Hells Magic (The Armistice Book 1)

by Leslie Vatenar

  Why didn’t I learn to swim? It was embarrassing.

  We arrived at the pool and I stood next to Jayden, who was looking at the water with great concentration.

  He undressed. When all he had left were his boxers, he turned to me and raised an eyebrow.

  I stood still.

  “Get undressed,” he ordered.

  I jerked. “I beg your pardon?”

  I knew I had to undress to get into the water, but hearing it from his mouth triggered an electric shock in my body.

  Why was I hesitating? He’d seen me in my underwear. Nothing changed. Right? Huh? Dammit, where was that conscience when I needed it?

  A smile trickled across his sinful lips. Then he gave me a false sense of privacy by turning his back to me; I took off my bodysuit and shorts.

  As soon as I was only in my underwear, my conscience woke up and shouted at me, “What the hell are you doing?”

  “I could teach you the way my father taught me, but I feel that you would hate me after that.”

  “How did he teach you?” I asked with curiosity.

  He turned faster than light, grabbed me by the waist, lifted me and swung me into the water. I uttered a shrill cry. Then the water engulfed me.

  I pushed on my legs to get to the surface. When the air, oh, precious air, stroked my face, I took a deep breath as I struggled to survive. I gesticulated, flapping my legs and arms to get out of the water.

  Two arms encircled my waist, and I clung to Jayden as if my life depended on it. Correction. I clung to Jayden because my life depended on it.

  Panting, I tried to calm the pounding of my heart, which was trying to break my rib cage.

  I knew I had only spent two seconds struggling, but those two seconds were the longest of my life.

  “If my life didn’t depend on you at this moment, you would be dead by now,” I said between pants.

  A radiant smile lit up his face. “You asked me.”

  “Your father taught you to swim by drowning you?”

  He burst out laughing. “You’d be surprised by what the body can do to survive.”

  I shook my head. “I don’t want to know.”

  My panic subsided, but my heartbeat didn’t. A distinct feeling took root in me. I noticed his hands resting on my waist, his face a few inches from mine and his powerful torso against my chest.

  The water temperature was pleasant. The soothing sound of the waterfall engulfed us. I thought it would be impossible for me to forget that I was only in my underwear because of our proximity, but this detail became inconsequential when I immersed myself in the magic of the moment.

  I drowned in his ocean eyes and breathed in the clean air of nature. The rays of the sun came through each of my cells to bring them back to life. Jayden stroked my back and I ran my hands over his chest.

  There were no people to save. It was just me, him and nature claiming its approval. The birds sang their joy. But when he leaned toward me and his lips brushed across mine, I heard nothing.

  I wasn’t thinking about anything. I felt. I felt the softness of his lips. He kissed me, and it was sensual and intense. Ardent. Every cell in my body awoke. I encircled his waist with my legs, minimizing the distance between us as his hands swept over my body, leaving a trail of light and pleasant tingling on my skin.

  My hands lodged in his silky hair, short at the back and long at the front. Then they descended over his powerful torso as I traced his impressive muscles with my fingertips.

  The kiss intensified, our tongues intertwined. We let go. It was like I gave a part of my soul in this kiss and Jayden came to draw from it with his tongue.

  All my senses were awake. His caresses were full of tenderness on my body. My soul freed itself and met his with determination, craving.

  As two magnets approaching each other, the attraction grew, powerful and persistent, until the two gave way and the magnets glued with alacrity. At that very moment, nothing could prevent the two magnets from meeting. At that very moment, nothing could prevent us from expressing our attraction and desire.

  He sucked my lower lip then bit it. He licked it as my core swooped with heat.

  I snuggled up to him. He lodged his head in the hollow of my neck, placing some light kisses that awakened the butterflies in my belly.

  We’d done things backward. I had slept with him in my bed, and then we kissed. And yet I liked things that way.

  He took a strand of my hair and twisted it around his index finger. I noticed his attentive gaze.

