Master and Apprentice

by Bateman, Sonya

  “Just take me to her,” I murmured, hoping she didn’t have super hearing like Ian. “Act like you’re on her side.”

  “Fuck no.” Kit’s grip on my arm tightened. “She’ll tear you apart.”

  “No, she won’t. I’ll handle this.” Damn. I’d hoped the twins were a little more of an equal match than this. My only shot now was to hope she still wanted to be impregnated. And if she did, I’d probably have to go through with it.

  The thought of having sex with Vaelyn didn’t exactly inspire my libido.

  “Do what he says,” Lynus whispered. “We got no other choice, Kit.”

  Kit glared at his brother, but he moved.

  I half-stumbled along between them and pushed hard in a desperate bid to heal before I had to face the crazy bitch. For a few moments I succeeded. Despite the gallons of sweat pouring off me, I felt torn flesh closing and shattered bones mending. Then the heat fizzled out of me and everything stopped.

  Apparently, I didn’t have unlimited power.

  I wasn’t healed all the way. My body felt like a heavy punching bag at a public gym—sweat stained, thoroughly beaten, weighed down and full of sand. I still bled in half a dozen places. I hadn’t lost my connection with the earth, but I couldn’t draw anything in. The tap was broken.

  Vaelyn dumped Calvin alongside Ian with a sneer. At least she looked like she’d taken some damage. Her face was bruised, her robes torn and filthy. Blood soaked one arm and dripped from her sodden sleeve. “Well done, children,” she said. Her voice didn’t betray the least trace of the pain she must’ve felt. “You will be rewarded. And as for you, clever little mongoose—you will die.”

  “Thought you wanted to fuck,” I said.

  Her gaze went diamond hard. “I would no more trust you to keep your word than … wait.” She waved a hand. “Drop him.”

  Lynus and Kit complied, though it took Kit a few seconds longer to let go. I couldn’t have stayed on my feet if I tried. I hit the ground on hands and knees, felt the impact like knives through the open wounds. My palms tingled at the contact. And my hands sank a few centimeters into the dirt.

  I frowned. Maybe it was all the blood soaking the ground, along with an extreme desire to be anywhere but here, prostrate in front of a crazy Morai who wanted to screw me and kill me, or just kill me. A reflexive and aborted attempt to transport myself. Whatever it was, though, it didn’t restore the power tap. No warmth seeped into me. Only chills.

  “You seem weak enough.” Vaelyn stepped forward. Not close enough for me to grab her, I noticed. “Let us find out if you are. Defend yourself, thief.” She pointed.

  A flame curse surged through me.

  I screamed and writhed on the ground. Even if I had the strength, I couldn’t have stopped this. Hadn’t figured out a way to deflect a flame curse. At least it wasn’t real fire. But it still fucking hurt.

  After a moment, Vaelyn cut it off with a gesture. I gasped and went limp. “Interesting reaction,” she said. “Perhaps you are spent. And we do want all that power for ourselves. Yes. An earthbound child.” She ran a hand absently down her bloodied arm and wrung the sleeve. A thin stream of blood drizzled to the ground. “And then we’ll destroy you. You should not have crossed us, Gavyn Donatti.”

  You would’ve killed me anyway. I didn’t manage to say it because I’d caught sight of something that froze my tongue in shock.

  Alongside Vaelyn, where her blood had dripped, a faint red line glowed beneath the grass.

  The luminous strip curved behind her, then under Ian and Calvin, tapering off near the forest line. It faded fast. I wouldn’t have seen it if I wasn’t lying on the ground—but I was willing to bet that if I’d been in the air, the line would’ve formed part of a djinn symbol. It might’ve been an impressive sight. The biggest blood tell ever.

  She’d tethered herself to the whole goddamn mountain.

  “Rise.”

  By the time I realized she’d spoken in djinn, my body had started obeying the command. I could no more have stopped myself from standing than I could’ve commanded the sun to come up. My limbs moved in stiff, awkward jerks, hauling me to my feet with unnatural and painful motions. I ended up with legs spread slightly and arms held out from my sides.

  Vaelyn looked me up and down. An awful smile curled her mouth. “Children. Strip him.”

