by T. S. Snow
It was a sensible plan, really. But damn, it was risky.
Blair’s bike revved right behind my car, loud as thunder, and I watched through the rearview mirror as she parked behind me and cut the engine.
The minute Blair got off her bike, Blaze jumped out of the back of the car and went to greet my sister.
I glanced at Andres, and he nodded. My hands tightened on the steering wheel. I had to do this for Char, for the woman I loved, my soul mate. I had to, even if it meant exposing myself. Right now, I wasn’t the head of the Tumbas, I was just a guy whose girlfriend had been kidnapped and needed to be rescued. I could do damage control afterwards, lie low, ask my people to be extra careful for a while.
It would be fine. We would be fine, so long as I had my Char back where she belonged.
Sending one final prayer to the Goddess, I got out of the car and met up with the others.
“Where are Christian’s men?” Andres asked Blair.
“I asked them to circle around the block and make sure we’re not walking into a trap. And anyway, as much as I love backup, I didn’t want them inside with us. Even if Christian trusts them, I don’t. So we’re doing this, and we’re doing it now. Besides, one of them is an Illusionist, so I put him in charge of setting up a perimeter spell to keep what happens inside hidden. This way, neither Andres or I will have to spend too much magic,” Blair answered, looking around the street, cataloguing everything. In the early morning, there weren’t many people around, but we knew this would change soon. While this wasn’t a tourist area, it would have plenty of people going to work or taking their breaks, not to mention the transport crew.
The problem with that was it made going in undetected difficult. Lucky for us, we had two of the best Illusionists on our team.
If all went well, we’d have Char home by noon.
I clung to that hope as I followed Blair and the guys, patting the bag I had slung over my shoulder to make sure I had everything still with me.
We were one block away when Blair made us stop walking and nodded to Andres. Understanding the signal, he grabbed his new MET—the same one Char had developed for him, a retractable bow that, when folded, was no bigger than a dagger—and keyed in a long-ass sequence. Four dark forest green activation circles appeared on top of us, and I felt the tingles of power as his magic washed over me. Suddenly, I could only see Blair, and even so, she looked…different.
Younger. Shorter. Her usually curly hair was now straight, and her eyes had changed color too, now an incredibly clear sky blue. Her clothes had morphed from her badass leathers into jeans and a shirt, and her skin had lightened too, by a lot. Added to that, there were freckles all over her nose, which I knew would mortify her under any circumstances. My sister hated anything that made her appear innocent and vulnerable. Every single part of how she looked and how she talked had been carefully crafted for ultimate badassery. I knew it was both because of what her magic was and due to the stigma she’d had to live with growing up, being Diego’s illegitimate daughter. Even if our family never looked at her differently, there was more than one outsider who’d frowned upon it…especially once the truth about her heritage had come to light.
She’d grown a thick skin very early, and the way she dressed reflected that.
Now, she looked like an eighteen-year-old on her way home from school.
“Isn’t that…?” Blaze started to ask, but trailed off. I turned my head in the direction his voice had come from, but I couldn’t see anything.
“Jess. Yes. I figured she’d look less out of place around the area than any of us,” Blair responded, shrugging.
It didn’t matter how many times I saw their illusions, it was always freaky when a familiar voice came from a completely different face. Especially when Blair sounded much older than what she currently looked like.
“Okay, guys. Grab your METs or weapons or whatever the fuck, and let’s go.” Blair checked her phone, sent off a text, and led us to the resistance’s warehouse.
I followed after her, hoping the other guys were doing the same.
By the time we stood outside the building, my hands were sweaty from nerves.
The place they were keeping Char in was a big-ass warehouse. At three stories high, it was no different from the others in the neighborhood, even if this one was more rundown than others. Some of the walls had been graffitied and held all kinds of symbols and slurs, but what called my attention were the runes half hidden in the graffiti.
“Do you see it?” Andres asked, his voice coming from somewhere on my right.
“Yeah. I’m going to need a couple of minutes to break them, especially since I don’t suppose one of you has paint on hand.” Blaze’s tense response came from somewhere on my left.
I was shaking my head before I realized they couldn’t see it.
“Sorry, no. What are they, anyway? I don’t exactly have a vast knowledge of runes.” My question was met with silence, until Blaze finally spoke again.
“They’re mostly wards, but there are also a few traps and a warning system of sorts.” Blaze paused for a bit, as if taking the time to read through the runes. “A few of those runes are also to keep non-mages away. There are some others, but the graffiti over it broke them. Nothing all that important, however. I should be able to break these runes in no time.” As he spoke, blue activation circles appeared on the wall, one above each rune. Then dark-blue runes, the same color as his magic, materialized, and they sort of…replaced the runes on the walls.
As in the new runes acted like stickers and just went above the old runes.
“All right. That should do it,” Blaze said at last. “I didn’t want to break their runes and alert them, but I bought us some time.”
“Great! Now, if you guys are ready… Andres, drop the illusion. It’s time to kick some rebel ass,” Blair exclaimed excitedly.
On her command, the illusions dropped, and I was finally able to see both Blaze and Andres again.
