Magic in my Bones (Lesser Magicks Book 1)

by Kellie Sheridan

  I hit thigh, not vital, but enough. The blade started working right away, I could feel its magick feeding off my own, using both my power and that of the witch I'd hit to come alive, at least partially. But I knew from experience that while the knife would use me as fuel, it was already using the other witch as food, devouring her magick, and draining her spirit.

  Her spirit would heal over time, but her magick would never return.

  She passed out from the impact within seconds. I pulled the knife out as quickly as I could, rising to my feet in the same motion. She was bleeding, but she'd live. I didn't know if the knife had been given enough time to destroy all her power, and I didn't care to find out.

  In the few moments, it had taken me to strike, Taya had thrown herself back into the fray, somehow managing to keep three witches back from me. But right as I stood, fire crackled through the air, surging out from Meg's hands to strike Taya right in the chest. My roommate flew backward only a few feet before hitting a wall and slumping to the floor. The smell of burnt cloth and hair filled the room, as the soft sound of sirens could be heard in the distance.

  Galway wasn't exactly the kind of city where you could fire a weapon and not expect anyone to notice. I didn't know which of my neighbors had called the garda, but whoever it was, I was prepared to be forever in their debt. I didn't know how I was going to explain any of this, but at least I'd be alive long enough to figure it out.

  But all that was because I'd been expecting Meg to give up, to realize she was beaten, and surrender or run.

  Instead, she came for me again, rage in her eyes and magick on her tongue.

  Air pushed out from my lungs, but my body refused to let any new oxygen in. I gasped and struggled, but nothing came.

  My life was ending and I knew it. I had only seconds to do something. Anything.

  I went back to plan A. Or was it plan F? At that point it really didn't matter. Just like I'd planned to when I'd first realized what Meg had done, I tightened my hold on my blade before raising my arm and flicking my wrist forward, sending my weapon flying through the air toward Meg faster than she was coming at me.

  It didn't quite hit its mark, dead center in her chest. It landed a bit higher, pushing right through Meg's ribcage and piercing her heart.

  She didn't so much as scream before she fell, but I knew the moment she died because it was the same moment when I was able to breathe once again, taking deep, heaping lungfuls of air.

  The two remaining witches had backed themselves up against a wall, both staring on in horror at Meg's fallen body.

  "Please tell me you guys are done now," I said, trying to sound pithy but mostly coming off as exhausted. "I don't want to hurt anyone else."

  But I would if they forced me. And hopefully they knew it.

  Nobody moved at first, then I remembered Taya. In three long steps, I made it across the room to the back wall where she lay in a heap on the floor. I pressed two fingers against her throat and found a weak pulse.

  She was still alive!

  "Check your friends," I said to the two witches still standing nearby, voice gruff and unforgiving. I didn't know if they'd listen or not, but I could only care so much. Thankfully, whatever hatred or greed for my powers the two women felt toward me, it was apparently trumped by concern for the three witches laying by my kitchen table. "Is my phone there?" I asked, hoping the device had been with my weapons. At first nobody answered me. "I know a healer." I didn't have her number, but that was a problem for two minutes from now.

  "Next question, can either of you work a barrier spell? Something like what Trina was doing, but to keep the police from finding us here, surrounded by blood and magick, until backup gets here."

  Thankfully, neither witch really needed convincing, especially once they confirmed that both Trina and the others were still alive. I wasn't about to add any of these people to my Christmas list, but at least we could all agree that avoiding exposure was more important than anything else.

  Ethan answered as soon as I called, and because my luck seemed to be turning around, he was still with the others, with Nina. I don't know which of us was more relieved to hear from the other, but there wasn't time to compare notes.

  I stayed by Taya's side until help finally came.

  The witches were gone by the next day, back to Dublin, to figure out what to do with themselves now that their leader was dead.

  All except Taya.

