Gameboard of the Gods

CHAPTER 34 NO ONE EVER EXPECTS THE KNIFE

“Have you heard anything?” Justin asked.

“No,” growled Dominic from the front seat. “Just like I hadn’t thirty seconds ago.”

Justin could forgive the gruff attitude for once because he knew Dominic was just as agitated as he was about the sudden silence. Leo had sent messages every few minutes until recently. Now, ten minutes had gone past without communication. Concerned, Dominic had queried Leo a couple minutes ago but heard nothing.

“They probably found something and got distracted,” said Justin. He was trying to reassure himself more than Dominic. As it was, Justin was fighting every instinct to go inside after them. “Leo’s too smart to set off an alarm. And Mae’s a prætorian for fuck’s sake. They’re fine.”

“You put a lot of faith in prætorians,” remarked Dominic.

“Of course I do. They’re lethal—I mean, aside from when they’re drinking heavily and acting ridiculous.”

“It’s how they cope,” Dominic said. “You have to if you’re going to survive that kind of lifestyle. They flip back and forth, but it’s always extreme—even if they’re off duty. They play hard, fuck hard, and fight hard and can switch into that ‘on’ mode in the space of a heartbeat. You ever seen Mae switch on?”

“Of course.”

“With a few rowdy zealots? That’s nothing. You see her now, with that pretty face and all those manners, and you think, ‘Oh, she’s a castal who happens to be a prætorian.’ But the truth is, she’s a prætorian first who happens to be a castal. When she switches on, when she’s really in that moment…she’ll be something else. Something whose purpose is to fight and kill with single-minded focus. And it’s not just the implant and the training. They don’t just choose prætorians on physical ability. There’s a psychological profile they screen for too, one that works very well with being pumped full of all those chemicals—and don’t think those don’t eventually take their toll.”

“You don’t like prætorians,” said Justin, knowing what an understatement that was.

“I don’t trust them,” he corrected. “They’re dangerous to others. They’re dangerous to themselves.”

Justin said nothing more, not wanting to provoke his paranoid companion. It was true that Mae was scary sometimes, but Justin had faith in her. He wasn’t sure if he had faith in the alleged charm he’d given her, though. The ravens had spent the last two days trying to teach him a symbol they claimed was one of their god’s greatest mysteries. They called the symbol algiz and had been drilling its meaning into his head over and over. The problem was, they kept giving it all sorts of definitions. Initially, it had represented protection, which Justin thought was a reasonable concept to send a warrior into battle with. But then the ravens kept elaborating. It was an elk, a yew tree, life. When he showed them that he’d memorized everything, they condescendingly said he didn’t truly know it, that it took a lifetime to understand. They did finally decide, however, that he had enough of a grasp to perform a rudimentary protection blessing on Mae. Whether it would do anything remained to be seen.

Do you feel that? Horatio suddenly asked, snapping Justin out of his thoughts.

Feel what—

Justin could feel something, just the slightest prickling along his skin. He would’ve ignored it if the raven hadn’t pointed it out. It was the same sensation he occasionally got around strong practitioners.

Where’s it coming from? he asked.

Where do you think? asked Magnus. Dominic certainly hasn’t found religion.

Justin didn’t wait to hear more. He opened the car door and swung his legs out, earning a cry of surprise from Dominic. “What are you doing?”

“Something’s wrong.” Justin took off at a sprint across the grassy field, and Dominic closed the distance easily. He grabbed Justin’s shoulder.

“You’re just going to go right in? You don’t know what you’re walking into.”

Justin glared in the darkness. “I know it’s one of two things. Either nothing’s wrong, and there’s no harm done, or something is wrong, and we can help.”

“I think it’s a little more complicated than that.”

“You were the one who thought this was too dangerous in the first place.” Justin turned back toward the warehouse. “Are you coming along or not?”

Dominic came along.

They immediately found signs of Mae and Leo’s passing. The front door was ajar, and the inside security panel had been set to daytime mode. Other than that, the huge building was dark and silent. Dominic led the way, scanning the space and keeping protectively near Justin in a manner almost identical to the way Mae moved. Suddenly, Dominic stopped and pulled Justin behind a stack of crates with him. Justin’s eyes had adjusted to the poor lighting, and he saw Dominic point ahead. Peering around the boxes, Justin could discern a spot of light shining on the floor near the far side of the warehouse and the dark shape of a man standing nearby who clearly wasn’t Leo. He was pacing, standing guard, but hadn’t seen them yet.

