by Kelly Hall
“Feel what?” Delilah craned her neck to see around him at what Rebekah and Jarreth were up to.
“Um, what the hell is that?” Jarreth pointed down at an unusual black mark.
Rebekah leaned in closer. There, on the concrete between them, was a dark stain. “Well, what do we have here?”
“Is it moving?” Jarreth had never seen anything so bizarre. He’d learned a lot though his years in training, about magic and magical creatures, but he’d never seen a stain on the ground that seemed to move, breathe.
It’s clearly magic, but why would the shifters have such a thing? They fight with teeth and claws, not magic.
“Yeah, it’s moving,” Rebekah said. “We need to collect a sample to be analyzed.” She took a shallow breath. Nothing could ever be easy or straightforward. God forbid.
Delilah looked down at the concrete near Jarreth. “You’re standing in the middle of it.”
Rebekah nodded. “I was just thinking the same thing.”
“Me too.” Jarreth glanced around the large area at his feet; the place where his friends were killed. The blood stains were in a semi-circular formation, and by the patterns of the sprays, which all pointed out from one central mark, it looked as if Merik and his crew were surrounding something or someone when they were attacked.
Canter gripped the handle of his sword. “Whatever got them, it was something really powerful.”
“I’m going to call Ignis.” Rebekah realized the trainees had not had the pleasure of meeting her friend.
Jarreth turned his eyes up to Rebekah. “What the hell is an Ignis?” he asked.
Canter knew that Ignis meant fire in Latin, but he’d never heard anyone with a name like that. Although his name was Canter, so he couldn’t judge.
“Ignis is my oldest friend and a scientist of sorts. He’ll figure this out.” She took out her phone and snapped a short video of the swirling stain. “Go ahead and get a sample. I’ll give him a call.”
Lucky for her, it didn’t take Ignis long to answer. “I’m so glad you called. You’ve saved me the trouble.” His voice was a breath of fresh air compared to the stench around her.
“I bet what you’ve found isn’t as interesting as what I did. Check your messenger, and tell me what we’re dealing with.” She gave him a moment and watched as Jarreth tried to collect the stain. He scraped a part of it with his knife onto one of the strips she’d given him.
“Son of a bitch!” Jarreth yelled. Some of the swirling blackness got away from him and landed on his wrist.
“Careful,” Rebekah said. She turned her attention back to the phone as Jarreth dry heaved.
Ignis made a grim sound. “Bexy, be careful with that. I’m not sure what it is specifically, but I do know it’s dark magic.”
“Dark magic?” she repeated.
“That’s right. Whatever you do, don’t get it on you.”
Rebekah’s eyes widened. “Don’t get it on you? What if someone already did?” She turned and met Jarreth’s eyes as they widened, too.
“What the fuck? Really?” Jarreth looked at his wrist where the dark stain had already begun to spread and swirl on his skin. He turned his head and retched violently.
“Shit.” Canter glanced at Rebekah before he and Delilah moved toward Jarreth.
“Don’t touch him!” Rebekah warned. Her mind raced. They couldn’t bring Jarreth back to the academy with something contagious. “Ignis, I need you to come over here!”
“Oh, I see. It’s okay if my cover is blown?”
“Ignis!” She didn’t have time for his pouting. She dropped the call and turned her attention back to Jarreth. The poor boy jumped up and down, freaking out.
A moment later, a blue mist formed on the ground beside her.
The others stepped back. Canter drew his sword, and Delilah palmed her knife and readied a throwing star.
“What the hell is that?” Delilah’s voice stayed strong, but she was freaking out inside.
Rebekah threw out her hand. “Back up! It’s Ignis.”
Ignis Fatuus? Canter thought, lifting an eyebrow. He’d read about it before, but that was just swamp gas, wasn’t it?
In the middle of the mist, a form appeared. By the time it became clear that it was a man, the blue mist disappeared right into the figure.
“Let me see what we’re dealing with,” Ignis said.
