Magical Redemption

by Jaliza A. Burwell

  I nodded. “I understand.” After a moment, I said, “Walk with me.”

  “Why?” Wariness crept into his voice.

  “Because something happened to strip all these people of their magic. Something has to be here to clue us into what’s going on.” I glanced around. More enforcers were inside now. People came in, but no one went back out. If Elliot called Dwight, I wasn’t so sure he’d be able to get in. Only the enforcers were flocking in. Not even medical personnel had come inside yet. For now, they gathered the survivors and moved them off to the side, leaving us alone. The ones comatose were carefully moved onto beds the enforcers had brought through with them. The enforcers moved together without saying anything. This wasn’t the first time this happened. I had to wonder, while I knew of two other incidents, how many others were hidden from us.

  I spun around, taking in the ward, noticing where it started and where it ended. This was a massive one, bigger than the one used near Biomystic. It ended deep in the woods. I had to have been on the outskirts when we were hit. That meant the epicenter was on the border of the park itself and the entrance onto the trails. The park was a good three football fields before reaching the forest line and we had walked for a while before it all went down.

  Ignoring the glares aimed at me, I went to the spot I calculated to be the center. We were right on the border, and I walked around slowly, pushing grass to the side, sticking my head under bushes.

  “What are you doing?” Dwight’s calm voice washed over me, and I stood up, wiping grass off my knees.

  “What are you doing in here? How did you get in?” I asked.

  “You ended up being the perfect excuse,” he answered before motioning to the lanky woman at his side. She had red hair cut short to curl around her face. Red-framed glasses with dark lenses hid her eyes from me. Her energy pushed against me before my magic lashed out at her and she retreated. Her lips curled into a pleased smile.

  “My name is Eadya. I work under Mr. Shanton. He’s asked me to come represent you before the enforcers decide to use you as a scapegoat.” She snorted. “As if your death will stop these meaningless attacks.”

  I smiled, liking her already. She spoke her mind and didn’t leave me guessing.

  “I’m surprised Shanton isn’t here with you,” I said.

  Eadya’s mouth quirked up. “If he were in the city, he would be. I wouldn’t be surprised if he isn’t trying to fly here as a dragon. The enforcers are playing a dangerous game, setting themselves up against a dragon, and he’ll remind them. It takes time for a city to adjust to having a dragon rule over them. Now, fill me in on everything. Don’t leave anything out.” She grabbed her glasses and lowered them, showing me her white eyes. “And do not lie, Dr. Laila Porter. I will know.” Lightning flashed through her pupils, and I nodded, accepting the warning.

  I didn’t want to get on her bad side.

  I filled her in on everything, how we came to the park, walked around, went onto the trails, and then the attack. How the park was, and how the enforcers reacted, including Captain Tautman. She hummed as she listened, but didn’t interrupt, letting me finish.

  “And you think whatever happened, has to have happened in the middle?”

  I nodded.

  “Then look. We need answers fast before they decide you’re worth the risk and kill you.”

  “Why do you keep saying kill?” Elliot asked. “No one is getting killed.”

  Eadya blinked. “Holding a magic-user can be difficult. They’ll take her in, isolate her, and then if she’s found guilty, she’ll be put to death because of her background.”

  Elliot swore underneath his breath, and I reached out, grabbed his biceps, and gave it a small squeeze.

  Eadya continued to speak. “Why do you suppose they’re reacting so strongly to you and think you’re the culprit? You must have done something to tip them off?”

  I bit my lip.

  “Laila,” Dwight urged gently.

  “Two weeks ago, there were a series of incidents. One of them was a group of strong beings who burglarized my home lab for something. They weren’t caught. Shortly after, Biomystic Security was broken into. I was one of the ones trapped inside. The people were there for a project I was working on. We didn’t know until after… until,” I swallowed, “until they got into my lab and tried to take it.”

  “Tried?”

