Keeper of Crows (Keeper of Crows #1)(47)

I glanced back toward the river, toward the swirl of crows above us, now angrily cawing. “They know you’re here.”

“He’s coming. If you want to see your empire, take my hand,” he said, offering his palm to me.

Gritting my teeth, I glanced over to see Michael running as fast as he could, a blur among the landscape. “Carmen! Don’t trust him!”

I didn’t trust Malchazze, but I couldn’t risk Michael’s fate any more than I already recklessly had. I had to see what he’d done, what he built while crossing the barrier. “I want to see the castle.”

“Carmen, no!” Michael shouted, his face contorting in worry and pain.

As I placed my hand in my father’s, we were spirited away.





21





The gray on my father’s skin fit him. It suited him like the ashy tone was made for him and only him. He was the gloom of this place, I quickly learned. Did he leach all the color away, or was it simply a side effect of being in the presence of evil?

In a split second my feet hit a smooth, stone floor. The room itself was empty, the stones on the wall rougher in texture than those beneath my feet. Aside from a window adorned with white, fluttering curtains that hung the length of the wall, it was as empty as I felt, even standing next to someone else.

Was it a talent of his? Making a person feel more alone in his presence than they would if they were actually by themselves? Despite my roiling thoughts, Father didn’t spare a glance in my direction. The stony expression on his face never faltered, so I was fairly sure he couldn’t hear me. It was called Angel stone; not crosser stone or the stone of the antichrist, so it probably didn’t work on him. He simply didn’t care to listen.

He began walking toward the window. “Are you ready to look upon your subjects?”

“They’re yours, not mine.”

He grinned finally. “They will be yours. I will teach you everything.”

“Why do you need a successor? Are you planning to leave this place?”

“No, I simply decided to give you a tiny slice of power, as is your birthright.”

He moved through the curtains and into the light beyond it. When I touched the sheer fabric, parting it and stepping through, I found myself on a large balcony. It was like the most macabre fairy tale; an evil king ruling a land that wasn’t meant to be ruled, asking his daughter to join him in his insatiable quest for power.

If he’d asked me to learn the pharmaceutical business, that would have been normal; simply a father passing down his knowledge to his only child. Only Father wasn’t a normal father. He was the antichrist, evil incarnate, building an empire. Why he and his city hadn’t already been leveled was something I couldn’t understand.

I stared at him.

Father didn’t look a day over forty-five. His salt-and-pepper hair was cut short. He looked the part of the sophisticated multi-millionaire instead of wearing long, tattered robes or cloaks that would better fit the scene. He smelled like the cologne he always wore on Earth, like exotic spices mixed with the sea, like money. I eased toward the edge, keeping a safe distance between us. He might try to kill me, shove me over the edge where I would plummet to my death.

His sharp eyes watched my movements. “I didn’t bring you here to kill you, Carmen.”

“But you nearly killed me to get me here, so pardon me if I don’t exactly trust you. You’ve lied to me my entire life.”

“Fair enough.” He leaned his elbows on the stones along the edge of the balcony and peered down below him. “I’m sure you understand now that there was no other way for me to get you here. There are rules. Humans can’t pass through, but souls can. I needed you in this form, and Dimitri was able to deliver you to me.”

I followed his eyes and gasped. It was like looking at New York City from the top of the Empire State building. There were buildings everywhere, crumbling and tagged with graffiti. People—souls—walked along the streets. Some lingered in front of doors and alleyways.

He nodded his head to the scene in front of us. “That is the north end.” Pointing behind us, he added, “South end is that way.” Pointing to the left, he instructed, “And that is the west end. Those three are mostly comprised of ordinary souls. To the east is the Red District, more commonly referred to as the Meat Market. I trust that the Keeper told you all about that lovely place?”

I looked east and saw barely-clad women and the men who lingered around looking at them on the streets in broad daylight. There was a large platform filled with trembling souls. I could see their shapes distort even from this distance. The souls were terrified, and the horror of that place radiated everywhere else. It seemed like the Meat Market was expanding, encroaching to the south as well. Business was booming. The thought of my mother in the thick of it all sickened me.

“Did you send Gus and Chester after me?”

“I didn’t send them there for you, though I did grant them the power to cross over and gather a soul. The fact that you intervened was purely a convenient coincidence. They felt the fissure, crossed, and found the other soul. You got involved when you shouldn’t have. Not that it would have mattered. I would have soon dispatched someone to get you anyway.”

“You would have had to wait for a fissure.”

“The one of whom I speak has no need of a fissure.”