Savage Magic

by Ciara Graves

  “Really? Then why do I see fear in your eyes? Come on, admit it. You’re too scared to face me.”

  “You think it’s fear that stops me?” He smoothed his hands over his hair and squared his shoulders. “I have no fear. If you want a fight, then I shall give you a fight. Best prepare yourself, Seneca, for the end is coming for you.”

  “I’ll be waiting for it. You know exactly where to find me, don’t you?” I winked then shut my eyes.

  When I opened them again, I was back in the garden.

  My arms fell to my sides, and I let out a long, steady breath. “Now, we can begin. The time for the final battle has come. At last.”

  Chapter 7

  Draven

  I stretched my arm out to find the bed empty. “Seneca?”

  Groggy, I sat up and looked around the room. She wasn’t in the bathroom, and the bedroom door was open. I climbed out of bed, slipped on my pants, and exited the room. A heaviness settled in my stomach as I padded barefoot through the cottage. The air crackled with a sudden burst of energy and Seneca’s comforting presence I hadn’t felt in a long while was gone from my head to be replaced by a fury so raw, it clawed at my chest.

  I stumbled into the kitchen, leaning against the wall as I waited for it to stop… and froze.

  “Shit.” The wall where I hid the rings was bashed in. And the back door was open. I sprinted outside to find Seneca standing in the middle of the yard. “Where are they?”

  “Draven, I didn’t mean to wake you,” she said, ignoring my question.

  “Where are they?” I repeated then reached for her right hand. The second I took hold, I yanked my hand back with a hiss. My fingers were burned. “I want you to take those rings off right now, do you hear me? Take them off.”

  “Why would I do that? Do you want me to be weak when he comes?”

  “He’s not here yet.”

  Her lips curled into a grin I could only describe as bloodthirsty. “Not yet, but very soon.”

  I stood in front of her as I grabbed her arms. “What did you do?” When she started to cackle, I shook her. “Tell me, what did you do, damn it.”

  “See for yourself.”

  A boom had me whipping around as red lightning crackled across the sky. Thunderheads rolled in from all directions, centering over the fields and Madwich close by. The air grew thick, and as I stepped away from Seneca, I knew our time was up. Rudarius was coming. She’d brought him right to us on purpose.

  “Do you have any idea what you’ve just done to us?” I muttered, hanging my head. “Any idea at all? We aren’t ready to face him.”

  “Then we better get ready. I’m putting an end to the waiting. Now we won’t have to wonder where he is.”

  “Have you lost your mind?” I shouted, but she didn’t even jump. Her smile remained as it was. “Seneca, there are innocents in Madwich. You’re putting them at risk.”

  “Oh, boo hoo,” she snapped. “Don’t guilt me with innocents. I don’t give a shit.”

  “Really? You don’t care for any of them? None?”

  “Why should I?”

  I had to get to her somehow, pull her back from the edge of insanity. “Not even Lexi?”

  No change. Not even a blink. “I suggest we tell our army to prepare.”

  “I can’t believe you.” I shoved past her then stopped and turned back. “I’m going to get everyone that I can out of Madwich. You can prepare the damned army and tell everyone why our chance to plan, to have the advantage is now gone.”

  I was at the back door when she said, “You’ll see this is right. That I’m right. Don’t you trust me?”

  It nearly killed me to say it, but until Rudarius was dead or I removed those rings from her hand, she was no longer my Seneca. “No, I bloody well don’t.”

  I dressed as fast as I could, sheathed my daggers at my hips along with my short sword, slung on my leather coat, then marched out the back door. Seneca was gone, but that was fine with me. I didn’t want to see her at that moment. I didn’t want to talk to her. There was nothing I could say at this point. Yelling wasn’t going to do any good. I had hoped for a moment, one moment, when those rings were controlling her. But that moment passed, and all I could do now was brace for what was to come.

  I blurred to the encampment and straight to Marlie’s tent. “Marlie, we have trouble.”

  Ash and Lark looked like they’d been pulled from their beds.

