Thief of Souls

by Emma L. Adams

“Mr Cobb,” I said. “I told you. He’s lurking in one of the offices at the back of the ground floor. But don’t go in through his window, he’ll be able to see you. Go through the doors instead.”

  Sprites might be semi-corporeal, but they could be seen in the right lighting, especially to sharp-eyed practitioners. I was relying on the Order personnel being as distracted as they usually were.

  “I don’t know about this,” Brant said in an undertone. “Even if we did find evidence of foul play, who are you meant to report it to?”

  “The other supervisors. I don’t know.” I scuffed my toe, frustrated. “I’m sick of being the person who knows the least, so let’s start at the top.”

  In truth, I hadn’t the faintest idea how to deal with the fact that my reputation as a spirit mage had made it into the Parallel’s underworld, but let’s be real: I was no match for the vampire rulers or the Death King. I needed the Order on my side. Which meant finding out who was a lost cause, and who was likely to support me.

  “There’s someone coming through the doors,” said Dex. “Want me to knock them out and slip in?”

  “No knocking people out!” I said. “Not if we can avoid it. We’re going to stay inconspicuous. Go on, fly in. If you get spotted, it’s on you, not me. Deal?”

  Brant nodded. “I’ll stay out here and keep an eye out. Be careful in there, Liv, okay?”

  “I will.” I hung back as the Order’s employees exited the building, watching Dex zip up to the open doors and into the lobby. I held my breath, half-expecting to hear panicked shouts from inside, but none came. From this distance, I could see a number of Order staff walking around the lobby, oblivious to their visitor. I knew most of them by sight, but had trouble putting faces to names. Whether I’d had that trouble pre-memory spell, I hadn’t a clue, but it made it bloody difficult to tell who might believe me and who might put me in chains.

  As I prepared to follow Dex, I caught sight of a long-cloaked figure reflected in the windows, slipping down the opposite end of the street. I spun around, squinting at nothingness. Then the figure flickered back into existence before vanishing again.

  The water mage. He was using an invisibility cantrip, and not a very good one—but it seemed I wasn’t the only one who’d had the idea of visiting the Order. What the hell was he doing here?

  I turned away from the Order’s building and trod after him, wishing I still had my own invisibility cantrip. As he whipped around a corner, so did I, reaching for my pouch and pulling out a cantrip. Then I pounced, flinging a paralysing spell at him.

  The blast knocked the guy clean off his feet, and his invisibility spell snapped off in a flash of light. He yelped and tried to cover his face, but the trap held his arms pinned to his sides. I climbed over him, blocking his escape.

  “You again?” he spat. “Leave me alone.”

  “I’ve got something I think you want.” I reached around my neck, revealing the amulet.

  He tensed. “Give that here.”

  “Why, so you can hand it to your thieving friends over in the Parallel?” I said. “I don’t think so. But if you tell me how you got your hands on it and who you’re working for, I’ll consider letting the Order handle your punishment and not the Death King.”

  He fought the paralysing spell and tried to lunge at me, but I slammed a foot into his ribs. He yelped and slumped against the alley wall, all the fight going out of him. “What do you want?”

  “Tell me the identity of who you’re working for,” I said. “And how you got into the Death King’s realm without being detected.”

  “That information’s worth more than my life.”

  “Can’t be worth much, then.” I kicked him again, and he gasped in pain. “Look, I can’t say I enjoy kicking the shit out of you, but believe me, your amulet has got me into a world of trouble. I want it gone.”

  “Then give it to me.” A faint blue glow lit up his arms. He was trying to use magic, but there wasn’t any water within sight. Unless…

  A rumbling came from below the earth. Oh, Elements.

  With a deafening noise, the lids flew off the nearby sewers, sending torrents of water into the air like a series of miniature fountains. I jumped out of range of the nearest one, stowing the amulet back in my coat and running away from the surging water. The water mage broke into a run in the opposite direction. Dammit, I won’t let him get away that easily.

