by Ella Summers
“Wait,” he said, taking her hand.
She stopped, but she didn’t turn around. She didn’t trust herself. Just the feel of his hand against hers was scrambling her thoughts enough already as it was.
“You’re tense,” he said and let go of her hand.
She cleared her throat. “We should keep training.”
He lifted his hand to her face, brushing away a few strands that had come loose from her ponytail. His fingers lingered on her cheek, feather-soft, teasing.
“Kai.”
He stepped back, his face serious once more. “You’re right. The Magic Games start tomorrow. It’s time I gave you a real challenge.”
“A real challenge? Then what would you call the grueling fights these past three weeks?” she demanded.
“Merely a warmup.”
Magic rumbled in his chest, deep and primal. The air grew heavy with the scent of burning wood. It flooded her nose and singed her tongue. Uh-oh.
Kai exploded in a burst of magic and fire. Before Sera could blink, a dragon stood in his place. Way over twenty feet tall, he was as black as a starless night, but when the light caught his body at just the right angle, his scales and wings shone with an inky blue-green sheen. Just like in his human form, his eyes were electric blue. He was beautiful.
Beautiful and deadly, she reminded herself. The last time she’d seen him shift into a dragon, he’d crushed a werewolf into a bloody mass. She took an instinctual step back.
What few people had ventured out to the shore at this early hour clearly didn’t share her sense of self-preservation. Instead of fleeing for their lives, they stopped and stared. A bunch of them pulled out their phones and began to shoot videos of the big, bad dragon, framed against the Manhattan background. Kai dipped his chin to them, puffing smoke out of his nostrils. One of the women swooned.
Sera rolled her eyes, then stared up at the dragon. “You’re not playing fair. No dragons allowed in this fight.”
She’d never seen a dragon shrug, but Kai made a solid effort. His thick, muscled shoulders rolled back, magic sparking up as his scales scraped together. He smirked down at her, his smug confidence as clear as day—even on that dragon face. Well, of course he was confident. He could wipe the floor—err, the grass—with her in his usual form. As a dragon, he’d stomp her into oblivion.
Kai’s dragon mouth opened wide, and fire spilled out like a flaming waterfall. Sera darted away, the fire licking at her heels. She kept running until she made it to the park bench. A dragon claw slashed toward her. She ducked and reached under the bench, grabbing her sword off the ground. Turning as she rose, she met the dragon’s second slash mid-swipe. Her blade hit his hard scales in a flash of magic, the impact of the collision throwing her off her feet. Her back hit the ground, nearly knocking the wind out of her. Above her, the dragon snorted.
“I’m glad you’re enjoying yourself,” she growled, peeling her sore body off the ground.
His eyes narrowed.
“I know, I know. I have to use magic, not brute force,” she said, tossing the sword aside. It was enchanted with magic—more than enough to deal with most monsters. But apparently not enough to break through Kai’s magical defenses.
She reached for her magic, and this time it responded right away. A tornado burst out of the ground beneath the dragon, catapulting him onto the nearby gravelly shore. He jumped up and stalked back toward the grassy field, his enormous clawed feet sliding over the shifting rocks. She had to find a way to keep him on the shore, where the uneven ground would slow him down. And she had to do it soon.
She summoned another tornado—and was surprised by how quickly it came. The swirling cyclone blasted toward Kai and hit him hard in the chest. He grunted but held his ground. This time, Sera didn’t hesitate. She summoned tornado after tornado, firing them in rapid succession at the dragon. They smashed against his body, doing no damage. But that wasn’t the point. Her attacks were driving him back, sliding him closer to the water.
She kept up the machine gun pace of tornado bullets. Sweat dripped down her neck and splashed her top, but she didn’t slow. And she didn’t stop. She reached for more magic. Different magic.
The gentle, silky rhythm of the lapping river hummed louder. Waves rippled across the surface, growing higher and higher. And higher. They swooshed and crashed and rocked. As the final tornado blasted against Kai’s chest, pushing his back foot into the river, a solid wall of water smashed into him from behind. The wave rolled over his body. An enraged growl gurgled through the salt water. Then, as the water slid down his body, retreating back into the river, he glared back at Sera.
