Winter's Magic (The Order Book 1)

by H. M. Clarke

  And then from the Smoke stepped George and David, and Remy disappeared into thin air.

  CHAPTER

  TWENTY

  ◆◆◆

  George leaned on his staff as he struggled to see through the inky blackness of the transition smoke, even though not even a second had passed since he had finished the spell. To him it seemed an eternity. He could feel David’s presence next to him.

  Kaitlyn was a mere ten metres away. She lay on the ground, arms outstretched. He could not see if she was awake or hurt.

  Trying to ignore the painful twist in his gut, he let his gaze travel around the room he found himself in. There was no sign of anyone else in the room, but there had to be someone close by. The feel of magic hung so heavily in the air that it felt like he was moving through water. George glanced at David and found him ‘tensed’, hands up ready to defend them, and David’s scruffy hair rose in a halo around his head. His gaze was focused purely on Kaitlyn.

  George turned back to the prone form in the center of the room. Kaitlyn had not moved and George felt a small lump of fear rise in his throat. He took a step forward and immediately felt David’s hand on his forearm, stilling him.

  “This reeks of a booby trap.”

  George nodded, not willing to speak with the lump still in his throat.

  “George, Daf. Remy was just here, and she’s really set on doing me in.”

  The sound of Kaitlyn’s voice broke through the fear and George felt himself settle back into his old self.

  “Hold tight, Kate,” David replied. “Are you hurt?”

  “No, not yet at least.”

  “Do you know if she had laid any magical traps around you?”

  “I don’t know. But she has me magically held here. I can’t move. So it’s a good bet that she probably has.”

  “George?”

  George nodded. “Give me a moment.”

  He planted his staff firmly in front of him and George began to chant. A soft blue light began to expand like a bubble from the head of his staff, and it grew to encompass both himself and David before disappearing from sight. He turned to David.

  “That should protect us from anything in here. Though I cannot sense anything.”

  “Neither can I, George, but that doesn’t mean that there’s nothing here.”

  “True.”

  “Can either of you get me out of whatever it is that is holding me down?”

  “Just give us a moment to work out what it is.” As David replied to Kaitlyn, George began murmuring one of the various detection spells that he knew. He raised his staff and began to move forward.

  As soon as he was a metre away from Kaitlyn, George felt a tingle run up from the floor and up his body. He glanced down. He had stepped into some sort of circle which flared a sickly green against the strength of his spell. Hopefully the strength of his protection charm will have negated the circle’s affects.

  Laughter, high and unstable, shattered the silence. Remy appeared on the far side of the room in a funnel of thick black smoke. A predatory smile dominated her thin features.

  “I thought you’d be a tougher catch George.” She brushed a strand of hair away from her face as she turned her eyes on David. “But I thought that there would be more of you coming to this little girl’s rescue.”

  “Maybe you have overestimated me,” George replied in measured tones. David, thankfully, was remaining silent. Seniority was working in his favor for once, it automatically gave him the lead in this mission. Remy was a weak mage, needed others to help her craft more than simple spells. And she held an over inflated belief in her own Talent.

  Remy’s dark eyes were watchful despite her triumphant air. “Oh, I doubt that very much.”

  “Let Kaitlyn go, Remy. She is of no use to you.”

  Remy grinned. “I can’t set her free, Mage, but you can.”

  He raised his eyebrows, feigning unconcern despite the churning in his gut. “How, when you have us pinned to this spot.

  Remy’s smile widened, which meant his guess was right. The circle was meant to do nothing more than immobilize him.

  “There’s no fun in defeating an enemy who cannot move. You will be free soon enough.”

  “Then what will stop me from ripping out your heart, Remy,” David spat out. George tightened his grip on his staff. The man needs to keep his mouth shut.

  “You can try, but the price will be your agent’s death.”

  George met Remy’s gaze and saw the uneasy mix of amusement and cruelty in the dark depths of her eyes. She wanted them all to pay for the injury done to her.

  He flexed his fingers about his staff. “Let her go, Remy, and both Wheeler and I will give you a decent battle.”