  I struggled, but my efforts went no further than my thoughts. I couldn’t even twitch a finger. This wasn’t a paralysis spell, though. I could still talk. “You don’t have to do this,” I said. “I’m a big boy. I can undress myself.”

  “Undoubtedly. But we won’t allow you the opportunity to use your weapons again.” Her gaze drifted lower. “Save one.”

  Ugh.

  Lynus moved first, peeling my jacket off with brisk efficiency. He tossed it to Kit, circled me, and plucked the guns from my waistband to shove in his own. The vest followed. My shirt wasn’t coming off easily, the way she had my arms arranged, so he tore it apart at the bullet holes. Everything in his stance and motion suggested that he hated me as much as Vaelyn did, and looked forward to my humiliation. Only his eyes said he wasn’t enjoying this.

  When he went for my pants, I closed my eyes. At least she hadn’t taken control of my eyelids. The last thing I wanted to see right now was my own tool spring to attention at Vaelyn’s command. It’d be more than enough to feel it.

  Once everything was down around my ankles, he couldn’t go any further. But Vaelyn had that under control. Invisible strings jerked through my right leg. The knee bent, the foot moved back and lifted a few inches from the ground. If I’d tried this pose on my own, I would’ve done a face-plant in a half second flat.

  Lynus went behind me and yanked off boot, ankle holster, sock, pants, drawers. Right foot down, left foot up. He repeated the process while I tried to banish the idea that Vaelyn was making me do the hokeypokey. The obscene version. I really didn’t want to think about what I’d have to stick in next.

  Naked, bleeding, and cold in places I didn’t know it was possible to feel cold, I waited for her next move. It didn’t take long.

  “Lie down.”

  I couldn’t help trying to resist. Didn’t do a damn bit of good. I went down to my knees, then flat on my back. The night sky filled my vision. The clouds had begun to part, and a single bright star shone directly above me, framed in ragged edges of darker gray.

  Star light, star bright …

  Jazz. Cyrus. I thought I’d managed not to think about them through this nightmare, but they’d always been there. At the back of my mind, on the tip of my tongue. In a safe corner of my heart. With me, and still so far away that I couldn’t touch them.

  First star I see tonight …

  The image burned in my head—Jazz holding Cy at the window, the two of them communicating in ways too deep for words. I clung to the mental picture, desperate to claim a different reality from the one I found myself in.

  I wish I may, I wish I might …

  Something stirred deep in my groin. More invisible strings, pulling and tugging me erect against my will. The feeling was indescribably awful. This went far beyond humiliation. It was utterly dehumanizing. I focused on Jazz and Cyrus completely, until it almost felt like it was happening to someone else. She could control my body. Not my mind.

  Have the wish I wish tonight.

  I wished for this to be over, before the safe place in my head evaporated completely and forced me to experience everything.

  The thunder of gunfire threw my thoughts into pandemonium. Before I could speculate on who, what, and where, Vaelyn collapsed half on top of me—and I realized I could move again. She’d been shot in the back. I had one chance to finish this. Ignoring the pain movement brought, I flipped her to the ground, pinned her beneath me. And caught a glimpse of the shooter.

  Lynus, grim and shaking, still held the Glock out in both hands, at once weapon and shield.

  Vaelyn clung to consciousness like a yapper dog fastened to an ankle. Her
weak struggles gained momentum. I clamped a hand over her mouth, just in case, and fought to remember Ian’s brief lesson. Her blood, check. With her back to the ground, it’d be saturated. I could see the faint glow again from the curved line of the tell.

  My blood—not enough. Not for a tether the size of a mountain.

  I glanced over my shoulder. “Shoot me.”

  Shocked silence, a shake of the head from Lynus. Vaelyn bucked. She almost threw me off.

  “Damn it, shoot me! In the arm or something. Hurry!”

  Lynus still didn’t move. So Kit yanked the other gun from his waistband and fired.

  The bullet tore through my upper arm, shattering a bone or two on the way. Blood and flesh spouted from the exit wound. Some of it splashed Vaelyn, but most of the spray baptized the ground. I hoped it was enough.

  And now, the spell. I couldn’t access the earth, but I still had some djinn magic left. And that was the kind I needed.

