A Kind of Magic

by Donna Grant

  He took a bite, then another before the turned to Elle and said, “It is good. I didn’t think I would like it.”

  Roderick was nearly done with his food when Elle placed a large bowl on the table.

  “I forgot the Caesar salad.”

  Val’s eyes lit up. “Ah. Something Roman.”

  “Not exactly,” Elle said as she dished some onto each of their plates.

  Roderick moved the green stuff with whitish liquid around on his plate. “It looks like leaves.”

  She laughed again, the sound magical to his ears. Even her eyes sparkled.

  “Its Romaine lettuce. Just try it.”

  Roderick took a deep breath, speared the leaf, and put it into his mouth. He was more than surprised to find he liked it. He gave her a nod and motioned for Val to try it.

  Reluctantly, Val put a piece of the lettuce in his mouth. “’Tisn’t Roman.”

  Once the meal was finished, Roderick found that he didn’t wish to leave Elle. He helped pick up the table and turned to find Val doing the same. The Roman constantly surprised him, even after all the years they had known each other.

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  When the table was clear, Val picked up his halberd. “I’m going to make a round.”

  Elle rinsed one of the dishes she had been washing and saw Val leave. “Where is he going?”

  “To take a look on the roof.”

  She had been pleasantly surprised to find Roderick willing to help her cook and clean. Since he was such a warrior, she figured him to be the barbarian type and not touch anything to do with the kitchen.

  With Roderick’s help, the kitchen was cleaned in record time. She wiped her hands dry on a towel and watched him gaze out the windows.

  “How long do we have?”

  He shrugged without looking at her. “I honestly don’t know. From what we can tell, the Harpies haven’t done any major damage or killings, but that doesn’t mean they won’t start now.”

  “Part of me wishes they would,” she said as she walked to stand beside him. “At least then we would know where to find them.”

  “Me, as well,” he admitted.

  “You’re worried, aren’t you?”

  He nodded and turned to her. “We’ve fought many creatures, but only one at a time. Never have there been more than one.”

  “Do you think the Harpies were called up separately?”

  “I don’t know.” He sighed and glanced out the window. “My gut tells me nay, that it was one summoning, but I cannot know that for sure.”

  “And the Fae? Can they not help?”

  “Their sight into who is doing this is limited.”

  “I don’t understand that. I thought they were all seeing,” she said as she leaned against the window and crossed her arms over her chest.

  “Since the Fae once roamed Earth, they are connected in a way a mother and child are. If the connection is severed, they both will die. As soon as the first creature was summoned, the realm of the Fae felt the reverberations from Earth.”

  “That’s when they put the Shields together?”

  He shook his head. “Nay. They went looking for what had occurred and found the creature. Despite their attempts to kill it, they couldn’t. They cannot interfere.”

  “That doesn’t make sense to me.”

  “It didn’t to me either at first,” he admitted. “For whatever reason, the Fae aren’t telling us why they cannot fight, they just can’t.”

  “What happens if they do?”

  He looked away from her and took a deep breath. “I asked that same question.

  No one answered me, but from what I could tell, when they first attacked, the retribution was horrendous.”

  “Doesn’t seem quite fair, does it?”

  “Nay, but then again, whoever is sending the blue stones out knows what they are doing.”

  “How so?” she asked.

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  He turned his midnight blue eyes to her. “My thought is that they want to destroy the Fae realm. What better way to do that than to destroy them through Earth, a people that the Fae have guarded and helped since the dawn of time.”

  She blew out a breath. “I feel like I’m in a bad dream. If what you say is correct, then why not just attack the Fae realm.”

  “They are too powerful. The Fae have more powers than you could imagine.”

  “Ah,” she said and nodded.

  “What I don’t understand is why destroy other realms,” he muttered.

  “Whose realm was destroyed?”

  “Cole’s. There is nothing left for him to return to. Yours. There are others that are either already destroyed or on the verge.”

  Elle bit her lip. She couldn’t imagine her world gone, but then again, her real world, the realm she was born in was gone. Because of the creatures.

  It must have been something in Roderick’s eyes, but she had a feeling his realm had either been destroyed or was about to be. Since he didn’t wish to talk about it, neither did she.

  The door opened and slammed shut behind Val as he stalked toward them.

  “Do you smell it?” he asked through gritted teeth.

  Elle turned to see Roderick lift his head and close his eyes as he inhaled deeply.

  Of a sudden, his eyes flew open.

