by Linsey Hall
“I’ll toss you up,” Aidan said as we neared it.
I eyed the ledge. If I took a running leap and used the side wall for leverage, I could probably make it. But it was damned tall. And the jaguars were damned fast. I had one chance, so why not use the services of the seriously built man at my side?
“All right,” I said.
We skidded to a halt in front of the ledge. Aidan’s big hands gripped my waist and he tossed me up. I grabbed the ledge and heaved myself onto the stone. Aidan pulled himself up behind me as the jaguars closed in. They leapt and snarled, their fangs gleaming in the light of my ring.
“Nice kitties,” I cooed.
The biggest jaguar snarled and leapt so high his head was level with the stone ledge. I cringed, scrambling back.
“Yeah, that’ll be the demon in them,” I muttered. These were not normal jaguars.
“You’re the one who thought this job would be a good opportunity to practice your magic, Cass,” Aidan said, his deep voice making me shiver.
I glanced at him, struck anew at his dark good looks, then raised the diadem. “Yeah. This is worth a hell of a lot of money and the magic in it is almost decayed. A perfect find. Worth a little nip from one of these guys.”
“A little nip?” He glanced down at the jaguars, his gray eyes skeptical.
“Fine, a big nip.”
Aidan nodded. He was a big man, and all six feet-plus of him crowded me on the ledge. I tried to ignore the flicker of awareness. I’d only known him two weeks—since he’d hired me to find a dangerous scroll—and I’d developed a thing for him almost immediately. Like an addiction, but one I enjoyed even though I knew it was bad for me. Clearly I was crazy.
Just because we’d kissed once a week ago and I’d confirmed he was awesome at it didn’t mean I had to get hot and bothered all the time. And this was clearly not the best moment.
“You haven’t used your magic, you know.” Censure colored his voice.
“Damn it.” He was right. I was here to practice, not just find magic to stock my shop. As soon as I’d set off the jaguar booby trap by removing the diadem from its pedestal, I’d used my wits and speed rather than my magic.
“It’s instinct not to use it,” I said. “Keeping my power hidden is the only reason I’ve stayed alive all these years.”
Normally I worked alone, but Aidan had come along because he was training me to use my magic, something I’d repressed all my life out of fear of being discovered as a FireSoul, the bogeyman of the supernatural world. I was hardly the bogeyman, but tell that to some scaredy-cat supernaturals and see how far it got you.
“I know. But something worse hunts you now.” He nodded to the snarling jaguars. “Something that makes these guys look like kittens. The point of this job was so you could face a real threat with no witnesses.”
“And stock my shop.” But he was totally right. Practicing my magic was the priority. The Monster from my past hunted me. I didn’t know his name, but I’d learned a week ago that he was still seeking me and my deirfiúr. My deirfiúr, Del and Nix, were my sisters by choice. If he caught me, I could kiss my life goodbye. And the lives of my deirfiúr. I needed to be strong enough to defeat him if—when—he found us.
The jaguars below continued to growl, their fangs flashing. Light shimmered around one, obscuring its form. When the glow faded, a tall demon stood in its place. The demon’s skin was the same midnight shade as the jaguar’s fur and his eyes an identical emerald green. White fangs peaked out from beneath his upper lip.
Excellent. The demon jaguars could shift. It made me feel less guilty about killing them. I didn’t like killing animals, even ones out for my blood. But demons were fair game, and these jerks were just demons who could take the shape of a jaguar—all the better to catch and eat a tomb raider like myself.
“Come down from there, and we’ll be nice and kill you quick.” The demon’s voice rumbled like the growl of a large cat.
“Yeah, I don’t think so,” I said.
“Use your Mirror Mage powers to shift,” Aidan muttered. “I’ll join you. We’ll tear them apart.”
My Mirror Mage powers allowed me to temporarily borrow the gifts of any supernatural around me. If I wanted, I could mimic the demon’s ability to turn into a jaguar. Aidan, as the toughest Shifter of them all, could turn into a griffin. Together, we’d tear these guys apart.
