Flash and Flame: Portals of Asphodel Series: The Guardian, Book 2

by Sadie Anders

  “All of them?”

  “Yes,” she said haughtily, crossing her arms in front of her. She leaned in, lowering her voice. “Well, not for you necessarily, but for those two.” She tilted her head towards Raphael and Cleon.

  “You mean vampires.”

  She nodded.

  “Are you here with them willingly? They haven’t kidnapped you, have they? Are they trying to make you do something against your will? Did they snatch the bard too?” A stream of questions streamed out at once, her voice a mere whisper.

  “I’m fine. In fact, I asked them to travel with me. Consider them my protectors.”

  “Fine company you keep. Bunch of shifty vamps. Bloodsuckers, the lot of them.”

  They must not have been accustomed to having too many vampires visit Mantineia.

  I shrugged.

  “Can you tell me where the other inns are?”

  “There is only one other,” she said, smiling at me wickedly. “The Fife and Featherbed. But it’s been closed for two years. Not enough travelers. We’re not used to outsiders around here.”

  “I gathered that.”

  “Well, we all have our reasons. I’m sure you have yours.”

  “True. But I promise we aren’t here to cause trouble.”

  The wheels in my brain started turning. If they didn’t have many travelers, then she probably needed our business, whether she wanted it or not. Maybe I could do a little convincing.

  “You should give me the rooms. It sounds like you can’t afford to turn down well-paying customers.“ I grabbed a fat stack of cash out of my pocket, and her eyes lit up. I slid an orange bill across to her, and she quickly pocketed it.

  “If you must stay, I’ll give you a room. One room. You’ll have to share and stay far away from anyone else. I can’t have vampires roaming around my property. It would be bad for business.”

  I looked around. It didn’t seem like there were any other patrons here, so I don’t think we were likely to scare anyone off. Still, it seemed like one room was our only option, so I would take it over sleeping in the car with a bunch of guys I barely knew.

  “You sure you don’t have extra vacancies?”

  “I can’t very well have people cavorting with vampires in my rooms, now can I? It’s not some sort of sanguineous brothel or something. Take it or leave it.”

  “I’ll take it.”

  Reaching behind her, she grabbed a room key off of a wooden peg board. Just what I had suspected. The entire board was full of keys still. We were the only patrons.

  She wrote out an invoice and slid it forward for me to sign.

  I scribbled my name on the sheet. “Could you send up any extra bedding? Maybe a roll away bed?” I wasn’t keen on the idea of sleeping on the floor, but I wasn’t about to cuddle up next to Cleon.

  “I’ll see what I can do. No promises.”

  The key resonated on the counter as she slapped it down. I slid over another couple of bills as I grabbed it.

  “I’ll be up with your linens and things in a bit. Dinner’s at Diotima’s pub next door. Breakfast, too. We like an early night around here, so don’t you be coming in late.”

  I nodded and rejoined my party. We headed up the stairs to the top floor and then down the hallway to the last door. The lady wanted to keep us as far away from everybody’s sight as possible, as if the residents of the city could peer inside her hotel rooms with x-ray vision. Heaven forbid. The scandalous inn owner welcoming those evil vampires.

  At least we had a room, and it was comfortable, even if it lacked privacy. All we had to do was tolerate the snubbing for one night. It was hard to swallow, but at least we would be warm and dry.

  Upon arriving and settling in, we unpacked our things, washed up, and headed down for dinner.

  The pub next door, The Ladder, was warm and inviting. Families were enjoying their dinners together, conversing genially with one another around rustic wooden tables. Upon entering, as each group began to notice us, their voices quickly lowered. Eventually, the talking nearly stopped altogether. We took our seats at a table near the entrance. I wasn’t sure, given our reception in this town so far, if anyone would actually serve us. We would have to wait and see.

  After a short time, a woman came over to the table. She had a great beaming smile on her face, one that looked genuine. Interesting.

  “Greetings, travelers. I’m Diotima. Welcome to my humble establishment.”