  I skidded to a halt when I saw someone striding the other way, marching towards the water mage like a human hurricane. I flung myself into an alley, not a moment too soon. A torrent of air roared past, slamming into the water mage and sending him flying a good six feet into the air. He smashed into the brick wall with a cry lost in the panicked shouting from the nearby streets. People would think there was a freak storm at work, which was better than anyone knowing the Death King’s Air Element was here, walking around in broad daylight with their magic on full blast.

  The water mage slumped into an unconscious heap in the filthy water he’d dredged up from below the street. I held myself out of sight, cursing my rotten luck. Dammit, this time I’d get that amulet into the Air Element’s hands.

  The Air Element had opted to go without the armoured uniform of the Death King’s soldiers and instead wore plain trousers and a long coat. Probably for the best, considering the proximity of the ordinary shoppers who’d be wondering how the freak storm had stopped as suddenly as it’d started. The Air Element’s mask was off, too, revealing pale, angular features and a shaved head, and while I’d defaulted to male when I’d seen the mage in armour, now I wasn’t sure which pronouns to use. I’d have to ask. Assuming the mage was willing to have a conversation without blasting me off my feet this time, which was debatable.

  “You got him?” The voice came out of empty air, and my whole body froze to the spot. A flickering image appeared beside the Air Element. A human-shaped figure, dark around the edges and cloaked in black. “Is that the thief?”

  “Yes, I caught the thief,” said the Air Element in a low voice. “You don’t need to check up on me, master.”

  Master.

  Fuck me. That was the Death King. Nobody else wore that dark armoured coat and mask. I hadn’t known it was possible for him to be here on Earth—but then again, he kept his soul detached like the person whose amulet I held. Who knew what other tricks he could use?

  “I have good reason to doubt the competence of my soldiers,” the shadowy man said in soft, cold tones. “Does he have the amulet? Did anyone see him?”

  “He never got to the Order.” The Air Element crouched beside the body of the fallen water mage, searching his pockets. “No… he doesn’t have the amulet, sir.”

  The Death King’s voice was an impatient bite. “Then where is it? Don’t let me regret giving you permission to cross the node. You know how the Order feels about us overstepping our boundaries.”

  “There’s more than one thief,” the Air Element said. “The water mage has accomplices.”

  I have your missing soul. Yet my mouth remained sealed shut, my body locked with more than just fear. The Death King’s magic seeped through the street, insidious, deadly, as though his chilling essence had infiltrated my blood.

  The Death King’s flickering figure stilled. “If you’re certain he does, then I’d advise you to find out where they’re hiding. And don’t return to me until you have that amulet.”

  “What do you want me to do with him, then?” queried the Air Element.

  “Allow me.” The Death King’s shadowy figure moved forward, and a gasp caught in my throat as he lifted the water mage into the air. I’d thought liches didn’t have physical bodies, that they’d cast them aside along with their souls—but he was carrying the water mage in his arms as though he was as solid as I was.

  I stared open-mouthed. What the hell?

  The Death King’s gaze roved around, coming to a halt at the mouth of the alley where I hid, as though he knew I was standing there, unseen. Fear stabbed me in
the chest like a series of knives.

  Then he turned away, and both he and the water mage vanished, like smoke.

  My body unlocked, trembling all over like a leaf caught in a blizzard. I’d heard rumours of what the Death King could do. He’d traded his soul for power, after all. But I’d never seen it in action before. Not like this. He’d dragged that water mage into the Parallel without any need for a node at all.

  Maybe I was better off leaving the amulet lying in an alley somewhere instead of continuing to make the Death King believe I was working against him, but I knew better than to believe leaving the soul of a lich lying around wouldn’t come back to bite me.

  As I shook off my momentary shock, movement caught my eye in the mouth of the alley, and two uniformed Order employees approached the Air Element.

  The Order. I never thought I’d be glad to see them. Let alone my arch-nemesis, Judith French. Her partner was a black male shifter, muscled like a lumberjack. He could probably have taken on the Air Element in a fight, minus the armour, anyway.