Andres held his bow in hand, like a Legolas impersonator. And Blaze… Blaze had a fucking glaive.
What was he, a Corvus Glaive fan? All he needed was the hood covering his head and the badass black-and-gold clothing and armor. Oh, and of course, the cadaveric, bluish skin.
Blaze held his glaive with the confidence of someone who’d brandished the same weapon for years, someone who was used to battle and to winning.
I wished I had half his self-assurance.
Not saying anything, I opened my bag and got the cow femur from inside. I closed my eyes and started chanting under my breath, casting the spell that would allow me to manipulate the bone into any shape I wanted. The bone started to grow warm in my hand and reform. I conjured the image of what I wanted the bone to become, increasing the pace of the incantation as I reached its conclusion.
Beside me, Blaze gasped. I opened my eyes just in time to see my purple magic circle vanishing and the bone dagger in my hand glowing a faint purple. Soon, the color would vanish too, leaving its original color, but for now, I had a purple dagger in hand, with small scribbles all over it—the words from the incantation. They’d ensure the dagger was sharper, lighter, and more resistant than any metal.
“That’s badass,” Andres murmured, and I turned to him with a smile.
“Thanks. I may not be a Battle Mage like you guys, but I’m not too bad in close combat.” I shrugged.
Every Necromancer had to know the basics of combat in case we were ever caught and had to escape being captured…or killed. I might not have high-tech METs or be able to cast any kind of spell, but Necromancy was actually more versatile than most would ever know.
“Everyone ready?” Blair asked, brandishing her katana, sounding impatient as hell.
“We’re ready,” the three of us answered, almost in unison.
It was time to save our girl.
12
Blaze
Blair blasted the door open the minute we said we were ready.
All thoughts of quietly infiltrat
ing the place using Blair’s disguise as a way in flew out of the window the second she smiled, got a small metallic orb out of her pocket, and threw it at the door.
The loud boom that followed made my ears ring, even as I stared, mouth gaping, at Blair.
Unbothered, she released a battle cry that would put any Viking to shame and stormed the place, dropping her Jess illusion as she ran.
I firmed my grip on my glaive and activated some of the runes on my body. Shield, speed, and strength were some of the first runes a Rune Mage learned, and the most essential ones. Next, I activated the runes on my MET and smiled as the edge of the blade glinted under the sun.
Bastille walked past me, following Blair inside, and I tried not to think too hard about the fact that I was associating with a Necromancer.
A fucking Tumba.
This is all for Char, Blaze. Focus on her. She’s all that matters right now, I reminded myself.
Taking one final deep breath, I followed them inside.
What I saw before me was chaos. Pure, complete chaos.
The ground floor was one big, open space filled with people and boxes. To the left, there were small cubicles. In front of me, across all the madness, there were a series of doors and a fire door.
Somewhere inside this place was the love of my life, and I would not be leaving without her.
A fireball flew in my direction, and I ducked out of the way before looking around, trying to find the origin of the attack.
Blair was engaged in a fight with five different mages, brandishing her katana in a blaze of fire as she parried two of the mages and traded magic blows with the others. Then a second Blair appeared, and the five mages facing her took a step back. They raised their METs, probably planning on attacking both Blairs to find out which one was the illusion, but just then the Necromancer joined the fight. He pulled something out of his bag and threw it at the mages.
The minute the powder made contact with their skin, they yelled in pain, raised their hands to their heads, and started to scratch themselves. The more they scratched, however, the more they seemed to hurt, until one of them finally dropped to the floor from the pain and started spasming.
What the fuck had he thrown at them?
I wasn’t given time to keep watching, though, because just then, three mages ran at me.
I threw a dark matter orb at the first one, a woman who’d been about to throw a motherfucking chakram at me. She changed her attack, keying in a sequence that made a barrier appear. The male mage at her side had some kind of Wolverine-like weapon, maybe a katar—three long, claw-like daggers attached to a H-shaped hand grip. It looked deadly, but I’d be damned if I let that thing get anywhere near me.
The third mage had a pair of black gloves. On the back of the left one, there was a small keypad. Out of all three METs, that one was the least intimidating, but I wouldn’t let that fool me.
Char had a damn phone as a MET, and she made it completely deadly.
I grabbed a handful of small pebbles from my back pocket and threw it at the trio. The minute the pebbles got within range, I activated the runes there.
They all exploded, releasing a thick, black smoke.
Multiple activation circles shone in the mist, but I had no intention of letting them complete whatever spells they were trying to cast. Instead, I activated a sequence of runes that electrified the black smoke.
I heard the grunts and then the sound of three bodies falling, one after the other. Only then did I release the magic on both the smoke and the other runes.
Three down, about twenty more to go.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a flash of light. I turned my head just in time to see a fire arrow hitting its target in the back. Someone had crept up behind Blair and had been about to attack her with a sword when Andres had intervened.
Blair turned, saw what had been about to hit her, and gave Andres two thumbs up before diving back into the fray.
Piercing pain on my left arm made me flinch. I looked down and saw blood coming out of what looked like…a bullet hole.
