Flight of the Crow Read online

  The Coeur de Flamme lay on the altar, its shining red heart blazing in moonlight streaming in through a hole in the ceiling. Priest threw off the witch doctor, grabbed the dagger, and while mumbling ancient words, bathed it in the radiance from the giant emerald. The witch doctor glanced at Bryn and Fenix, hesitating just long enough for Priest to grasp the dagger which now glowed with a golden light, its silver blade no longer dull and plain but pure gold, and plunge it into his breast while the hundreds of tiny dragons hovered around his head. When Priest stabbed himself, Malenfant’s skull exploded releasing a smoky specter that soared around the small chamber directly over their heads,

  Bryn felt the power of the dagger in her mind. She screamed with frustration and pain. Fenix did the same. Bryn had to grab her ears. Inside her head white noise from the dagger roared in a crescendo of trumpeted music. Fenix fell to her knees while Bryn fought her way around the huge cage to the altar. Somewhere in the passage outside the room Fingle howled. Tomlinson seemed unaffected. He leaped on top of the cage and struggled past the witch doctor who was also bent over with pain.

  Tomlinson tackled Priest. The trumpeting noise inside Bryn’s head stopped. The dagger fell to the stone floor out of Priest’s frozen hands. Blood did not flow from the gaping wound in his chest. Tomlinson dropped to the floor scrabbling for the dagger. He leaped to his feet triumphantly holding the knife, once again dull metal, only to have the witch doctor snatch it. The ghost of Malenfant circled one more time then shot into Priest through his wide open eyes.

  The witch doctor’s filed teeth gleamed in the thinning light of the moon as he grinned and cackled wildly. Insane laughter filled the chamber echoing above the roar of the water in the underground river. Bryn and Tomlinson tried to grab him, but he danced out of their reach easily. With his headdress raining brightly colored feathers, the witch doctor cavorted, legs lifted high, grass skirt flying, the dagger clutched to his painted breast. He giggled like a crazy person, the yellowed whites of his eyes shining with unholy glee, and leaped out of reach on top of the cage. Before Bryn could even think of what she should do, the witch doctor put a short finger beside his nose and disappeared in a puff of smoke.

  Bryn’s heart fell. “It’s gone,” she gasped. “Where did he go?”

  “Back to the Negro Village, I should imagine,” Tomlinson said. “He possesses some extremely strange powers.”

  Priest had crumpled to the floor in a heap of black cloth. His head was covered, there was no sign of life. Bryn knelt beside him. “Did his spell work or did he die?”

  A cloud of tiny dragons squealed and hovered above the robes. Bryn batted them away. “What are these things?”

  “Baby dragons?” Fenix said. “They came out of the snail eggs and added dragon power to the spell Priest cast.”

  One of the flying reptiles blew flames onto Bryn’s hair and a strand caught fire. “Fingle, get rid of them.”

  Fingle swept a tide of the tiny creatures out the door of the chamber as Bryn walked around the altar examining everything. The skull of Cardinal Malenfant was a blackened ruin. The Coeur de Flamme lay dead and dull beside it. Bryn scooped it up and dropped it into her pocket. Priest was crumpled on the floor in front of the altar. She pulled the black fabric of his robes away from his head. A sob tore from her throat when she saw what was there. A shining head of black hair crowned a youthful face. Priest’s eyes flew open and they were a brilliant blue. He threw her hands off and rose from the pile of robes a young man. He grinned and bowed low before her. “Madam, may I introduce you to the new and very youthful Draak Priest.”

  He swept the robe aside to reveal an enormous erection. “Look out, Bryn Sahir, I’m coming for you and your sister.”

  Bryn gasped, slipped behind him to the altar and grabbed the Coeur de Flamme. “Run,” she yelled at Tomlinson. “I have no idea what kind of power he now possesses.”

  She grabbed Fenix and pulled her out the door of the chamber. “Fingle, find the fastest way out of here.”

  Fingle sniffed several times as Priest roared from inside the chamber. A huge dragon head protruded from the open door as Fingle cast one look at Bryn and leaped into the roaring river followed by Tomlinson. Bryn sensed the change in the atmosphere. “He’s going to flame us!” She screamed, grabbed Fenix’s hand and leaped into the river after Fingle.

