The Nightshade Guild: Mage You Look

by Abigail Kade

  Jemma: I can have her a little party next month when she’s with me.

  Charlie: Her first birthday. That’s so cool. Wish I could make her something now. I’ll plan something for when she’s here in May.

  Luna: It’s good to see you know how to use the app for something other than giving Nic a hard time and giving the rest of us a heart attack, Finn.

  Finnegan: I know how to use it, Luna. I just prefer not to. Never had any use for technology, you know.

  Nic: Oh, we know, big guy. You love the old ways, that’s your red wagon, and you’re sticking to it.

  Cale: Where you been, Nic? And where’s Arios?

  Arios: Dammit, why do you always start a chat when I’m trying to sleep? This tour schedule is killing me.

  Finnegan: Nic’s probably been busy with her new men.

  Sunny: What?! Is that meant to be plural?

  Demi: Go, Nic!

  Serena: Sorry, guys, I was out for a swim. I don’t know what day her birthday is. Who could we ask?

  Finnegan: Nic, ask Ameria’s uncle what day her birthday is for me.

  Charlie: Who’s her uncle?

  Isla: How would Nic know her uncle?

  Nic: Um, Marik is Ameria’s uncle. He’s also one of my men.

  Jemma: Who’s the other one? That vamp?

  Demi: Wait, a vamp? You can’t be serious.

  Finnegan: Mages of the Nightshade Guild, could we please focus on business and not gossip about who’s sleeping with who.

  Cale: *Whom.

  Finnegan: You’re an asshole, Cale.

  Nic: Good one, Cale!

  Sunny: Well, to be fair, Finn, you did text about a birthday.

  Finnegan: The birthday for the princess. That’s business.

  Luna: Sunny does have a point, though.

  Finnegan: Grrrr.

  Nic: Okay, before this goes anymore off the rails, Marik says her birthday is the 25th of this month.

  Finnegan: Thank you, Nic, and thank Marik for me. As for Ameria, she’s fine. She can touch you and send images and feelings to you now, very vivid images. She can also touch you and make you feel calm.

  Isla: Awww, she’s growing so fast. Her powers are too.

  Finnegan: Yes, and she took her first step tonight. I need to get back to her and get her ready for bed. I’ll check back in if I need anything.

  There was a flurry of congratulations and awwws for her first step, but I shut off the phone and hooked it back up to the charger. I didn’t love texting. Technology was so impersonal. I preferred to see someone’s eyes when I talked to them or at least hear their voice. My mind flashed to Henry coming on to me earlier today, and my cock gave a twitch. I’d had to rush outside when the baby interrupted us, or I would have jumped Henry right there in the living room. He was a temptation that I couldn’t indulge, no matter how much we might both want it.

  I knew he was upset when I came back. The sadness was rolling off him in waves. I had wanted to pull him into my arms as soon as I’d come back, but he’d run away. There had been tears in his voice, and it hurt. I’d done that, but I was sure other things were bothering him too. His energy felt conflicted for some reason. He must have other worries, and there was no way I could ask. What had seemed like such an easy decision to have Henry stay here and help with the baby had turned into a spider’s web of conflicting emotions that had me stuck.

  Focusing on the monitors in front of me, I knew the bear coming so close to the house had rattled Henry on top of everything else. It couldn’t have been any other bear but Sheryl, the head of the local bear clan. She’d always been pleasant when she’d come around before. We didn’t chat or have lunch or anything. She would just stroll by sometimes and wave hello, then go on her way. She’d changed the first time she came by to explain that she and her clan lived on the mountain and welcomed me to the neighborhood.

  For her to show any kind of aggression was deeply troubling. Surely, she wouldn’t try to take the baby. Would she?

  This situation needed my immediate attention. I checked all my hidden field cameras and saw bears in the woods around the house. I had to blink several times to focus on the screen before I could tell it was almost the whole clan out there, all looking directly at my cabin. This was not good.