  Her responding smile was little more than a sharp snarl. Remy’s form was blurring, shifting shape, becoming something less than human, but not quite animal like. As well as being a magic user, she was also a shape shifter.

  “She has five minutes, Mage.” Her voice was a purr, deep and menacing. “But to rescue her, you both need to defy my spell and then defeat me.” Her voice had now become little more than a rough growl, her shape just a breath away from becoming the cougar. She was keeping only enough humanity to speak. “You all must pay for the trouble you have caused me today. Pay with pain.”

  Her paws hit the ground, and with another snarl, she sprang straight at Kaitlyn.

  “No!” George leaped forward, through the boundary light of Remy’s circle. Pain ripped through his body and tore a scream from his throat. For a frightening heartbeat, there was nothing but emptiness. This was not one of Remy’s spells, this was one crafted for her. George’s ears vaguely heard David’s echoing cry of pain, then he hit the ground and darkness claimed him.

  CHAPTER

  TWENTY-ONE

  ◆◆◆

  Kaitlyn watched the talk between George and Remy with David lurking just behind them. And then she lost sight of them. She tried to move her body, but it was stuck fast. The only hint of Kaitlyn’s struggle could only be seen through the strain in her face.

  Something Tawny flew over her head. White teeth flashed a second before a snarl cut through the silence. The ragged sound of a gasp cut through the silence - George and David.

  ‘I have to help them. Somehow, I have to stop Remy.’ But her body refused to obey her. She could not move; she was barely able to breathe from the invisible pressure on her back. The cougar snarled again. A heartbeat later there was a guttural sound of pain. ‘What the hell was happening?’

  She struggled to shift her head to see. Sweat ran down her forehead and stung her eyes. She blinked the moisture away and gritted her teeth. Her breath became a hiss of pain as the pressure tightened around her neck.

  ‘I have to move…But how?’ Her one magical weapon needed the blood of a mage to activate, and the force upon her back pressed down and tightened every time she shifted. Damn it, there had to be some way to free herself! Kaitlyn bit her lip hard enough to draw blood. Then she felt something touch her leg. She instinctively turned to look, but the force restrained her. Then the touch resolved itself into the warmth of another body pressing against her side. Where the body touched, she felt a tingling. And then she felt her foot move. It was painful and sluggish, but it moved.

  “Kate.”

  Kaitlyn turned her head and saw a tormented David crawl up beside her. His voice was weak and sounded as if he was forcing the sound through his pain clenched teeth.

  “Can you move? The protection that George placed around me should have removed the force holding you.”

  Kaitlyn moved her hand to show that it had. “Why is the spell not stopping the pain trap?”

  “It’s not that type of protection.”

  “You are okay though?” Kaitlyn knew it to be a stupid question, but she had to ask.

  A whistle of pain escaped his lips as he answered. “I’m fine. It’s just pain. I can handle that. It hurts worse when I go through the change. What we have to
worry about now is helping George with Remy.” David abruptly doubled up with pain, his breath hissing between his clenched teeth.

  Kaitlyn twisted around, trying to see what was going on. George and Remy were on the far side of the room. George was on his back, struggling to hold back the cougar standing astride his prone body with his staff. Blood soaked his trousers, and a bloody rent marred his right side. The cougar was unharmed, toying with its prey.

  She clenched her hands against the instinct to attack Remy and quickly scanned the room around her. There was nothing close to her - except David. She turned back to her best friend, who was still curled up in pain, the sight of which made her insides boil with fury. She had to help him, and the only way to do that was to get Remy. A flash of metal glinted from David’s waistband.

  David’s daggers! She reached back and pulled two from his belt and spun round and tossed one straight at Remy. The knife flew straight over Remy and George and hit the far wall with a bang before rebounding to clatter to the floor. The cat snarled in fright and leapt away from George. He scrambled awkwardly to his feet but did not flee.

  “Kaitlyn, run!” he gasped. He stood between her and the cougar, a bloodied warrior still ready for battle.