  “I stopped them. I broke the device I was working on and they decided my memories of it worked just as well.” My heart rate picked up and swallowing became hard as a rock lodged itself in my throat. I tried really hard not to think about it because I wanted to be wrong. But now that Eadya was making me say it out loud, I had no choice but to face reality. “Captain Tautman warned me to be careful with the things that I made. That while I might intend it to be used for good, there were plenty of people who would use it for bad.”

  Gentling her voice, she asked, “What were you working on?”

  “A device to help contain powerful magic-users. I never even finished putting the prototype together. There were too many issues I’d been working through at the time. The man we’re trying to find, Padraig, was able to lift some of my knowledge. I had to fry my brain so he didn’t get all the information. He escaped with Jaylam Reese.”

  “Did he get enough information to reproduce what you were making?”

  “No.”

  “You sound so sure.”

  “I know what information he got from me, and they were scattered pieces.” I glanced around. “But if this is him and Jaylam, then they used the tidbits they did get from me to create something new. That’s why I want to find the epicenter.”

  “It’s only been two weeks,” she mused. “They would have had already been working on something and only used what you had to strengthen what they had. I think the big question is how did they know that you were working on something?”

  I shared a glance with Dwight and Elliot. “We never did find out,” I said in a low voice. “At least I haven’t. I’ve been out of it since the attack.”

  “You’re still healing,” Dwight said. “We’ve been looking into it, but haven’t come up with anything.”

  “Jaylam? Explain him,” she asked.

  “A shadowsmith,” Dwight said.

  “The only one?” she asked. It was like she knew exactly what questions to ask to lead us to the right conclusion.

  “The park,” I answered with realization.

  “The what?” Elliot asked.

  “Before everything went down, Ami dragged me to the park to watch her cousin fight. Alijah was there too. I watched his fight. He went up against a shadowsmith and won. There were rumors going on about them. Ami’s cousin said the shadowsmith was from a group in the south, traveling from city to city, taking on matches. They’re strong.”

  “And Alijah defeated one,” Dwight said.

  I nodded.

  “Do you remember any other shadowsmiths there?” Eadya asked.

  “We left shortly after the fight. I don’t even remember seeing the shadowsmith Alijah defeated.”

  Dwight swore.

  “What am I missing?” I asked.

  “Alijah knew about your project. We all did. We had talked about it that day because we were concerned that it was taking a lot out of you.”

  “You all were too busy to notice,” I pointed out, trying to keep the hurt out of my voice.

  “You forget that I knew how many hours you logged in. Your supervisor kept me aware of how much time you’d been spending in your lab. We had talked that day when we realized we’d messed up. Elliot came up with the dinner idea and we had to make adjustments so we could all attend. Your wellness was brought up.”

  “And it was fresh in Alijah’s mind,” I said.

  “Somehow, he came into contact with Jaylam and Padraig,” Eadya filled in. “Padraig had access to him and was able to pick up on those thoughts.

  “But they moved too fast for a last minute planning to break into BMS,”
I said. “Unless someone betrayed you.”

  Dwight growled at the thought, his hellhound pacing just behind his dark eyes.

  “Not necessarily,” Elliot spoke up. “If Padraig can take thoughts or memories or whatever he does, all he had to do was come into contact with BMS employees to gather the information.”

  “Or he could have gotten a lot of it from Alijah. He’s higher ranking than most of the employees and knows a great deal.” Dwight sighed, wariness creeping into his expression. “He’s going to hate himself when he learns the breach potentially came from him.”

  “Is he back yet?” I asked. Alijah had gone on the hunt again and been absent since our run together a couple of days before.

  Dwight tilted his back and closed his eyes briefly before looking back at me. “He’ll be back at Biomystic tonight to report in.”

  Alijah was the most protective out of all the guys. When he learned about this, it was going to tear him apart.

  “For now, let’s find the core, yes?” Eadya asked.

