by Sierra Cross
I wasn’t naive enough to think her assistance would come without a catch. True to form, Aunt Jenn had made me promise her a favor, to be named later, in return. I shuddered at the thought of what that dark witch would ask of me, but had no choice but to accept her terms.
As I tugged Liv into a crush-hug, my elbow hit a stack of plastic menus and sent them flying off their carousel. Liv crushed me right back, reminding me of how battered my body was. For all her lecturing me on the subject, Liv hadn’t been sleeping or eating properly. I could sense that through our coven bond—the longer I had this thing on my arm the more it told me. I was praying it had respectable limits. Some things I just didn’t need to know about my coven mates.
We got dirty looks as our elbows and shoulders bumped into bystanders. It was late for a dinner crowd, but hey, it was Capitol Hill, and they had great boozy milkshakes. Something about the Spelldrift’s energy drew the night owls who were just starting their evening out. I wondered how many of them would end up at Sanctum? A pang of guilt hit me when I thought about how sporadic my hours had been the last few weeks. I knew Bret appreciated getting the extra hours, and Emma, being from a Fidei family, had assured me she understood the stakes. But still, leaving them short-handed so much felt like a dick move—but what else could I do?
“God, it’s good to see your face,” I said to Liv. “As opposed to being inside your head.”
“That may be the weirdest thing you’ve ever said to me.”
“And the truest.”
Matt put his hand on the small of my back, sending tingles across my skin. “Our table’s ready,” he said. He waited, without moving his hand from my back, as I disentangled myself from Liv. We weaved through the crowd, past the chrome and linoleum lunch counter to a red vinyl booth. Matt stood to the side and waited for me to slide in. When he slid in next to me, he moved all the way down so our thighs were pressed together. Asher slid into the other side all the way to the window. Liv sat next to him hanging off the other edge. If she noticed the chasm between her and our resident warlock she didn’t acknowledge it. Her gaze was locked on Matt and me. Taking it all in. Her smile told me she was happy for me. “Some vacation you guys took, huh?” she asked.
“Yeah, great,” Asher asked. “My spleen is still processing Caedis poison. Sounds like great copy for the travel brochure.” He made jazz hands and rolled his eyes at her.
“What matters is you’re safe,” Liv said. “And back in the Spelldrift,” she added, “so we can work together to save Callie.”
Crap. When I told Liv on the phone that it would be our number one priority, it hadn’t sunk in that I was now speaking as my coven’s leader. Looking back, I’d implied that everyone was on board. Would I ever get used to this role?
Matt set his jaw and said nothing.
Asher looked Liv in the eye. “There’s only one way we can help Callie at this point.”
“Don’t!” Liv pointed a finger in Asher’s face, stopping him in his tracks. “You all said Callie was dead. Refused to even listen. I was right this whole time. I would think you’d give me some credit by now. I’m not a school kid with ‘wish-it-into-reality’ delusions.” She firmed up her resolve. “I’m a skilled witch that needs help from my coven to save our sister.”
Matt cleared his throat. “Another priority has come up.”
“I’ve been patient,” Liv’s anger was boiling below the surface. “I’ve done all the work myself. I’ve done a damn good job of it too—”
“If you recall, our watchdog’s life was in peril,” Asher snipped. “The only reason he’s alive is because we made that trip. That matters to you, right? Or isn’t the life of a guardian worth as much as a witch?”
“It’s not the same. I’m sorry, but Matt ran off and put himself in danger. Callie never—”
“Take your orders?” A petite, tattoo-covered waitress unapologetically broke into our conversation.
“Ah, we need another minute,” I said. “Thanks.” And she melded back into the fray. Anger roiled in my body. Liv was sounding like a selfish biatch.
“Yeah, we all need to just take a minute,” Matt added.
“What, are you afraid we’ll place blame where it actually belongs?” Liv turned her venom on Matt.
“Liv, that’s not fair,” I said. My coven sister was on the verge of really getting her mad on, and part of me just wanted to shut her down. But is that what a leader did? And hadn’t we both been trying to do the same thing, save a coven mate? How would I feel if I hadn’t been able to rescue Matt? Liv seemed irrationally to hold herself, alone, responsible for Callie’s loss. Kind of like the way I felt about saving Matt. The weight of that guilt would make anybody a bit edgy.
