Page 16 of Cathmoir’s Sons (Bad Boys of Bevington #5)

Chapter 16

Kill It With Fire

LUCA

K ellan grunts again. “Sit with your brother. You’re still in the doghouse.”

The chaise shifts as Law’s weight lands on the end.

“I can feel you so clearly,” Law whispers to me. “Clearer than I ever have before, even in our fur.”

I nod while teasing the Ace of Spades up off the table and into the Air again.

“We’re working on Plane-Walking,” I say between breaths. “Don’t fuck this up for me.”

“I won’t,” Law promises. “I’ll just guard you.”

When I reach fifty inhales and my mental grip on the cards is rock solid, I open my eyes.

“Spades are Earth and the planes nearest. Diamonds are the Aetherial. Hearts are deeper, I don’t know how else to explain it.”

Kellan nods. “Very good, Luca. I associate Diamonds with Empyrean planes and Hearts with Faery.”

“Clubs?” I ask.

“Hell,” Kellan says.

I pull the Two of Clubs and hold it up in the Air between us. “The Dransbych.”

“Yes,” Kellan says, her eyes glinting. “I know where you’re going with this. Really? On your first Plane-Walk?”

“Why start small?” I ask.

She shrugs. “Don’t let me stop you. Go for the high bar, prodigy.”

My chest puffs at the idea she thinks I’m a prodigy. I pull the Three of Clubs. “Dis.”

“Mmm, you’d think so. Your intuition that the higher the number the further away the plane is from ours is exactly right, but it’s a correlation not an equivalence. With Hell, it’s more areas of Hell than successive layers. The Three of Clubs will land you somewhere in the Court of Mirrors. I don’t recommend that. The Lady of Bile is decidedly unfriendly to surprise guests. I think the card you want is the Nine. That puts me close to Ash Hill when I pull it. I have to warn you that I don’t know if Jou is home right now and his siblings can be as unwelcoming as the Lady of Bile.”

“It’s really Tsara Faa I want to meet,” I say.

“She’s usually home,” Kellan allows. “Sure you don’t want to go a little easier for your first Walk? The Eight of Clubs usually takes me to the Soulfields. Uzal is the Keeper of Souls and he’s never been anything but nice to me.”

I shake my head. “I want to meet Tsara Faa.”

“Okay,” Kellan agrees. “Find the Nine and put it on the top of the stack. We need to hold hands, otherwise when you reach into the card, we’re going to lose you.”

I shift on the chaise so I can reach across the table to her. Law takes my other hand. Kellan huffs when Law holds his free hand out to her but takes it.

“Count your breaths again,” Kellan instructs. “With each breath, push your will into the card. Same as when you push your way through the Veil into Faery. I usually go on ten but you can go whenever it feels right. You can close your eyes if you want, but sometimes the face of the card will start reflecting the target plane and that can help you reach it. Up to you.”

I nod and start the breathing exercise again as I pull the Nine and slip it to the top of the stack. Law breathes with me. Fire tingles through our hands. A midnight breeze swirls Law’s Fire into a cyclone of embers and sparks circling the three of us. That’s Kellan. Her magic is both as familiar to me as my own skin and completely alien.

If I’d never met her before, the touch of her magic would have told me she’s my fated mate. But it carries all the Otherness of the Court of Cold Mist as well. I understand more than ever what Caileán means when she says she’s always herself, she just remembers less when she’s unawakened. Kellan’s never been anything other than the fifth Crow Queen. She just isn’t always aware of it.

With the three of us connected, our power gathering like a thunderstorm, it’s effortless to push my will into the card. The card’s face ripples and stretches. It mounds into a hill. The black ink runs and pools as a branching tower pushes up and up from the top of the hill. Lightning crackles and snaps out of the tower, singing the edges of the card.

“Excellent, Luca,” Kellan breathes.

I realize what she means about pushing into the card when I try to rip my way into Hell the same way I would into Faery. The card slips away from my mental hold and flutters to the table.

“Damn.”

