Magic After Dark: A Collection of Urban Fantasy and Paranormal Romance Novels

by Margo Bond Collins

  “That’s not true.”

  “Come on,” she said. “You clear the odd vampire or troll from the countryside. Very cute. I guess it keeps a few flocks of sheep out of harm’s way. But the helsings have always stayed apart from real conflict.”

  I shook my head. “No. We…” The last line of defense between the darkness and the light. The unheralded saviors of mankind. So I had been taught and always believed. We were certainly unheralded if others felt as Jacinta did.

  “You consider yourselves vampire hunters primarily, right?” she said. “Vampires prefer cities. Shouldn’t hunters follow their prey?”

  “We travel in caravans; we feed off the land. There’s nothing for us in the cities.”

  “As you say.” She shrugged. “How did you fall in with Lionel? He’s the black sheep of the Cressingtons. When our alliance discussions started, there was talk of my marrying him. That talk died rapidly.”

  “You mage families seem to love marriage,” I said.

  “Why did you really ask me to dance?” she asked. “With your talk of conspiracies and illicit dealings, did you want the city to think the Hamiltons and helsings have an alliance?”

  “No.”

  “Well, then?”

  “I just wanted attention,” I said, my brain scrambling to come up with a justification that Jacinta would believe. “I’m new in the city. I didn’t care what people thought about me, just as long as they were aware of me.”

  “Job done there. You’ll never be anonymous again in the old-fashioned circles of the Philadelphia mages.”

  “Old-fashioned? I’d heard that mage families were old-fashioned. But your dress is…”

  “Yes?” Her look was challenging.

  “Rather modern.”

  “I mix it up; I don’t always dress as provocatively as this. I like to keep people guessing, though, and I enjoy being noticed and remembered. Like you.”

  Spotting that Lionel had returned from the patio, I released Jacinta and stepped back. “Thank you for the dance. It’s been a pleasure.”

  “Pleasure in and of itself is fleeting and ultimately uninteresting,” Jacinta said. “What it’s been is intriguing. Between this and the robot fighting, why, you’ve only been in the city a few days, and you’ve already made an admirable splash. We’ll meet again.”

  I leaned forward, making a small bow, then turned away. In contrast to my fear when I had approached her, I felt a spark of anticipation as I left, already looking forward to our next meeting, whatever form it would take.

  I joined Lionel. “Amazing,” he said. “When you said you were going to cause a distraction, I thought you were going to blow up something, or push over a pillar and bring the roof down. Something mild.” He grinned, gesturing toward Jacinta. “Not that.”

  “Oh, the distraction,” I said, snapping my fingers. “With all the dancing and staring at… you know, I forgot completely about that.”

  Lionel chuckled. “Well, I cast my spell. I’ve given Alessa some time, I think.”

  “What did you do?”

  “I sent out some magical sparks that will confuse the tracking ring, make it seem like there are a dozen people out there. I also removed the wards on the window we discussed, the one which we are planning to use to allow Alessa into the house. And that door near the bar has been unwarded.” He nodded to a discreet door in the corner of the room. “But we should move fast. I know the plan was to wait until Christian arrived, so people are paying attention to his speech, but perhaps we should try to make a move before he arrives.”

  “It’s a bit late for that.” I nodded over Lionel’s shoulder, and he turned around to see his father arrive.

  “Great,” he said. “And he’s coming this way.”

  Christian joked with several groups of people as he made his way through the crowd, though by the time he reached us, all evidence of mirth had drained from his face.

  “Father,” Lionel said.

  Christian ignored him, instead addressing me. “My wife tells me that a helsing gypsy is an honored guest. But hospitality goes both way. You don’t introduce yourself to me before operating in the city, you break into one of our facilities, and I’ve now found out that you are remarkably friendly with the Hamiltons.”

  “Aren’t the Hamiltons your allies?” I asked. “Isn’t that what this whole benefit is about?”

  “Slate is friendly with any young woman who displays her goods like Jacinta does,” Lionel said.

  “You take me for a fool?” Christian asked.