“Well, she does have a point,” Asher said. “He did place himself in harm’s way.” That acknowledgment seemed to calm Liv’s rage a tiny bit. “But,” Asher continued. “We don’t know how to help Callie, and we do know where Alana is, so—”
“Maybe if Matt hadn’t run off, we could have all been concentrating on how to rescue Callie. Maybe we could’ve saved her by now.” Liv glared at Matt, who looked ready to bolt.
“Ready?” The waitress tapped her pencil on her pad.
“We need another min—” Asher started.
“Four cheeseburgers with fries, a side salad for her.” I pointed to Liv. “And four chocolate malts.” I made an executive decision. “And a brick of onion rings for the table.”
They all just stared at me.
“What?” I said. “We can still argue on full stomachs.”
“I detest malts,” Asher said.
“Shut your pie hole and deal,” I said.
Food was not a magic elixir, but it did dull the edges of everything. Liv ate every bite of her burger and fries and her side salad. Asher sucked his malted shake down to the bottom. And Matt had both butt cheeks firmly planted on the booth seat—and his free hand on my thigh.
I looked up and a bite of cheeseburger got caught midway down my throat. Aunt Jenn and Callie were walking into the diner. Please let them not see us. Please.
My aunt’s eyes locked on mine and she headed my way with determined steps.
Her stylish dark hair swung as she lurched to an abrupt stop in front of our table. Callie smiled sweetly. If it weren’t for the Aunt Jenn mini-me business outfit she was wearing, she’d look just like the real Callie. The thought of our sweet sister being held hostage in there…my heart ached.
“Good to see you, Alix!” Imposter Callie rubbed my elbow—a gesture so Callie-like tears pricked the corners of my eyes. But as her fingers touched my skin, the dark magic prickled and burned. I couldn’t bear to see the darkness manipulate my friend another minute longer. Liv was staring at her too, seething.
“Alix,” my aunt said. “I see the carrier pigeon I arranged worked out.”
“Yes, thanks for that.”
“Oh, you don’t need to thank me.” My aunt put her hand on my shoulder and whispered in my ear. Callie glared—at my aunt’s proximity to me? “You’ll be paying me back one way or another. And soon.”
I gulped. I really didn’t look forward to her cashing in that favor. “And the rest of our conversation? Did you check into that?” Had she not believed me about the splinter’s divided loyalty?
“I’ve secured my position,” Aunt Jenn said vaguely. “Nothing to concern yourself with.”
What the hell did that even mean? “I’ll never understand how dark witches work,” I said.
“Never is a long time,” my aunt said. “In the meantime, we have some political matters to work on. Together.”
Shit. Would her favor be asking for Masumi’s video? No way my conscience would let me break that promise to square my debt.
“There’s a Council meeting coming up,” Aunt Jenn began, “and it would be the perfect time—”
“It’s not the perfect time for us,” I said, deflecting. “We’re kind of in the middle of something. You may have noticed, impending warrants a
nd all.”
“I’ll help you legally as much as I can,” Aunt Jenn said. “But in the event that you all are arrested, perhaps you should give me the drive for safe keeping.”
“Ain’t gonna happen.” Matt squared his shoulders. I didn’t know how or if we were going to get out of this, but my aunt having the video would only compound our problems.
“It’s the only way, if you look at it logically—” the dark Callie began.
“Nobody has any interest in your opinion.” Asher cut her off.
Emotion colored Liv’s cheeks. She stood and marched straight toward the Splinter, who stepped back, unnerved. “Callie, I know you’re still in there, the real you. Hang in there sister. Because I swear to god we’re going to save you and bring you back.”
Evil Callie glared.
My aunt shook her head. “Light witches and their emotions. You’re like a boat without a rudder. No wonder the powers that be find your kind so easy to manipulate.”
They left in a huff. But it felt like that conversation reminded us—Asher, Liv, Matt, and me—we were a team.
