Druid Vices and a Vodka: The Guild Codex: Spellbound / Six

by Marie, Annette

  “Yeah, and we need to hurry!”

  I was so focused on running, so frantic to get to Kai, that I didn’t immediately notice the building heat. When Hoshi stopped in front of a door with a push bar, I kept running—my brain too slow to realize Aaron was shouting at me to stop.

  I rammed the door open—and fire exploded all around me.

  Aaron tackled me to the floor, arms banded over me, body and magic shielding me from the heat. The wave of flames burst through the doorway in a roaring maelstrom before subsiding.

  He pushed onto his hands and knees above me, and I raised my head.

  Beyond the door was a huge, smoke-hazed room that occupied the curved end of the U-shaped floor. Windows filled the double-height walls, and probably offered a spectacular view of the harbor when the room wasn’t filled with smoke. Fires burned across the remains of the furniture.

  A silhouette appeared in the smoke, moving closer. A handkerchief was tied over his nose and mouth to filter the smoke.

  “Who the hell are you?” he demanded in a deep voice.

  Aaron shoved upward, unarmed—he must’ve dropped his sword so he wouldn’t impale me. Fire rippled up his arms, and the other mythic lifted his hands in response, flames leaping from the floor to his palms.

  Still sprawled on my stomach, I yanked out my paintball gun and pulled the trigger.

  Yellow potion splattered across the mage’s upper chest and neck. Shock widened his eyes, and he toppled backward, hitting the floor with a thud.

  From the smoke behind him, three more silhouettes appeared—three strangers. Three enemies. I scrambled up, Aaron in front of me, Hoshi hovering above my head, Zak and Ezra crowding in the doorway behind me.

  The air crackled.

  Throwing stars flew out of the haze, firelight flickering over their shining edges. They struck the three rogues, and sizzling white power leaped out of the smoke, a branch of electricity slamming into each man. They convulsed from the shock and dropped to their knees with cries of pain.

  The smoke swirled. Wind whipped through the room, bending the flames sideways and lifting the choking haze.

  Makiko strode across the burning carpet, the fires in her path snuffing out before she reached them. She held a shiny metal fan in each hand, angled elegantly. Kai followed a step behind her, his face exactly as Hoshi had shown me, his clothes torn and splattered with blood, one sleeve charred off his arm.

  Makiko’s glare locked on the three rogues, on their knees from Kai’s electric shock—but not for long. They were already recovering, fury and pain twisting their faces.

  She stretched her arms out, then slashed with her fans. A rippling hiss of air.

  The three rogues jerked, their heads snapping backward, then they pitched over, blood gushing from their sliced necks. They writhed helplessly, their blood sizzling on the carpet.

  I stared, my lungs locked. She had … she had slit their throats with air? I hereby retracted all thoughts I’d ever had of fighting the petite aeromage.

  “There you are, Kai,” Aaron announced, his voice carrying over the crackling flames. “We were looking for you.”

  Kai’s eyes narrowed. “Why are you here?”

  “Saving your ass.”

  “Gee, thanks.”

  “We do not require help,” Makiko snapped. “We—”

  Kai strode past her to Aaron. They clasped arms, then Kai and Ezra did the same. Lastly, the electramage caught me around the waist with his uninjured arm and pulled me against his side.

  “Not what I meant when I said keep them under control, Tori,” he muttered in my ear.

  “Who’s leading the attack?” Zak demanded impatiently. “Is Varvara here?”

  Kai pulled away from me. “Varvara? The sorceress?”

  “Who’s leading the attack?” Zak asked again.

  “No idea, but there aren’t many mythic intruders left. Those things, on the other hand—”

  The floor vibrated with heavy steps. A clanging racket grew louder—metal footsteps drawing closer.

  “—are impossible to stop.”

  “Watch it!” Zak yelled.

  Too late—a jet of green liquid shot out of the smoke, straight for us.

  Makiko flicked her fan at the same time Ezra thrust out his hand. The double gust of wind blew the potion back at its source. It splashed across a new golem, drenching its head and back. The liquid bubbled, toxic steam pouring off it as it dissolved the golem’s steel body.

  With clanking steps, two more canine golems stomped out of the thickening smoke.