  We wandered around the area until Elliot called us over. He was by a large tree with bulging roots. He pointed between two roots, and I moved closer, getting a better look. Where grass should have been, it was barren. Scorch marks marred the dirt, and I sensed the smallest trace of magic, an impossibility in an area completely stripped of it.

  “What do you think?” Elliot asked.

  Looking around and taking note of the location, I said, “I’d say this is the spot.”

  “There is magic here,” Eadya whispered. “How would that be possible?”

  “Maybe because it was concentrated here and not all of it could be absorbed by whatever they used.” I bit my lip and walked around the tree, ignoring the bushes that scratched at my skin. There weren’t any more markings, just that one spot.

  When I came back to the scorched spot, I stared, and thought, and stared. My mind went into a loop. This really was my fault. Because of what I wanted to do, families and lives were destroyed. I wanted to help, to keep the weaker safer, not this. My inventions were never meant to be used for the bad.

  “If it sucked in all that magic, then where is the magic and what is it being used for?” Elliot asked.

  “That’s a question we won’t be able to answer or guess at,” I said, never looking away from the black dirt as it laughed at me. “They could be collecting it for something bigger, or for a personal use. There is a lot they could do with magic, especially this much, and none of them are good ideas.”

  “We need to find them,” Dwight said.

  “Agreed,” I answered.

  “Well then,” Eadya said. “That means I need to get you out of here so you can go hunting.” She grinned. “Follow me. Time to have a chat.” She was too happy about that as she headed toward the enforcers, head held high. We followed behind her, and I mentally cheered her on. I had a feeling seeing her tear into the enforcers was going to be the best thing to happen today, not that it was a hard spot to claim.

  Chapter Ten

  Ignoring the boxes in the apartment I’d claimed as mine at Biomystic, I found a spot on the couch with a grin.

  “I like Eadya.” I laughed, remembering how she threw logic at the enforcers and had them backing down in no time. Reminding them that Shanton wouldn’t mind cutting his trip short to come back was brilliant. When she’d explained that there was no reason at all to keep us, they were more than relieved to let us go, and she gave a stern warning to Captain Tautman. The enforcer fumed at having her command him, but he was a smart man and backed down, letting all survivors leave.

  They were still working on contacting families for those infected. My stomach had clenched painfully at the idea that I could safely leave the area, but all those people were stuck there until help arrived to move them to a safe place.

  I groaned and ignored all the eyes on me as I stood up and went to the kitchen, digging around until I found what I wanted. I grabbed an oversized wine glass Ami had gifted me, and filled it to the top. Almost the entire bottle fit in the glass. Happy with my drink, I took a sip, enjoying the cool sweetness as it traveled down my throat. The magic in the liquid left a tingling sensation as it entered my stomach.

  “Is that a good idea?” Venni asked.

  “It’s a brilliant idea,” I said and took another drink, keeping my eyes on Venni. He scowled, and I ignored him, going back to my seat on the couch.

  The doorbell rang and Elliot went to answer it, coming back moments later with Alijah in tow. I gave him a once over, not having seen him since our run together. Alijah looked exhausted, his eyes a dull orange, his auburn hair a mess on top of his head. His dark skin looked darker and he needed to shave his square jaw. He almost looked feral with his bulging arms and scowling expression. Whatever he’d been up to the last few days had taken its toll.

  “Now that everyone is here, it’s time we talk this out,” Dwight said. He and Elliot went on to explain the entire situation, and hearing about it made me sick. Maybe it wasn’t the time to be drinking.

  Jaylam and Padraig had harmed so many people. They’d take my idea and twisted it to suit them. I didn’t know their motivation, but I was going to find out. Maybe it was time to learn why the shifters loved hunting so much. The question was, how could I trace them? I didn’t have anything of theirs. They needed to be found soon though. Streets had been in quarantine, but this time it was an entire park. They were escalating, taking more and more magic.

