Abnormals underground 01.., p.23
abnormals underground 01 - one to five, page 23
“We got it,” I said, glancing at Xavier. He nodded. “We'll do whatever task you have for us later as long as you let us talk to Allunna.”
“Finding deceased demons is not easy,” Mack said. “They go to the Infernal Dimension when they die. It's a bit dangerous to open up any window to that place, even one that the dead only speak through.”
“You mean Allunna is alive in the Infernal Dimension?” I asked.
“No,” Mack said. “Her soul is there along with billions of others. Both demons' souls and the souls of the wicked go there after they die. Oh, and Shadow Wraiths inhabit the place, too. It's a realm of evil and sadness. Like attracts like in the supernatural world. I've even glimpsed some very famous evil Normals when I've tried to peek into the Infernal Dimension.”
I really didn't want him to elaborate on that. “I think we get the picture,” I said.
“Normally, I would ask you for something that belonged to Allunna, but since I've met her before, I can envision her strongly enough to form a bond,” Mack said. It sounded so strange, hearing this come from a junkyard owner. “What we will need to do is sit in a circle around the black mirror...”
* * * * *
Mack took a full half hour to prepare for the rite. His magic was different than any magic I'd seen before. Dark Mages had that flashy magic like Marissa had, but necromancy was a learned art according to Mack. First, he had to go shower (to clean any residual energies off him) and then he had to vacuum the little living room, which was covered in straw wrappers, cigarette packs and bread crumbs (again, to clean away any energies.) Finally, he set a circle of black candles around us and lit each of them, one by one. He muttered low words the entire time, words I couldn't understand from some ancient language. I eyed Xavier for answers, but he shrugged. There must be different magical languages. Even he didn't know what kind of magic we were in for.
Mack looked a lot more imposing in his black cloak. It made the room feel more magical. It thrummed with a nervous energy and Xavier and I sat down next to the black mirror. Mack got in the middle of us, ran his hands down either side of the mirror, and muttered more old words.
The tingling energy in the room got stronger...stronger. Mack stroked the mirror again and again, focusing all his attention on it. It looked like the round entrance to a void. I blinked when I thought I could see little sparks flying around inside, but they were gone in a flash.
“Focus,” Mack said in a low voice. “Do not look away from the mirror.”
He jarred me for a second as he continued to mutter. I felt to make sure my sword was still there on the floor next to me in case things went south. The air in the room got thicker and thicker and made my skin tingle, but not in the good way that Xavier did.
And at last, the black mirror seemed to take on a life of its own.
At first it was still black, but somehow more present than it had been before and filled with a strange electricity. Mack continued to mutter, not breaking his focus.
And then, it all changed. I had to keep myself from jumping and breaking own.
We were now staring into the Infernal Dimension, looking through a window and into another world.
A sea of lava seethed in the distance between plains of reddish rocks. A tall mountain rose from the other side of the sea, filled with black spaces that might be caves or giant windows. It was pointed, jagged, like lava that had just dried there and started to fracture. Our view drew closer...closer to the lava until our vision was right on top of it. We were almost at the base of the castle-mountain now.
“Allunna,” Mack called. “Allunna. Are you there?”
There was nothing but rolling brimstone at first. I could almost feel the heat of the lava blasting against my face.
“Allunna!” Mack roared. “Follow my commands and speak with me.”
And at last, a form rose from the lava.
At first it looked like it was part of the lava itself, taking the form of a person, but at last, a fiery wraith stood there, bottom half in the lava. It had Allunna's dark eyes and her shape, including the hint of her scales on her neck.
This was what happened to souls who went to the Infernal Dimension. I had to make a mental note to never go there.
“Why are you disturbing me, Mack?” she asked. “I take it we're still friends?”
“We were never friends,” Mack said. “Just acquaintances.”
The succubus turned fire wraith pretended to pick at her infernal fingernails. “So, just checking in? That's what friends do, after all. I'm afraid I can no longer offer my services in my present state. Unless, of course, you can resurrect me.”
I tensed. This wasn't going to be good.
“Only the Dark Council is thought to have that power,” Mack said. “Speaking of them, where do they meet? I just may want to resurrect you, Allunna.”
Allunna had no idea Xavier and I were here. “If you do that,” she said, “Then Leon comes back, too. We are still bound. He's in here with me.”
Even from the other side of Mack, I could feel Xavier tensing. The adrenaline smell mixed in with the candle smoke and the melting wax.
“Is that something you want?” Mack asked.
And then Allunna took her attention off her fiery nails and glared right at Xavier, then me. “Well? Is it? Do you really want your grandfather back after he tried to murder the two of you? I wouldn't. I take it you two are looking for the Council. Thoreau is a member. I am willing to divulge their meeting place if you make me one promise.”
So she knew. “Which is?” I asked.
I was shocked she hadn't tried to reach out if the mirror and destroy us yet. “You resurrect me once you reach the Dark Council. They have the means there. I know Thoreau was trying to cheat me. If I live again, I can force him to break the bond between me and Leon like he promised.”
“We can't do that,” Xavier said to me. “She'll try to kill us. She's only for herself and Leon will come back.”
