“I will,” I said, thoroughly unconvinced that I even knew where to start. Maybe Sam knew something that would give us an edge once we tracked Bastion down. I had the nagging feeling that he would be in the Comstock Building, too, protecting Adriel, if not fighting for him.
“Asher, you stay and tend to Prudence and Gil,” Carver said. “If they recover, perhaps they may yet join us in battle tonight.” He stepped around the sofa, placing a hand on Sterling’s shoulder, a surprisingly gentle gesture. “Sterling. I give you a choice in this matter. You may come with us, or you may stay here in the Boneyard.”
Sterling was sitting on the ground, his knees pulled up to his chest, fangs worrying at the edge of his lips. It sucked, seeing him so deeply upset, even afraid. I hadn’t felt the pain of Adriel’s celestial light, after all. I hadn’t come close to complete obliteration at the hands of a creature that was meant to work for the forces of good.
I couldn’t tell you all the thoughts that passed through Sterling’s mind then, but his decision came quickly. “I’ll come,” he said, his voice uncharacteristically soft. “I’ll fight.”
Carver nodded gravely. “Very well. Then so shall I.”
“You two don’t have to,” I said. “You shouldn’t.” As a lich, Carver was just as vulnerable as Sterling was.
“This isn’t your decision to make,” Carver said, though not unkindly. “We’ll function as your rear guard, and help you contend with your Bastion friend if necessary, but no further. An angel’s light would smite the undead, destroying us utterly. I am sorry, Dustin, but if it comes down to battling a celestial being, then that is our limit. I will not risk Sterling’s undeath, nor mine.”
“Nor would I expect you to,” I said. “But thank you. I guess it’s up to us four, then. With Vanitas, that makes five. He counts as – oh, hold up.”
My phone was going off from somewhere inside one of my pockets. Mrs. Brandt. I’d forgotten about her. I fumbled as I pulled out my phone, my hands sweaty as I picked up her call.
“You didn’t call me back,” Luella huffed. “Dustin. Be honest with me. What happened?”
“Mind control,” I said. “There’s not much time to explain, but Bastion is under someone’s spell. We think we can break it, if we can get close enough to knock some sense into him. Which we can’t. He’s hooked up to some limitless spiritual battery.” Oh, just an entire fucking angel, I thought, no big deal. “He attacked us. Prudence and the others were hurt.”
Luella was silent on the other end of the line for a moment, then she breathed into the receiver, a slow, heaving sigh. “Where is he now, Dustin?”
“We think he’s at the Comstock Building. At least that’s what we’ve narrowed it down to.”
“Then meet me there,” she said. “I can get you in. I’m part of the board of directors.”
Oh. Of course she was.
“That would be a huge help,” I said, recalling the tiny, inconvenient fact that it was well into the evening, and it wasn’t like we had some way of breaking into the building safely. Carver or Sam could teleport us in, sure – but one false step and we could appear right on Bastion’s location. Or worse, Adriel’s. This needed a little more finesse.
I nodded at the others. “We’ll meet you there, Luella.”
“Hurry,” she said. “I’ll bring something that can help, the one thing that might just break Bastion’s enthrallment.”
I joined the others in heading for the portal leading out of the Boneyard, resolute. As we entered Valero, one by one, I wondered if I had what it would take to defeat Bastion, the Lorica’s golden boy, a walking engine of destruction.
Either way, I still owed him a punch in the face.
Chapter 25
It didn’t take long to get to the Comstock Building, nor to find it, the way it stuck out like a sore thumb within Valero’s central business district. That meant a few things. One, that it was actually really close to Lorica headquarters. The Tome was under my nose the whole time. Go figure.
Two, it was located in Central Square, which was where I’d first encountered the tentacled, slavering creatures that the Eldest employed as their minions: the shrikes. That night, they were summoned by Thea in her hideous bid to use the entire city as a power source to fuel the resurrection of her children. The city – and myself – had narrowly escaped being torn to shreds, and I could only hope that our confrontation with Adriel wouldn’t mean more of the same.
Because seriously, I’m sick as hell of fighting shrikes. They’re rubbery, disgusting, and there’s also that small matter of them being really, really good at ripping people’s faces off, or tearing limbs out of sockets. But with Thea out of the picture, we had a little more time to prepare for the Eldest and their minions. At least I hoped so.
It meant that Carver – and, one hopes, the Lorica, and the rest of the magical community – had a little more time to figure out what, if anything, we could do to stop the Eldest from taking over the earth. But let’s be real: life in the underground is never, ever quite that simple. I looked up at the Comstock Building, dreading what we would find there.
It was chilly out in Central Square, the streets filled with the moderate honking of a late weeknight’s worth of traffic. I was bundled up in a jacket, my breath streaming out of me in little wisps as we stepped up to the Comstock sidewalk. I looked around, checking for sign
s of Luella’s presence. Sure enough, there it was.
A gleaming black sedan waited by the side of the street, its windows dewy with condensation from the night air. Since that one time Bastion had taken me on a tour of his home, the appropriately named Brandt Manor, I’d come to learn that his big-ass motorcycle really was mostly for show. The Brandts preferred to get around in chauffeured cars, complete with uniformed drivers, plush leather seats, and minibars.
The rear passenger window rolled down, and Luella Brandt beckoned me over. Ice clinked in the glass she held loosely in one hand, clear liquid sloshing over the rim and splashing onto the sidewalk.
“Hi, Luella,” I said, trying so hard not to focus on her drink that it made it more obvious I was avoiding it.