Lysander's eyes widened; he looked to me for comfort. I shook my head a little and put my arm around her shoulders with a smile.
"Have you made progress?"
She sighed heavily. "Some. Lysander was a great help. Oh, Evie, you did such good work yesterday! I felt the shift in the magic through the city. The witches were greatly weakened by your actions."
She hugged me tight and started to relax. Quin took up the seat on the other side of her. Lysander tensed again. I looked around and spotted the Sidhe sauntering down the paved path. Haeyl eyed Lysander with suspicion, but sat next to him regardless. I looked between everyone waiting for proceedings to begin; surely we had places to be, witches to kill.
Azfin held his hand a few inches over the map, the air below his palm rippled and took on a faint blue hue. His eyes never left Elise who glared at him, her mouth fixed in a tight line. Emerald green points formed on the map. He pulled his hand back with a smug smile. Elise rolled her eyes.
She looked to me and said, "With Lysander's help, we have narrowed down the likely points for the next rituals. Unfortunately, one occurred last night."
"And no one informed me?" I said.
Azfin gave me a sweet smile. "You were... busy."
I glared at him, as did Quin.
Elise simply said, "It was done with, there was nothing you could do, Evie. Now, these emerald marks show the likely locations for the next rituals."
She pointed a large red mark in the castle complex. "This is where the hellmouth will be formed."
At least the buildings would contain anything that came through and give us a fighting chance, should the worst happen.
Lysander leaned over me and jabbed at an emerald mark near
Jindřišská
. "That will be where the next ritual will be easiest to conduct. The energies are right there."
The growl in his voice sent a shiver down my spine.
I looked around the group. "Then what are we waiting for?"
Azfin's tongue slipped over his lips, showing the tips of his sharp teeth. "The ritual can't occur during the daylight."
"So we're supposed to sit on our asses all day?" I demanded.
He shrugged. "I see that the city has returned to normal today. You did quite well, for a closed-minded little human."
I leaned across the table and reached out to grab his hair, my intentions being to smash his nose into the table. Lysander held me back.
"Evelyn, we must prepare an ambush,” he said calmly.
I sat back down in my seat and composed myself; I knew that he was right, but that wasn't going to stop me from wiping the smug little smile off the Sidhe's face. It was just a matter of time.
Quin said a little too brightly, "We'll head over to Kadrix, he's been playing with those orbs you gave me this morning. I'm sure he'll have something interesting to tell us, and some useful toys to help us stop the ritual tonight."
Azfin sniffed daintily, "It's such a shame to have an elf playing with... alchemy, when they have such natural inborn talent for real magic."
Lysander wasn't quick enough that time. I drove the arrogant little prick's face down into the table. Blood trickled from his nose, his eyes turned a golden-amber. I grinned.
Elise snapped, "Stop. Both of you."
"Sorry," I mumbled.
Azfin brushed himself off; Haeyl handed him a lace-edged handkerchief that he dabbed at his nose with.
Elise said, "Evie, do as Quin suggested and go to Kadrix to prepare. I will speak to my lady, and you," she snarled at the Sidhe, "will behave yourselves or I will castrate you myself."
Azfin sat a little taller, Haeyl pouted, but neither said anything.
Elise sighed heavily, "I am tired of witches screwing over my city. Evie, give me a hug, then go and prepare. I'll see you just before sunset."
I hugged her tight and left with Quin; Kadrix was only ten minutes’ walk away. It irked me to depend on him for tricks, but having seen how useful the orbs and the golden powder were only the day before, I had no choice but to explore my options. Magic wasn't quite as black and evil as I had liked to think. I needed to start fighting magic with magic, whether I liked it or not.
The workshop was oddly quiet. The usual sounds of bubbling and scribbling were missing. Quin pushed ahead and practically ran into the work area. I couldn't help myself, I laughed loudly when I saw the state of the elf. His pale blond hair was sticking up at all sorts of creative angles, and streaked with varying shades of pink. Said pink also coated his face, apart from his eyes, which were surrounded by lurid green circles. Kadrix was giving a small collection of orbs that sat on the wooden bench before him a look that promised to kill. His eyes lifted to shift that look to me. I laughed louder.
