Blood of a Phoenix (The Nix Series Book 2)

by Shannon Mayer

I lifted Dinah and aimed her at Vivian’s left eye. “We are leaving.”

  “Brave Phoenix, normal girl taking on the abnormal world . . . did you never wonder how you did it when no other normal could duplicate your kill list? You know they tried, don’t you, after you left? Even Simon here tried. But none could come close to your record, to your ability to kill with speed and ferocity. To survive anything.”

  Her words wove around me and I knew she was trying to spell me but I didn’t move. Something about the words . . . resonated in what was left of my soul. “What of it?”

  She smiled. “I see I have your attention. Maybe I was too hard on you. Would you be willing to partner with me?”

  I burst out laughing, and almost squeezed the trigger as a result. “You’ve got to be fucking kidding me?”

  “No joke. I am what I am, a creature of opportunity if nothing else. I see an opportunity to align myself with you, Phoenix. I will take you to Talia. No more searching for her. I will take you directly to her.”

  “Don’t do it,” Simon warned. I didn’t dare take my eyes off Vivian.

  “Simon, what is that croc doing?”

  “Seems to be sleeping.”

  Vivian’s eyes were sleepy. “I took his life force. He’s not sleeping. He’s dead.”

  “Well, I’ll just let go of this then,” Simon muttered and then a large thump echoed like a tail had been dropped to the wooden floors.

  I didn’t lower Dinah or Eleanor. “Sorry, but I don’t trust you. I think we’ll find Talia on our own.”

  “You’ll never find her, not even with Simon.” Vivian smiled at me, her teeth showing. “She’s a Hider who would make your Zee look like a child in his abilities.”

  A chill swept through me. Talia was a Hider as well as a code breaker? “How does anyone find her then?”

  “They don’t. She goes to them if a rumor reaches her. How long will a rumor take that you are looking for her, Phoenix? A week? A month? A year?” Vivian held her stump up to me, blood still flowing down her arm.

  Fucking Magelore and her mind games. I didn’t know if I fully trusted her but I also knew there was truth in her words. I could hear it and I hated that she was being straight with me. Easier if she was lying and we could just leave her here.

  “If you don’t mind. I’m going to move to the bed. If I’d known you were so attached to Simon, I wouldn’t have taken him.” Vivian smiled at me, showing all her teeth once more. More like baring her teeth.

  I took a step back, allowing her to pull herself up with her one hand. “Simon, any activity out the window?”

  “You mean like any more crocs falling from the roof?”

  I nodded. “Something like that.”

  “Nope.”

  Vivian laid back on her pillows and closed her eyes. “You want to know what I mean about you, about your blood.”

  I barked a laugh. “Not really. I want to find Talia.”

  Vivian blinked at me. “You truly don’t want to know?”

  “No.” I tucked Eleanor into her holster, but kept Dinah out.

  Dinah shivered in my hand. “Yeah, I want to shoot her again. It’s fun.”

  Vivian’s eyes went to Dinah. “I’d heard stories about your guns. May I hold one?”

  I took two strides and jammed Dinah against the side of Vivian’s head. “I suggest you either take us to Talia, or I’ll make sure you don’t move for a very long time. I might not be able to produce lightning, but how about getting tied up in a set of power lines? I could make it happen in about five minutes.”

  Her skin paled at a rate that surprised even me. She was . . . afraid of me.

  I wasn’t sure how I felt about that. Having minor abnormals fear me was normal, but a Magelore? One who had me in her grasp?

  “I will have to come with you. Talia trusts me. She will see me and let us in.”

  “How can I be sure you won’t double cross us?”

  Her grin was slow, and whatever fear she had for me was gone in a flash of her pearly white, razor-sharp teeth.

  “You can’t.”

  Chapter Eighteen

  I stared down at the bleeding and weakened Vivian, wondering just how bad of an idea it was to allow her to lead us to Talia. I had nothing to threaten Vivian with, other than her life. I just didn’t know if that would be enough to keep her in line. Magelores were so good at double crossing others, it was second nature to them.