  “Let’s go!” Kai said sharply.

  Hoshi swirled around my head, then flew back into the corridor we’d just left. Makiko went first, Kai behind her. The rest of us rushed into the wide hallway, and we sped back to the stairwell.

  “Kai,” Aaron called as we streamed down the stairs one by one. “Are there civilians in the building?”

  “No,” he answered, half a flight ahead of us. “It’s mostly offices, closed for the night. We evacuated everyone else when the attack began.”

  “Our security alerted us before the rogues got far into the building,” Makiko added. “Kai and I came back to look for any of our people who might have been left behind.”

  “And we ran into the golems,” he finished. “My magic wasn’t much use, and Makiko’s was only slightly more effective.”

  “Well,” I panted, my knees like jelly as I pounded downward, “the golems probably aren’t too quick on the stairs, assuming they can follow us.”

  All of us were panting hard by the time we hit the last flight. Makiko jogged down, Kai a step behind her. I was almost keeping up, Aaron and Ezra trailing after me. Zak brought up the rear.

  Reaching the landing first, Makiko shoved the door open. It swung wide at the same time a popping, sizzling sound erupted.

  Wind gusted from Makiko’s hands as fire blasted through the doorway. Orange flames boiled through the threshold as she held back the inferno, the heat thickening the air in the stairwell. Fire splattered the floor around her like burning oil, clinging to every surface it touched.

  The flames began to die—and a steel head burst through the flickering orange.

  The canine golem leaped through Makiko’s magic and slammed into her. She flew backward, throwing her arms out to break her fall—but the stairs were too close. I sprang toward her, reaching desperately.

  She landed on the steps with the sickening thud of bone against concrete.

  “Makiko!” Kai cried hoarsely.

  I crouched beside her, swearing under my breath. She wasn’t moving, eyes closed, mouth slack. A trickle of blood ran along the dusty gray step under her head.

  Kai crouched on her other side—and Aaron leaped over us. He landed with a thump in front of the golem as it opened its jaws, its front teeth broken like it’d recently lost a fistfight. As fire spouted from its throat, he extended his hand—and the orange flames died to nothing. Dark liquid that smelled vaguely of gasoline splattered all over him, the floor, and my legs, but Aaron had put out the fire.

  That didn’t do a thing to stop the golem, though.

  Ezra and Zak sprang over us too, yellow magic glowing up the druid’s arm. His wire spell shot out from his hand and tangled around the golem’s legs.

  “Get out of the stairwell!” he shouted.

  Kai reached for Makiko. Before I could stop him—his arm was burned and bleeding—Ezra was there. He carefully lifted Makiko and sped toward the exit. I followed on Kai’s heels, and we bolted into the open concourse.

  Zak jogged after us a moment later, the yellow glow fading from his hand. The golem thundered after him.

  Kai swore viciously. “That’s the same one that roasted my arm half an hour ago. I can’t believe it’s still going.”

  “It isn’t the same one.” Zak ran to us, outpacing the golem. “They don’t last that long. Let’s get out of here.”

  “It has the same broken teeth,” Kai barked angrily. “And we c
an’t leave that thing to chase us out onto a public street.”

  “It isn’t the same golem, not if you fought it thirty minutes ago. Golem magic—”

  “Argue later!” I roared as the golem clattered after us at a full charge, burning liquid dripping from its steel jaws like nightmare drool. “It’s coming!”

  Teeth bared, Zak slid to a stop and whirled. Black wings lifted off his arms, and Lallakai’s eagle form pulled out of his body. She shot upward with one sweep of her broad wings. Emerald eyes shining like backlit gemstones, she slashed her wings down a second time.

  Darkness condensed out of nowhere and formed a tight orb around the golem. Its glowing runes shone dimly through the dense shadows as it continued its charge, unaffected. Zak didn’t move as the golem barreled toward him.

  The shadows deepened. The thunder of the golem’s steps slowed. Slowed even more. The light of the runes dimmed.

  Like a toy with dying batteries, the golem took a final clattering step, moving no faster than a snail. The final whisper of magic in its runes died, and the shadows lifted. The golem stood still and silent, its animation magic gone. Its toothy muzzle was less than three feet from Zak.

  Lallakai drifted downward and sank into the druid’s body once again.