I was picking at the dregs of the onion rings, waiting for the waitress to bring back my card—I decided to give Asher’s wallet a break, even if it was only symbolic.
“I’m glad you’re back,” Liv said, swallowing some of her pride along with the last of her meal. She looked directly at Matt. “But I’m still pissed you left like that—”
A mighty surge of golden magic shimmered across the night scene outside the window, rattling the glass in its frame. The Wonts were oblivious, but every magicborn in the diner looked up like a bomb just went off. We rose as a unit and were out the door in a millisecond.
At first glance, nothing on the dark city street looked out of the ordinary. Then the chartreuse spray of a deflected blast flew out of the alley. Coming from the same direction. I heard a small cry of distress. A woman’s voice.
My muscles engaged before my brain, feet carrying me headlong into the melee, the whole coven at my heels. Matt grabbed my shoulder before I blindly turned the corner. Two quick hand motions and Liv, Asher, and I lined up on either side of our guardian at the mouth of the alley, battle formation Beta.
Agent Larch, Director Bonaventura, another Fidei agent, and a witch I didn’t know all stood huddled against the brick wall. Larch was calling for backup on her radio. They were all cornered by Alana and four and a half Neqs in red uniforms—fighting from behind a glowing green Caedis shield. I said half because Bonaventura was in a crouch, fangs bared, dripping with black Neq blood. Before the shield went up, he must have ripped one of Alana’s minions in two and was brandishing its oozing forearm like a club. The vampire was growling like a feral dog, his pupils’ pinpricks of murderous focus. There was enough demon magic left in the bloody stump to serve as a bat to divert Alana’s rapid-succession blasts—but that ingenious defense wouldn’t last.
The witch who stood with them must have been a member of the Witch’s Assembly because she was totally useless. Her gold magic trembled like a candle in a breeze and didn’t leave her well-manicured fingertips.
Larch and the other Fidei woman were equally ineffective, but not for lack of skill or courage. Each was firing her alchemic cutter, only to have her bullets disintegrate into nothingness when they struck Alana’s shield. Even those weapons weren’t able to penetrate this Caedis’s barrier.
Because there weren’t a hundred Wont cops surrounding us, I knew the Caedis must have cast a veil over the alley.
The Caedis’s throwing speed was astounding, and she didn’t seem winded at all. Bonaventura was in a wild frenzy, batting the blasts back. Flecks of green fire sprayed out at us. And damn, as the embers hit my skin, I wished I was in my wardsuit.
“Matthew, my boy,” Alana said sweetly, without turning or ceasing the cascade of firebolts she was throwing at her quarry. “Come to reconsider my offer?” She asked this hopefully, as if it were a remotely likely proposition. Then I remembered she was a demon—their alliances were based on opportunity, not loyalty. She was also, in all likelihood, insane. “If you have, I’ll forgive you for your earlier indiscretion.”
“I want nothing from you, demon,” Matt said. “Especially not your forgiveness.”
“Uh, it’s raining fire here,” Asher said. “Less chit chat, more blasts.”
“Double time,” I yelled. With full coven power for the first time since Matt left Seattle, we threw blasts as fast as we could. Even the four of us together couldn’t match the speed of the Caedis. Using his preternatural quickness, Bonaventura was batting the blasts back, but with each hit the effectiveness of his defense was waning and the unchained beast of his nature getting closer to the surface. Alana and the Neqs were completely ignoring us. And that pissed me off. So did the witch who was just standing there like furniture.
“Why isn’t she fighting?” I asked Asher. Maybe if we attacked this thing from both sides we’d have a chance.
“Some people freeze in battle.”
The cowering witch made one more obstacle we had to fight around.
Drawing on my coven power, I pulled the mother of all blasts to my fingertips, cocked my arm with intention, and let it fly. It hit the shield and lit up across the invisible surface, charring the air. The blasts shimmered and bounced back, catching me on my coat pocket, frying my phone. I shook my jacket to send the burning device to the ground. It sacrificed itself to save me. Thank god, we had a copy of that video in Asher’s safe.