  “Well, actually—” Lionel began.

  “Jacinta Hamilton knows exactly what she’s doing when she wears what she does. And Slate Blackthorn clearly isn’t as clueless as you are trying to make out.”

  “You’d be surprised,” Lionel said. “He’s pretty cluel—”

  “Enough,” Christian said. The word came out louder than he’d intended, causing several nearby guests to turn toward us. Christian gave a tight smile and a nod toward those close by, then grabbed Lionel by the arm and dragged him off to the side.

  “Don’t try to banter with me after all you’ve done,” Christian said between gritted teeth. “You win, I’ll give you your wedding. I’ll let you bring the hood mage into the family. To keep your mother happy, if nothing else.”

  “I don’t intend to marry Danielle.”

  “You don’t? That’s not what you said the other night.” Christian glanced across to where Danielle stood by herself, shifting uncomfortably from one foot to the other. “Why did we go through this whole rigmarole of putting lipstick on her and parading her around like a prize hog at a farmer’s market? We should have kept her locked up until it was decided what to do with her.”

  “That’s why I lied about intending to marry her,” Lionel said. “She doesn’t deserve to be treated like that.”

  “She was warned by the family mages in Buffalo. She knew there would be consequences for continuing to perform magic,” Christian said. “You should have brought her to me when you first discovered her. That you have protected her all this time has only emboldened her. Hadrian interviewed her, and he tells me she has no remorse.”

  “It’s us who should show remorse, not her,” Lionel insisted. “By what right do we punish hood mages? We should invite her to join our family without her having to marry anyone. No, we should beg her to join. She has an ability I’ve never seen in anyone else. We could learn a lot from her.”

  “You think we can learn from a hood mage? Are you completely cracked?”

  Before Lionel could answer, shouts drew our attention toward the entrance hall. Hadrian sprinted inside with three dark-suited mages in his wake. For the second time in the evening, the orchestra stopped playing. Hadrian quickly scanned the crowd, then rushed our way.

  While waiting for Hadrian to arrive, I heard several shouts in my ear, then the sound of panting interspersed with the slapping of branches against flesh. Alessa was still on the run.

  “Lionel’s betraying the family again!” Hadrian burst out. “Just like he did when he attacked the Dulane Building.”

  Christian’s eyebrows dipped. “What are you talking about?”

  “Why don’t you tell him, Lionel?” Hadrian asked. “Tell him why we are tracking almost a dozen intruders on the grounds.”

  “Intruders,” Christian said. “Lionel, what’s going on?”

  “I think my little cousin has finally lost it,” Lionel said. “I doubt there is anyone wandering the grounds—unless it’s a couple of drunken guests looking for privacy—but if there is, it’s nothing to do with me.”

  “Lionel, Hadrian, come, both of you. If there are intruders, we will find them. Or at least, I’ll figure out what’s going on.” Christian strode toward the main entrance. The crowd parted before him, and Lionel and Hadrian followed in his wake, one on each side.

  As he left, Lionel shot me a look, gesturing toward the door by the bar with a sharp twist of his head. I nodded, drifting in that direction.
When I reached it, I paused to survey the room. With all attention on Christian’s dramatic exit, no one was paying me any attention. I twisted the handle, pushed through, and shut the door behind me.

  The corridor beyond was empty, and I started to hurry. “I’m inside the main part of the house,” I announced.

  “Finally,” Alessa said. “I’ll make my way to the designated window. Hurry. Mages are sweeping the grounds. I won’t be able to wait long.”

  The plans of the house that Lionel had drawn up for me flashed into my mind, and I broke into a jog. “I’m within moments—”

  I jerked to a stop as a door opened in front of me. I looked around, but even I wasn’t fast enough to get away before I was seen.

  I raised my fist, hoping I could knock whoever it was unconscious before they could raise the alarm. My hand fell to my side when I saw who it was. Becca, Lionel’s sister.

  “Should I be screaming for help?” she asked.

  “Yes,” I said. “Probably. I hope you won’t, though.”

