Frost Bite

by S A Magnusson

  “Dr. Stone, as I believe our mutual friend has made perfectly clear, I am a little too old for you.”

  “That wasn’t me hitting on you, Barden. You knew perfectly well what I meant.”

  “Are you sure? I’ve been around long enough to recognize when a young woman has an interest in me.”

  I studied him a moment. It was the closest Barden had come to admitting how old he was. On appearances alone, he was likely in his fifties or sixties, but as I knew he was a powerful magic user, he was probably quite a bit older. Not only that, but he’d been alive long enough to have acquired a reasonable amount of wealth and more than a modicum of power. I suspected Barden had some sort of a role in an underground operation, though I didn’t know what he did exactly.

  “And it’s because you’ve been around so long that we both know it’s not going to work between the two of us.”

  “I have taken lovers your age before, Dr. Stone,” he said.

  That caught me off guard. “I’m working on me right now, so how about we focus on the things at hand?”

  “If you desire.”

  “I do desire.”

  Barden watched me, a hint of a smile still on his face. He was pushing me on purpose, amused by my reaction.

  I made my way along the street, heading toward the condo. When I reached the building, I punched in the keycode, blocking Barden from watching, though wondering if it was even necessary to do so. He probably knew how to break into the building, regardless of how much I might try to mask it from him. And it wasn’t that he didn’t know how to find it; he’d been there plenty of times, more since he’d joined the Mage Council.

  When we reached the door, I pressed my bracelet up against it. Markings in the bracelet would allow me access, bypassing whatever protections were set into the unit. Spells and runes had been worked into the whole building, all designed to protect the occupants—and now that included me—but those same spells also made it more difficult for me to get inside. Without the bracelet, I didn’t know what exactly might happen to me, but I suspected there’d be some sort of pressure against me to prevent me gaining entry.

  “You could just have allowed me to disarm it,” Barden said.

  “Would you have been able to?”

  He shrugged. “I would be willing to try.”

  I was curious whether he’d have been able to do so. From what I knew of the spells placed on the door— admittedly, not nearly as much as I would have liked—anyone who tried to force their way in would be met with a painful resistance. “You’re willing to deal with the consequences?”

  “I would like to know just what the archer did when he placed the protections here.”

  “Well, I’m not the person to help with that. Seeing as how I can barely understand the kind of magic used around me.” I flipped on lights as I went inside, slipping off my shoes and waiting for Barden to enter before closing the door behind him.

  “I think you know more than you realize.”

  “What’s there to know? There’s magic in the world, and I don’t have any of it. I’m not a vampire or a shifter or a mage. I’m aware of magic being used here and there, but nothing more.”

  “That is where you are wrong, Dr. Stone.”

  “How is that wrong?”

  Rather than answering, Barden took a seat on the couch, clasping his hands in his lap. “I believe you said something about wine?”

  “I said I was going to have wine. What makes you think I would share with you?”

  “Come now, Dr. Stone. You would withhold sharing wine with a friend?”

  “It depends on the wine.” I laughed.

  I headed into the kitchen, got a bottle, and was reaching for two glasses when a white fluffball rubbed up against my legs.

  “Hey there, Lucy. Do you need food?”

  She meowed at me, and I chuckled. There were times I could swear she knew exactly what I was saying. I’d told Kate about it one time, but she chalked it up to the cat being intuitive, and maybe that was it. The cat had known a magical user her entire life, so maybe it was nothing more than she’d been around magic and seemed somehow magical herself. I couldn’t be sure.

  Lucy’s food dish was empty, so I took the dry food and filled it once again. Seeing as I got to stay there for free while presumably looking for my own place, taking care of my friend’s cat was a small price to pay. Besides, I kind of liked the fluffball anyway.

  Back in the living room, Barden was sitting with his legs crossed, waiting for me. I handed him his glass, and he motioned to the bottle I hadn’t yet opened.

  I shrugged, letting him take over the opening of the bottle. It was perhaps some chauvinistic thing from when he’d grown up in the 1900s. He surprised me by running his finger around the rim, then simply pulling the cork free.

  “You even have a wine opening spell?”

  “What good is magic if you can’t employ it for useful things?”

  “I don’t know, do I? I don’t have any magic.”

  Barden watched me for a moment before pouring. He handed me a glass before taking the empty one and filling it. He set the bottle on the coffee table and looked over at me. “Now. Do you care to share with me this tattoo or rune you saw?”

  “I suppose I should.”

  I pulled out the slip of paper and unfolded it, handing it to Barden. He stared at it for a moment, taking a long swig of wine as he did. “This is what you saw?”

  “This was one I saw on a man who had nearly frozen to death. There was another marking on a man who died from a stab wound to the chest.”

  “Where?”

  “In the park across the street from the hospital.”

  Barden smiled slightly, bringing his wine glass down. “Not where did you find him. Where was he stabbed?”

  I tapped the left side of my chest. “Right about here. He had a marking on him, too, and for some reason, it reminded me of that one.” I nodded toward the scrap of paper.