Justin was about to whisper and ask Dominic what they should do when Dominic surged forward without warning. The man by the hole in the floor spun around in surprise but was too slow. Dominic threw him to the floor and cut off the man’s oxygen until he passed out.

“Holy shit,” said Justin, hurrying over to look. The unconscious man wore a crow pendant. “What was that?”

“Quiet,” whispered Dominic. “There could be more.”

As Justin peered down at the staircase in the floor, he felt that prickling sensation increase. “Yeah. And they’re down there.”

Dominic did a quick check of his ego, as though hoping Leo might have sent a last-minute message that would fix all of this. His glower said no such message had arrived. “Wait here,” he told Justin, who promptly followed him down the stairs. Dominic shook his head in exasperation but said nothing more.

They crept down, winding around the spiral stairs. Dominic slowed even more as they neared the bottom. A doorway came into sight, and he quickly gestured Justin over to the side so that they wouldn’t be seen by those inside. Dominic stiffened, fists clenching.

Although the majority of his work really did consist of interviews and paperwork, Justin had still seen his fair share of deranged religious hideouts. And as he’d told Mae, he’d witnessed other incredible things that defied explanation. None of them compared to the shrine to death and blood that stretched before him. It was the kind of thing movies portrayed when trying to create the most terrifying images of religions they could.

But the décor paled beside the actual activity within. Two Pan-Celt men stood near a stone altar, while a woman in the room’s corner pointed a gun that looked suspiciously like Mae’s at Leo. Three other Pan-Celts tended some wounded, though one looked like he was past help. Most horrible of all, Mae herself was sprawled out on the altar, eyes staring blankly upward as her body shook. Dominic took a deep breath, forcing control.

“Fucking epinephrine,” he muttered.

“What?”

“Epinephrine. They shot her full of it.”

“Epinephrine’s adrenaline,” said Justin. “Not a poison.”

“Might as well be for a prætorian,” Dominic explained. “It’s the main neurotransmitter in fight-or-flight. The implant shoots up production if it senses even the slightest increase in the body. Can you see that dart in her chest?” He pointed. “That is not a slight increase. It’s a major dose that’s sent the implant into overdrive. Not even her body can handle the amounts that are churning out.”

Justin stared in horror, unable to believe he was seeing invincible Mae so debilitated. “Will it kill her?”

“No, but it’d give you a heart attack. Eventually, her implant’s going to realize it doesn’t need the body to make any more and will start eating it up.” He grimaced. “It’s a very neat way to incapacitate a prætorian with an easily obtainable substance. Actually more effective than using a true poison.”

“How do you even know all of that?”

Dominic ignored him. “I think you’ve got more than enough evidence to request assistance.”

He was right. Justin pulled out his ego and entered the quick code that would send local law enforcement to his location. Slipping it back into his pocket, he turned once more to the grisly scene ahead. The two Pan-Celt men by the altar were deep in conversation. Below them, Mae was still clearly out of action, but her spasms had slowed and were growing more irregular.

“I wonder why they’ve kept her alive,” mused Dominic.

“So they can kill her,” said Justin, seeing a flash of silver in the taller man’s hands. “But they have to do it in a ritualistic way.” The pieces fell together. Ordinary enemies of the Morrigan—like Callista—could be killed in whatever manner was most efficient. But these wayward creations…they required something special, he realized. Silver through the heart, on the day of the full moon, by one of the other prized servants. Those whom the Morrigan had created couldn’t be killed haphazardly, even if it meant a slow rate of one a month. “They seem to be taking their time, though.”

“They probably think they’ve got her put down for a while.”

“Don’t they?”

Dominic shrugged. “Probably not as long as they think. That’s what I meant about prætorians being so dangerous. Even when you find a way to stop them, they don’t stay stopped for long.” His eyes flicked to Leo with concern, but mostly he still seemed to be a hostage. “As long as they don’t try to kill anyone soon, we should just be able to wait for the police.”

Don’t wait, said Magnus.