“I want revenge on Thoreau,” Allunna said. “He made no motion to save me as you claimed me with your war magic. He has made no effort to pull me out of this fiery lake and breathe life into me again. I know that he and the Council can.”
I wondered if we could trick her. She couldn't do anything to us in the Infernal Dimension, right? That might be different if Xavier and I ever got there, but right now things were fine, right?
“Well? What is your answer? Or are you too afraid to make a deal with a demon?”
“A dead demon,” Xavier said.
“Deal, or no answer,” Allunna continued. She messed with her fingernails again, waiting.
Mack backed away to allow me and Xavier to face each other. It was just us and the mirror now.
“I didn't think this would be so dangerous,” Xavier said. “If she comes back, so does Leon.”
“I don't like this,” I said at the same time. What she wanted was probably a lot scarier than whatever Mack would want. But we had to go with it. She'd been very close to Thoreau in the past and knew where this Dark Council met. It was the only chance we had to save the Underground.
I leaned close to Xavier. “We can lie,” I whispered. “We can tell her we're going to do it, and then when it comes time to resurrect her we can always just forget.”
“I don't know,” Xavier said. “She's probably thought of that possibility. Making deals with demons is always a really, really bad choice.”
“It's the only one we have,” I said. “Thoreau torches hundreds or thousands of people in a week if we don't.”
Xavier sighed. “Okay. We agree.”
I scooted up to the mirror and crouched down.
“Allunna,” I said.
She glared up at me with those coal eyes. Even in death she hadn't lost those. “Your decision?”
“We'll work with you,” I said.
She smiled, revealing a row of flaming teeth that were even sharper than mine (even though I hadn't had the chance to file them down in days.) I wanted to back away from the mirror, but before I could, she reached towards me.
Mack shouted “Whoa!” as her fiery hand came out of the mirror and seized my left arm.
“Excellent,” she said, tightening her grip.
I tried to yank my arm away. The heat was there and it was scary. Fire was of the few things that was supposed to kill me...but it took me a few seconds to realize it wasn't actually burning. The heat was there but there was no searing pain.
“The Dark Council meets underneath Gobekli Tepe,” she explained. “They are ruins far more ancient than civilization itself. It is where Thoreau and his comrades keep the greatest magical secrets of the Abnormal world. The library there is beyond value...if you can survive getting in.”
“Where the heck is that?” I asked. I had never heard of such a place.
But Allunna didn't answer me. Xavier screamed at her to let me go and pulled at my arm, but I held up a hand and he stopped.
“The ruins are where Normals used to come from all around to worship the most powerful beings in the world,” Allunna continued. “The Dark Council number five and all have survived to the present day. Every hundred years, they meet. The next meeting will be in three days. Why do you want to go there?”
I said nothing. It was best to give her no information.
“Anyway,” Allunna said, keeping her grip on my arm tight. “On the slim chance that you survive, once you do whatever you need to, you will resurrect me. Use the ancient library to find the correct rite.”
“We...we will,” I said, knowing that we'd be in for a fight. We had killed Allunna, after all. Her hand was close to the victory mark on my arm and I was sure she could see it.
“There is one more thing,” she said before letting go. “If you do not follow your end of the bargain, you and Xavier will die, consumed by flames from within. Well, the flames will kill Xavier, not you, but when he dies, you die. I wish you luck.”
Chapter Seven
She let go and sank all the way back into the lava on the other side.
I yanked my arm back and cradled it. It wasn't painful, just hot. Heat remained and my left wrist felt like a hot pan out of the oven, but when I turned it over again and again, the skin was all intact and pale as ever.
Except for one thing.
An orange, sparkling lightning bolt.
“Alyssa!” Xavier took my hand. “Are you okay? How bad are you burned? I tried to pull you away but I couldn't.”
“I'm not burned at all,” I said, aware that the black mirror was returning to its normal form. It zoomed out from the lava lake, leaving it a distant speck in a sea of red and orange, and then faded to darkness.
“Allunna is a Fire Wraith now,” Xavier said. “They always burn you when they touch you. You should have at least second degree burns.”
“But I don't.”
Xavier let go of my arm. “It must be whatever Thoreau did to you,” he said. “Alyssa—I think you might be fireproof.”
“That's impossible,” Mack said. “No vampire is fireproof.”
“But Alyssa is,” Xavier said. “Didn't you just see that?”
“I did,” Mack said. Then he stood up in his flowing black robe and eyed me. “Are you sure you know what you are?”
I shook my head. I wasn't going to bring up one bit of this Dark Pentagram stuff in front of him. That was probably another secret only known by the Dark Council.
“So we get to journey to the old stomping grounds of this Council,” I said, changing the subject. “What is this Gobekli Tepe place, anyway?”
Mack shook his head. “I don't know much about archaeology, to tell you the truth. You might have to hit Google to find that out and I don't have a computer.”
“We'll do that right now,” Xavier said, facing me. “I think there's still enough night left. Come on. Finding a computer won't be that hard.”
* * * * *
Finding a computer was hard.
