Blood Magic

by Jayne Hawke

  “So, why are you here?” I demanded.

  He leaned back in the chair and crossed his arms.

  “You’re an oddity. I wanted to explore your life a little more.”

  I narrowed my eyes at him.

  “You broke into my home...”

  “You really should work on that.”

  I gripped the fork really tight and debated if I was quick enough to stab him in the eye.

  He leaned forward with a smirk, daring me to try.

  I lunged forward, but he’d already ducked away before I got anywhere near him. Cursed elf.

  “Is that how you thank everyone who cooks you breakfast? I can see why you don’t have any company.”

  “Kit?” Matt asked from the doorway.

  I glared at the elf. If he so much as looked at Matt funny, I was going to rip him apart at the molecular level.

  “I thought you were with Ethan...?”

  “I... that’s, well, yes, I guess I am. This is some asshole elf who broke in here to make pancakes,” I said.

  “Why would you do that?” Matt asked the elf.

  The elf grinned.

  “It’s fun.”

  “You have a really weird idea of fun,” Matt grumbled.

  Wakefulness slowly spread across Matt’s face. The half-lidded eyes slowly opened, and his mouth puckered into a deep scowl.

  “Are you the elf that spied on Kit while she was sleeping?”

  “Are you really going to make out that I’m the bad guy when she threw a book at me?” the elf asked in a wounded tone.

  “How am I possibly the bad guy in that situation?” I demanded.

  “You threw a book at me... and then you tried to hit me with a frying pan and stab me with a fork. You really need to work on that.”

  I threw myself across the table with plans of wrapping my hands around his throat. Matt had his phone in his hand, I hoped to ring someone and not just capture the moment that I landed in a tangle of limbs on the floor where the elf had been seconds previously.

  My magic began bubbling up. I could feel the sparks in his blood. It sang to me with a stunning chorus of notes. If I could get a little of that, I’d be unstoppable. The elf frowned at me.

  “Now that really is a step too far.”

  Suddenly a pair of short swords were in his hands and he had me pinned against the wall. I drove my knee into his lower abdomen and called on my war magic. Shock spread across his beautiful face when I pinned him by his throat.

  “I do like it rough...” he purred.

  I jerked away.

  “What is wrong with you!?” I demanded.

  “You’re the one that keeps trying to hurt me.”

  “You’re the assassin!”

  “And have I hurt or killed you?”

  “Why haven’t you done that?”

  He gave a small shrug.

  “I’m weighing up my options.”

  “What options?”

  A squeal of tyres came from outside. Ethan and Dean ran into the kitchen with murderous expressions on their faces. Dean’s teeth were bared, and his dark amber eyes looked more canine than human. Ethan held a broad knife in his hand and advanced on the elf with careful strides.

  The elf sighed.

  “Why are you all so melodramatic?”

  EIGHTEEN

  “You’ll note that I haven’t touched your girlfriend,” the elf said pointedly to Ethan.

  “Why are you here? And don’t say you wanted to make pancakes,” Ethan snarled.

  The elf began to grin.

  “You’re one of the Morrigan’s sons... well now, I didn’t expect to get two for one this morning.”

  The elf backed up against the stove as Ethan took another step closer with his knife aimed at the elf’s throat.

  “My name is Sin. I came here with a proposition.”

  “Sin? Seriously...?” Dean said incredulously.

  Sin narrowed his eyes at Dean.

  “And I assume your name is far superior. Dog.”

  Dean bared his sharp hound teeth at Sin.

  “What proposition?” Ethan growled.

  “Well... I knew that Kit here is powerful in her own right. Therefore, it wasn’t unreasonable to believe she’d be able to contest my lord’s bond over me.”

  Ethan and Dean laughed. Cold harsh laughs.

  “You thought the woman you were sent to kill would want to own you?” Ethan said.

  “I had believed that she might be willing to make a deal,” Sin said coolly.

  “Why would I do that?” I asked.

