Blood and Fire: An Urban Fantasy (The Marked Book 1)

by D. N. Hoxa

  Now, I was completely at a loss on how to proceed.

  “Of course. Detective Dumont was kind enough to inform me. He’s on his way, along with a team that will take you in. There will be no more second chances for you, Ms. Monroe.” He then looked at Logan. “And I don’t know what your involvement in all of this is, but that”—he pointed at the hole in his ceiling, the edges of it still burning—“is very impressive, I must say.”

  “We know who is doing this. It’s Jonah Davis’s son, and we can only track him through Egyptian runes because that’s the magic he’s using,” I said through gritted teeth. “And you’re going to track him for us.”

  Ford laughed, an ice-cold sound that raised the hairs on the back of my neck. “I gave you a day to give me a name and a location, and you failed to deliver. It amazes me that you made it this far. It amuses me, too.”

  “It doesn’t matter who’s coming,” said Logan. “We’re not going to leave here until you give us what we want.”

  Ford wasn’t concerned at all. He put his hands in his pockets. “You do know that it’s illegal to practice magic through Egyptian runes, right?”

  “It wouldn’t be the first time you did illegal things, Mr. Ford. Or do I need to remind you of how you took Davis’s money for trips you had no right to take, to do research you had no right to do?”

  “Trips? Yes, as was within my right. But research—absolutely not. I’ve never broken the law, Ms. Monroe. It’s why I am head of the Order of Magians of Virginia,” he said, his eyes gleaming with pride.

  “He’s going to kill them,” I spit. “You can’t just sit around and do nothing! You can stop him. Just track him.”

  “I’m no detective, Ms. Monroe. I’ve done my part by giving Detective Dumont everything he asked for to aid in his investigation.” He meant me. Just because he’d agreed to Dumont’s request to let me work with him to find the kidnapper, he thought he’d done all he could do.

  “That’s bullshit and you know it!” I said, my voice rising. I was so close to throwing my chakri at his face. “They were your students! You put them here. You took them to Egypt and allowed them to fool around with their runes. You’re the reason all of this is even happening!”

  A dark cloud seemed to materialize over Ford. His smile disappeared, and he took his hands out of his pocket. I braced myself for an attack. Logan felt it, too. His hands caught fire.

  But Ford didn’t attack.

  “They were fools!” he spit. “Jonah Davis was nothing but a power-hungry child who never became a man. He knew exactly what the consequences were.” He raised his index finger at me. “Your father knew exactly what the consequences were.”

  My knees shook.

  It wasn’t that I didn’t see it coming. I did—from a mile away. I’d even admitted to myself that there was a very, very good chance that Thomas Murphy was my father.

  But to hear Ford actually say it was something else entirely. It made me want to fall on the floor, hide myself from the world forever, and wither away slowly. It meant that even the parts of my life that I did remember weren’t true. Even the people I thought I knew were strangers. The memories I’d created along the years as I grew up were nothing but illusions.

  Ford smiled at the expression on my face, at my shock. “Yes, Ms. Monroe. They both knew exactly what was at stake, and they didn’t stop. Egyptian runes kill you, slowly or quickly—it’s only a matter of luck. They knew that, so do not put that on me.”

  I couldn’t think. I couldn’t force myself to speak. I could only picture the face of the man in Sasha’s picture—the man who was my father.

  “But you took them there,” Logan said. “You did what you weren’t supposed to do, Mr. Ford. And for that, you’re going to answer, too.”

  Ford raised his chin. “What do you think is going to happen, Mr. Haines? It’s my word against yours, and I can tell you right now that it’s not going to end well for you.”

  “Actually, it’s my word, too.”

  The voice came from upstairs, through the hole in the ceiling. A heartbeat later, Dumont jumped through the hole and landed on his feet without even crouching. He had blood on his lips still, and a gun in his hand that wasn’t going to do us any favors against Ford. He was too powerful to kill with bullets. Because I wanted to kill him. So, so badly.

  He knew. He’d known the day before when he met with me. He had looked me in the face and didn’t tell me shit. What kind of a person does that?

