'You can't do this!' Taryn shouted, banging her fist against the door until it hurt. She could hear the Alchemist walking up the stairs beyond her door and so she began to kick instead. She continued to kick even after she could no longer hear the Alchemist, even after she knew it was pointless, and even after her foot was aching.
But finally, Taryn stopped. She stopped because her body crumpled to the floor, like the weight of everything that had happened had suddenly crashed onto her shoulders and her legs could no longer bear to hold her up. With frustration swelling in her chest, Taryn slapped her palms against the cold ground, feeling the lance of pain shoot up her arms, and then dropped her head forward into her palms. She didn't even care that her fingers were coated with dust.
How could this have happened? How was she in Zed's, sulking over Kael, and then locked in a basement with nothing but the sound of dripping water to break the silence. She had woken up here a moment ago, an Alchemist whose name she didn't know and didn't care to know standing over her. Satisfied that she was awake, the Alchemist had left and locked her in.
She didn't know how long it had been since Asina betrayed them, how long she was unconscious, or even where she was. She didn't know anything, and she felt utterly helpless because of it.
Her gaze snapped back up to the door again, tempted to try and bash it open once more, but her body wouldn't let her. It was too fatigued, too stressed, to deliberately cause more pain to itself. She felt her chest swelling with frustration again, but it deflated easily, replaced with despair instead.
There were symbols etched in places on the door, which meant the Alchemists had prepared this room. How long had they known they were going to betray her and Kael? Wasn't this going against the Immortals, or were they in on it too? She couldn't trust anyone anymore! Or at least she didn't know who she could trust.
You can trust me.
Taryn's eyes snapped up, as if expecting to see Fury standing in front of her. She wasn't there though; she was in Taryn's head. The power, the creature or the demon or whatever was wearing Taryn's own face, that had appeared inside her after Christian's ritual atop the Immortal's office.
'You're the last person I'd want to trust,' Taryn replied.
It's not about wanting to, Taryn. You'll need to trust me soon, I assure it.
'Then I'll have to prove you wrong,' she said, 'now go away, I don't want to hear from you again.'
Oh, you will.
Someone came down toward the basement, and Taryn knew merely by the sound of the heels tapping against the concrete that it was Eden. She felt anger seep into her, her hands clenching into fists, but then she heard the sounds of other footsteps. Eden wasn't alone.
Taryn stood up just as the door opened, letting in Eden with two Alchemists standing at the doorway behind her.
'So,' began Taryn, forcing calm into her voice, 'I guess your kindness was merely an act. You really a good performer.'
Eden smiled. 'Thank you. Faking things comes naturally to me.'
'Then drop the kindness now and tell me why I'm here,' Taryn demanded, keeping the desperation out of her voice despite how tightly it clutched at her heart.
'You know why you're here,' said Eden, flicking her wrist in a silent command at the other two Alchemists.
'I don't!' Taryn exclaimed. 'But apparently I should, because everyone else does.'
The two Alchemists came toward her and she started to move away from them, but they snatched up her arms to pull her back.
'You really don't know, do you?' said Eden, giving Taryn a measured look. Then she let out a little laugh, as if at a quaint joke. 'Well, this will make things much easier. Come with me!'
Taryn planted her feet to the ground and struggled against the Alchemists, but together they were too strong for her to resist and she was dragged forward. They took her up the narrow stairwell and into a hallway with carpet the colour of deep, red wine and whilst there were doorframes embedded into the walls either side of her they lacked actual doors. The only door lay at the opposite end of the corridor, which was where Taryn was being led.
Eden opened the door, letting the Alchemists usher Taryn through. The room appeared to be a dining area, with a long, wooden table in the centre, a tear-drop shaped chandelier suspended from the centre of the ceiling and floor-to-ceiling windows that sat behind Asina, the Alchemist Queen, who was positioned at the head of the table. Taryn's gaze froze on the windows though, because the view those windows offered told her exactly where she was.
Sydney.
The Sydney Harbour Bridge, lit up magnificently, was in the near distance and it appeared, from what Taryn could see, that this building was right on the edge of the water. The city lights on the opposite side of the bay reflected across the ocean's surface.
Taryn was pushed into the seat at the opposite end of the table to Asina, while Eden walked around the table to stand at Asina's side. The other two Alchemists bowed silently out of the room.
'Welcome to Sydney, Taryn. Have you been here before?' Asina asked, turning in her chair to admire the view. 'Perhaps we can take a tour, when you cooperate.'
'Then I guess I won't be getting a tour,' Taryn quipped.
Asina turned back to face her, lacing her fingers under her chin. She wasn't in her usual business attire, instead dressed in a long black coat with a fur-lined collar, which made her silver-white hair all the more startling in contrast. 'Is that your way of saying you won't cooperate?' Asina regarded her for a moment, looking disappointed. 'That's very juvenile of you, Taryn.'
