The corridor was darker down the stairs, though I couldn’t figure out why. My fireball lit my way forward. There didn’t seem to be many doors down here. I stopped at the first one I came across, and I knew I had found something important. It was locked.
I stepped back and threw the fireball at the door. The wood started to burn, thickening the air with smoke. The smell brought me back to high school camping trips instantly, and the wood-fire that always left its strong scent in my clothes. Sneaking off to be with Tim in the dark woods late at night had become the only reason to agree to those trips. Every night would be filled with his touch, smoky air and the taste of smuggled beer. My vision returned to normal as I stared at the burning door. The blue haze had dissipated, my hands cooling. The magic’s urgency had waned. I kicked at the locked door. Sparks fell to the ground. Flames licked at my feet. I stepped back and willed the door to open. The lock creaked and broke, the steel around it reddening. I kicked it and it swung inwards. The darkness beyond was thicker that the corridor. Cool air prickled the skin on my arms. I moved forward. The staircase led downwards again. I knew what this place was. The lower levels of the castle were where the dungeons lay, supposedly bricked off and never used.
I darted down the stairs. The silence in the dungeon wasn’t complete. I could hear breathing. Someone was down here. The magic pulsed through me urgently once more. I let it brighten my vision, the blue haze making everything easier to see in the darkness.
The medieval torture stations were the first things my sight picked up, empty and waiting for some idiot to be strapped in and fucked over. I shivered, biting back a nervous shriek as I walked past a metal chair with rusted spikes in the seat.
I moved forward quickly, hoping I wasn’t about to come across some kind of dungeon master. I reminded myself of my newly discovered magical powers and told myself I could handle whatever was down here. I barely believed it, but that was just enough to keep me moving.
The row of prison cells appeared to be endless. I could still hear breathing, and the sound was getting closer. I stopped when I heard someone speak.
“Shit,” he whispered. “I can’t do it.”
My body tensed. I froze in place, not believing what I was hearing.
“I can’t fucking do it!” The sound of something hitting the ground hard followed Tim’s frustrated shout.
I darted forward and sucked in a breath as I found him. His head was in his hands, slim fingers grabbing at his hair. He was inside a prison cell, sitting on a rock.
“Tim,” I said, feeling a lump form in my throat as he slowly looked up at me.
His pale blue eyes were wide and full of disbelief. He got up quickly, rushing to the bars of the cell. “Mickey, you can’t be here,” he told me. “It’s not safe. How did you even…”
“Apparently, I’m a User,” I said with a shrug. “Why are you in there?”
“Did Frankie find you for me? I told him I didn’t have any last requests.”
“Last requests?”
“It doesn’t matter. You have to get out of here. Now.” He swallowed. “I can’t believe you’re here.”
“I can’t believe you thought you could dump me over the phone.” I touched his hand as he rested it on the bars. I could feel the heat of magic in my fingers, but he didn’t flinch; he just closed his eyes.
“This can’t be happening. You need to go.”
“I’ll leave when you tell me what’s happened. Why are you locked up like this?”
He sighed. “He knows Britt is dead.”
“What did you mean when you said you didn’t have last requests? You make it sound like…” It hit me, and I couldn’t say it. Tim was going to be executed by the King. My anger swelled. That wasn’t happening. “It doesn’t matter. I came here to kill him. You won’t…”
“What? No. You can’t kill him. What are you even thinking? No, Mickey, you can’t confront him. He’ll destroy you. Don’t you realise how powerful he is?” He started to curse under his breath.
“I know how powerful I am now,” I told him, thinking about those woods we’d spent so much time in as teenagers. A detour wouldn’t throw my plan off course too much. I smiled as I teleported us to our old favourite spot. The prison faded away. Tim stumbled as the trees appeared around us, the last slivers of daylight shining through the foliage. I caught him, and he stared at me.
“Oh my God,” he whispered.
“I missed you so much,” I told him.
