Conrad Edison and the Infernal Design

  Conrad Edison and the Infernal Design

  Overworld Arcanum Book 4

  John Corwin

  Contents

  Books by John Corwin

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Acknowledgments

  About the Author

  Books by John Corwin

  Books by John Corwin

  THE OVERWORLD CHRONICLES

  Sweet Blood of Mine

  Dark Light of Mine

  Fallen Angel of Mine

  Dread Nemesis of Mine

  Twisted Sister of Mine

  Dearest Mother of Mine

  Infernal Father of Mine

  Sinister Seraphim of Mine

  Wicked War of Mine

  Dire Destiny of Ours

  Aetherial Annihilation

  Baleful Betrayal

  Ominous Odyssey

  Insidious Insurrection

  Assignment Zero (An Elyssa Short Story)

  OVERWORLD UNDERGROUND

  Possessed By You

  Demonicus

  OVERWORLD ARCANUM

  Conrad Edison and the Living Curse

  Conrad Edison and the Anchored World

  Conrad Edison and the Broken Relic

  Conrad Edison and the Infernal Design

  STAND ALONE NOVELS

  Mars Rising

  No Darker Fate

  The Next Thing I Knew

  Outsourced

  For the latest on new releases, free ebooks, and more, join John Corwin's Newsletter at www.johncorwin.net!

  DARK DESIGN

  When Conrad learns his father has perfected a way to create demonic clones of living people, he realizes it's only a matter of time before the Overworld falls once again to Victus.

  The Arcane Council is already in flux, and Max's father, Xander, is running for primus. If he wins, it will give Victus another solid rung to climb to the top. Several ministers already seem in favor, and with a little push, the entire council could belong to Victus.

  The only way to stop Victus is to destroy the foundry. But to do that, Conrad will have to figure out who is friend, who is foe, and who might be a demon clone. If the infernal design is not broken, Victus will soon control everything.

  Chapter 1

  The stranger appeared inside the mansion without warning. Zarin called out to his bodyguards, but they ignored his summons, their eyes surveying the nearby hallway and parlor room as if nothing was even the slightest bit amiss despite the man in robes and a cowl no more than ten feet from them.

  The stranger waved a wand toward Zarin as he rose from his chair. "Please sit. I have a matter to discuss with you."

  "Wizard," Zarin hissed. "Do you know who I am?"

  "I prefer the term Arcane," the stranger said. "I am here precisely because of who you are."

  "Hmm. British," Zarin said. "Well educated and arrogant. There aren't many Arcanes who fit that bill these days. They're all gone—trapped in Seraphina."

  "Likewise, there are not many of your kind left in Eden either." The stranger raised his hands and lowered the cowl. Shaved head, thin face. A deep scar traversed diagonally from above the left eyebrow, narrowly missing the eye and ending at the nose. He smiled, but it was not a kind smile. It was the sort of smile one might expect to see on the face of a boy maliciously tearing the wings off flies.

  "I don't recognize you," Zarin said. "Yet you seem to know a great deal about me."

  "In the absence of the great houses, you have made quite a name for yourself," the stranger said. "You have built a small empire on the backs of mortals and broken every rule of the Overworld Conclave."

  "Bah." Zarin slashed the air with a hand. "The Overworld government is in disarray. Weak. After the death of the Overlord, Galfandor and those fools at Arcane University tried to piece it back together. But without Templars to enforce the laws, without structure in the factions, there is no glue to hold it together." He bared his teeth. "Who are you, Arcane, to come into my home and make such accusations?"

  "Not accusations. Observations." The stranger shrugged. "You are a man without a house."

  "I'm no man."

  "Man enough," the stranger said. "Yes, there are others of your kind still in the far-flung reaches of the world. Japan, perhaps."

  "The few left alive." Zarin shuddered. "I heard the stories. I know what that girl did."

  "Ivy Slade is no longer a threat." The stranger's cruel smile turned pleasant for a moment. "There's little standing in the way of someone ambitious."

  Zarin barked a laugh. "You want to rule the world?" He laughed again. "How cliché."

  "And yet it has never been done." The stranger shrugged. "What if I told you we could achieve great power? What if I told you, the Overlord could rise again?"

  Realization lit in Zarin's eyes, and his smile vanished. "You look very different with a shaved head, but it's you, isn't it?" He leaned forward. "You had us all fooled with your death."

  "I was quite dead, Zarin." The man shrugged. "Were it not for the teachings of your sister, I might still be so."

  "Yes, well—" without warning, Zarin exploded from his seat, pectoral muscles popping the buttons from his oxford, quads ripping through silk slacks. Horns spiraled from his forehead and a great forked tail sprang from his backside. His mass expanded to nearly three times his original size as he crossed the room in a blur. Thick black claws sparked against an invisible shield around the Arcane.