It had been stupid of me to activate a shield against just magic when my opponent was the damn resistance.
Fuck, I had to stop getting distracted by what was going on around me and start focusing on what I was actually facing.
Coldness started to spread from where I’d been hit, and I cursed even more. It felt like there was frozen lava running through my veins.
Shit. Had I been hit by some sort of ice bullet?
I looked around, trying to find who had hit me, but there were just so many people, I couldn’t be sure.
Fuck it.
I activated a sequence of shields that would keep any attack away from me, even if they used up quite a lot of my magic, and then focused on stopping whatever was going on inside me.
I didn’t know if I could stop the freeze effect on my own, but I could at least heal the wound, and that, paired with something to stop the magic from spreading, should be good enough until I could find a Healer.
Once we got Char out, that was.
I activated the runes, even as I felt attack after attack on my shields.
We were overwhelmed, and if help didn’t arrive soon, we’d all be doomed.
As if the Goddess had finally decided to hear my prayers, mages started to filter from the hole Blair had created as an entrance. I had a minute of panic when I thought we were being swarmed by more members of the resistance, but just then, I saw a familiar agent throwing spell after spell at the rebels.
Thank fuck, backup had arrived.
13
Charisma
I was seriously living in a nightmare, some type of fucked-up alternative reality. That had to be the only possible explanation to the shit-show my life had become. I wished there was some sort of ctrl-alt-del command I could press and just get the fuck out. Instead, I was…here, stuck in a cell in some creepy dungeon, where my cousin had had a hand in my demise. As if that wasn’t bad enough, I’d had to watch my cousin getting chummy with none other than Ricardo Illudere.
Gross.
Theo was standing in front of me like some kind of human muscle wall. It didn’t matter how many times I’d tried to move so I could stand beside him, he’d just moved with me. The way he was trying so hard to protect me was sweet, but it was also kind of annoying when I knew I had more combat training than he did and I was the only one who could use my magic.
Even Logan, who was beside me, was standing in a way that made me think he was prepared to throw himself in front of me if needed, and I honestly had no idea he cared so much.
Outside of our cell, the most boring looking guy I’d ever seen—brown eyes, brown hair, average height, and wide, droopy nose—smiled, showing yellowed teeth.
Ewww.
Boring-looking dude raised a small metallic device—probably his MET—and if possible, Theo and Logan tensed even more.
“Now now, be good little sheep and step away from the bars, would you? I’d hate to have to use this,” he said.
The way his eyes sparkled told me that he was actually dying to use whatever that was.
It was seriously a creepy, serial-killer look.
“I thought your boss told you not to use magic,” Theo remarked, even as he took a step back, bumping into me.
I raised a hand and put it on his back, both to keep him from walking backwards any more and hurting me, but also for support.
I couldn’t remember a time where I’d seen him this tense.
What the fuck had happened to Logan and Theo before I was brought here? And what the hell was boring dude’s deal?
“He said not to use magic to kill you, but he said nothing about using it to keep you…compliant.”
My blood froze at the threat, and I started backing away from the bars, from Theo, from everything. I grabbed a fistful of Theo’s shirt, forcing him to move with me.
If we wanted a fighting chance, it was best if we didn’t anger them. Besides, it’d
be much easier to escape if they opened the cell for us.
I just had to make sure I could incapacitate them. I had to be fast and effective.
We needed something that would even the playing field. There were three of them against three of us, but they all had magic and METs. We had…well, me.
Remember, you’re a badass, Char. You got this.
I did not, in fact, have this, but I had to try. For both our sakes, and Bast’s.
I needed something that would be unexpected, something nobody would see coming.
Something like… Oh.
That could actually work.
I caught Logan’s eye, mouthing, “Distract them.”
He gave an imperceptible nod, and trusting him, I closed my eyes.
I needed to focus more than I’d ever focused before, because one little misstep and we were all fucked.
I also needed to time this extremely well.
Closing my eyes, I ignored Logan’s voice as he taunted our captors, which was a terrible distraction technique, but who was I to critique him? I ignored the feel of the fabric from Theo’s shirt in my hand, ignored the pangs of hunger in my body, and I looked deeper, looked inside me.
To the source of my magic.
Gently, almost coaxingly, I reached for little tendrils of my magic. They fluttered around like hummingbirds’ wings, and I knew better than to try to force my will into it.
Wind magic was very, very temperamental, but oh, was it glorious.
The minute I heard the key being inserted into the lock, I pictured what I wanted—no, what I needed to happen.
I pictured a small gust of wind going into the ears of the three people entering our cell, like a small, cold breeze, directly into their ear. Then I imagined the pressure of the wind increasing, building up until it became almost unbearable, like a wind missile right through each of their ears.
If that didn’t at least fuck-up their balance, it should scare them enough that they’d make a mistake.
I activated the magic, and then I opened my eyes just in time to watch a ball of electricity being hurled at me. Instead of ducking, Theo stood his ground, braced to take the electric ball head-on. With sweat beading my forehead and my legs shaking, I tried to conjure a wall of earth or dirt or something, but I wasn’t fast enough.
