Magaestra: Tested: An urban fantasy series

by Katherine Kim

  Marc sighed. "That is true. But I could arrange the ceremonies just as easily. And you are Faith's family. You get to spend time with her, too. And you should probably get to know her sister, as well."

  "He's right, you know," Faith stepped into the room and went straight to Aldric's desk, to lean over and peck a kiss on his upturned face. "You are family. So are you, Marc. And Jake and Tamika and, well..." Faith shrugged and perched on the arm of Aldric's chair for a moment before he wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her into his lap.

  Marc laughed. "Thank you, Faith."

  A knock on the door stopped whatever he was about to say. They looked over when Tamika stepped in.

  "The Council reps are finally here." Her tone left no question as to her opinion on that.

  "Might as well send them in here," Marc sighed.

  A few minutes later, three large men walked in, glancing between Aldric and Marc.

  "Gentlemen," Marc stood. "Marc Keller, Chief of the Frostwalker Clan." He held his hand out and they all shook politely. "That is Aldric Donnelly, our Chief Enforcer, and his beloved, Faith Latham."

  "Pleasure to meet you all," the man in front nodded. "Dwayne Linsby. I was told you have some problems. An aggressive wolf pack and some rogue vampires?"

  Faith snorted, drawing attention. Dwayne cocked an eyebrow at her, very clearly communicating his disbelief that she had any place in this conversation.

  Faith’s patience suddenly snapped. She was in here trying to have a nice moment when these arrogant nitwits roll in here like they had the first clue about anything?

  “Oh, I am not getting dismissed with an eyebrow. First off, it took you all how goddamn long to show up? My sister was being held by those psychopaths for weeks! Weeks! They threatened me and my niece, who is five, and attacked not only us but innocent people out in the community. They were stockpiling weapons, kidnapping anyone they felt like, and running emergency vehicles off the road! In broad daylight! Then when they kidnapped me, too, you didn't think that was worthy of lighting a fire under your asses to get here to help?”

  Faith stood up and glared at the wolf in front of her, stabbing her finger at Dwayne to make her point. "Then you saunter your lazy, arrogant asses in here and minimize our problems as an aggressive wolf pack and some rogue vampires? You jackass. The Frostwalkers and our allies stopped World War Three yesterday when they took out Conti and Cherro and their actual goddamn army and you stand there with a sneer, talking about rogue vampires? Screw you and your pathetic excuse for a 'Council.’ These two said you have a court that's worth more than ten cents? I sure as hell hope so. Take our prisoners and get the hell out of here you sad excuse for a lapdog."

  The Council wolves' eyes grew huge as she snarled at them, and by the time she was done, one of them stepped up, white as a sheet.

  "Um, did you say Cherro? As in Reyher Cherro?" he asked.

  "She did, in fact. And Sandalio Conti and the rest of the leftovers from the Immortal Thirst Coven. Did you not read the report I sent? They were amassing weapons and like-minded young idiots in a nearby warehouse. And they had a fairly large pack of blighthounds, as well," Marc confirmed drily. He had resumed his seat while Faith was yelling at them and beamed at her. "And I wouldn't make her too angry if I was you. It tends to be unhealthy. She doesn't look like much, but she can and will kick your ass."

  Faith smirked now. Aldric's hand came up to rest on her hip.

  "Faith has saved my life on several occasions. Discount her at your own peril."

  "I'm sorry, I'm still back on Cherro and Conti. And you were kidnapped by them? Why? And how did you get away? We have to call our supervisor and figure out some way to stop them." Dwayne was pulling out his phone as he spoke.

  Faith laughed. "Were you not listening? We already stopped them. Well, mostly Aldric, Marc, and the rest of them did. I was busy protecting my sister and getting the hell out of there. We had some help from some nearby allies, but not a damn thing from this supposed 'Council' that you think is so useful." She used heavily sarcastic air quotes around 'Council' again, and Marc brought his hand up to cover his grin.

  Dwayne blinked. "The Frostwalker Clan, a small town clan of mostly werewolves, took out a vampire war criminal and one of the most dangerous young coven leaders we've heard of? We've been collecting rumors about Conti for years, trying to get evidence we could use to bring charges, but nobody would testify."