  Zarin reared back his head and roared. Even now, his bodyguards remained oblivious thanks to whatever spell the Arcane cast on them. Zarin raked his nails across the invisible shield, failing to draw even a look of concern from the man beneath its protection. "Tell me, Victus," he growled in a guttural voice, "what made you think I'd let you live after what you did to my sister?"

  Victus inspected a fingernail and buffed them on his robes as if he were not in imminent danger of a disemboweling. "What do you think I did to her?"

  "She's gone. Dead for all I know." Zarin bared his demonic fangs and huffed against the shield, a panther fogging the window of the observation glass at a zoo. "You cannot maintain this shield forever, Overlord." He loaded the last word with scorn.

  "Your concern for Aerianas is touching, Zarin." Victus stood, the air shimmering around him as the shield extended. "She is very much alive and has hopefully completed her mission in Seraphina by now."

  "Mission?" Zarin's eyes glowed red. "Why should I believe you?"

  Victus placed an arcphone on the tea table near his divan and flicked on the screen to reveal a password lock. "This is your sister's device. She encoded it with a word only you would know to prove it is hers."

  "Why did you not bring it to me years ago?" Zarin remained in his demon form, pacing back and forth like a hungry lion. "You are nearly a decade late, wizard."

  "One of her acolytes remained behind to assist me," Victus
replied. "Only he was skilled enough to work the demonic magic I needed in her absence. Unfortunately, he was killed by the girl."

  "The girl." Zarin spoke it like a curse. "You are one of the most skilled demonologists among Arcanes. What could a Daemos do for you that you could not do yourself?"

  "The window in your soul provides a much stronger link to the netherworld than I could ever achieve." Victus touched his chest as if indicating the physical location. "Not only that, but I require a very lifelike quality to the summoned demons."

  Zarin stared at the arcphone for a long moment. At last, he spoke the word he had spoken only to his sister. "Jaitini."

  The lock screen vanished and a holographic image of Aerianas sprang into the air. Thick black hair hung around her narrow face, cascaded down her petite shoulders. Her lithe form seemed ready to spring to life from the recording and grip him in a crushing embrace. Zarin forgot himself and his demonic form melted away to its thin, athletic origin.

  "Jaitini, I hope this finds you well." Aerianas held out her hand as if wishing she could touch her brother across the years and virtual divide. "The Alabaster Arches have been restored and Victus sees an opportunity to harness the Seraphim to our will. I do not know when I will return and there is a chance things will go badly." She wiped a tear from her eye. "If I am successful in my mission, perhaps you could join me here, far from the rules of the houses. We could live as we once dreamed, masters of our own destinies."

  "Yes, my love." Zarin dropped to a knee before her image. Hot tears stung his eyes.

  "I leave this message in case Victus ever needs your help, brother. I know you like to keep to your own in matters of state, but I beseech you to consider joining him." Aerianas's right forefinger tapped her left thumb twice, a secret code she and Zarin had shared. This is the truth. The imaged puffed away.

  The message was genuine and sincere. Zarin frowned. "When did she leave for Seraphina?"

  "I freed her from the Templar prison holding her and together we went to Seraphina—more specifically, to the nation of Pjurna." Victus sat back on the divan. "I left her to study the local politics so we could enact our plan. The Second Seraphim War, unfortunately, did not cripple the Eden army nearly as much as I'd hoped. We enlisted the aid of a Seraphim named Cephus to further weaken Justin Slade and his army."

  "The crystoid incident." Zarin narrowed his eyes. "It nearly destroyed all magic in our realm."

  "It was a carefully staged ploy, nothing more." Victus flicked a bit of fuzz off his robe. "Aerianas saw the opportunity to trap them over there, so we did. With our carefully planned plot to take over the Darkling and Brightling governments from the inside, we would eventually control armies of Seraphim, destroy the remnants of the Templars, and shatter the alliance."

  "That was over nine years ago," Zarin said. "Why have you not reopened the way to Seraphina? Surely Aerianas has failed or succeeded by now."

  "And that is where we miscalculated." Victus deflated ever so slightly. "I used a Relic of Juranthemon to seal the arches so I could reopen them at my convenience. It appears that while I can repair the magical connections on this side, the same must also be done on the other side, unless Serena knows another way."

  "The blond witch?" Zarin's eyes narrowed. "From what I know of her, she is the foremost expert on arches."

  "Yes. And soon we can test her theories on the Grand Nexus."

  "So your tinkering damaged the arches in Seraphina too?" Zarin dropped back into his chair and tugged at his torn shirt. "Expert or not, I don't see how Serena can repair both sides without access."

  "Precisely." Victus shrugged. "We will figure it out. In the meantime, I have great need of your help."

  "Great need indeed." Zarin leaned back. "You would not have risked death otherwise."

  "I also know of a possible way to cross back into Seraphina without an arch, but it requires a dangerous journey into a land from which I have been banned." Victus unconsciously touched the scar above his eye. "It is time to restore my rule. It is time to reopen the way to a conquered Seraphina where your sister reigns."

