The Sanguine Door

by Genevieve Grey

“Joseph asked me to introduce you two to everyone. Also, we have a doctor who said he is certain he can break the enchantment on your collar.”

  A few shocked gasps came from the people around us. My glare had paralysed tougher men than Judas, but he seemed oblivious. Instead, he took my hand and seemed to want to parade me in front of the crowd like a show dog.

  I planted my feet. “Let everyone enjoy their breakfast.”

  “Rina?”

  A familiar voice made me swing around. Loral was standing in the threshold of the door. I was too shocked to move. He ran toward me and wrapped me in a tight hug.

  “What the hell did you do to your hair?”

  I shook my head and buried it in his cotton shirt. Of course that was the first thing he would say. He was okay. The joy was short lived. I looked into his eyes. He needed to get out of here. If he stayed he would die with everyone else.

  “How do you know Lilith?” The Hunter emphasised my pseudonym.

  Loral shot me a look.

  “We were roommates. Who are you?” Loral accused.

  “This is my old friend, Noah.” I gave Loral an easy grin.

  “You’ve never told me about him.”

  I forced an unsteady laugh. “Well, you can see why.”

  “Just like you to try and keep a man like this all to yourself,” Loral teased.

  He turned his friendly smile to the Hunter. “Where are you from, Noah?”

  Loral’s voice was kind now, his guard down. He trusted me.

  “Ka,” Luka answered. “I was a private bounty hunter.”

  The lies flowed from his mouth as easily as they did mine. From the corner of my eye I could see Judas in an intense conversation with an older gentlemen. They hurried toward me.

  “How long has it been on you?” the dark-haired, older man demanded. I assumed they meant the collar and not the life-sucking leech that was my companion.

  “Four days.” Only four days.

  “How did they put it on?”

  “I was on the run. They found me and collared me. But I managed to escape with Noah’s help.” I looked at him and tried to school my features into something resembling gratitude. It wasn’t easy.

  “We have to get it off as soon as possible. Come with me.” The older gentlemen dragged me from the busy room. I was grateful to be away from the crowd.

  The Hunter and Loral followed as I was dragged down another skinny corridor, breakfast forgotten. The conversation died behind me.

  “Davis is our healer,” Loral added as I was ushered into a small office.

  There was a table covered with books and loose papers. I sunk into a comfortable armchair and Loral stood awkwardly near the door with the Hunter. The healer pushed his glasses up his nose and inspected the ring around my neck. Concern laced his kind features.

  “Collaring is the worst kind of torture for a Mage. I’m surprised you are so calm.”

  He was kind to ignore the ugly scratches that surrounded my new piece of jewellery.

  “This is a strong one. I’ve never seen inscriptions such as these.” He sat back, pondering. “It will take me a while to figure out the incantation to unlock it, but it must be removed as quickly as possible.”

  “What’s going to happen to me?” The need for information burned within. It was foul mimicry of my lost Magic.

  “Mages are irrevocably intertwined with their power. When it is taken away…” the healer’s face turned grave. ”It has serious side effects.”

  “Like?” Loral prompted.

  “Is your Magic powerful?”

  “Yes,” Loral answered for me.

  When the Healer looked to me for confirmation, I nodded.

  “If your Magic was weaker, it would only affect your mind. But if you have half as much power as your companion, your body will fare just as badly.”

  I spun to look at the Hunter, his face was unchanged. Did he know?

  Loral’s eyes were wide and he was gnawing at his nails. “More, she has more power than him.”

  I didn’t know how my friend knew this secret about me.

  “I’m going to die.” My voice was small. How long did I have?

  “We won’t let you die. I’ll find a way to remove it, I promise you,” The healer put a warm hand over mine.

  “Thank you.”

  He snapped photos of the ring and sent me on my way. I couldn’t stand to go back out to the dining room, not even hungry as I was. I wanted to go back to the bedroom and think, but the winding corridors were disorientating. Loral took me by my elbow.