  “The color of blood.”

  “The color of passion,” he replied.

  I shrugged.

  “I like it.” His husky voice shivered through me.

  Intense heat spread in my cheeks and I tried, unsuccessfully, to hide my delighted smile.

  We held each other for quite a while, enjoying the moment.

  Jayden’s phone ruined everything. I heard it ringing in the distance, but Jayden didn’t move a muscle. So I tapped into my power to bring the phone to us and gave it to him.

  He looked at the phone with a raised eyebrow. “Show off.”

  “Don’t be jealous.”

  He picked up the phone.

  “Red alert! Blood red!” Liam shouted over the phone.

  “What’s going on?” Jayden asked, putting him on speaker.

  “We lost Craid. He had all three hearts. And he met Leroi.”

  “What?” I cried.

  “Liam, restructure that,” Jayden said, focused.

  I heard a shout over the phone. “Get your ass over here.”

  Jayden carried me out of the water.

  “Jay, this is fucked up. Let me explain.” We heard the sound of a slamming door. “The Reaper here had false information. Craid already had the third heart, that of Aviva. We followed him to an appointment with Leroi who gave him something for the three hearts… Ah! The hell! Be careful. You’re driving as badly as you’re saving lives,” he shouted over the phone.

  Horn and traffic noises implied they were on the road. And from the incessant sound of horns, Liam’s driver didn’t care about the Highway Code. I’d have been willing to bet it was The Reaper. Pure instinct.

  She could create portals, it wasn’t surprising that driving wasn’t her strong suit, but she had to because Liam couldn’t use her portal.

  “We couldn’t see what it was because he spotted us. He opened a portal, and a Hells creature attacked us.”

  “Who are you following then? Him or Leroi?” I asked.

  “Now we’re trying to save our asses! We’re not chasing after Craid; it’s Craid’s creature that’s hot on our tail. We stole a car to lose it. We’re at three hundred and thirty kilometers an hour… This six-legged thing is running.”

  “Running?” Jayden repeated, dubious. “What follows you?”

  “I don’t know. It has a man’s body but six legs. A creature? A man? I don’t know. But whatever it is, it’s fast.”

  Okay… Things were just sinking into the unreal. And delirium. Nothing made sense anymore.

  “Where is it?” I heard Liam screaming. “Where the hell is it? Did you get it? Oh, damn yes!”

  “What happened?” I asked.

  “Zoe got it! She killed it with her magic.”

  “Where are you?” Jayden asked.

  “We’re on Avia’s bridge. Who do you want us to go looking for? Craid or Leroi?” “Please, say Leroi,” Liam mumbled.

  “Craid is our priority,” Jayden replied.

  I picked up my things and headed to the house.

  “Where are you going?”

  “I’m going to see the one who created the monster.”

  CHAPTER 31

  I burst the door open. No more courtesy or kindness, I was in a destructive mood. Alice came out of the kitchen in a panic when she heard the loud noise of the door.

  “We have a man… or a creature… or both… We have a half-
man half-creature who was wandering our streets! I want to know everything! Everything! Who did you kill?”

  No more formalities, no sweet words. She didn’t answer right away so I said it out loud.

  “We can’t turn the clock back. Now there are the consequences, which we must deal with. For God’s sake, Alice, you’re our queen. Do something. Get involved!”

  Jayden was leaning against the wall behind me, but his magic filled the air throughout the room. It was meant to disturb Alice without hurting her.

  I knew what that meant. I had a few minutes and if she didn’t speak, he would step in. And it wouldn’t be nice.

  “I’ve lost my powers. I’m not your queen anymore.”

  She always had this sturdy presence, that astonishing grace.

  “But you were when you committed murder and something tells me that if Craid gets to the end of what he wants to do, we all risk paying for your mistakes.”

  “It wasn’t a mistake!” she claimed.