  I had left any wards down on purpose, to make it seem like everything was normal as usual. I had never kept wildlife, real or shifter, from my home. If I had increased security around the cabin now for no apparent reason, that would have raised red flags in the community. As it was now, it was too late. Sheryl had seen the baby and Henry. I just didn’t know what she’d do about it. I had been recharging with my walks in the forest every day, but I was far from fully recovered right now. Even still, I needed to take care of security before anything happened.

  Reaching out with my energy, I tapped into the roots and branches of the trees I used as sentinels along my property lines. I sent out a blast of power to them all at once, forcing any being with the urge to harm me or mine out of the boundary. I watched on the screen as, one after another, the shifters in the woods were removed like they were being dragged by an unseen force.

  That would piss them off for sure, but it had to be done.

  Finishing up, I felt even more drained and exhausted. My legs felt like weights were tied to them. Every step was a struggle and used more energy than it should have. I had wanted to talk to Henry about my reaction to him this afternoon and explain, but just getting down the stairs would take everything I had left at this point. Why was I so tired? Usually, doing this amount of magic would have made me a little sleepy, but not this bad. The scratch on my leg was burning now with a terrible heat that was radiating up the leg. My whole body felt hot, but I was starting to shiver. That didn’t make sense.

  Convincing myself that I was overreacting, I decided a shower and food was what I needed. I was just cold and weak because I was hungry. I stood up, holding the top of the desk for support, then shook my head to bring the room into focus before weaving a crooked path to the door.

  I was closing the office door just as Henry was leaving the baby’s temporary nursery. Leaning back on the door for support, I blinked my vision back into focus yet again. Why was my vision so blurry?

  “Is she already down for the night?”

  Henry paused before answering, then seemed to make a decision and nodded his head with a tired smile and a look of concern. “Yeah, she had a big day. She ate and had the bottle you’d made for her earlier, so she should sleep through the night.”

  Answering seemed like so much work. Everything seemed to be so hard right now, even words, so I just nodded in response and trudged heavily toward the stairs, holding onto the railing to keep myself from slumping. What was wrong with me?

  “Thas good. I’m ex…exhau…really tired. Shower and sleep.”

  The room began to spin. Blinking my eyes wasn’t bringing anything into focus anymore. I stumbled down the steps. I would have fallen if Henry hadn’t hurried down and caught me.

  “Whoa, big guy. Hold on to me, and I’ll help you down.” He was holding all my weight easily, helping me to stumble and walk to my bed. He tried to help lay me down softly, but I wound up falling onto the soft mattress with a thump.

  “Feels’good. S’tired. Don’t know why.”

  “Finn, what’s wrong? Is there anything you need? You want something to eat or drink?”

  I could hear the worry in Henry’s voice, but sleep was pulling me under faster than I liked. I wanted to tell him I was okay, not to worry, but I only had time for one sentence before I was gone, and I knew what I needed. Some instinct was yelling what would solve everything.

  “Stay. Need you. Scratch.”

  Everything faded to black, but the darkness quickly made way for dreams. I was familiar with this. It had happened before, but never so vivid and terrible. These were the kind of dreams that told me things I never wanted to know, things that might happen…but not always the way I was shown. They were tricksy
visions that lied with a hint of truth. They were never good.

  Tonight, they were filled with a baby held by a gorgeous man with light and love in his eyes. Seeing the love there rejuvenated me more than all the trees in my forest. I felt the love filling me up and the magic spilling over, and I knew the longing and love were there in my heart as well. I was walking toward them, couldn’t wait to embrace them and know they were safe in my arms. Then the environment changed, those eyes filled with fear, and then everything turned red, then black. They were gone.

  I could feel my heart rate rising, sweat rolling down my face, tears falling without warning. The fear and loss were palpable. I felt every regret, every mistake I’d made to get to that point. I was fighting the warning, thrashing against this possible future and threat. They were gone, beyond my reach, and I was yelling out to find them, bring them back to me.

  “Henry!”

