by K. F. Breene
Darius’s eyes widened, then narrowed. “That is preposterous. He is unable to pass on his bloodline.”
“That isn’t…entirely true.” I shifted, uncomfortable. “It would require an ancient bloodline, status as a high priestess, a certain type of magic…” I shrugged. “He was drawn to my mother for a reason, whether he knew it or not.”
“How did a lower-level demon know of this when I have never heard of it?” Darius said.
Tamara smirked. “I had the demon in me when I watched the footage from John’s house. He was always worried about intruders, so he had a couple hidden cameras trained on his prized possessions. Whenever he disappeared for a rendezvous with his vampire friend, I would let myself in and watch the feeds so I knew what he was up to. He had my books, after all, which allowed me to work intricate spells without the neighborhood questioning. They never questioned him.” Her gaze hit me. “I’m going to need those books back, by the way.”
I just shook my head. She wasn’t getting the grand scheme of things.
“The way she withstood the fire was interesting,” she continued. “As was her strength and speed, but her ability to work with fire—my demon knew right away. Only one can do that. Well, now two, I guess, right? He wanted to leave me for her. I had to wrestle him to keep control. Why you’re hiding up here in the Brink, I’ll never know. You could rule.” She stared at me, mystified. “You could have limitless power. Be trained by Lucifer himself!”
“Chained in the underworld with a bunch of demons. No thanks,” I said. Darius’s stare was starting to make me nervous. “Why all the male mages? Why not invite a girl or two?”
“Men are easier to dominate. A show of power, the promise of greatness—they get in line. Especially the ones craving that next level of power. The trick is making sure they think you are male. Then again, I did bring the women around in the end. So much work, though. They were always asking questions.”
“And they turned into zombies and werewolves. I think the moral of the story is that dumb people will follow any whack job, but they’ll also eventually land said whack job in the hands of a very unimpressed vampire.”
“I wouldn’t say he’s unimpressed,” Tamara said. “He hasn’t turned his eyes away from you since he learned the truth. Looks like I’ll be getting my ticket out of here after all. Men do love power.”
I tried to ignore Darius’s assessing stare. “How many more are there?”
“More what?” she asked.
“Mages. There is no way you would have risked bringing them all here. Who else is out there distributing the unicorn blood?”
She sneered. “Like I’m going to tell you.”
“I will handle the distribution chain.” Something had changed in Darius’s eyes. Something I couldn’t identify. Tingles of nervousness wormed through me, a reaction that made me edgy because I didn’t know why it was happening. “I needed you to bring this to fruition, Reagan. Thank you.”
I tore my eyes away, trying desperately to assess. I didn’t feel like I was in danger. The opposite, in fact, which didn’t make any sense, given the situation. Any at all. Darius was ambitious, and he’d just found a meal ticket. Worse, I was vulnerable—completely drained of strength. His vampire blood was doing wonders for my clarity, but not helping so much with my tired body.
“Did Margaret know about you—” I flinched when Darius ran, a blur of movement, leaving me alone with Tamara. He disappeared through the side door.
“Margaret is a clueless old hag,” Tamara said as I stared after Darius. “We can ditch the vampire. He’d just complicate things.”
“Tamara, seriously. Let it go.”
She spat at me.
“Really?” I moved away. “What about your husband?”
“What about him? He’s a fool. Making him do as I said was child’s play.”
“So he knew.”
“About this? No way. He’d want to assume control. He was always trying to tear me down. He resents me for my power.”
“Sounds like a really healthy marriage.”
Dizzy hustled out of the side of the church with a harried expression, followed closely by Darius. “There are plenty of garments out here that you can use. I understand that you don’t feel the cold, but have some decency around the women!”
“I will not wear secondhand clothing.” Darius motioned Dizzy in our direction. “I need the human freed.”
I stood, and all the blood rushed to my head. I swayed, trying to get my bearings. A large hand covered my shoulder, steadying me.
