A Wicked Power

by Bilinda Sheehan

  Alastor began to laugh again and when I didn’t join in he cut off abruptly. “Oh, you’re serious.”

  “Yes, I’m serious. I have all this power and I don’t know how to use it. My mother wasn’t exactly forthcoming on the whole ‘this is how you use your magic thing’. And my father, well he’s trying to kill us.”

  “I’m here so she’s not going anywhere while I’m on her tail,” he said, glancing over his shoulder to wink lasciviously in Lily’s direction.

  “And when you’re not here?”

  He glanced around at the apartment. “You know you really need to improve security on this place.”

  “Focus, Alastor. How am I supposed to keep another shadow sorceress trapped in my apartment?”

  “You could do what the sorcerers of old used to do,” he said.

  “No way!” Lily hopped to her feet and made it three steps toward us before Alastor was there to stop her.

  He caught her arm and dragged it back behind her body, forcing her to double up so that she was staring at the floor instead of me. The first stirrings of Lily’s power breathed through the room and my throat constricted in response.

  “What did the sorcerers of old do?” Lily’s power was beginning to build and sweat beaded on Alastor’s forehead as he forced her onto her knees and then all the way onto the floor so she was prone on the bare boards.

  “They called it a blood hex. You make it so that any harm she tries to do to you—magical or physical—is visited upon her threefold.”

  “And how do I do it?”

  “Tell her about the consequences of the spell,” Lily said, sounding more than a little panicked as Alastor kept her pinned to the ground.

  “There aren’t any consequences,” he said. “At least there won’t be for Amber.”

  “How can you be so sure?” Unease curled in the pit of my stomach.

  “Because you and I are bound.”

  Lily’s struggling ceased the moment he said those words aloud. You could have dropped a pin in the room and everyone would have heard it, and not just because they had preternatural hearing.

  “You bound yourself to a demon?” When she finally spoke, there was no denying the shock that registered in her voice.

  “Yeah. I did it to save a town.”

  She began to laugh then and the sound sent a shiver of fear crawling down over my spine.

  “I can’t believe you of all people bound yourself to a demon. You were supposed to be the good daughter. The white sorcerer to balance my blood magic.”

  “Wait, what?”

  “I just can’t believe it,” she said, repeating the phrase over. The air in the room felt stuffy and it had nothing to do with Lily’s growing power.

  “Let her up,” I said.

  “Are you sure?” Alastor raised a skeptical eyebrow in my direction.

  “I said let her up, damn it.”

  His eyes darkened for just a moment. If I’d blinked, I might have missed it but I didn’t. I caught the look and it instantly reminded me of what I was dealing with.

  Alastor relaxed his hold on Lily and bounced easily to his feet. “You’re making a mistake listening to the ramblings of a bitter witch who wants nothing more than to see you dead.”

  Lily climbed to her feet, much slower than Alastor had but the look of joy on her face as she faced him took me by surprise.

  “I might wish to see her rot, demon, but I am not a liar.”

  “Oh, so you’re an honest witch?” The azure in his eyes quickly bled to black as he faced her head on.

  “The truth is always so much more satisfying than a lie,” she said. “I find it does far more damage than any untruth ever could.”

  She wasn’t wrong. I’d seen the effect the truth could have on people first hand. Watching Graham struggle to come to grips with what his daughter had become had been painful. And then there was Victoria’s declaration that she could no longer trust me.

  No, Lily was right. The truth had the potential to wound in ways a lie never could.

  “What did you mean when you said I was supposed to be the white witch to your blood magic?”

  Lily shrugged. “I come from a long line of black witches,” she said. “You, on the other hand, come from a line of white magic. I can’t be anything other than what I am, no more than you can. And yet you just told me that you’ve bound yourself to a demon. White witches don’t cross over, Amber. There are always consequences.”

  “Is this true?” I turned my attention to Alastor, who had developed a sudden and intense interest in his fingernails.

  “Alastor, is that true?”