  She could barely move, let alone run. And even if she was able to, she would not have. George seemed willing to die defending her. She had nothing left to offer him except the same willingness to trade her life for his.

  The cougar leaped again. George quickly chanted and tipped up the end of his staff, pointing it at the knife that Kaitlyn had thrown. The blade zoomed up from the floor and with a flick of George’s staff, it flew straight at Remy’s leaping form.

  The cougar twisted away awkwardly and landed to one side of the room. Its form shivered and darkened, then became Remy once more.

  “My captive is free, I see.” Remy’s voice was still a seductive drawl, despite the quick physical change from feline to human.

  Kaitlyn met her dark gaze and felt as if she were falling deep into its malevolent depths. It surrounded her, sapping her strength, her will. Remy was the essence of evil. They were fools to think they could ever beat her.

  Once again, George moved until he stood between them and Kaitlyn blinked, feeling like a sleeper coming out of a dream. Fear surged anew. Just for an instant, she had been drawn into Remy’s mind and had glimpsed the dark depths of her soul. It might well have been hell’s playground.

  “Let her go, Remy.”

  George’s voice was flat, devoid of any sort of emotion, yet Kaitlyn could sense his fear as sharply as she could taste her own across the new bond that had formed between them earlier that night. It was clear in the tightening of his shoulders, in the play of muscles across his back. But he was frightened for her, not for himself.

  Remy smiled. “I know, I know. She means nothing to you.”

  George did not reply. His fingers flexed on his staff, and Kaitlyn suddenly wondered why David did not change into a wolf and come to help them.

  “I’m afraid you’re missing the point, George. I don’t want you all dead. I want you suffering, then dead.”

  George’s back blocked most of Remy from Kaitlyn’s sight, but her evil reached out nevertheless, like a swirling force around her. The pressure whipped back around her throat, pulling tight. Pain eddied and hovered close, and darkness was suddenly only a heartbeat away.

  “I have you now, the one who shot me and two senior RPU agents. What makes you think that I would do anything you ask of me? I am in control and you are all in my power.”

  “Do your worst, shifter.”

  George’s voice seemed to come from a million miles away, yet it contained a hint of callousness that shook her. Energy ripped through the air, as hot as the fires in her soul. She licked cracked lips and tried to concentrate on his back. His muscles flexed beneath his coat as he set his staff and waited. Why didn’t he do something? Couldn’t he sense the energy building up around them?

  Remy’s laughter clawed at the air. Green flame burst to life around them, bright and surreal. George did not move, did not fight. Panic surged through Kaitlyn. She did not want to be pinned again. Without thought, Kaitlyn rushed forward and pushed her hand onto George’s still bleeding wound. Immediately she felt the blood soak into her skin and power surged through her as her Talent converted George’s blood.

  “No Kaitlyn!” George tried to move away from her. “The Flame will rebound the spell!”

  Kaitlyn ignored George and threw the power she had gathered at the assassin, wanting to crush her heart into coal dust.

  Remy screeched in surprise. A heartbeat later, Kaitlyn screamed in agony as her power rebounded and consumed her consciousness.

  CHAPTER

  TWENTY-TWO

  ◆◆◆

  Kaitlyn’s scream tore past George’s surprise. The bright flames danced frantically around him but never touched him. Her agony knifed through his brain. He was so attuned to her now that he could feel her pain, feel her struggle to breathe, to survive, through every pore in his skin. He firmed his grip on his staff and lunged through the flames at Remy. Her form was shifting, merging into that of the cougar. She leapt away, but not fast enough. Even as he chanted, he plunged the end of his staff into the open wound on her shoulder, trapping her between human and cougar form.

  She screamed and lashed at him. Claws raked across his face and then she was on him, a writhing, screaming amalgam of woman and cat with inhuman strength. George felt the grip he had on his staff loosen, and then it fell to clatter to the floor.