  “What?” He was already dressed. “Someone said there’s red lightning in the sky. Is he here already?”

  “Yes, and you can thank your sister for that.”

  I waited for him to say he told me so, but he kept quiet.

  “Rudarius is on his way. We’re out of time. He’s going to be on our doorstep with an army very soon. We need to get everyone ready and evacuate Madwich.” I couldn’t believe she did this, still, even as the proof was right over our heads. I saw her killing Rudarius, then saw myself coming in to finish her off, to stop her because she couldn’t stop herself. A bellow of rage erupted from my mouth, and I bashed my fist into the nearest tent pole. It splintered, and the fae under the tent glanced around, waiting for it to come down on their heads.

  “Feel better?” Marlie asked.

  “No, I don’t feel better. I can’t, when the woman I love tells me she’s being torn apart from the inside. When she tells me she’s hearing voices of the Sa’ren people,” I rambled. “When she pulls so far away from me, all I feel is rage and her need for blood.” I looked at the three of them desperately as I whispered, “We have to end this. We have to kill Rudarius and we can’t—I can’t—lose Seneca. I won’t.”

  Marlie nodded. “Then we won’t. We’ll come up with a plan.”

  “There’s no time.”

  “We’ll make time. Lark, gather the coven leaders and have them meet us here. Bring anyone you think needs to be in on the plan, actually. Ash, take a group of fae and vampires into Madwich and begin the evacuation. There’s not much time, so however you have to get them to leave, do it.”

  Both fae exited the tent leaving me alone with Marlie. I never imagined I’d be standing in a tent with a fae prince, worrying about losing his sister to darkness. A woman I could not live without, not anymore.

  “If she can’t pull back—” Marlie started.

  I held up my hand to stop him. “Whatever happens with Seneca, she’s mine to deal with, understand?”

  “Don’t put that on yourself. We’ll deal with whatever outcome together. You just have to have faith. Isn’t that what you always told all of us?”

  I laughed bitterly. “Faith, right. That is what I was telling her all this time. Have faith that we’ll find a way to defeat Rudarius. Faith that we’ll make it out the other side of this war without losing ourselves.” I glared fiercely at him as I muttered, “How can I have faith, huh? How? I’m going to have to kill her, Marlie, you get that? I’m going to have to kill her in order to stop her from turning into… I don’t know, a damned plague on this world. Because I told her she could handle this power. Just like Macron. Because I decided to use her as a weapon.”

  This was my fault and no one else’s. I was no better than anyone else. How had I let it get this far? I was supposed to be a leader, and here I was risking Seneca’s life in order to stop Rudarius.

  Marlie told me quietly he’d be back once he tracked down Macron and several other mages.

  I nodded numbly, looking out the tent flaps. The encampment was wide awake now, rushing to gather weapons and help get those not fighting to get out of harm’s way. If we failed here, all we were doing was giving them a head start. It was better than nothing I supposed.

  For now, I’d put Seneca from my mind and focus on our main problem. Rudarius was coming with an army and who knew what magic behind them. We’d be outnumbered; there was no question about that. Red lightning streaked across the sky, forming a crack.

  As I watched, it slowly stretched wider. He wasn’t just coming through the veil. He
was creating his own rift right here.

  Right where Seneca was.

  I hissed, gripping the hilt of my short sword. My time to worry might soon be at an end.

  “Come on, you bastard, let’s finish this.”

  “The mages should be along the rear of our lines,” I said, tracing my fingers over the map of the fields. “Here. We’ll set up a guard around them. Owen, you have some demons ready to fight?”

  He stepped closer. “They’ll keep them alive as long as possible.”

  “Macron, you’re sure they’re ready for this?”

  The old mage glowered at the map as he replied, “Not like they have a choice.”