  Chapter 18

  The river was icy cold. Bryn fought her way to the surface as they were swept along. In the darkness, lit only by the strange phosphorescent glow of the moss growing on the rocky ceiling of the tunnel, she searched for Fenix. Always, Fenix would be her first concern. Her sister bobbed above the water next to her and she breathed a sigh of relief.

  “Where is Fingle?” she screamed above the roar of the rushing water.

  Fenix pointed. Fingle was doing the dog paddle next to a half-drowned Tomlinson. Fingle had Tomlinson’s collar clamped in his teeth. Satisfied the members of her party were momentarily safe, she took stock of her situation. Ahead, the tunnel narrowed, the water churned higher and the current ran faster as it shot under a low overhang. There was barely enough room for her head. “Duck!” She screamed as she swept into total blackness.

  The water raced along for what seemed like forever while the tunnel roof closed in. When she had to duck beneath the surface, she thought Fingle and Tomlinson would surely drowned, but it was only for a moment. They popped out into a large chamber with light streaming in from high above. The current slowed and they started to circle.

  Fenix grabbed her arm as they swirled slowly around a huge circular space with slime-encrusted brick walls. “Where are we?”

  Bryn stared at the ceiling. A circular set of stairs wound around the inside of a brick tower. The stairs led to a landing. “I think we’re under La Conciergerie. This must be an ancient well.”

  Fenix nodded. “It looks like one.” She grabbed Tomlinson from Fingle and drew him toward the landing as the circular current sped up. “We need to get out of here,” Fenix yelled. “This feels like some kind of drain.”

  “Fingle swim for the landing,” Bryn called. Fingle obediently began stroking for the landing. He grabbed Tomlinson’s sleeve in his teeth, and between him and Fenix, they got Tomlinson to the landing and dragged him out of the water. Tomlinson had lost his black bowler hat, but he was safe. The hat continued to circle the well.

  Bryn scrambled out after them and they lay completely winded on the ancient bricks. While regaining their breath and some of the energy sapped by the cold and their recent experiences, Tomlinson’s teeth chattered like castanets. He was chilled to the bone and wouldn’t survive if they didn’t get him someplace where he could get warm.

  “Fenix, make a fireball,” Bryn said.

  Fenix obediently created a fireball and held it close to Tomlinson. The heat from the fireball was scarcely enough to warm him in this cold, damp cavern. They had to move.

  Fingle stood up first and shook like a hound dog. Water flew everywhere. “Please, Fingle,” Bryn gasped. “Act like a man.”

  “Sorry, Miss, sometimes it be hard to remember what I’m not supposed to be doing.”

  “Help Tomlinson,” Fenix said to him. “We must get him somewhere warm immediately.”

  They climbed the stairs with Bryn in the lead. A wooden door with rusted black strap hinges was at the top. Fenix tapped Bryn’s arm. “Look.” She pointed down at the circling water. Tomlinson’s hat was now in the center. Suddenly, it dropped below the surface and disappeared. “Told you,” Fenix said. “The water in this well comes in through the underground river and drains out maybe into the river. We could have been sucked to our deaths.”

  Bryn nodded barely able to contemplate anything but the recent events. “Priest is young again,” she said. “We have to get the dagger. The witch doctor must be back at the Negro Village inside the Exposition.”

  “I can’t get this door open,” Fingle said. “It be locked.”

  Bryn sighed, took Fenix’s wand and tapped t
he lock while she muttered a spell in Latin. The lock sprang open and Fingle opened the door. The found themselves in the famous dungeon of La Conciergerie, a medieval building built by the Romans when they ruled Gaul and then used by King Philip the Good as a palace. Marie Antoinette was held in this dungeon and somewhere close by was the infamous torture chambers. The building with its turrets and towers sat on the Seine and wasn’t too far from the Exposition.