Problem was, I was seriously out of practice with my magic, even after the five days I’d been training with Aidan. Shifting was one of the hardest things of all for me.
“I don’t have a handle on shifting yet.” Even so, I itched to try.
Below, a shimmer of light surrounded one of the other jaguars. A moment later, a tall demon stood in its place.
“Give me a boost,” the demon said to the other as light began to glow around the remaining jaguars.
Damn it, they were all changing. They’d climb up here, and then it’d be hand-to-hand. I loved hand-to-hand—it was how I did most of my jobs—but this wasn’t a normal job. This was magic practice.
And Aidan had insisted on taking my two trusty daggers so I’d be forced to practice my skills. I’d be demon chow without Lefty and Righty.
“Shift, Cass,” Aidan demanded.
“No way. Too hard.” I hadn’t successfully completed the transition before, but Aidan was all about pushing my limits.
As an Elemental Mage in addition to being the most powerful Shifter in the known world, Aidan had elemental powers I could mirror, but I didn’t want to start throwing stones around in a pyramid that could collapse on us. I could shoot fire from my fingers and turn them into demon barbecue, but that was too easy. I needed to challenge myself. That left one thing.
My FireSoul powers.
I thrust my hand toward the demons and envisioned lightning, bright and white. It flashed in my mind’s eye, and the power crackled against my skin. The scent of ozone permeated the air.
The fizz and burn filled my chest, lighting me up like a livewire. It’d taken me all of the past week to master my new gift of lightning, but when I released the huge bolt, it cracked right into the middle of the demons. A direct hit. Adrenaline surged through me, joy on its heels.
It felt good to use my power.
Light flared and the ground quaked. Damn. I’d thrown too much power at them. The rock beneath their feet exploded, and shards of stone ricocheted toward us.
In a flash, Aidan curled his huge form around me, protecting me behind a wall of muscle. Normally, I’d be annoyed. I could protect myself, damn it. But I was so hopped up on the thrill of using my magic in a fight that I didn’t care.
And this was the second time in two weeks that Aidan had thrown himself between me and a threat. I’d been peeved at him for coercing me into practicing my magic, but it was hard not to like a guy who put himself between you and danger.
Aidan jerked and grunted as flying stone hit him. Guilt chased away some of my power high. I hated hurting Aidan or causing damage to the pyramid. So far, I was 0 for 2.
“Sorry,” I said. “Seems I still haven’t got the lightning down either.”
I really thought I’d mastered it. I’d practiced the new skill almost all week at Aidan’s place, a remote estate in Ireland where no one could see me or figure out what I was capable of.
“Still putting too much power into it,” he muttered.
His breath was warm against my neck, the rumble of his voice a caress. I shivered. The power high and desire made my skin prickle with sensitivity. I ached to pull him toward me and confirm that he kissed as well as I remembered. The one we’d shared last week had been the best kiss I’d ever had with the hottest man I’d ever met.
Bad idea. I’d known him such a short time. And my life was too crazy right now for a relationship. There was a whole lot about Aidan I didn’t know. He seemed too good to be true, and in my life, that’d always been a red flag.
“I think we’re good,” I said, pushing at his hard chest. “Rubble’s not flying
anymore.”
“I kind of like this position,” Aidan said.
Desire tugged at me. I liked it too. This was the first time since our kiss that he’d been so close to me.
Really bad idea.
I shoved him and he moved. “Yeah, well, if I haven’t zapped those demons, you’re not going to like it for long.”
I peered over the ledge. My lightning had gouged away part of the stone floor and wall. Guilt pierced me. This place was old as hell, and I’d screwed it up. It’d been fine for a thousand years, and then I came along and bam! There’s a giant hole in the entrance. There was a customer waiting on this diadem and we needed the fee pronto, but I’d have to come back and fix this when I returned the diadem.
The demons—all of them in their demon forms—lay scattered like fallen bowling pins below. A satisfied grin stretched across my face, nudging out some of the guilt.
Dead.
Sort of. You couldn’t really kill demons. After death on earth, they regenerated in their hell. But they wouldn’t be giving us trouble anytime soon. Lightning was a hell of a gift to have.