  “Shit,” Aaron muttered. “Why didn’t you bring the fae out before now?”

  Zak rolled his shoulders. “She needs more room to work with than—”

  “This chat can wait until later too,” I growled irritably, knowing any exchange of words between the pyromage and druid was guaranteed to turn into an argument. “Kai, how is Makiko?”

  Standing beside Ezra, Kai was holding her arm, his fingers pressed to her wrist. “Her pulse is steady, but she needs a healer as quickly as possible.”

  “Sanjana was at the guild when we left,” I said, immediately recalling the hot toddy I’d made her earlier that night. “She’d just settled for a good long session with her textbooks, so she should still be there.”

  Kai nodded. “Let’s go.”

  He and Ezra headed for the door. I looked between Aaron and Zak, who were—surprise, surprise—glaring at each other, and figured I’d better head off the explosion. Stepping between them, I took their elbows and steered them toward the exit.

  Back to the guild, with a rogue druid and Kai’s unconscious fiancée in tow. This would be so much fun.

  Chapter Eighteen

  Aaron pulled up in front of the Crow and Hammer, parking at the curb instead of using the small rear lot. Squashed between Ezra and Zak in the back seat, I sat with my nose pinched between my finger and thumb.

  “You guys stink,” I declared. “Everyone stinks. It reeks of toxic smoke in here. Next time we enter a burning building, we’re bringing a change of clothes.”

  “We didn’t know it was burning until we got there,” Ezra pointed out.

  Aaron unbuckled his seat belt. “Next time, we’ll just take our clothes off before we go in. I could’ve saved my vest and baldric.”

  Hmm. Stripping down for battle? It had my vote. I’d show a little skin to get an even better eyeful.

  “Don’t ever engage in combat while in the nude,” Kai murmured from the front seat where he held Makiko. “Better to ruin clothes than ruin body parts.”

  Ezra made a thoughtful noise. “Speaking from experience?”

  “I wasn’t the naked one.”

  I leaned over the center console. “I have so many questions.”

  “Maybe later. Would someone open my door?”

  Aaron and Ezra hastened out of the vehicle to help him. Zak, on my other side, was a bit slower; having been bowled over at least once by a magical tank on four legs, he was moving stiffly. I scooched out after him as Ezra got Kai’s door, and he and Aaron lifted Makiko’s limp form off his lap. She groaned faintly.

  Zak stretched like every muscle hurt, then slid a vial off his belt. He pulled the cork and poured the gray liquid into his mouth.

  “What’s that?” I asked.

  “Healing potion.”

  “You couldn’t have given it to Makiko?”

  “It reduces inflammation and pain. It doesn’t fix concussions.”

  “You don’t have a concussion potion?”

  “I could make one, but it needs to simmer for about twelve hours.”

  “Never mind.” I pointed at his face. “By the way, you can’t go in the guild like that. We have witches.”

  They’d take one look at his freaky fae eyes and figure out all kinds of things about him that we didn’t want anyone to know.

  “I’m not going in your guild,” he replied shortly.

  “Yes, you are.”

  “No, he’s not.” Aaron tipped Makiko into Ezra’s arms and pivoted to face us. “He can crawl back into whatever hole he came from.”

  I planted my hands on my hips. “He’s already been seen, and it’s way later now. There’ll hardly be anyone left in the pub. Besides”—I raised my voice, speaking over their protests—“we need to combine our information about Varvara.”

  Zak scowled, which I took as agreement. Grumbling under his breath, he half turned away. Shadows swirled over him, then Lallakai’s wings swept off his arms and her dark eagle form pulled out of his body. Her green stare raked me like blades before she faded from sight.

  “Perfect.” I rubbed my chilled hands together. “Let’s get out of the cold!”

  Ignoring Aaron’s and Zak’s matching scowls, Kai’s eye roll, and Ezra’s silent amusement, I marched to the guild door, threw it open, and breezed inside.

  A wave of noise hit me like a slap to the face.

  Pulling up short, I blinked. I blinked again. The guild hadn’t emptied while we were gone. It had gotten busier. Thirty-five surprised faces turned my way, the noise level dying down—then those thirty-five pairs of eyes turned to the men coming in behind me.

