Phoenix Blood (Old School Book 1)

by Jenny Schwartz

  He opened the passenger door and watched her get in. He put a hand on her knee, feeling her body heat through the denim of her jeans.

  She glanced at him, wide-eyed, questioning…hopeful.

  His question would torpedo those hopes. “Your finder talent. Can you check again where you’ll find safety?”

  Her lips parted, as if she’d protest, before she nodded. But she trapped his hand beneath hers on her knee. Her magic was a quiet flicker on the air.

  If he hadn’t been so fixated on her, it would have swept past him unnoticed.

  “You,” she said quietly. “You’re still my safety.”

  “If that changes, tell me.”

  “Even if it changes, I’m staying with you.”

  His squeezed her knee, leaned in and kissed her. It was another stolen kiss, even if Sadie gave them willingly. His blood burned with magic and desire. But kissing her, letting her care about him, wasn’t protecting her.

  He closed the passenger door, let Karma into the truck, and got in himself.

  The previous couple of nights he’d kept a low profile for Sadie and himself, choosing budget motels. Tonight, any Stag mercenary who wanted to find him would have noted his dad’s flight to Oklahoma City and the booking of the Thirteenth Suite. Such bookings were meant to be private, but privacy could always be renegotiated for a price or a threat. So Sadie might as well be comfortable while he waited to see if the Stag mercenaries’ client wanted the amulet she wore enough to pay the high bounty required for someone to confront him.

  Sadie collapsed full length on the criminally soft sofa in the hotel suite Marcus had booked. She didn’t question his decision to go with luxury rather than a standard motel. She figured they weren’t exactly travelling under the radar regardless of where they slept, and after the long hours on the road and the emotional turmoil of the day, she was grateful for the luxury. She wriggled her shoulder blades into the cushions while he walked through the suite setting a ward. Karma rode on his shoulder.

  “Comfortable?” He returned to the sitting area and smiled at her as she sprawled on the sofa.

  She smiled back. “Join me.”

  A light flared in his eyes before he controlled it.

  Her body tingled. She hadn’t thought, just teased. She hadn’t actually been issuing a sexy invitation, but his response made her think how good his weight would feel over her, pushing her deeper into the soft cushions, heating and exciting her.

  Marcus opened the French doors to a tiny private balcony.

  Karma flew from his shoulder to the railing.

  Sadie swung her legs to the floor and sat up to watch him as he gripped the railing and leaned forward slightly; a man fighting himself. They were on the seventh floor: too far to jump to the ground or for anyone to climb up. But the fact that he’d set wards meant that Marcus obviously thought there was still a threat to her. Whoever wanted the amulet she wore might send other, stronger Stag mercenaries after it.

  She unlooped the silver chain from her neck and studied the owl-shaped amulet for a moment. It had brought so much trouble, but it had also brought Marcus back into her life. He was complicated, powerful and…she suspected he still loved her. He felt something for her beyond old guilt and current passion. If it was only that she’d come to represent the happy life the Senator had torn from him, then that wasn’t enough for her. But if he truly wanted her, Sadie Howard, as she was now without social position, wealth or youthful naivety, then she thought it would be very easy to love him.

  Very easy to love him, and perhaps, devastating.

  If the magic in his veins built and burned from emotional stimulus, then making love might be agony for him. It might even hasten his death.

  She leapt up from the sofa. “I’m going to have a shower.” He’d insisted she take the bigger of the suite’s two bedrooms. It was decorated in fashionable if depressing shades of pale brown and gray. She ignored the big bed and dug out pajamas from her duffel bag, taking them into the bathroom with her. She heard the television go on in the living area.

  The amulet clinked quietly as she set it beside the pajamas on the counter and stripped off, stepping into a large glass shower stall. The shower had four settings. She stood under a “rainforest” stream of hot water and shampooed her hair with one of the hotel’s complimentary bottles. The scent of vanilla and rose filled the steamy room.

  She blinked, then blinked, again. She wiped the glass panel on the shower and stared through it.

  On the counter, the amulet was moving in little hitched jerks.

  “Marcus!”

