by Holly Hook
Table of Contents
Title Page
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
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Fire Magic
Abnormals Underground Book 2
By
Holly Hook
Copyright 2017
Chapter One
We stood out of sight at Leon’s funeral. It was best, since Xavier was responsible for his grandfather's death.
I squeezed Xavier's hand, which was shaking and cold. My best friend, Janine, stood on the other side of me. I was glad there weren't many others on the balcony with us. People were few and far between. Shadows shrouded us on the balcony while the bored crowd below stood listless in the huge underground chamber. Huge torches on the walls spit. It was always torches or candles down here. Using electricity from above would alert the city of Cumberland that there was a whole community of Abnormals right under their feet.
The crowd of werewolves (the hairier people), vampires, Mages (most of which wore long colored robes) occasional scaly incubi and succubi and even a few Normals who worked alongside the Underground filled the chamber, but they all parted to leave a long red carpet free of feet. It was like watching two massive walls of people come apart. The chamber must be at least half the size of a football field. Indoor waterfalls fell in rows along the walls, spraying those who were too close. This was some huge ballroom that was probably used for happier things.
Well, Leon's funeral wasn't that unhappy. Xavier's grandfather had tried to destroy him with war magic, after all, and had banished him from the underground. War Mages valued honor over flesh and blood. Well, some of them did and Xavier hated the whole thing. We had only been allowed to return to the underground due to Leon's death.
“I didn't realize there were so many Abnormals in just one city,” I said, trying to distract Xavier from the obvious.
“There are more,” he said. “Not everyone wanted to come to Leon's funeral. These people are here because they have to be.”
I knew Leon was hated by many down here for his cruel ways. Thorne, my martial arts teacher, sure didn't like the man since Leon had tried to roast me along with Xavier—and all because Xavier and I got Bound before I could prove myself in a rigged fight. Leon had been all about the family honor thing. Xavier was a stain who had to go.
But he was still Xavier's grandfather and the pain was there in my battle partner's eyes.
I searched the crowd below for Thorne. He was Normal, but often hung out down here and trained people like me to fight. I couldn't spot him. He had a life on the surface, a Normal life where he could go out in the sun and enjoy Normal things. I spotted Les, who Xavier said was a werewolf. He looked like a very hairy human but Xavier had told me that changed whenever he wanted that to. I spotted Trish, Xavier’s only mother figure. She wore a blue Victorian dress today and was minus her lab coat. Her pale skin glowed in the torch light and her eyes were reddish around the pupils, like the eyes of all vampires (which was why I made sure to put in my contacts every day.) I even spotted Elsina, the old Seer Mage standing near the front of the room. She was decked out in her blue robe that told everyone what kind of magic she had. There was a color code among the Mages. Wear your color was the rule.
And the casket.
Leon lay inside, even more old and withered than before and decked out in what had to be his best purple robe. He looked fake. Stuffed. I could smell the embalming fluid from up here. I was glad Xavier, being human, couldn’t. It was revolting.
Xavier wouldn’t look up or at the sight in the casket. I couldn’t blame him.
“You didn't kill him, well, directly,” I said.
“I killed his battle partner. That's the same thing,” he said. “They drag the other into death when one dies.”
“Allunna manipulated you the whole time. You had to do it to protect the people down here from Thoreau.” Allunna the succubus had been Leon's battle partner and her death had taken Leon with her. In her later years, she had worked with Thoreau, the demonic mayor of Cumberland, in the hopes that he could break her bond from the aging human Mage who would die soon. She may or may not have told Thoreau about the community hiding right under his feet. Xavier hadn't had a choice but to do what he did.
“Something's happening,” Janine whispered, leaning over the balcony.
My Normal best friend was hiding down here with the rest of us thanks to Thoreau. She knew Thoreau's secret and had to be kept safe. Ever since getting down here, she'd been exploding with curiosity. Janine loved Abnormal stuff while other Normal people hated us. She had a second cousin who had been turned into a werewolf years ago and she'd been fascinated ever since.
But she was right. The crowd below was parting for several very old people all clothed in purple robes. More War Mages. Probably Elder War Mages. They walked down the aisle like a bunch of exalted priests and people backed away from them, even the few other War Mages in the crowd. Elder War Mages were scary. I knew because I'd met the one now lying still. There must be a dozen of them.
I wondered if they’d all Transposed in from somewhere, then come in through the huge wooden double doors on the other end of the room. Xavier had told me that the Elder War Mages were all over the world, usually hiding out under cities to stay out of sight of the Normals. These people looked as if they’d come from all over the world.
No one dared breathe until the dozen of them reached Leon's casket. They stood around it in formation, puffing themselves up. Next to me, Xavier sighed. The torches in the room dimmed, died, then came back to life with magenta flames. A strange glow fell over the whole room.
“Egos,” Xavier muttered.
Smoke filled the air up here and the ventilation was bad but at least it was masking the embalming fluid smell. Dad had refused to go to funerals ever since Russell Fox bit us fourteen years ago and now I knew why.