  In the distant darkness on the edge of my terrible dream, I thought I heard a familiar voice calling my name. His fear and worry drifted on the waves of sleep, pulling me further under than even the dreams could reach. If I fell into this abyss, I might never be able to rise again.

  The voice on the wind of my mind had a name. I thought of blond curls, blue eyes, broad shoulders, and strong hands. Henry. That was the name, but I couldn’t have him. It was so unfair to find someone I wanted and not be able to have him. I knew I could wind up drifting here forever, but the lack of pain and cessation of worry was so tempting. Over five hundred years, I’d walked the realms fighting for good and peace. If I couldn’t have the one person that I wanted in all that time, wasn’t I entitled to some peace at last?

  Chapter 6

  Henry

  Something was horribly wrong with Finn.

  I hadn’t noticed when he’d come back from his walk. I’d run away like a cowardly kid. He’d seemed tired when he was with the baby, but I hadn’t thought much about it. I didn’t notice until now, thinking back, how he struggled to get up off the floor and go up the stairs earlier.

  And now? He had just fallen down the stairs, would have face-planted if I hadn’t caught him first. Now he had collapsed into a fevered sleep for no apparent reason. I’d never heard of a Mage getting sick like this.

  This is so not good.

  I passed my hands over his body on the bed, searching with my energy for anything magical that could be to blame. As soon as I got to his legs, I found what I was looking for.

  The scratch on his leg had probably started out as something small, but it was definitely not small now. There was a deep red circle around the wound with red vines of magic spreading quickly from it up his leg, infecting his blood supply, taking him over one vein at a time. I followed the spidery lines of poison up his leg to see how far along it was. Lifting up his kilt for the first time should have been a much different experience, but there was no time for sexy times now. He had to live through whatever was infecting him first. I’d found someone I finally felt something for. I would be even more eternally damned than I already was before I’d let him get away from me now.

  The lines of magical venom hadn’t made it further than his upper thigh yet, but the overall poisoning had already taken its toll. I didn’t have any time to waste. Whipping out my phone, I called the one person in all the realms who could help me. Taking a deep breath, I prepared for this conversation as the line started ringing.

  “Hieronymus Mikhail Morningstar, why have you not called me for six years?”

  I cringed hearing my given name. My parents had been bold in their choices of names for all their offspring. God help us. Not that he would.

  “It’s only been six weeks, Mother.” I heard her huff and knew she was probably waving her hand in the air in frustration as she always did.

  “Well, anyway. You know that Earth realm time is confusing to me.”

  “Yes, I’m aware, Mother. But I don’t have time to chit-chat. I need your help.”

  Immediately her tone changed from chiding to concern.

  “What’s the matter, dear? What’s happened?”

  Deciding not to give too much information, mostly so I wouldn’t get into huge trouble, I decided to skirt the truth. It would be faster and easier on everyone if I could get the help that I needed from her without having to answer a lot of questions first. Finn was starting to thrash around on the bed every few minutes now. Time was running out.

  “I’m fine, Mother, but I need your advice on healing. There’s a paranormal that I’ve met, and they’ve been poisoned or something with a scratch. How do I find out what it is so I can counteract it?”

  I heard the heavy sigh through the phone and knew it was a combination of relief and frustration.

  “I’ve told you time and again, don’t get involved in the lives of paranormals, dear. It can only lead to trouble. We do best to stick to our realm and our people. You know this.”

  “Mom, listen. I don’t have time to argue with you about our decision to stay in seclusion. I have a friend who is going to die if I can’t help them. Now, walk me through this. Please?”

  I rarely called my mother mom anymore, and I knew better than to raise my voice, so when I did both, she knew I was serious, and all arguing ceased.

  “Okay, dear. You say it’s a scratch? What does it look like?”

  I took a few minutes to explain what the wound looked like and what it was doing. Then told her how fast it had taken hold.

  “He’s in a deep restless sleep, feels feverish.”

  “Okay, reach out over him and say these words, quae causa est magicae.”

