down?”

“Where’s your sword?” J.B. asked.

“With my clothes,” I said.

“Madeline,” Nathaniel said. “When you killed Azazel, did you not reverse his death spell and send it into his own blood?”

“Yes,” I said. “But how will that apply here?”

“If you create a similar spell, you could send it through the first egg,” Nathaniel said. “If the spell were sufficiently powerful, it would follow the cord that binds all of the creatures together and kill all of them.”

“I don’t know,” Beezle said. “This seems kind of subtle for Maddy.”

“I can do subtle,” I said.

I’d halted the momentum of Azazel’s spell and thrown it back to him. I’d done something similar when I’d cast Amarantha from J.B.’s body. But in both cases I was basically acting as a slingshot, hurling the magic back at the person who had created it.

But then again, I had figured out how to take out the colony of Cimice by using their blood. This process wouldn’t be that different. I’d just be finding a different way into the spell.

I’d used my powers to defend myself. I’d killed when I thought there was no other choice. I knew that the Cimice were like a time bomb ticking away down here in this basement, and that people would be unable to defend themselves from these creatures.

This was really the same argument that I’d made to justify the killing of the Cimice on that alien world. And I had done it. To prevent human deaths, to protect the innocent.

So I would do it again. Because it was the right thing to do, or the closest thing to right, and everyone present seemed to agree that it was the best course of action. But it seemed like it was getting too easy for me to justify making the decision to take life away.

“I can assist you,” Nathaniel said. “I will combine my power with yours to ensure there is enough force to eliminate all of the creatures.”

That gave me pause. Every time Nathaniel and I combined our powers, we ended up half-naked on the floor. Of course, we were both already half-naked, and this was hardly a sexy spell. We were going to kill together. It wasn’t supposed to be an arousing act.

“Okay,” I said. “How do we do this? I don’t even know where to begin.”

“What do you normally do when you create a spell?” Nathaniel asked.

“I don’t create spells,” I admitted. “I just throw as much power as I can at whatever is in front of me at the time.”

“I told you it was too subtle for her,” Beezle said.

“It is not. She has performed a task like this before,” Nathaniel said. “Which gives her an advantage over me. Using magic is similar to using a muscle. Once you have used a certain kind of power, it will be easier for you to use it again a second time.”

“So I just need to remember what it felt like to push the death spell into Azazel, and it will all come back to me, like riding a bike?” I asked.

“Precisely,” Nathaniel said. “There is nothing complex in creating magic. You simply need will and focus. Consider your task, and then determine how best to execute it. When you are ready, I will assist you by giving you some of my power.”

“Okay,” I said, taking a deep breath. I was nervous, and they were all staring at me, which made it worse. “Can you not stare at me with the weight of your expectations?”

J.B. and Nathaniel both smiled and obediently looked toward the ceiling, but Beezle gave me a pointed stare.

“What?” I asked.

“Are you sure this is a good idea?”

“I can kill them now or I can kill them later, after they’ve done some damage. I’d prefer to do it now, before anyone gets hurt.”

“Yeah, but this is dark magic,” Beezle said. “This isn’t like anything you’ve done before.”

“Are you sure about that?” I asked. “Because when I wiped away all the vampires in one fell swoop, you seemed convinced that was pretty dark.”

“And it was,” Beezle acknowledged. “But should you be making it a habit?”

“What else am I supposed to do?” I said. “No one else knows about this. No one else can take care of the problem. It has to be me. It always has to be me. So let me be, Beezle.”

My gargoyle opened his mouth again, but I shook my head.

“No,” I said. “I’m going to do this. I have to do this. So be quiet.”

I closed my eyes. I’d never made a complex spell from scratch, but I had done quite a bit of shooting-from-the-hip magic in the past. In every case I had done exactly as Nathaniel had said—I’d considered my task and executed it.

First I needed to weigh the amount of power required. This wasn’t like bringing down a mountain, or even like destroying all the vampires. In both cases I’d summoned the depths of my magical energy and let it explode outward. I didn’t want anything to explode right now. I wanted to concentrate the magic in a steady stream.

I needed to kill every single one of the Cimice eggs. But I didn’t have the stomach to make the creatures blow up inside the membranes or anything like that. So I wanted something that would just quietly stop their hearts beating.

I summoned my magic and my will, and then I did something I’d never done before. I went deeper. Ever since I’d come into my legacy from Lucifer, I had deliberately avoided exploring the full dimensions of my powers. I suspected that there were things I was capable of doing that I didn’t want to know about.

I was right. As I sank further into the well of magic inside me, I saw powers almost incomprehensible in their scope, powers that could destroy the world and remake it in the image I chose. There were dark things buried there, cruel impulses, death without reason or mercy.

This was what it felt like to be Lucifer, to have the energy of all the galaxies at your fingertips, to feel that those around you are small and mewling things, things that could be swept away in an instant, without thought, like clearing a chessboard with a swipe of the hand.

I was afraid of that darkness, and part of me wanted to leave it there. But the other part of me, the part that grew stronger every day, embraced it. This was what I was born for. This was who I was meant to be.

And I knew what to do.

I walked forward, almost in a trance. Beezle flew from my shoulder. Nathaniel reached for me, but I ignored him. I touched my hand to the lock on the door and it melted to the floor. J.B. gasped behind me.

The door opened without my touching the handle. I entered the space until I was surrounded by the Cimice eggs. Slime dripped on my face and hair, but I hardly noticed.

I found the egg at the center of the room and placed my hand upon it. My power spread outward until I could feel every creature in the web. I could sense the pulse of life in all of them, the tiny throbbing hearts. They were all there, beneath my fingertips.

Far away from me, Lucifer rested on his throne, his head in his hands. He lifted his head slowly, and he smiled.