  "Well, it's a moot point now. He's about as dead as a vampire can get. Aldric ripped his heart straight out of his chest and dropped it on what was left of his corpse once it shriveled up."

  "And I would do it again, but more slowly,” Aldric growled behind her. She glanced down and saw the red bleeding into his eyes.

  There was some uncomfortable shifting and mutters from the Council wolves. Dwayne turned back to murmur something to his team, then turned back to Aldric.

  "We're going to need a full report," he said. "And I think we need to see this warehouse."

  "We'll be happy to tell you what happened. Not that it matters, mind you. The Council has nearly no jurisdiction over this sort of thing, and even if it did, they wouldn't do anything about it," Marc said. He sat back in his chair and raised an eyebrow. “Finding evidence is well and good, but only useful to a court.”

  Faith settled back down on Aldric's lap and noticed that neither of the men had offered seats to Dwayne or his men. Politics was very odd.

  "And why would they want you, miss?" Dwayne turned back to Faith, nervously glancing at Aldric as he continued. "No disrespect intended at all, but it seems curious that a group of vampires bent on ruling over the human race as if they were gods, would be so interested in a single human. Or a pair of human sisters.”

  Marc shrugged at her, leaving the decision up to Faith. Tell these wolves her secret-- not that it was incredibly secret anymore anyway-- or let them draw their own conclusions.

  "Why do you care?" she asked after a moment. "Would you try to take me away somewhere if we told you? Would you post guards around the Frostwalker territory? Would you try to take over the clan or something? What would you and your Council do with the knowledge?"

  Dwayne's shoulders sagged a bit and an exhausted expression crept over his face as she spoke.

  "May I sit?" He gestured at the chair beside Marc and Aldric nodded. Dwayne dropped into the seat and grimaced.

  "There are a number of us trying to change things. When the Council was set up, it was meant to prevent people like Conti and Cherro from ever doing something like this again, but everyone was so afraid of a group of paranormals gaining any sort of power at that point that they defanged the administrative arm before it even got finished forming." Dwayne glanced up at Marc, then at Aldric. "I had hoped to discuss it with you, Chief Keller, before we left with the prisoners you asked us to take to the judicial complex. We want to form an Enforcers arm of the Council. A paranormal police force, if you will. People that can go out and investigate rumors like the ones we'd heard about Conti and step in where needed rather than relying on each pack, coven, or clan investigating and apprehending suspects themselves and then essentially using the Council Courts as a holding system.”

  "But?" Marc raised a brow at him.

  Dwayne shrugged. "You know how politics can go. Half the Council wants to use it to enforce their own ideals and personal agendas, and the other half is enthusiastic about the concept but can't agree on any details whatsoever. Most of the Council members are so old and hidebound that they can't see progress when it hits them in the face. Most of them don't even own computers, for crying out loud. I was hoping I could convince you to run for a Council seat in the next cycle." He looked up at Marc. "I've heard of you. People who pass through here all comment on how peaceful it is, and how welcome they felt when they came to let you know they were in your territory. Any leader who can hold a territory like this for this long without any negative comments being circulated is likely to be a good, strong leader. I hoped I'd get her
e and see for myself, and if I was right, talk you into running.”

  Faith felt her jaw drop. That was not at all what she'd expected to hear. From the look on Marc's face, it wasn't what he'd expected either.

  "I..." Marc shook his head slowly. "I am going to need to think about this. We'll talk about it more after you see the warehouse. For now--"

  Marc broke off at the sound of howling and snarls from the back of the house. Everyone looked out the window but saw nothing but the edge of the lawn and the trees from this vantage.

  "Faith, stay here." Aldric lifted her easily as he stood and placed her gently on the chair.

  "Like hell!" she said to thin air since he had already run out the door.

  "Miss, really, whatever is going on out there isn't a safe thing for a human," Dwayne said, as he turned to follow Aldric and Marc.

  "Good goddamn thing I'm not just human, then, isn't it?" she snarled back at him and dashed after the others. She got to the door leading out to the deck just in time to see Marc in his wolf form leaping at another large wolf who was snarling and growling and almost bigger than Marc was.

