Paranormal Magic (Shades of Prey Book 1)

by Margo Bond Collins

“Hmm. Still has nothing to do with faeries, though. Unless… I don’t know. Winter magic feeds on death, and necromancers have no shortage of corpses, but… I can’t see the connection.”

  “Especially as faeries are immortal,” Vance reminded me. “But the Lady of the Tree said she wanted her immortality back.”

  “From Faerie,” I said. “They wouldn’t need a necromancer. I don’t think even they can stop someone from dying permanently.”

  “Exactly.” He frowned. “I have mages patrolling every inch of necromancer territory, looking out for trouble. They’re not happy with me.”

  “Tough shit,” I said. “Should’ve thought of that before they made everyone suspect them.”

  “They care nothing for their reputation,” said Vance. “As for the half-blood faeries, they refused to allow me to send anyone into their territory.”

  “Be glad they did. I nearly got eaten by a kelpie when I went in there.”

  “Can half-bloods lie? I know pure faeries can’t.”

  “Yeah, they can. They aren’t bound by Faerie’s rules here. Even the Lady of the Tree lied to us. Unless we seriously misinterpreted the words. You can find the children there… but she also said they weren’t in this realm anymore. Which is impossible.”

  How could someone have opened a way to Faerie without magic along the Ley Line going haywire?

  Vance studied me. “You think someone opened a door back to Faerie.”

  “I can’t think of another way to interpret her words,” I said. “But—it’s impossible. Faerie magic alone isn’t enough to open a way back. The half-bloods dream of escaping this realm, but they can’t. The invasion was the only time anyone’s done it.”

  Vance’s phone buzzed. “I’ll answer this.”

  He stood, pressing the phone to his ear. “What happened?” he asked the person on the other end.

  From his tone, I could tell this wasn’t a friendly social call.

  “I have to leave.” He switched his phone off. “Two of my mages disappeared near the factory.”

  My heart plummeted. “Damn.”

  “Don’t leave the house.”

  Before I could blink, he’d strode to the door, opened it and vanished. I turned to Isabel in disbelief. She didn’t look shocked, so she couldn’t have seen him disappear into thin air.

  “Don’t leave the house. Unbelievable.” I stared after him, but he didn’t come back.

  “Well, he said two people did go missing.”

  I sank onto the sofa. “Two miles away. I’m not going to ground myself because he said so.”

  “What you said about the Ley Line got me thinking,” she said. “I might be able to mark it on a map. That factory… it’s outside the town, right?”

  I nodded.

  Isabel walked over and reached behind the sofa, pulling out a dusty map. “We used this in our first coven meeting. I checked the factory’s address and it lies over one of the key points.”

  “Key points?”

  “Places on the line where magic is particularly strong.” She unfurled the map and placed a paperweight on top of it to hold it still. “The first thing I learned when I joined the coven was not to attempt a spell at a key point. Magic’s too potent there. And there’s something in the necromancy code, too. I think the veil’s particularly thin there.” She indicated several spots on the line across the centre of the page.

  “So spirits can cross over easier there?” I paused. “Faerie magic’s stronger at those points, too. That’s got to be our connection. I’ll tell Vance—”

  A crashing noise made me jump. Erwin the piskie flew through the room, shrieking. “Bad faerie!”

  “What the hell?”

  Isabel leaped to her feet. “Someone’s attacking our wards.”

  I joined her, grabbing my sword. Damn. I hadn’t left a trail of blood outside, had I?

  Underneath the window, a sudden blast of fire scorched the flowerbeds near the ward line.

  “Whoa,” I said.

  “Hey!” Isabel shouted. “Those are rare herbs, you bastard.”

  And she grabbed a handful of spells from the table, activating one. Purple light spilled out and enveloped the room, accompanied by a tremendous bang like a firework. High-pitched screams reached my ears, and several tall, twig-like figures appeared outside the window.

  I knew it was the faeries.