The raven had barely finished speaking when the tall man suddenly turned to the mural in the back of the room and raised his arms up high. “Great queen, we do your bidding and return to you one who has betrayed you.”

And with a speed that caught both Justin and Leo by surprise, he spun around and turned the silver dagger, point down, toward Mae. He raised his arms in a killing blow and thrust downward—but then froze. It was as though he’d hit an invisible wall that he couldn’t penetrate. Clearly astonished, he removed one of his hands from the dagger and lightly touched Mae’s chest with no problem. But when he tried to bring the dagger to her again, he couldn’t touch her.

I guess you aren’t worthless after all, said Horatio.

“There’s some spell on her,” said the tall man incredulously. His brow furrowed in thought as he turned to his companions. “Do you have another blade?”

Someone else handed him an ordinary hunting knife. The man tentatively touched Mae’s cheek with its tip, finding no resistance. He nodded in satisfaction.

“A charm that protects her from the divine. Won’t last for long. We can wait it out.” He studied the knife’s blade in the light. “Or our mistress might still take her through an unblessed weapon.”

“We can’t wait around for them to decide,” Justin hissed. “Or for the police, apparently.”

Dominic nodded, a grim look on his face. “Six of them. One long-range weapon. That’s the real bitch if we try to cover the distance to them.”

“Mae always carries two guns,” Justin told him. “So they probably have another one too.”

“Let’s just hope they aren’t fast enough to get to it. If I can just take out the one with Leo, the rest’ll be easy.”

“That’ll be easy?” asked Justin in disbelief.

“We need to distract her without getting us killed in the process.”

Justin thought about that. “I might have a way….”

How much do you guys hate crows? he asked.

Horatio knew what he was thinking. If we do it, it’s going to hurt. More than last time.

I’ll deal, Justin said, trying not to grimace. Just make sure the woman with the gun isn’t looking this way.

To Dominic, he said, “Get ready to take her out.”

And like that, the two ravens manifested before them, darker than the night outside. They flew into the room, swooping toward the two men who stood near Mae, scratching them with their claws and beaks. All of the Morrigan’s people gaped in astonishment, and the woman with the gun turned to watch, wide-eyed. For a moment, Dominic seemed equally stunned. Then Justin, trying not to scream at the pain of having his supernatural companions ripped away, nudged him.

“Go! Now’s your chance!”

Dominic shot across the room toward the armed woman and threw her down with remarkable force. He deftly wrestled the gun away from her, and when she lunged after him, he shot her with the skill and aim of someone who’d been using a gun his entire life. This dragged the others’ attention away from the ravens—except for the tall man, whom the ravens were still attacking. Dominic met the Morrigan’s people unflinchingly—only to face a situation he was completely unprepared for: their ability to shape-shift into fast, smoky shadow forms. After a few false starts, Dominic began to understand when he could make contact and soon gained ground, either shooting them or incapacitating them with incredible hand-to-hand feats.

Mae, Justin thought. I have to get her out of here.

He started into the room just as Leo reached him, having used the commotion to escape. “What are you doing?” Leo asked. “Get out. Let Dom handle it.”

“I have to go to Mae!”

“You need to call the police.”

“I did.”

Leo shook his head. “I heard them talking. There’s a signal blocker in here. It’s why none of our messages were getting to you. Go back to the car and call them from there.”

Justin took out his ego and, his vision swimming from the pain, punched in the code that allowed it to be used away from his identity chip. He shoved it into Leo’s hand before taking off inside. “You call them.”

“Wait—”

Dominic had astonishingly taken out four of the six active Pan-Celts and was advancing on a fifth. The tall man with the silver dagger was preoccupied trying to fend off Magnus and Horatio. At one point, his blade clipped Horatio’s wing, and Justin staggered as excruciating pain—far more violent than when the ravens had departed—ripped through him. Like that, the birds vanished from sight, and he felt their presence settle back into his mind, though the pain remained.

Sorry, said Horatio. The Morrigan blessed the blade.

You did a good job, Justin assured him.

Justin’s initial intent had been to grab Mae in the fray and carry her away from all of this, but with the ravens gone, the tall man was advancing on Dominic. Without further thought, Justin threw himself against the man’s back, making him stumble and mess up his attack. Justin hadn’t seen any makeshift weapons and had no idea how one really attempted an unarmed attack. He’d just figured his body weight would be enough to throw the man off balance. And it was—but not for long.

