by Linsey Hall
Aidan slowed the car to a crawl as we neared the address. We rolled by the narrow buildings. If I squinted, I could make out the color underneath the grime. The buildings had once been brightly painted.
“There it is,” I pointed to a building that had once been purple. The windows were dark, the stairs leading up to the stoop narrow and rickety. A sign hung over the door that read Apothecary’s Jungle.
Aidan pulled the car over and parked in front of Mordaca’s home. He moved in front of me as we climbed the creaking stairs. He was trying to block me from danger. While part of me was annoyed by it, the smart part of me thought let him.
A brass lion door knocker scowled at us from the dark purple door. Aidan knocked it and the lion roared. I grinned. I kinda liked Mordaca already.
But it wasn’t Mordaca who answered. A hulking, shirtless man with wild golden hair pulled open the door. His scowl turned into widened eyes. He stepped back and bowed.
“Origin.” His deep voice was laced with respect.
Whoa. So shifters took this Origin thing seriously. I assumed he was a shifter. His magic smelled animalistic, with a hint of something else. Something dry—like the desert. Maybe the plains of Africa? I’d never been, but I guessed that might be what I was smelling. With his crazy golden hair streaked through with hundreds of shades, I’d bet lion.
“Lion,” Aidan greeted.
“I am Mathias,” the lion said as he stepped back. “Welcome.”
“Just who are you letting into my house at this ungodly hour?” an annoyed female voice asked from within.
Mathias stepped back, pulling the door farther open. Though the foyer was dim, I could make out the stairs leading upward. The woman who descended looked like Elvira’s cousin. No joke. Bouffant black hair, a slinky, plunging dress of the same shade, and so much eye makeup she looked like she was wearing a Zoro mask.
It was only seven thirty, and she was more put together than I ever was. Her magic rolled over me in waves. She was strong. Not nearly as strong as Aidan, but very powerful. Her magic prickled at my skin—kind of like rolling a hairbrush over my arm. The only other sense I got off of her was the taste of whiskey. I never understood why people’s magic tasted the way it did, but I assumed it meant that her magic burned going down.
“This is the Origin,” Mathias said.
“My friend Claire called about us yesterday,” I said. “We need help with a tracking spell.”
“Oh, yes. I remember,” Mordaca said. “We’ve just returned from LA, and I was about to head to bed.”
So this was evening for her. That explained why she was so done up at such an early hour when she really didn’t look like a morning person. In my head, morning people were always wearing workout clothes and perky smiles. The only thing perky about Mordaca was her tits.
“Come in,” she said, gesturing with a hand that looked like it was tipped with black claws. They were just nails filed to a point, but the effect did the trick. She looked exactly like I’d expect a Blood Sorceress to look. This was the chick that Connor had the hots for? Wow, kid.
I followed Aidan into the dark foyer, trying not to wrinkle my nose at the overpowering incense that wafted from a back room.
“You can go upstairs, pet.” Mordaca patted the lion’s bare chest and he growled, but he did as she said. “Come with me.”
We followed her to the door at the back of the foyer. The black and white tiled floor and the ornately carved ceiling were cleaner than I’d expected. The dark and the smell made me think there’d be a thick layer of cobwebs, but I could see none.
The foyer led to a cluttered back room. Shelves of jars and crystals covered the walls, and a big wooden table stood in the middle. A workshop. A hearth burned in the corner, and herbs hung from the ceiling.
“Do you sell a lot of charms?” I asked.
Mordaca rounded the table to stand across from us. “Not many. They’re difficult to make, and not many people are willing to pay what I ask.” Her gaze met Aidan’s. “But the Origin will have no problem with that.”
Aidan nodded as I looked around covetously. I itched to explore the shelves and see what magic bits and bobs she had lying around. Because I didn’t use my own power, I relied heavily on charms like my comms necklace and my daggers. But like Mordaca had said, enchanting objects was difficult, so there weren’t many lying around, and they were damned pricey when you could get your hands on them. Magic had a hard time surviving away from its master. It was one of the reasons my business dealing in ancient enchanted artifacts did so well.
