by SA Magnusson
The spell exploded. The other mage came flying, slamming into karate mage.
The spell holding me failed and I managed to free myself.
If I could only reach for my magic, I might be able to stay free, but I wasn’t strong enough and I’d already used it too often tonight. There were limits to my power, though I didn’t necessarily know them.
I should run, but someone had taken out the mages. Could Lupita have returned? If she were skilled—and powerful—enough to do that, then I didn’t want her to catch up to me. Maybe I should run.
But I wanted to know what had happened.
There was that sense of magic I’d detected before, the familiar sense that I’d thought was Aron but had only been Lupita. Could he be here?
Unless all I had detected was the power of a knight and not Aron.
“Dr. Michaels, you might want to step back.”
I turned and very nearly slammed into Aron.
Relief swept through me, along with irritation that I should feel that way. I didn’t need some man to come save me, but then, Aron wasn’t simply some man. He was a powerful mage, an archer for the council, able to take on demons with his power.
What were a pair of dark mages to someone like him?
He glanced down at me, too briefly for me to let him know how much I appreciated his being here, before turning his gaze to the two mages.
“Archer.” This came from karate mage. He’d managed to get to his feet, already recovered from the initial attack. The other guy still lay motionless, and with the force Aron had used on him with the spell, he might not get up anytime soon. “Aren’t you supposed to be off chasing demons? From what I can tell, there aren’t any here for you to concern yourself with.”
“Fortunately, there aren’t,” Aron said. “Which means I can participate in this little excursion, Darvish.”
“Darvish?” I laughed. “Now that’s an evil mage name.”
Karate mage Darvish glanced over at me and a sudden chill lanced along my spine. I ducked and rolled off to the side before a spell could hit me, and when I got to my feet, Darvish just looked at me as if I were crazy.
Turning to Aron, I frowned. Had it been his spell that I’d detected? If it was, then I was crazy. Worse, I would have revealed myself to Darvish, if I hadn’t done so already.
“What is she to you, Archer?” Darvish asked.
“What makes you think she’s anything?”
Even though I knew he said it for Darvish, the dismissive way he said it still stung. It wasn’t that I wanted something between Aron and me—at least, I didn’t think I did—but I didn’t want him to toss me aside.
But wasn’t that what he’d already done?
When the battle with the demons had ended, Aron hadn’t come back to me. If anything, he’d been more distant, enough so that I didn’t think he wanted anything to do with me. Not that I could blame him. Aron had nearly died at least once, and he probably didn’t want the reminder that an untrained mage had been needed to save him.
“I can see it in your stance. You protect her.”
I glanced at Aron. His tight pants accented his ass, but there wasn’t anything else in his stance I could pick up on. Was Darvish trying to goad Aron into admitting something?
No… he was delaying.
“He’s stalling,” I said, joining Aron.
Aron nodded. “Then he’s a fool.”
Darvish grinned. “Am I? You come to protect a rogue and you tell me that I’m the fool? You play a dangerous game, Archer. It’s one you can’t win.”
His spell struck faster than I could react.
But not faster than Aron.
He raised a shield, sweeping it out in front of us, a powerful blast of magic that pressed out from his hand, blocking Darvish’s spell from hitting its target. From what I could tell, that target was me.
Darvish lunged forward, swinging in an impossibly fast roundhouse. Aron was distracted with the blocking spell.
I kicked, catching his leg with mine.
It wasn’t the most effective block, and pain shot up my leg as ours connected, but I wasn’t about to let him get a cheap shot on Aron. I swung my elbow around and it cracked into his shoulder. Not a clean blow, but it would hurt and maybe make him think before he attacked again.
Darvish darted back, a smile pulling at the corner of his lips. “You’d be an interesting one to spar with. There aren’t many mages who think to train their body along with their minds.”
He feigned another attack on Aron but ducked back. With a blast of magic, Darvish disappeared.
“Where did he go?”
Aron shook his head. “He’s gone.”
“How can you be certain?”
“The tracing of his spell.”
“What does that mean?” I didn’t feel anything other than the familiar surge of cold when magic was used on me. There wasn’t anything from that sense of cold that would tell me where he would have gone.
“It means that his spell is meant to mask where he’s gone,” Aron said. He spun, his gaze sweeping along the street. “It’s not that he has no skill. Far from it. Darvish has been running from the council for years.”
“You know about him?”
“Most who work with the council know about him. He is a particularly skilled dark mage. With the attempt to summon the demon king, most thought Darvish the one responsible for it. I’m still not convinced he wasn’t a part of it.”
A powerful dark mage who seemed to be a master of martial arts. It was like me, only in an alternative life. “Like Kramen?”
“Much like him.”
“Where’s Lupita?” I asked.
Aron searched the street, but there wasn’t any sign of her. Had she been injured in the attack? That would bother me if true. She might not know what I was, but she had protected me just the same. Without her, Darvish and the other dark mages would have grabbed me and brought me to their lair. Or whatever it was they called it.