“I missed you too, but Mickey, this has to be it. You have to take me back and leave. We can’t…”
“No. I can’t lose you. Not now. Don’t tell me I have to take you back there and leave you to die. I can’t do that.”
He looked like he wanted to say something, but he kissed me instead. I pulled him close and savoured every second of it, kissing him back hungrily. All the mixed up, fucked up fears I’d had over what we were and what it meant and how much it scared me to admit any of it to anyone; all of that was gone. I loved him, and I didn’t care who knew it. I couldn’t lose him.
He pulled back suddenly, breaking the kiss. “This has to be goodbye.”
I shook my head. “I won’t just stand back and let you be killed.”
He smiled wryly. “I was afraid you might say that.” His hands cupped my face, and I knew this was it. For all the times I’d accused him of using magic on me, this was the one time it was actually going to happen.
My head swam, tiredness overcoming me suddenly and without any kind of warning. I fought to stay awake, gazing at Tim’s face. I wanted to remember every detail. It was important. I forgot why as I drifted into sleep. I dreamt of fire. This time we were both consumed by it.
Twenty – Kit
I stood out in the hallway to the flat, clasping my necklace back around my neck and trying not to let my nerves get the best of me. I chewed on my lip as I raised my fist to the Vampire’s door. I knocked before I could reconsider. All I had to do was ask for Mickey. It wouldn’t kill me to do this.
The Vampire answered the door quickly as if she’d smelled a human and couldn’t wait to taste them. Her eyes glowed. I knew that signified blood lust. I so wish I didn’t know that. Touching the locket, I fought back a shudder and tried to remember why I’d come here.
“Uh, have you seen Mickey today?”
She blinked and her eyes looked human when she opened them again. I breathed a sigh of relief.
“Mickey. You know…”
She nodded, the beehive wig on her head wobbling. “I know Mickey. He’s not here.”
“Oh,” I said, feeling lost. She’d been the only lead I’d had. Where else would he have gone?
“Is he in trouble?”
“He…” I looked at her. She might just have the answer to our problem. I hesitated to ask. She had a price for those kinds of answers. Cash, I’d be willing to part with, even as broke as I’m becoming. It was the other thing that made me feel sick to my stomach. I took a deep breath. “He’s been infected with death magic. I don’t know where he went, but I’m worried.”
She gazed at me for several seconds before she stepped back from her doorway and invited me in.
I stepped into the flat before I could over-think things. “I don’t know what to do.”
“A User died,” she said.
I wasn’t sure if she’d deduced it or if she somehow just knew. She sounded so certain. I nodded.
“The balance shifts every time a human who uses magic dies. The magic goes dark,” she told me, motioning for me to sit as she plonked herself into an armchair. “It becomes tainted by death. Those who use it burn themselves out pretty quickly.”
“What do you mean exactly?” I perched on the edge of the couch. “How do they burn themselves out?”
She leaned back in the chair. “It needs a release. Fire is the typical method. Eventually Users of death magic lose control and burn. There is a human term for it, one that isn’t taken very seriously. Spontaneous Combustion.”
I stared at her. “Are you seriously telling me Mickey’s going to spontaneously combust?”
“He won’t if you can get to him in time. He needs one of those charms. Well, one with a little extra kick to get rid of the magic as well as to protect him from future infection. He’ll be open to being infected by magic now.”
I tried to take it all in without freaking out. “How much?”
She smiled, the glow of her eyes making me swallow hard. “Same cash price as yours, and the taste of a virgin’s blood.”
“A virgin’s blood?” A part of me was relieved she wasn’t asking to bite me, but where the hell was I going to find a virgin to let her bite? This was too crazy. I got up. “I can’t do that.”
“It won’t hurt,” she said, sounding desperate.
“I don’t know any…”
“I promise it won’t. I can bite your wrist instead of your throat if you’d prefer it. I know some humans find the throat too sexual.” She was gazing me down as if I was a naked supermodel.
“I’m not a virgin,” I said, wondering what it had to do with anything anyway.