“Well, you did tell me to use magic,” she said.
She gave him that same slow, relaxed shrug he’d given her earlier. Truth be told, she wasn’t relaxed at all—not with the strain of managing that much magic—but she wasn’t about to tell him that.
The magic was popping across her skin, so she didn’t have to reach far for it this time. She summoned earth, and the wet sand beneath Kai’s feet collapsed. Before he could free himself from the deep pit, she drew the water forward, flooding it. The dragon thrashed and splashed—and flung himself out of the hole. He glared across the shore at Sera. There was no humor in those eyes now.
Wind slammed against her back, tossing her onto the beach. As she fell, a ring of rocky fangs split out of the sand all around her, swallowing her. She stared at the rocks until they froze solid—then crumbled to sandy ash.
While she’d been busy with that rocky prison cell, Kai had stomped over to her. He towered high above, and right now he was definitely trying to look intimidating. She glared right on back, and a small cloud formed over his back, sprinkling tiny snowflakes down on him. He sneezed.
Sera pulled a tissue out of her pocket and offered it to him.
He snorted at the offering, and fire bathed the thin paper, crumbling it to ash. He opened his mouth wide, giving her front row seats to the furnace burning inside of him. The fire was spreading up his throat, pouring into his mouth.
Sera waved her hand over her head, drawing an ice umbrella. It began to melt immediately, but it bought her enough time to make a run for it. As she sprinted away, the umbrella shattered, shooting tiny ice particles all across the shore. Sera scrambled for the grass. She needed to get off this slippery beach.
Something yanked on her foot, tripping her. Her legs hit the gravel, but she managed to throw out her arms just in time to avoid a face full of rocks. She glanced back at her foot and found a tentacle of glowing magical energy wrapped around her ankle. A second arm split from the first, and it began to slide up Sera’s body. It had a familiar masculine, spicy scent. Kai’s scent.
“Let go of my leg,” she growled at the dragon.
A deep laugh rumbled in his chest.
Fine. Two could play at that game. She collected her magic, channeling her agitation until it burst from her in a pulse of tangled wind and lightning magic. The tentacles dissolved, and she jumped up. Even before she landed, she was winding up a fireball. As her feet hit the sand, she hurled it at him.
Except Kai wasn’t the one standing in front of her anymore. There was someone between them. Her brother Riley. The fire roared toward him like a firestorm, its magic potent and deadly.
Before she could lift her hands, the fireball froze. It hung in the air for a moment, then smashed against the ground, revealing Kai. Human Kai.
“Are you all right?” he asked Riley.
Riley nodded, his smile shaky. His breaths were deep and heavy. Sera set her hand on his shoulder.
“You’re not hurt?” she asked him.
“No.”
Sera drew in a deep breath, relief spreading through her. “Good.” She dropped her hand from his shoulder. “Have you completely lost your mind?!”
He swallowed hard.
“You could have been hit, Riley,” she said, her crashing adrenaline making her tired. And cranky. “What the hell possessed you to jump into the
middle of a mage duel?”
“Sera,” Kai said, touching her arm.
She spun around to glare at him. “What?”
“He was watching us from that bench over there and got sucked in by one of the cyclones you were tossing out,” Kai told her.
For the first time, Sera noticed her brother’s honey-colored hair was messy. And his clothes were ruffled. As though he’d walked through a wind tunnel. The fight died in her, and her shoulders slouched over.
“Oh, Riley. I’m so sorry.” Guilt flooded her body—and dread of what could have happened. “I need to get a better handle on my magic.”
“I’m ok,” he said with a smile. “And what you really need right now is a break.” He handed her a bag from Spells & Sandwiches. “How about a proper New York lunch?”