Quin went to him. "What happened?"
Kadrix stomped his foot and shook his fist at the orbs, his mouth opened but no words came out. He was a mute. My day was looking up.
Lysander was stood behind me trying desperately not to laugh. Quin, however, looked deeply concerned.
"Are you hurt?" he asked.
The elf threw his hands up in the air before he shook his head. He rubbed at his face with a cloth, but the pink didn't budge. My laughter was starting to hurt my ribs and tears ran down my cheeks. Kadrix threw a small ball of ice at me, I side-stepped it and continued laughing.
Quin shot me a dark look. "I think that's enough, Evie, we get your point."
I took a deep breath and tried to compose myself. We did need tools and tricks from the elf; it was better if I didn't annoy him too much.
I gulped down air before I said, "I take it the orbs bit back."
Kadrix closed his eyes and took a deep breath before he painted a calm expression on his face. His nostrils flared before he scrubbed at his face once more then tried to smooth his hair out. A small area of clear skin emerged just by his mouth. Quin shot me a warning look when I went to say something; I bit my tongue. It wasn't my fault that I was taking such pleasure in seeing the elf knocked down a peg or two. Quin dug out a hairbrush from behind a stack of herbs and handed it to Kadrix with a small smile; I looked around the workshop, hoping to spot something useful.
"We're ambushing the hound tonight," I said idly.
Kadrix rolled his eyes, but he was making some progress with his face. The pink was slowly coming off, but the green remained painted around his eyes; it was an interesting effect, one that Quin seemed to notice, too. The elf pointed imperiously at a large teak box that sat precariously near the edge of a nearby shelf, squeezed between two leather-bound tomes. Quin carefully lifted it off the shelf and set it before the elf. I approached slowly; as much as the minor curses and spells barely hurt, I didn't want to risk him losing his temper and doing something more harmful. Kadrix lifted the lid of the box and pulled out a little pale cream bag of something. He nodded to me and extended his hand. I eyed him suspiciously. I had no idea what was in that bag. The options ranged from a life-saving powder through to an agonising poison.
Kadrix huffed and looked from Quin to me.
Quin gave a small smile and said, "Evie, this is the upgraded anti-magic powder. It won't harm Lys, but it'll help against all other forms of magic."
I gave Kadrix a small nod of thanks before I cautiously took the bag. I peered inside and saw sparkly purple and green powder. Satisfied that Quin wouldn't lie to me, I attached it to my belt, ready for later.
The idea that Lysander was a magical beast didn't quite sit right in my mind. I turned away from the elf and began poking at the books and bottles close at hand. I was growing too attached to the hound. He was becoming something more in my mind, and that could lead to dangerous places. A small voice in my mind asked if it was really such a bad thing. Another small bag hit me in the side of the face; I glared at Kadrix, who tried to look innocent.
Quin smiled and said, "That's something to dip your blades in. It will cut through the hound's infernal protections. It will help against both the hound, and any infernal zombies that may show up."
I narrowed my eyes at the black bag that sat on the books before me.
Quin laughed softly, "It's not going to bite you, Evie. If it makes you feel any better, I made that one."
Kadrix smiled, or more beamed, with pride. His hand slipped behind Quin's back, I focused on the bag before.
Lysander moved closer to me and said, "Not everything magical bites, you know, Evie. At least not without permission..."
