by K. M. Shea
“Fae magic doesn’t work on wizards, idiot!” I snarled.
“Insolent rat-blood.” She made a grab for the staff, but I was close enough I was able to perform a serviceable overhead chop, which made her back away. I tried to kick the staff free of the barrier, but it got caught on a chair leg halfway there.
When I scrambled to kick it farther, she grabbed me by the hair and yanked me backwards.
I fell on my back, the delivery vampire kneeling next to me. My scalp burned, and she raised her free hand—her nails pointed and talon-like as more of her vampiric nature leaked through. I struck out with the palm of my hand, cracking her nose. I realized about then that she obviously was not up to the same caliber as the Drake vampires, and didn’t train. I’d never been able to get a hit on anyone in Drake Hall unless they purposely let me, so this was encouraging news. It meant I stood a chance.
Swearing, the vampire leaned backwards, her eyes watering in pain as blood dripped from her nose.
I rolled away, but I wasn’t quite fast enough. Even with her eyes pointed up at the ceiling, the vampire struck like a snake, her claws ripping through my workout clothes and slicing my side.
I ignored the pain as I grabbed the staff, intending to toss it through the barrier.
Bleeding everywhere, the vampire grabbed the end of the staff and yanked it from my grasp. I pivoted to face her, and was shocked to see a number of vampires—including Killian—standing outside the barrier.
The fae magic sparked angrily with the closeness of their presence, but while the other vampires hovered out of reach, Killian stood close enough that one of the sparks could easily brush him. Celestina stood just behind him, her lips moving fast in a hushed whisper as she gestured away from the barrier, but Killian ignored her.
When he realized I was staring at him, both of his eyebrows rose in obvious irritation. What are you doing—you stupid wizard?
He didn’t have to speak—his irritation was settled into the way he had his arms folded across his chest.
But wait—the vampires were here. I could get out of the barrier and leave them to handle it, couldn’t I?
“Mortem Basium!” the delivery vampire screamed. Black light lashed from the black crystal on her staff, careening straight for Killian.
I kicked the vampire in the back of the knee, making her reflexively fold backwards, then chopped down on her throat with the hilt of my katana. She fell into a heap, but jabbed the staff at me.
I brought my katana up into a guard stance that blocked it, but she hit with such force it made my arms quiver and my teeth rattle.
This is what a vampire was like when they were at full strength? This was crazy! I had been so wrong—there was no way I’d win! But I didn’t have to, backup was standing just outside the barrier.
“Give up,” I snarled. “You can see you won’t make it out of here alive if you attack again.”
The delivery vampire laughed. “I already knew I wasn’t going to survive this. But that’s fine—as long as I can take that tyrant down with me!” She snapped her teeth at Killian, who had avoided the attack and was unscathed—though now Josh stood behind his other shoulder and was also trying to get him to leave.
Why wasn’t he, anyway?
The delivery vampire was on her feet faster than my eyes could track and jabbed her open nails at me.
I ducked sideways, but she followed with her speed and sank her nails into my shoulder, piercing my skin. She twisted, shredding my muscles in her claws.
I shouted, and my back arched in pain.
She dropped me and raised her hand to her mouth. Her tongue hovered just over her claws before she gagged, the scent of my blood too powerful to overcome.
On the ground, I made a change to my strategy. I couldn’t leave—she’d attack Celestina, Killian, and Josh again. But I could dispel the barrier and let everyone else in.
The vampire stepped over my prone body, murmuring in fae under her breath as the staff glowed black.
I made a show of moaning—it wasn’t too hard; pain had made my injured shoulder numb, and I couldn’t really move that arm, making my katana useless. I reluctantly released my weapon and curled my body as I tried to discreetly look for the dagger with the dragon on it. There—at the center of the circle.
I rolled twice and managed to grab the dagger. I even pulled, but it was shoved too deeply in for me to free with one hand.
The vampire clubbed me in the head with the bottom of her staff, and I collapsed, seeing stars.