  I leaned over her, my eyes narrowing as I spoke. “You understand that I will kill you if you betray us? That if you hurt Simon or try to fuck me over, I will pull you apart piece by piece and make you wish I’d finished feeding you to your croc?” I reached up and grabbed the stump of her arm, digging my thumb into it. “Are we clear?”

  She swallowed hard. “You are what they say you are. I am . . . aware of the deal I am making. I will not betray you.”

  I tightened my hold on her stump and shook it lightly. “Good. Let’s get the fuck out of here then.”

  She blanched. “Now? It is halfway through the night. It will take that much time to get to Talia and the sunlight weakens me—”

  “Then I suggest you move, and hope your directions do not get us lost.” I finally put Dinah away, though my fingers itched to hold both guns steady on the Magelore. Just in case.

  Vivian stood and I stepped in behind her. “Lead the way.”

  “I am weak from blood loss, please help me.” She turned and looked over her shoulder at me. Fucking abnormals and their goddamn freaky-assed needs. I was not giving her blood, not even if she dropped in the middle of this trip. I stepped up beside her and slid an arm around her waist, all but picking her up as I strode toward the window. She stumbled and tried to fight me, though her efforts were weak. “No, wait, what are you doing?”

  “The window will not get us lost in a fucking maze of spells and myst. I am no fool, Vivian. I know that you would slow us down and try to stop us before we even start.”

  “I promised not to betray you. And I need to feed before we go.” She struggled a little.

  “Not good enough in my world,” I said as I stepped around the croc and looked at Simon. His eyes were on me like he was seeing me for the first time.

  “You’re really going to bring a sickly, angry, just blew her hand off with your gun, Magelore with us?” The arch of his one eyebrow told me he was trying not to be afraid of her. Maybe he was more irritated with my choice than anything else.

  “She can speed things up. It took us all day to trace Talia here. We don’t have months to get this job done. I can’t wait on a rumor.”

  He frowned. “It’ll take a couple weeks, tops.”

  “We don’t have that much time. And you and I both know if there is an ounce of truth about Talia being able to Hide that well, it could be even longer,” I said. “Romano knows I know he has Bear. He won’t hold back now, Simon. We need to get Genzo and his Ikimono dealt with, and hold Mancini’s feet to the fire or we will lose Bear. That is unacceptable.” I hoisted Vivian to the edge of the railing and then pushed her off without ceremony. She landed in a crumple of her skirts, her head whipping around to glare up at me. I gave her a wave.

  Simon rushed to the railing. “Oh, now why didn’t you tell me you were going to do that?”

  “Why, so you could watch?” I swung my legs over the railing, then jumped.

  Laughter followed me. “Well, yeah.”

  I landed in a crouch, the soft ground cushioning the impact of my leap. Vivian sat on the ground, brushing her hair out of her eyes. She blinked up at me. “I don’t want to like you, Phoenix, but you are a woman who goes after what she wants with a single-minded determination that is hard not to admire.”

  I reached for her, and helped her to her feet. Her stump had stopped bleeding and a thin layer of skin had grown over it. “Get up. And save your words. I won’t change my mind about you. You’re a Magelore, and I have no doubt you will try to kill me the first chance you get.”

  “Ah, so then.
You understand.” She nodded. “Good.”

  Once more I slung an arm around her waist and hurried her toward our little truck. The last thing I needed was for more of her minions, or the Shadow’s, to make an appearance. Simon was right behind me.

  “You driving?” He glanced at me.

  “No, you drive. Vivian can ride shotgun. I’ll ride in the back of the truck.”

  He nodded. “Got it.”

  Thank god, I didn’t have to explain to him why. Vivian, on the other hand . . . “Why will you not sit up front?”

  “Because she wants to have her guns pointed at the back of your head on the off chance you decide to pull something stupid.” Simon gave her a salute as he went around to the driver’s side and let himself in.

  I shoved Vivian into the passenger’s side and then hopped into the truck bed. The window between us didn’t open, a solid piece of glass. I drove my elbow into it, shattering the pane. It sprayed over the back of Vivian and down onto the seat. She glared back at me and I pointed Dinah at her.