  “What are you doing here?” he asked the Air Element.

  “None of your concern.”

  “You’re one of the Death King’s Elements,” Judith said, her tone somewhere between awed and contemptuous. “Was it you who flooded the streets?”

  “No,” said the Air Element. “I have no reason to make trouble for the Order.”

  “Then why are you here?” said the shifter. “Has your master started sending his underlings to stir up trouble on this side now? Don’t think I haven’t heard about his army marching around terrorising everyone in Arcadia.”

  “If you heard,” said the Air Element, “you’d know something valuable was stolen from us.”

  Yes. I have it. I inched forward, but something held me back. Judith didn’t need an excuse to sell me out, her companion didn’t know me, and the Air Element would never take my side. If I decided to throw myself on the mercy of the Order, I’d need to find someone at a higher level who wouldn’t arrest me on the spot. If such a person existed.

  “Mr Cobb claims that’s just your boss making excuses,” said Judith. “He said you’ve been looking for a reason to take over the vampires’ turf ever since they gained power.”

  “Really?” The Air Element looked between them. “If you’d take me to speak with this Mr Cobb in person, I’d gladly set the record straight.”

  Mr Cobb was the one who’d given me the amulet and ordered me to take it back into the Parallel. It didn’t take a genius to figure out he wanted me dead, but it didn’t sound like he was much of a fan of the Death King, either.

  Is he working with the soul thief?

  “Fine,” said Judith. “Come with us.”

  The three of them walked out of sight. I remained still, my heart thudding against my ribcage. I would dearly have loved to have followed them to see what Mr Cobb had to say for himself, but I’d already burned out my invisibility cantrip. I needed to find Dex and Brant and get the hell out of here. I was responsible for Dex, considering I was the one who’d dragged him over here to begin with.

  As for the Air Element, I was in real trouble if one of the Death King’s people found out I worked for the Order. All they needed to do was ask them who they’d sent after an amulet lately, and the Order would give them my name. The only advantage I had was that as far as they knew, the thief and the person who currently held the soul amulet were one and the same. A common enemy. Not someone who’d stumbled into this by accident.

  Once I was sure the coast was clear, I backed out of the alley and looked around for a likely escape route. The water mage had flooded the nearby streets, but he wouldn’t be coming back. The Death King had him in his clutches now.

  An echoing shout rang from nearby. Kicking into a run, I pelted out of the warren of streets and past the bus stop. More scuffling sounds ensued from the tunnel where I’d found the hidden node, and I glimpsed a figure fall to the ground. Brant.

  A tall, shadowy figure stood over him. The third vampire was back.

  11

  “Hey!” I shouted at the vampire. “Get away from him.”

  “There you are.” He smiled, revealing his fangs. “I knew you’d come.”

  I felt in my pocket for a cantrip. He wasn’t as strong or fast here, but Brant’s fire magic was dampened on this side, too, and he wasn’t moving. Shit. Please say he’s okay.

  “Go burn up, you pile of bones.” Dex flew into the vampire’s face, causing him to stumble backwards with a curse.

  I took the opportunity to swipe the vampire’s legs out from underneath him, sending him crashing into a heap. Even if I’d had a weapon to hand, I couldn’t exactly stake the guy in a public place, but if I hopped through the node, maybe I could take him with me. It was that or let the Order haul both of us off to jail—not to mention Brant.

  I grabbed Brant’s arm, feeling for a pulse. He groaned and stirred, and relief swept over me, instantly tempered by alarm as the vampire rose to his feet. With a snarl, he lunged at me, tackling me onto my back.

  Fire flickered past my head, and Dex flew into the vampire’s eyes. He might not have much firepower, but vamps hated flames even more than they hated phantoms. A second, more powerful, flash of flame scorched the vampire’s hair. Brant was awake. He looked a little dazed, but his firepower was still working. The vampire backed away from him, and I felt the rush of energy from the node, realising what he was about to do.

  Brant realised it, too. He flung himself at the vampire, and I did likewise. In a group, we crashed through the node and rode the energy current into the Parallel.