The man spun around and gave Justin a glancing blow with the dagger, which cut his cheek. More searing pain shot through him, stronger than what he would’ve expected.

See? asked Magnus.

The man recognized Justin and strode forward. “The servitor. How unexpected.”

“Why? Did you think your assassin would take me out?” Behind his adversary, Justin saw that the man Dominic fought held the second gun. Dominic was still doing fine, but keeping clear of it meant this wasn’t as easy a fight as the others. Justin was on his own.

“Assassin?” The Morrigan’s servant looked comically clueless.

“The fake Nordic jaguar one.”

The man shook his head. “I wouldn’t waste my time sending an assassin after you. Your god, whoever he is, is too weak for my mistress to care about. Maybe some other god hates you.”

“Yeah? Then how come—”

Justin’s words died as Mae suddenly leapt up from the altar. With no hesitation, she threw herself on the tall man, destruction in her eyes. He fell but shifted to smoke and darted away before she could pin him down. He reappeared in his human form, standing opposite her. The mockery he’d shown to Justin was gone. Only anger was there now, as he circled around with Mae. Each watched every move, no matter how small, of the other. Justin had the sense of something monumental happening. Even the divine force in the room seemed to be holding its breath.

Dominic’s words about Mae’s recovery had proven true. She showed no signs of her earlier distress. Her eyes narrowed as she assessed the man, and then, unexpectedly, she moved backward—throwing her weight into the altar. It was composed of a large piece of stone resting on two others, and she hit it in just the right way to make the whole thing topple over. A tremor went through the air, and the Morrigan’s man gasped.

“Is that a problem, Emil?” Mae asked. She backed up farther, almost to the wall. Eyes still on him, she grabbed one of the masks and hurled it to the floor. It shattered. “What about this?”

The man—Emil—flushed an angry red. “You’ll die for this desecration.”

“I’m not dying today,” she replied evenly. “And even if I did, I wouldn’t go to your goddess.”

“She created you! You belong to her.”

“She doesn’t have a claim on me anymore.” She destroyed another mask. “Or any of the others. Enough blood’s been paid.”

Until now, everything Emil had done had been very calculated and controlled, but his emotions were obviously getting the best of him. He attacked, turning to smoke—only it was short-lived. He looked surprised to rematerialize so quickly but still managed to come dangerously close to her with the Morrigan-blessed dagger.

Dominic had finally finished with the others and had his confiscated gun pointing at Emil. Justin hurried over. “No, let her finish him.”

“She’s unarmed,” said Dominic.

Mae was leading Emil on a merry chase, destroying things as she went. It should’ve given him more openings, but with each part of the temple she took out, he seemed to falter even more. He also no longer shifted form. He was still fast and sharp but not in a superhuman way. Certainly not in a prætorian way.

“Just wait,” Justin told Dominic. “She needs to do it.”

Mae was moving toward the middle of the room now, with Emil in hot pursuit. Too late, Justin saw what she didn’t catch in her periphery: One of the Pan-Celts who’d been incapacitated had come to. The woman managed to sit up and grabbed hold of Mae’s leg when the deadly dance was close enough. Mae stumbled, and Emil made his big move, throwing himself at Mae with the dagger aimed right for her heart. Justin had no idea if the charm that had protected her earlier was still in effect—nor did he have need to find out.

Mae rolled in a way that let her break free of the grasping woman while simultaneously pulling the amber dagger from its boot sheath. Emil was so fixated on his attack that he never saw Mae’s dagger—not even when he threw himself onto her. The weight of his body knocked her down, but it was too late. Her dagger pierced his thigh, causing him to scream and recoil in pain. He dropped his own blade and actually tried to move off of her. She was more than accommodating, rolling him over onto his back so that she could hover over him and drive the amber dagger down for a second strike—into his heart. Justin saw the man’s eyes widen in shock, no scream coming out of his mouth this time. Mae waited a few moments and then jerked her dagger out and got to her feet, standing and watching without expression as her victim twitched and bled. After several horrific seconds passed, Emil stilled. A crackle of power rippled through the air, and then the tingling Justin had felt against his skin vanished.