  She set down a glass of water in front of each of us and placed a basket of piping hot bread in the center of the table.

  “Thank you,” Raphael said. “We appreciate your kindness.”

  “We’re a kind and peaceful community around here.”

  “All evidence to the contrary,” Cleon said under his breath.

  “Oh, don’t let Phaedra scare you. She told me you were staying with her. Well, she warned me about you really.”

  “That sounds about right,” I said.

  “Pssh. She’s scared of her own shadow. Even more afraid of things that are unfamiliar to her. We may not be the most cosmopolitan bunch, but we mean you no harm. Most folks are merely curious of outsiders. At any rate, what can I get ya? The three bean soup is good, and it’ll leave you room for dessert.”

  I laughed a little. I wasn’t so happy about our treatment here, but at least things were improving.

  We ordered some food and ate a pleasant meal together, taking our time to savor it. I wasn’t about to let the curious eyes of the locals deter me from enjoying the comforts of a nice dinner out. I had a feeling that this would be our last night of normalcy for a while. Food in a restaurant. Warm bread. A delicious glass of wine. Warm berry tart for dessert.

  As we left the pub to head back to the hotel for an early night, much to the satisfaction of Phaedra I was sure, I hung back a little to snatch a few moments alone with Raphael. We stood outside of the inn, holding each other in the chilly night.

  He leaned down and kissed me deeply. My whole body ached for him, and I resented the fact that we wouldn’t be alone together in our room tonight. In fact, the realization was setting in that we might not have a moment alone again for a while. The past couple of nights that we had spent together made this all the more cruel, because I was acutely aware of what I was missing. We were just so compatible, not to mention ravenous for each other.

  I had never felt that way about somebody before.

  I wondered if he had.

  Of course he had. He was ancient. I couldn’t expect that he had never fallen for somebody before, could I?

  I leaned my head against his chest, closing my eyes. He wrapped his arms around me, lowering his face to the top of my head, taking in the scent of my hair.

  I felt a tingling spread from the base of my spine upwards.

  It wasn’t pleasant.

  The feeling expanded into a strange awareness, like something was wrong. Like we were being watched. I opened my eyes, expecting to find another set of nosy locals eyeing us cautiously.

  But nobody was around.

  My paranoia was unsettling and probably unwarranted. I was on edge from our reception in the town, and there was no reason to get myself so worked up about it. Anxiety could be such a nightmare sometimes, instilling in you a sense of dread when there was really no basis for it.

  I felt Raphael’s back stiffen suddenly as his body became alert.

  “What is it?” I whispered.

  “I heard something.”

  “Super vampire hearing.”

  “Yes,” he responded. “Somebody is trying to cast a spell. I heard the echoing of an incantation on the wind.”

  I suddenly felt a pull in my guts, like a harpooned fish that somebody was trying to reel back into a boat. I cried out in pain, hunching over and falling to my knees.

  “Alexis,” Raphael yelled, leaning down to check on me.

  “I don’t know what’s happening. It’s like I was stabbed.” Another pull, and the wind was knocked out of me. I pointed
to the area on my stomach that hurt, unable to find more words.

  He ran his hands along my abdomen, singing quietly under his breath. I felt a healing energy flow throughout me, and the connection to my guts broke with a great snapping force.

  I breathed deeply. “I’m okay.”

  Raphael searched the area frantically with his eyes, desperately trying to find the source of my pain. Nobody seemed to be around. The streets were quiet and empty.

  I regained my breath after a few seconds, and the pain dissipated completely. Raphael extended his arm to help me stand. As I regained my footing, I felt a rush of heat and saw a flash of something out of the corner of my eye. My head snapped in that direction, toward the alleyway facing us.

  Dark shadows stretched across the space, obscuring everything from view, but I had the feeling that someone was there. I stared quietly for several moments and then saw it, or at least I think I did. A gleam of black, like two eyes shining in the dark, and then nothing.

  They were gone.