  “It might be,” he said. “I don’t know what kinds of rules you witches come up with. I’m just a demon. I do what I have to in order to survive.”

  “What kind of consequences are we talking about?” An image of Graham’s body refusing to burn beneath the holy oil sprang into my mind. I struggled to push it aside.

  Lily grinned. “Oh, you know, the usual. Death and destruction. The fracturing of magic. Full-on apocalypse stuff.”

  The bottom dropped out of my stomach and I flopped back against the wall.

  “This can’t be happening.”

  “The only thing I don’t quite understand is why it hasn’t all gone to shit already. You seem to still be an annoying goody-two-shoes. Why aren’t you all fire and brimstone yet?”

  “Maybe you’re wrong,” I suggested hopefully. “Maybe they got it wrong when they thought a white witch couldn’t bind herself to a demon,”

  “Oh, they didn’t get this wrong,” she said. “How do you think the line of shadow sorcerers came to an end the last time?”

  “The Saga Venatione wiped them out.” I brushed my hands over my face. “They murdered them all.”

  “Wrong!” Lily said, making the noise of a buzzer the kind you’d hear on a game show. “One shadow sorcerer came to power during the last years of the sorcerers. She--like you--was a white witch and she bound herself to a demon. Something about thinking it would save her people. Yada yada yada. The usual white witch crap if you ask me.”

  “Get to the point,” I said.

  “She set in motion something called the Midnight Hex. My mother wasn’t too clear on the details of what that was but it wasn’t good.”

  “Do you know what it is?” I turned to Alastor.

  He shrugged. “Haven’t got a clue.” His face was unreadable. Even if he was lying to me I couldn’t tell.

  “How come I haven’t heard of this?” I said. “How come the Saga Venatione haven’t mentioned it?”

  “They like the story as it is. They want witches afraid of them. They want people to believe that they’re monsters capable of great and terrible things. Without that fear, witches would rise up and well the world would be a very different place to the one it is now.”

  I couldn’t argue with the point she was making. The Saga Venatione certainly relied heavily on their fearsome reputations.

  “What do you know about the Midnight Hex then?”

  “Not a whole lot I’m afraid. I know there were a bunch of seals that needed to break. It leads to the breakdown between the nations but I don’t know exactly what they are.”

  “Great, so as long as I don’t accidentally break a bunch of unknown seals everything will be just fine?”

  “Maybe.”

  Glancing over at the clock on the wall I groaned. Five am. Jon wanted me in the office in less than four hours.

  “Do you need to be somewhere?” Lily asked, the glint in her eye told me she meant to cause trouble.

  “I need sleep.” I sucked in a deep breath. “But in failing that strong coffee.”

  Her expression shifted subtly to one of intense longing.

  “Do you want some?”

  I could see her indecision as it hung over her but she eventually folded her arms over her chest and shook her head. “No. You’d probably just drug it or something.”

  “Or something.” Alastor muttere
d darkly beneath his breath as I headed for the kitchen.

  “You two play nice,” I said.

  Leaving them alone together in a room was probably a bad idea but I was too tired to care. Coffee was at the top of my agenda. Extra-strong coffee. I was going to need all the help I could get if I was going to face Jon alone.

  He didn’t frighten me, he infuriated me. Being stuck in close quarters with an asshole like that wasn’t how I would have chosen to start my morning.

  Filling the machine with coffee, I set it to work before returning to the living room.

  Alastor was draped over the armchair but what was truly surprising was Lily. She lay on the couch, her legs tucked up toward her chest and her arm beneath her head. Her breathing was even and her eyes were closed, leading me to believe she had fallen asleep.

  “I asked you two to play nice. I didn’t say you should knock out our guest,” I whispered turning my suspicions on Alastor.

  “I didn’t. She said she was tired and lay down on the couch.”

  It seemed to good to be true and if there was one thing I had learned since I had found out I was a shadow sorcerer, it was if something seems too good to be true it probably is.

