Nikki put out a hand. Energy crackled through the air, a buzz that got steadily angrier as her fingers drew close to the unseen wall that protected the star. Flickers of blue cut through the air, lightning-like wisps that lashed out at her hand. It felt foul, somehow. Depraved, even.
She clenched her fingers and dropped her hand back to her side.
Michael looked up at the woman again. "I think we've found one source of Dunleavy's energy. Whether this sacrifice feeds his demented soul, his dark gods, or the circle you say rings this town, is anyone's guess."
She nodded, keeping her gaze on the stones rather than the happenings above them. "We can't leave her here."
"She won't live, even if we do manage to get her down."
"I don't care." Facing death was one thing. Doing so while forced to endure the ministrations of something not even remotely human was another.
She walked past him, closer to the ring. The stones reacted, seeming to glow deep within their black hearts. Sparks crawled across her skin, an unpleasant sensation that made the tiny hairs over her body stand on end. Rubbing her arms, she swept her gaze around the circle, trying to remember everything Camille and Seline had told her.
There was always a key. Always one stone that could unlock or destroy. All she had to do was find that stone. Not easy to do when they all looked the damn same.
Her gaze came to rest on the stone on the north edge of the circle. It was a little smaller, a little less obvious, than the rest.
She walked around to it. There could be no finesse about this. She didn't know enough about magic to dismantle the power of the stones. And brute force certainly couldn't dismantle a circle of this size any more than it could a circle the size of the one that ringed the town. But she'd bet this circle was set up to protect the star and its sacrifice against someone who knew something about the ways of magic, not someone armed with little more than a silver knife.
Silver was the one thing immune to magic. The only thing that could cut through a magic barrier such as this with the ease of a knife through butter.
She flicked the knife into her palm and knelt, studying the stone. Wisps of blue arced through the air, their foul energy scorching her forehead.
"Do you know what you're doing?" Michael asked, from the other side of the circle.
She met his gaze. "You'd better hope so."
The thing above them let loose a strange sort of squeal. Nikki's gaze jerked upwards. The slug had disengaged itself and was slithering around the woman's legs, heading for the ceiling. Nikki hefted her knife, in half a mind to throw it, but at that moment, the thing reached the roof and disappeared into a fissure.
"I'd take that as a sign," Michael commented blandly.
"Maybe it's just had enough sex, and the retreat is its version of rolling over and going to sleep."
A smile tugged the corners of his mouth. "I still prefer that you don't do this."
"You know of any other way to get that woman down?"
He lifted a hand toward the circle. Energy buzzed, the sound a high pitched scream of fury. Nikki raised her eyebrows. That reaction was far stronger than the one that had greeted her. Maybe Dunleavy had expected Michael to get this far.
"No," he said, "I'm afraid I don't."
"Well, I'm not leaving her there," she said flatly. "And I don't care what trap Dunleavy has set, I'm going to spring it."
"Wait—" She didn't. She slashed the knife toward the stone, backing the blow with as much force as she could muster. The air screamed, and energy lit the darkness, blue flashes of light that crawled across the blade and up her hand, burning deep. She bit her lip, ignoring the sensation, keeping her eyes on the rock. An invisible force pushed at the blade, momentarily resisting her blow. Then the knife hit the stone, and the force of it reverberated up her arm, jarring her spine.
For a moment, nothing happened. Then there was a blinding flash, the boom of an explosion, and a wall of heated air slapped across her face and threw her backwards. She hit the ground with a grunt and flung her hands over her head, trying to protect her face. Shards of stone bit through the air, tearing at her clothes, her skin. Then the weight of another hit her, protecting her from the worst of the energy borne rocks.
After a while, silence returned. Except the silence wasn't really silent, but filled with a dripping far stronger than before. Surely the woman couldn't have had that much blood left, Nikki thought, wanting to look, but at the same time not wanting to. If the force of that explosion had blown her off her feet and back a good ten feet, what had it done to the poor woman hanging above?
"You don't want to know," Michael commented, his lips caressing her ear as he spoke. "Are you okay?"
She nodded, wondering if he even realized he'd read her thoughts. "What's that dripping?"
"Water." He lifted himself off her and touched her arm, gently assisting her into a sitting position.
Despite his warning, she couldn't help looking. What was left of the woman didn't really resemble anything human. Just a bloody, shapeless, mass.
She briefly closed her eyes, then opened them and took a deep breath. "At least it would have been quick."
"Yes." His confirmation didn't ease her conscience any. His thumb brushed at the moisture on her cheek, a gesture as gentle and as caring as the look in his eyes. "You gained a few cuts in the explosion."
"So did you." She carefully wiped away the smear of blood from his chin. "Are you hurt anywhere else?"
"My back." He shrugged. "Nothing major."
She gave him a deadpan look. "I saw your version of nothing major with your shoulder. Turn around."
"I do not think this is the time or—" "If you'd just stop arguing about everything and do as I ask, it would have been over with hours ago."
"As usual, you exaggerate." Amusement gleamed in his dark eyes as he turned around.
His shirt was crisscrossed with tears, revealing bloody skin underneath. Nothing deep, as he'd said, but some of the cuts did go through the runes on his back, slicing them apart. Was that why he'd been able to read her thoughts? Was one of the cut sections responsible for the shut down of the link between them?
"You're right. There's nothing here that won't wait until later."
"Maybe next time you'll believe me."
"Not when you have a history of understating wounds."
She looked past him. The black rocks were no longer in an orderly circle. Of the eight that had been present, she could see only six. Hopefully, the explosion had blown up the other two. Hopefully, it meant Dunleavy wouldn't be reusing this sacrifice site anytime soon.
She glanced at the roof, this time following the dripping water until she found the source. A fissure had opened up near the southern end of the circle, and the water was pouring steadily from that, washing across the star etched into the rock, bathing away the barely congealed blood. Though she doubted it would ever erase the deeper, darker stains.
Little rivulets of moisture were beginning to work their way towards her. She pushed to her feet, glad of Michael's support as the cavern spun briefly around her.
"I don't think Dunleavy will be able to use this place again," she commented. "The water will make it too difficult."
He nodded. "I dare say he has other places ready to go."
"Yeah." She dusted off her palms on her skirt. "And if they're anything like this, we'd better try to find them."
He raised an eyebrow. "And what of the two sacrifices you were told to halt?"
"I'm beginning to think they were merely a means to keep me occupied and off the trail."
"Believe me, Dunleavy will kill those people if he said he will."
"I know. But I think we're better off trying to find the source of all his power—and destroying it—rather than running around trying to figure out who is next on his hit list." After all, they were probably all on his hit list. She was certainly under no illusion that he'd let her and Michael go.