  I was losing my patience. My anger was growing, I felt like I was talking to a wall. She was prepared to claim that she could justify an assassination, but she couldn’t give us the details that could help us stop a dangerous and murderous man.

  I could feel the disaster coming. I felt it in my gut that Craid would cause us a lot more problems than we’d had to deal with.

  Jayden stepped in. He stopped when he was right in front of Alice, his hands in his pockets, his imposing and menacing figure unmoving.

  His powerful voice echoed through the room. “Speak or I’ll make you.”

  Alice’s gaze flashed. But one would have to get up a lot sooner to intimidate Jayden. One shouldn’t get up at all. It was a waste of time.

  Alice understood the message and swallowed. “Craid is Romeo’s brother, a man too intelligent for his own health. He’d discovered that supernaturals were capable of doing much more than they think. A secret the Order has always kept. No magic learning school. All books are kept by Maurice and the Order soldiers maintain a policy based on fear to avoid misbehavior. In this way, mages mix with humans, they live like humans, or almost at least, without flaunting their prowess too much. Year after year, they adopt the psychology of humans and become less and less powerful. We applied this policy to necromancers and shapeshifters. And everyone is happy, unharmed.”

  I couldn’t believe it.

  “Mages are killed every day by humans because of your lies!” I piped, overwhelmed.

  “It’s better that way. Otherwise, they would create chaos and no peace would be possible.”

  What shocked me the most was that she was convinced of the acceptability of her approach.

  “We aren’t wild beasts,” I said through clenched teeth.

  “Some of them are!” she exclaimed.

  Persistence gleamed in her eyes as she looked at me like a mother talking to her stubborn child.

  “You have weakened your own people.”

  “To keep their legendary power,” Jayden said. “With this policy, you prevent anyone else from discovering a power that could match yours. What’s in it for you?”

  “There is much more at stake than you can imagine, it goes beyond even the Order. Answer those questions and you’re a dead man.”

  Jayden smiled. A deadly sardonic smile. “You tried thirteen years ago though. It has failed. History will only repeat itself.”

  “It’s possible. Since you’ll run away like a coward again.”

  “You’re only a human now, in your place I’d shut up. You only have me now. Craid or Leroi will come to get you and I doubt either of them will come and invite you to dinner. Unless you’re on the menu.”

  She paled and stared at the ground with unfocused eyes. “He’ll come and get me,” she repeated, breathing hard.

  “Now I don’t care.” Jayden turned his back on her.

  “Jayden…”

  I intervened. “Leroi gave something to Craid. What could it be?”

  Alice glanced at Jayden, her eyes wide with worry. She was upset. But the reasons for her behavior were unclear. Finally, she took my question into account.

  “Romeo made solutions that would allow everyone to reach their highest potential, to multiply the powers of any supernatural. He had sold them to Leroi in particular. Leroi was just beginning his career, but, thanks to these solutions, he could become the man he is.”

  “Craid gave him the three hearts of Liliane, The Reaper, and Aviva in exchange for a vial of power? He’s already very powerful. What else does he want? Bring the sun to his side if it’s cold?”

  “You’re right. Craid got his revenge. I lost my powers. He banished the Order members to the Hells. He’ll come back to kill me, but being human, he doesn’t need a boost to do that. He’s got something else on his mind.” She frowned and concentrated.

  “The Order members are in the Hells?” I squeaked.

  Hello Chaos, my old friend.

  Her eyes widened, her thick eyebrows rose. She gaped with her mouth slightly open. Big revelation over here. “He’ll resurrect his brother.”

  “What did you just say?” I asked in a high-pitched voice. “We can’t do that. Can we do that? The Reaper will have a fictitious cardiac arrest if she hears that.”

  “It’s possible—with a lot of power and with the key. Opening up the spirit world can only be done by overpowered beings. Even the Order can’t do it. Leroi must have given him the key.”

  “Wait… What key are you talking about?”

  “The key to the spirit world.”