“Try again,” Kellan says. “ Ease your way into the plane. You don’t have to force your way in. Hell wants mortal souls. You should feel it welcome you.”

I scoop the card off the table with my mental fingers and flick it up to float between us. The face is still bubbled into the landscape of Hell. When I push my will into it, the card’s black and white begins to shade into deep purples and midnight blues.

“That’s right. Extend your will until you feel it catch. Then let Hell pull you in.”

I follow her instructions, applying my will steadily but not shoving or tearing. I think of the times I’ve felt Rho’s power wash over me like the tide. An inexorable rush.

Hell catches me like a hand grabbing my shoulder. I spin in freefall for a moment, then Hell sucks me down.

I’m still staring at the warped card and Kellan’s face beyond it when everything around us changes from the dark opulence of the casino to a burning field and the gray stone tower rising behind her shoulder. A gut-tumbling sense of seasickness shakes me. Law’s hand jerks in mine. Then the nausea eases. Kellan squeezes my hand.

“How are you doing?” she asks.

“Queasy for a moment but it’s passing.”

“You’re doing great. That was a big jump. If you’d gone to the Dransbych or even closer parts of Olt, you’d barely notice the nausea. Your experience walking the Fae Ways is definitely helping you, too. Most first-time Plane-Walkers are crippled for hours after the transition.”

Law jerks his hand free, turns away and vomits onto the burning ground. He staggers a step away, wiping his mouth and clutching his stomach. “This place is poison.”

Kellan nods. “A good reminder. Law’s Element is closer to the Earth than ours. He’s more affected by the unearthly magic of Hell. We’re affected, too, though, and the longer we stay here, the more affected we’ll be. Extended Plane-Walking in Hell is not recommended.”

She uncoils herself from lotus-position. We’re both hovering a few feet off the ground. I copy her warily, pocketing the cards just in case we need them later. The ground looks like a lava- field. But Kellan’s feet aren’t burning, so I trust mine won’t either.

The ground is rough and crumbling against my soles, warm but not burning.

“Illusion?” I ask Kellan, tipping my head at the flare of fire she’s stepping on.

“No, it’s real enough. It’s just not affecting our corporal forms yet. Our bodies are still sitting in Pandora’s Box. Our spirits are projected here. We don’t want our bodies pulled into Dis, believe me. There are lots and lots of things here that could kill us. Be careful what you touch. The more you interact with another plane, the more your body is pulled into it. If the ground starts feeling hot, it’s time to leave.”

Not before I meet Tsara Faa. I nod at the tower. It looks like a ten or fifteen-minute walk up the steep hill the tower sits on.

“We could fly,” I suggest.

Law groans.

Kellan shakes her head. “There are very unfriendly things in Hell’s skies.”

We begin trudging toward the tower. It’s not like walking on Earth. I feel both lighter and heavier, unbalanced. My center of gravity shifts with every step. Kellan offers me her hand and I take it, hoping that the flow of energy between us will help the disorientation pass. When it does, I extend my other hand to Law, who is still looking green. He shifts around behind me to Kellan’s other side and holds out his hand.

Kellan sniffs. “I don’t remember inviting you along.”

“I don’t remember you inviting me along, either,” Law grumbles. “But here I am. Protecting you as you run off somewhere dangerous. Again.”

Kellan sighs and takes his hand. “I still don’t like needing your protection.”

“If all you’ll accept from your mate right now is protection, at least that’s something.”

“Reality check, Law. I let you sleep with me last night. After you made a big scene in the middle of Carrie’s memorial.” Kellan huffs. “And a word of warning: Jou is touchy-feely. If he hugs me and you lose your shit, this could very well be your first and last visit to Hell.”

Law huffs.

I swallow a chuckle. Bickering is their love language.

While they snark at each other, I take in the hellscape. I haven’t been to Hell before, at least not in a literal sense. It’s as advertised by Mom’s church-going friends. Lots of fire. Sulphur and brimstone fill my nose. It’s barren, which I didn’t expect, although I’m not sure what the flora of Hell might be. The landscape is tortured, charred, cracked, and twisted. It’s hard to see any distance, even as we start to climb the hill. We should get a vantage over the plain behind us, but we don’t.

