by Jaymin Eve
His blade glowed with a vibrant blue flame: it was spelled with Eridie, magic that enhanced our fighting skills and increased the strength of our weapons. Seemed this magic dead zone had a few chinks in its armor. My ice blast had worked, so did spells on objects. Which gave me hope that I would find another chink to manipulate for my freedom.
At this point, the energy inside was just a small nub of ice, that seemed to have settled permanently into my center. At least it appeared the ice was keeping that inky darkness at bay, almost like the two energies were opposites, and neither wanted to be where the other was.
I really should have taken the time to question what was happening within my magic center, but Trevor had all of my attention. He turned to me as Gran strode away, heading right for the silvery portal. When my cousin opened his mouth, no doubt to start bragging, I slammed my knee right up into his groin. He must have seen it coming, because he twisted his body slightly and I missed a direct hit, but I still clipped his thigh, doubling him over.
Dredging up every memory of sparring classes, in a move which was a Jessa Lebron signature, I swung my leg around and cracked him in the head. It was easy as he was still half hunched over. His sword clattered across the lawn, resting about ten feet from us as he sprawled to his side. I didn’t waste a second, turning to sprint after Gran.
Footsteps pounded behind me. Shit, ass, shit. Trevor was already up and hurtling toward me. I had not expected to hurt him a lot – he was much bigger and more powerful than me – but was a bit of a head start too much to ask?
He caught me before I made it another five steps, pulling hard on the arm with the knife wound, and I used that momentum to swing my left elbow into his jaw, clocking him with enough force that my arm went numb. Now both arms were useless.
“You fucking bitch, I was going to give you a break and put you back undamaged, but now I think I’ll take my time with you.”
Holding me in place, he cocked his elbow and jabbed me hard in the face. I saw stars for a second, managing to shake it off in time to see another straight shot coming right for me. It slammed into my cheek with enough force to break bones, and I was launched backwards. My head slammed to the hard ground and darkness burst behind my eyes. My head immediately began to throb.
A heavy weight landed across me; rough hands tore at my clothing. What in the hell? He was going to rape me? As I had that thought, he ripped through my cotton shirt to expose the dirty white bra beneath. His eyes locked on my breasts and he let out a low whistle.
“Let’s have a little fun before I lock you away.”
His hand covered my mouth as I opened it to scream. He then leaned in very close and whispered, “After all, we’re only second cousins, and you have a decent enough body.”
Bile burned my throat as my stomach rebelled. If I had any food in my gut I would have vomited, but all I could do was scream and heave as I fought his hold, to no avail. Nothing I did made any difference; he had me pinned, his hands strong and his body heavy.
Lips trailed down my collarbone, heading toward my breasts. He removed his hand from my mouth so he could grip my struggling body. “Don’t make me knock you out,” he warned. “I like the girls I take to be awake. I like the fear. It makes me feel powerful.”
“I’m going to kill you,” I said, and for the first time there was no rasp in my voice. I searched for the energy within me again, and the ice responded, but sluggishly, like it was being suppressed again; the dark tendrils felt intrigued … maybe even excited.
I didn’t like that darkness.
Trevor pressed his lips hard to mine. I opened my mouth to bite him, hoping to rip half his face off, but he lifted his head before I could. “Smile for me, pretty girl. In a few minutes you’ll be back in your cage, so enjoy this.”
“Minutes,” I scoffed, bravado trying to rear its head.
His scowl was back, and I jerked my head to avoid the hard slap. It clipped my cheek, then his hands were on my pants, fumbling with the buttons. I continued to fight and buck, desperation joining the nausea. I was not above calling for help. I started praying to the gods, to my family, to anyone who would listen.
I thought of and called for Tyson, for the wizard who owned my heart and soul, the wizard who had caused me pain, but who had also given me more joy and hope than I ever expected.
I called for my chosen mate.
Tyson! Please hear me. I am so sorry. I should never have left you.