  But Nina had more than lived up to the hype, managing to keep Taya alive long enough for us to get her to a hospital. She'd offered to do the same for the witches, but they'd said they would take care of their own.

  Explaining what had happened in my apartment proved to be a little trickier. By the time Ethan and the others arrived, two police cars were parked outside my building, with four confused officers patrolling the floors of my building, unable to find one of the flats.

  Last I'd heard, the fae had been called in to help clean everything up, but by then I'd been far too tired to ask questions.

  I'd fallen asleep in the chair beside Taya's bed.

  The next morning, I woke to the sound of rustling, opening my eyes to find my roommate sitting up in bed.

  "You're here," she said, her voice coming out as rough as sandpaper.

  "You're alive."

  I'm not my most eloquent on only a few hours of sleep.

  "I am so, so sorry, Melanie. I never would have guessed—"

  "That your new friends had a ritual sacrifice planned? Go figure." I was still pissed, but it was hard to bring the edge back to my voice that I’d had even the day before. We'd survived, and that felt like everything. "I know you didn't sign up for that." Because as selfish as Taya had been, I still knew who she was at her core. Or at least I wanted to believe that I did.

  She'd been my friend for years, and she'd fought on my side when it mattered. In a lot of ways, she'd saved me. For now, I was willing to let that be enough.

  "I have to ask ... Meg mentioned something, or hinted at something, I'm not sure. Did the witches have something to do with taking me from America to Ireland when I was a baby?"

  "If they did, no one told me. But they didn't tell me much of anything at all, so that's not exactly a surprise. Maybe the rest of her coven will know?"

  "Hopefully. And they'll be back here soon enough for the summit, I guess. Hopefully by then ..." I didn't know how to finish the sentence. Hopefully by then I'd know more. I'd be stronger. I'd have a few more people I knew I could count on. "We'll see," I finished, and lamely at that.

  "Yeah, we'll see. If you need anything, I'm here to help. I'll start looking for a new place to live as soon as they let me out of here. I'll give you your space, but I'll find a way to make this right."

  I opened my mouth, ready to argue that she didn't have to go, but closed it again before any words could escape. I wanted to forgive Taya, I did. But I wasn't quite there yet, wasn't quite ready. And even if I was, once forgiveness came, true trust would probably still take a while. I owed it to myself to be able to fall asleep every night, not wondering about the motives of the person sleeping closest to me.

  Instead of arguing, I nodded. "We'll figure something out. For now, are you hungry? I can go get us something to eat."

  The offer was half genuine, half selfish. I hadn't gotten either lunch or dinner the day before, and I was feeling pretty damn bruised all over. Maybe I could risk a quick fix a little later, but the hospital wasn't exactly the best place to indulge in drinking my own blood and miraculously healing. And besides, there was something fairly grounding in feeling every ache and pain in my body. It wasn't nice, but it was a pretty stubborn side effect of being alive. And one that I was more than happy to live with.

  Chapter 23

  Only a few steps outside of Taya's hospital room, I found a small waiting area, and blessedly, a coffee machine.

  A nurse stood in the corner of the room, his eyes fixed on the phone he held in his hand. Two women sat huddled together,
both half asleep on matching teal chairs. I didn't pay any of them more than a passing glance before I'd deposited my change into a vending machine as the coffee maker chugged to life, spurting warm brown liquid into an unfortunately tiny paper cup.

  When I turned back, planning to check my own phone for any updates, there was one more person in the room.

  Arms crossed, leaning against the wall that ended the hallway I'd just come down, Aoife watched me with a predatory interest.

  "Fancy seeing you here," she said, stepping toward me, sounding almost friendly. One of the women nearby looked up for an instant, but must have dismissed the exchange as not even interesting enough to eavesdrop on.

  "I thought you'd be long gone by now," I answered. "I know some of the wolves and witches were here earlier, how did you even get in without anyone noticing you?"

  Aoife shrugged, the expression lazy. "Just lucky, I guess."