I felt the surge of fae magic as the vampire triggered the spell.
Someone screamed, and the awful smell of burnt flesh filled the air.
I peeled myself off the floor and twisted around, relieved to see Killian, Celestina, and Josh were still standing. Celestina and Josh had drawn further back and were arguing with each other, but Killian had moved even closer to the barrier. He even rested his fingertips on it—which must have been blistering. Off behind him, though, an injured vampire moaned on the ground, and all the other vampires had fled halfway across the balcony.
The delivery vampire didn’t seem to care. She was unearthing a few more enchanted items from her black bag, her back to me.
Killian’s eyes lingered on me, then he tipped his head to the side, telling me to leave.
By now it was pretty apparent I couldn’t do much of anything—and if Killian was telling me to leave, he must have a plan.
I nodded and tried to stand, but the pain in my head ached with such fierceness I could barely see straight, so I slumped back down onto my knees.
Killian made a quiet exhale of irritation. “You betray your own kind for what—the fae?” His voice was dark, and he stared at the female vamp, the tilt of his chin saying he was unimpressed.
“They pay well, but that’s not why I took this job.” Her hands shook as she pulled out a wood carving of a phoenix and set it on the ground. “You made me! You’re a vampire—how could you limit the number of Unclaimed in the area?”
As I discreetly edged toward the side of the barrier, it dawned on me that her hands didn’t shake from fear, but rage.
Killian impassively stared at her. “Unclaimed vampires are liabilities at best, and most often live short lives. As a species, we cannot allow such a thing any longer.”
“You took away all my options—my choice!” she shrieked. “The rest of the Regional Committee didn’t want to ratify the law because they considered it cruel, but you did!”
Killian scoffed. “You are using a law that has only recently passed to defend murdering innocents and vampires alike for months.”
“Because I knew you’d pass it!” she snarled. “You’re Killian Drake—you’d never let it go until you have all of us under your thumb and your control.” She laughed, the sound staccato and unhinged. “And you don’t even care! You’ll do whatever you wish with no regard for who it harms or hinders!” She rested her hand on the phoenix. “Well, no more. You can’t escape the building before I release this magic. You will pay for everything you have done.”
I stopped edging sideways and stared at the phoenix, a bad feeling boiling in my gut.
She squatted on the ground, one hand resting on the phoenix carving, the other on the dragon dagger, and once again started to murmur in melodic Fae.
The phoenix statue glowed, and the wood actually started to singe while fire churned around the vampire’s feet as power built.
This wasn’t a single strike like she’d been launching with the staff, this was a massive spell. If the power was any indication, it would clear through the entire floor—perhaps the building. “Are you crazy?” I shouted. “There are innocent people here!”
“Collateral damage,” the vampire said coldly. “Sacrifices are necessary for new beginnings. This rebirth will cleanse the vampire race so we can live as we deserve with no regard for laws of any sort.”
She was totally off her rocker, but I couldn’t let her kill everyone.
“Haz
el,” Killian started. “Don’t—”
I ignored him and bolted for the crazy vampire. This time I wetted my hand in some of my blood that was flowing at an alarming rate from my mangled shoulder, then smacked my hand over her face, thrusting one of my fingers between her lips.
She wrenched herself backwards, retching and gagging. She kicked me as she scurried backwards, kneeing me in the chest so I lost all my air. I wheezed for a few moments, then grabbed the phoenix sculpture.
It was a lot heavier than I had estimated. I could barely lift it with one hand. I tried to throw it, but I couldn’t get it high enough to get any sort of lift on it. So I leaned back onto my butt and kicked it.
It didn’t clear the circle, but it skidded a few feet away.
I tried to scramble after it, but the vampire darted in front of me. “You cockroach! Just die!” She grabbed me by the neck and lifted me off my feet, then threw me, slamming me into the ground.