  “Ah, Detective. Right on time,” Ford said, still not worried at all.

  “He’s not going to do it,” Logan said through gritted teeth. That’s when Ford leaned back in surprise.

  “Why aren’t you arresting them?” he asked Dumont.

  “In a minute,” the detective said and walked closer to Ford.

  He smiled bitterly. “Don’t tell me you’re in on this, too, Detective.”

  Dumont didn’t answer. “Ruby got you the name you requested. Now, we need to find the location, and we were told you would be able to help with that.”

  “I assure you that you’ve been misinformed, Detective. And I’ll ask you to remember your place only this once,” Ford said. Finally, he sounded a bit pissed.

  “You can help save lives,” I said, my voice a mess. I was still processing, but I was also aware that we needed to act now. So my feelings, my thoughts, needed to be put on hold. “Just tell us how to do the spell.”

  Ford looked at me like he was disgusted at the sight of my face. He raised his hands and a short wave of magic hit me right in the face, keeping me paralyzed for a long minute. I wasn’t able to even breathe properly until the magic went right through me and slipped out of my back. Fuck, that hurt. I gasped for air, wanting to let go of my chakris because it felt like I still had an invisible hand wrapped around my neck, but I stopped myself.

  I raised my hand. “You fucking—”

  “Ruby, stop!”

  Dumont was in front of me with his arms raised.

  “Get out of my way,” I demanded, but he didn’t move. I just wanted to throw my chakri at Ford. Seemed fair. He’d attacked me first.

  “Stop this. We still have time,” Dumont said, widening his alien eyes at me. “Please, Ruby. Don’t ruin it.”

  “There’s nothing to ruin,” Ford said. “If you don’t leave right now, I will be forced to kill you, and trust me, it will be easy. I am willing to forget your involvement in this, Detective, if you put both these magians where they belong—behind bars.”

  “Fuck you!” I spit, but Dumont was already facing him.

  “And I am willing to forget your little adventure in Egypt with your students, Mr. Ford, if you help us. Do the spell and find the man responsible for this. Help us stop him,” Dumont said.

  Ford showed us his teeth. “You dare—”

  But I cut him off. “Remember the ogres?” His cold eyes met mine. “Yeah, you knew Lee Collins is half ogre, right? Well, turns out, Jonah Davis and Thomas Murphy weren’t the only ones who messed with the Egyptian runes. He was in on it, too, in the beginning. And he saved everything in the house of his godparents—documents, pictures that prove that you went to Egypt and did research, and brought back spells and rituals you had no right to bring,” I said.

  Lying through my teeth was definitely a skill I needed to put on my resume.

  “And you know the best part?” I asked, smiling because the look on his face was worth a million bucks. “Margaret and Herman Tales are willing to share it with us—and with the world, should something happen to us here.” Because I had no doubt he could kill us. Sure, we’d give him a hard time, but eventually, he’d kill all three of us, and there was nothing we could do to stop him.

  “Impossible,” Ford said, but he looked terrified—as terrified as I felt.

  “Very possible. And ogre communities are not something you have power over, even as a head of the Order. You can’t buy them, and you can’t order them to keep their mouths shut. The world is going to kn
ow what you did, and you most definitely will not remain in your position for long. I promise you that.”

  A mental hi-five to myself. I just wished I’d come up with the lie earlier so we’d have skipped the small talk.

  “She’s telling the truth,” Dumont said without batting an eye. “We met with Mr. and Mrs. Tales yesterday, and they are the ones who gave us this information. They have proof, Mr. Ford. And if Lee Collins isn’t found soon, they’re going to release it.”

  “It’s not possible,” Ford insisted, but his anger had already gotten the best of him. His hands were pulled in fists by his side, and I was ready for another magic wave to hit me. I had no idea what kind of spells he used, but I was sure they weren’t going to be pleasant. “Everything was destroyed. I did it myself. No proof exists anymore.”

  “Come on, Ford,” I said with a forced smile. “You’re not sure of that; otherwise we’d already be dead. So be a man for once in your life and just tell us what we want to know.”

  I was ready. If he attacked again, I wasn’t going to stop even if Dumont stepped in front of me again.