  "One of these days, your luck's going to run out." I forced myself to take my eyes off Aoife, like I wasn't the least bit worried about what the hell she was doing there, and take a slow sip of my coffee.

  It was pretty awful as far as coffee goes, but still left me feeling a little more human.

  "I'm going to have to disagree," Aoife responded, pulling my attention back. I could probably have tried to grab her, but with several non-magical folks loitering, things could turn ugly quickly, and I definitely couldn't guarantee that no one would get hurt.

  "Is this the part where you explain your master plan to me before disappearing the moment I turn away?"

  To her credit, Aoife chuckled. And while I enjoy almost anyone who can appreciate my sense of humor, her reaction did little to elevate her in my books. "Not at all. This was only the beginning, Melanie. War is coming on all fronts, and I for one, intend to survive it. The humans are going to find out about all the things that go bump in the night, one way or the other. It's our chance to turn the tides in our favor."

  "Who is ‘our’? I don't know if you noticed, but only a handful of the people you had with you agreed with any of the crap you tried to pull. Nina, Jeff, Tate, so many others... None of them wanted to see anyone get hurt."

  "People are going to get hurt no matter what. But no matter who agrees with me, I don't want to see any more of the lesser magicks be among those that do, than is absolutely necessary. We're strong, we're powerful, we're just more divided than the factions. But that doesn't have to mean anything, not any more. We're about to enter a new era. Why not redefine ourselves in the process?"

  "Are you genuinely asking me? Or just monologuing for the sake of it?" My phone was in my pocket. I considered how casually I could possibly dial it without actually pulling it out to look at the screen. Maybe then at least, I could get some backup. But I was as likely to accidentally call some guy I’d dated four years ago as Ethan or Taya.

  "I'm asking. You haven't been a part of any of this for long, Melanie. I'd like to hope that perhaps you've just been somewhat naive about the realities of what we face. But perhaps this ugliness with the witches has opened your eyes."

  "That ugliness with the witches? You mean when they tried to sacrifice me because you sold me out? You can't really be trying to get me on your side here. It's not going to happen."

  I took another sip before continuing. "And you're right. I don't know the half of what's been going on between the lesser magicks, the factions, any of it. But I've been pulled all the way in now, and I have to believe that whatever it is you're trying to do, it's not the right way forward. You've killed people, hurt people. That's not the way to make any real peace."

  "Who said anything about peace? Maybe eventually, but not for now. Peace comes at a cost, and I'm not the only person willing to pay it. But I'm not about to try and talk you into something. You either believe in our cause, or you don't. Your help would be invaluable, but we'll get where we need to go with or without you."

  "Good luck with that," I muttered. "But you won't be doing it here. Because you're right about one thing, I have a voice now, and powers that no one quite knows what to do with. And this is my city. I know where you live, and where to find you, and could likely set each of the factions on you in a matter of minutes if there's any trace of you in Galway by this time tomorrow. Hell, no, by tonight. The summit will go on, and we'll find a way forward. Without you."

  "There's no we. For all that you are, you aren't one of them. You were born lesser, and you'll always be lesser in their eyes. You have no faction at your back, and no vote. Don't be surprised when whatever is decided, somehow doesn't work out in your favor. That is, if some other group doesn't manage to chop you up and use you for talismans first."

  "I can only hope that if that happens, it will be the day after the factions track you down and make you face justice."

  Aoife rolled her eyes. Actually, a full-fledged eyeroll that any teenaged girl would have been impressed by. "You've been in the mundane world too long, Melanie. Go ahead, stick around in Galway... I have elsewhere to be. But you're not going to like what justice looks like. You're not going to like any of what's coming."

  Rather than engage in some sort of epic eyeroll contest, I took one last long swig of my drink before turning to toss it in the can. I swear, I had an impressive comeback, right on the tip of my tongue.

  But by the time I turned back, Aoife was gone. Disappeared.