  He slammed into the bathroom.

  Normally, she couldn’t sense magic, but just now the battle-ready magic vibrated in the air around him, too strong to be hidden.

  He stared at her naked body, and for an instant, his instinct to protect and fight was overtaken by raw desire.

  The heat in him flared to her and engulfed her, not in agony, but in overpowering passion. She wanted him. Her voice was husky beyond belief when she forced the words out. “The amulet moved.”

  Marcus snapped back to protector mode. He put a hand on the amulet. His shoulders stiffened. He snatched up the silver owl and ran out of the bathroom.

  Sadie grabbed the white hotel robe, wrapped it around her, and knotted the belt as she ran after him. She skidded to a halt—literally skidded, since her feet were wet and the wood flooring slick—in the living area.

  A man stood on the balcony.

  Karma sat calmly on the railing beside him.

  “Seth,” Marcus said.

  “I see you noticed my little spell.” Tall and lean, but not gaunt as Marcus was, Seth resembled a cowboy. It wasn’t his clothes. He actually wore a good quality suit. It was some trick of how he stood or the faint drawl in his voice.

  Sadie cautiously ventured closer.

  Seth noticed her, but his attention was for Marcus. “There’s quite a reward for the amulet you hold.”

  “Enough to challenge me?” Marcus’s shoulders had relaxed. He was ready for anything, but unworried.

  “It would have been easy money if you didn’t notice my spell, and I was in town on other business.” Seth stared at Marcus. “Nelson Davies is interested.” His gaze flickered again to Sadie. He put a hand to the railing behind him and vaulted over it.

  They were seven floors up!

  “A levitation spell,” Marcus said. “Come in.” That command was for Karma. The bird flew in and Marcus closed and bolted the French doors to the balcony. He reinforced the ward as well.

  “Who was he?” Sadie asked. Her wet hair was dripping down her back, soaking the robe.

  “Seth Bentham, a Stag mercenary. I saved his life once in Cambodia.”

  That explained the odd nature of the encounter and Marcus’s wariness, but absence of hostility toward the intruder. “This was a warning, not a serious attempt to take the amulet?”

  He ran his thumb over the silver owl. “Yes.”

  She eyed him uncertainly. “Are you okay? I felt the heat in your blood in the bathroom…”

  “I’m okay.” And if he wasn’t, he wouldn’t tell her.

  She frowned. “I need to wash the shampoo out of my hair. Will we stay here, tonight, or should I dress to drive?”

  “We’re staying.”

  Twenty minutes later she sat in the living room wearing her cardigan over her pajamas, her hair in a towel, and trying to question Marcus. It wasn’t easy. The man she’d gotten close to was suddenly remote, again. However, she was persistent. “Who is Nelson Davies?”

  “A Stag mercenary.” Marcus wouldn’t sit. He stood and paced. Pain lines etched deeper at the corners of his eyes and from nose to mouth. He rolled his shoulders, obviously realizing his answer wouldn’t satisfy Sadie.

  Karma seemed worried, too. Instead of sleeping, the phoenix watched him from its perch on a table lamp.

  “Nelson is a wizard.” Marcus shook his head once, impatient. “It’s not his magic that matter
s. It’s Nelson’s ruthlessness. He and the Senator had a lot in common.”

  Sadie thought on that. “He believes the amulet is yours. That’s what you told the two mercenaries who caught up with us. I’m just the woman you used to retrieve it.”

  “I miscalculated.” He sounded angry, at himself. “I thought they’d ignore you to concentrate on me. I’m the threat. Instead, I brought you to their attention. I’ve never…travelled with a woman.”

  Travelled? She suspected he meant something far more fundamental. No other woman had been important to him. “My finder talent still tells me you’re my best chance at safety,” she told him, then changed the subject. “How is the burn in your blood?”

  “Tolerable.” Which meant it hurt.

  “Go and shower,” she said quietly. “Karma and I will keep watch.”

  He hesitated.

  Karma chirruped.

  He walked out, still holding the amulet.

  Sadie slumped onto the heavenly soft sofa and Karma flew to her knee. “What do we do to help him?” She stroked the bird’s crest of yellow feathers.