It was the only gift I’d ever used my FireSoul powers to steal, though I didn’t technically steal it. I’ve always owned up to being a Mirror Mage. That was acceptable in the world of magic because I only borrowed the gifts. But if the Order of the Magica or the Alpha Council found out I was also a FireSoul, they’d toss me in the Prison for Magical Miscreants to rot to death. Their fear was understandable. A FireSoul had to kill to steal magical gifts. We were the only species who could do so. One power-hungry FireSoul could cause a hell of a lot of damage.
“Looks like you got them,” Aidan said.
“Yeah. Let’s get out of here.” I cradled the delicate diadem to my chest and jumped down from the ledge, avoiding the crispy demons at my feet. Their bodies would disappear soon, returning to their hells. Thank magic, because I really didn’t want to clean them up. Their scent gagged me. “They stink, and this thing needs to get back to my shop.”
Aidan’s big form thudded to the ground next to me. “Agreed. How about you get us out of here.”
I turned to the rock slab that acted as a door. He could move it in the blink of an eye, but that wasn’t the point of this exercise. I had to do it.
“No problem.” I reached out for Aidan’s Elemental Mage abilities. His power seethed against mine, immensely strong and vibrant. He was one of the most powerful Magica in the world, not to mention the Origin, a descendent of the original Shifter Alpha. A scary bastard, when you got down to it.
When I was near him, I could borrow whatever power I wanted. That made me a scary bastard too. Though I liked to think of myself as one anyway.
When I consciously reached out for Aidan’s magic, it lit up my senses. The smell of evergreen, the sound of roaring waves, and the taste of dark chocolate hit me. It was a warm caress against my skin, like a massage or a bubble bath. Supernaturals could feel the magic in others, but only strong supernaturals like Aidan gave off signatures for all five senses. Normally, he controlled and hid his signature, but when I accessed his magic, I could sense it.
Mentally, I shifted through his magic. I had to ignore what his power made me feel and sort through the various Magica gifts he possessed. His ability over water felt like raindrops against my skin. I bypassed it. I also bypassed the heat of flame and the gust of air. When I touched upon his gift of power over stone, it felt like rough dry rocks under my fingertips. I grasped hold of it. Power zinged down to my fingertips, and I raised my hands and directed my fingers at the stone. Magic flowed from them.
The sound of thousands of pounds of stone grinding against stone filled the dim corridor as the rock slab rose slowly. The strip of bright sunlight at the bottom widened. I squinted against the blazing light as the Mexican jungle came into view.
“Not bad,” Aidan said. “You’re control is getting better.”
“Thanks.” I couldn’t help the grin that stretched over my face. Every other time I’d borrowed other people’s powers, I’d been in an adrenaline-fueled panic to save my life or someone else’s. I usually got the job done, but my control was limited. See Exhibit A: Exploding Stone Floor from five minutes ago.
My smile faded at the reminder of my lightning power and what it’d taken for me to get it. Aaron, a FireSoul like me, had been a slave to the Monster from my past. I’d met him a week ago, while we’d been fighting over the scroll that Aidan had hired me to find. Aaron had given me his gift of lightning right before he’d died—willingly, he’d said—though I still felt guilty.
“I still don’t get why you’re helping me,” I said. I was such a risk.
We walked out into the jungle. The mid-afternoon sun pounded down, the heat soaking into my skin as the humid air filled my lungs. “It’s a big risk for you. If the Order of the Magica or the Alpha Council find out you’re harboring a FireSoul, you could get tossed in prison as well.”
“Because I like you, Cass. A lot. I’m not afraid of the Order of the Magica or the Alpha Council. They’re not going to stop me from trying to help you. You need your power if you’re going to defeat the Monster who hunts you. I saw how dangerous he can be. I know you’ve hidden your gifts because you’re afraid of being thrown in the Prison for Magical Miscreants, but the man who hunts you is a bigger threat.”
The thud and rumble of the plane’s wheels hitting the runway jerked me out of sleep. I lurched upright in the plush seat and dragged my hand over my mouth.