  "Fuck." Everyone still in the room turned toward me at once, forcing me to mumble an apology before quickly retreating to Taya's room.

  As I all but sprinted back down the hall, I worried that for some reason, Taya would be gone too, just another piece of a puzzle I couldn't understand. That was how these things always played out in thriller movies.

  But Taya was still there, leaning back into her pillows and staring up at the ceiling.

  She looked up as soon as I came in. "Is everything okay?"

  I had already pulled out my phone, shaking hands fumbling to pull up Ethan's number. "I don't know. But I just had a lovely chat with Aoife."

  "Who's that?" Right, she hadn't been there for the big meet and greet, not until after Aoife had run off.

  She really had had a sizeable head start. And yet, she'd come back. Or stayed. Just to talk to me? No. She'd thought I was as good as dead.

  I didn't get a chance to answer Taya before Ethan picked up. "Melanie?"

  "Hey," I answered. "Are you still close to the hospital?"

  "Just leaving. Is your roommate alright?"

  "She's fine. But Aoife was just here. Waiting for me. She took off before I could find a way to get help, but maybe you can stop her from leaving the building?"

  It was a long shot and I knew it. The hospital wasn't big by any stretch, but it still had to have at least a dozen different ways in or out, not counting every single window."

  Ethan didn't answer at first, and I wondered if he was already in mental contact with however many of his pack were still with him. "I'm the only one who knows her scent, but if she's here, we'll find her."

  Ethan hung up a moment later, leaving me to quickly try and fill Taya in on Aoife's sales pitch.

  "And there's no way you can track her?" Taya asked, once I'd finished a few minutes later. "With your powers I mean."

  "I don't think so." My mind searched for any options I might have missed in my panic. Technology could do a lot, but I had to know where to look. "I mean, if I could get into the security room or something, I could probably track any cameras around the building but..." Shit. The answer clicked into place. "What do you know about rabbit holes?"

  An hour later, we'd managed to talk our way into the hospital's security station and delete the footage of Aoife disappearing through what should have been a doorway to an empty hospital room, being sure to turn the doorknob three times right and then twice left before opening it.

  Cooper and Nina had already gone through to find out what was on the other side, being careful to use the same key sequence while the rest of us played look out to make sure t
hey were unseen. Within minutes, they'd reported back via phone call that they were in an empty field, that could have been literally anywhere in the country, a set of tire tracks embedded in the grass, leading them back to a road.

  Aoife could have already made it halfway across the country. Granted, it was a small country, but the world beyond was vast enough that with a little luck, she'd have no trouble evading anyone who might be looking for her.

  At least now, we all knew to expect to see her again, and probably soon. The only question that remained was what to do about it.

  That night, hours after Taya had been given the all clear to go home, I found myself back in yet another of Galway's many pubs, with a beer in front of me and three custom made pizzas on the way for the table.

  Despite both Nina and the doctors giving her the all clear, Taya had insisted on going back to the apartment rather than come for one last farewell dinner.

  It was probably for the best.

  I hoped that maybe one day the two of us could get back to where we'd once been, but we weren't there yet.

  When I'd seen her laying on our floor, sprawled out and near dead, I'd feared the worst—that she'd sacrificed herself to help save me. But once she'd been up and walking around again, it was all too easy to remember that she'd simply helped me out of a situation that she'd put me in in the first place.

  Besides, at Taya's core, she was still a witch. And that night wasn't about witches, or factions or anything beyond the hopes and fears of those of the lesser magicks who had one last night in the city.

  Ethan and his pack should already have been about back to Dublin, along with the vampires now that the sun had set, and we'd already had word that the witches were once again where they belonged in Belfast in the northern part of the island.

  Gone but still close, and all with plans to come back all too soon for the summit.

  Nina didn't fly out until the morning after next, and everyone else had planned to stay until around the same time. When Aoife had asked them all to come, she'd been planning to have them around for a while longer, but no one knew why.