  I whirled around, intending to stop the guys from entering, but it was too late. They had walked in after me, and now we all stood on display for over half the guild—Ezra, smudged with soot and carrying an unconscious woman; Aaron, naked from the waist up with holes burned in his pants; Kai, blood down one side of his face and his arm blackened; and Zak, the bottom of his long coat shredded from golem teeth, still holding the potion vial he’d downed.

  The nearest mythics swarmed us. A hundred jumbled questions flew our way, and I didn’t know who was speaking.

  “Whoa, shit! Are you hurt?”

  “Who’s the woman? Is she from the SeaDevils?”

  “Where were you guys?”

  “Do you need a healer? Sanjana is here.”

  “Did you come from the SeaDevils guild?”

  Kai was saying something, his voice drowned out by others, then he swept into the crowd. Ezra followed right behind him with Makiko in his arms. Aaron started after them, waving at me and Zak to join him. Guild members hurriedly cleared a path for our rumpled, sooty group.

  We traipsed upstairs to the large workroom, where we found the apprentice healer Sanjana, exactly where I’d last seen her: poring over medical textbooks for an upcoming test. On top of training in healing Arcana, she was a third-year med student. She instantly abandoned her work and had Kai lay Makiko across an empty table.

  As Sanjana began her examination, her long, dark brown hair threatening to fall out of its loose bun, Sin stuck her head around the corner by the stairs.

  “Hey,” she called hesitantly. “Do you need help, Sanjana?”

  The healer glanced up. “Do you have a burn salve? Can you apply it to Kai’s arm? I’ll get to him next, but it’ll be a while.” She squinted at us. “I assume there are no injuries beyond what I can see.”

  “Nope,” Aaron confirmed. “We made it out relatively unscathed. Except for Makiko.”

  Sin heaved her alchemy case onto a free corner of the table, her curious gaze darting between Makiko and Zak. Kai turned away from his fiancée, and Sin blanched at the sight of the blood all over his face.

  She r
ecovered quickly. “Take off your shirt and I’ll clean—”

  “Cut it off him,” Sanjana said without looking up. “You don’t want to rupture any blisters. Aaron, can you get a healing kit from downstairs?”

  “You got it.”

  Sin fetched scissors from the supply cupboard and snipped through Kai’s shirt, revealing soot stains and pink burns all over his arm. Aaron returned a minute later with a huge medical kit. The guild always had supplies on hand for our healers so they didn’t have to haul their personal kits around every day. Sanjana opened it and dug around.

  Sitting Kai on a chair, Sin poured clear liquid on a white cloth and gently wiped the soot off his arm. “I was wondering where you’d all rushed off to earlier. How did you find out about the SeaDevils so fast?”

  Me, Kai, Aaron, and Ezra gave her blank looks.

  She frowned. “You weren’t at the SeaDevils?”

  “Why,” I huffed, “does everyone keep bringing up the SeaDevils?”

  “Because their guild was attacked an hour ago?”

  We all stiffened.

  “What?” Aaron demanded. “You mean like the Pandora Knights attack?”

  Sin nodded as she uncapped a jar of white cream. “The SeaDevils’ headquarters were destroyed. Lyndon said an Odin’s Eye friend of his is claiming the building was completely leveled.”

  “Was anyone hurt?”

  Her gaze dropped. “There were two mythics there and they … they were killed.” She slathered cream over Kai’s arm. “Some of our guys planned to go help, but the MPD issued a notice asking mythics to keep away for now because there were TV crews filming the fire.”

  I slumped in my chair. Another attack. Two mythics killed. Varvara wasn’t messing around.

  Silence fell over the room. As Sin wrapped gauze over Kai’s arm, he watched his fiancée with a worried crease between his brows. Sanjana, biting her lip in concentration, was drawing directly on the table while Makiko lay prone on it like a beautiful, slightly scorched mannequin.

  My gaze shifted to Zak. He sat on the edge of a nearby table, watching the healer with a “professional assessment” sort of air. His Arcana specialty was alchemy, but he dabbled in sorcery and healing, as I’d seen when he’d whipped up rattlesnake antivenin in thirty minutes. As a dedicated black-magic-wielding rogue with no social life, he probably had lots of free time to advance his skills.