Jarreth wasn’t even fazed by the man who appeared out of thin air, or blue mist as it were, but it took Canter and Delilah a few seconds to shake off the shock.
“Am I going to die?” Jarreth asked, clutching onto Rebekah with his untainted arm. Then he turned toward Delilah. As much as he wanted Rebekah, he couldn’t stand to think of his lifelong friends being in the world without him.
Ignis shrugged. “Nope, you won’t die. You might have a few appendages turn black and rot off, but you’ll live.”
“Wait, what? Fall off? Turn black and like rot?” Tears formed in his eyes, but as Ignis belted out a laugh, Jarreth’s fear turned to anger.
“Ignis, really?” Rebekah looked bored with her friend.
“Dude, you should have seen the look on your face.” Ignis had hoped to scare him, but he had no idea that he’d go mental. When Rebekah didn’t so much as crack a smile, he went straight-faced. “Sorry. I was just having a little fun.”
Jarreth lurched at Ignis. “What is this shit on me?”
He was so pissed that he was seeing red. His guts were still roiling, and he fought to keep his stomach contents down. He wanted to punch the ginger-headed freak in the teeth, but then he stepped back, remembering that freak had emerged from a cloud of mist. No telling what else he could do.
“It is dark magic, or rather, the remnants. It will fade in no time, and there shouldn’t be any effects, other than a little nausea, but I wouldn’t go back to the academy with that. Until it fades, it’s spreading.”
Jarreth looked at his hand. “Great, just what I need, magic puke cooties.”
Delilah put away her weapons. “As much as you get around, I’m sure it’s not the only kind of cooties you have.”
Jarreth gave her a dirty look and then turned back toward Ignis. “Are you going to tell us who this is?”
“This is Ignis,” Rebekah said. “He’s a mage and my personal friend.”
“I thought mages lived in Esper?” Delilah asked, narrowing her eyes. “At least, that’s what we learned in first year lectures.”
“Yes,” Ignis said. “That’s true. But I’m special, and that’s all you need to know.” Ignis gave them a friendly smile and then disappeared into the mist where he had appeared. The only thing left was the sound of his soft chuckle.
Chapter 5
Rebekah sat at Merik’s desk and finished up her report. She didn’t like having to do such things, and the typing had taken forever, with her hen-pecking the keys. Her hands were made for fighting, and while she knew her way around a computer and her phone, she wasn’t as efficient with them as she was with her weapons.
Sister Frankie stuck her head in the door. “I’ve checked on Jarreth again. Doc was just up there, and the spot is completely gone now. Like it was never there.”
“Thank you. I’m just finishing my report, and then I think I’ll retire to my room for the evening.” It had been a long day, and she was still reeling from the incident the day before.
The magic had made her and Jarreth sick until it faded. Whatever it was, she had never seen anything like it. With the trace scents of wolves, she wondered if it could be that someone wanted her to think shifters were involved, or if they were actually involved. The only problem with that was shifters didn’t wield that kind of magic, even if they were rogues. Only a dark mage could deal with that kind of magic.
Rebekah looked up as the sister was still standing there.
Sister Frankie hadn’t wanted to impose, but she felt there was unfinished business. “Is there anything else?”
Rebekah nodded. “As a matter of fact, y
es. I want you to go ahead and inform the families of the deceased.”
Frankie breathed a sigh of relief. That had been bothering her that they hadn’t gotten to it. “Yeah, I was just going to ask about that. I’ll start with Merik’s grandmother.”
The woman turned away, but Rebekah leaned forward as if she could reach out and stop her. “Wait!”
Sister Frankie stopped and turned. “Yes?”
Rebekah eased back in her seat. “I’m sorry. I should have told you. Merik is actually my family, so I’ll handle telling Estelle, but thank you.”
Frankie could not believe that Merik hadn’t mentioned it before. A sinking feeling bubbled up in the pit of her stomach. She placed her hand there and then took a deep breath. “Yes, of course. I’m so sorry for your loss. He never told me; I mean to say, you never told me.”