  “I need to speak to Lilith. Go down that corridor and turn left and then left again. You’ll be back in the kitchen.”

  The Hunter eyed me and then left us in peace. It was good to be out of his presence. Loral took me further down into the depths of the compound. I wondered how big it was.

  We finally stopped in front of a door. Loral ushered me in. “I was so worried about you.”

  “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.” My voice wouldn’t seem to go above a whisper. I hadn’t realised how much I had relied on him. My friend had been placed in the firing line because of me. It was also a relief to know he hadn’t been the one to betray me.

  “Are you okay?” He looked into my eyes. There was only concern shining through.

  I nodded, not trusting my voice.

  “What happened?” His voice was fervent.

  Did he know what I was?

  “I’m a Blood Mage.” Bitter regret dripped from my words.

  “I know.” My gaze snapped to his. “I know. I’ve known for ages, silly girl.” He took my hands. “You could fool others with that stupid Fire Mage story, but not me. I know you.”

  “But why didn’t you…?”

  I was lost for words. He knew? Why hadn’t he said anything to me? All this time I had done my Magic in hiding, thinking I was keeping my secret.

  “I didn’t want you to run away. You’re not as scary as you think.”

  I blinked rapidly, gratitude threatened to overwhelm me. I wanted Loral to yell and shout at me and call me all sorts of horrible names. It would have been easier.

  “The Elect collared me, but I managed to escape. Noah helped me.” I forced the story through my lips. “I’ve worked with him on some jobs before, he’s a good guy.”

  I stuttered through the last part. Loral needed to trust me completely. There could be no doubt about my loyalty if I wanted to live.

  “I just wish you would have introduced us sooner.” He laughed with forced levity. He didn’t mention the collar again. Maybe he saw how precariously I sat on the edge of sanity.

  “So, can I fix your hair?”

  The distraction was welcome. He could do whatever he wanted to my hair as long as he kept talking.

  “Loral, there’s a massive bounty on my head,” I said.

  “No one would dare stand against Joseph, if he deemed you worthy to join our cause you will not be betrayed.”

  I turned toward him. “No one can know what I am. They’ll turn on me.”

  “Arina, we have a Blood Mage living here already. No one here thinks she’s evil.”

  “She isn’t a murderer.”

  “You’re not a murderer.” He rolled his eyes. “Now, undo your hair.”

  If he knew of my past in Dunlap, he might have viewed me differently. I was too tired to argue. Instead, I did as he asked and unfastened my damp pony tail. He splashed the potion on my hair and brushed it through gently. We sat and he told me how he had escaped Ka.

  Loral had left the house once he had seen that there was a Blood Mage on the loose. He had assumed the ‘red headed psycho’ was me and had fled to the safe house before enforcer’s had come knocking. I rinsed my hair in the sink. Loral had a mirror in his bathroom. My hair was almost back to its natural colour. I couldn’t help but smile as I ran my fingers through the ends. Loral brandished a pair of scissors. He started snipping away, fixing my uneven cut job. When he was done, my hair was sitting just
above my collar bones.

  “You’re the best.”

  “I’ll do it again soon. We can get it back to your natural colour. I have to meet with Joseph before he leaves. I’ll give you a few days to settle in and then you can join us. I could use your help here.”

  Loral hooked his arm through mine and we made our way down the corridor. There was a weight pressing on my chest that had nothing to do with the collar. I couldn’t bring myself to meet Loral’s eyes.

  Chapter Seven

  The next few weeks passed quickly as I settled into a routine. I was grateful that my room was far from the central areas. It cut down on the small talk.

  Judas had shown me around in the first few days. The compound was fully self-sustaining and everyone had a role to play. After breakfast we would spend a couple of hours tending to the fields. The work was not made for me. The fields were lined with heat lamps. It was a sad substitute for the sun. The plants didn’t seem to mind as much as I did. The fields were surprisingly large. Rows of lush vegetables and fruit had been planted meticulously; courtesy of Judas and the other Earth Mages.