I ignored him and opened the bag, carefully positioning it so it'd be stable while I dipped my blades into the slate-grey gloop. It clung to the blades, almost the viscosity of jam. The drips languidly rolled down my blades, clinging onto the very tip before they fell back down into the bag below. Once each of my many blades had been coated in the stuff, I carefully checked that they remained as sharp as usual, a drop of blood blossoming on my finger as my reward. It didn't hurt; they were far too sharp for that. I sucked on my finger, removing the risk of either Kadrix or Lysander getting their hands on it. When I looked up to check on the progress of things, Lysander was watching me with a small smile; Quin, however, was dabbing at Kadrix's cheek, trying to remove the last bit of pink. I cleared my throat; we had more important things to be doing than making the elf look presentable.
Kadrix trailed his fingers along the back of Quin's hand in response to me. I raised an eyebrow and waited for him to stop trying to push my buttons. I had no problems with Quin seeing men, I just didn't like the idea of said man being a conniving elf. Quin put the cloth down and handed me two more bags, with another two going to Lysander.
"The green balls are flashes to blind them, and if they're close enough, they'll be zapped with a small bolt of lightning. The blue ones will freeze them in place for a few seconds."
I grinned. "Finally, the elf has given us something we can really use. I should have known we'd need a witch to get some real tools."
Kadrix put his nose in the air and studiously ignored me; Quin pursed his lips but said nothing. I hooked the small bags onto my belt and made sure they didn't interfere with my movement or access to my blades. Lysander had shoved them into his pockets; he didn't carry the same set-up as Quin and I. I wondered for a moment if perhaps we should think about setting him up with weapons and a little utility belt. I pushed the thought away; I wasn't planning on keeping him. There was no point in wasting money on him. If only I believed it when I thought it.
Much to Quin's relief, Kadrix got his voice back just before we left the workshop. I thanked him for the toys and tools and headed over to Jindřišská before I wished too hard for him to lose his voice again. Lysander was tense again, his eyes darting all over the place; his energy was palpable. I could feel his excitement at seeing the other hound again. There was a lot of history there. Elise met us in front of what was quite a small tower by Prague's standards. It was far from the ideal place for an ambush, or a ritual, but it was where we'd been told it would happen. Lysander remained close to me as I walked past little shops set into the smooth old stone walls of the buildings that encroached on the road. A glance up at the sky told me that the sun was going to set before long. We needed to get into our places. Quin and Elise tucked themselves down by the archway that led to Náměstí Republiky. Lysander remained practically glued to my side; we slipped into the shadows near the little park that held the muse statues.
Matyas and co. had shown up late, as expected. They casually sat on benches by the tram stop; the hound hadn't seen them, so we hoped they'd be safe in plain sight. The hunters had been much better behaved since they'd helped remove the shadows and weaken the witches. Viktor even gave Lysander a small nod of respect when he saw him. Taking a deep breath, I calmed myself; it could be a long wait. The sun slithered down behind the buildings, leaving a red smudge in its wake; the clouds were already closing in. Lysander bumped into me as he tried to remain still, and failed. I squeezed his upper arm, feeling the strong muscle there, and gave him a small smile that I hoped didn't betray my desire to feel more of his muscles.
“Relax," I said softly.
He clenched and unclenched his hands, but managed to still himself. Hounds aren't an ambush predator; they run down down their prey. Fortunately for us, our prey didn't take too long to arrive. Witches formed in the shadows all around. They slipped down over the smooth stones of the buildings and floated to the ground from the top of the tower. In only moments, there was a small army of them. No hound, though. Lysander lowered his upper body and fought against his instincts to charge in; we needed to wait. We couldn't afford to scare the other hound off.
The witches danced around the tower, their faces covered by silk masks. After what felt like an agonisingly long time, the necromancer hobbled down the road towards the tower; he paused for half a beat to glance at the hunters, but nothing more. The hunters whispered something to each other. I bit my lip willing them to shut the fuck up. No one paid them any mind, though, until the zombies showed up, that was. They came from nowhere. I wondered what happened to the witches not having much power; they'd managed to magically transport a collection of no less than two dozen zombies out of the ether. Grey-skinned zombies with bright red marks burned into their exposed flesh shambled towards the hunters. They glanced around wild-eyed; we had no choice.