My silent lament echoed out into the world, into the bond I had always felt but had never been able to touch. I let his arrogant, gorgeous face drift across my mind. That tousled auburn hair, eyes that were this delicious mix of gold and tawny and could tear me to pieces with just one look. If this was my last moment, I would spend it with him. My cousin could take a lot from me, but he could not take that.
Tyson Compass
“Some days I wonder how humans have managed to make it this far without completely perishing as a species.” My growled assertion had Jacob shaking his head, an amused grin tipping up the corners of his mouth. But I knew he agreed with me. Humans were a waste of oxygen.
Jacob leaned forward in his chair. “They’re certainly doing their best to wipe themselves out.”
Both of us were wedged uncomfortably into the too-small chairs, our legs pushing the table back. I was about a minute from losing my shit completely, the angry energy inside of me growing and none of my usual tricks were working to calm it. “How fucking long does it take to find an address?”
My guild contact worked for one of the top police departments in New York City. He had already supplied me with one address for Grace’s parents, which turned out to be a dead end. Now he was looking into her other family. She’d mentioned grandparents. They had visited them a lot when she was younger. I remembered her disappearing most summers.
“It’s only been two days since we started looking, Ty. I’m sure Grace is okay.” Jacob was doing nothing to reassure me. If anything, he was making it worse.
Swells of magic rose within me, and this time it felt even stronger than the last. My patience was running out. Jumping to my feet, I started pacing around the office. Thankfully, before I did something really stupid, like blast this room into tiny little pieces of brick and mortar, the door opened and Tony re-entered.
“Sorry for keeping you. The information was buried deeper than I expected.”
He didn’t sit. He slid a folder across to Jacob, before turning to me. He flinched just slightly as our gazes met; barely perceptible, but I could still tell we made him uncomfortable. Had he not been such an experienced officer, with many years of service and training with the guilds, no doubt he would not have been as contained.
“They’re in Wisconsin. Prairie Farm, Wisconsin, to be exact. There are rumors in the area of possible criminal activities going on at Grace’s grandparents’ farm. It’s strange, though. The family had years without a complaint, and then suddenly there have been a dozen or more in the last six months. Explosions, fires, vandalism. So far the local authorities have been unable to prove anything, but the timing is suspicious.”
I exchanged a glance with Jacob. He was wearing his usually overly-groomed façade, not a hair out of place. Typical fey. I could tell he wasn’t worried about a few fires or explosions. I wasn’t worried for us either, but for Grace I was terrified.
Tony continued: “I really don’t think it’s a good idea going in there blind. Give me a few days and I can reach out to my friends in that state. Get more information.”
I shook my head, already turning for the door. “Don’t worry about us. Thanks for your help.” Giving him a final nod, Jacob and I left the building.
Once we were back in the SUV, Jacob flipped open the top of the file, positioning it so that both of us could see inside. Bunched in a small bundle were photos, and as soon as Jacob spread them out across the cardboard folder, my blood heated and I lost control of my magic. Streetlights above us shattered, raining small pieces of glass ac
ross the windshield.
“We need to get there right now,” I growled, and for some reason my hands felt tingly, like I was holding a spell within them, though I wasn’t.
He flipped the folder closed again, covering up the photos of a dozen or so cows dead on their sides, with ancient diagrams carved into their flesh. Classic symbols of dark magic.
With supreme effort, I reined my energy back in, but the tingling in my hands remained. Heat flared off Jacob as he shifted into drive and hit the gas. The fire element of his fey power wanted to burst free, just as my magic had done. He didn’t burn us to a crisp though, so he was holding it together slightly better than me.
He bit out each word as he took a corner too fast: “It would take us days to drive there. We’re going to need a step-through.”
For this sort of magic we usually relied on Louis, but since he wasn’t around to help, it was going to have to be up to me. “Let’s go somewhere a little more private and I’ll see if I can figure it out.”