“I’m good.” I shrugged Darius off.
“I haven’t much time before dawn,” he said quietly, too close. I hadn’t completely recovered from the whole bloodsucking incident. “I must leave you here.”
“I will bring the fire down on your head if you take my mark, Darius. I found her, I caught her—she’s mine.”
“Here. Get ready to catch her. She’ll probably run.” Dizzy dropped his mouth to his open palm, where he’d gathered a pile of powder.
I tried to shove Darius out of the way. He didn’t budge.
Tamara fell forward, reaching out to catch herself on Dizzy. He contorted his body and dodged away, letting her fall flat on her face.
“That wasn’t very nice,” I muttered with a smile. “Funny, though.”
Darius bent and scooped her up easily. He draped her over his shoulder, shot me a look that may or may not have been apologetic, and took off.
I clapped my hands together, feeling a surge of heat boil through my body as I readied for hellfire. Gritting my teeth, I aimed, and then staggered forward and let my hands fall. The door swung shut behind him.
“It wouldn’t have helped my payday to destroy my mark,” I said in explanation as I fell to my knees. It sounded like a cop-out, even to me. I let my head hang, panting in fatigue as the fire bubbled inside me.
“Killing that vampire would be a sure way to end your life,” Dizzy said, crouching beside me. “He has powerful friends.”
“Anyone with powerful friends also has powerful enemies.”
“Looks like he just made one. C’mon, let’s get out of here. You can come to our house. I’ll cook you something, then we can drink whiskey while Callie curses me for the mess I made.” Dizzy grabbed my arm and helped me to my feet. “After you heal, you can burn his house to the ground.”
“You probably shouldn’t hand me revenge ideas, Dizzy. I’m liable to follow through.”
“I know. I do like Darius, but it’d serve him right. He must know that you handed him that mark by saving his life.” He tsked. “It amazes me she got as far as she did. She wasn’t very bright. Or skilled.”
“She said that she slipped under the radar. Being grossly underestimated can mess with people, but it can also hide them. In her case, it did both. Her coven didn’t even suspect her! That’s amazing to me. Although she did have a bigger whack job across the street.” I wiped my hair out of my face. “I wonder where she got those books. I should’ve asked. I bet that was step one. The…boost in magic and energy was step two. From there, amassing a bunch of idiots.”
Dizzy guided me through the door to the side room, probably wondering if I would fall on my face. The zombie bodies lay where I’d left them, definitely dead. Callie stood in front of the closed closet door, staring at the woodgrain.
“Someone has locked herself in the closet and we can’t get her out.” Dizzy headed that way.
“She’s powerful, that mage. Told you.” When we got to Callie, I sighed and slumped to the ground next to her, peering at her opened satchel. Unlike mine, which was a mess of casings, hers was an orderly combination of casings and raw ingredients. “I used my magic to eat through before. I could do it again, but I’d probably pass out.”
“Oh.” Callie looked down at me. “You’re done with your powwow with the vampire?”
“Yes. He stole my mark and ran out the door.”
Callie huffed. “Figures. They only care about�
��”
“Themselves. Yes, I know. You mentioned it a time or two.”
She huffed again and bent down to root through her bag. “How old was that witch?”
“She’s a mage, hon.” Dizzy dropped his bag to the ground and opened it, looking at the ingredient side. He extracted a pouch and squeezed it open. A foul smell drifted toward me.
“Until she knows how to work powerful magic properly, she is a witch.” Callie grabbed out an herb of some kind and handed it off to Dizzy.
“We are trying to discourage against that form of elitism,” Dizzy said. “That’s what created this situation in the first place.”
“Well then, come up with a different name for it. A mage is trained, plain and simple.”
“Leave her in there. Let’s go,” I said.
“I most certainly will not!” Callie grabbed something else out of her bag and crushed it in her fist. “Any non-trained magic worker who can create a spell like this”—she motioned toward the closet door—“is worth my time in guiding.”