  Sin smirked at me.

  “Everyone would be better with a talented assassin on their side.”

  “You’re insane,” I said.

  This elf was completely unlike anything I’d been expecting. I wasn’t sure how I was supposed to deal with him, or if this was some weird game before he tried to kill us.

  “Now I’m here, I believe the son of the Morrigan is in a far better place to challenge my lord,” Sin said to Ethan.

  “Because it would be such a good idea to have an elf bound to me,” Ethan said drily.

  Sin glanced past the cu sith and gave a little wave.

  “That’s my cue to leave. I left you with a gift, some fun to remember this morning by,” he said before he darted out of the front door.

  His ‘gift’ turned out to be a pack of dobhar chu – gigantic river otter-canine hybrids also known as king otters – with a spriggan heading up the little outfit. I cursed myself for killing the hag that had probably been on spriggan duty to prevent just such an outcome and resolved to be more conscientious about the long-term consequences of my choices.

  I thought over everything I knew about spriggans, and I was almost sure their only use in the world was being a nuisance and guarding cairns, and the threats to big piles of rocks in modern Yorkshire was hopefully not so great that the local police couldn’t handle it. The dobhar chu were probably out of my hands either way. Ethan had turned into his dog form, perhaps an inch shorter than them at the shoulder but radiating death energy that seemed to devour the visible light like a sea of tiny black holes. I counted five of them and knew they’d be dead in five minutes or less.

  The spriggan, who until that moment had been riding one of his charges like an adorably monstrous hobby horse, leapt free of the melee as dog met water dog jaw to jaw. He did a little front flip in the air, and by the time he landed he’d gained about four feet of height and was still growing.

  Knowing this wasn’t going to get any easier the bigger he got, I put my weight behind a shoulder check that was only partially successful. He did go down on his back, his balance still off as he grew, but his barklike skin was as hard as granite. That bruise was going to hurt more than anything Sin – still happily perched on a nearby fence as his little show played out – had managed to land.

  I reached into the magic hat that was my mercurial and only moderately cooperative war magic and tried to bring out the arm blades I was still resolute on getting one way or another. What I got, naturally, was a pair of medieval-looking one-handed war hammers, their heads nothing more than a couple pounds of squared-off pounded metal with a flat on one side and a spike on the other.

  They would do. I was starting to enjoy the variety. The spriggan had returned to his feet, nimble even at eight feet tall now that his size had stabilized. His huge green eyes stared into mine, more bemused curiosity than anger or fear. I swished my hammers around in the air, testing their weight and balance. I wondered what he’d been told about this job, warming to him even as I prepared to crack him open. I silently hoped that he would grow back or something as his gnarled, branch-like hand swept down at me.

  I sidestepped to my right and drove a hard, thudding hammer blow into the bark on the right side of what sufficed for his head, a big, irregular hunk of hardwood that looked like it had tried to grow around something big but been taken away before it could finish. I felt the vibration down the handle of the hammer an
d had a strong feeling my hands were going to suffer at least as much as the spriggan.

  Spinning the hammer in my right hand to be spike out, I raised the left to head height, prepared to punish the next hand that tried to swing down at me. Not one to oblige a lady, his next strike was flat-handed thrust with sharp-looking fingers fully extended.

  He was faster than he looked, but I was faster still. I made a quick, firm strike with the right hammer and drove the spike through his arm. The wood started to crack quickly, and I knew I only had him for a second or less. Dragging the arm towards me and out past my right side, I swung the opposite weapon down onto a weak-looking spot in the irregular wood of his arm and heard it crack as the weapon passed clean through with momentum to spare, leaving him with... well, a stump.

  He made a grumpy harrumph and, swinging his hand at me in a ‘so be that way’ gesture, shrank out of sight. I saw the big wolfhound that was Ethan grinning and panting over a pile of dobhar chu, his death magic back in hiding.