  10

  The next morning, Kai and Raphael went to scrounge up some breakfast for us. While I was waiting, I slapped on a little make-up, brushed out my hair, and prepared myself to set out for the journey through the swamps, which was not something I was particularly looking forward to. I tried to calm myself by stashing a few more weapons in my jacket and boots. Maybe some knives and charms would make me feel more confident. This was an uphill battle, though, as I was running on several nights with not enough sleep, and my nerves were on edge.

  Even though the inn was comfortable, made more so by the fact that Phaedra had had a change of heart and left us a set of fresh pillows, linens, and snacks in our room when we were away for dinner, I had slept uneasily. I couldn’t shake the feeling that someone had actually been there in that alleyway, that I hadn’t imagined everything out of my fear and paranoia. Raphael hadn’t seen anyone, which contributed to my self-doubt, but deep down, I felt sure of it, felt it in my guts. Someone had been watching us. And someone had been trying to perform magic on me. Raphael knew that to be true, too.

  I thought back to our exit from the city. We had been careful to make sure that we hadn’t been followed, and we had traveled so far. Surely, we would have noticed someone on our tail by the time we got to Mantineia.

  Still, I thought it best to take some precautions.

  “Cleon. You said you were using a tracking spell on us before. Is it possible to break a spell like that?”

  Raphael and Kai walked into the room, their arms filled with pastries and mugs of coffee. Raphael handed one of the coffees to me, and I leaned over it, letting the smell rouse my senses into waking up fully.

  “Of course,” Cleon said. “Yet it is difficult to do so without knowing which spell they are using. Not to mention, I hired a witch to cast the spell that I used. I have little ability in that field, like most vampires.”

  “You’re trying to do a spell?” Kai asked.

  “Well, I’m trying to break one. A tracking spell.” I explained what Raphael and I had encountered last night and my reservations about the whole thing.

  Cleon didn’t look convinced. “It is likely your nerves. Paranoia. Vampires are excellent trackers, being predators themselves. If Raphael did not sense someone around, then I doubt that the alleyway was occupied.”

  “That doesn’t explain the pain I felt. Someone was trying to perform magic on me.”

  “One who has many enemies often feels such things. That does not mean that they were close by.”

  Kai nodded. “Perhaps it was Heliodor in Aporia. You said that she has been trying to locate you since your time at the Foundry.”

  “Yes, but I’m not sure she is in Aporia. The magic felt strong. It overcame my entire body. If she’s able to do that from far away, then I’m definitely scared of being close.”

  Raphael sat there, taking this all in, clearly thinking about the situation. That was one of the things I liked about him. He listened and thought more than he spoke. I learned how valuable that could be from Uncle Julian. Whenever he said something, you know that he had given it some thought beforehand. His speech was deliberate, unlike most people’s. Unlike mine. I was so uncomfortable with silence sometimes that I felt the need to fill in the quiet spaces, to be polite and move the conversation forward even when there was no need to. I’d love to learn to let things hang in the air a bit more, to be content with my own thoughts.

  “Tracking spells are sometimes confused by glamours,” Kai added. “I believe it would be wise to keep using yours for now, even though we are on the edge of our realm. Even if it doesn’t deter those looking for you, it might confound them for a while.”

  Raphael gave a quick nod of agreement. I had been hoping to drop the spell, not sure of how much of my magic it had been messing up when we used it. Even though it was a potion, it still worked off of my internal magic, perhaps limiting it. Still, if Raphael and Kai thought it best, I would trust them. After all, they had had much more experience with magic than I had.

  When we were done eating, we geared up for the trek ahead. I pulled on my knee high boots, buckling them into place. I was a boot fanatic and probably had twenty pairs, but this time I was glad that I had invested in a good pair, not just the trendy ones that were the cheapest. Maybe they would actually be functional in a swamp. Only time would tell.

  As we walked into the foyer to leave the hotel, Raphael pulled me back before we exited onto the street.

  “Alexis, I think you’re right. We should try to break any tracking spell that might be placed on you. Like Cleon said, it’s difficult without knowing which spell has been cast, but I have an idea of something we could try.”