If I were willing to use my magic, I could borrow Mordaca’s power and enchant my own objects. But that wasn’t worth the risk.
“What can I do for you?” Mordaca asked.
Carefully, I drew Righty from its sheath and held it out. I’d wrapped the blade in plastic wrap to protect the blood, and it glinted in the low light. “There’s blood on this blade. I want to track whoever it belongs to.”
Mordaca reached out with her black claws and took the blade. She wrinkled her nose as she unwrapped the plastic. “Shifter, Magica, or human?”
“Magica. But I don’t know what kind.”
“All right.” She laid it gently on the wooden table. “I’m going to need to get my sister to help me with this. It will cost more. Wait here one moment.”
She left through a side door, and I glanced at Aidan. “Creepy in here, huh?”
“Not my preferred brand of magic, no,” he said.
Footsteps sounded a moment later. Another woman followed Mordaca into the room. Though she looked like Mordaca, she was pale where her sister was dark. She wore a white robe that covered her to her neck, and she yawned as she took up a spot next to Mordaca.
“I am Aerdeca.” Her voice was sweeter, without the raspy undertones that Mordaca’s voice carried, but it resonated with power all the same. I couldn’t taste her magic like I could with Mordaca, but the sound of chirping birds accompanied her, along with the feeling of a light breeze. She practiced blood magic like her sister, but I couldn’t pinpoint why she felt so different. Like a white witch to Mordaca’s dark witch.
Two sides of a coin?
“Morning,” I said once I realized I’d been feeling out her magic for too long. I needed to not do that. People got weird when you stared at them for so long.
“Yes, early isn’t it?” She looked like she liked mornings as much as I did. She must have kept a schedule that was the opposite of Mordaca’s. This wasn’t her evening—it was her coffee hour, and we were interrupting.
Mordaca looked at me. “I am going to need some things from you to enhance the spell.”
Suspicion loomed. “What kind of things?”
“You really want to find him, right? That desire will help fuel the spell. So a drop of your blood.” She turned to Aidan. “From you as well.”
No surprise. She wasn’t called a Blood Sorceress for nothing.
When she gestured with her claws, I held out my hand. She nicked my finger with a small silver blade, and I let my blood drip into the small bowl she held out. At least she didn’t use her claw. When she let go of my hand, I stuck my cut finger into my mouth.
“Now you.” She held out her hand to Aidan. Once they’d completed the task, she looked back at me. “The addition of something that you value will enhance the spell.”
“That I value? Like what?” But my eyes darted to my blade. That was pretty damned valuable to me.
Her gaze followed mine. “This blade?”
“I value it, but I really don’t want to give it up. It’s part of a pair.”
“That’s the point. The spell might work without it, but sacrifice gives it juice.”
“What about Aidan?” I asked.
“Him as well,” she said.
“I don’t have anything with me that I really value,” he said.
I eyed the fancy watch at his wrist, but for a guy like him, that probably wasn’t anything special.
Mordaca’s
gaze searched him, then landed on me. “No. There is only one thing you value in this room, and I don’t think I can put her into the spell. That just leaves the dagger.”
Uh, hello, what? He valued me? I had no idea how to respond to that, so I just said, “Fine.”
I had brought my copper-hilt daggers as backup, but I hated to give up the obsidian. It was my fave.
Mordaca nodded and picked up the glass blade. She held it point down over the bowl, and her hand began to glow. Slowly, the dagger lit from within—a bright purple that burned my eyes. I squinted as the blood on the blade turned black, then dripped off into the bowl. It sizzled, letting off an acrid smoke. The taste of whiskey at the back of my throat grew. I wondered if Aidan got the same sense of Mordaca’s power.
A second later, my obsidian blade turned to liquid as well, dripping into the bowl. My heart ached at the sight. That dagger had kept me safe for a long time.