  It seemed that they weren't going to have to keep searching for the remaining Goldfang Stalkers after all.

  23

  Aldric slammed out the door onto the deck and swore. The entire clearing was full of werewolves in both forms fighting and snarling. Marc was facing off against a huge grey and tawny wolf that could only be Alpha Molin. The alphas were closely flanked by Ori and Kenya in their wolf forms facing off against two others Aldric didn't know, likely Molin's enforcers.

  To his left, Eldridge, Lucy, and Greg had formed a line between a group of Goldfangs and the kids near the playset, Jake in his wolf form again baring his tiny puppy teeth in a surprisingly fierce snarl was held in Kaylee's arms. Even as he glanced at them, Aldric saw Greg Honeyford force one of the Goldfang bruisers back with a very tidy palm strike to the guy's nose. Aldric was reassured to know that he was no helpless victim, even if he wasn't a fighter at heart. Lucy took another down with a series of moves Aldric knew he would be begging her to teach his Enforcers after this was settled.

  To his immediate right, Rod was standing firm between three Goldfangs and Crissy, who was backed up against the wall. Her eyes were wide and unfocused and darted around the clearing from wolf to wolf, but every time Rod barked something at her, she answered. Tamika was close by, tearing into a group that was trying to get to where Rod defended the older Latham sister.

  Past them, several Sun Ridge wolves and a few of the Ulric Coven vampires very effectively took out more Goldfangs, leaving bleeding wolves in their wake. Master Arthur snarled at a wolf who was foolish enough to try to leap on his back. All this was noted in the few seconds before he felt a large presence behind him.

  “Good lord. This is what you've been dealing with?" Dwayne muttered behind him.

  "Welcome to our summer," Aldric snarled back and stepped forward to help Rod.

  "No," Faith's voice stopped him in his tracks. "Not again, fuck no. I have goddamn had it with these assholes!"

  "Faith," he started to say, but she stalked past him and down the steps headed straight for Marc and Molin, every movement full of fury and determination.

  Aldric had little choice and fell in right behind her, hissing at any wolf who turned their way. He was not about to let her wander through a battlefield unprotected. Several of his sentries joined them as they crossed the grass to the center of the fight where the two leaders snapped and clawed at each other. Molin was a slimy, unscrupulous jerk, but as it turned out he was a strong fighter.

  When they reached some point that satisfied her, Faith reached her arm back like she was getting ready to pitch a baseball and the biggest fireball Aldric had seen yet flew straight at the Goldfang Alpha, hitting him in the shoulder just before he leaped at Marc, and splattered flames down the wolf's entire side. Molin yelped in shock and pain, loud enough to draw the attention of the fighters nearby who turned to see what happened.

  Molin dropped to the grass and rolled, trying to smother his burning fur and Marc limped back toward where Faith stood tall and furious. He was bleeding from several wounds and the fur on his right foreleg was matted with blood, but he stood tall as he flanked Faith on her other side.

  "You unbelievably slimy, arrogant, mangy jackass!" Faith was muttering, though every wolf around could hear her clearly. The battle was dying slowly, as more of the fighters noticed the confrontation in the middle of the clearing. "How dare you even consider attacking us again? You and those dipshit vampires at that stupid warehouse. I have goddamn had enough of this bullshit!"

  Faith reached out her hand and spread her fingers, and Aldric could sense the power she was trying to draw. He reached out and lay a hand on her shoulder, silently offering whatever he could, and after a moment he felt her power brush against his. Their magic had already touched once, forming the spider silk bonds between them. Now it blended easily as if the magic that sustained Aldric had simply been waiting for the chance to power Faith, as well.

  “Who do you assholes think you are, coming in here, attacking us, trying to kidnap people as if we were toys you didn't want to share!" Faith snarled, scooping her hand up into the air. Molin yelped again, the fear and shock clear in the sound, as he rose off the grass and into the air. The big wolf flailed, trying to gain purchase on some sort of surface but Faith was relentless and the air gave Molin nowhere to plant his paws.