  Fire imps are an anomaly. Summer doesn’t like them because they’re deadly to all plant life. Winter, the land of ice, isn’t terribly enamoured with them either. I’m not sure where they came from—hell, maybe they were in the grey area of Faerie before the exiles. Nobody ever handed me a definitive guide to Faerie. I had to figure out most of it on my own.

  But none of them had ever attacked me at home before. I took pains to make sure that never happened. Ever.

  I struck out for the door, Irene in one hand and one of Isabel’s explosive spells in the other. Those particular spells were reserved for the two of us, on the reasonable grounds that most non magic users did a good job running into magical accidents without having access to the witch equivalent of a firework.

  Sharp little hands stabbed at me the instant I opened the door. I sliced with my blade, decapitating the fire imp. How the hell did it get so close to the house with so many wards active?

  Fire sparked all over the lawn, burning holes in the grass, and I dodged a ball of whirling flame. Isabel leaped up and threw a counter-spell, a wave of water that drenched both of us. The imps scrambled back, dripping wet, baring their teeth.

  Another flowerbed went up in flames, and Isabel just about lost her shit. She threw an explosive spell at three of the imps. Bits of twig flew everywhere, and I had exactly five seconds of total astonishment at her aggressiveness before an imp landed on my head, hands stabbing at my eyes.

  “Fuck off,” I snarled, grabbing at it. With the faerie dangling from my hand, I cut its throat with my blade. I tossed it aside, pushing my now sopping wet ponytail aside.

  Two more imps appeared from the shadows and threw fire at us. The ward just in front of the house, which was supposed to activate in defence, remained dead. Isabel’s eyes went wide.

  As for me, I called the faerie magic.

  I leaped in front of Isabel, blue light flaring around my non-sword-hand. The light spread, forming a barrier, and the fire harmlessly glanced off the blue shield now surrounding both of us. You don’t get to hurt her. I’d kill them all first.

  I joined Isabel in hurling another explosive at the faeries. They scattered, screaming, and I ran at them, the faerie magic making my reactions much faster than usual. Fast enough to catch every one. I flung a final explosive at the last imp as it reached the gate, and the resulting blast knocked into the ward at the fence with a ringing noise. That one still functioned. But what had stopped the others working?

  Isabel walked over to me. “Whoa. You’re fast. I didn’t see you grab a speed enhancer.”

  I said nothing, a heavy measure of guilt settling over me, that Vance Colton knew more about my abilities than Isabel did. Not only that, they’d attacked our home. Even set the garden on fire. Bloody faeries. Next time, I’d make damn sure there were more than wards outside to stop them. Not to mention the iron… which, now I looked, had disappeared. Like someone had deactivated it. I stared.

  “How the hell did they know where to find me?” I asked aloud, though I could guess. I’d made enough enemies over the years. This, however, felt—recent. Calculated. “And who took out our defences?” I walked over to the place where a ring of iron had circled the garden. Sure, it might have been the landlord, but…

  “No clue.” Isabel bent over the now-defunct ward. “I can use a tracking spell and see if anyone’s messed with this.”

  “Good idea.”

  We returned to the house, trepidation building by the second. Only a powerful magic user could deactivate a ward, and we only used the best. Nothing was a perfect defence, of course—especially against the faeries. But fi
re imps were stupid. They couldn’t have taken the wards down themselves.

  Isabel picked up one of the tracking spells from the coffee table and took it outside. I stood by the gate, watching the road, as she activated it by the ward. A circle spread out and lines appeared within, a series of glyphs in blue light.

  Isabel swore as the light gleamed on her arms. “I don’t believe it.”

  “Who was it?”

  “Larsen,” she said. “The trail leads back to the mercenary guild.”

  My boss. He’d tried to kill us.

  Chapter 15

  I wanted to confront Larsen alone first thing the next morning, but as per usual, Vance Colton put a wrench in my plans. I woke to a rapping on the door and groaned as the impact of the past twenty-four hours hit me like a rampaging troll.

  “All right, all right!” I snapped at no one in particular as the house shook under another knock. I dressed in ten seconds and grabbed my sword in case another faerie contingent arrived to attack me. “Chill the hell out, Vance.”