  Barden remained silent, and he didn’t take another drink. That troubled me. “You recognize it, don’t you?” I asked.

  “I recognize it. And he should not have been in your hospital.”

  “Why? He was near death. That is the sort of thing we do, you know?”

  “I’m aware you are responsible for saving lives. What I’m saying is that the man you saw this symbol on should not have been at your hospital.”

  “And why not?”

  “Because, Dr. Stone, I believe him to be a vampire.”

  4

  I sat stunned for a moment, not knowing what to say. When we’d worked on the man, there hadn’t been any sign he was anything more than he’d seemed, even though he had somehow survived hypothermia and a megacode. Most of the time, when someone had a code blue resuscitation like he had gone through, they didn’t do so well at the end of it. Yet he had come through it just fine.

  Well, not just fine, in fact. By the time I’d stopped by to visit him, he had already been extubated and had even woken up to talk to me. That suggested he would come through things reasonably well.

  “But he had a heartbeat,” I said.

  “Of course he did.”

  “I thought vampires were the undead.”

  “That is the rumor about vampires, but they continue to have a heartbeat, and even have something similar to blood, though those who study such things question whether it truly is blood or whether it is something else.”

  “How is it you know so much?” I asked.

  “It’s my job to know.”

  “I thought your job was to serve on the Council.”

  “A Council that requires a certain amount of knowledge. And as I am tenuous at best in my position upon the Council, it is prudent for me to uncover anything I can that might be of use.”

  “Why is it tenuous?”

  Barden took a sip of his wine. “Dr. Michaels hasn’t shared that with you?”

  “We don’t really go into the details of the magical world.”

>   “Why not?”

  “Mostly because I haven’t wanted to know.”

  “I believe you have been a part of things in the past? From what I understand, you have even traveled with Dr. Michaels to the Iron Range pack.”

  That had been one of the first times I’d come into contact with magic. “I traveled with her, but that doesn’t mean I asked a whole lot of questions. At the time, I was focused on trying to stay alive. After that, I mostly didn’t want to get involved in anything that could directly lead to my death.”

  “I understand you were able to use one of the vampire’s wands.”

  “I did. I tried to keep one of them, but Kate didn’t think it would be a good idea, seeing as the power is drawn from the mage who allowed the rune to be placed upon them.”

  “I suppose there is wisdom in that,” Barden said.

  “Why?” Something about the way he asked his question troubled me a little bit. It was as if he was implying something, and normally with Barden, I was accustomed to him saying things outright rather than making inferences.

  Then again, I hadn’t seen him since Kate had disappeared.

  “It’s probably nothing,” he said.

  “Are you going to tell me or not?”

  “I think we should have a greater conversation about this vampire.”

  “We will talk more about this vampire, but I want to know why you brought up the wand,” I asked, feeling vexed. This was proving to be an exhausting day, and what should have been a simple conversation seemed to be going around in circles.

  Barden took a sip of wine before setting his empty glass down. “It would be easier if Dr. Michaels had shared more of the magical world with you, though perhaps she didn’t know.”

  “Seeing as how she tried to hide from the magical world her entire life? I guess she doesn’t know.”

  “Perhaps.”

  “Well, what is it?” I said.

  “In order to use a wand, a person must have a connection to magic themselves.”

  It took a moment for the words to set in, but when they did, I started to laugh. “Are you honestly trying to tell me I am some kind of mage?”

  “Not at all, Dr. Stone.”

  “But you said I have to have magic in order to use the wand. If that’s the case, then am I a shifter? No, wait. I’m a vampire.” I flashed my teeth at him, hissing as movie vampires did. I wasn’t one for horror movies, most of the time preferring comedies.

  “This is why it is most disappointing that Dr. Michaels did not share with you what she could have shared.” He leaned forward, looking at me for a moment. “There are other types of magic in the world, Dr. Stone. Much of that magic could be used to enable someone such as yourself to wield a wand empowered in such a way.”

  I took a long sip of my wine. The idea I might have some connection to magic was almost too much to believe.

  When Kate was developing her own connection to magic, there’d been times I’d wished to possess it too. But seeing what she had to face, and knowing how difficult things had been for her, I wasn’t sure I wanted anything to do with it. She was strong, fearless, willing to run into traumas the same way she was willing to run into battles with powerful magical users. When I’d realized the extent of what she had to face, I began to understand I would never be anything like her and didn’t want to be, either. I wanted nothing more than to live my ordinary life, do whatever I needed to finish my residency and begin practicing, to embrace the career I had always wanted. Unlike Kate, I hadn’t gotten into medicine as a means of escaping anything. I got into it because I enjoyed it, and wanted to help.

  “What kind of magic do you claim I might have?”

  “There are many different types of magic, Dr. Stone. It’s possible what you have is nothing more than hedge magic.”

  “Hedge magic? Is that some sort of gardening thing? Or maybe you’re hitting on me again.”

  Barden watched me for a moment, and I realized he didn’t get the implication. I shrugged, feeling a faint tinge of embarrassment.