  The moment I’d found him and told him what Seneca did, he’d taken off. I spotted him arguing with her heatedly in the garden later. He’d been yelling. She’d simply stood there and let him, her face carefully blank like she was doing him a favor by not reacting. Frankly, I was amazed he’d walked away without her killing him. Even Owen had been glaring at her when she passed by. He hadn’t said a word. I understood how hard it was for him, probably almost as hard as for me to see her changed into this cold-hearted being out for blood without care for the consequences of her actions.

  “What support can they give?” I asked, trying to keep us on track.

  “We’ll shield the front line the best we can and try to counteract whatever magic he’s bringing with him, but if that totem isn’t destroyed, our efforts won’t matter.”

  That damned totem. I straightened, crossing my arms as I ran through our plan over and over in my head. Between the fae, the vampires, the demons, and the mages, we had a significant fighting force. If the Feds would’ve listened to us, we could’ve had actual government support. But they assumed Rudarius wouldn’t dare bring his war from Otherworld here. They assumed they’d be able to negotiate with him, stop him by shit I don’t know, sheer will. The fools. It was too late now. The rift grew wider with every hour that passed. Any minute now he could arrive. We talked about traps, but those seemed like a waste of energy. Or they had.

  “The traps, I want to talk about them again,” I said, and Macron nodded. “What can we do?”

  “We can scatter them throughout the field. They’ll go off like mines.”

  “So there’s a chance they could trap our own people?”

  “Yes and no. If we have enough time, we can ensure they won’t, but as I said, they take time.”

  “Take who you can and start on them. Get as much done as you can, but only complete them if they won’t harm our own forces.”

  Macron hurried out of the central command tent, two mages following close behind.

  “His army is vast,” Marlie said as if I needed reminding. “He’s been in Otherworld gathering more to his cause. We have no way to know what he’s going to throw at us.”

  “Unless you have a point, I’d appreciate it if you stopped telling me how screwed we are.”

  “Rudarius might not know how many we have either.”

  I shook my head. “Before Seneca cut off the connection with him, he saw the encampment.”

  “Yes, but did he see our numbers? Did he see who was here?”

  That I wasn’t sure of. “Alright, what’s your plan?”

  “We don’t show the fae up front. We all know what he thinks of us, sees us as cowards. I doubt he believes we would stay and fight.” He spun the map around and pointed to the clusters of trees along the fields. “We put the archers in here with fire arrows. We wait until his main force shows itself, then you draw them back here where we can flank them.”

  “If his army is too large, it won’t work for long,” I admitted.

  “No, but it could give us a chance.”

  “All in agreement?” There were nods and murmurs around the table. “Marlie, see it done.”

  He exited the tent next.

  “That leaves the rest of our army,” Shane sighed. “Draven, if he’s bringing the totem with him, you realize what that means, right?”

  “Yes, I do.”

  “Then fill it in for the rest of us,” Wendall said, picking at his nails with his knife. “Well?”

  “Wendall, you want a mission that might get you killed, though you’ll be able to take down quite a few of Rudarius’s vampires with you?”

  He tucked the knife away, and in a blur was at the table. “I’m all ears. Do tell.”

  “If Rudarius brings the totem, then he’s bringing his entire fortress.” I flipped the map over, and Shane handed me a quill and ink. “Seriously? Marlie doesn’t have a pen lying around?”

  Shane shrugged.

  I let it go and sketched out Rudarius’s fortress from memory. “The main entrance is here, but there’s a separate entrance far to the right. Shane can tell you how to get through it since he’s done it before.”

  “Right, and where does this door lead exactly?”

  “The dungeons. They’ll be filled with prisoners, pissed off prisoners who might be able to bolster our numbers. They could give us an edge.”

  Wendall’s lips curled into a wicked grin. “I’ll prepare a small group of my men.”

  “Good call, Shane,” I said once Wendall had blurred away.

  We had a plan, a good plan at that, but the optimism I should feel was drowned out by the ever-constant presence of Seneca’s anger. Madwich had been fully evacuated so we wouldn’t have their deaths on our heads. The plan was to keep the fighting contained to the fields, but there was always a chance it would spill to the nearby town. We talked about creating a dome to keep his forces trapped in a certain area, but the mages weren’t strong enough to do that and assist us during the actual fight. Asking Seneca seemed pointless. She didn’t care about anyone else.