  “Just in case.”

  “I thought perhaps you were kidding,” Vivian drawled as she settled herself into her seat, brushing the chunky glass out of her hair and off her shoulders.

  “Strap in,” I said.

  “A car crash cannot kill me,” she said. “Though I am touched by your concern.”

  “Do it,” I said softly, and even I heard the danger in my voice.

  Vivian put on her seatbelt. “Fine. If it makes you happy.”

  Simon caught my eyes in the rearview mirror. “We good?”

  “Go.” I reached down and gripped the bare edge of the back window.

  Vivian pointed at the driveway. “Turn right and head to the east. Talia lives near the Jungle.”

  I had to fight to keep myself still. We had been so close, and yet we’d not thought to use Simon’s tracing abilities. Damn it all. But would he have even found her? I suspected that much was true, that Talia could have Hidden right under our noses.

  Simon drove, not needing direction to get to the Jungle. We both knew all too well where that piece of land was.

  “Phoenix,” Vivian drawled, “may I ask what your mother’s name was? I saw in your mind that she passed a number of years ago.”

  I didn’t so much as twitch. “Why?”

  “Curious if I know her is all.” Vivian rolled her head back and forth. “Your blood is uncommon and very few families carry the abilities you have. For her to have died, I am . . . wondering as to the method of her passing.”

  I rolled my eyes. I knew a scam when I heard one. “She got sick and died. Cancer does that to a person.” I paused. “What kind of abilities would that be exactly? Don’t you think Zee would have known? That Simon here would have been able to tell if I was abnormal? Or that perhaps, just perhaps, my father who is renowned for wanting children with abilities would have worked harder to keep me around?”

  “Ah, but what if they were buried deeply?” Vivian asked softly. “What if they are the kind of abilities that do not flash and dazzle like mine or a Hider’s. Or even a Tracer’s? What if they are the kind of abilities meant for one thing?”

  One thing . . . I did not bite at the bait she dangled in front of me, though a cold sweat broke out along my spine despite the cold wind whipping around me. “I am not an abnormal.”

  Her laughter was well timed and I had to fight keep Dinah still in my hand. I noted she and Eleanor stayed silent through the exchange. “You keep telling yourself that, Phoenix. Perhaps one day it will be true.”

  Simon cleared his throat. “I’ll bite. What do you think she is, if she is an abnormal? Because I got nothing on her, and I traced her for a year before I stumbled on her home. There was nothing abnormal about her. Zee, yes. But her and her kid and husband, I got nothing.”

  Vivian let out a sigh. “Her abilities are very deep. None but a Magelore like myself could even detect them. Seeing as I can glimpse souls, and see the color and magic they all hold. Some humans have a touch of magic, a long-ago ancestor that was an abnormal, but nothing like Phoenix here, who burns with the magic in her blood.”

  I narrowed my eyes. “Still just a bunch of vague-ass comments. You sound like a human trying to pass themselves off as an abnormal, as a psychic who is about to give me a dire warning to not cross the bridge at the end of the lane for fear my fate will be sealed.”

  She laughed as though I had not just mocked her. “Your kind, Phoenix, they are uncommon, perhaps in part because your ability does not manifest like other abnormals. Yours just . . . is. It exists, and once you realize what it is, I believe you could be the most dangerous abnormal I’ve ever met. I’ve heard old legends of your kind, but I never thought I’d actually meet one.”

  That cold sweat along my spine did not slow with her words. “Spit it out then, Magelore. Enough games.”

  “What you are has no name, Phoenix.” She turned her head slightly so her eyes met mine. “Those like you just are. Perhaps you will be the first to name it. Perhaps your mother knew something by calling you Phoenix.”

  I frowned and let the sarcasm drip from my mouth. “Sounds fucking terrifying.”

  Simon laughed and tapped the steering wheel with his fingers. “Well, what is it she is supposed to be able to do? Because I’ve been with her for a couple weeks now, and I have seen no abnormal abilities. I’ve seen her in fights where some abilities would have been damn nice to have on hand. But alas, nada.” Simon had no shame in his questions, and for that I was grateful. I would have asked Vivian eventually, but my world was currently on a need-to-know basis. And right then, I needed to find Talia so I could take the next step toward getting my son back.