She frowned at me, her eyes flashing back and forth from human to alien. “Oh!” She clapped a hand to her mouth and quickly dropped it again. “You think I meant… no. I don’t care about that. I meant… You haven’t been tasted before. By a Vampire?”
“I’ve never been bitten.” I shivered at the thought of changing that now. I’d do it to help Mickey, but damn was he ever going to owe me for this.
She smiled. “Do we have a deal?”
I nodded slowly, hoping I wasn’t going to regret this. “We do.”
It hit me what I’d agreed to. The thought of it made me want to throw up. I’d heard a Vampire’s bite could be addictive. It was supposed to give the person being bitten a head rush. Mickey compared it to being high on drugs. I didn’t like the sound of that at all.
After everything that had happened with Nick, the thought of losing control voluntarily freaked me out. And it wasn’t just the thought of letting one of these weird alien creatures bite me that made me feel sick; it was the not knowing how it would affect me. Would I be able to stop her before she took too much? How much did she want? Would I like it? That last thought made me shiver. I really hoped the answer would be no.
This was it, no turning back now. Mickey needed me.
Trish was standing at the kitchen door waiting, her eyes glowing as she stared at me. I forced back a shudder and tried for a smile. Neither effort was particularly successful.
“Sorry about the eyes,” she told me. “I can’t control the glow when I’m about to eat. And a virgin always makes them glow even brighter.”
I swallowed. “How long does it take?”
“Not long,” she told me. “Ten minutes at most. You’ll lose just over a pint. That’s all I can take, so don’t worry about me draining you. It isn’t possible.”
“But…” I’d heard stories of a handful of rogue Vampires who hadn’t tried to fit in like the rest. They killed people. It was why there were so many restrictions on the types of jobs Vampires were allowed to do. “Rogues kill people, don’t they?”
She rolled her eyes and they flashed at the same time. “Those rogue Vampire stories are mostly false. We dealt with the one idiot who couldn’t accept that he wasn’t allowed to just go around killing humans whenever he felt like a snack. He didn’t kill anyone by draining them. He ripped their throats out to drink their blood.”
Okay. I wasn’t any less freaked out now that I knew that. My hand had gone to my throat.
“Don’t worry,” she said. “I don’t share his drinking style. It’s far too messy.”
A burst of nervous laughter escaped from me. “Can we just get this done?” I walked into the kitchen after her and put down my bag. I was relieved to find it wasn’t at all blood spattered. It even smelled clean and lemony. She pulled out a chair at the table.
“I’ve learned this is the easiest way to do things,” she told me. “If you want herbal tea to calm yourself I can get you a cup. You should take off your jumper. There can sometimes be a little run off.”
“So, you don’t have to bite my neck?” I was getting tense just thinking about it. I couldn’t imagine it wasn’t going to be painful, at least to start with.
She looked at me. “It doesn’t make a difference to me, but it is usually a bit messier when I tap a vein in a human’s wrist. But if that’s how you’d prefer it…”
I nodded quickly, even knowing it would be messy, I’d rather have her bite me where it would be easier to push her off. “I’d prefer that.”
She moved away and came back with a thick towel she folded up on the table. When she sat down I knew this was it. It was time to get over my squeamish vampire bite phobia. I rolled up my sleeves. Mickey had better appreciate this. I flinched when she took my left arm and lowered her head. She glanced at me, her eyes lit up brighter than I’d seen them before. She was probably enjoying my anxiety. I tried to calm myself down, counting backwards from ten in my head as she made her second attempt. I didn’t look as her fangs pierced my skin. The white-hot pain that sliced through me melted into a pleasantly warm sensation. It reminded me of drinking wine. My body relaxed. I felt kind of sleepy until I looked down and saw the red drops dripping onto the towel. Oh, yeah, I’m not drunk. There’s just a vampire sucking on my wrist. It didn’t alarm me like it should. It felt okay. Everything was okay.