Mordaca stirred the contents with one black fingernail, then handed the bowl to Aerdeca. The blonde sorceress lifted it in front of her chest and circled her hand over the bowl. A white light glowed from her palm, extending out to envelop the bowl. The air hummed with her magic, and the wind that accompanied it picked up. It didn’t look like my clothes were blowing in it, but it felt like it.
The dark liquid in the bowl began to spin, rising up like a little tornado until it formed a ball. When the ball turned from black to clear, Aerdeca snatched it out of the air and put the bowl on the table.
“All done.” Aerdeca handed it to her sister.
“Nicely done,” Mordaca said.
“Nice to meet you.” Aerdeca turned to leave. The words didn’t sound sincere. “Next time, don’t come so early.”
That had sounded sincere, however.
She left the room, taking with her the sound of birds and the feeling of a breeze.
Mordaca held out the little glass ball. “This will lead you to your prey.”
I reached out for it, and she snatched it back.
“For a price.”
Oh, damn. We hadn’t talked price. I hadn’t even realized. “You’re waiting until after to tell us the price?”
“Once you see what you’ve requested, you want it more.” She rolled the glass ball in her palm. “So you’ll pay more. I’m a businesswoman.”
So was I, and I knew that we weren’t above gouging people who could afford it. “How much?”
“A favor. From you.”
“Not from the big guy?” I nodded at Aidan.
“No. He’s powerful, but you’re good at finding things.”
“So are you.” I really didn’t want to owe her one. She was dangerous.
“It’s something I can’t find. Just like this charm”—she held up the glass ball—“is for something that you can’t find. We all have our blind spots.”
“What is it?”
“I prefer not to say until you agree.”
Okay, that definitely made my spidey sense pop up. “Sorry, no can do.”
“She’s right,” Aidan said. “I’m the one seeking this Magica, not her. I’ll pay.”
Mordaca huffed her disappointment, then turned her sharp gaze on Aidan. “Fine. Twenty grand.”
I almost choked on my gasp.
“Will you take a card?” Aidan asked. “I believe I’m a bit short on cash.”
No joke.
“Of course. What kind of operation do you think this is?”
I glanced at the herbs and crystals and incense. A creepy one! She was a freaking Blood Sorceress, for magic’s sake!
“Excellent.” Aidan handed over his card, and she pulled a phone out of her dress pocket. It had one of those little swipey things on it, and within a minute she’d taken his payment and handed over the glass ball.
She looked at me. “You’ll use that glass ball to find the link to the Magica you seek. It will jumpstart your own tracking ability. Just hold it close and do what you normally would when you are seeking.”
“Sounds easy enough.”
“It should be. Good doing business with you. Please come back soon.” She waved—more of a finger wiggle than anything else.
“We’re dismissed,” I muttered to Aidan.
“Exactly,” Mordaca said. “I need my beauty sleep.”
“Thanks for your help,” Aidan said.
I followed him out of the room and through the dim foyer. We let ourselves out onto the bright street. The sunlight just made this part of Darklane look even dingier.
“That wasn’t so bad,” I said as we walked to his car.
“Speak for yourself. I just paid for a midsize car, and all I got was this glass ball.”
“Worth it, though.” Even if I’d had to come up with the cash, I’d have found a way. We really needed to get that scroll.
“Very much so.”
We climbed into his car. I reached out for the ball. “Let’s do this thing. I want to know where those bastards are.”
Aidan handed it over. The ball was cool and heavy in my hand. I held it close to my chest and focused on my memory of the man who’d stolen the scroll. Mordaca’s magic twined with mine. Hers smelled musky and felt dark. Though it made my skin prickle, it didn’t feel evil like some people’s magic. It smelled like cigar smoke and tasted like whiskey.
After a moment, the familiar string wrapped around my waist, pulling me. Our prey was close. A sense of the location bloomed within me, clear as glass.
I sucked in a breath.