2
Dragons and Assassins
Sera’s chicken sandwich was pretty good. Not pizza-good, but it wouldn’t be fair to hold that against it. Riley and Kai sat across the table from her, eating their own sandwiches. Kai’s was so tall that it was a wonder he could fit it into his mouth without shifting into a dragon. Sera propped her elbows on the rickety tabletop and leaned in for a closer look. The scents of beef and red onions wafted up from his gigantic ciabatta roll.
“Hungry?” she asked.
“Fighting you requires a great deal of energy, Sera.”
She grinned at him. “Especially when you’re losing.”
His sandwich paused before his mouth. “I was not losing. I was in complete control of the situation.”
“Yeah, right.” She snorted. “You looked really in control flailing about in that hole in the sand.”
“You did a good job linking those spells together. I knew you could do it if you put your mind to it,” he told her. His eyes hardened. “But you are mistaken if you believe you had me bested.”
“If we’d finished our fight, I would have won.”
A smooth smile slid over his mouth. “You just keep telling yourself that, sweetheart.”
“I’m still trying to decide if it’s disturbing to hear my friend call my sister ‘sweetheart’,” Riley said.
“Yes,” Sera said, just as Kai said, “No.”
Riley chuckled. “You two might want to work that out.”
“There’s nothing to work out,” she lied. There were about twenty million things to work out between her and Kai, but she wasn’t going to think about that now. Or maybe ever. So she changed the subject. “Are you going to be able to get us in for an early peek at the fighting pit?”
“I’m still working on it,” said Kai. “The Magic Games security is being obstinate.”
“Maybe you can sneeze smoke at them,” Sera said.
“Or just go over their heads,” Riley suggested.
“Oh, I intend to.”
The look on his face was downright frightening. Sera was glad she wasn’t the head of the Magic Games security.
“I will get us in before tomorrow afternoon,” he said.
Tomorrow. The Games started tomorrow. Her stomach sank like a stone. She dropped her sandwich onto the crinkled bag. Suddenly, she didn’t feel all that hungry.
“You’ll be fine,” he said. “You just need to remain calm. Luckily, I have something to distract your mind.”
“A job?”
“Yes.”
Kai wasn’t just her coach for the Magic Games; he was also her sponsor. Most mages had a family to sponsor their entrance into the Games, but Sera wasn’t from a magic dynasty—or at least not one she was willing to admit to. In cases like hers, the Magic Council took on the cost of the Games for the mage, but that help came with a heavy price. She would have to work it off later. As in, work for the Magic Council. And Sera wanted to stay as far as possible away from them.
The other option was to pay the costs herself, but she didn’t have that kind of money. She was due for a pay raise at Mayhem, her mercenary guild, now that it had come out that she was a mage rather than just a human. The monster-hunting guilds paid you based on your magic rating, which was pretty elitist, but no one had challenged the system yet. Human mercenaries crazy enough to hunt monsters tended to be too desperate for cash to be choosy.
Sera and Alex had been two of those desperate mercenaries four years ago when they’d come to San Francisco with Riley. Their genius brother had gotten into the prestigious program at San Francisco University of Magical Arts and Sciences, but tuition wasn’t cheap. They’d had to kill a lot of monsters to keep him in college. But overtime was better than death, which was what would happen if anyone found out Sera and Alex were Dragon Born. So they’d taken the crap pay, hiding their magic just like their father had always told them to do.
Sera’s new salary would kick in after the Magic Games. Simmons, the head of Mayhem, was a stickler for protocol—and a complete cheapskate. He wasn’t going to pay her a penny more until her results came back. Sera only hoped that those results wouldn’t be her death sentence. She had to stay focused, no matter what the Game Architect threw at her. And above all, she needed to remain calm. Kai was more right about that than he knew. She couldn’t afford for them to crack her mind. Or her secrets.