  “It’s a one-time thing,” Dumont said. “You do this, you come with us and help us save those people, and you will be given everything the ogres have, everything Lee Collins saved.”

  I loved how he joined in the lie. Ford was fucking hopeless.

  “All of it,” he spit, his eyes red with anger. Judging by the look on his face, I wouldn’t have been surprised if a tear slipped from his eyes. “I want everything.”

  “And you’ll have it. You have my word—none of us will speak about this to anyone, ever.”

  My heart seemed to stand still for a moment, as Ford made up his mind. If he decided that we were lying pieces of shit and deserved to die, I was going to be furious.

  But he didn’t.

  “I’ll do it,” he said. Three words filled with so much hatred, I was surprised we didn’t drop dead from it.

  “How? When?” I asked, unable to feel joy. We hadn’t seen anything yet.

  “I’ve never practiced Egyptian runes before. My only fault is gaining knowledge about them,” he said, almost sad, but the angry kind of sad. “I can tell you wh—”

  But Dumont cut him off. “No, you have to do it.”

  “I’ve never practiced that kind of magic, Detective,” Ford spit.

  “It’s fine. Just write down what we need,” I said. Arguing with Ford was wasting time.

  But Dumont turned to me. “Do you know any magian who’s more powerful than him?”

  “No, but—”

  “It has to be him,” the detective insisted. “That’s the deal, Mr. Ford.”

  Easy to see how much Ford wished he could just make us disappear right now.

  “There is a chance that it might not work. If this is really Jonah Davis’s son, he’s using rituals of the fire god Denwen. In the Book of the Dead, he’s rejected by all other gods. His power is vast and hardly controlled, but to find him, I’d have to use the same kind of runes he’s using.” He then looked at Logan. “In the same way he’s using them.”

  “You mean, you need to burn the runes on the floor?” I asked, stunned.

  Ford nodded, pale as a ghost. His hands were shaking slightly, too. “There is no traditional tracking spell because Egyptian runes are designed to be unpredictable to obtain more power. I need to perform a Mirror. It will give me a reflection of all the times and places he’s used the same spell in the past year, maybe even longer back.” He put a hand in front of his mouth. “I’m not sure. Like I said, I’ve never done it before.” And I believed him, but I also didn’t care if he died trying. Did that make me a bitch? So be it.

  “Then what are we waiting for?” Logan said, stepping forward. “Draw the runes and I’ll burn them.”

  “You have to be very precise. One wrong curve and we’re all doomed.” Ford looked genuinely panicked, which in turn panicked me. It would suck to die now.

  “Just draw the runes,” Logan said. He’d run out of patience.

  Ford nodded. “I’ll be right back.” And he went into the bedroom.

  “He’s going to do it,” I said, completely shocked. “He’s really going to do it.”

  “Let’s just hope it works,” Dumont said, and he started to move the furniture against the wall to make room for Ford’s drawings.

  I hoped so, too.

  24

  It looked so surreal.

  Ford had closed the blinds on the windows, and the only light in the room came from the burning runes on the floor. He’d had drawn them using the pictures on my phone. They were an exact copy of the runes in Nana’s Enclave, with an extra rune at the end that would enable him to create the Mirror he spoke about. And the map of the city we’d found in the bedside drawer of the hotel room was next to his feet, too.

  Logan, Dumont and I stood by the door, watching, unsure of what to do, while Ford stood in front of the runes with his eyes closed and his hands outstretched, palms turned to the floor. Logan had burned the runes exactly like he needed them, and now he could barely stand. He was exhausted but refused to sit down.

  I had my chakris in my hand, though I wasn’t sure why I bothered. If the spell was going to go awry, they weren’t going to help us anyway. But holding onto them made me feel a bit more in control. Even Dumont held on to his gun.

  Fifteen minutes passed in complete silence. The runes on the ground kept burning, possibly by magic, because Logan was no longer near them. Ford stood still as a statue, sometimes moved his lips fast to form words we couldn’t hear, and a whoosh would pass through the room, pushing my hair from my face.

  Was this what my father had been doing when he died?