“Bullying, she means,” Dizzy murmured.
“Fine. Bullying. Whatever.” Callie reached into her bag for another item and motioned me up. “If I sit down, I’ll never get back up.”
“I’m right there with you.”
“Quit whining. You’re tired, not old. Get up.” She motioned me up again, more forcefully this time.
I rose and stood beside her. No way was I getting between her and a spell. It seemed dangerous.
She emptied the contents of her hand over my head, getting leaves and stuff in my hair. It would be hard to wash out. Next she crushed some other sort of plant, took the pouch from Dizzy, and pinched out wet, gooey stuff that smelled like—
“Please tell me you aren’t going to rub poop on me.” I winced when she smeared it on my arm. “Did you just wipe poop on me?”
“You’ll feel better.”
“Eating and sleeping would make me feel better. Smearing poop on me isn’t the answer.”
“Oh hush. I need you to help me, and for that, you need to be healed. It doesn’t smell that bad.” She rubbed her hands around a chalky stone.
“Does sense of smell wither with old age? Because it does smell that bad.”
“Bullying, see?” Dizzy handed her another leafy plant of some kind.
“I get the job done. Why is that called bullying?” Callie swatted me with the leafy plant. When it hit my skin, a chill spread through my body, making my teeth chatter. I hugged my arms around my torso before yanking my hand away from my arm. Too late—the gooey, foul-smelling stuff was now on my hand.
“Do you have any baby wipes in there?” My body started to shake. “Also, this doesn’t feel right.”
“I’m counteracting your magic,” Callie said as Dizzy handed over a wet wipe. “It will nullify the magic to its full potential much more often. It’ll help build up your magical muscles, so to speak. In fact, when I train the new recruit, I should let you sit in. That might help you develop your own abilities.”
“We don’t know if she’ll want to be trained,” Dizzy said.
“Of course she’ll want to be trained. Who wouldn’t?”
“People who hate being bullied?” I asked innocently.
“Would you two stop with the bullying comments?” Callie frowned at me, waiting.
The bite of cold worked its way out of my limbs, tingling my fingertips. Warmth took over, my normal body temperature. The aching was gone, along with the fatigue. I swung my arms, feeling fresh as a daisy.
“It would’ve been nice if you’d done this before the vampire stole my mark.” I tapped my weapons.
“We’ll plan your vengeance after we’ve had some rest. Now.” Callie stepped back and pointed at the door.
“I saw you levitating, by the way,” Dizzy said as I motioned fire over the spell. “That was really something. I didn’t know humans could do that. Can you go anywhere, or just up and down?”
“It was a gift from her father,” Callie said. “And I mean gift. There is no spell that can duplicate that. Only fifth-level demons and above can harness that power, and possessing a fifth-level demon and maintaining your sense of self is unheard of. Hollywood glorifies plenty of things, but some demonic possessions are really that extreme. Demons of that magnitude eat a person from the inside out. And yes, she should be able to move from one place to another, though I’m not sure how far she could make it. Amorette saw Reagan’s father do it.”
“My mom saw him, but she couldn’t teach me,” I said. “He needs to, or I need to figure it out on my own. Right now, I just can’t. I can will it, but I don’t move. I might not have enough power.”
“You have the power; you just haven’t completely grown into it. I think using it more often is the key,” Callie said.
“Why don’t demons just take their own human shape?” I asked, amping up the magic slowly. It sparked and sputtered as it worked through the woman’s defenses. She’d upped her game this time around, altering the spell to withstand another attack from my magic. I wondered if she even knew what she was doing, or if it was unconscious knowledge.
I made everyone take a few steps back, then threw up another fire shield just in case.
“Don’t touch that,” I said as Dizzy stuck his finger in.
“Ouch!” He yanked his hand back and stuck it in his mouth.
“It is actual fire. It hurts. Don’t touch it.” Callie shook her head at him. “Genius.”