  “When did you end up on first name terms, anyway?” asked Isabel, passing by with a mug of steaming hot chocolate in her hands.

  “When we both nearly died,” I said. I wasn’t mentally present today. Small wonder when my boss had tried to kill me. And I had no idea why. All my phone calls went through to voicemail. I’d planned to storm over there today, but not hiding behind Lord Colton.

  “What is it?” I asked as I opened the front door.

  “Not a morning person?” Vance was as unruffled as ever, while I both looked and felt like shit. I’d taken a fair beating yesterday. Even the healing spell hadn’t got rid of all my bruises. And I’d stayed up late trying to get through to Larsen and helping Isabel set up more tracking spells to find the changeling.

  “A bunch of faeries tried to torch my house,” I said. “Knocked the wards out. You didn’t see anything odd outside yesterday, did you?”

  He frowned. “No. Who did it?”

  I hesitated. He knew too much already. The last thing I needed was to give him more ammunition. More reasons to depend on him. I glanced over my shoulder to find Isabel had retreated into her room, leaving me alone with Vance. Traitor.

  “Fire imps got my address somehow.” I evaded the question. “They torched Isabel’s flowerbeds. Did you find those two mages?”

  “No.”

  Funny how he could pack so much meaning into one word. Specifically, No, but I’m going to find who’s responsible and eviscerate them.

  “You could have come to me,” I said. “We have a dozen new tracking spells ready.”

  “Something in the faeries’ magic is blocking them,” he said. “Every one. We’ve already requested help from the coven and found nothing.”

  “Seriously?” Dammit. “Isabel and I have DNA from the second changeling, from the necromancer family’s house. We were going to track it down.”

  “You planned to use a tracking spell now?” He looked over my shoulder into the flat.

  Oh, all right. “You can come in, but we’re not activating anything in here.” My heartbeat quickened inexplicably as he followed me inside. The flat looked even worse than yesterday, if possible.

  Vance raised his eyebrows at the sight of a dozen spell circles set up on the floor surrounded by various spell ingredients. “What’s this about?”

  “Tripwires,” I said. “I’d watch your footing in here. We’re making anti-faerie defences for the flat. I was thinking of something that makes their testicles fall off.”

  “Wouldn’t just killing them be a deterrent to the others?”

  I smirked. “That wouldn’t leave anyone alive to tell tales, would it?”

  “You’re more vindictive than I gave you credit for,” he said. “What’s that?” He indicated the map I’d left out on the table.

  “A possible connection. We might have a theory on the pattern of the disappearances.”

  “Show me.”

  “Still forgetting to say ‘please’?”

  “Two of my people are missing,” he said, his jaw tight with anger. He leaned over the map and studied it. “The Ley Line. The factory lies over a key point?”

  “You know about those?”

  “Of course. Doesn’t the Ley Line give you the ability to use magic? That’s how it goes for witches.”

  I didn’t miss the accusation in his tone. A reminder of the lies I’d told him.

  “I guess. I’ve never been away from it, so I wouldn’t know. It doesn’t give you your power, right?” That’s why I’d thought he didn’t know. Mages were the only magic users who could use their ability whether they were near a Ley Line or not.

  “No, but I find it useful to keep track.” He pointed to the factory on the map. “Like this. A key point is a place where enough energy can be hidden that even the necromancers couldn’t tell someone was summoning the dead.”

  “And… and hiding someone from a tracking spell?”

  “Perhaps,” he said. “My plan is to take a team over there today to search for my people.”

  “And what the Lady of the Tree said? She implied someone could have opened a gateway to Faerie right there. I didn’t think it was possible, but if you can hide someone…”

  Could the children have been there in the factory the whole time? The Lady had said they’d already left this realm…

  My phone went off. Larsen. Of all the timing. “My boss is calling me.”

  “Make it quick,” he said. “We’re leaving now."

  “Might not have a choice,” I muttered.