  Had it really been an accident?

  Or had Marcus killed him?

  I’d have been inclined to believe that, except at the time my father died, Marcus would have been just a kid. And his father would have been alive. His reason for revenge wouldn’t have happened yet.

  Ford moved. He tried to raise his hands but couldn’t, and something pulled him toward the floor. The runes burned brighter. He crashed on his knees. I instinctively jumped forward to reach out to him, but Logan pulled me back. Ford had told us not to interrupt him no matter what happened, and that was exactly what we needed to do.

  So I stayed put. And we waited.

  Another hour must have gone by before Ford tried to raise his hands again. He whined like a wounded dog. His skin was covered in a thick layer of sweat; his shirt was completely wet, too. But he managed to raise his hands over his head all the way this time, and the shapes of the runes burning on the floor rose into the air in a bright orange aurora that took my breath away. It was as beautiful to watch as it was terrifying.

  When the orange lights dimmed away into nothing, Ford collapsed to the side, his face an inch from a burning rune. We all went to him this time and pulled him away from the fire.

  “Put it out,” I said to Logan as Dumont turned the light on.

  “I’m trying. It’s not working,” Logan said. I had no idea what that meant. He was a Pyro, fire was in his blood, but now was not the time to ask questions.

  Dumont got a small bottle of water and sprinkled some on Ford’s sweaty face before giving him some to drink. His eyes slowly opened—he was coming back to consciousness.

  “Did it work?” I asked, impatient to get him to speak already, but he couldn’t.

  He had to drink half the bottle of water before he could even make himself sit up. My patience was nonexistent at that point.

  “The map,” he said, pointing at the floor. I turned to see the map a couple feet away, so close to a still burning rune that the edge of it had caught fire. I grabbed it quickly and put the fire out with my hand. When I laid it on the floor, I saw the tiniest burned holes all over the place—and one of them was in the exact spot where Nana’s Enclave stood.

  “It worked,” I said in wonder, still unable to believe it.

  “These are the places
where he used this spell. If his location is not there, I’m not going to be able to do another spell,” Ford said, trying his hardest to stand up. In the end, he had to accept help from Dumont, even though he hated it. Blood had returned to his cheeks somewhat, but he was still sweating.

  “We need to check all these places out,” I said to Dumont. Naomi could do it, probably quickly. I recognized Miranda Giorgio’s address, but that was it, and I didn’t have the patience to take a closer and more careful look at the map.

  “You need to rest, Mr. Ford. You’re going to need your strength,” Dumont said. “I will call you with information as soon as we prepare everything.”

  “I’m not sure how I’d be of any use to you now, Detective,” said Ford, but he didn’t outright refuse, either. I didn’t know why Dumont insisted on Ford tagging along, either. I was sure he could get more than enough people in on this from Captain Stannel.

  “You know what we’re dealing with here, Mr. Ford. And you’re the only person we know who is familiar with Egyptian runes. Your input on how to best take that man down will be key to saving those people,” Dumont said.

  Well, when he put it that way…

  “Let’s go,” I said, eager to speak to Naomi. This was it. We would finally know where Nana and the others were.

  Watch out, Marcus. Here we come.

  25

  Working with the MM sure had its perks.

  I was in Dumont’s truck with Logan, with another ten cars full of soldiers right behind us, armed to the teeth, ready to kill that fucker. Oh, Marcus was going to die tonight.

  Just like I suspected, Naomi had a list of three possible locations in under half an hour. An hour later, she’d narrowed it down to one by searching the list of properties that the family of Jonah Davis owned.

  Apparently, there was a warehouse in Belmont Woods in the south of the city that was owned by Jonah Davis’s sister. Ford’s spell had clearly burned a hole in the map at that very location, so that’s where we were headed now. As soon as we found out, I texted Margaret Tales, told her where we thought Lee was, and that we were on our way to get him. I’d promised her that I would keep her informed, and I felt a lot better after sending her that message. Darkness was already chasing away the sunlight as we drove, but the dark didn’t scare me anymore, not when I knew who we were dealing with now. The image of Marcus was burned like those runes on the inside of my lids.