“I’m sorry. He’s a distant relation, obviously, and well, I’m sure he didn’t want to be treated any differently.” Rebekah and Merik had made that agreement when she’d let him know her identity.
“Oh, of course that was it. Merik was very private. Very loyal.” She turned and walked out of the room without another word.
Rebekah had already prepared to pay for Merik’s funeral service, but she wanted to go and talk to Estelle face to face. First though, she had someone else to meet. Someone she hoped would have the answers she needed. He’d helped her before, but that didn’t mean he would ever help her again.
Moody bastard.
Rebekah got up and closed the office door, still thinking about Kayne. Would she still be able to reach him? It had been a while since she last tried to contact him, but he had, after all, told her not to hesitate. She would take his words to heart, but calling on one’s enemy for help? That wasn’t something she wanted to do every day.
Returning to her chair, she took a deep breath and closed her eyes. Then she reached down and pulled Stella from her hip and brought the blade up to her palm. “Your blood will call to me,” he said. “Your pain will be my pain, and I will hear what you’re thinking.” He’d spoken those words before he’d disappeared, leaving her feeling grateful and confused not minutes after killing her captors.
She drew the blade across her hand, and as the pain made her wince, she tried to think of the message she needed him to hear. The door opening brought her head up, and she quickly scrambled to grab a tissue from the desk to wipe her palm. It had already begun to heal, the flesh knitting together before her eyes.
Ignis stuck his head inside the doorway, and Stella caught his eye, its blade tinged with the Huntress’s blood. “Did you kill the nun?”
Rebekah picked up the blade to wipe it. “Stop being ridiculous.”
“Are you still mad at me?” he asked, eying Stella as if she might use it on him.
Her heart was beating ninety to nothing, and she made a mental note to make sure the door was locked before doing anything so irresponsible again. “If you keep barging in on me, one day, I’m going to bury Stella in your forehead.” She hated to snap at him, but he knew better than to sneak up on a hunter, especially her. “You’d think after a thousand damned years, you’d have learned not to startle me.”
Knowing Bex well enough not to ask, he had a feeling there was only one person she would reach through bloodletting. “I’d think that after a thousand damned years you’d be used to it.” He gave her a teasing glance, hoping she wasn’t angry. He hated when they fought. He’d really screwed up the day before, and even though she normally tolerated his playful nature, he’d pushed things too far.
She was concerned about her family, and he hadn’t seen her so deeply affected in years. She was an emotional and compassionate person, but being more on the administrative side of things, she’d gone a long time without seeing the ugly side of things firsthand.
“I’m not still mad at you,” she said. “but I can’t say the same for Jarreth.”
“He’s a big boy. Besides, something tells me he needed to be knocked down a few pegs. He reminded me a lot of a certain someone.”
Rebekah knew exactly who that someone was. “Yes, he reminds me of Ethan as well. He is just as cocky and arrogant.”
“Well, at least you’re not finding him charming.”
She frowned at Ignis. “He’s a bit young for me.”
“He doesn’t look too young for you. As a matter of fact, if we go by the age you stopped aging, you’re only twenty.”
“I like my men older.” Rebekah wouldn’t dare admit how much older or who. That was none of his business, and besides, it was an impossible love. The kind you keep all to yourself.
“As long as you’re not talking centuries, I’m okay with it.” No man who’d lived several centuries was good enough for Bex, not even himself, which worked well since he regarded her as family.
Ignis glanced down to the table where a tiny drop of blood still stained the wood.. “What’s on your agenda?”
“I’m meeting with someone about the investigation of Merik’s death.”
“Are you going to Styx? I’ll come along.”
“No, you won’t,” she said. “I’m not extending the invite. And this person wouldn’t want you hovering around.”
“Fine, I’ve got my own thing anyway.” He gave a shrug and turned to leave, so slowly that Rebekah knew he wanted her to ask what it was.
“Don’t go gambling, Ignis. It never ends well.” She rose from the desk and walked around him, out into the hall.
“I won’t get into trouble. I promise.” He followed behind her around the corner to the staircase.