Oh, crap. Had I been drooling?
Maybe, but at least Aidan had his head buried in a book in the seat across the aisle. His private plane was otherwise empty, as usual. We’d hiked out of the jungle, driven to the nearest airstrip, jumped onboard this swanky tin can, and about eight hours later were landing in my home of Magic’s Bend, Oregon.
It was one of the few concealed, all-magic cities in the world, hidden by an enormous spell called the Great Peace. Humans who approached would veer away. The spell also kept humans from seeing our magic, though they could see us if we were in their spaces.
Which I often was while traveling to and from my job as a magic hunter for the shop I owned with my deirfiúr. It was still surreal to be traveling to and from jobs in a private plane. We could fly to the closest airstrip near the temple or tomb I was supposed to raid and be in and out in a day. Way different than my usual method of flying coach and taking public transport through some seriously remote places.
Traveling with Aidan Merrick, the Origin and founder of Origin Enterprises, was way better than being crammed into a bus between a lady with a chicken and someone’s pig. Apparently owning a security company was lucrative.
“What time is it?” I asked.
“About 7:00 p.m. You passed out as soon as we took off.”
No surprise. Using my magic still made me tired. The more practiced I became, the less exhausted I would be. Unfortunately, I wasn’t very practiced yet.
It didn’t take us long to get off the plane—another perk of flying private—and the cool breeze cleared the sleep from my head. I’d lived in the all-magical city with my deirfiúr for the last five years. Though I’d been staying in a guest room at Aidan’s estate in Ireland for the last five days to practice my magic, we’d had to come to Oregon to deliver the diadem to Ancient Magic, my shop.
There was only one car on the tarmac, the same large black SUV Aidan drove when he was in Magic’s Bend. An assistant, a tall guy with dark hair, stood next to it.
“I can catch a cab to my place if you just want to head home,” I said.
Aidan had a few houses I knew of, though I’d only ever been to the one in Ireland. He also had a place in Magic’s Bend. On the wealthy side of town, of course. Far from my own side.
“I’ll take you home,” Aidan said. “I don’t like the idea of you being on your own.”
“I’m not on my own. I’ve got Lefty and Righty.” I patted the thigh holsters holding my obsidian knives. I’d insisted he return
them as soon as we got back on the plane. “And I’ll be with my deirfiúr as soon as I get back to Factory Row.”
“You need to stop leaning on your fighting skills and practice your magic,” Aidan said as we made our way across the tarmac to his car.
“I hear you, but there’s no way in hell I’m practicing in a city full of supernaturals.” It was one thing to use my magic in an abandoned pyramid that only held demons. But in a city? “If one person gets a whiff of what I am, they’d be scared shitless. They could turn me over to the Alpha Council or the Order of the Magica and probably get themselves a nice bounty.”
Working hard to access your magic was a lot like sweating. You gave off more of your magical signature for other supernaturals to sense. Until I was well practiced, I needed to try not to access my power around others.
“You’ll become better,” Aidan said as we climbed into his car. “With more practice, you’ll be able to keep others from sensing what you are. You can pass your gifts off as Mirror Mage powers.”
“Yeah, as long as they don’t catch me before I’m good enough to hide the truth.” That’d take time. I’d used so much magic over these last two weeks that I was completely on edge. It was super unlikely anyone had seen me—I’d stuck to Aidan’s private property and other remote areas—but it was hard to shake the paranoia and fear that had followed me for ten years.
“You’ll get good enough.”
The faith in his voice hit me hard. I shouldn’t care what he thought of me. He was just a guy, after all. I didn’t have space in my life for guys. Especially not handsome, powerful, kind ones who seemed to be nothing but good. Contrary to what it sounded like, those kinds of guys were actually nothing but trouble. You could fall for one of those guys.
For a girl who could trust no one but her deirfiúr, that was dangerous. Neither my deirfiúr nor I remembered the first fifteen years of our life. We’d woken in a field at fifteen with a single memory each: that we were FireSouls, we were running from someone, and that person wanted to hurt us. That person had been hurting us, because we were FireSouls.