  “You can get some sleep if you want,” Alastor said. “I can make sure she goes nowhere.”

  “Don’t hurt her.”

  He slapped a palm to his chest in mock hurt. “I would never.”

  Rolling my eyes at him, I headed for the bedroom. The coffee could wait. It would still be hot in an hours time and sleep sounded really good.

  Curling up beneath the covers I thought of Nic. Was he safe? Would he be safe once he made it to the Vatican?

  He was capable of taking care of himself but he’d taken a huge risk in healing me and I couldn’t help but feel somewhat responsible for that. If anything happened to him because of me…

  Pushing the thoughts aside, I closed my eyes. Sleep came easy and the last thing I was aware of was the scent of coffee as it drifted through the apartment.

  14

  Light streamed across my face and I jolted awake. Fumbling across the night stand next to my bed, I searched for my cell phone but came up empty.

  “Shit.”

  Stumbling out of the bed, I grabbed my jacket from the chair I’d dumped it over the night before and fished the phone out.

  The little notification icon blinked accusingly up at me. Fifteen missed calls. And if I didn’t get my ass in gear, I was going to be late for my appointment with Jon.

  Flicking through the calls, I felt my heart drop when I discovered that none of them were from Nic. But then maybe in this case, no news was good news.

  Several of the calls were from Victoria. Setting the phone down on the counter, I pressed redial and tied my hair up in a high ponytail as I waited for the call to connect.

  She answered on the second ring.

  “Where the hell have you been?”

  “Well hello to you too,” I said, sarcastically.

  “The preternatural prison was attacked last night,” she said. “Hundreds are unaccounted for, including your sister.”

  I swallowed around the lump in my throat as I thought of Lily lying on my couch.

  “Do they know what happened?” I dug my fingernails into the palms of my hands. I hated lying to her. Victoria had been right when she’d said she couldn’t trust me but if I told her, she would try to take Lily in herself and right now, I couldn’t let that happen.

  “There was a breach,” she said. “I’ve heard of people trying to break out of prison but never of someone trying to break in.”

  I laughed but the sound was fake and hollow to my ears. “That’s weird. Do they know who they broke out of the pit?”

  “How did you know about that?” There was no denying the suspicion in Victoria’s voice and I cursed myself inwardly for being so stupid.

  “Well it seems the only likely reason they would break in, right? I mean. What else would they want to break into a prison for preternaturals for?”

  “I guess,” she said, not sounding entirely convinced. “They haven’t said who or what was broken out but it’s something big. The way they keep dancing around this thing, you’d swear it was Lucifer himself had escaped. When are you getting down here?”

  “I’ll be on my way over soon. I’ve got a meeting with Jon.”

  “What does that asshole want?”

  I started to shrug and then realised Victoria couldn’t see me. “He wants to discuss my future in the Elite.”

  “That sounds ominous.”

  “You’re telling me. Look, as soon as I’m done with him I’ll swing by your location.” I paused. “Wait, where are you?”

  “At one of the smaller malls on the outskirts of the city. It’s the one nearest the prison. By the looks of things here, several preternaturals cleared this place out.”

  “Anyone hurt?”

  “Three dead guards and a teenager who was closing up for the night. She’s in the hospital. I haven’t heard what condition she’s in but judging by the mess here, I can’t see it being good.”

  Ice slid down my spine. This was all because of my father. Was it some kind of revenge for being sent to Hell all those years ago? Was he taking his rage at me out on this unsuspecting city?

  “Amber, are you listening to me?” Victoria said, jolting me out of my thoughts.

  “Sorry, I was miles away.”

  “Look, get here when you can. One of the others is going to walk the scene and I’m hoping they’ll find something that will let us go on a proper hunt. So be sure to bring weapons and ammo.”

  “You got everything you need?”

  Victoria’s husky laugh trailed down the line to me. If it had been anyone else I might have found the sound unnerving but I knew she had her sights set on the rampaging preternaturals.