Something in my injured arm crunched. The pain was so overwhelming I couldn’t breathe. My stomach rolled, but all my muscles were already bunched in pain. My neck hurt, and for a few moments I wondered if she had crushed my windpipe. I tried to gasp for air, my hair matting in the dribble of my own blood. After what felt like an eternity, I was able to take in a shallow breath, and then another.
But when I tried to move, my body wouldn’t listen.
I heard gunshots, but it sounded like they ricocheted off the bubbling surface of the barrier.
The delivery vampire laughed and said something, but her voice was muffled as my ears rang.
I blinked until my vision cleared, and what I saw made my chest hurt.
The other vampires had fled, but Killian, Celestina, and Josh remained.
Celestina and Josh must have realized Killian wasn’t going to leave. Rather than seek safety for themselves they stayed, loyal until the end.
Josh had the tip of his broadsword stabbed into the barrier, his muscles straining as he pushed everything he had into his sword.
Celestina picked up a chair and threw it at the barrier. It splintered and fell in a shamble. Next, she picked up a table and hammered at the magical barrier. The red of her eyes was stark—she knew it was hopeless, but she wasn’t going to go down without a fight.
Killian must have been the one to fire the gun. He held a handgun at his side and still had his other hand planted on the barrier, ignoring the painful sparks and flickers of magic. His eyes were obsidian black, his lips curled back in a snarl that showed more of his prominent fangs than usual.
They were going to die.
Even if the vampire set off the massive fae spell, I’d probably survive with my magic blood. But Celestina, Josh…and Killian…they’d die.
The female vamp stood just on the other side of the barrier from Killian, a mocking smile on her lips as she held the phoenix statue out, rambling off the fae spell.
Get up! I screamed internally at myself. I have to do something! Anything!
I tried to move my arm, and hot agony knifed through me—though I was too weak to do more than whimper. I tugged on the magic in the air and pulled it through my blood, but I couldn’t concentrate long enough to get it to flicker at my fingertips. Everything hurt too much.
Flames ate up the phoenix statue, and I could tell by the ever-widening circle of fire around the vampire that the spell was almost complete. She would win, and kill Killian. She would kill the vampires I had slowly come to think of as my friends.
My eyelids drifted shut against my will.
Get up! Hit her—take her out. The thought came unbidden from the darkest bits of my mind: kill the crazy vampire to save them. Commit what House Medeis labeled as one of the greatest atrocities, for Killian Drake—a horrific vampire by nature.
But he had laughed and smiled with me. He’d protected me from my own kind—from his own Family! I didn’t know what we were—friends seemed a weird definition, and one Killian would probably scoff at. But he had stood at my back, and every teasing poke, every challenge, every smirk had drawn me from my own bitterness and made me laugh despite my terrible situation.
Yeah. I’d kill someone for Killian Drake.
It went against everything I had been taught. Every rule I’d sworn to follow. Heck, it would probably make my parents cry if they were alive to hear of it, and it was almost certain that House Medeis would not welcome me back after this even if Mason was kicked out.
But I didn’t care.
I’d spill blood and kill the vampire if it meant saving people important to me. That was doing what was right.
Chapter Twenty
Hazel
I snapped my eyes open and again reached for my magic.
My body shook, and weirdly I began to glow a bright blue hue. Something in me crackled, then shattered, and I could feel it: magic. Not the faint flickers I had to fight to take in, but the vast, endless stretch of wild magic that cradled the world.
I pulled more and more of it through my blood, and it made me feel alive. I felt a part of me unwind that I’d never realized how crushed it made me feel. It was stronger than a shot of adrenaline, simultaneously beautiful and terrible.
With magic pulsing through me so much I probably glowed in the dark, I found I could stand. My face burned as I felt my wizard mark appear on the left side of my face, but this time the sensation lasted longer and stretched up my forehead to my hairline, and down my cheek, past my jaw, flowing over part of my neck. I inhaled, then picked my way toward the vampire, whose flames now stretched knee high.