  They slunk up a narrow circular stairway to the first floor and into the galleries with their incredible brick arches and walls of stained glass. Bryn led them through corridors, dripping water and leaving wet footprints on the tiles, until they reached a side door to the street. Once outside, Bryn stopped them. “I’m going to the Exposition to look for the witch doctor and get that dagger. It will soon be dawn on the day I have to present it to Lazarus. I must find it.”

  Fenix nodded. “You want me to go home, don’t you?”

  Bryn sighed. “Allow me to do this by myself. I promise to include you in everything from now on.”

  “Are you flying?” Fingle asked.

  “Yes, that will get me there faster than if you accompany me.”

  Fenix nodded and closed her eyes. “This once, you may have your way. I shall take Fingle and Tomlinson home safely.”

  Bryn hugged her sister. “I will be there as fast as I can.” With that said, she lifted her arms, morphed into a crow and took to the air. High above the city, she winged her way toward the Eifel Tower. When she’d crossed the gates to the Exposition, she circled and dropped toward a clump of trees near the Galerie des Machines. She sat in the tree tops, staring at the spot where only hours before, the Negro Village had been located. Now, there was no sign it had ever existed. A sign said the building on the site of the village housed lions and tigers. Horrified and mystified, Bryn took flight again searching for the village. It was as though it had never been. She spent a frustrating hour criss-crossing the grounds hunting for it. She even turned herself back into a human to ask someone. The pleasant-faced young man she questioned about the Negro Village stared at her like she’d lost her mind. The village was gone. The witch doctor had erased everything. Who knew what he was now capable of? His own powers had been augmented by the infinite power of Lazarus’s dagger. And he was gone taking the one thing she needed to save her sister with him.

  Hopelessness filled her. What could she do now? Lazarus would appear on their door at dusk expecting to be paid one way or another. With this disheartening thought pecking at her brain, Bryn morphed back into a crow and took off for home.

  * * * *

  Fenix helped Tomlinson into the house and into the care of a concerned Babbette. Quinn met her in the morning room. He sat with his healing hands resting on his lap and a downcast expression on his face. When she entered the room, he looked up. “What happened?”

  Fenix threw herself on the small sofa and sighed.

  “That bad?”

  “Worse. When we arrived at the chamber inside the catacombs, Priest was in the middle of his ritual. We would have prevailed but there was a strange little African man there who stole the dagger and disappeared.”

  Quinn sat up and leaned forward. “Did Priest succeed in his transformation?”

  “Oh yes, he’s young now and vows to have Bryn and me. It seems as though we are highly prized commodities.”

  “You’re twins,” he said with a rueful grin. “Men, you know, they have these fantasies.”

  Fenix raised an eyebrow.

  “So, no dagger either?”

  “The witch doctor took it. Bryn is searching for him now.”

  “What do we do if she doesn’t get it?”

  Tears filled Fenix’s eyes. “I don’t know. I’m afraid, Quinn, afraid for Bryn. This will make her crazy.”

  He scrubbed his eyes with two fingers. “You’re not telling me anything I don’t know.”

  The door flew open at that moment and Bryn rushed in. “We have to get you out of here,” she said to Fenix. “Time is up. Today is the day. Lazarus will be coming for you at dusk.”

  She grabbed Fenix’s arm and pulled her to her feet. “Where can I go?” Fenix asked. “I’m so tired, tired of running and hiding and being afraid. I need to sleep.”

  “You can sleep later. Pack a few things and we’ll drive to Calais and catch a ship to Africa. I know that’s where that God-cursed witch doctor went. We must find him and get the dagger.”

  “Bryn, listen to yourself. We can’t run to Africa. Lazarus is too powerful. He’ll find us no matter where we try to hide.” She pulled her arm free. “From your demeanor, I take it the witch doctor wasn’t at the Exposition.”

  Bryn closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Her hair hung limply and was still damp. Her clothes were wet and her pale skin tinged with blue from the cold. “The entire village was gone.”

  “Now that is something,” Fenix said. “The dagger must have given him a great deal of power. We’ll never find him now. Accept it. I’m going up to bed.”

  “Fenix, please, go with me. We have to run. There’s no other option.”

  Fenix shook her head. “I can’t. You go. I’m afraid Lazarus will take you as well. Quinn says men have fantasies about twins.”