  “Those in the magical world refer to hedge mages as those who have magic, but not nearly enough to qualify for training to become a full mage. We have them within both the Mage Council and the Dark Council, though within the Dark Council, we aren’t quite as dismissive of hedge mages as the Mage Council are.”

  “So, there are people out in the world who have magic and don’t know it?”

  “More than you realize.” He sat back, eyeing the bottle of wine for a moment, debating whether to refill his glass. He leaned forward, seized the bottle and poured it into his glass before setting it back down. He lounged, far more comfortable with this conversation than I was. “When Dr. Michaels used magic, how did you feel?”

  “After I got past the shock, I guess I mostly felt terrified.”

  “Terrified?”

  “Seeing as how you are a powerful magical user, you probably don’t understand what it’s like when there are things you can’t do and have no way of comprehending. It makes you feel—”

  “Helpless,” Barden said.

  “Yeah. Helpless.”

  “Oh, but I understand far more than you think. I imagine since Dr. Michaels didn’t share with you the nature of the magical world, she likely didn’t share with you that the Dark Council has not always been well regarded by the Mage Council. When I was young, and even when I was older, the Mage Council hunted people like me. They had men and women trained for such a purpose.” He took a slow sip of his wine, breathing deeply as he stared into the red liquid. “There were many years I felt quite helpless, Dr. Stone,” he said softly. “Many of my people did. It has only been because of the work Dr. Michaels did that we’ve begun to have the ability to openly operate. And even that is still limited.”

  “I’m sorry, Barden. I shouldn’t have said it like that.”

  “No, but as you aren’t a part of the magical world, it is not surprising you would not understand.” He took a deep breath, sipping his wine before forcing a smile. “As I was saying, hedge mages are those with power.”

  “That’s not what you were saying. You were asking how I felt around Kate. Why?”

  “Because most who have no magic feel an urge to escape when magic is used around them. Have you ever felt such an urge?”

  I drank my wine, considering for a long moment. Was that what I’d felt when Kate and others had used magic around me? There’d been my fear at how helpless I’d been, and it was mixed with the overwhelming sense of power Kate seemed to have. But the only time I’d felt an urge to escape had been when my life was on the line. “What would it have felt like?”

  “As I am someone who has access to magic, I’m not sure I can properly describe it, though those I have questioned tell me it is an urgency to be anywhere but where you are at that moment. One person told me it felt to them as if they had suddenly forgotten something, and because of that, they had a great need to head wherever it was they were prompted to go.”

  “One you questioned? What do you mean?” I asked.

  “I have my ways.”

  “Why is it I don’t doubt that in the slightest?”

  “I believe you are implying I am some nefarious person.”

  “I’m not implying anything.” I finished my drink, setting the glass on the table and shaking my head when Barden offered to refill it. “I didn’t have any sensation like that when I was around magic.”

  “I didn’t think you did. I’ve been using magic around you since you first called me, and you haven’t shown any inclination to be elsewhere.”

  I studied him for a moment. “You have?”

  “Consider it my way of testing.”

  “And you’ve decided to test me now?”

  “I have long suspected you had magical tendencies, Dr. Stone. Seeing as how you decided to call me, I figured us being alone provided an opportunity for me to discover whether my suspicions were accurate or not.”

  I hadn’t felt anything like what he desc
ribed. There’d been no urgency within me, nothing to make me feel as if I wanted—or needed—to be anywhere else. “What does it mean for me?”

  “Perhaps nothing. Then again, it could mean you have the ability to access magic, but only if you want it.”

  There was something of an offer in the way he said it, and I wondered if that was what I wanted. I couldn’t deny the appeal of magic. Having seen some of the things Kate was capable of doing, my own near-fatal injury being one of them, I couldn’t help but feel as if there was value in such a thing.

  If I were to get more involved in the magical world, would I feel helpless? I hated that feeling, hated knowing I was outmatched, and hated the feeling of just not knowing enough. I’d experienced it all too often within medicine and had had to work my ass off to get to where I was. Medicine didn’t come as easy to me as it did to some of the people I knew.

  “I’m not sure that anything I—”

  Something thumped along the hallway, and Barden jumped to his feet. He pressed his hands out in front of him, twisting them in a strange pattern. Magic. Again. It had to be, but why?

  “Did you see anyone else today?”

  “What do you mean? I was at work all day.”

  “Did you see anyone else—one who might have magic?”

  “No. What is it, Barden?”

  “Trouble.” He stepped in front of the door, pressing his hands along the doorframe. As he did, a steady thudding on the door started up. With each thump, he winced. “Do you know when Dr. Michaels might be returning?”

  “She’s been gone for a few months. As far as I know, she’s trying to understand the nature of her magic.”

  The pounding persisted, and Barden pressed on the door again. “I guess now I get to see just how stout the archer’s barrier is,” he said.

  “You doubt his ability?”

  “I don’t doubt anything, but there are others in the world who have enough power to batter down such defenses.”

  “What others?”

  “The others who are able to overwhelm our ability to stop it.”

  Something hit the door and Barden was thrown back violently. I raced toward him, kneeling down next to him.