She moved her head, and I felt her tongue clean the blood from the healing wound her fangs had opened at my vein. A pulsing sensation pulled through me, making me gasp. It faded quickly as she let go of me and motioned to her sink.
“You can wash your arm there. I’ll be back in a second.” She had blood around her mouth and her eyes had stopped glowing, but she has a look of dreamy satisfaction on her face. I think she was smiling under all that blood.
I rinsed off my arm, even though she pretty much licked it clean. The wound had healed. My body was still buzzing from the strange pulsing sensation she had sent through it with her tongue. If I had a boyfriend I’d be going home and jumping him right then. I was kind of glad I didn’t. This whole experience had taken creepy to a new level. I knew I wouldn’t be repeating it, and I’d be taking a cold shower as soon as I got home.
Trish came back in to the room, closing what I assumed was the bathroom door behind her. She’d cleaned my blood off her face. It was almost like it never happened.
“You tasted different,” she said, a faraway tone to her voice. “Users taste different too.”
I had to assume she only meant different from humans who can’t use magic. I refused to engage in a conversation about it. Forgetting this experience was going to take a lot of will-power, but I was determined.
She fixed up the charm for me, taking the money as I handed it over.
I bit my lip as I took it from her. “How do I find him?”
“Wait and I’ll tell you where he is,” she said, putting a finger to her lips as she closed her eyes. She opened them again and smiled. “He’s close by, in that fancy hotel down the road.”
I frowned. “What’s he doing at a hotel? And how did you know that?”
“My kind brought the magic here,” she said, shrugging. “I only know where he is, not why he’s there.”
“Great.” I muttered, thinking about the hotel she was talking about as I slipped Mickey’s charm into my pocket.
“Come back any time,” she told me as I left.
I shuddered as her door closed behind me. I wouldn’t be going back there ever again if I could help it.
Twenty-One – Nine/Britt
I sat on the edge of Britt’s bed, swinging my legs. He hadn’t called. It hadn’t been very long, but still. After everything he’d said I’d really believed him.
“He’s busy, that’s all,” I told myself, not liking how it sounded. I knew it was probably true. He had a country to run. It didn’t mean he didn’t miss me.
/> I got up and thought of a dress I’d seen Britt wear once about a year ago. It was plain and casual but it looked nice, and it covered my tattoo. I touched the skin at the base of my neck. I hadn’t been able to hide the tattoo since the night before. I knew it was because I was distracted. I knew I had to stop obsessing over him, but I couldn’t seem to help it.
He was the one. He had to be. It felt right, finally. I sighed. No wonder I was having so much trouble concentrating. He’d gotten into my head with his sneaky, powerful ways. He’d done this to me. I frowned at myself as I did my make-up in the mirror. I missed my old bright eye-shadows, but Britt never would have worn them. I put on her natural look and sighed at myself. I looked nice but that wasn’t the point. I looked like someone else.
Someone more powerful, I reminded myself, straightening. Britt would never lose focus over a silly man. Britt was too strong for that. I took a deep breath. “I’m forgetting all about him.”
I’d made a promise to Eight, and I fully intended to keep it. I lifted the phone and put it back down. That wasn’t how Britt would summon someone to her suite. The Animates were gone so that left one option. I concentrated on my glamour until it was perfect. If it dropped it wouldn’t be too noticeable in the black, high-necked dress. I wouldn’t let it drop. It was an important part of my disguise. Becoming Britt was the best thing that had ever happened to me. It wouldn’t be stripped from me by some stupid guy. No matter how dreamy he was. Oh, Nine! You’re such a fool.
Enough, I thought, I got the real Eight back. I don’t need a fake one talking inside my head anymore.
She shut up. I smiled to myself and teleported to the clone’s quarters.
The girls were in various states of undress.
Eight was dressed and ready and she sat up straighter as I walked into the middle of the room. They all stopped what they were doing, Three even dropped her bra instead of fastening it, saving a few seconds and leaving her upper half entirely naked. The air-con was up high enough to cause her to shiver. Her perky breasts bounced as she shivered under the breeze.
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