“No one ever expects the knife,” Mae said flatly. She studied Emil’s body a few moments more and then suddenly looked up in surprise. “The Morrigan’s gone.” She caught Justin’s arm in excitement. “Can’t you feel it? The air…it’s lighter. She was here earlier, pressing down, trying to get into me. But she couldn’t. That was because of you, wasn’t it? What you did to me earlier?”

“I…don’t know,” he admitted, somewhat enchanted with the joy and light in her eyes. “It’s just something I learned.”

“Keep learning it,” she said. “Maybe we can continue to keep her out.”

No need, said Horatio. Mae is free. The Morrigan has been undone. She may gather strength again and return someday, but all her old ties have been broken. You felt her being cut loose from the world. The destruction of the temple and her followers struck her hard, and that guy in particular was probably one of her highest servants.

Using that dagger was extra devastating, added Magnus.

What makes you say that? asked Justin. The part where it pierced his heart and killed him?

The amber dagger is empowered by a deity, just like the silver ones were, explained Magnus. Probably by the god—or goddess—of the person who gave it to her.

Callista’s god?

No.

Justin told Mae what the ravens said about the Morrigan’s leaving and decided to edit out the part about how that pretty dagger was sacred to some deity.

The police arrived soon thereafter, astonished at the grisly scene before them. Leo had waited outside until they arrived, and only then did Justin notice that Dominic was gone. “Where is he?”

Leo’s face was bland. “He was never here.”

“The hell he wasn’t! Half of those bodies are his. I saw it.”

“So did I,” said Mae, a small frown appearing on her face. “Part of it, at least. He was…good.”

“We didn’t think he’d get involved in anything like that when he came along,” said Leo. He cast an anxious glance over at the officers organizing the scene and dropped his voice. “If you have any respect for our friendship, you won’t say a word to anyone about him being here. All the casualties are Mae’s. I’ll swear to whatever story you want—that there really were smoke people or that we didn’t see them. Just do not mention Dominic.”

The earnestness in his voice caught Justin off guard. Out of habit, he exchanged glances with Mae, who looked just as surprised. Justin didn’t like Dominic, but he’d saved their lives tonight, and many years of friendship with Leo carried a lot of weight.

“Okay,” Justin said slowly. “Dominic was never here.”

Mae opened her mouth to protest, but Justin shot her a warning look that kept her silent. Leo grasped his hand, nearly sagging in relief. “Thank you. I owe you.”

Justin shook his head. “I don’t know. I think I owe you for getting us here.”

When Leo left to get some air, Mae immediately approached Justin. “Was that a good idea? You’re going to lie about Dominic.”

“I’m going to lie about you too,” he said in a low voice. “When I say you had no choice but to stab that guy in the heart—after giving him a debilitating thigh wound.”

Mae’s face darkened. “I had to. He would’ve kept coming after me and others. She wouldn’t have been banished. I’d never be free—”

Justin put an arm around her and led her to the stairs. “You don’t have to convince me. I’m just saying, we’ve all got our reasons tonight. Once Internal Security matches those daggers and gets witnesses to verify Emil was stalking victims, no one’s going to care how this case was closed.”

The night was warm and breezy, the air thick and humid. The earlier clouds had passed, revealing a night brilliant with moon and stars. Being outside felt good and eased a little of Justin’s throbbing headache and other pains, though he was still counting the moments until he could hunt down a real painkiller. He’d had good intentions to lay off some of his vices, but then, he’d never expected to be part of a supernatural battle.

Mae, for her part, appeared to be in peak condition. In fact, he thought she looked exceptionally beautiful as she gazed upward. Radiant, even.

It’s the freedom, said Magnus. No god weighs her down. She may embrace any other—and others will come after her.

If you had any sense, added Horatio, you could even win her over to our side.

I’m not even on your side, Justin snapped.

“And what are you going to say for yourself in the official report?” Mae asked, her eyes as dark as the night. “As far as gods and supernatural warriors go?” Her words were a reminder of that monumental report from four years ago.

“I’m going to say whatever it takes to keep me here,” he replied.

“Which is?”

“That’s the thing. I’m not really sure yet.”