  “What has she faced since you have been with her, what challenges, what dire situations?” Vivian asked.

  Simon glanced back at me and I gave him a nod to go on. He cleared his throat. “The truck accident that killed her husband, several hitmen, the Stick Man, a burning factory, being lit on fire, we were recently blown out of the sky which resulted in a parachute fall with a single parachute between the two of us, the Shadow’s minions, an undead croc, and you. So pretty much the usual.”

  Vivian laughed again. “And how did she handle all of that? Like a human? Losing her mind in panic despite her training? Did she back away from any of it?”

  He shrugged. “Fine, I guess. I mean, shit, we haven’t really slowed down and had a debrief.”

  “No, no, I mean . . . do her reactions to the events make you think she could not survive?”

  I frowned, trying to figure out just what she was trying to get at. “Your words aren’t exactly straightforward, so try again, Magelore.”

  A sigh slid from her. “Inside of you is an abnormal ability that came from your mother, if I am correct, and would pass from you to any child you would have.”

  Horror flickered through me. What if I’d given Bear something horrible, some abnormality that would draw him deeper into this world I’d fought so hard to leave? I would never forgive myself. No, that wasn’t possible because I was not an abnormal. I hunted them, I killed them, and occasionally I let one become my friend or, in Simon’s case, partner.

  But I was not one of them.

  “Spit it the fuck out!” I roared, fear and trepidation splicing me in half.

  “The ability to survive the unthinkable, Phoenix. Your body runs on instincts you don’t even realize you have to keep you alive, and your training only heightens those moments and your survival rate. It does not make you immune to bullets, or poison, or magic. But it will show you the way to escape any situation if you let it. If you embrace that side of you, your chance at surviving the impossible will increase a thousand-fold.”

  I looked at the two guns in my hands, wishing we were alone so I could ask them what they thought. But perhaps their silence was as damning as any quickly given denial.

  My throat tightened but I spoke through it. “Simon, you ever heard of an abnormal like what she’s talking about?
”

  I expected him to deny it, too, to call her words bullshit. Or maybe, I just hoped he would laugh and say she was off her fucking rocker, a Magelore playing games with us.

  “Yeah, I did when I was a kid.” In the mirror, his eyebrows were furrowed with thought. “There was talk about an abnormal who was . . . invincible, but very rare. But looking back now, I think maybe they were talking about an abnormal like you. Not invincible, but deadly, and strong and so human, they didn’t need to hide like the rest of us. Because maybe even they didn’t know they were an abnormal.”

  “I am not an abnormal.” I said the words, but they were like ashes on my tongue. I knew how to detect a lie, even in myself. I swallowed hard as a roll of nausea made me struggle to keep what little food I had in my stomach.

  I made myself stare out the side of the truck when all I wanted to do was close my eyes and block the world out for a moment. The scenery flashed by; in the distance the Seattle skyline was backed by the still-snowcapped mountains of the Cascades. I let my mind wander through my memories, through the things I’d done and survived.

  I let myself go all the way back to my early training Zee had given me, and how I’d taken to it like a duck to water even though I’d been only twelve. How very impressed he’d been with the speed at which I learned. Then there was my first hunt before my sixteenth birthday, a feat unheard of in any circle, I later learned. Not even Mancini’s bad boys had started that early.

  And how on that first hunt for a vicious abnormal who’d tried to steal money from my father, I’d taken him down without a scratch. How on that hunt, I knew it was more than a test, that the abnormal I’d been sent after had done nothing wrong and was meant to kill me. There was no evidence of this, just a gut feeling. That and the fact there had been no money, and my father hadn’t asked for it when I’d come home.

  I’d ignored the orders to go in through the back door of the abnormal’s haunt and slid in through a second story window. I’d left with the abnormal’s half-blown-apart head in my bag, having taken him from behind while he waited for me to come through the back door, his back exposed to my guns.