I only notice the change in the heavy stink because my stomach starts to roll again. I tug on Kellan’s hand. Our little train comes to a stop while I lift my head and try to scent. On Kellan’s far side, Law lifts his head and draws a deep breath into his lungs. He coughs.

“Disgusting. Smells like someone’s burning tires.”

“That’s not good,” Kellan’s voice drops to a whisper. “They haven’t been able to sense me before.”

“ They ?” Law and I say at the same time.

“Flaming spiders,” Kellan whispers.

Shit.

I glance at Law. He has the same thought. We both shake into our fur.

“No, no,” Kellan whispers frantically, grabbing a handful of the loose skin on the back of my neck. “Remember what I said. The more you interact with this plane, the more your corporal form is pulled into it. You can’t engage Flaming Spiders with teeth and claws. Benighted Mother, get behind me. Whatever you do, do not cross my line of sight.”

Disgruntled, I shift back into my skin and pull my discarded clothes back on. Kellan steals forward, creeping around a smoking spiral of black stone. Law follows her, holding on to the back of her jacket like a leash he’s going to use to pull her to safety. He’ll be lucky if she doesn’t slap him for that. I follow two steps behind, out of slapping range.

Kellan blows out a soft breath to clear the smoke from the path ahead of us.

Perched on a hillock just above the path are three things straight out of Tolkien’s worst nightmare. What was the name of the giant spider that ate the hobbit? I’ve forgotten. But I doubt I’ll ever forget these three things: massive, black, hairy, and on fire to boot.

Law growls, claws digging into Kellan’s jacket. She shakes him off impatiently and opens her mouth.

I feel more than hear what rolls out of her. Screams are supposed to be high-pitched but this isn’t. It’s a deep boom followed by a roar that rises quickly out of even my range of hearing. It ripples through the air of Hell in a burst of white vapor.

It hits the spider in the middle straight on. The spider explodes in a gush of black ichor and viscera that spatters across the hillside, coating the rocks in burning blood. The two other spiders stagger back from the blast. They reel around as though they’ve forgotten how to coordinate their eight legs. One after another, they collapse, blood and goo leaking out of their joints and ruptured eyes.

“Great Mother,” Law says.

Kellan crosses her arms over her chest as she surveys the destruction.

“Nifty,” says a deep voice behind me.

I whirl to find a man with a huge rack of horns crowning his crimson dreadlocks and burning blue eyes striding up the path toward us. His black tail whips behind him. He’s bare-chested, with wings as red as his dreadlocks folded against his shoulders and back. Well-worn, black leather pants and boots should make him less imposing, but they don’t.

“Jou,” Kellan says, her voice warm and relieved. She pushes between me and Law and meets the demon half-way. He opens his arms to hug her but at a furious snarl from Law, drops his arms to his sides.

Kellan shoots an absolutely filthy glare over her shoulder at Law.

The demon leans forward and offers his cheek to Kellan. She kisses it chastely.

“Mate?” The demon asks Kellan.

“Evidently,” she responds. “Sorry I didn’t send word we were coming via Gabe.”

The demon waves his hand. “You’re always welcome at Ash Hill. Wish you and Feather and Teddy would make your visits permanent. More I see of the way your world’s turning, the less I like the three of you and your babies in it. You should be here with us. Work on Teddy for me, eh? I hear the Holly King’s trying to get her to foster the twins at Ivywhile. They should foster here, with their kin, if they’re going to foster anywhere.”

Kellan holds up her hands. “I’ll put in a good word for you, but you know Teddy makes up her own mind about, well, everything.”

“Ridiculously stubborn mortal,” Jou grumbles. “My nephew did alright in the mate lottery, didn’t he?”

Kellan grins. “He did. Speaking of mates, any chance yours is here?” She hooks her thumb over her shoulder. “Luca would like to meet her.”