“Darius went through it! He stood in it,” Dizzy shouted back. I was learning that that was his defense against the bullying. It all made sense now. There was a reason they were dual mages.
“Darius won’t allow himself to show pain,” I said.
“Creating and maintaining a human form takes substantial energy,” Callie said, finally answering my question about demons as she watched my magic work. “Crossing out of the underground does, too. When they surface on this side of the boundary, they immediately seek a human body to hibernate in for a time, regaining their strength.”
“Here we go.” I ripped the shards of the woman’s spell away and moved the curtain of fire just in time. The spell exploded, blasting the curtain and sparkling through. “Pretty.”
“I don’t wish I had your dad, but I do wish I had that ability.” Dizzy stared at it.
“I have a book that will teach you how to magically make fire, I think.” I stepped up and pulled the door open, quickly swinging to the side as I did so.
A spell streamed out, shooting past Callie and barely missing Dizzy, who jerked too late.
“Whoa, whoa, whoa, we’re not here to hurt you!” Callie put her hands up. “The show is over. All the bad guys are dead.”
“Except the escaped werewolf, but don’t worry about her.” Dizzy smiled in a good-natured way. “She is terrorizing the closest town. We’re but a distant memory.”
I shook my head and looked at the sky. He wasn’t letting the gravity of the situation get to him, I’d give Dizzy that.
“What are you people?” the woman asked, huddled in the closet. She clutched her mostly empty canvas bag.
Callie noticed. “How did you create this spell?” She made a circle in the air with her finger.
The woman’s brow furrowed and she drew into herself—a defensive quirk from getting ridiculed often, I’d bet.
“I’m Reagan.” I stepped into her line of sight and stuck out my hand. “And they are harmless.”
“Penny.” She studied my face. “Are you a witch?”
“No. I’m an asshole. It’s these two you want to talk to.” I hooked a thumb over my shoulder.
“She’s not an asshole, she’s strong-willed,” Dizzy said, stepping up with a smile. He stuck out his hand. “I am Desmond, but my friends call me Dizzy. Nice to meet you. We were about to head to our house for some dinner—would you care to join us?”
“I’m Callie. C’mon, after the night we all had, we need a stiff drink.”
“I don
’t drink. My mom doesn’t think it’s ladylike.” Penny rose slowly.
“Do you know what’s not ladylike?” Callie grunted as she bent to get her satchel and then straightened up stiffly. “Hiding in a closet when there is danger near. That’s cowardly. Real ladies aren’t cowards.”
“Take it easy,” Dizzy said in a low voice.
“Take it easy, my left foot.” Callie stalked for the door. “If she wants any hope of controlling her incredible gift, taking it easy is a waste of time.”
I jerked my head toward the dual mages and started walking. Thankfully, Penny fell in step with me. “They are the best in this area, and they don’t usually take on apprentices. If I were you, I’d see what they have to say.”
She shrugged as we made our way out the door, then stumbled when she saw all the bodies in the outer room. Her eyes got as big as silver dollars.
This probably wasn’t the best way to initiate her into her new life.
“This isn’t normal for Dizzy and Callie.” I waved my hand through the air before picking up the pace. “This is my fault, sadly. I get into skirmishes far more than is healthy.”
“This is a skirmish?”
“Well…no. This is a clusterfuck. But you know what I mean.” I held the door open for her. “So, what do you say? Fancy some dinner? You can ask questions.” It would be an opportunity for me to find out how much she knew without having to ask. I didn’t want to let her know my traits were not normal by asking about them.
As we filed into the car, my mind drifted back to Darius and my mark. If he had my wellbeing in mind, he would stop by the Magical Law Enforcement office and check her in, not to mention he could explain what went down in the church so I wouldn’t have to. Someone needed to get on cleanup detail. The bounty would be released, and I’d get my money. After that, he could do whatever he wanted.
If he had my wellbeing in mind.
Chapter Twenty-Six