  I landed on top of Brant, who lay pinned beneath me, groaning. Blood plastered his hair to his scalp, and alarm blazed through me at the sight of the puncture wounds on his neck. The vampire lay sprawled nearby, along with…

  “You ruined it!” Dex wailed. “I was just getting to know your delightful realm.”

  “You saw a tiny fraction of one city.” I rolled off Brant and straight into the vampire’s grasping hands. He was back at full power now. Oh, hell.

  Dex flew at the vampire before his teeth could make contact, while I set off a paralysing cantrip. Magic surged from the node, bolstering the cantrip’s power enough to send the vampire flying backwards. Brant’s hands blazed with fire, and the vampire landed on his feet, inches away from the flames. Another blast of fire, and the vampire got the message and ran.

  “Sensible guy,” said Dex. “More than you two.”

  Brant groaned, rubbing his head. “Ow. I should have seen him coming, but I wasn’t paying attention. I was too distracted wondering why you hadn’t come back from the Order, Liv.”

  “Are you okay?” I said. “We’ve got to do something about those bites. We don’t need that vampire bringing his friends along for a snack.”

  He leaned a hand against the nearest wall for balance. “I have cantrips in my place. It’s not far from here.”

  I recognised the street now. I wished we’d taken out that vampire while we had the chance, but Brant was in no shape to fight and I wasn’t much better. Especially with my newfound worries that the Air Element and Mr Cobb might be conspiring against me right this instant.

  Brant led the way into his hideout and sat down, while I dug a healing cantrip out of the drawer and handed it to him. The wound on his head closed up, as did the puncture wounds on his neck.

  “You aren’t going to go all bitey, then,” said Dex. “Good.”

  “Mages can’t be turned into vamps,” I told him. “Anyway, did you see anything interesting at the Order? You weren’t spotted, were you?”

  “If I was, you’d have worse than vampires on your tail,” he said. “I was on my very best behaviour.”

  “What did you see, though?” I pressed. “Because while that vampire was attacking Brant, the Air Element got a personal invite to go in and talk to Mr Cobb.”

  Brant’s brow furrowed. “Cobb? Who’s he?”

  “Supervisor.” I revealed the
amulet. “Also, the dickhead who sent me to return this thing to the swamp.”

  “You think he’s the one who wants you bumped off?” His eyes narrowed dangerously. “Which one was he?”

  “You won’t have seen him,” I said. “Dex might have. He might be a senior supervisor, but he’s a practitioner, not a mage, as far as I’m aware. Not sure what he has to gain by taking me out of the picture, but he isn’t even in my department and he ordered me to take the amulet back. Said the request came from the upper room, but who knows?”

  “So you think he’s the traitor?” asked Brant. “Was he the person who sent you after the thief to begin with?”

  I shook my head. “Nah, that was the retrieval unit. They tend to assign missions at random unless I did something to really piss them off.” Or I thought they did. Now I didn’t know what to think.

  “Where did the Air Element even come from?” he said. “I saw the water and thought there was a mage around, but—”

  “That was our thief,” I explained. “He’s currently rotting in the Death King’s dungeon, I’d guess. He came back to the Order for some reason, but the Air Element caught him first.”

  “Wait, our esteemed thief escaped into your realm only to go back to the people who arrested him?” said Dex. “What was he thinking?”

  “I don’t know what he was thinking, because he’s probably dead.” I turned to Brant. “You said your theory was that he gambled away his soul, too, right? So for whatever reason, he didn’t feel safe staying incognito. He went back to the Order, maybe to ask for their protection. Let’s face it, he must have been desperate. I mean, he made enemies of the Death King and the soul thief, considering he lost what he was sent to steal.”

  “Maybe,” he said. “Or, alternatively, someone at the Order is working with the soul thief.”

  “Mr Cobb.” Certainty raced through my blood. “He’s not powerful, but he’s a senior supervisor with connections. Two of the Order employees took the Air Element to see him, and I’d really like to listen to that conversation.”