  “I was hoping to make a pet of one of those, you know,” I said to him crossly, walking over to scratch behind his ears. “I guess I do already have a dog, though...”

  NINETEEN

  “Are all elves like that?” I asked the pack.

  We were back at the pack house recovering from our injuries. I was eternally grateful for the wonderful hot showers at the pack house.

  “No. That one seems like he has a few screws loose,” Dean said drily.

  “Elves are normally very uptight snobby dicks. They know they’re excellent warriors and believe they stand above the rest of us because they watch over the balance or something. I’ve never known one to smile, let alone play. Like Dean said, I think someone dropped that one on his head as a baby,” Cade said.

  “So, what am I supposed to do about him?” I asked as I settled into my seat at the kitchen table.

  Ethan placed a mug the size of a breakfast bowl in front of me. It was almost overflowing with marshmallows. The scent of decadent hot chocolate with a splash of spice reached me and brought a smile to my face.

  “You’re too good to me,” I told Ethan.

  He grinned at me and put his own hot chocolate down as he sat next to me.

  “We are going to figure out who he’s bound to and go from there. You’re part of the pack now,” Ethan said.

  “I-” I started.

  “We know you can handle yourself, but being part of the pack means we all look out for each other. Is it really so offensive that we care enough to want to help keep you safe and happy?” Ethan said.

  He had me there.

  “I doubt he spent more than his first century in the Wilds if he’s bound,” Dean said.

  “Who do we know that binds elves?” Ethan asked.

  “Is slavery normal for the lords and all?” I asked.

  Ethan’s lip curled.

  “Not entirely. It’s complicated. Deals are cut. Fionn, a lord down in London bound an entire bloodline of witches a couple of centuries back. It’s usually done in the form of a trade. The lord or lady gives some poor desperate being what they want in return for the binding,” Ethan said.

  “So Sin has to go and kill whoever his lord tells him to?” I asked.

  “Basically,” Ethan said.

  That sounded like a miserable life.

  “You said he wouldn’t have spent more than a century in the Wilds, why?” I asked Dean.

  “Because he was very likely traded to the lord as a child,” Dean said.

  “Elves are proud and powerful, and trying to train a fully grown one is incredibly difficult. Even if they are bound and locked into a contract, they frequently keep looking for loopholes. Whereas if they’re born into it, then the lord can manipulate and control them,” Ethan said.

  I was increasingly horrified at the lords and ladies of the fae. It was so cutthroat and cruel. These were people they were talking about. Sin seemed a little quirky, but he was still a person.

  “What would I have to do to break his bond with his lord?” I asked.

  “You really don’t want an elf bound to you,” Ethan said.

  “Why not?” I asked.

  “Because you’re a good person and you’d hate it. You’d be responsible for everyone he chose to kill,” Ethan said.

  “Surely if I didn’t tell him to kill people...” I said.

  Ethan shrugged.

  “It could be that assassination and murder is all he knows. You saw him, he thought that setting a small pack of dobhar chu on us was fun,” Ethan said.

  I took a sip of the rich hot chocolate and thought about it. Ethan wasn’t wrong, this Sin clearly had a very twisted sense of humour. Still, there was a small chance that I’d be able to help him. Would it be so wrong to explore that? Maybe if I freed him from his lord he could go back to the Wilds and enjoy a normal life doing whatever elves did.

  “He won’t be able to return to the Wilds,” Dean said.

  “He’ll be considered to be tainted,” Cade said.

  “Is there no chance for him to live a nice happy, normal life?” I asked.

  “No reason he couldn’t stay an assassin. Sometimes people just need to be killed,” Kerry said as she strolled into the kitchen.

  I wrinkled my nose. It sounded so cold when she put it that way. Logically, I knew that I killed people sometimes, in self-defence or to protect those that couldn’t protect themselves. It just felt different somehow.

  “I always wanted a pet anyway,” Kerry said with a sharp-edged grin.

  “You are not having a pet elf. You wouldn’t walk it or look after it,” Ethan said drily.

