Light Dragons 03 - Sparks Fly

granddaughter, so he’ll be very interested in making himself look good in Maura’s eyes. And what better way to do that than to be on the winning team? Anyone need a potty break before we head out? We should probably be ready to go the second we hear which location is the target.”
    A squabble broke out between Constantine and Magoth over who got to ride with whom, but in the end, everyone squeezed into one of the two remaining cars present and waited for Savian’s call.

Chapter Sixteen
    “S o this is the famed sepulcher,” a male voice said behind me.
    I smiled as Savian appeared around the edge of a clump of tall fir trees. It was then I noticed his condition.
    “What happened to you?” I asked, walking in a circle around him. He was shirtless, his jeans tattered, revealing rather surprising tiger-striped underwear in a few spots, his chest and arms covered in soot. His face was as black as his chest, with fingers of lighter color fanning out along his laugh lines. A little blood leaked out from under a strip of material that had been bound around one of his upper arms, and he appeared to have lost both of his eyebrows.
    “Dr. Kostich,” he said, twitching slightly.
    “Oh dear. Do you need a healer?”
    “No. I’ll live.” He squinted at the sepulcher. “I take it Thala isn’t here yet?”
    “Not yet.”
    “Are you sure that’s it?” Aisling asked, nodding toward the building. “It’s a ruins. Dr. Kostich would never put a vault in a ruins. Would he?”
    “It looks like a ruins, but trust me, it’s not. It’s layered with prohibitive arcane magic.”
    “That doesn’t affect May, does it?” Savian asked, gingerly feeling his forehead.
    “No, it doesn’t, but May has worked through the protection and made it to the inside. She and Gabriel’s ethereal self are having a look around in there to see what’s what before Drake takes over.”
    “I had a feeling it might be this place.” Savian considered the redbrick ruins of what must have once been a glorious Russian Orthodox church. “It felt wrong for what it was, if you know what I mean.”
    I studied the building that the L’au-dela had turned into its sepulcher. Nearest us was a tall round columnated tower, topped with a spire bearing the Orthodox cross. Gothic rounded windows and columns ran down the body of the church, ending in a huge dome on the far end, most of which was still standing. Surrounding the remains of the church was a thick stand of firs, and the air, even at night, was sharp with the scent of pine. Bats flew overhead as they searched for their evening meal, the waxing moon partially hidden by some clouds, but peeping out now and again to shine down an almost unearthly glow upon the building.
    “It certainly is atmospheric,” Aisling said, rubbing her arms as she glanced around somewhat nervously. “I wonder where Drake’s gotten to.”
    “How did it go with Dr. Kostich?” I asked Savian. “Other than his attempt to blow you up.”
    His expression hardened. “It went. I caught up with them about three miles outside the forest. I tried to take them by surprise, but Kostich saw me just as I jumped him. That was when he got off the arcane blast, but despite that, I managed to knock him out long enough to restrain him with some duct tape and nylon rope.”
    “I hope that doesn’t make things worse for you and Maura.”
    He shrugged. “It had to be done.” He slid me a look from the corner of his eye, then suddenly grinned. “I can’t tell you how good it felt to use that neck pinch on him. He dropped like a sack of mages. Then I tied up his driver and him, and drove them off a side path into the woods where I hope no one will find them until we’re done here.”
    “The watch is still on its way,” I reminded him.
    “Yes. Hopefully not so many that we can’t handle them.” He looked around. “Where are the others?”
    “May and Gabriel are inside, as I said, although Gabriel’s body is propped up next to the building. Drake and his bodyguard, István, are securing the perimeter. May’s demon lord got too close to Aisling, and Drake set him on fire, which he just seemed to enjoy, so he went off with Constantine to discuss something about spectral whips. I really don’t want to know more than that. And Baltic, Pavel, and Holland are doing something I also don’t want to know about with a couple of electric mantraps that Drake brought along with him. I should check on Baltic, speaking of that.