  Marc leaned his shoulder into her hip on her other side in more silent support and Faith used her free hand to dig her fingers into the fur of his back. Aldric wondered idly if she was drawing power from him, as well. Marc could lend her magic as her Alpha— her Chief— and Aldric idly thought it was interesting that he felt no jealousy over that idea.

  "Call. Off. Your. Mutts." Faith snarled. "And I will consider letting you down gently. Otherwise, we all get to find out if wolves land on their feet like cats do." She raised her hand again and Molin rose perhaps fifteen feet into the air over their heads.

  He whined and his legs scrabbled uselessly through the air. He didn't need to tell his pack to stand down as the whole field had grown silent, but Faith growled again in a shockingly wolf-like manner, and Molin tipped his head back to howl the Goldfang's loss.

  "Was that good enough, Chief? Shall I let him down?" Faith didn't turn to look at Marc when she asked, and Marc didn't look back at her when he huffed his affirmative, then barked an order to the Frostwalkers surrounding them.

  "Frostwalkers!" Aldric raised his voice to make sure the order was heard by all. "Take the Goldfangs into custody! Chief Keller will decide what to do with them shortly!"

  "And you Goldfangs had better goddamn go nicely or you will regret every one of your life choices!" Dwayne hollered from behind them. "We are here on behalf of the Paranormal Council and the Frostwalker Clan is well within its rights to press charges against every wolf here that chose to take part in this attack! I promise if they don’t simply turn you over to us, whatever fate these three come up with will be nicer than what you'll find in our prison." Aldric could hear the satisfied grin in the man's last words.

  "You can let him down, now, beloved," Aldric leaned in to murmur in her ear. A shiver raced through her shoulder where his hand rested, humming with their connection.

  "Flirting in the middle of a major fight?” Her words were fond, but Aldric could hear the strain in her voice. "Fine. I guess I'll let him down."

  She slowly lowered the whimpering wolf, his fur on one side charred and still smoking slightly, and he was immediately surrounded by Kenya and Ori and two large wolves Aldric didn't recognize, but who looked to Dwayne for orders. He stepped past Aldric to nod at his men.

  "Stay and guard Molin, for now, to free up the Frostwalkers. There's enough of these jerks that it will take all of us to process them. I'll call for more transports in a short while after I've talked to Chief Keller," Dwayne said, and with their nods, he turned to the three of them, nod
ded to Marc and Aldric, then bowed to Faith. Aldric expected him to immediately want to know about Faith's magic, but the man surprised them.

  "Beloved?" he smirked. "I thought that was only something in those ridiculous romance novels the humans write about vampires?"

  "We're trying to bring it into fashion in real life. Sounds much better than anything else we've come up with," Faith grinned. Aldric slid his hand across her back and around her other shoulder, letting her lean into him. He could feel her exhaustion in every bit of her skin that he touched.

  "I plan to encourage it with my own people when we get back home," Master Arthur said, striding up to them, still fully vampire. "Chief Keller, my people will assist yours with the cleanup. Red asked me to convey the same for his wolves. Enforcer Rod tells me that you do not have enough space in your cells for all these mutts, so we felt that perhaps small groups could be confined to the remaining guestrooms. He and I can organize that while you attend to the injured and retrieve clothing if that is acceptable to you?"

  Marc nodded once and yipped his confirmation.

  "Excellent. Magaestra, if you will allow some advice?" Master Arthur waited for her to nod. "My mother always made sure she had a large meal after any major magic use. Something hearty and filling may help you recover some of your energy." He flicked a glance to Aldric, telling him that Aldric would likely benefit from something similar, then winked at him.

  "Thanks, Master Arthur. That sounds like a great idea."

  "Just Arthur, please. My friends don't need to be so formal." He met Aldric's gaze again, then looked to Marc, to make sure they knew they were included, then turned and hurried over to where Rod was directing the cleanup while holding Crissy close to his side. Interestingly, she clung to the large man with one hand and clutched Kaylee to her side with the other. Greg, Lucy, Eldridge, and Jake all hovered close to the trio.

  "Shall we go inside and arrange for food for everyone? I suspect it is not only you who would benefit from a meal." Aldric rubbed his hand up and down her arm and when she leaned more of her weight into him, he smiled softly.