  Karma peered intelligently in the direction of Marcus’s room and gave a barely audible, oddly sad chirp.

  “Yeah. It’s been a tough day for him. For all of us.” She leaned back against the sofa. The hotel suite was warded. She’d just close her eyes for a minute.

  Marcus walked back into the living area and paused as he saw Sadie.

  She’d fallen asleep curled on the sofa.

  In the bedroom he’d found enough space to transform into a griffin and back before taking a cold shower. The magic in his blood was beaten back sufficiently that he could sleep. He needed to sleep.

  He picked Sadie up. It wasn’t like in the movies. Unconscious, she was heavy, and he didn’t want to wake her. He moved cautiously, carrying her to her room.

  “I’m awake,” she muttered as he laid her on the bed. She flailed around and managed to get her cardigan off.

  He tucked the covers over her and gave into temptation. It was more efficient to guard someone if you were in the same room. His body still burned hot. He hadn’t want to use up all the magic building in him. If—when—Nelson Davies attacked, Marcus would have to neutralize him. He’d spared the man’s life once, and apparently, Nelson couldn’t forgive him for it. The bounty on the amulet gave Nelson an excuse to come after him.

  Marcus stretched out on top of the bed covers and slept.

  Karma woke him at dawn by rubbing her beak against his jaw.

  He heard the soft rasp of his stubble.

  Sadie lay on her side, facing him, her face relaxed in sleep.

  He stared at her for a long moment, conscious of how rare and precious the peace in his soul was. Then he rose and took Karma out to the balcony for her morning flight.

  Sadie stared at the indented pillow beside her and the neatly arranged covers on that side of the bed. Marcus had slept beside her. He hadn’t held her through the night, but she had a vague memory of him carrying her to bed and tucking her in. She smoothed her hand over the pillow and fought a strange inclination to cry. When she seemed in danger of losing that fight—her eyes stung and she sniffed—she hurried out of bed to the bathroom. Once dressed, she joined Marcus in the living area. Since the morning was cool, she wore her cardigan over her faded red t-shirt and jeans.

  He was on the phone; not his burner cellphone, but the hotel phone. “Send him up.” He replaced the phone and looked at her. His expression was reserved, all emotion locked away, but the lines of pain were absent from his face. Sleep and calm had helped ease his fever. “Good morning.”

  “Good morning.” She smiled at him. “Did you order breakfast?”

  “No. My father is on his way up.”

  “Oh.” She lost her appetite and her cautious happiness. “Would you like me to wait in the other room?” She gestured back to her bedroom.

  “No. This won’t take long. I’d like to reach Taos, today.”

  She glanced at Karma who was eating her breakfast on the balcony. The bird was attached to him, and Sadie suspected he loved it, too. Leaving Karma in the wilderness around Taos would hurt both of them. “Marcus, perhaps—”

  There was a knock at the door.

  He strode to answer it, moving fluidly in his jeans and sweater, lethally fit. He didn’t look like he was dying. “Dad. Come in. You’re very early.”

  “I couldn’t sleep and I thought you might be moving on early.”

  “You were right.” Marcus didn’t offer Paul a seat.

  “Good morning,” Sadie said awkwardly.

  Paul barely acknowledged her. “Good morning.”

  She retreated to the balcony. Geez, it’s cold. Karma flew into the living area and perched on the back of a sofa. Sadie picked up the bird’s food and water bowls.

  “You left a phoenix pattern in the marble at the suite,” Paul said to Marcus. “Was that a message to us, to your mom and me?”

  “I merely channeled my magic.”

  “You have a lot of magic.” Paul was shorter than his son and much softer. He carried extra weight and it showed around his middle and at his jowls. The pouches under his eyes showed he’d had a bad night. “More than I ever guessed.” He cleared his throat. “I never wanted to know. I haven’t been a good father.”

  “You were scared of the Senator.”

  Sadie sucked in a breath and headed for her bathroom to clean Karma’s food and water bowls. She thought to prolong the excuse to give father and son privacy, then realized that emotional turmoil would only hurt Marcus. This encounter had to end, fast.

