21

Wick grabbed Lily’s hand, trying to pull her back away from Lux, and Lux stepped in front of her, between them and Ira. Ira had snuck up on them, coming from the opposite direction that Gula, Aeterna, Edgar, and Addonexus had left in.

“Ira, you don’t want to hurt her,” Lux reminded him and stepped closer to him.

“No, I think I do.” Ira smiled at him, the expression looking rather unpleasant on his stony face. “Valefor wants her to suffer, to see what life would be like against him. I can do whatever I want with her, as long as I keep her alive.

“As for you,” Ira continued, stepping closer to Lux. “I have direct orders to kill you.”

“Lux!” Lily yelled behind him, and she tried to run to his side, but Wick held her back.

“Wick, get her out of here!” Lux shouted.

Wick was already trying to do that, but Lily fought her. She grabbed onto Lux’s arm, but he wouldn’t look back at her. He had to keep his focus on Ira. Still hanging onto Lily, Wick came up behind Lux, so close to him she was nearly touching his back. She took her wand out of her satchel and slid it in the back of his pants, all without Ira seeing.

“Good luck,” she whispered, then she yanked Lily’s arm.

“Lux!” Lily yelled again, but Wick pulled her on.

“He’ll fight better without you distracting him!” Wick told her, and that was true enough, so Lily relented a little to being dragged away. She stared back over her shoulder, watching Lux face down Ira until Wick took her around a corner, and she couldn’t see them anymore.

Ira barely seemed to notice that Lily had run off, nor did he seem to care that she did. He knew that the lair was a maze, and it would be nearly impossible for her and Wick to find their way out. Lux knew that too, but at the moment, he didn’t care if they found their way out. He just wanted them away from Ira.

“I’m actually glad that I didn’t kill you earlier,” Ira said as he and Lux faced off, moving in a slow circle around each other. “I can really savor it this time, without that girl screaming in my ear. It was good of you to send her away.”

“You know me,” Lux smirked. “I’ve always been a thoughtful guy.”

After their fight earlier, Lux knew he couldn’t beat Ira hand-to-hand. Ira was made of granite, and Lux’s body was more like pulverized meat at this point. To win, he’d have to come up with something better, but he didn’t know what that would be.

Wick’s wand poked him in his back, but he didn’t know how much good that would do. Still, Wick had left it with him for a reason, and it would work better than nothing.

Ira threw a punch at Lux, and he dove out of the way, narrowly missing one of Ira’s rock-hard fists in his jaw. Ira laughed at that, a deep guffaw, and then he swung again. Lux darted away, just barely avoiding the hit again.

“So we’re going to dance, are we?” Ira asked.

Even though he was still smiling, Lux could see his patience was dwindling. One or two swings more, and Ira would go after him with all he had. Lux wouldn’t stand a chance against that. He had to make a move first.

In one smooth move, Lux reached behind his back and pulled out the wand. The unicorn horn felt strangely heavy in his hand. He pointed it right at Ira’s chest, and for a moment, Ira looked startled.

“What is that you have there?” Ira squinted at it, as if he really didn’t understand what he was seeing.

“A powerful wand.” Lux kept his arm straight even though it wanted to shake. “Leave now, and I won’t use it against you. But if you take another step, I’ll be forced to destroy you.”

“I’ll believe that when I see it,” Ira said, but he didn’t move.

Not at first anyway. Then Ira moved quickly at Lux, stopping short. It was a fake-out charge meant to startle Lux, and it did just that.

Lux flicked the wand, but nothing happened. Ira stared at him, waiting for something, so Lux shook it. Still nothing happened, and Ira threw back his head and laughed.

Of course the wand wouldn’t work for him. It was a unicorn horn, and Lux was a peccati with no training in sorcery. He had absolutely no idea how to make the thing work, except what he’d seen witches do before. Wick just held it and magic spewed forth, but apparently, there was some trick to it that Lux couldn’t decipher.

“Dammit,” Lux muttered and shook the wand again.

“Oh, that’s rich.” Ira tried to quiet his laughter. “That is just pathetic, Lux! Is that even a real wand? Or is that just a twig you picked up outside?”

Ira was too busy laughing to really be on guard, so Lux charged at him. It was the best plan of attack he could come up with. But as soon as Ira saw Lux moving at him, he stopped laughing and righted himself. He swung at Lux, who ducked below it, and kept running.

There was nothing in this part of the hallway to fight Ira with, so he had to go somewhere else where he could find something useful. Ira called Lux a coward but chased after him. Lux heard Ira’s feet behind him, sounding like a stampede of horses rather than one man, and Lux knew he had to get out of the way.

Lux threw open the first door he came to, and immediately realized that wasn’t the wisest choice. Unfortunately, Ira was right on his tail, so he had to go inside, even if the room spelled certain doom.

If Lux had been paying more attention, he would’ve known what room it was just by the smell. The skinning room had the distinct scent of hot oil and cooking flesh. Valefor liked collecting the hides of his victims, and the skin came off much easier when boiled in hot water.

The skinning room had about ten feet of ledge right inside the door, and then it was open to a giant vat of boiling water. It was kept hot by lava that flowed up from the surface. Just being inside the room was almost unbearably warm, and Lux could handle heat very well.

A sonneillon stood near one side of the room, stirring the water with a large pitchfork. Apparently, there was something in the water in the process of being skinned.

“Good choice, Lux,” Ira said, sounding genuinely impressed when he walked in the room behind him. “I couldn’t have picked a better room for your demise.”

“I was just thinking the same thing, except about you.” Lux turned back around to face Ira and flashed him a cocky grin, even though he did not feel cocky at all.

Ira swung at Lux, but when Lux tried to move out of the way, Ira’s big arm clotheslined him. Lux started to fall backward, but Ira caught him. He lifted him up, so Lux’s back was to Ira, and Ira clamped one arm around his throat, so Lux could barely breathe.

“When you hit the water, make sure you scream a lot,” Ira said, his voice right in his ear. “I want to hear you die.”

Lux flailed, kicking at him with both legs, and tried futilely to pull at the arm crushing his neck. It would be easier to claw at Ira’s arm if he weren’t holding the wand, but he doubted that it would make much of a difference. He wasn’t strong enough to move Ira anyway.

Just as Ira stepped to the edge of the ledge, preparing to drop Lux into the boiling water, Lux thrust the horn back and stabbed Ira right in the eye. Ira screamed and stumbled backwards, then let go of Lux.

Lux hit the ground gasping for breath and watched as Ira fell down next to him a few seconds later. Lux had jammed the horn right into his brain, and Ira’s dead body twitched next to him.

“The luxuria has slain the ira,” the sonneillon hissed and stepped toward Lux, its long fingers reaching out for him. Ira might be out of the way, but the sonneillon would still get quite the reward if he killed Lux.

Lux got up, still rubbing his throat, and stepped back from the sonneillon. It kept coming at him, so Lux moved to the side. He kept stepping backwards, moving so the sonneillon would stand between him and the hot water.

When the sonneillon reached out for him again, Lux kicked it as hard as he could in the chest. The creature went flying backward, growling as it fell into the water. It began to scream, but only for a few seconds before it died.

“I always thought you things were so gross,” Lux said, watching the sonneillon float in the water.

With Ira taken care of, that left him with only thing to do: figure out how to stop Valefor from going after Lily. Because as long as Valefor was alive, Lily would never be safe.