'I am only nineteen,' Taryn replied, 'so I guess I haven't grown out of my juvenile delinquency yet.'
Asina's mouth quirked, but whether it was in amusement or irritation Taryn couldn't tell. 'I don't understand why you wouldn't want to cooperate with us,' she said. 'It is in your best interest to do so, after all. We're doing you a favour, Taryn.'
'I'm sure Hitler thought he was doing a favour too,' she remarked.
'You're likening me to a mortal who committed genocide?'
'On a smaller scale, of course,' Taryn amended.
Asina's eyes darkened. 'Don't make assumptions, Taryn, when you have no idea what is really happening. An Infernum, one of the most powerful Seven, is after you yet you clearly have no idea why.'
'My charming personality?'
'Hardly. Because you don't know, you therefore don't understand the danger,' said Asina, leaning back in her chair. 'You have an incredible power inside you Taryn, you just don't know it.'
'Oh, I know it,' Taryn said, especially because that power had a certain habit of making conversation in her head. 'But whatever's inside me isn't a power. It's something that Christian put in there and whatever you want to do with it, I won't let you.'
Asina's brow lifted. 'You think the Infernum put it inside you, like a possession?'
Taryn hesitated, but she pushed back the doubt and said, 'Yes, of course. That was what he did to me, during the ritual. Though why he wanted me specifically, I have no idea.'
'That's just it, Taryn. He didn't want you specifically; he needed you because of what was already inside you. You poor child, so ignorant to what you are, to what is becoming of you, and to those who, like myself, can help you.'
She tried not to let panic stir, but it was hard. Whatever Asina was saying, Taryn knew she had to be careful what she believed but that didn't stop the doubt from creeping in, from making her question what she already believed and what she thought she knew. If Christian hadn't been trying to possess her, then what was he trying to do?
'Unlike Christian, I am doing this in your best interest. You don't understand the danger that is inside you, as I said, and I am trying to minimise that danger,' Asina explained earnestly. 'I wish to remove what is inside you, which would free you from it. I can't say it will be an entirely painless process, but it is better than letting the power consume you.'
Which is what Fury had been suggesting all along, wasn't it? Fury wanted to take complete control over Taryn, that was obvious, but did that mean she could trust Asina? Taryn had trusted her before and look how that turned out.
'If you wanted to help me, why did you go behind Kael's back? Why did you kill Coranna and kidnap me?'
'Because they wouldn't have understood. As for the succubus, she was merely caught in the crossfire and for that, I apologise,' said Asina, sounding sincere enough. 'No one wants the Alchemists to come into power, that's how it has always been. The Immortals rule, the demons hide, and the Alchemists linger in limbo, not human, not demon, not Immortal. We just exist, and it is a miserable existence.'
Taryn looked pointedly out the window which offered a rather majestic view of Sydney harbour. 'Clearly.'
'Materialistic things don't contribute to the state of our existence. We aren't like mortals. We know only oppression and discrimination because of our tainted blood.'
Taryn wanted to point out that many mortals also suffered from constant oppression and discrimination, but decided that Asina probably didn't care. Instead, Taryn asked, 'So why do you want my power? Because right now it sort of looks like you want it to cause oppression on every other race.'
'Not exactly,' said Asina carefully.
'But I'm close, aren't I?'
Asina leaned forward, resting her chin atop her linked fingers. She smiled. 'I suppose you are.'
'Then you're not getting it,' Taryn snapped. 'I'd rather put up with it than let you have it. I'm dead either way, really.'
'I'm sorry you see it that way.'
'I don't think you're all that sorry,' she murmured. There was something in her eyes that told Taryn Asina was delighted at the refusal, almost like she preferred the challenge.
'Then let us have a chat with that power inside you, shall we? Perhaps she has a different opinion.'
Taryn tensed. 'And how do you plan to—?'
Symbols suddenly flared to life around her, drawn into the floor, the chair, and the edges of the table she sat in front of. They burned bright red and Taryn turned her eyes away, squinting against the sheer brilliance that seemed to grow until she could no longer see the room.
Open your eyes.
Her eyes snapped open – she wasn't sure when she closed them – and found that she was no longer in the room overlooking Sydney harbour, but Zed's lounge. It was empty though, free of furniture and décor, and the doorway to the adjoining kitchen didn't exist but Taryn recognised it all the same.
'Lucifer's daughter.'
Taryn turned around, finding Asina standing at the opposite end of the room. Her coat reached her ankles, but it drifted softly against a breeze Taryn couldn't feel herself.
'Excuse me?' said Taryn. 'I'm not—'
'She wasn't talking about you.' Taryn glanced back over her shoulder, Fury now standing behind her. 'She was talking about me,' Fury said.