“They’re at Ancient Magic,” I gasped.
11
The drive to Ancient Magic felt like it took forever. Aidan drove like a demon, breaking at least five traffic laws. By the time he pulled up beside my shop, I was vibrating with tension.
The car screeched to a halt at the curb. I flung the door open and leapt out. Ancient Magic’s door was shattered, jagged pieces of glass protruding like teeth. Within, figures fought, wrestling on the ground and throwing magic in bursts of smoke.
Shadow demons. An icicle of fear pierced my heart, sending cold streaking through me. They had found us.
I drew my copper-hilt knives and burst into the shop.
There were at least five demons fighting Nix, Claire, and Connor. Even Del was there, wielding her short sword like a master against the same man from the tomb in Norway. He was the only non-demon assailant, but he was strong. He threw blasts of flame at Del that she repelled with her enchanted sword. Blade and shield in one, it was her first choice of weapon.
How had he found us? Fear sunk its claws into my back. My magic surged within me, a tidal wave of power that threatened to overwhelm my control and burst out of me in a horrifying show of force. I could blast them all away, but I couldn’t keep my magic from hurting my deirfiúr as well. Or Connor and Claire, who fought two huge demons in the back corner.
Nix grappled with two in front of the counter. Behind her, a demon ransacked the shelves. In quick succession, I threw both of my copper-hilt daggers. They plunged into his back, near where I hoped his heart would be.
The demon turned and growled. Damn. Despite the blades in his back, he was still standing. He was at least as strong as the demon at the temple of Murreagh. Not all shadow demons seemed to be that strong, but perhaps he was old.
He raised a huge gray hand and threw a blast of smoky magic at me. I dove left as the searing streak of smoke plowed into the window behind me. It shattered, throwing glass everywhere. Pain pierced my back in a hundred little places.
Damn! I climbed to my feet, my back burning, as Aidan launched himself past me at the demon who’d attacked me. He was in his human form because the shop was too small for him to fight as a griffon, but he was fierce. His fists were a blur, which was lucky, because his brand of magic was so destructive that he’d have to fight with fists if he didn’t want to destroy the building he was in.
I leapt over debris in the middle of the shop, my heart aching at the sight of all the broken replicas, and joined Nix in fighting the two
demons that attacked her. She’d been fine when I’d first burst into the store, fighting the demons off with her usual skill, but one had gotten in a solid hit to her middle that had her wheezing.
We each took one demon—like a double date, but way more violent. The punch I threw at my demon glanced off his face. My knuckles burned. This was why I hated hand-to-hand.
I ducked down and grabbed a jagged piece of shattered pottery. It was shaped roughly like a dagger, and I plunged it into the demon’s chest and then kneed him between the legs, hoping I was getting a ball shot. As he collapsed, I caught sight of Aidan charging the man who’d fought Del.
She was sprawled on the ground, her dark hair spread out in a crimson wave. The attacking Magica flung out his hand and sent a jet of ice at Aidan. The jagged blue wave of ice plowed him to the ground.
Oh, man, I wished I could use my power to blast him back. The bastard so deserved it. None of us wanted to destroy Ancient Magic, so we didn’t use our powers. But this guy didn’t care.
The man jumped over the counter. I ran for him. Before I got there, he reached under the counter and grabbed a box, then threw something to the ground. A silvery cloud burst up around him and he disappeared.
I stumbled to a halt.
What the hell? I thought he’d been after us. I spun around to check my deirfiúr. The demon that Nix had fought was on the ground. She knelt over Del.
Aidan slipped up behind the demon who’d fought Claire and broke its neck. It was the last demon in the shop. The rest were unconscious or had already disappeared.
“Check to see if they’re all dead,” I said. “I want to know why they were here.”
“Robbery,” Nix said. “The first real one we’ve had in a while.”
She was right—we didn’t often get thieves she couldn’t take care of. But these weren’t ordinary thieves. There was a lot more at play here that I didn’t understand.