“I thought you’ve been banned from most of them.”
“Not all of them. Besides, they imploded most of those, and it was so many years ago, who’d remember?”
She paused in the stairway. “Don’t start anything, Ignis, and by that, I mean fights, fires, spells you can’t control, or anything else that could land you in shackles.”
“I don’t think they use the word shackles anymore, Bex.”
She shook her head and continued up to the top floor. “You know what I mean.”
The last time he’d gone on a Vegas bender, he’d ended up disappearing for weeks. As it turned out, he’d been shot, which had only stunned him because he’d drank so much. When he finally woke up and realized he’d been buried six feet under, he’d been unable to mist himself out of the ground. Rebekah had dug up three corpses before finding the right grave.
“I promise, no trips to the desert.” He placed his fist over his heart and then disappeared to his own room.
Rebekah went into her room and shut the door. As she showered and washed her hair, she had no idea what she was going to wear. She hadn’t packed anything too sexy and really hadn’t expected to be in Nevada for such a long trip. She looked through the closet where she’d unpacked her bag, and thankfully, someone on the staff had taken liberties to do her laundry. The only thing she had was a tight-fitting tank and a pair of her black pants. Even her boots were made for fighting and not a night on the town.
A knock sounded on her door. “Rebekah?”
Rebekah recognized the voice, and since she was still in her robe, she walked over to make sure the girl was alone. “Delilah?” She cracked the door and saw that she was by herself. “Come on in.”
Delilah hesitated. “I was just going to see if you’d be dining in the hall tonight, or if you were going to want to be served here in your room?” She wore a pair of grey scrubs that had the Hunter’s emblem on the front.
“Actually, I’m meeting someone for dinner. But perhaps you could do me a favor. That is, if you actually have any other clothes besides what’s been issued? I’m hoping for a tight black skirt or maybe a slinky dress. Something I could wear my black jacket over with my boots.”
“Oh. Well, I think you’re a bit bigger than me in the important places.” Delilah patted her chest. She wasn’t flat, but she wasn’t as curvy as the voluptuous huntress.
Rebekah smiled, trying to be reassuring. �
��I have it covered from the waist up, but do you have a skirt?”
Delilah thought about what she had in her possession. If she were back home, it wouldn’t be a problem. “I think I have just the thing, but how do you feel about red?”
“Red? Like your hair?” It was actually the perfect color. Blood-red would do just fine.
“Yes, well, my hair used to be dark-brown, but I change it a lot. I can never make up my mind on what I want it to be like. I guess I’m on a constant mission of self-discovery.”
Rebekah had assumed that was the case. “You’ll figure it out. I promise. Just be true to yourself.”
As Delilah turned away, she spotted Stella on the nightstand. Few people knew anything about the Immortal Huntress. Those who did vowed to keep her identity a secret. But every hunter, including Delilah, knew the tales of her weapon, the legendary Stella, the blade that had made her, and Luna, its counterpart.
The blade looked like the pictures she’d seen in Jarreth’s room. He had photos that had circulated in the hunters’ camps back in the seventies, passed down to him from his father. The dagger in Rebekah’s room had to be a duplicate, made to honor the Immortal Huntress. The scabbard and handle were exactly the same, and though she was tempted, she knew not to touch it without asking.
“What a lovely dagger,” Delilah said.
Rebekah turned her head and her heart sank seeing the girl noticed her weapons. “Oh, thank you, and yes, red would be perfect. If you don’t mind letting me borrow it.”
“Of course. I better grab that for you and get back down to the mess hall. Lulu gets grumpy when we dawdle.” She disappeared behind the door in a hurry.
Rebekah walked over to the nightstand and moved Stella under her pillow with Luna. She would have to be more careful.
Chapter 6
Delilah hurried to her room and found the tight red dress that she’d worn for last year’s Halloween party. Being spandex, it was made to stretch and fit most sizes, so she figured it should work for Rebekah, who was a lot curvier and taller than she was. She hurried back to the room, hoping to see the dagger again.