Dad. He was still a prisoner of Thoreau. He was in the Infernal Dimension in an enchanted sleep right along with Xavier's parents. They together were bargaining chips to get us both back into Thoreau's clutches.
I had done nothing to save him.
One of the Elder War Mage women began to speak with a hefty African accent. “Leon Lovelli,” the woman was saying, her voice almost as raspy as the dead man’s had been. “He was among the most powerful of us, having killed fourteen demons in his long life of one hundred and two years. When he was forty-two he married Estelle Johnson, a Normal, hardworking woman and had six children. Two inherited his magic and went on to continue the magical Lovelli line. The other four went on to live Normal lives. However, his marriage ended when it became known to Estelle that his battle partner was Allunna, the succubus who once was the lover of Thoreau.”
Some people down in the crowd snickered. Leon was not being honored here. Xavier had been right that the other Elder War Mages were looking down on him. It was no wonder the man had been so desperate to restore his honor.
But it hadn't all been Xavier's fault. Maybe, not even his fault at all. Xavier had been the scapegoat. The thought made me wish Leon was alive so I could see what it was like to bite someone after my mistake in the second grade.
Next to me, Xavier’s fi
sts clenched. “I knew there was more to that than just Allunna being his battle partner.”
“Well, she was a succubus after all,” I said.
“I can’t blame my grandmother for leaving him.”
The laughter died below. A now-magenta torch spit and flared, then went out as if Leon’s angry ghost were watching over everyone. Could it be doing that? We were in the world of Abnormals after all. Even though everyone knew vampires and werewolves and pixies and demons existed, people still weren’t sure if ghosts were real or not. There were lots of stories and sightings but scientists had yet to prove it.
“Leon’s demon slaying career continued until nineteen eighty five when he was elevated to the Elder War Mage of Cumberland,” the woman continued. “The unfortunate passing of his much-loved sister, Nina, elevated him to the position. Here he served as Cumberland's Elder War Mage and leader of the Cumberland Underground for over forty years. During this final part of his career, Leon Lovelli took an approach of remaining quiet, peaceful and keeping the Underground out of sight.” The mockery was still there. A few other people snickered.
Yes. Leon had not been liked. It was no wonder no one tried to stop me and Xavier from returning to the Underground.
Xavier remained quiet. I could sense his torment. He couldn't show his face down there if he was the one responsible for his death. I wasn't sure how common knowledge it was yet. I was sure Trish knew and Elsina knew but I couldn't see even Trish, who hated my guts, sharing the news with the world.
And where was the rest of Xavier's family? I knew his parents were imprisoned along with my father, but didn't he have a younger sister and maybe some aunts and uncles?
“Maybe we should go,” I said, pulling on his arm as gently as I could.
He pulled away. “I should have left this place,” he said. “I knew I'd end up doing this.”
“Stop blaming yourself,” I said as Janine backed away to give us some space. “You had to kill Allunna. She would have sold everyone out here. Imagine how you would have felt if you'd let her live and Thoreau found everyone living under him like this.”
He made eye contact with me, a first since the funeral started. The woman down below continued to speak about how many demons Leon had killed and how he had worked with his battle partner for so long.
“In his later years,” she said, “Leon maintained a very quiet approach to protecting the Underground. Even though he no longer fought on the battlefield, he ran the Underground in Cumberland with an iron grasp, one that was necessary to keep you safe. Thoreau has not yet found us, and we must all come together to ensure that it does not happen. Thoreau may have killed Allunna, his battle partner, and it is possible that he was able to extract some information from her.”
They didn't know the truth down there. Xavier had done that himself and no one knew except for Trish and Elsina, who he told everything. They were his surrogate family all the way. I wasn't even sure he'd told his sister, who I hadn't met.
“We should go,” I repeated.
“I can't,” Xavier said. “I need to face the crap I've done.”
“You sound like an old dude,” I said. “Come on. We should go. You did the right thing. And Leon tried to kill you, so consider it self defense. Besides, we still need to figure out what the deal is with me.”
Janine nodded. “And we need to find my second cousin,” she added. “I don't know if he's registered or not, but we've got to find him.”
We were both trying to pull Xavier away from this but he was refusing to move. I nodded at Janine in the pale light, hoping she could see me. Someone else was standing on the balcony with us now, someone who had crept up the stairs. Trish, complete with her Victorian dress and doctor's lab coat. She glared at me and then Xavier, who hadn't noticed her there. I hadn't even heard her come up the stairs. The other noise was drowning out my senses.
I knew what it meant. She needed time alone with Xavier.
He didn't notice as I tugged Janine towards the stairwell, brushed around her, and crept down the stairs. I paused at the bottom of the landing and listened. Trish shuffled towards Xavier, muttered something that got lost in the crying from the funeral, and then there were sobs.
Xavier's sobs.
The War Mage had broken down.
I faced Janine. “I think we should go.” If I were crying, I wouldn't want Xavier to see that.