  Vance clearly wasn’t going anywhere. I moved away from him, phone in hand. “Larsen.” I didn’t quite succeed at packing the word with menace the way Vance could.

  “Have you found those changelings yet?” asked Larsen, his voice practically vibrating with anger.

  “We’re working on it,” I said. “Somebody sent fire imps after me and moved the protective wards outside my house. Know anything about that?”

  A pause. “Bring those changelings in by tomorrow, Ivy, or you’ll regret it.”

  And he hung up. I stared in disbelief. “Fuck me sideways.”

  Vance raised an eyebrow. “What happened?”

  “My boss blamed me for the changelings again,” I said. And apparently overreacted like hell. He’d set the faeries on me for this? “I’m in the shit if I don’t catch them.” I sighed. “Do you want to take one of the other tracking spells with you? You can go after your people and I’ll deal with this.” Finally, an ironclad excuse to get rid of him.

  So why did the idea of heading after the changelings without Vance being there fill me with trepidation? I worked alone. That’s how I operated best.

  Vance studied me. “I can send someone to assist you, if you like.”

  I shook my head. “I’ll be fine with Isabel.”

  Vance gave me a long look I couldn’t read, then swept off.

  Isabel and I set up the tracking spell outside the house this time, not willing to turn the place into Faerie Central again.

  “Did he have any theories?” she asked, walking around the circle. It’d burn a hole in the lawn, but I’d rather that than burn a hole in the carpet instead. The lawn was wrecked anyway, thanks to those fire imps.

  “Only that the energies around the key point on the Ley Line might have been hiding his missing people,” I said. “The Ley Line must be the connecting factor. It boosts necromancers’ powers, too, and faeries and half-bloods can’t survive away from it.”

  It had to be the place to open a gate into Faerie. But was that the faeries’ plan? If the children were in Faerie already, it didn’t sound like opening a door there was their ultimate aim.

  Unless they’d set their sights on bigger things. Like bringing every faerie from the Grey Vale to Earth.

  Enough paranoia, Ivy. First things first.

  The lines of the spell circle flared up and Isabel stepped forward, hands outstretched. A frown puckered her forehead as blue light
danced up and down her arms. Then she moved back.

  “That can’t be right,” she said. “The spell says the changeling’s just around the corner from here.”

  I stared a moment. “Are you sure?”

  “The spells never lie.”

  “Great.” I drew in a breath. “Better get ready for another fight.”

  “I’ll make sure the wards are functioning,” she said. “There are some nasty tripwires if Larsen comes back.”

  “Well, that’s something,” I muttered, going back inside. Weapons. I needed weapons, and offensive spells ready for battle. If this was another trap, I’d be prepared this time. I’d rather take out the threat before anything else tried to torch our house.

  “You ready?” I asked Isabel, sheathing two more daggers at my waist. “If I ever find out how the faeries got our address, I’ll kill whoever gave it out.”

  “Same here,” said my normally chilled out best friend, who wielded an impressive collection of explosive spells. She slid on two more armbands, both for protection, and joined me at the door.

  Once outside the flat, I immediately spotted the blue light flaring like a beacon from behind the house on the road’s corner.

  “Damn. Your spell was right.”

  I ran ahead, readying Irene. The blood of last night’s imps had barely dried and the blade gleamed wickedly as I prepared to fight whatever Faerie threw at us this time.

  I’d kill Larsen. If not for him, the faeries wouldn’t have found out my address.

  A familiar smell slapped me in the face. Decay. Death. Faerie blood.

  Dread wrapped itself around my body like a net choking the life from me. My legs locked into place, my skin going clammy. No. Not here.

  “Ivy?” Isabel waved a hand in front of my face.

  “Hang on,” I croaked. “Let me go first.”

  She gave me an odd look, but apparently my expression convinced her. I moved in front, pushing my legs to walk as normal. My whole body tensed at the sight of blood spattering the pavement.

  The first body lay by a parked car. The changeling had been torn in two, its pointed teeth hanging from its gaping mouth. Blood dripped over the pavement’s edge into the road.