  “Latin? Really, Mom?”

  “Yes, Latin. It’s the quickest way to do this. If you have time to get fancy, I can teach you some ancient Mesopotamian incantations.”

  “No, this is fine. Just a second.”

  I reached my hands out over Finn’s large prone form on the bed, sent out my energy to his, and asked aloud, “Quae causa est magicae?” Basically, asking what the source and cause of this magic was. In answer, flashes of images immediately came to me.

  Finn’s walking in the woods, touching the trees, and greeting them like old friends. A presence in the woods, waiting and watching, seething with hatred and desire for destruction. A bow and magic-infused arrow notched in the shadows, waiting for the moment to strike like a viper in the brush. A shot fired. My vision’s as if I’m on the arrow, following it through the air, flying to do its bidding once it’s reached its target—grazing Finn’s leg and fulfilling its purpose by pushing the poisonous tip into his flesh. I felt the malicious glee from the archer spreading through the forest and knew exactly what this was.

  “It was a Dark Fae who infused the arrowhead with venom strong enough to take down even a Mage. How do I counteract this, Mother?”

  “Dark Fae? What are you getting involved in, Henry? We only let you visit Earth to make you happy, not to let you get involved with Dark Fae and paranormals who run around in the wrong crowd. I think it’s time you come home.”

  “Mother, I promise, I’ll be home before you know it. I just need to get this taken care of. Please. How do I fix this?”

  “Dearest, there’s only one way we can counteract something like this. You know what it is.”

  I knew what she was saying, but I never thought I’d have to do it.

  “Are you sure there’s no other way?”

  “I’m sure. It’s the only way. If you wait too long, even that might not help.”

  “Okay, thanks, Mom. I love you. Gotta go.”

  “Wait, Henry, you don’t kno…”

  I turned off the phone, threw it on the bedside table, and then covered Finn with the blanket at the end of the bed when I noticed he was shivering. Tears were running down his tortured face, scrunched up in a pained expression that looked like fear and helplessness. Whatever he was experiencing was troubling him. I had to put a stop to it. There was no more time to waste.

  Running into the kitchen, I got the sharpest knife I could fi
nd, then ran back into the bedroom. I ripped off the robe I was still wearing and stood over Finn naked, brandishing the large chef knife over him. If he’d opened his eyes at this moment, he’d be sure to think I meant to murder him when I meant exactly the opposite. I was going to do the only thing that would save him from certain and permanent death.

  I pulled the blanket up until the wound on his leg was exposed to the cool air. His chills doubled, and he began thrashing on the bed. Time was up. Slashing the knife across my wrist, I made a deep cut that immediately began to flow crimson streams down my pale skin and onto the bed. I placed my wrist carefully above his festering wound and let the deep ruby droplets fall onto his feverish skin. As soon as the blood hit the open scratch, he began to thrash on the bed, back and forth, moaning and crying and reaching for something only he could see in his mind. The blood continued to cover the open slash of his skin. The blood began to bubble and steam, but nothing seemed to be changing. Had I waited too late? My skin healed after a minute, so I had to slash my wrist open again. Then again. I didn’t feel the pain, only my desperation to halt the torture and suffering of Finn. He was my only priority, my only thought.

  The gash on his leg was covered with my blood, as was the bed, blanket, and several other things in the room from his thrashing around. I’d done all I could. And it might not have been enough. Finn still seemed in pain and inconsolable. I had no idea what fever dreams he was experiencing, but I wanted to make them stop. In one last-ditch effort, I opened his mouth, slashed my wrist once more, then poured my life essence directly into his mouth. I’d never seen anyone heal that way before, but I was desperate.

  As the blood hit his tongue, he swallowed, then let out a desperate scream into the night, “Henry!”

  The pain and desperation in his voice as it cracked, screaming my name, made my own tears flow. I stepped back so the tears wouldn’t get on him. Our tears had powers of their own, and he didn’t need that right now. Once the scream finally ended, he fell back onto the bed.