“I’m giving you one last chance.” My voice was stronger than I thought it could be, and I smiled as I felt magic thread through my hair and twine around my fingers. “One last offer of mercy: stand down.”
The vampire didn’t bother to look back at me—she was staring at Killian with a mad delight. “Never!” She laughed. “Not now—not ever!”
“Then die.” I reached out and grabbed the back of her neck, unleashing the magic my blood harbored.
Blue bolts of electricity shot from me, surging through the encircled area with such bright intensity I couldn’t see anything.
The vampire screamed—but it only lasted for a moment before magic consumed her body, turning her to ash.
But the magic wasn’t done.
More electricity poured from me, until it felt like I had magic coming out of every pore. The phoenix statue split and crumbled, and the dragon dagger started to melt in the heat.
A huge bolt of my magic that cracked with a deafening boom punched through the top of the barrier, shattering the whole thing like glass. It soared up, smashing into the ceiling of the meeting room, cutting a gaping hole clear through the roof.
The entire building shook, and magic swirled around me.
Everything was too clear, too crisp. I could barely breathe because of the overwhelming sensations. Every part of me tingled and burned—but there was so much magic out there. A world of it! Why didn’t we do more? Why didn’t we use it the way it was meant to be used?
Overwhelmed, I felt my knees fold under me, even as lightning still crackled around me.
“She’s going into shock!” Josh yelled from what sounded like a mile away.
“Your Eminence—don’t! She’s too dangerous right now!”
The world was bright blue with magic, and everything was so hot. I tried to sever my connection, but now that magic freely floated through my blood it wouldn’t leave. I collapsed on the ground, my fingers twitching.
Something cold covered my eyes, offering a bit of relief.
“Breathe. You’re not a passive wizard, Hazel. This isn’t going to end you—magic would have to take you complaining and arguing every step.”
I breathed, and clenched my jaw as I forcefully cut off the pull of magic. I could still feel it around me, but it no longer seeped through my blood like it wanted to.
The hum of electricity faded, and I relaxed. Something cool wrapped around me, and I was vaguely aware that
I was being moved before my blood roared in my ears, and I passed out.
I woke myself up with my own snores.
Yeah, how’s that for smooth? I was so loud I woke myself up with a snort that made my throat hurt.
I opened my eyes and promptly scrunched them shut. The shades were drawn, letting the orange-y gold light of sunset stab my poor eyes. I fluttered them open and closed, snort-sniffing in irritation when they teared up, making my vision blurry. Eventually, though, I was able to see again.
I was in my bedroom. My chisa katana was polished and arranged on its sword stand on my dresser, and even from here I could see my open closet stuffed with petite-sized suits. But for a moment I wasn’t certain where I was…because sitting at my bedside was Killian Drake.
And this time he wasn’t sitting back in his chair or looking like a model leaning against a wall.
No, he was artfully leaning forward, one forearm resting on my bed. His other hand—weirdly, strangely?—was intertwined with my own. He held my forearm up, propped up with his, and held my arm so close to his face I could feel his breath on the inside of my wrist. It was a weirdly intimate position—like something you would do for someone you really loved.
So…what was he doing? More importantly why was he doing it? I mean, this was Killian Drake. Even after all my time in Drake Hall I wasn’t optimistic enough—or deluded enough—to think he loved anyone. Not even himself, probably.
Killian unashamedly met my gaze, his obsidian red eyes bored. “Hardly the fairy tale awakening,” he said. “You look more like a troll.”
It took two tries to speak. “Your bedside manners suck.”
Killian’s right eyebrow twitched up. “You think I care?”
“What happened?” I tried to pull my hand from his so I could rub my eyes, but he wouldn’t give it up.
“You decided to make a go of securing the title Most Muleheaded, Stupid, Inept Idiot in the history of the world,” Killian said wryly.
“I remember that.” I shifted in bed a little, relieved to find I could move my body—with pain, yes, but at least I could feel everything again.