  Apparently, he felt the same. As she hurried into the living area, still carrying a towel and drying the bowls, he said, “Dad, I accepted long ago that I was alone. I don’t blame you for being unable to cope with the Senator. Hell, I couldn’t.”

  Paul frowned at Sadie. “You protected her. That’s more than I did for you.”

  Marcus made a gesture of impatience. “Do you want my forgiveness? You have it. I forgive Mom for leaving me, too. Tell her that.”

  “Winona would like to hear it from you.” Paul smiled tentatively. The smile died in the face of Marcus’s stonewall expression. “Marcus, I don’t know everything the Senator had you doing for him. I can guess some of it, and I can see…it scarred you. But now is your chance to build a new life. You used to want to help people. You can go back to medical school.”

  “Too late.”

  Sadie’s heart broke at the impossibility of it all.

  Paul didn’t understand. He didn’t know his son was dying. “If you don’t want to go back to school,” he said hurriedly. “And I can understand that—the Senator’s seat is vacant. Under the Aurelius name you can run and win it.”

  “And how do I explain the decade I spent off the grid?” Marcus inquired sardonically.

  “Classified government work.” Unexpected steel showed in Paul’s expression. “That wouldn’t be so far from the truth, would it?”

  The question snagged Sadie’s attention. Had some of Marcus’s work been akin to a one man, magical Navy SEAL unit? Get in and get the job done?

  Paul stretched out his hand to his son. It was a plea. “Don’t let the Senator steal all of your life. Build something new, now.”

  An echoing silence filled the hotel suite before Marcus’s chest lifted and fell in a deep sigh. “I’ll think about it.” It was all he could promise.

  “You have money,” Paul said. “But if there’s anything else you need, anything at all, just ask me.”

  “I’ll remember.” Marcus walked to the door and opened it.

  His dad’s head went back as if he’d been slapped. He flushed.

  It was an abrupt invitation to leave, but Sadie understood that Marcus had to be dealing with his fever. This small encounter was emotionally huge.

  But as Paul went to walk out, Marcus wrapped him in a brief, masculine hug. “Good-bye, Dad.”

  Paul thumped his son’s back. “Lov
e you.”

  Marcus shut the door and stood staring at it.

  Sadie hurried to be busy with other things. She returned the towel to her bathroom and picked up her duffel bag. When she returned to the living area, Marcus had his backpack and was ready to go.

  Chapter 10

  “Do we need to stop by the river?” Sadie asked. “Do you need to swim or transform into a griffin?”

  “I’m fine. Just drive. Please.” Marcus had chosen to ride shotgun not because he couldn’t drive—the fever had receded—but because he wanted to be alert to any pursuit or attack. If his dad had found them so easily, so could Nelson Davies.

  Sadie changed lanes jerkily as a sign directed them to the I-40 onramp. “It was an intense encounter with your dad.” She sounded worried for him. Evidently, she’d worked out that heightened emotions intensified the burn in his blood.

  Except, that seemed to have changed overnight. The burn was no longer in his blood. It was solely in his bones. It felt as if the fire was hollowing him out. Agony, yes, but he could think more clearly than when the fever gripped him. “I’m okay.” And in answer to her doubtful look. “The fever is gone. The burn is in my bones. I can control it.”

  “Dear God. Marcus, you can’t live with—” She cut off the words.

  “There isn’t a cure.” He’d faced that truth years before and last week he’d made his decision: he would free Karma and endure the consequences. Only, with Sadie beside him, dying was no longer an escape from an intolerable life. Dying meant losing her.

  “Would morphine help with the pain?” She tried valiantly to keep her voice steady.

  He shrugged. “I’d rather keep my brain clear.”

  Her lips thinned as she struggled with her emotions. “We’ll be in Taos, tonight. You can free Karma.”

  “In the morning.”

  Sadie ignored his interjection. “If you’re refusing pain relief so that you can protect me, I don’t want you to do that.”

  They were speeding along the highway, really speeding as her foot pressed the accelerator hard.