Night Rune (Prof Croft Book 8) Brad Magnarella (the red fox clan TXT) 📖

not ready to hear what it has to say. She might really have been onto something, because I damned sure wasn’t ready to hear this.

Arnaud’s head tilted toward me, his eyes coming back into focus.

“Can’t believe I’m doing this,” I muttered as I unfastened the straps.

Very carefully, I peeled the muzzle away. A network of indentations crisscrossed Arnaud’s skin where the restraint had been pressing. I moved back into my casting circle, unnerved at seeing his entire face again. It reminded me how deadly he was, even if he presently lacked the strength to lift his head. He gave up after a couple feeble attempts. A pale tongue emerged to wet his drawn lips.

“I know…” he rasped. “Know about … the Night Rune.”

34

A part of me had been ready to dismiss whatever Arnaud told me, but now I straightened.

“What about the Night Rune?” I asked.

“It’s to be Malphas’s gateway.”

“Into the time catch?”

His head nodded against the floor. I remembered the attentive look I’d caught earlier, in Malachi’s lodgings. Even warded and enchanted, the demon-vampire had been listening. He’d heard me ask Caroline about the Night Rune. Though my magic was still nodding its own head, my rational mind was calling bullshit. This was Arnaud exploiting my need for information to his advantage.

“Fine, what is it?” I asked.

“Malphas didn’t tell me everything. Only enough to perform the tasks assigned me.”

“But he mentioned the Night Rune?”

“That he did, Mr. Croft.”

“And you have no insights into what comprises it?”

Enough infernal energy had flowed back into Arnaud that he managed to elbow his torso upright. He slumped against the cylinder of hardened air rising from his circle so he was facing me.

“I’d hoped you would know, Professor. But I happen to have some theories. First, why do you suppose he went after half-fae, merfolk, and druids?”

I’d had the same question—human souls would have been more valuable in the Below—but I wasn’t going to let Arnaud run this show.

“No. First, why are you even telling me this?” I said.

“What? You don’t trust me?”

“Shocking, I know.”

The corners of his lips twitched up. “Contrary to what you believe, I didn’t work for Malphas willingly. I was enslaved. A status forced upon me by … circumstances.” The yellow shards in his irises flared. Through them I could feel his hatred for me, having cast him into the pits. He blinked and looked away. “The point is, I am too dangerous to him alive, and he knows this. If he succeeds, you and I both perish.”

“The enemy of my enemy is my friend,” I muttered.

“Friend may be putting too strong a point on it, Mr. Croft. But yes, we have a mutual interest in stopping him.”

I glared at the creature opposite me, blood pounding in my temples. He’d killed the magic-user Pierce. He’d slaughtered Blade and the vampire hunters. He threatened to do the same to Vega. He’d even threatened our daughter. There was no way in hell I was going to collaborate with him. So why was my magic counseling me to listen?

“Even if you’re telling the truth,” I said, my voice raw in my throat. “You’ll get nothing out of this.”

“Nothing? I’ll get to see Malphas defeated. He’s bet everything on gaining access to your world and feasting on the souls of millions. He means to attain the exalted status of a demon lord. And when he fails, he’ll have nothing. His competitors will tear him from his perch. He’ll fall to the lowly ranks of the imps and pit devils and be torn to pieces.” Arnaud’s eyes brightened with the thought.

“Yeah, I’m not buying the ‘and that will be reward enough’ schtick.”

The hinges of his jaw tightened. “You have no idea the depravations he’s put me through.”

“Be that as it may, you’re too obsessed with your own survival.”

“And you’re planning to incinerate me when this is all over?”

“Not planning,” I said, remembering my pledge to Vega. “It’s happening.”

“Perhaps you’ll think differently.”

“Absolutely not.”

“You scoffed when I told you the way to re-enter the time catch was through me. And now?” Arnaud motioned around us. The gesture was weak, his voice still scraping from his emaciated body. So how could he be so damned confident?

“Malphas took what he could get,” I said abruptly.

Arnaud blinked and pulled his hand back. “Come again?”

“Your question about why he went after half-fae, merfolk, and druids? Malphas needed soul fuel, and a demon already had the Strangers in place. The groups weren’t pure humans, but he liked their numbers.”

“A reasonable presumption. But what if I told you Malphas acquired the Strangers from three different demons?”

“Three?” I hesitated. “He shopped for them?”

“Yes, and why do you suppose he would do that?”

Why did anyone shop for anything? “For their particular properties,” I replied.

“I believe so too. You were correct about the copper plates. I acquired and installed them to direct ley energy back at the source. And that, Mr. Croft, is where I believe the Night Rune comes in.”

“To convert that energy into a portal.”

“And what would that require, Mr. Croft?”

“An alchemizing process, for starters. A damned powerful one.”

“Precisely why I believe the Night Rune is a container,” he said.

I caught myself nodding. “To hold the essences he siphoned from those groups.”

But what would be special about those particular essences? I wondered. Mer, half-fae, druid…

“Did I hear Malachi say he observed new construction at the church site?” Arnaud asked.

“Yeah, some sort of platform,” I replied distractedly. “But if everything’s in place, why isn’t Malphas here already?”

“Because everything must not be in place.”

I heard Malachi’s distressed voice: Time is short! The elements of the Night Rune gather!

“What do you know about this other demon?” I asked.

“Hm, the revelation was as much a surprise to me as you.”

“Malphas never mentioned this demon?” I asked suspiciously.

“Perhaps he was keeping him in reserve were anything to happen to me.”

“But you knew about the fae being compromised.”

“Only because Malphas is vain. Once he learned you’d entered our time catch, he gloated about having a demon doing his bidding in