  “Ana lo sijin na’ar, nee halam akiir lo’ani.”

  The fury in her eyes took a rapid 180 dive into horror. Her struggles increased—but she was sinking into the ground. I scrambled off her before I could get sucked in too.

  The area around her burst into cold blue swamp fire. Tendrils of luminescent smoke wove themselves from the false flames and wrapped around her, plunging into the earth to burst through on the other side and wrap again. Like phantom spiders, they encased her completely in a quivering cocoon.

  Blue fire licked around the edges of the light-mummified body. The quivering intensified, and Vaelyn’s bound form convulsed and bucked. Every time part of her rose from the ground, a new tendril spun from the flames and lashed her back down. A thin, plaintive cry escaped the bonds when she started sinking into the dirt.

  She went under with a resounding pop. The pool of blue light that remained dwindled to a single pinpoint, flickered, and vanished.

  The instant she was gone, Calvin gasped and bolted up to his knees. His head swiveled in my direction, and his eyes looked like they were about to squirt from his skull.

  I tried to nod an acknowledgment—game over; goodbye, evil twin—but my body decided I’d had enough of being conscious. I was out before I hit the ground.

  The first thing I saw when I opened my eyes was Vaelyn. Hopeless panic ramped my heart up to hummingbird speed before I realized she was wearing black robes, and was not a she. “Calvin,” I muttered. “You really need to stop looking like your sister.”

  “I’m afraid I can’t help that, apprentice. Though perhaps I shouldn’t call you that anymore.” He offered a small smile. “You’ve … progressed.”

  “To what, flunky?” Christ, everything still hurt. At least it wasn’t agonizing anymore. I just felt like I’d been hit by a train.

  “I’m not as good as you think,” I said. “I lost the earth-magic thing near the end there. Got any theories on that?”

  His brow furrowed. “You’d been using it constantly, correct?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Then it’s likely you reached your physical capacity to handle the power. The earth’s energy is virtually unlimited, but your body’s not.”

  My body. Which was still on display. “Um. Can I have my pants back?”

  “Of course.”

  Someone produced my clothes. I struggled into the pants, stopped to catch my breath, and decided the rest could wait awhile. “So, you ended up doing that fertility thing after all,” I said.

  “More or less.” Calvin smirked. “I had no choice, once Vaelyn learned of Mercy. But I didn’t exactly perform the ba’isis. I’d hoped to have you destroy both of us before she discovered the deception. However, I must say I like your plan better.”

  I flashed an exhausted grin. “Me too.”

  A quick appraisal of things revealed a small, huddled group of scions near the bodies of Luke and Jackson. Neither Lynus nor Kit was among them. They and two others were trying to heal Ian. And not having much luck.

  “I have to help them.” I tried to get up, and almost made it. Calvin boosted me the rest of the way, and I found I could stand on my own. “Thanks,” I said. “You healed me, didn’t you? I thought you were spent.”

  A dark look crossed his features. “I was, until you neutralized Vaelyn.”

  “Whoa. How did she—”

  The slam of a door cut me off. Mercy strode from the cabin and flew down the steps, with a dented frying pan in one hand and fire in her eyes. Tory staggered out behind her, holding his head like he had the world’s worst hangover. Blood trickled between his fingers.

  “Oh, shit. You’d better go calm her down,” I said. “And tell Tory not to hurt anyone.” I suppressed a laugh. Like he could if he wanted to. He didn’t look capable of swatting a fly. Obviously, Mercy had something to do with that.

  Calvin nodded and practically ran for it. He managed to reach her before she brained anyone else.

  I left him to handle things and turned my attention to Ian, expecting to find him in bad shape. Reality exceeded my expectations. He’d been shot so many times he looked like raw hamburger. One of his arms had been just about severed at the shoulder. And he’d taken a bullet to the head.

  For the first time, I could truly sympathize with him. I’d been savaged beyond the point of human death twice in an hour. It wasn’t fun. He’d been through this countless times in the past few centuries—and this time, he’d done it for me.

  Lynus sent me a haggard look when I approached. “You sure he can’t die?” he said. “Looks pretty fuckin’ dead to me.”

