“Seriously, you think telling me tales of some woman who likes to torture is going to make me afraid? Do you honestly know who I am? Do you have any idea of the shit I’ve done to people? Of the shit I’ve had done to me? I was kept alive and tortured every day for a century by people a lot badder and better at it than I’d hazard a guess your lovely friend is. Don’t get me wrong—I’m sure she’s very good at stabbing people with knives, but you think that’s torture? True torture is making it so that you’re broken every single day, until you begin to look forward to it, because your life without that pain and suffering is now meaningless. And then the day they leave you alone you scream at them to come for you, because all you’ve known for so long is the nightmare of having your mind destroyed in a way that never gets put back together.
“Try spending a few decades with a species for whom the word ‘pain’ is synonymous with the word ‘life,’ and see how you think being stabbed with a knife compares. So, while I’m sure your stabby little friend is very scary, she’s not Baldr, she’s not Hera, and she’s not the dozens of people who took their turns on me for a hundred years. You think you know fear, Mr. Popov, well, let me assure you, you’ve never even glimpsed it. And if you threaten me again, I’ll show you fear. I’ll happily make the big bad wolf piss himself.”
Mordred got up and walked over to the bottle of vodka, pouring himself a second glass and knocking it back. “Where’s Viktor?”
A glass hit the wall beside Mordred, shattering. “How dare you speak to me in such a manner.”
“I’ve killed kings and queens, Alexi. I’ve killed people with more guards than you have people in this club. I’ve gotten to people who prided themselves on being untouchable. You’re just a mutt with the delusion you’re someone important. And more importantly, you’ve trapped yourself in a room with me.”
Alexi growled and began to transform into his werebeast wolf form, tearing off his suit as he did. Mordred drank some more vodka, removed the gun from the holster, and shot Alexi between the eyes. All in one fluid motion.
“No one searched me, you fucking idiot,” Mordred said. “That’s what happens when you buy into your own legend. You think you’re immortal. I should know.”
Mordred ejected the magazine and removed the bullet from the chamber of the Glock, placing them both in his jacket pocket, then took out a second magazine from another pocket and loaded it into the gun as Alexi groaned.
“Normal bullets,” Mordred said. “Warning shot. Bet it hurts like hell, though.”
“Gut you like a salmon,” Alexi said.
“Actually I don’t think you will. I now have silver bullets—these won’t just hurt. I’m certain of that. I wanted to see if my theory about this room being soundproof was right. I figured you brought people up here for some alone time with you.” Mordred walked over to the second door and kicked it open, splintering the wooden frame. Inside there was a computer on a desk, a king-sized bed, and a large-screen TV on the wall. The room smelled of sex.
“The runes to keep powers from working, where’s the master one?” Mordred asked. “There’s always a master one, and I’d really like it switched off.”
“Not here,” Alexi said.
Mordred removed a silver blade from the sheath on his hip and threw it at Alexi’s leg. The werewolf screamed in pain as the blade bit into his thigh. “That will kill you eventually,” Mordred said, walking over and pulling the knife free. Blood poured from the wound. “The silver is already in your blood. I can heal it with light magic. Can’t do that without removing the runes, though. So, I’ll ask again: Where is the master rune?”
“You’ll die first,” Alexi said, and started to laugh as the door leading to the stairs outside exploded in a hail of bullets.
Mordred threw himself through the open door and tapped his ear. “Diana, Polina, Remy—is anyone actually there? Because now would be a good time to storm the citadel.”
“We’re on our way,” Diana said. “Just keep your head down. People are flooding out of the club, and until we can get through them, you’re on your own.”
Mordred risked a glance back into the office as two bouncers, one armed with a shotgun and another with a semiautomatic submachine gun, entered the room. He ducked back into the bedroom before anyone could fire another shot.
“If we have to come get you, we’re going to make this hard,” one of them said.
Mordred removed the gun from his holster and stood up against the wall. “That’s funny, because I was going to say the same thing to you.” Mordred reached into his pocket and produced a stun grenade. He pulled the pin, tossed it into the room, and turned away from the small explosion, and several shots fired blindly as the two bouncers were momentarily disoriented.
Mordred counted to three, stepped around the corner, and shot both men in the head. They dropped to the floor as Mordred walked over to Alexi and pointed the gun at his temple. “Where is the master rune? Now.”
“Behind the gun cupboard. It’s etched on the wall.”
Mordred pushed the remains of the cupboard aside, revealing the large rune that had been carved there. It hummed with power, occasionally shimmering black. “Blood magic was used to create this,” Mordred said. “You killed someone to make this.” He knew that if destroyed the rune might backlash power against anyone nearby, so he walked over to the doorway and emptied the rest of the magazine of silver bullets into the wall.
With the rune destroyed, Mordred felt the magical power rush back into him. He walked toward Alexi and placed the Glock on the desk in front of him.
“Daria is going to kill you for this.”
Mordred placed a hand on Alexi’s arm, and his light magic went to work, healing the silver from the werewolf.
“Why?” he asked when Mordred was done and had stepped away from his reach. “What’s to stop me from killing you?”
Mordred watched Alexi get back to his feet. “Because when I’m done, I’m going to come back here and you’re going to tell me where Elaine Garlot is and what your involvement is in her disappearance. And if you’re dead, you can’t do that.”
Alexi chuckled and took a step toward Mordred, flexing his fingers, ready to pounce.
White glyphs lit up over Mordred’s arms and hands, and magical air smashed into Alexi, picking him up like he was nothing and throwing him against the far wall. Mordred flicked his hand, and tendrils of air slithered around Alexi. Another hand flick and the air dragged Alexi over to the windows in the room, pinning him against them.
Mordred used his magic to push Alexi against the glass as it began to crack under the pressure.
“She will kill you,” Alexi seethed.
“She’ll try,” Mordred said, releasing the air magic from around Alexi, moving it around him in a shield. In an instant he used the blood of the two dead bouncers to power his blood magic and, mixing it with the air, smashed it into Alexi, sending him through the glass with ferocious force. Alexi bounced over the railing below and crashed into the empty dance floor as Diana and the rest of his friends entered the building. Alexi was breathing but was no longer going to be a problem. The LOA would deal with him. Now it was time for Mordred to hunt.
CHAPTER 16
Mordred