“I have heard nothing from her.”
“She saved me,” I told Aron.
“They didn’t want to harm you.”
“It sure felt like it. The attack seemed like they wanted to harm me. They used the paralytic spell on me.”
“Paralytic?”
“Sorry. Medical term. The spell that makes it so I can’t move. I’d love to know how they do it so I can counter it.”
But then, I had countered it, only it had taken a connection to my magic that I rarely allowed. What would happen if I delved into that connection more often? Would I be able to avoid getting trapped by the paralytic?
A troubling thought came to mind. What if I could learn from someone like Darvish?
That was what my grandparents feared. They never said it, but I know they worried about what would happen if I was turned by a dark mage, or taken as they had attempted. The last time, they had wanted me so they could summon a demon. What would happen if they learned that I might have a connection to demons—that I might be one.
“There are ways to protect yourself from their magic, but you have to be willing to learn.”
“Did my grandparents tell you to say that?” When he arched a brow at me, I shook my head. “It doesn’t matter. I know they’ve been trying to work with me all these years, but they’ve also been afraid of what would happen if they did. And now they have even more reason to be afraid.”
“You don’t know that to be true, Kate.”
When he said my name, I wanted to melt. Derek might have compassion in his eyes, but there was something so powerful to Aron when he said my name. It was electricity, a different kind of magic. It was the kind of appeal I knew I should avoid. Spending too much time with him was bound to get me drawn into the magical world more deeply than I wanted. It already had nearly done so—and nearly gotten me killed.
“I know what I felt,” I whispered.
Lupita rounded the corner, dragging a man behind her. A grim smile spread across her face. The man did
n’t fight. Did Lupita have some paralytic spell too? Could that be where the dark mages learned it?
“You finally came,” she said.
“I told you I would.”
She glanced from Aron to me before looking back at him again, appraising him. “What does she have?”
Aron shook his head.
“Listen. She had nearly a half dozen dark mages attack her tonight. There’s something she has that they want. What is it?”
At least Lupita believed it was something I had rather than something I was. It was better that way. Not any easier to hide, though. And if she made a circuit through my home, she might discover the demon sword. That would draw attention.
“She was there during the last attack,” Aron said. “They probably want to know what she saw and how she survived since she’s not a part of the magical world.”
Lupita grunted and threw the man on the sidewalk at Aron’s feet. He wasn’t bound—at least not with anything I could see—but he didn’t move, either. Whatever it was that she used to hold him managed to keep him from doing anything.
“This one won’t talk,” she said. “But I’ll get him to.”
“And if he knows nothing?”
Lupita looked over at me. “He’d better come up with some answers before the council burns away his dark magic. After that, he might not be able to say much.”
I shivered. I didn’t want to, but after having seen Tony and the effect of having magic burned off, I couldn’t help myself. If that happened to me, I don’t know what I’d be like. Not myself. Not a doctor. Would I end up in the ER, treated by a resident—maybe even Dr. Roberts—talking about how a once-promising doctor had cracked? There had been others. Usually they were surgeons. The lifestyle involved in surgery burned through more than its share, though not as many as psychiatry. Most of those who were salvageable went into primary care, thinking that it would be easier. And maybe it was.
“Let the council decide what to do with him. Make sure they know what happened.”
“I know how to do my job.”
Aron shrugged. “It was a suggestion.”
“An unnecessary one.”
She grabbed the dark mage and started to drag him away. For me to drag a guy like that would take about all the strength I could summon, but she simply pulled him along the street as if he were nothing more than a piece of luggage. A large and ungainly piece of luggage, but luggage just the same.
“What was that about?” I asked softly.
“She can be somewhat impulsive,” Aron said. “I thought a reminder of what she needed to do would be helpful.”
“Not that. What she said.” I looked up at him. His icy blue eyes seemed to see through me. Aron was one of the few who suspected what I was, and as far as I knew, he hadn’t said anything to the rest of the council, but that didn’t mean that he wouldn’t. He was an archer. That meant that he had to serve the council, preventing demons from crossing over the Veil. He had a responsibility to do so. And if I could be used against the Veil, would he end me? “They were after something. Did it have anything to do with the visit from the council today?”
Aron frowned. “You had a visit from the council?”
“Well, there was a guy who came into the ER today. He… he was affected by magic.”
“Are you certain?”
I cocked a brow at him. “I can tell when magic is used, if that’s what you’re asking. I made the mistake of trying to help him.”
“I assume you mean that you tried to use magic on him?” When I nodded, he asked, “What happened?”
I shrugged. “That’s just it. Nothing really happened. I tried to use magic on him, but I failed.”
“Then I don’t see the problem.”
Looking along the street where Lupita had departed, I sighed. “I think he was a dark mage that had his magic burned off. I think that’s why he ended up the way he did.”
Aron stared at me. “Why would you think that?”