  What were their goals? What did they want to do with all that magic? Not having all the information infuriated me. And it didn’t help that though I’d survived the attack, enough of my magic was taken to leave me feeling weak. I’d need a good day of rest to recover, maybe longer since I wasn’t even at a hundred percent from the last attack.

  “What do you think, Laila?” Dwight asked, breaking me from my thoughts.

  “What?” I asked.

  He frowned and looked me over slowly. “About the enforcers wanting to place blame on you. We need to find a way to deal with that.”

  “Let them say what they want. They’re hurting, and they want answers.”

  “And if those answers end up with you being dragged into a cell?” Alijah growled out. His canines were showing and had been since Dwight filled them in on our theory over how the baddies found out about my project. I could see the self-hate a mile away. I recognized it because I’d felt that feeling for so long growing up, hating who I was.

  I smirked. “Good thing Shanton has an excellent lawyer.”

  “People have been known to disappear,” Rhett helpfully added and that bit drew a growl from Venni, Alijah, and Dwight.

  “Really?” I raised an eyebrow. “Why would you bring that up?”

  Alijah leaned closer to me, his arm brushing against mine. I moved into him to give him some reassurance, and he relaxed.

  “Because we need to be prepared. There’s no telling what the enforcers will do.” Rhett’s serious expression concerned me.

  “They aren’t the enemy.”

  “Normally, they aren’t,” he said softly. “But these are not normal circumstances. About twenty years ago, probably just before you were born, they shut down the city. A serial killer was going around tearing into females and children with energy in them. He fed on that energy. The enforcers shut everything down and went on a manhunt. People, innocent people, died from it, but they had The Council on their side to back them up. It was a mess.”

  “And The Council isn’t happy with you for refusing to meet with the elementalists.” Dwight sighed.

  “Just that one witch.”

  The others winced.

  “She’s still powerful and influential enough to cause trouble. She might try to jump on this to exploit you in some way,” Dwight said.

  “So, the enforcers and The Council both wouldn’t mind me dead right now.” I sighed, not really knowing what to think about that.

  Sure, I had connections, and people in the scientific community kn
ew of me because of my accomplishments. But to have these two big organizations watching me was intense. It was like the moment I fucked up, they would be the first in line to chop off my head, and all because with one group, I wouldn’t listen to them, and with the other… Well, I wouldn’t listen to either group. Tautman had warned me not to create something that could be that dangerous and I’d just ignored him. Granted, he warned me after he learned I was working on something dangerous. But if he’d known before, I had no doubt he would have hounded me until I stopped.

  “Not two,” Rhett said in a blank voice. “Three.”

  That got everyone’s attention.

  “Who?” Dwight growled out.

  Rhett’s jaw clenched.

  “Who?” This time it came out more like a snarl.

  “The vampire queen. She’s told all her vampires to bring you in if they find you. She has questions.”

  “What the hell does she want with me?” I asked.

  “One of the incidents involved a coven of witches. They were hers, and she’s furious to lose that connection.”

  Dwight snorted. “You mean her food source.”

  “She ate witches?” Davies asked.

  “A witch’s blood causes a high in small doses for vampires,” Rhett answered, not looking at me. That told me everything I needed to know. He’d fed off them too.

  Anger and jealousy rose up in me, but I clamped it down, trying to keep a clear head. Didn’t mean he’d done it anytime recently, and Rhett was an old vampire—over six hundred years old. He was going to have a long extensive past. That thought didn’t help. I still wanted to claw someone’s eyes out.

  “Sorry, Laila, but I have to do this. Someone is to be with you at all times,” Dwight said, and he didn’t even sound sorry about it.

  I started to object when he sent me a furious look, leaving no room for arguments.

  “If the vampire queen gets her hands on you, we may never see you again. Not even Rhett will be able to do anything about it since you would be on her territory. She cannot get to you.”

  I nodded. Me not arguing about the new arrangements seemed to loosen some of the tension coiled tight in his body. He had expected a fight from me, but I could be understanding. Sometimes.