Jacob gave me a reasonably measured look, but like a good brother just continued driving at death defying speed, heading toward an industrial area. After a few minutes, we came to the perfect spot for some dark alley spells. By the time Jacob screeched to a halt, I was already out of the car. I didn’t bother to close the door. We’d never see this vehicle again.
We strode into the murky alley on the edge of an abandoned warehouse, more storage facilities littering the blocks around us. As we moved deeper inside, only small pinpricks of light filtered across the filth and muck that coated this forgotten area. I was already reaching for my energy, letting it surge up through my body.
It was a relief to give the tumultuous power inside of me a task. The lack of nature here made it hard; humans had almost destroyed everything with their need to build towers and cement jungles, but if you dug deep enough, the earth was still below.
As long as I could access the ley lines, I’d be fine.
“The power is strong here.” Jacob drew to a halt, tuned into his own form of magic. I used ley lines, he used elements. They were close enough that our powers hummed in tune to one another, but were not the same. “If there’s any spill-over from the step-through, it shouldn’t be noticed by humans.”
I expanded my senses to double check, but as far as I could tell, there were no beings in close proximity. No heart beats. No stench of human. Even the homeless didn’t frequent this particular alley, which meant it was likely the territory of someone with a lot of power. Human though, not supernatural, and with all of my stormy energy inside wanting a place to go, I almost wished the humans who “owned” this alley would show up. Bit of quick fun.
I needed to see clearly, so I ignited a wizard light in my hand and brought it close enough to scan the file from the police. I’d missed quite a bit in the brief look before, but I hoped there would be a photo more useful than the mutilated animals. I needed something to connect directly to the farm in Wisconsin.
An older, faded photo stilled my hand briefly: Grace’s grandparents, a tiny Grace nestled between them. She had the same beautiful heart-shaped face, her cheeks rounded, eyes sparkling. She looked happy. Loved.
“She will be okay.” Jacob brought me back to the present, helping me calm the raging torrent of fear and darkness inside of me. I couldn’t answer, though. There was still so much worry and doubt within me.
Putting that photo aside, I shuffled the rest, before finding what I needed. As I closed the folder, I tucked the baby picture of Grace into my pocket, but kept the other one in my hand. It was a clear shot of the farm, a broad view of the white house with its wraparound decks. Jacob took the folder from me so I could focus on the image. I knew the basics of opening a step-through. It was a simple doorway between two places, like taking a piece of string that was stretched between New York City and Wisconsin, and folding the middle of the string over and over again until the two ends were virtually side by side, closing the distance magically rather than physically. Locations didn’t change, but the two magical doorways got closer.
Theoretically, a strong sorcerer could open a step-through to any place in the world, and sorcerers with Louis’ strength could even open them to adjacent worlds. But I was young and inexperienced. I was up to date on the theoretical lessons of step-throughs, but hadn’t reached the practical part of the training yet. You weren’t supposed to try this level of advanced magic until you were a sorcerer. A lot of inexperienced wizards and witches had been lost in the magic ley lines.
“Not getting any younger here, Ty. Could you maybe have this moment with yourself at another time.”
I cracked Jacob in the back of the head, without taking my eyes from the image. It was a beautiful house – front porch with two rocking chairs, a huge parcel of flat, landscaped land stretched out around it – I could imagine Grace running there as a child. She had never been wild like Jessa, but there was something free and natural about her.
Using the photo as a target, I planted my feet firmly and let my energy descend through me and into the cement. It lingered around the thick, man-made floor, but I poured more power into it, and eventually it burst down into the dirt. I sucked in a deep breath as nature’s energy rocked back toward me. The Earth was limitless and self-sustaining, recharging itself as needed.
I felt my brothers’ presences too. Our bond was strong; our powers were mingling together, crossing race lines not normally crossed. I held on tightly to our bond as I expanded my senses, digging deeper and deeper into the earth, searching out a particularly strong source of energy, something I knew would not falter. It didn’t take long; the thrumming power called to my own, filled with all the elements you’d expect from Mother Nature: wind, rain, growth, life, death – a full circle of all things; without one there would be no other. For a moment I lost sight of who I was, insignificant and powerless before this sort of pure power.