  “He’s not,” I whispered. Jesus, what a mess. My eyes burned looking at him. What if I couldn’t heal him this time? Would he just stay like that, bloody and broken and gray, forever? “Tell them to stop,” I said, indicating the two scions working ineffective spells over him.

  Lynus nodded. “Payton, Jimmy. Leave off awhile. Clear out of the way.”

  They pulled back and strayed over to Kit, who sat cross-legged and glassy eyed on the ground a few feet away. He stirred when they sat next to him, and looked over at me. “Did you kill her? Val, I mean,” he said in scratchy tones.

  “No. She’s alive, but powerless. I sealed her away inside the mountain.”

  “For how long?”

  “Forever.” Or until someone broke her out again. I wouldn’t voice that possibility, though. They were freaked out enough as it was.

  The younger of the other two, who looked right around Kit’s age, broke out a grin. “That was some shit,” he said. “Yankin’ her down in the ground like that. Hey, you gonna do that to Father too?”

  “Shut up, Jimmy.” The other one, Payton, looked exhausted. “The old man’ll probably hear you flappin’ all the way out here.”

  Jimmy’s smile vanished.

  “Some of the elders left,” Lynus said. “They’ll report back to Father, tell him where y’all are.”

  I did a quick mental rewind. They’d left just after I attacked Vaelyn and failed the first time. Hopefully, they didn’t know I’d taken her down. If we were lucky, Nurien would assume she could take care of herself.

  Of course, neither Ian nor I had much in the luck department now. We were surrounded by Morai we didn’t intend to kill.

  I knelt next to Ian. The whole contact thing was pointless, but I tried anyway, pressing both palms against the least damaged spots I could find. I expected nothing and got it.

  A choked curse in djinn erupted behind me. I glanced back to find Tory standing there pale faced and furious. A huge knotted bruise stood out on his forehead, and blood matted his hair on one side. “What the hell happened?” he demanded.

  “Ian saved my ass.” I turned away so he wouldn’t see me laughing. “What happened to you?” I asked, knowing damned well who’d knocked him down a few pegs.

  There was a pause. “Your crazy friend hit me with a frying pan,” he finally said.

  Well, nobody could say Mercy wasn’t resourceful.

  Tory came around and squatted at I
an’s opposite side. “How long’s he been gone?”

  “Not sure. Awhile.”

  “Damn.” He reached out with a trembling hand and brushed some of the hair away from Ian’s face. “Can you heal him?”

  “Don’t know yet.” I’d have to hope I could get to the earth magic again. I gave a tentative prod, and felt relief along with the familiar warmth. But when I directed it toward Ian and looked for his points, I found nothing.

  I tried again, longer this time. Everything inside him was dark.

  “He’s so far gone. I can’t …” I let out a sigh. Cyrus wasn’t here, and the thing we’d done before wouldn’t work with anyone else. I could think of only one other possibility. “Maybe if we give him some blood,” I said.

  “That won’t be necessary.”

  I looked back. Calvin was crossing the yard, with a protective arm draped around Mercy. “I can heal him, if you’ll help me,” he said.

  “Heal?” Mercy snorted. “Shit, Calvin, you’re full of crazy today. First I find out you ain’t blind, then y’all are magic, and now you’re sayin’ you c’n heal dead people.” Her tone stayed light enough, but she’d gone pale and kept her gaze averted from Ian’s body, like she’d go insane if she looked for too long.

  I noticed Brother Calvin didn’t take offense at her language.

  “He’s not dead. He’s djinn.” He rubbed her arm gently and disentangled from her. “So, apprentice. Will you help me?”

  “Hey, I’m willing to try anything.” I stood and moved a few steps back. “But I don’t know how much help I’m gonna be. I don’t think I can hold anything for long.”

  “That’s all right. I’ll provide the power.”

  I frowned at him. “How’d you get this much mojo all of a sudden?”

  “Vaelyn.” A fresh jolt of fury infused his features. “She performed the rohii’et on me years ago. Unlike your bond, ours was unequal. It strengthened her and crippled me.”

  “So that’s why you didn’t heal yourself after the fire, then,” I said.

  “Yes. I was weakened until you sealed her. Which was, by the way, brilliant on your part. Now it seems I possess her power along with mine, since she’s unable to use it.”