  “I’m not leaving you, not ever.” Bryn grabbed her and hugged her hard. “Don’t you understand how much you mean to me? You’ve been my life for as long as I can remember. I could never abandon you especially not to him.”

  “Then you must or stay here with me and face him. Maybe deep inside Lazarus’s cold heart there is a spark of warmth and he’ll change his mind and show some mercy.”

  Bryn’s crack of laughter held no mirth. “He’s an evil demon cursed by God. He lost the capacity for mercy centuries ago.”

  “Then he will prevail because I absolutely must sleep.”

  Bryn hugged her hard one more time. “Then don’t worry. You get your rest and I shall think of something.”

  A lump formed in Fenix’s throat. She loved her sister, but Bryn worried too much. “You always come up with something dearest of sisters. You’ve saved me time and time again. I can now remember all of those times and it’s such a gift. I shall always be grateful to Lazarus for that gift. I truly know your faithfulness and your love because of him.”

  “You remember everything?”

  “Yes, it came back to me a little at a time, but I remember back all the way to Egypt and the moment when we were cursed. And I’m not going to worry. I’m immortal, remember? What can Lazarus do to me? Can he make me into a vampire? Somehow, I don’t think that’s possible.”

  Chapter 19

  Bryn watched her sister leave the room. Tears ran down her face. She’d failed everyone. As she stood staring dispiritedly at the closed door, Quinn pulled her into his embrace. She fell against him and sobbed and he patted her back awkwardly with his healing hands.

  “What do I do now?” She sobbed into his broad chest. “Lazarus will take Fenix and I shall surely die as well, if from nothing else from grief.”

  “There must be something we can give him to satisfy the bargain.”

  Bryn’s heart leapt. “Maybe he’ll take me.”

  “Absolutely not!” Quinn snarled. “I won’t allow it.”

  Bryn tore herself from his embrace and began pacing. “You have nothing to say about anything. This is my problem.”

  “Why do I have to be so weak?” Quinn moaned. He grabbed her by the shoulders and spun her around so she could gaze into his beautiful gray eyes. “I won’t let you sacrifice yourself.”

  “I’m very powerful, Quinn,” she said calmly. “I can handle myself. If I can convince Lazarus to take me, he will find he has so much more than he bargained for.”

  “And you think he’s too stupid to know this?”

  “I think he wants one of us for some nefarious scheme he will never disclose. He made the bargain with me. I shall force him to take me. It’s our only hope.”

  “When is he coming?”

/>   Bryn shrugged. “He just named this as the day. I imagine he will come as soon as the sun sets. He is a member of the undead and as such, I should think would avoid the light of day.”

  “You would imagine wrong,” A familiar voice rasped from the doorway.

  Bryn’s heart plummeted and she feared she’d be sick as she spun around. “Why are you here now? My God! Why have you come?”

  Lazarus shrugged. “This is the day, is it not? I have come to collect my dagger.”

  Bryn gasped and backed up two steps with her hand on her chest.

  His dry chuckle came from deep in his chest. “Oh, from your expression, I’m assuming you do not have it? Did a little bird take it? Or maybe a little witch doctor?”

  “You sent him!” Bryn exploded with wrath. “That horrible little man was in your employ.”

  Lazarus began sauntering though the room examining the clock on the mantel, the paintings on the walls in their gilt frames and the draperies. “How could you think such a thing of me? Why would I send someone to take it? Didn’t I already employ you to retrieve my possession? I wanted that dagger and we, my dear Bryn, we had a bargain.”

  Bryn grabbed Lazarus’s arm. It felt like a dead stick in her hand. “Take me instead. Fenix is tired and still weak. Do with me whatever you desire. I am willing.”

  Quinn’s growl came from right behind her. She hushed him by laying her hand on his chest.

  “I care not whether you are willing,” Lazarus said with an evil smile. “All I care about is collecting my fee for providing your delectable sister with her memories and her life as an adult. It took a lot out of me and I expect my reward.”

  “You can’t have her!”

  Lazarus’s chuckled again. “And who is going to stop me? I, my dear Bryn, can take from you whatever I wish.”