  They hit the ground locked together. Remy took the impact but did not seem to feel it. He grabbed her arms, holding her claws away from his face, but Remy bucked and threw him high over her head. He hit the floor with a grunt, scrambling up as she launched at him again. Then a gunshot resounded across the silence. Remy screamed and twisted in midair, and blood plumed from her arm as the bullet tore through muscle and bone. She landed catlike, howling in agony, then sprang again, not at George, but at Kaitlyn.

  George threw himself between them, but Remy twisted in midair again, somehow avoiding him. He hit the ground near Kaitlyn’s feet and rolled, rising awkwardly. Pain burned up his leg, but he ignored it, spinning to meet Remy’s next attack. She was on him in an instant, tearing at his face and his chest, her breath like hot acid. He wrapped his arms around her and held tight. Needle sharp fangs tore into his shoulder. Gritting his teeth and hissing in pain, he lifted her off the ground and staggered away from Kaitlyn.

  Remy screamed in frustration, but it was a high, inhuman sound. She placed her paws against his chest and tore herself out of his arms, leaping away. Two more gunshots cut through the air. Something burned past his ear, drawing blood. Remy jerked. Blood and gore sprayed as her body shuddered, then dropped to the ground.

  She had to be dead. There was nothing left of her head but a bloody pulp.

  The ring of flames surrounding them died, and across the room, George saw David climb slowly to his feet.

  He gave him a brief nod, then turned and went back to Kaitlyn. Kneeling down, he lifted her head onto his lap and touched her neck, feeling for a pulse.

  Nothing. “Oh God, no.” Sudden fear stabbed through his heart. She could not die. Not now. He shifted his fingers on her neck, desperate to find some sign of life.

  Then life shuddered under his fingertips. Her pulse was thready and weak, but there. Relief surged through him. He closed his eyes and leaned his forehead against hers. And felt the heat under her sweat dampened skin.

  “Chris?”

  Her voice was little more than a harsh croak, but never had he heard a sweeter sound. He smiled down at her. “No, it is George.”

  Kaitlyn’s eyes then widened as her memory returned to the present.

  “Where’s Remy?”

  He brushed a damp curl away from her eyes. “David shot her.”

  Surprise flitted through their bright gray depths. Like him, she had not expected Remy’s end to be
so simple, so normal.

  George took a deep breath and tore his gaze away from hers, watching David walk across the room. “Nice shot.”

  David nodded, stopping near Kaitlyn’s feet to study them both with a critical eye. “Sorry about the ear.”

  George shrugged and stripped off his coat, wrapping it around Kaitlyn. “It is a nick, nothing more.”

  “How are you, Kate?” David asked.

  “I’m fine, a little sore, but I’m fine. George on the other hand looks terrible.”

  “Thanks, I think.” George could not help the smile that came to his lips.

  “Are you okay to get to your feet?” David asked as he sat down on his haunches beside her.

  “I think so.” She levered herself up onto her arms and looked around the room. George watched as her gaze fell on what was left of Remy and then turn quickly away.

  “George, I think you should move away. At least until you have been treated and cleaned up.” David moved forward to take Kaitlyn’s arm to help her up. George glared across at him, unsure what he meant by that.

  “Why? I am fine.”

  “It’s the blood, George. I can’t risk you accidentally activating Kate’s Talent. She’s untrained.”

  “Right. Yes.” George immediately backed away as David helped Kaitlyn to her feet. Then noise outside of the room made him turn in time to see Chris and John rushing through the door ready for a fight.

  Upon seeing them, the two came to a halt.

  “Are you guys alright?” Chris called out. George noticed that Kaitlyn’s head turned immediately at the sound.

  “Whoever that is certainly isn’t,” John said, nodding his head toward Remy’s body.

  “Remy is not having a good day,” David replied, eliciting a small, high laugh from Kaitlyn.

  “That’s Remy?” George heard the surprise in John’s voice.

  “That is Remy,” George replied. “You had better call in the forensic crew, John. The things in here may keep them a little busy for a while.” He could not help the small smile that touched his lips. George would never show it, but he was pleased, and relieved that Remy was dead. Now there was only Cassandra to track down and capture.