My coven’s blasts were having little impact on the Caedis’s shield. Worse, sparks from our blasts were bleeding around the shield’s edges, forcing the cowering witch closer to Bonaventura’s bat. Damn, I had nothing else I could throw at this. At this rate, the Caedis would be able to outlast us before we made a dent.
Boneventura swung his “bat” to the right, causing the witch to leap back out of harm’s way, but slamming her into the other Fidei agent. The agent lost her balance and stumbled toward the shield. Larch screamed, “Kat!” and grabbed for the woman’s arm, but missed by inches. If Kat fell on the shield, it’d be instant death. Before I could react, Matt had raised his hand. A spray of golden-blue-white crystalline magic shot from his fingertips, pushing the agent back against the wall, a safe distance from the shield.
Larch stared across the alley at Matt. I couldn’t read the tight look on her face. Was it horror at almost losing an agent, or revulsion at seeing Matt’s Mal abilities? Slowly her features softened... into gratitude.
Progressively larger and larger embers were popping off the club Bonaventura was using. The green cinders hit his pale skin, but the ugly burns healed as soon as they formed. He let out a primal roar, frustration raging in him to nuclear levels. But what else could he do? If he could’ve penetrated the Caedis’s protection he would have done so already. Blisters dotted my face and hands, sweat rolled down my back. I couldn’t keep this up much longer, and I felt the magic in the coven bond ebbing.
Matt gave me an inscrutable look. What the hell was he trying to tell me? Before I got a chance to ask, he growled and yanked back his energy from our circle. What was he doing? He dropped to one knee, cranking his arm back like he was going to throw a football. The crystalline magic that he’d called stretched and elongated. More shards of gold-blue-white magic, like liquid crystals, burst from his fingertips. The magic swirled and bent, like a moving sculpture, shaping itself into a translucent javelin. Geometric planes fused together, coming to a deadly point. Shimmering like cut glass.
What. The. Shit?
I’d never seen anything like this. Unlike the forced explosions of Mal power in the video, this was controlled. Intentional. The spear he held was forged with precision. He flexed his strong muscles and flung the javelin at the shield, purposefully aiming it to pierce the ward and not kill Alana. The projectile penetrated the Caedis’s shield with ease, exploding it into a million tiny green shards upon impact. The force knocked Alana and all her remaining Neqs to the ground. Fragm
ents billowed up in a hazy green cloud suspended in mid-air before crashing down upon everything.
The entire alley was stunned into stillness. The shards sparked and smoked and turned to ash. Alana rose to a crouch and faced Matt, but it was not anger on her face, and she didn’t raise her hands in defense. He glared back at her but didn’t call his magic. Alana’s voice sliced the silence. “Well done, son,” she said purposefully, pausing a moment, daring him to attack. A wry smile spread across her face. “You have shown the world your true nature and now you must pick a side. The hour is almost at hand. Your Council will fall.” And then faster than my eyes could register, she threw a spellbead. She and her Neqs disappeared in a cloud of smoke.
Bonaventura flung the Neq arm against the brick wall. It hit with a dull splat, and the vampire wiped the bloody blowback from his face. He raged in our direction. I swore I could see bloodlust in his eyes. Chills were sprinting up my spine. He forced his gaze away from us and struggled to regain his buttoned-up composure. But now I knew what lived under his skin. I shuddered, understanding why Matt and Asher were leery of vampires.
Liv, Asher, and I just stared at Matt. This was the magic that he’d kept restrained at his core. Powerful and elegant, a blended magic like I’d never seen before. Its crystalline gleam was amazing to look at. How could he have thought this was evil?
“What the hell was that?” Liv asked. Matt scowled at the question. Was he embarrassed? Still wanting to hide what he was?
“He just saved four people’s lives is what that was,” Asher said sounding genuinely impressed. “Flipping brilliant.” Matt turned away, refusing to acknowledge what he’d done. “I guess that is an Amalgam in action.”
“And it was totally unnecessary,” Bonaventura barked. “I could have handled that Caedis. And I would have finished the job.” He fumed at Matt. For once the vampire’s ire wasn’t directed at me. “Sloppy? Or are you aligned with that demon, guardian?”