  All we could do was hope for a miracle now.

  “And what about Rudarius?” Carter asked from the corner of the tent.

  “He’s no one’s concern, but mine,” I announced. “The focus will be to break through his ranks so we can get to him. I doubt he’s going to put himself on the front lines. We’ll have to fight our way to him so we can end this.”

  “And the totem?” Vince asked from beside Carter.

  “There will probably still be mages and fae connected to it somehow. We’ll have to break them free, then find a way to destroy it.”

  “Just like that?” Carter tapped his newly fashioned cane into the dirt. “You make it sound so easy.”

  “It won’t be, make no mistake about it, but what else do you want me to say, huh?”

  “The truth would be nice.”

  “The truth,” I repeated, shaking my head. “The truth is if we don’t stop Rudarius here and now, we’re all dead. And not just us. His evil will spread until it covers anything. He’ll gain strength with everyone he kills. The government will fall, he’ll recruit every evil living being to his cause. There will be no stopping him. None.”

  “And what about your girlfriend,” Carter challenged. “Where is she?”

  I gritted my teeth as I hissed. “You let me worry about Seneca.”

  “I told you we shouldn’t have trusted her and now look where we are. She brought him here before we were ready. We were supposed to have time,” he growled as he got in my face. “We were supposed to have a formidable army. And now, we’re going to be destroyed because she called him here.”

  “If you want to leave, then leave,” I whispered. “No one’s keeping you here, but Rudarius is our problem. We had a chance to stop him. Any crimes he’s committed, any blood he’s spilled, that’s on us. Your running away won’t change a damned thing.”

  He tensed but backed off. “My fighters will be ready.”

  “Good.”

  “But if you think Seneca isn’t going to turn on you, you’re blind. This is her doing. She’s using us, and you know it.” He made for the tent flaps but stopped short.

  I waited for him to lay into me some more, but when I glanced past him, I found Seneca standing there, her expression furious.

&nbs
p; She glared at Carter, her lips parting on a hiss.

  My hand slipped to my sword, waiting, but then she turned on her heel and was gone. Carter cursed, but I blurred out of the tent to catch up to Seneca. The only reason we’d been able to stay out in the open long into the daylight hours to plan was the night Rudarius had called to ready his arrival. Otherwise this battle would be far worse.

  Seneca had taken off at a run, but I was fast enough to catch her. I grabbed her arm, but she tore herself free of me and slammed her palms into my chest. I staggered back into the trees. She followed, her raw emotions crashing into me one after the other, until my vision blurred. The connection between us had seemed to grow more intense over the last couple of hours. If the battle started and Seneca’s emotions were this uncontrolled, I worried I wouldn’t be able to fight without getting my ass handed to me. She growled like a wild beast as she paced in front of me. Her lips moved, but the words were too quiet for me to hear.

  “Seneca.”

  Her head snapped in my direction. Her eyes warred between emerald and black as the rings on her right hand crackled.

  Carefully, I raised my hand, but she moved too fast for me to keep up with.

  My arm was thrown to the side and then she was kissing me. Her lips moved with a desperation that seeped into my bones. As my arms closed around her, she dragged her fangs along my neck, and a shiver rushed down my spine. I growled, unable to hold back my own ragged anger and helplessness at the current situation. I took control of the kiss, nipping her bottom lip as I spun her around and lifted her up. We crashed into the tree as her legs wrapped around me. There was no sense of where I ended, and she began. The woods fell away, and it was only Seneca and me. I had no idea how much time passed, but then she pressed her lips to my ear.

  “Don’t you dare die out there,” she whispered harshly, then was gone.

  I sagged against the tree, glaring at the ground. With a yell, I bashed my fist into the trunk, cracking a hole through its center. I couldn’t let it end like this. I wouldn’t. I’d give her as much time as I could, but I’d have to make her see one way or another she couldn’t do this without me.