  Kerry pouted.

  “I might.”

  “It would make a mess everywhere and it’d be up to me to clean up after it,” Ethan said.

  I had to laugh. Everyone quickly joined in the laughter with me.

  “At least life is never boring,” Cade said as he set a platter of sandwiches down on the table.

  “You guys must keep an entire supermarket in business,” I said looking at the food before me.

  “We’re not that bad,” Cade said as he put the platter of cheeses and cold meats down.

  I looked between him and the mountain of food.

  He grinned at me.

  “Just be glad he didn’t try and bring one of those dobhar chu home to cook,” Dean said as he piled his plate high with sandwiches.

  I grabbed a couple of chicken sandwiches as my stomach growled.

  “Surely they’re not edible?” I said horrified.

  They looked so greasy and unappetising.

  “Anything’s edible if you try hard enough,” Dean said.

  I put my sandwich down.

  “Hard pass,” I said.

  “Are you going to eat that?” Kerry pointed at my sandwich.

  I took a big bite out of it, not willing to lose it.

  “Yep,” I said with a grin.

  “Dobhar chu is a normal food in some places. They roast it like goose,” Ethan said.

  “Where are these places? I think I need to avoid them,” I said.

  Everyone laughed. It felt good to unwind with my pack after the weirdest morning in a long time.

  TWENTY

  “I thought we could have our own private movie night,” Ethan said as he led me to his office.

  There was a door I hadn’t noticed the last time I was in there. It blended in with the rest of the wall.

  “This is my little sanctuary,” he said.

  I let him lead me into a dimly lit room with a large squishy sofa and a huge TV. The left wall was covered in bookshelves, which were jampacked with books. We padded across the deep carpet and curled up together in the middle of the sofa. Everything about the room was made for comfort.

  “Anything in particular you’d like to watch?” Ethan asked as he put his arm around my shoulders.

  “Are there any good superhero movies?”

  “I have the new Black Dragon movie that I haven’t seen yet.�
�

  “Perfect,” I said as I leaned my head on his shoulder.

  He pressed a button that turned the lights off completely. The opening credits rolled across the screen of the TV. It felt like a private cinema experience.

  The movie was the best yet in the franchise. I hadn’t really known much about Black Dragon before that movie, but I loved every second.

  “That was so good!” I said.

  “Agreed, I can’t wait for Shadow Witch,” Ethan said.

  We leaned into each other. It was natural. He stroked along my jawline and dug his fingers into my hair, pulling me close. The rest of the room faded away as I lost myself in him. His teeth grazed my bottom lip, encouraging me to open my mouth while I slowly ran my hands over his strong muscular shoulders and down over his chest. Ethan’s hands cautiously moved down over my ribs, and I realised I wanted this. It had been so long since I’d been with a man, and I needed him.

  He broke the kiss and began slowly kissing down my neck, delicate kisses that left goosebumps in their wake. Heat pooled in my abdomen as I tried to restrain myself from ripping his shirt off. I wanted to feel his skin beneath my fingertips and his muscles wrapped around me. Ethan pulled me into his lap and took control, pulling my shirt up over my head. His breath caught when I ran my fingertips over the top of his pale jeans. My heart was hammering against my ribs as I resisted the urge to rush this.

  Ethan’s phone rang, killing the moment. He groaned and reached over to look at who was ringing. I nibbled on his ear lobe, drawing another delicious groan from him.

  “I’m sorry, Kit, I have to take this,” he said huskily.

  That was what I got for dating a businessman. I climbed out of his lap and gave him a little room to take his call. The shadows pooled in the hollows of his ripped muscles as he stood and paced in front of the couch. I admired his tight ass and chewed on my bottom lip as I pictured digging my fingers into it.

  Ethan leaned in and kissed me hard.

  “I wish I could stay, but they need me. There’s no one else that can handle a job of this level,” he said softly.

  I kissed him tenderly.