  “Why didn’t you say so before?”

  “Because I don’t like to advertise my magical abilities. It’s not common for a vampire to be able to perform magic. It’s why I am so close to the Furies. Those of us with extraordinary powers rise up in the ranks. Others know I can do some things, because some things become revealed over time, but most don’t know the specifics. There are reasons to keep such knowledge closely guarded.”

  “Okay. I didn’t know. I won’t say anything.” Not for the first time, I wondered where Raphael had obtained these powers. I knew that feeding on witches and wizards could transfer powers, but that had to be relatively common. In addition, this kind of power transfer was dangerous and unpredictable. Raphael said the consequences could be dire for those who weren’t careful about feeding on other supernaturals. Vampires fed mostly on regular old humans because of this. However, Raphael’s powers seemed predictable, controllable. There had to be an explanation as to why he was different. Maybe, over time, he had simply learned to control unpredictable powers.

  He reached into his bag and pulled out a necklace, a thick silver chain.

  “Give me the moonbeam stone that you brought,” he said.

  I fished it out of my own bag and handed it to him. The light caught on the opalescent surface, displaying myriad colors. It was beautiful. He placed it on the chain and wrapped his hand around the stone. His voice softly rang out in an incantation as he closed his eyes tightly to concentrate. When he had finished, he placed the chain around my neck, tucking the stone inside the collar of my shirt.

  “Tracking spells tend to piggyback on the powers of the moon, just like the lunar connection to tides. Nobody knows how it works, but it does. Basically, I tried to spell the moonbeam stone to send out multiple signals of your essence. Perhaps it will confuse the trackers even more. Lead them down the wrong trail.”

  I nodded. “Worth a shot.”

  He leaned over and gave me a deep kiss, like he had been holding in the urge to do so for a long time. I certainly had.

  “Ahem.”

  Somebody was pointedly clearing their throat behind us. I opened one eye to see who it was.

  Phaedra.

  We broke apart from one another, a blush rising to my cheeks. I didn’t know why I was embarrassed. I was proud
of being with this man. Still, being called out will do that.

  “Safe travels,” she said, ushering us towards the door.

  I smiled at her and gave a little chuckle. “Take care, Phaedra.”

  Thirty minutes later, we were at the top of the dam, looking down onto the wetlands below. Cypress trees and muddy patches stretched out for as far the eye could see. I had no idea how long it would take us to cross that. Or how we would cross it. Did we need a fan boat? Some sort of canoe?

  I’d had no experience with anything like this, at least not on foot. I was a mountain girl. The biggest body of water that I had crossed were the streams flowing through the Cascades on my hikes, not a big honking swamp.

  We descended the other side of the dam using a switchback that stretched all the way down to the bottom. I wondered why the dam was so tall. Were there periods when these wetlands became that flooded? So much so that they needed a dam a few hundred feet tall?

  Or were they trying to keep something else out? Something besides water?

  They hadn’t built highways through the marshes, supposedly because the engineering to do so was too tricky. Seeing it in person made me wonder about the truth of that. It seemed like they were trying to make it difficult to traverse by design.

  Once we made it to the bottom of the switchback, a small sandbank lined the interior base of the dam. A focused pathway of sand led out of the middle into the swamp.

  Kai looked at us and held out his hands toward the dank scene before us.

  “Ever onwards, never backwards.”

  Raphael led the way, and I stood right behind him. The path was narrow, a single track, so we couldn’t walk side by side. As we crossed into the area where the water began, I felt a pushback, a strong surge of power as if we had just passed through a barrier of some sort. It was so startling that I lost my footing for a second. Kai grabbed me from behind, steadying me by the shoulders and making sure that I didn’t fall into the water.

  I looked down at the murky liquid next to the path. It was eerie, and I was certain that I didn’t want to touch it, much less fall inside. I couldn’t see the bottom, couldn’t be sure of its depths. Dark water was always intimidating to me, and this was creepier than most bodies of water I had encountered.