And nearer, the dragon inside Daharan woke up. As it did, something inside me responded, something lit with flame.

I pushed death through my hands, and into the first egg. I knew the moment its heart stopped. The spell continued without my guidance, seeking the next heart, smothering it beneath a cloak of darkness. The vein that connected all of the eggs together shriveled and blackened, and any dead membrane shriveled as well, so we could see the course of the spell moving through the creatures, killing them one by one.

I could feel them dying, but it did not grieve me. The Cimice were nothing to me. This was just a diversion for someone as powerful as I.

“Madeline,” Nathaniel said behind me.

I turned and met his eyes. He had approached to within a few inches, watching me cautiously. J.B. and Beezle were wide-eyed in the corridor.

“Madeline, you are on fire,” Nathaniel said.

I looked down at my body, slowly, in wonder. I was engulfed in flame. It danced over me, covered me in its flickering warmth, but my skin did not burn. My T-shirt and underpants were gone, but I didn’t feel vulnerable. I felt powerful. I was powerful, and here before me stood my equal. I could sense the strength inside Nathaniel, more than enough to match my own.

I walked toward him, the Cimice forgotten. His eyes blazed, jewel-bright in the firelight.

“Nathaniel,” I said, and it was like he was in a trance, hypnotized by me.

I reached up, put my arms around his neck, and covered his mouth. As soon as our lips touched the darkness inside me roared up, engulfing Nathaniel and me. Only our lips touched, but we were joined in blood and bone and essence, the magic that pulsed inside us twining together.

Together we could do anything. We could lay waste to Lucifer’s dominion. We could take over the world.

“Maddy!”

J.B.’s voice. Beezle’s voice. Far away. They didn’t matter. All that mattered was Nathaniel and the power inside me that hungered to be used.

“Maddy! You’re burning him!” J.B., more insistent.

I thought about making him disappear. I could do that. He was like a fly buzzing around, annoying me.

Deep inside my consciousness, I could feel Lucifer nodding in approval.

Then I was suddenly shocked by wet and cold, and Nathaniel was pulled away from me.

I wiped my hair out of my eyes. Beezle hovered nearby, holding a bucket still half-full of water. J.B. held Nathaniel under the arms. There was a ring of burned flesh on Nathaniel’s chest that circled up to his neck. Parts of his face were scorched, too, where my mouth had touched him. His lips were blistered.

“Gods above and below. Nathaniel, I am so sorry.”

Every trace of darkness and magic had been smothered by the shock of having water thrown on me. I shivered, abruptly conscious of my nakedness. I tried to cover myself with my hands. J.B. politely averted his eyes.

“Do not worry, Madeline,” Nathaniel said softly, his gaze on mine. “I can be healed.”

“But what if J.B. and Beezle weren’t here?” I asked. “What if I’d burned you to death and you never even realized what was happening?”

My body was covered in goose bumps, but it wasn’t just from the cold. I was feeling the aftereffects of the magic, like shock running through my system. And I was scared. I’d touched the darkness inside me before, but I had never embraced it so thoroughly.

I didn’t ever want to do that again. But now that it had been awakened, it was like the power was a living creature inside me. It hummed just under the surface of my skin, waiting to be called again.

Even worse, I could still feel Lucifer’s approval.

I definitely was not interested in doing anything of which Lucifer would approve.

“Well, it looks like you managed to take care of the Cimice problem,” Beezle said. “In a typically overboard fashion, that is.”

I glanced around the room. You could hardly tell that there had been a network of slimy, dripping eggs a few moments before. All that remained was a few blackened, shriveled fragments. Most of the eggs had disappeared completely, nothing remaining except some flakes of ash on the floor.

J.B. released Nathaniel’s arms. “I’ll go out the back and up to the window of the condo and get your clothes. Stay here.”

He disappeared into the darkness as he passed out of the glow of Nathaniel’s nightfire, which still floated above us.

Beezle floated in the air between Nathaniel and me, a disapproving look on his face.

“Don’t say anything,” I warned.

“I could just dump the rest of this water over your head, since you deserve it,” Beezle said.

“Why didn’t you go with J.B.?” I asked.

“Because I think the two of you need monitoring,” Beezle said.

“It was me that was the problem, not Nathaniel,” I said. “I lost control of my power.”

“I don’t think so,” Beezle said. “I think you knew exactly what you were doing. And you were enjoying it.”

“I didn’t expect it to be like that,” I whispered. “Nathaniel, I’m sorry you got hurt because of me.”

“He was enjoying it, too,” Beezle said.

“Do not presume to know my feelings, gargoyle,” Nathaniel said.

“You may have marginally improved as a person, but deep down you’re still a guy who loves power. That was why you wanted Maddy in the first place, way back when Azazel arranged a marriage between you. Don’t lie to me and tell me that you didn’t feel the call when she looked at you,” Beezle said. “I could see it happen.”

“Madeline may tolerate your interference in her business, but I do not have to,” Nathaniel said.

“Yeah, that’s what I thought,” Beezle said, smirking.

I approached Nathaniel, a little embarrassed. “I should heal you.”

He put his hand on my chin, lifting my eyes to his. “Do not hide from me. You did not mean me harm.”

“But I did it anyway,” I said. Everything inside me was a tangle. “I don’t know who I am anymore.”

“I know who you are,” he said softly. “You are Madeline Black, as you have always been.”

I placed my hands on his neck, his lips, making the blackened, blistered flesh disappear.

I heard the sound of pounding feet, and we turned to see J.B. running down the hall between the storage spaces.

He stopped in front of us and dumped an armload of clothing on the floor. My sword clattered to the ground.

“Get dressed,” he said. “Bendith’s gone.”