  I had never thought of gardening as a particularly manly thing until I saw Judas out there with his shirt clinging to his sweat, and mud on his boots. It was extraordinary to see him where he belonged. The plants flourished under his careful touch.

  “Lilith, that’s too much water,” he admonished.

  I quickly realised that I had been pouring on the same spot for some time. Judas came over to where I had drowned the seeds and fussed over the dirt. When he finally rose, he gently took my hand and traced the fire runes. I guessed it was to get me away from the plants more than anything.

  “How did you find out you were a Fire Mage?”

  Uncomfortable with the contact, I pulled away and continued down the worn dirt path watering the freshly planted seeds as I went. “I had a book in school and set it alight accidentally.”

  It was almost true. Someone had snatched it from me and I had lost my temper and nearly killed the poor girl. “You were young?”

  “Yes, very. When did you discover you had an affinity with Earth Magic?”

  “I was old, about sixteen. It was in a Magic class.”

  I hadn’t been to school since my had parents died. It was easy to forget that everyone else had trained their Magic in a classroom. My classrooms involved less playtime and more beatings.

  “Come over here,” he said.

  Judas crouched in the dirt. A small white daisy sat alone amongst the potatoes. How had it gotten down here? He hovered his hands over it and it grew as high as my knees.

  “It’s beautiful,” I said.

  “Go grab one of those pots.”

  I did as he asked and collected one of the plastic pots from the edge of the fields. He took it from my hand and filled it with dirt. Judas gently uprooted the small daisy and placed it in the container before handing it to me.

  “You have to water it every day, but it should have enough Magic to survive for a few months.”

  “Thank you,” I grabbed the pot from his hands and cradled the small flower. If it could survive underground, so could I.

  He brushed a stray tendril of hair from my face, “How are you feeling?”

  I looked around seeing who else was in the fields. At some point everyone had left, we were alone. It made me more uncomfortable than I cared to admit.

  “I’m okay.”

  “Are you sure? You seem distant today.”

  “I’m fine. I promise.” I gave him a grin. It wasn’t a conversation I wanted to continue. I was all too aware of my failing health, I didn’t want to dwell on it for any longer than necessary. My bones ached from the small amount of physical labour.

  “Well, then I think we’re done here.” He wiped his hands on his pants and looked over his work. He beamed with pride. We washed our hands in the sinks by the entrance and moved through the bare corridors of the compound.

  The compound walls still threatened to close in on me. I wasn’t used to being in such small confines. I dreamed of being on the hunt again, the adrenaline pulsing through my veins and the open road in front of me. When I was after a target I felt absolute certainty in myself. I wasn’t used to this feeling of insecurity. I needed a distraction.

  “Do you have any plans?” I hoped Judas wasn’t busy. If I had to sit in my room again I would go mad.

  “No plans this afternoon.”

  “Is there anywhere to train?”

  He looked at me, puzzled. “I don’t fight.”

  I had never met anyone that couldn’t fight. It was what I had always done in my spare time. I didn’t have any other hobbies. Even Loral could get himself out of a sticky situation if he needed to. It only seemed to highlight the disparity between us. He was all things light and good and I… wasn’t.

  “We could watch a movie,” he suggested.

  “Sure.”

  I followed him into the large living area. There were a number of couches and beanbags laid out in the room surrounding a small television. It was usually a popular area, however this morning it was just Judas and me.

  He knelt in front of the television and fiddled with the remote.

  “What did you want to watch?”

  I shrugged. “I don’t mind.”

  The tv blared to life, the scratchy sound filled the room. I collapsed onto a faded pink couch and Judas sat next to me. The movie wasn’t enough to keep me entertained and my mind began to wander. The emptiness pressed on my consciousness and the now familiar anxiety began to build within me.

  “I’m leaving for another mission soon,” Judas said.

  “How soon?”

  “In the next few days.” He leant back, his arms folding behind his head.

  “Back to Dunlap?” I asked.

