The Council (Darkness #5)(37)

“Um.” I didn’t know what else to say. The thing didn’t have a doorknob.

“Push?” Charles stepped forward and placed his palm in the middle of the door. His fingers turned white and his muscles flexed. “Nope.”

“They’re coming!” Dave yelled again.

“More bugs?” I asked in confusion as I tried to peer through a wall of muscle down the hallway.

“No. White-faced males. The Guards. They didn’t like that spell by the look of it. Don’t blame them—hurts like the bejesus.” Charles chuckled. “I’ll take care of this right quick.”

“Let my men handle it,” Tim spoke up quickly. “We don’t know what’s beyond this door.”

“Hopefully an old man with a clue.” Charles stepped back beside me.

“Tim’s right,” I agreed. “Let his people handle it.”

Jonas nodded in approval as I laid my hand on that smooth, cool marble. Tingles entered my palm and tickled up my arm, spicy and light. Some sort of spell.

“So… invite only, then. Hmm.” I closed my eyes and focused on that feeling. That intricate, lacy hum of a delicate mix of elements. Weaves so tight, so complex, I was in awe at the same time as frustrated.

“Blow it up, human.” Jonas stepped back.

“I doubt I can blow through this door.” I shook my head in frustration, my mind drifting back to Stefan. A pang pierced my heart, forcing moisture to my eyes. I took a deep breath, focusing. Trying to let my intuition guide me. Trying to find a way through or around that spell.

A dull thunk permeated the hall.

“Did you just stomp your foot like a housewife?” Charles asked in exasperation. “What, do you think the door is afraid of getting spanked with a spatula?”

“What are you even talking about?” I yelled at him, sounds of battle drifting up the hall. A snarl rent the air, someone having turned into a wolf.

“There goes the neighborhood,” I muttered, my breath getting shallow as I stared at a very real roadblock. If I couldn’t get through, then what? I didn’t have another plan.

Panic crept up, threatening to take over.

“No!” I yelled. I had to find a way through. I had to.

I stepped back. And back again. Staring at that door. Then the walls.

The walls.

Three quick steps had my palm flat to the wall next to the door. Wood. Plain, ordinary, non-magical wood. Well, it had some sort of magic protecting it from demons or other creatures. The protective spell was something that ran through the whole complex, though—and judging by the hollow, wispy quality, there wasn’t much juice in it. This wispy quality meant that an angry plant could push on through without any sort of hassle.

Or… I could just blow it up, like Jonas said. Ingenious in his violence, that guy. Very helpful.

“Okay. Everyone stand back!”

The rest of my crew, quiet now that the threat from earlier was gone, and also, three people were animals, backed away. I stared at the wall, pale yellow and slightly stained. I honed in on a black smudge. Fire welled up, mixed with air and only small amounts of the other elements.

With a huge push, I rammed the spell at the wall and infused another blast of fire. Right as the spell was soaking in, and one second before detonation, I went to throw up a shield.

I didn’t make it in time.

Jonas’ body crashed into me, taking me to the floor right before the wall exploded. Splinters of wood and debris fired into the hall. His big body covered mine, blocking any sort of shrapnel.

“Shields don’t block physical things, human,” he growled as Charles pulled him off me.

I groaned. Rookie mistake.

Tim and John filed into the room before me. Charles and Jonas went after me, having to bend through the human-sized hole. The rest of the shifters were wolves and split up, each guarding the entrance but from different sides.

Cato sat at a mahogany desk, a pen in one hand and a piece of paper in front of him. His eyebrows gently lifted as I stalked into the room and faced him. The others fanned out around me.

“Well, hello.” He laid down his pen, entwined his fingers, and stared at me.

In a stern, authoritative voice, I said, “Stefan was taken by Andris. Rudy tried to force a blood link on me. I’m not sure if the two are connected, but I do know Rudy knows something, and I need to know what. Also, your guards must know something, too, unless they went deaf at opportune times.”

“I see.” Cato reflected a moment, his faded blue eyes honed in on me, but not exactly focused.

I shifted uncomfortably as he said, “It does me good to see a human own her place within our world. That used to be the way of it, you know. Humans and our kind paired quite often. We were stronger that way. Two opposite halves of magic merging together created a tight bond. I had wondered when I would see it again.”

“Awesome, great. Toa told me all of that. Focus, please Cato. I need to find out where Andris’ hiding place is. Where are the guards?” I couldn’t help raising my voice. The guy could drive a saint insane.

Or maybe he had in the past.

“The guards are dead, of course.”

Growls ripped through the room. Three wolf bodies braced on our side of the hole, staring outward. Someone must’ve been coming. Cato waved his hand. The huge marble door popped. It silently swung inward an inch, making another hole into the room.