* * * * *
I knew it wasn't a good idea to leave a funeral even though I had never been to one due to the embalming fluid smell, but Xavier needed time away from me. Janine and I walked down the wide underground corridor that led away from the auditorium and towards where the living quarters were. Well, the apartments were what Elsina liked the call them. The place was quiet and creepy, with only one single cough coming from down a dark corridor with just a couple of candles burning.
I almost wished I had brought my sword with me. I felt much better with it even if I couldn't tap Xavier's magic all the time. We might be Bound, but it wouldn't be strong enough for that until I bit him.
Which was exactly what Thoreau wanted and what I feared.
The brick changed to a dark red, which told me we'd entered the apartments. More candles burned inside crevices. I wondered how they stayed lit all the time. Some kind of magic, maybe.
I sniffed the air. A bit of doggy smell hit my nostrils. A werewolf in here, maybe. I'd passed them and humans didn't realize how lucky they were that they couldn't smell it. The place really had cleared out.
“Xavier seems really down and out,” Janine said.
“Well, he indirectly killed his grandfather,” I reminded her. “I might not like my mother, but if I indirectly killed her, I don't think I'd live with myself.”
“He had to do it.”
“I know he did.” Xavier would carry this burden for the rest of his life. He had killed Allunna because of me, because she had helped lead us into the skyscraper that was his office. Xavier had thought I was dying when Thoreau surrounded me with the flames that I had somehow survived. In that moment, he had done something to me that brought me closer to being his Dark Pentagram, a key he needed to bring Earth and the Infernal Dimension together.
In other words, to end the world.
And no one knew what that was. Least of all, me. But now my enemies burned from the inside out when I stabbed them. I had killed Russell Fox that way.
There were supposed to be five pieces to this Dark Pentagram thing. I'd already been turned into a vampire at the age of two. Piece one, thanks to my rare gene that Russell Fox had brought out by biting me. Then there was this fire thing. Piece two, whatever it was. Making my bond with Xavier stronger would be the third.
And four and five?
I had no idea and I didn't want to know. I was supposed to be full of rare genes and from a bunch of rare bloodlines that came together from around the world. Thoreau had been waiting centuries for me.
We turned the corner that led to my apartment, which was really just a candle lit room with a bed and a large dresser full of clothes. Okay, the large dresser wasn't so bad, but right now questions were burning in my mind.
Like, where did Xavier live? He had never showed me his place and everyone had one down here.
I hesitated at my wooden door, which I'd closed and locked. My brass key was heavy in my pocket.
“Is something wrong?” Janine asked.
“I'm just thinking,” I said. “Xavier had another battle partner before me.”
It was something I'd never told Janine. We'd been down here for only two days, after all, but I'd been thinking about that almost as much as this Dark Pentagram thing. It made an uneasy feeling rise in my gut.
“He what?” Janine asked. “It was a girl, wasn't it?”
“You read me well,” I said.
“You like Xavier,” she said.
“I...I might. Sort of. When he's not being annoying.”
“I knew it,” Janine said, grinning at me. “You couldn't resist a
ll the hotness oozing off him. It was just too intoxicating for you.”
“Well, we are battle partners. We share a mark. I use Xavier's magic and he gets to live longer because of me.”
“There's more to it than that,” Janine said. “I could tell by the way you were touching him. You grabbed his arm in that loving way and you talk to him like he's a lost puppy.”
“He's not a lost puppy.” Well, he sort of was right now and I felt that way, too. Like I was responsible for making him happy again or at least helping him feel better.
“Why don't you just bite him and get it over with?” Janine asked.
I hadn't told her about my huge mistake in the second grade, when I bit my best friend Hannah. Even though she'd asked me to do it I got in huge trouble and Dad and I had to move across the country and change our identities to stay away from the authorities. Mom had left us because of that. If I bit Xavier...not only would it make Thoreau happy but it might also make Xavier see me in a different light, one that was red and ugly and full of nightmares. I would stick with blood bags.
At the same time, it was the one thing that would bring us closer.
“Because it's complicated,” I said. “You know what? I'm curious. About where Xavier lives. I think we should look around the Underground and find out. Then we need to go find your second cousin. And then we need to find out what this Dark Pentagram thing is, exactly. We're getting a long to-do list. You up for that?”
Janine laughed. “You think I'm not up for an information gathering mission? What is it that I do? Let me go get changed and I'm all game.”
Chapter Two
Since Janine now knew that the mayor of Cumberland was really a demon and Thoreau knew about that, she and her mother had had to pack up and move underground to be with a bunch of Abnormals.
Janine's mother hadn't come out of the apartment they shared much. Their room was bigger than mine, with three rooms and a primitive toilet in a closet, but it was comfortable. I could barely hear the traffic from above and some distant sewer water flowing. I knew the sound was nonexistent to Janine's mother, who sat on a bed made of furs as we entered. She was reading a magazine with some celebrities on the front. She wouldn't look up as I walked in behind Janine.