Taryn stepped out of the way as Fury moved forward, her gait smooth and purposeful. Her eyes were a startling red, like diamonds stained with blood, and she didn't appear at all pleased to see Asina. It was strange, Taryn realised, how easily she could consider Fury to be a completely different person despite wearing the same face.
Fury didn't move too close to Asina, but to Taryn it seemed as if Fury was putting herself between them, blocking Taryn from Asina's view.
'Lucifer's daughter?' said Taryn. 'Is that supposed to be an insult?'
'Try the truth,' Asina suggested. 'That is what you are, isn't it Fury?'
'Loosely. "Family" isn't exactly a term we use in my world,' Fury replied calmly.
Asina laughed. 'Your world? Please, your world has consisted of nothing but the naïve little mind belonging to Miss Taryn Nyte over there. How could you possibly know anything beyond that?'
'I can't reveal all of my tricks now, can I?' said Fury, smiling.
Between Asina and Fury, Taryn suddenly felt inferior.
'Well, I'm sure you were listening. Would you rather stay trapped inside a mortal, or would you prefer to live freely and stand against the Immortals?' Asina offered, stretching out her hand as if coaxing Fury to take it. 'Your cooperation holds more worth than hers,' she added with a dismissive glance in Taryn's direction.
Fury looked to Taryn as well, her eyes dimming as if she had withdrawn into her own thoughts to consider Asina's offer. Taryn didn't know what she wanted Fury to choose; a part of her refused to let Asina win and another part wished that Fury would leave her, never bothering her again. The simplicity of her old life seemed impossible to reclaim with Fury living inside her.
Turning back to Asina, Fury said, 'I may only see through this girl's eyes, but I see one thing very clearly; never trust an Alchemist.'
Fury flicked her wrist through the air and suddenly the room was torn apart, the ceiling and walls ripped away like a tornado had just erupted right above them. Taryn didn't even get the chance to scream before she was thrown back into the dining room, her chair tipping just slightly on its back legs while her head span.
'Queen!' Eden gasped, making Taryn look up. She saw Eden helping Asina back into her chair, a gash on her forehead trailing blood down the side of her face.
'That damn demon,' Asina hissed, and Taryn couldn't stop the sudden sense of victory that filled her. 'I have no choice now but to force Fury out of her cage then.'
'Good luck,' said Taryn, because she hoped Fury gave Asina one hell of a hard time.
Asina dabbed at her cut with a handkerchief, her silver eyes flashing like lightning. 'I don't need luck, Taryn Nyte, believe me.'
The door to the dining room opened and let in the two Alchemists again, but the room they entered from was no longer the corridor Taryn had seen before. Puzzled, she was lifted out of her charred seat and taken into the new room – but as she passed through the doorway, Taryn felt a sudden light-headedness that had her stumbling to regain her balance. She recognised it as an actual Doorway, but was surprised that it had had such a minimal effect on her.
You're welcome, said Fury.
Taryn almost rolled her eyes.
The room was hexagonal, with a domed ceiling made entirely of glass to let in the moonlight. On each panel of wall was a mirror, an infinite reflection in each, and on the floor was a pentagram that immediately made Taryn pull back against the Alchemists, memories of what Christian did flashing through her mind.
'What is this?' she demanded.
'Persuasion,' Asina replied, gesturing with a flick of her wrist once more. The Alchemists threw Taryn into the centre of the diagram and she dropped onto her hands and knees, scraping her skin against the rough cement floor.
'There are a lot of walls caging that demon in, and to reach her I need to break some down. This,' Asina gestured to the diagram, 'is an exorcism.'
Taryn's eyes widened. 'An exorcism? But I'm not possessed!'
Asina ignored her and pointed to the surrounding six mirrors. 'Six mirrors; six doors which I need to open in order to extract the demon.' She turned back to Taryn, smiling. 'Let's see how many we can open today, shall we?'
*****
Taryn hit the ground. She didn't even try to brace her fall when the Alchemists dropped her from the stairwell and into the basement. She was too tired, too sore, her head pounded and body screamed and when the Alchemists slammed the door behind them, she didn't even lift her head. She closed her eyes instead.
Two mirrors had broken, though Taryn hadn't seen them fracture. Instead, she had felt it – felt them shatter like something inside her had shattered instead. She couldn't even piece together what had happened; it was just noise and light, pain and a rush of emotions which had mostly consisted of anger and despair. She had never felt something so consuming before, like she had lost herself in the chaos.
This is only the start, Taryn. It will get worse.
Taryn almost took comfort in the presence of Fury's voice, only because it meant that she was still there. Was she worried that once Asina took Fury, Taryn would be left alone in this basement, forgotten and empty?
'I don't want it to get worse,' Taryn whispered, her hands curling into weak fists.
Let me take over. I will destroy them for hurting you – us.
Don't, something urged her. A voice away from Fury's. Taryn tightened her fists. 'I can't. I won't let you, or anyone else, control me.'
Then I will continue to wait.