Queen of Air and Darkness
Page 87

“—the demon calling you Mr. Ashdown?” Julian finished.
“My family are Forsworn—loyal to the Fallen Star,” said Cam shortly. “They run the Institute here for Sebastian. Members of the Legion of the Star are marked with special tattoos.”
Livvy showed them the inside of her right wrist, where a design was marked, a star inside a circle. The same sigil that had been on Sebastian’s banners earlier. “Mine is forged. That’s why Cameron is driving,” Livvy said. She glanced at him with wry fondness. “His family doesn’t know he’s not loyal to the Star.”
“I can’t say I’m astonished Paige and Vanessa turned out to be traitors,” said Emma, and she saw Livvy flick her an odd glance. Surprise she knew who Paige and Vanessa were? Agreement? Emma wasn’t sure.
They had reached downtown L.A., an area that had been pretty thick with demon activity even in the regular world. Here the streets were surprisingly crowded—Emma saw vampires and faeries walking around freely, and even a repurposed convenience store advertising blood milk shakes in the window. A group of large cats scuttled by, and as they turned their heads Emma saw they had the faces of human babies. No one on the sidewalk gave them a second glance.
“So Downworlders,” Julian said. “How do they fit in here?”
“You don’t want to know,” Livvy said.
“We do,” said Emma. “We know warlocks—we could try to get in touch with them here, get help—”
“Warlocks?” Livvy snapped. “There are no warlocks. Once Sebastian opened the world to hellbeasts, the warlocks started to get sick. Some died, and as for the rest, their humanity degraded. They turned into demons.”
“Into demons?” Emma said. “All the way?”
“What about Magnus?” said Julian. “Magnus Bane?”
Emma felt a chill run over her. So far they hadn’t asked after the welfare of anyone they knew. She suspected both of them found the prospect terrifying.
“Magnus Bane was one of the first great tragedies,” said Livvy as if she were reciting an old story everyone knew. “Bane realized he was turning into a demon. He begged his boyfriend, Alexander Lightwood, to kill him. Alec did, and then turned the sword on himself. Their bodies were found together in the ruins of New York.”
Julian had gone whiter than paper. Emma put her head down, feeling like she might faint.
Magnus and Alec, who had always been a symbol of all that was good, so horribly gone.
“So that’s warlocks,” said Livvy. “The Fair Folk are allied with Sebastian and mostly they live in the protected realms of Faerie, though some like to visit our world, do a little mischief. You know.”
“I don’t think we do,” Julian said. “The realms of Faerie are protected?”
“The faeries were Sebastian’s allies during the Dark War,” said Livvy. “They lost a lot of warriors. The Seelie Queen herself was killed. Sebastian rewarded them after the war by giving them what they wanted—isolation. Entrances to Faerie are walled off from this world, and any human or even Endarkened who threatens one of the few faeries remaining in Thule is severely punished.”
“The Seelie Queen never had a—a child?” Julian asked.
“She died without children,” said Livvy. “The Unseelie King has united both Courts and rules over everything there now. His heir is Prince Erec, or at least that’s what we last heard. Not a lot of news from Faerie gets out.”
So there was no second Ash in this world, Emma thought. Probably good, since one Ash seemed like more than enough.
“As for the werewolves, the packs are all scattered,” said Cameron. “You’ve got some lone wolves, some who’ve thrown their lot in with Sebastian, some are rebels with us, most were killed. Vampires are doing a bit better because demons don’t like to eat them as much—they’re already dead.”
“There are a few vampire cults that have joined up with Sebastian,” said Livvy. “They worship him and believe that when they eat everyone in Thule, he will lead them through to a world of more people with more blood.”
“Raphael Santiago says they’re idiots, and when all the people are gone, they’ll starve,” said Cameron.
“Raphael Santiago is still alive? In our world he’s dead,” said Julian.
“Well, there’s one point for Thule,” said Livvy with a crooked smile. “When we get to the building you’ll see—”
She broke off as a human came pelting out of an alley. A teenage boy, filthy and skinny to the point of starvation, hair hanging in matted clumps. His clothes were dirty, a ragged pack dangling from one arm.
Livvy tensed. “Unsworn human,” she said. “Demons can hunt them for sport. Cam—”
“Livvy, we shouldn’t,” Cameron said.
“Pull over!” Livvy snapped. Cameron slammed on the brakes, throwing them all forward; Julian was up and out of his seat, throwing his arm out to catch Livvy by the shoulder and prevent her from bumping her head.
She shot him a startled look. Then she was shaking him off and powering down her window, leaning out to shout to the boy. “Over here!”
The boy changed course and raced toward them. Behind him, something appeared at the mouth of the alley. Something that looked as if it were made of shadows and ragged black wings. It dived toward him at incredible speed and Livvy swore. “He’s not going to make it.”
“He might,” Cameron said. “Ten bucks.”
“What the hell?” Emma said. She reached for the handle of her door and shoved it open—Julian grabbed her by the sleeve of her tunic, yanking her back—and the ragged shadow was on the boy like a hawk on a mouse. He gave one terrified shriek as it seized him, and they both shot up into the air, disappearing into the ashy sky.
Cam hit the gas; a few passersby were staring at them. Emma was breathing hard. Mundanes weren’t supposed to be killed by demons. Shadowhunters were supposed to be able to help.
But there were no Shadowhunters here.
“You owe me four thousand dollars, Cam,” Livvy said tonelessly.
“Yeah,” said Cameron. “I’ll repay you as soon as the international banking system is reestablished.”
“What about our family?” Julian said abruptly. He let go of Emma’s sleeve; she’d almost forgotten he was holding on to her. “Are any of them here, Livia?”
Livvy’s mouth flattened into a tense line. “I’m still not convinced you’re Julian,” she said. “And my family is my business.”
They turned abruptly off the street, and for a moment Emma thought they were going to plow into the side of a familiar brown brick structure: the famous downtown Bradbury Building, surprisingly still standing. At what felt like the last minute, a sheet of bricks and sandstone rose up out of the way and they pulled into a cavernous dark space.
A garage. They piled out of the car, and Cameron went over to chat with a girl in camo pants and a black tank top who was turning a metal crank that slid the garage door closed. It was a massive slab of brick and metal operated by a cleverly jointed set of gears.
“We’re on our own generator here,” said Livvy. “And we do a lot of stuff by hand. We don’t need the Forsworn tracing us by our electricity usage.” She tossed her shotgun back into the car. “Come on.”
They followed her to a door that led into a spacious entryway. It was clear they were inside a large office building. The walls were brick and marble, the floor tiled, and above her she could see an intricate maze of catwalks, metal staircases, and the glint of old ironwork.
Livvy narrowed her eyes at both of them. “Okay,” she said slowly.
“Okay, what?” said Emma.
“You just passed through a corridor whose walls were packed with salt, gold, and cold iron,” Livvy said. “A crazy old millionaire built this place. He believed in ghosts and he stuffed the building with everything that’s meant to repel the supernatural. Some of it does still work.”
The door behind them banged. Cameron had returned. “Divya says Diana’s not back yet,” he said. “You want me to take these two upstairs to wait?”