“The spell used on him. Whatever it was had been complex. I nearly managed to peel it off, and I think that I could have if I’d taken more time.” Only, I wasn’t certain that taking that time was the right thing. I knew nothing about Tony other than the fact that he’d had magic used on him in a way that I didn’t understand. What if he was a dark mage? I didn’t want to be responsible for healing one and bringing another attack. Besides, if I did manage to heal him, the council would come looking for him and me.
“You wouldn’t be able to undo what the council does,” Aron said.
“Uh, thanks?”
“That’s no insult. There are very few mages who are even capable of performing the spell involved. It would take an extreme ability for you to remove it. I suspect only a few of the fae would be capable of such a thing.”
I thought back to what I’d felt when working my magic on Tony. There had been a sense that I could succeed, but I didn’t have enough strength—or time. Derek had pulled me away before I could finish.
Maybe it wasn’t a council spell at all.
What if Tony wasn’t a dark mage, but someone else?
“I would like to see this man,” Aron said.
I shook my head. “I can’t do that.”
“You don’t know where he’s gone?”
“That’s not it. It’s against the law.”
“Kate—”
“Listen, I’m not about to risk my job on the chance that this magical attack might be something other than what I thought. And if it’s not what I thought, then I want nothing to do with it.”
Aron watched me. “What if they’re after you?”
“Hell, yes, they’re after me. They came to my home, Aron! You should see my door. I don’t know that I’ll be able to stay there.”
And if I couldn’t stay in my home, where would I go? It wasn’t that I wanted to leave my condo. I liked it there. But I wasn’t willing to stay without a door.
“What if I can help with that?”
“You fix doors? I didn’t realize archers were so talented.”
“We have a great many talents.”
Under other circumstances—and from anyone else—that might have been seductive, but I knew Aron well enough to know that he didn’t mean talents the way he could. Besides, it was possible that he did have those talents, too, but I doubted that I’d ever see them. Aron might be intrigued by me and my magic, but I didn’t get the sense that he was intrigued by me. Which was too bad.
“Fine. If you can fix a door, you’re hired. And maybe you can do something about my hallway. I can just imagine what my neighbors will say when they wake up if they see it like that.”
7
I stared at the door in shock. Aron really did have a great many talents. When he had said that he could fix the door, I hadn’t expected him to fix it quite as well as he had. I couldn’t even tell that it had been attacked. There was probably a spell mixed into his repair, but with all the magic he’d thrown around simply hanging it back up in the frame, I doubted that I would know if there was.
“Thanks,” I said.
“You need to fortify your protections,” he said.
“My protections? I don’t have any protections. I have a door and a lock like any normal person.”
“But you aren’t a normal person,” Aron said.
I hated the reminder, but it was true. I wasn’t normal, and the more often that I got dragged into the magical world, the more obvious that was. As much as I wanted to hide from the magical world, it might be that I couldn’t.
“Thanks.”
He tested the door, swinging it open and then closed before checking the locks. A tingle of magical cold worked along my spine as he did. What spell did he add to that? Did it matter? It wasn’t that I didn’t trust Aron. I did, though only to a certain extent. I didn’t think he’d harm me, but what if he placed a spell that allowed him to enter my home whenever he wanted?
Then again, with his kind of magic, I doubted that it would be all th
at hard for him to enter if that’s what he intended.
When he was convinced the door worked the way he wanted, he turned back to me. “I’ll repair the hall before I leave. Your neighbors shouldn’t even know an attack happened.”
“Unless they heard it.”
“I could use a spell—”
I shook my head. I didn’t need him whipping spells around at my neighbors and causing amnesia. What would that do to them? Probably nothing good. “Just fix the damage in the hall. Don’t do anything more than that.”
Aron crossed his arms over his chest. “You should practice.”
“Practice.”
He nodded. “Use your magic. Get comfortable with it.”
“And if my practice draws the attention of the council? If another knight comes calling?”
“They won’t.”
“How can you be so sure? You’ll keep them away from me?”
“If I have to, but that’s not why. I put some protections around your home. There were some already here—” that confirmed my suspicions about my grandparents placing something on my home—“and anything you do in here should be walled off. Unless you blast through those protections, you won’t be detected by the council.”
“Why would you do that for me? Aren’t you worried that I’m a dark mage?”
“No.”
The simplicity of his statement almost overwhelmed me. He had been with me during the demon attack and he knew my magic was different than his, but to hear him tell me that he didn’t think I was a dark mage meant more than it should.
“We don’t know what I am. For all we know—”
“All we know is that your magic is different than mine. Which is why you need to practice with it. When you begin to understand your magic, then you can start to claim what type of mage you are. Until then, there’s no reason to worry.”
That wasn’t true, and we both knew it. The fact that he had placed protections around my home told me that he worried about the type of mage I was, but it was still nice of him to make this claim.
“I’ll do what I can to practice, but I don’t know enough about my magic to really gain any control.”
“If the dark mages are aware of you and they think to use you, then you need to gain control, especially with the escalation.”
