The Blood Bracelets #2: Demon Born

Chapter Fourteen

Ace whistled a nondescript tune as he walked through the Halls, having just evaded the two Immortals assigned to watch him while Julius arranged for a Doorway. Ace hadn't left the common room to do anything harmful to the Halls – because what harm could he possibly to do the Halls anyway? – but watching Eljae as she constantly retreated into herself, offering only glimpses of the fiery feraii he had first met, was grating on his nerves. He wasn't going to dismiss the effect Orsen's warped personality could have on a person, especially on someone who had been at Orsen's mercy, but he knew Eljae was stronger than that sociopath; Ace didn't want Eljae giving Orsen the satisfaction by letting the "what if" get the better of her.

Besides, Ace was dwelling on the "what if" enough for the both of them.

Ace shook his head, growing frustrated with himself. How did his life get so damn twisted? What happened to the simplicity he had surrounded himself with, which consisted of hunting bounties, flirting with women, and drinking himself stupid when he had nothing else better to do?

He needed to back to that life. As soon as Julius sends us back to Zed's, I'm forgetting all about this, Ace decided. No more Infernum, no more Alchemists, and no more psychotic Angels.

'There he is,' Julius said in exasperation, and Ace retreated from his thoughts to find that his feet had led him back to the common room where Julius, Eljae and the two irritated Immortals waited for him.

'What?' asked Ace, slipping his hands nonchalantly into his pockets.

Julius looked as if he was about to say something, but then he took in a deep, calming breath and decided against it. Eljae rolled her eyes.

'The Doorway is ready for the both of you,' Julius said. 'Are you ready?'

Eljae looked around the common room as if checking whether there was anything she wanted to take. Or steal. She shrugged and said, 'I'm ready.'

'Me too,' Ace declared. 'Being here again reminded me of why I didn't want to be here in the first place.'

They made their way across the Halls to the four gateway rooms, all of which had a single compass point engraved into the stone above the entrances. Julius went to the room labelled South and led them through, a faint white light illuminating the threshold as they entered. Ace knew using the gateway rooms wasn't as simple as an Immortal peeling open any old Doorway, so he hadn't been surprised that it took Julius the entire afternoon to arrange their departure. Since the Immortal Halls didn't physically exist in any one dimension, the only way to come and go was by the magic that tethered the gateway rooms to the actual dimensions – which was why Ace couldn't understand how Fury had managed to drag him, Eljae and Seth out of the ether and into the Immortal Halls. Then again, the Angels hadn't used the gateway rooms either and, Ace suspected, neither had Seth and Kael when they fled.

It seemed the rules Immortals loved so much were being broken, and easily.

In the centre of the gateway room was a hexagon carved into the stone floor, a symbol punctuating each point of the hexagon. Ace and Eljae moved to stand in the hexagon's centre, then turned back to face Julius.

'You'll be sent straight back to Zed's,' he told them, 'and don't worry, Zed knows to expect you.'

'Did you also tell Zed that connecting a Doorway to his place from the gateway room means that the Doorway will be permanently available?' asked Ace, quirking his brow.

Julius glanced thoughtfully to the side and said, 'He didn't sound to be in a terribly good mood, so I made an executive decision not to. Would you mind—?'