  “You are still working with Lionel?”

  I nodded.

  “None of my family are in danger, are they?”

  “Of course not.”

  “Then I’ll trust Lionel enough to stay quiet about you.” She started back into her bedroom.

  “You don’t have to go back.” I stepped aside. “You were going down to the benefit, right?” She wore a light blue evening gown and a necklace of pearls.

  “I’m made go to these things.” She grimaced. “I figure since gypsies are roaming the halls, there’ll be enough distractions that I won’t be missed.” She shut the door behind her.

  “Slate.” Alessa’s voice came through the earpiece. “What’s going on? I either have to get through the window now or get away.”

  “Coming.”

  As I left Becca’s door behind me, I wondered if I should have said something about the swirl key and our mission. Gabriel had thought we’d need her help. But bringing her on board, if that was possible, was Lionel’s task. I couldn’t persuade her better than her own brother.

  I turned a corner, coming to the corridor that crossed the south wing. At the end of that corridor was a large square window. A crescent of moonlight occupied the top right-hand pane of the window, and in the bottom lower half, I caught a glimpse of red aura. Alessa was waiting.

  As I grabbed hold of the handle, Becca’s face flashed into my mind. Not Becca’s face as she was, but Becca’s face as she would look with fangs. As she would look if she had turned into a vampire. I had no reason to think that Alessa would kill or turn anyone, least of all the sister of her lover. But I had just told Becca that she and her family had nothing to fear. And I was about to let a vampire into their house.

  “What’s taking so long?” Alessa shifted across to look through the window at me. With the dark night as a backdrop, her red aura shone bright. I saw her face, her chiseled beauty, but I also remembered how she had looked when she’d been in the mindtrap, fangs protruding, irises blood red, face contorted. Lionel might have been able to forget how she had looked then, but I could not.

  My hand holding the handle of the window quivered. I had no choice. I had to let her in. That was the plan. She’d get the magtroller codes without anyone realizing it, and I’d escape with Danielle.

  Gabriel’s plan also required Becca’s help. Lionel had already said goodbye to his home, so when would he get a chance to recruit her? I remembered the wistful look on Lionel’s face as he’d sat on the swing. He’d known what he was giving up, and was willing, but would he be prepared to ask his sister to do the same?

  My fingers came away from the handle with the window still unopened, and I backed away. Perhaps getting Becca’s help was more important than letting Alessa in. And it was something I could do with a clearer conscience. When I’d been in the mindtrap, Dagger had accused me of being in league with vampires. If it hadn’t been true then, it was becoming more true.

  “Where are you doing?” Alessa’s voice was frantic. “Let me in. You can’t just leave me here. Cressington mages are swarming the grounds.” Alessa’s pressed her face against the window, and she tapped on the glass with her fingertips. “This is no time for messing around. Open it.”

  “What’s going on?” Lionel’s voice came through the earpiece, and almost on top of his came Gabriel’s.

  “It’s essential that Alessa gets those codes for us,” Gabriel said.

  I turned and started to walk away.

  “Don’t you dare leave me here dangling,” Alessa said.

  “Slate,” Lionel said. “Are you in danger? The wards are disabled. Why can’t you open the window?”

  “Explain what’s going on,” Gabriel said.

  I quickened my stride. “Mage team off,” I said.

  Chapter 15

  I returned to Becca’s room, opened the door, and walked straight in without knocking. She was sitting at a desk with her back to me. The desk was wide and leaned against the far wall, and piled up on top of it were scattered motherboards, pieces of metal, and arrays of advanced-looking equipment.

  Becca turned. “You can’t just walk into a girl’s room like this. I could be doing—”

  “Any sort of weird scientific stuff?” I suggested. She had already ditched her gown for jeans and a T-shirt, the blue dress lying crumpled on her unmade bed.

  “Exactly. I could be raising Frankenstein.”

  The tools and parts on her desk fit the mold of a supervillain scientist’s lair. “Wouldn’t you need lightning? No storm tonight.”

  “I can generate my own lightning. Or an equivalent.”