Tyson! Braxton’s reprimand cut sharply through me.
Grace … I would not let her down.
Somehow I disconnected from the thrall of power and found the focus I had been lacking. Whispering ancient words, I asked for a doorway to Wisconsin. The farmhouse was a solid image in my head, and at no point did I let it falter. Swirls of power turned between my body and the energy I had buried deep, until eventually those swirls rose up through the dirt, through the cement, and returned to me. My eyes opened with a jerk … I hadn’t even realized they were closed.
A step-through appeared before us, and Jacob let out a snort of laughter and slapped me on the shoulder. “Nice to see you’re still living up to your overachiever status.”
Fucker. Sure, I might be a little competitive, but I failed to see how it was a bad thing. I took a step closer to the swirling mass. It was smaller than the ones I’d seen recently from Louis, but it appeared to be stable.
“You sure about this?” Jacob still had the folder clutched in his right hand. “Why do I get the feeling we’re about to end up in the middle of the sea?”
As I opened my mouth to answer, a scream caught my attention. Grace! Grace was in trouble. Without another thought, I charged through the magical portal; the energy surrounded me briefly before releasing me to the other side. If my panic and rage had not been so strong, I would have taken a moment to marvel at what I had done, but there was no time to think of anything but Grace. I sprinted across the front yard of the farmhouse, identical to the picture from the folder. My step-through had deposited us quite a distance from the main building, which confused me right until I ran into a wall of magic. The shield threw me back a few yards. I was up and on my feet in a flash, Jacob by my side.
“A shield?” he said evenly, his tone holding none of the panic that was thrumming through me. Grace had screamed. She was in trouble, and magic was blocking the way.
“Yes, it feels like Stratford’s shield,” I bit out.
I ran my hands across it, sensing the heavy interweaving of magic and spells. It was strong, ancient, and had been designed by
someone who was very well versed in the art of magical shield weaving – a sorcerer or sorceress of great power. It was slightly less intricate and sophisticated than Stratford’s, but since we had Louis and they didn’t…
Regardless, it was going to be a real bitch to break.
“Why did you run through the step-through like that?” Jacob asked as we both continued to examine the powerful shield.
I didn’t stop what I was doing. “You didn’t hear a scream, from the other side? It sounded like Grace.”
“No, I didn’t hear anything like that,” he said, concern in his tone.
I jerked around to see him. Streams of mossy darkness had spread through Jacob’s green eyes; he was finally worried. I was so far past that I wasn’t even in the same universe.
“She screamed,” I finally said, before we both turned back to the shield.
Jacob let out a low rumble of displeasure. “I can’t sense any humans or supes close by, so we have to assume they’re inside the shield. No noise would penetrate this level of magic.”
Technically he was right, but I knew what I’d heard. Grace was inside and she was in trouble. I had to get to her now.
Reaching out to Jacob, he knew immediately what I was asking for. We gripped forearms and the connection between us flared. A full quad joining was like sticking your hand in a surge of electricity. The jolt hit hard and fast as our bodies and energy sparked to life, power fizzling between us. It wasn’t as strong as when the four of us touched and connected, but it was better than nothing.
Jacob funneled more of his energy into me as I tried to work out a way to break the shield. I needed a spell, something to unravel this magic.
An old spell came to mind … I’d used it before to bust down barriers – nothing this strong. But I had to try.
Releasing my magic, I drew a little more from the energy of the earth, raising both of my hands, allowing the power to flow from them into a ball. The quad bond lingered; it would remain until we cut it off. As more magic began to flow through me and into the sphere, the unnatural heat that had been plaguing me the past few months kicked up another notch. The fire in my center was my sorcery power. Louis had told me I was close, that my power was teetering on the edge of evolution.