  I blinked. “The spirit world?”

  “Yes. It contains the souls in pain, the spirits of those who didn’t make peace with their death. If he opens the spirit world, he’ll recover his brother’s spirit, and with his brother’s body and a spell, he can resurrect him. The problem is that when the door is open, it’s not only his brother’s spirit that will escape.”

  “I’m going to ignore the second part of your sentence, so I don’t sink into a nervous breakdown. Well, where did you hide his brother’s body? If he doesn’t have it, he cannot resuscitate his brother. Problem solved.”

  She swallowed again. “We had buried him below the Armistice. He must have picked it up during the assault.”

  “You buried your victim’s body just below where you walk almost every day,” Jayden said with surprise and disgust.

  “Who are you?” I cried in shock.

  I was panicking; I didn’t recognize my best friend.

  “I bet it was Father’s idea,” Jayden guessed with a cynical smile.

  “Yes.” Alice looked down. “No one would find him there.” She shrugged, her voice soft as silk.

  At least the idea didn’t come from her. I still had hope for her soul.

  “You can die as far as it concerns me,” Jayden said, heading for the exit and taking his phone out of his pocket.

  “You came to help me!” Alice screamed.

  “I came to save my sister! The lovely girl I left who taught me how to paint, who read me stories before I fell asleep, who woke me up in the morning and kissed me, who told me she loved me and that it didn’t matter if she was the only one. When I saw what this sick Craid had done to you…”

  I remembered the day I opened my mind to Jayden. I now understood the moment of weakness his mind had had.

  “I didn’t come to save a murderer!” Jayden roared and I swore the walls shook. “I always thought it was Father who forced you to stab me when I was nine years old, but now I know it came from you.”

  Aside from the fact that it was even more terrifying to see Jayden upset, the house wouldn’t hold if I didn’t stop him.

  Please don’t kill me… I prayed before I approached him.

  “Jayden…”

  I placed myself between him and Alice, raising a feverish hand to his torso as I tried to get his attention.

  “And you! How dare you judge me? Have you seen what you�
��ve become? I remember teaching a little boy to paint and I loved kissing him every morning. This little boy laughed every second; he smiled at everyone, even those he didn’t know; he offered me flowers and he promised me he would always be by my side when I became queen!” she cried, her voice hoarse as her emotions were almost unbearable.

  “And who prevented me from keeping my promise? You stabbed me!”

  For the first time, he was in turmoil, his shell was cracking.

  I walked away, leaving the family storm to pass. The emotions between the two were too strong. I understood both their arguments, but all I saw were two siblings who loved each other and that life had unjustly separated.

  “What happened to you? I can’t get close to you without my legs shaking. My heart beats harder and my brain is screaming at me that I’m in danger. The effect is stronger on me now that I’m human, but I’m sure other supernaturals feel your power in a similar way. For ten years, we lost track of you.”

  Alice was right. I felt, as a supernatural, the same symptoms as she did in the presence of Jayden.

  “I was on my own for ten years.”

  “You didn’t become who you’re now without help, someone has trained you.”

  “You don’t know what you’re talking about. Try to be a nine-year-old boy who has just been physically and mentally stabbed by the person who was dearest to him and then we’ll talk about what you become.”

  Alice shook her head as if trying to chase away past events. “What have you done during those years?”

  “Why do you want to know? Why did you look for me after you disowned me?”

  A tear slid down Alice’s cheek as I held mine. Jayden had uttered these words without an ounce of emotion, but the word “disowned” expressed all the pain he had in him. That pain was in the air now. His grief floated between them and mingled with Alice’s heartbreak. It was impossible to determine who was suffering the most; the unbearable pain was permeated in them.

  “You were trying to finish the job,” Jayden said, his voice hard.

  “You’re wrong,” his sister whispered.

  “Of course. I’ll call Liam. He needs to find Craid. Then we’ll meet him before Craid does the spell.”