It was eleven at night by now and nothing was open except for some twenty-four hour cafes. I had the feeling they wouldn't let us walk in and use the manager's computer to look up old ruins. We didn't have laptops or tablets to use anybody's free WiFi anyway. The Cumberland Public Library was way beyond closed and stickers on the windows announced that alarms would sound if anyone tried to break in.
We stood on the massive stone steps of the dark building. Waiting until daylight would be disaster here.
“Can we Transpose in?” I asked.
“We sure can,” Xavier said. “Not in front of traffic, though. I'm not sure it's going to work smoothly. I've never been in the library here and I have to envision the place we're Transposing to. I have a pretty big one at home.”
“I saw.”
“Look, it's not my fault my family are hoarders.”
We walked around to a dark alley and then Xavier stood there, extending his arms to me. “Transposing hug,” he said as we embraced.
It didn't last long enough. The magenta light flashed around us and we were falling together, the wind screaming against us, and then we landed in darkness. Xavier held me tight like he was sure he was going to lose me and he wouldn't let me go for the first couple of seconds. His heart raced against my chest and he felt strong, like stone, but then I detected that he was shaking.
“Xavier,” I said. “I'm here. I'm fine.”
“Oh,” he said, blinking and letting me go.
I was kind of disappointed. Something was up with him but I didn't have time to ask about it now. We needed to find where this whatever Tepe place was and we had to do it now.
“Xavier? Are you okay?” I asked.
“I'm fine,” he snapped.
“Geez, you don't have to be rude,” I said.
“I just have a lot going through my head right now,” he said with a sigh. “I'm sorry. I promised to stop being so crappy to you.”
“You're not crappy to me. Well, most of the time. You've gotten better with the harassment, at least.”
“It hasn't been easy. You're still pretty hot, especially with those pink pigtails.” He flashed me a legit smile. Whatever had come over him seemed to be gone. He sure had some mood swings.
“And you were really hot with that longish hair,” I said. “It had better grow back soon.” I took off his leather hat and rubbed my hand through his now-short hair. It was almost feathery, like a bird. I wanted to do it again but if we got caught up in flirting and teasing each other we'd never get any work done.
“It will,” Xavier said, flushing pink. “It was Janine's idea to cut it.”
“Well, I'll have to take it up with her and get rid of the pink pigtails. Thoreau knows I have this color now.” I turned to face the library. Cumberland's public library was one of those old ones with multiple levels and long ladders. A pair of stone gargoyles stood at the top of the staircase, one on either side. Inviting. Shelves of books towered over us and the paper scent overtook even Xavier's wood smoke one. I tapped my fake cane on the floor, beckoning Xavier to hurry.
The library had some computers on the ground floor. Xavier and I shared one, turning it on and waiting for it to boot up. It was a good thing the library's servers were still up, or our search would have ended right there. It took a few minutes but we pulled up the Internet and Googled the ruins. I had to spell it out a few times since I couldn't remember the name, let alone how to pronounce it.
An image of some circular ruins popped up on the screen. A ring of stones and pillars was partially dug out of the ground in some desert-type area. I caught images of animals carved into the pillars and benches. The ruins were old, all right.
“Twelve thousand years old?” Xavier asked. “Weren't people still living in caves back then?”
“I thought so,” I said.
Allunna had been right that the place was very ancient, even more so than the pyramids of Egypt. This temple had been around thousands of years before that. I could imagine people coming around to worship the scariest Abnormals back when the place wasn't buried. If I were an ancient Dark Council, I'd want to meet underneath there. It probably held a lot of memories and nostalgia for them.
“It's in Turkey,” I said. “How are we going to get there?”
“Plane tickets?” Xavier asked.
“I shouldn't fly,” I said. “A flight that far would probably expose me to the sun no matter what time we left. And expose me, if I survived it.”
“You're right,” Xavier said. “A flight like that would take about twelve hours at least. We'll need to find another way. There are magical ways to travel but I can't Transpose that far. No War Mage can. Trying would literally kill me.”
“What magical ways?” I asked. I marked down the coordinates of the ruins. “Do we have to visit any more creepy relatives of Elsina's?”
“No. It's much worse. We either have to appeal to the Elder War Mages, who can send us that far with a combined effort, or we have to use a demon's portal.”
“And I'm willing to bet the Elders won't want to send a couple of kids after the Dark Council,” I said.
“And I'm willing to bet you're right,” Xavier said, getting up and pushing in his chair. “They might not know that I'm responsible for Leon and if they found out we made a deal with a demon it'll be even worse for us. Even if we tell them we'll have to resurrect Leon they won't cooperate. Heck, none of them really liked him. We really have nothing in our favor.”
I thought about it. “We don't know how to use demon portals. We might have to risk flying after all. Or can any group of War Mages Transpose someone that far?”
“Well, any group can probably do it, but it's illegal unless it's done by the Elders. It's also very difficult.”
“You guys sure have a lot of rules.” I got up and eyed the staircase and shut the computer down. The light vanished and my sharp gray vision snapped into focus.
“Xavier, get down!”
I shoved him to the floor just as a very living gargoyle swooped in silence and nearly seized him with its long, razor-sharp claws.
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