  “I’ve got everything I need.” Clearly being a changeling had its perks.

  The call disconnected and I was left staring down at the dead phone in my hands. Three dead already and the prison breach had only happened a few hours ago. The kind of damage rogue preternaturals could do in that amount of time was huge. But if that were true, why weren’t there more reports of supernatural deaths?

  Hurrying out of the bathroom, I headed for the living room and grabbed the remote from the small coffee table. Flicking on the TV, I surfed the channels until I found one that was broadcasting local news.

  The thin red banner at the bottom of the screen mentioned the prison breach but the story hadn’t made the headlines. Instead, the newscaster droned on about some sort of conclave taking place near the city tomorrow.

  “What are you looking for?” Alastor’s voice seemed to come out of nowhere and I nearly let the remote control crash to the floor.

  “Shit, don’t sneak up on me like that.”

  “I didn’t.” He peered into my face. “What has you all jumpy?”

  “Don’t you think it’s odd that there aren’t more dead?”

  Alastor pursed his lips.

  Lily groaned into the couch cushion. “Can you two shut up, I’m trying to sleep here.”

  “Well don’t you?”

  “Why would I think it was odd?”

  “Because you’ve got a bunch of preternaturals let loose in the city. We’re talking rogue shifters, werewolves, blood witches, trolls, ogres, powerful fae, not to mention whatever in Hell my father broke out. Why aren’t they killing people? Why aren’t we seeing huge numbers of casualties as they hit the city streets?”

  “How much coffee have you drunk?” Alastor asked as he propped his shoulder against the door jamb.

  “None. Now answer my question.”

  “Well I don’t think it’s weird,” he said. “But then I also don’t care if it is weird or not.”

  “What if my father—” Lily cleared her throat dramatically. “Our father has some sort of plan for them? What if he’s keeping them all in check and we’re not hearing about it because he wants to fly under t
he radar for some reason?”

  “But what reason?” Alastor asked. “There are far too many variables. The only thing we know for certain is that he wants you dead and it seems he doesn’t care one way or another if Lily survives or not.”

  “That’s not true,” she said defensively. “He needs me.”

  “He left you there while he tore the place apart. How much more of a hint do you need?” I couldn’t keep the impatience from my voice and instantly felt like dirt when Lily’s expression crumpled.

  “You could be right though,” Alastor said. “I mean. Why go to all that trouble?”

  “We need to know what he broke out of the pit. And the only one who knows the answer to that is Jason.”

  “Or your boss,” Alastor supplied helpfully.

  I glanced down at the phone still in my hand. “Shit. I’ve got to go.”

  “Wait what am I supposed to do with her?” Alastor asked, jerking his thumb in Lily’s direction.

  “Keep her safe.”

  His expression soured. “I’m not a babysitter.”

  “For now you are.”

  I slammed the door in his face as I frantically dragged on a pair of jeans and a T-shirt from my wardrobe. A shower would have set me up for the day but as it was I was already going to be late for my meeting.

  I grabbed my shoulder holster from the end of the bed and slipped into it, securing my gun in place before I tugged my jacket on to conceal it.

  Scrambling around in the bottom of the wardrobe I dragged out the large wooden chest half buried beneath my clothes. Fishing out my athame and a couple of other blades I’d acquired over my time with the Elite, I filled a hold-all with my weapons and slung it over my shoulder.

  The other guns for the hunt I would find in the armoury. Fishing my Kevlar vest off the hangar it was draped over I shoved it into the bag too. It wouldn’t do much against a tenacious vampire but in a fight against a rogue shifter it would provide a little more difficulty for them than my t-shirt and jacket would.

  Of course, if I was that close to a rogue shifter, my chances of staying alive were pretty much zero. Not that I would give up without a fight.

  Sliding out of the bedroom, I glanced longingly in the direction of the coffee machine before sighing. There would be no life-saving elixir before I faced the boss from Hell. Could this day get any worse?