  I picked up a metal tube that leaned against one wall. “Are you performing an autopsy on Optimus Prime?” I asked, saying the name of the Autobot leader in a deep, gravelly voice.

  “Give me that.” Becca snatched the tube out of my hand. She put it down on the floor. “And your Optimus Prime impression is awful. What are you doing here?”

  “What are you building?” I moved past her to peer down at the electronics on her desk. The motherboard she’d been working on had a row of lights flashing yellow and green. “I wasn’t expecting this.”

  “Expecting pink throw pillows, were you?” She pushed me away from her desk. “Don’t touch anything.”

  When Gabriel had mentioned Becca as being an expert in magictech, I hadn’t thought that it could mean that she slept in a bedroom equipped like a small lab. “We need you.”

  She stopped pushing me. “Is this a profession of love type thing? Because I can spare a minute or two for that. They can be entertaining.”

  “Hardly,” I said. “Wait. How many professions of love have you had?”

  “Not many in person. Via video chat, quite a few. Nerdy girls are amazingly popular in the online community.”

  “And what…” I shook my head. “I don’t need you, the team needs you. Lionel, myself, and others. We have to stop a necromancer from getting the swirl key and opening a portal to the underworld.”

  “Why me?”

  “Because of your ability with magictech,” I said.

  “Wait, I know what you want. You need me to program the magtroller, don’t you? You want me to help you break into Cressington Tower and steal from my own family?”

  “Yes.” When she put it like that, it was hard to think of a good reason why she’d agree to help.

  “You must have a compelling reason for me to do such a thing.”

  “Not really.”

  “Idiot. You barge in here to demand I help, and you haven’t bothered to think of one good reason why I should.”

  “I do have good reasons.” I couldn’t tell her about Gabriel, and even if I could, she mightn’t believe in dragongods. “But I can’t—”

  A knock sounded on the door. “Rebecca, you there?” It was her mother.

  “No.” Becca rushed to the door and put her back against it. “I’m at the party dancing with Prince Charming.”

  “Don
’t be silly, dear. Let me in.”

  “I can’t.” Becca gestured for me to hide under the bed, and I shook my head.

  “Why ever not?” Ann asked.

  “I’m entertaining,” Becca said. “I’ve a man in here.”

  “Rebecca, I’m coming in to talk to you,” Ann said. The handle began to turn, and Becca grabbed it. Then she gestured again for me to hide under the bed.

  I mouthed the word, Seriously? Becca nodded her head vigorously. Still, I was hesitant. It was stupid to hide—Becca and I hadn’t been doing anything wrong, but if I was caught hiding under the bed, it would seem like we were. On the other hand, I wasn’t supposed to be in this part of the house at all. I got down on my belly and silently rolled under the bed.

  From there I could only see up to ankle level. Becca’s bare feet retreated from the door, and a pair of white high-heeled shoes walked in.

  “What are you up to that you were stopping me from entering?” Ann asked.

  “I was using a spell to hide my gypsy lover,” Becca said.

  Ann snorted. “You using magic is almost the most unbelievable part of that statement. Why could you not just learn spells like all the other mage children? Instead, you waste your intelligence and energy on all this junk.” The high-heeled shoes walked around the bed, stopping in front of the desk.

  “It’s not junk,” Becca said. “Someone had to continue Grandpapa’s work.”

  “No, they didn’t,” Ann said. “Your father was right to shut down the maser program. It got your grandpapa killed. It’s too dangerous. No one else has to die.”

  “No one else will die,” Becca said. “I’ll make it safe.”

  “I don’t know why I let you have all this equipment here. If your father knew—”

  “You think it’s better that I work on it here rather than out in a ditch.”

  “I wish that were a joke,” Ann said.

  “You should get Father to let me work in Cressington Tower again,” Becca said. “I don’t have enough equipment.”

  “I didn’t come here to talk about that,” Ann said. “Why didn’t you come out to the party?”

  “I was going to,” Becca said. “I was all dressed up and everything. Then I heard some commotion and decided I wouldn’t be missed.”