  "I truly hope that is the case." Zarin nodded. "I will work with you to that end, Victus."

  "You swear on your sister's life that you hold no ill will toward me?"

  "I hold ill will toward anyone who takes my lover from me," Zarin said, "but I understand why she went, and you are safe from death by my hand unless I discover subterfuge on your part." He stood. "Should I find that deceit led to the death of my beloved, there will be no safe place for you in any realm, wizard."

  "Understood." Victus rose and held out his hand. "To an alliance."

  Zarin reluctantly took the now unshielded limb and shook it, squeezing perhaps a bit harder than necessary. "We are allies. Everything you know, I know. Is that understood?"

  Victus nodded. "So far as it pertains to our mission."

  Zarin looked at his bodyguards. "Free them from your curse."

  Victus tapped on his arcphone and the guards blinked, staggered. They saw Victus. Eyes widening with alarm, they drew weapons.

  Zarin held up a hand. "All is well. Victus is my guest."

  "But, sir, I swear he wasn't—"

  Zarin nodded. "Yes, yes. I brought him here in secrecy. Resume your duties."

  The bodyguards looked at each other, exchanging the looks of mortals who have only glimpsed bits of the supernatural and not quite believed it. They holstered weapons and tried to act as if nothing strange had happened.

  "Now that is settled, I must know something," Zarin said.

  Victus raised an eyebrow. "Yes?"

  Zarin tapped his eyebrow. "Who did that to you?"

  The Arcane's fists tightened. He blew out a long breath. "My son, Conrad Edison."

  Chapter 2

  "Conrad? Conrad Edison?"

  I jerked from a daydream about Cora and saw my friend Max Tiberius pointing to a poster on the hallway wall. Join us for the Founders Day Celebration in the Grotto!

  "Can you believe it?" Max said. "They haven't held one of these in nearly ten years! We definitely have to go."

  "Certainly sounds exciting." My other best friend, Ambria Rax read the fine print. "After being cooped up on campus all summer, it would certainly be nice to get out."

  I took the next left and ascended a narrow staircase. "Let's pass it by Galfandor first."

  Galfandor leaned against the sturdy oak desk in his study and shook his head after I told him what we wanted to do. "I would caution against leaving Queens Gate, Conrad. Campus and, to a lesser degree, the city below are warded against your father. I cannot make the same guarantees for the Grotto."

  Ambria leapt up from the plush chair to my right. "But we've been trapped in Queens Gate all summer. Surely Victus hasn't spent all his time lurking in the shadows waiting to kill us."

  "He's an evil mastermind," Max said. "I'll bet he's got plenty of other things to do."

  "I've spent the entire summer dreading a knife to the back or a spell to the chest every time I walk around a corner." I gripped the armrests and tried to look braver than I felt. "I don't think I'm at the top of Victus's priorities right now."

  A brilliant red spider the size of a large dog crawled from a square vent in the wall. "Can I go? I would make sure nothing happens to them." An enchanted gem hidden in her soft fur amplified her whispery voice.

  The headmaster stroked his long white beard and cast a pensive look at the three of us. "With Shushiel watching, perhaps you'll be safe."

  "I will use camouflage and remain on the rooftops." The ruby spider bobbed up and down with excitement. "No one will even know I'm there."

  "Then it's settled." I rubbed the fur on Shushiel's leg. "We'll leave for the Grotto tomorrow."

  Galfandor stepped around his desk and leaned on the edge. "A large group departs through the Obsidian Arch tomorrow after breakfast if you would like to avoid paying the standard toll."

  "Splendid." Ambria wiped her hands together. "Will yo
u go, sir?"

  Galfandor nodded. "The Arcane Council decided to hold its annual meet and greet at the Grotto, and I must attend."

  Max's face turned pale. "We're not required to go, are we?"

  Galfandor's eyebrow perched atop a wrinkle. "You look rather concerned, young Tiberius."

  My friend swallowed hard. "I would rather avoid it."

  "Your parents will be there won't they?" Ambria crossed her arms and challenged him with a questioning glare.

  Max nodded. "Reason enough to avoid it."

  I'd never met his parents, though they sounded perfectly nasty if Max's every word was to be believed.

  "I don't believe your parents have taken the trouble of coming to an annual meet and greet in years." Galfandor's wrinkles creased even more. "I would be surprised if they showed up to this one."

  "I want to meet them, Max." Ambria clapped her hands together. "Your stories make them sound so despicable, I just have to see for myself."

  I shook my head. "I think Rhys and Devon are proof enough."

  Ambria refused to relent. "Come to think of it, Max, I've never met your sisters, either. Will they be there?"

  Max scowled back. "If you want to meet the rest of my terrible family, you can do it alone."

  "Family can be difficult," Shushiel said. "I prefer my friends."

  Her optimistic tone melted the knot of sorrow and anger twisting in my guts—a knot caused by simply thinking about Victus.