“Sure.” The demon’s neon blue eyes track over Kellan’s shoulder to me. “Not trying to be unsociable, but why d’you want to meet my mate?”

I walk up behind Kellan and take her hand. “I’ve heard that Tsara bound the Wild Hunt in her bones.”

The demon nods, horns bobbing. “She did. You smell of death, ink, and ozone, Cat. What’s a linguamancer want with my wife?”

“My magic’s antithetical to my father’s. I can barely stand to be in the same room with him. I want to know what Tsara did to bind the Hunt in her bones because I think it might be the key to enduring Dad’s power.” I flick my eyes to my twin. “And Law’s when he takes over.”

Kellan glances at me, her eyes soft and sympathetic. She squeezes my fingers.

Law comes up beside me and rubs his shoulder against mine. “My power’ll never hurt you, Lu.”

He’s told me that many times. I’m sure he believes it. But he doesn’t nearly crawl out of his skin every time Dad enters the room. He doesn’t understand how it feels.

“Best reason I’ve heard,” the demon says. “C’mon up to the house.”

We follow him up the path. He flicks his claws at the spider remains apologetically. “Fucking things are gettin’ bold. New trick for you, Goldipaws? Don’t remember you bein’ able to blast shit at range.”

As Law grumbles at the demon having a nickname for our mate, Kellan nods. “It broke a ward at Jedburgh Abbey. I’m going to need to find somewhere where I can’t knock down people or houses and find out how far it goes.”

“Pretty sure I can help you with that,” the demon offers. “If you take out a few Flaming Spiders or lurkers in the ditch.” He hooks a thumb over his shoulder. We all turn to follow his gesture. At the base of the hill, hidden by the twisted landscape, there’s a deep, black crack in the ground. A hiss of steam rises from the chasm; places I don’t want to go. “That would be too bad.”

“I’ll see what I can do,” Kellan says as we begin trooping up the hill again. “How is everyone? I haven’t had a moment to catch up since Jedburgh Abbey.”

The demon nods. “All good. Nev’s got a new clutch.” He flashes a fanged grin over his shoulder. “Think I found a girl for Uzal.”

“A girl?” Kellan asks.

“Well,” the demon allows. “She’s got girl parts. I think. Haven’t inspected them myself. She seems like a girl. I’ll let Uzal find out for sure.”

Kellan laughs. “And does she like Uzal?”

The demon tips his head from side to side in a swish of horns and dreadlocks. “Like’s a relative term, ain’t it? She’s only tried to kill him once. Maybe twice.”

“True love,” I murmur.

Kellan chuckles and squeezes my hand. “Soul mates for sure. Where did you find this girl?”

“She climbed outta the scrying pool in Tsara’s garden. Bit of a surprise. We all assumed the pool was one way. Claims she doesn’t have any memories before finding herself in the water. Says her name’s Despair. She has wings like mine, only white.” The demon flares said wings, creating a cloud of sparks and embers. “They burn like acid.”

“Acid?” Kellan asks. “That’s?—”

“Yeah, I know,” the demon responds. “Only the Eshazi have acid wings. Everyone thought Azhyyr was the last one. Looks like he might not be the only Air demon still kickin’ around. I only mention it ‘cause I know you’re an Air-witch and I can smell the Air on your boy there. She might come sniffin’. You don’t want her to feed on your magic. I think she’d find it real tasty.”

Kellan shudders. “Forewarned is forearmed.”

“Yeah,” the demon agrees.

The path levels out and winds around the top of the hill toward a door in the looming tower. As we approach the tower, what I thought were gray stones waver and shimmer. In my peripheral vision, they’re translucent, insubstantial.

“Illusion?” I ask Kellan.

She shakes her head. “Ash Hill’s a special place. Jou built it stone by stone. Then his wife wore away all the stones with her magic and replaced them with Air.”

“It’s a tower of Air-magic?”

“Uh-huh. See why it might attract an Air demon?”

I nod.