“You are a rare-enough human, Alison,” Saint interrupted. “You actually do have the ability to fight off Teslar’s ascendancy. You let Teslar into your mind consciously, because he made you feel special. You will let me in now because it’s the right thing to do. Do you understand?”
Alison’s wrenching sobs ceased when she gaped at Saint. She nodded once.
Saint plunged into Alison’s memories with his mind, making sense of threads and sensations that were just meaningless fragments for her. It was something he rarely did, as it was an aggressive assault on the senses. But he had no choice.
He had to find Christina. It cut at him like a twisting blade in his belly to consider what Teslar had planned for her.
He heard Teslar’s voice in Alison’s memories, heard his clone speaking to her, and so much more. In the distance, he made out the sound of a boat’s horn and a male voice speaking on a microphone. Saint strained and sensed Alison’s discomfort as he made sense of what was mere sensory debris to the girl.
A moment later, he pulled himself out of Alison’s mind, the sensation like peeling off his own skin. Both Alison and he panted in the aftermath of the mind-blend. It had been just as painful for Saint as it had been for her.
But worth it.
“I think I know where they are,” Saint rasped.
“Where?” Isi asked tensely. Saint glanced at him, considering. He knew how much the Iniskium warrior wanted to slay Javier Ash, but Saint couldn’t afford any mistakes on this mission.
Intense feelings of revenge were likely to cause mistakes.
Saint sighed heavily. He trusted Isi. “They’re in the freight tunnels beneath lower Wacker Drive and the river. I didn’t think Teslar knew of that branch of tunnels, but apparently he’s discovered them recently. I could hear one of the river tour boats in the far distance. You go to the crystal chamber and bring back the Iniskium. Leave all but a dozen behind in the chamber. That will be sufficient to guard it. I’ll meet you in the freight tunnels. Gain access at the storage dock under the Fairview Hotel on lower Wacker Drive.”
“Wait,” Isi protested when Saint turned to depart. “You can’t go into Teslar’s den alone.”
“You’ll be there with the others shortly.” He read Isi’s unease at the plan.
“You know Teslar. I can’t leave Christina there with him a minute longer than necessary.”
“But…can Teslar even touch Christina?” Isi asked, and Saint recalled that Isi, Fardusk, and he had discussed the surprising development of the revenant not surviving Christina’s touch.
“I’m not sure. Either way, he could drain her until she’s a husk without touching her. Teslar is not a revenant. I can touch Christina, after all. And are Teslar and I not one and the same?”
Saint saw but chose to ignore the shiver of unease that went through Isi’s muscular chest.
He turned, willfully entering Teslar’s world, and embraced the night.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Christina lay on her side and watched as Teslar paced back and forth in front of her. The room where she found herself was surprisingly luxurious. Apparently, Teslar and the Scourge revenants lived like gypsies. They moved around frequently to avoid Saint and the Iniskium, but they carried Teslar’s treasures around the tunnels of the underground. The dark, subterranean space had been decorated like a sheik’s chamber for Teslar, with rare carpets covering the floors and walls. As well, a velvet couch, rich pillows, flame-lit brass and glass lanterns, several ornate mirrors, and gold-leafed ornaments were spread about the room.
If she weren’t scared shitless, Christina would have laughed at the ludicrousness of Teslar’s vanity.
She shifted on the carpet, testing her strength. Earlier, Ash had tried to force her down a metal ladder into the tunnels. He’d been clearly frustrated as to how to get her down the shaft without dropping her and so anxious about not touching her that he’d let down his guard. Christina had landed a thwacking punch to his temple.
Ash had howled in pain and knocked her reflexively with the back of his hand. She’d fallen down the thirty-foot shaft, hearing Teslar shout in anguish and fury. Just before she hit the hard earth, she felt hands enclose her shoulders. She’d been falling face-first into the hole. Whoever grabbed her had prevented her body from striking the base of the tunnel, but hadn’t fully cushioned the blow to her head.
She must have blacked out for a period of time, because she’d awoken in the luxurious chamber to the sounds of Teslar cursing and the dull thuds of bone against flesh. The scene that greeted her had been an ugly one—Teslar punishing Ash for causing Christina harm, beating him about the face and head with vicious blows. It horrified her to see the way the powerful revenant kept standing and righting himself after each of Teslar’s punches, patiently waiting for each blow, despite the snarl of pain and fury that shaped his bloody mouth.
Teslar must be using his ascendancy to turn his first lieutenant into a flesh and blood punching bag.
Her breath had frozen in her lungs when Teslar paused in his beating, his stare meeting hers across the room.
“Get out,” Teslar bellowed at the bloody Ash. “You and all the others stay away from this chamber.”
Ash stood from his kneeling position, swaying on his feet. When he’d steadied himself, he rushed out of the chamber, obviously concerned Teslar would change his mind. He lifted a hanging crimson, black and beige carpet to find the exit.
Christina had surveyed the chamber with her eyes, trying not to move and draw attention to herself as Teslar washed his hands in a golden bowl. Perhaps there was only the one entrance to the room, but there could conceivably be a tunnel or doorway behind any one of the hanging carpets.
She watched Teslar warily as he tossed down a towel and turned toward her. His blue eyes blazed as he pinned her with his stare. She didn’t know what to make of the way he began to pace in front of her like an anxious, caged animal.