  He shot me a cheeky smile, the skin under his eyes crinkling. “You know I can’t tell you.”

  Judas’s smile turned to a frown as he inspected me closely. I turned my eyes to the screen and tried to ignore his worried glances. If he would just stop looking at me I would be fine. I bit my tongue to stop from shouting at him.

  Without saying a word, he gently took my uninjured hand. “We’ll get the collar off soon.”

  “It’s fine. I’m fine Judas.” I stood pulling my hand from his. My voice was sharper than I intended, I tried to soften it. “I need to train.”

  He looked at me the concern so thick on his face it made me sick. I fled the room like a coward.

  I spent most of my time in the gym area. There were a couple of people living in the compound that were skilled fighters. It felt familiar to watch them train.

  I could almost imagine I was back in the gym with Jax and Erin. If I turned around, they would be sitting in the corner with easy smiles on their faces. Erin would complain that I wasn’t eating enough salad and Jax would give her an indulgent smile. The gym was empty, the red dirt walls were lined with well-used practice swords and mirrors. It was the only room I had found where I could breathe freely. As a result, I often lingered there. I could tell most of the group was uncomfortable around me, so I usually trained when no one was there. I didn’t want to telegraph the fact I was a threat. I knew the Hunter trained as well, but I had yet to see him. We had been avoiding each other quite successfully. I laid down in the centre of the mats, staring up at the ceiling. The yellow light flickered.

  Before my life had been undone, I had never cared much for the sunlight. From the age of eleven, my waking hours had been opposite to most of the world. The moon had been my confidant and I had always preferred the darkness. Now I longed for nothing more than the summer breeze on my face. I would even take the sunburn if it meant I could feel the suns rays on my body. Maybe it was all the time I had been spending around Judas. His Earth Magic was rubbing off.

  Moping didn’t suit me.

  Sitting up, I begun gently stretching my tight muscles. I warmed up before taking out my frustrations on the heavy bag. The longer my injured han
d was stuck by my side, the more trapped I felt. Eventually my frustrations bubbled up and spilt into my actions. I was stuck like mouse in a cage, just waiting to die. The burning pain was easy to ignore as I threw all my weight behind the flurry of punches.

  My body was covered in sweat, and I thought of nothing else but my aching lungs and burning shoulders. With the endorphins rushing through me, I could almost forget the cold metal pressed against my windpipe. When I gained the courage to look down, the wound on my hand had reopened and blood had begun to seep from my bandage and trickled down my fingers onto the red dirt.

  “Stupid,” I muttered and cradled my hand so blood didn’t spill onto the mat. The brief moments of clarity hadn’t been worth it. I rushed out of the room looking for the healer, his office was relatively easy to find in the maze of corridors. He was scribbling into a note book when I entered. He barely looked up.

  “Davis.” The bloody bandage was cradled to my chest. He pushed his chunky glasses up his nose and ushered me over to him.

  “How did you do this?”

  He snapped on some gloves and began unwrapping the soaked bandage. I didn’t want to look.

  “It’s old but because of the collar it hasn’t healed. I just opened it back up.”

  He nodded. “Okay, come sit up here and I’ll see what we can do.” I was led to the bed in the tiny ensuite. There were draws of medical supplies and a bright overhead light. The doctor sat on a rolling stool and brought the draws closer. The strong smell of antiseptic filled my nose. I sucked in a sharp breath as he splashed the disinfectant over my hand. It hurt like hell. I had been avoided the doctor for just that reason. He looked at me apologetically and grabbed my hand back where I had pulled it away. A healing rune would have been so much easier.

  “I’m going to stitch it up. I wish you’d let me do it earlier.”

  I didn’t want to look when he gave me a human numbing agent and I definitely didn’t want to look as he stitched the wound. All my bravado disappeared as soon as healers got involved. I had secretly tried to chug down Loral’s best healing potions, but the cut still hadn’t scabbed over.

  It felt like ants were crawling under my skin.

  “All finished.”