So since she couldn’t pay her entrance costs herself, and she didn’t want to be in debt to the Magic Council, that left only the private sponsor option. When Kai had made the offer, she’d taken it, knowing it was the best she was going to get. His condition was that she do a few jobs for him. Since all her jobs had to go through Mayhem, he and Simmons had hammered out a deal behind closed doors. Kai must have offered him a lot of money because Simmons had looked really happy after that meeting. He’d even whistled down Mayhem’s main corridor. And Simmons never did anything as whimsical as whistling. Especially not anywhere that anyone would catch him at it.
“What is the job?” Sera asked Kai.
“I’ve received a tip that a group of vampires is planning something at the Magic Games,” he replied.
“Something bad, I take it?”
“It didn’t sound like they wanted to throw us all a party.” Looking up thoughtfully, he rubbed his chin, which was sporting a two-day stubble. Usually, he was so well-groomed. “Have you heard about the Blood Orb being stolen?”
“Yes, Alex told me about it. She said a group of supernatural haters is trying to use the Orb to control the vampires.”
“They aren’t just trying. They’ve succeeded,” he said. “Over the past few weeks, there’s been an increase in attacks perpetrated by vampires. After each attack, the vampires claimed they were being controlled by magic.”
“And you think this hate group is planning to unleash vampires on the Magic Games?”
“I’ve heard rumors to that effect, yes.”
“Ok.” She swung her legs around the chair and stood. “I wanted to give Alex a call anyway. I’ll ask her if she knows anything more about the Blood Orb or the vampires.” Sera started to walk away from the table.
“Hey, where are you going?” Riley asked her.
She looked over her shoulder. “I need some privacy. I have to talk to Alex about…something personal.”
Riley turned his head toward Kai. “Do you think that’s code for girl issues?”
Kai shrugged.
“Do you want me to give her a message from you?” Sera asked Riley.
“Tell her I liked her latest photos from Madame Meringue’s chocolate factory,” he said with a grin.
Sera nodded and continued walking in the direction of the Brooklyn Bridge. When she felt she’d gone far enough, she stopped and pulled out her phone. She didn’t want Kai to overhear what she had to say to Alex.
“Uh, hi, Sera,” her sister answered after a few rings. A bed creaked, probably as Alex sat down on it. “How are you?”
“I…well, I’m managing.”
“The Magic Games are tomorrow, right?”
“Yes.”
“Good luck,” Alex said.
“Thanks.”
Neither of them me
ntioned that Alex was an unregistered mage too. Maybe the Magic Council hadn’t figured it out yet, or maybe Alex’s super-important client was protecting her. In any case, Sera wouldn’t have wished the Games on her worst enemy—and certainly not on her own sister.
“Alex,” Sera began. “I wanted to talk to you about the Blood Orb.”
“The Blood—” Alex paused. “Just a minute.” Something thumped in the background. It sounded like a shoe hitting the wall. “Logan, get your paws away from my underwear drawer!” she shouted away from the phone, then spoke into it again. “Sorry about that, Sera.”
“Am I interrupting something?”
“No.” A second shoe hit something—no, make that someone. A man grunted. “That’s just the assassin in my room.”
“An assassin? You might want to hit him with something harder than a shoe. Like a knife,” Sera suggested.
“Na, then he’d just bleed out all over my floor.”
“That would be a huge mess to clean up.”
“Exactly,” Alex agreed. “So, the Blood Orb, you said?”
“Yes. Apparently, someone looking to stir up trouble is sending a bunch of vampires to the Games.”
“What kind of trouble?”
“We don’t know,” said Sera. “But we think it might be the same people behind all those recent vampire attacks. The ones controlling the vampires with the Blood Orb.”
“The Convictionites,” Alex said, her voice devoid of humor. “They’re called the Convictionites.”
“Do you know of any way to break the Blood Orb’s control over the vampires?”
“We’re working on it, but no, not yet. At least not on a wider scale. A strong Magic Breaker could probably do it on individual vampires. Or maybe on a whole group. But you’d have to get close to them.”
“How close?” Sera asked.
“Grappling distance.”
Awesome.
“Sera, if you’re fighting these people, please be careful. Do not underestimate them. They have very powerful magic at their disposal.”
“I thought they hated magic.”