  “They’re here,” he said as he grabbed his weapons.

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  Chapter Twelve

  Adrenaline pumped through Elle as she raced after Roderick as they took the stairs to the roof of the Huntington. As the two men, weapons in each hand, looked around, Elle held onto the doorframe as if it were her anchor to life.

  The sky above them churned with dark clouds that rolled in ominously. At least she didn’t think it had something to do with the Harpies since a hurricane was stirring up the waters in the Gulf of Mexico.

  Still, she couldn’t dismiss the unease growing in her stomach, a feeling like her life was about to be forever changed … or ended.

  “Do you see it?” Val yelled at Roderick.

  “Nay,” he yelled back as he walked around the roof as if they weren’t thirty stories up.

  She fingered the dagger on her thigh and took a deep breath. No more hiding in the corner for her. She was responsible for the necklace leaving her care, and she would get it back.

  “There,” Roderick shouted.

  She turned her head and saw the three large figures flying through the air, almost obscured by the dark clouds and night closing in. Even their semi-human cries wouldn’t be heard over the constant din of honking cars and loud music below. It was no wonder they hadn’t shown up in the news. No one looked up anymore.

  Elle moved away from the door towards Roderick. “Oh, my God. They’re heading towards the CenterPoint Energy Building.”

  “What building?” Val asked.

  “It’s a huge black building downtown. Very recognizable with its six story cap on top with a whole cut into it.”

  Roderick turned and headed toward the stairway. “Then that’s where we need to be.”

  “Wait,” Elle called as she ran after him. “You can’t just walk into the building and take the elevator up to the top. There’s security in that building. Not to mention, it’s after hours. No one will be there.”

  Roderick’s dark blue eyes burned into hers. “Trust me.”

  And despite the warnings in Elle’s head, she did.

  * * * *

  Roderick’s heart hammered as they drove their motorcycles toward the tall black glass building. The need for a battle, to redeem himself in his family’s eyes, pounded in his veins.

  He followed Elle’s instructions as she shouted in his ear and fearfully clutched his abdomen.

  “We can’t do this,” she whispered as she stared up at the building as he shut off A KIND OF MAGIC

 
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  the bike in the deserted parking lot.

  “Trust me,” he told her again. He rose from the bike and looked around him.

  “We cannot climb it.”

  Elle laughed shakily. “No, we can’t.”

  “We’ll have to go in,” Val said. “Elle, you know this time. Can you get us in?”

  Roderick watched as panic took hold of her.

  “I’m not a good liar, and I’m a terrible actress.”

  He took hold of her arms and turned her until she looked into his eyes. “Will you at least try?”

  She swallowed, then nodded. She moved out of his arms and paced in front of them. Suddenly, she stopped and turned to smile at them. “I have a plan.”

  * * * *

  Elle took a deep breath and walked up the steps to the front doors of CenterPoint Energy. Just as she thought, they were locked. She cupped her hands and placed them on either side of her face as she peered inside.

  A security guard approached and unlocked the door. She gave him a smile as he opened it.

  “Can I help you?”

  “Am I too late?” she asked.

  The balding, pot bellied security guard crossed his arms over his chest. “For what? Everyone has gone home.”

  “Oh, no,” Elle cried. “My aunt told me to meet her here. I came earlier to meet her for lunch and when I tried to leave, my bike wouldn’t start,” she said and pointed to Roderick’s motorcycle they had moved into view of the doors.

  “She told me to come back and she would give me a ride home.”

  “Sorry, miss. Everyone is gone.”

  “Are you sure everyone is gone?” she asked, giving him her most innocent look.

  “My parents are going to kill me when they find out. Can’t I at least come inside and try to call her?”

  The security guard looked unconvinced, and Elle felt her panic growing.

  “No cell phone?” he asked.

  “No,” she said and rolled her eyes. “My parents took it away when I dropped out of college last month. I came here to my aunt’s office to try and find a job.” She couldn’t believe this imbecile was buying what she told him.

  After a moment, the security guard sighed and motioned her inside. “I’ll give you five minutes. After that, you’ve got to leave.”

  She rushed inside after the security guard. When he handed her the phone, she dialed her home phone and kept an eye on the door. When she saw Roderick and Val sneak inside, she cursed under her breath.

  “Dialed the wrong number,” she told the guard. “I’m still getting used to Houston.”

  He smiled. “No problem.”

  She turned so that the guard turned with her, putting his back fully to the doors.

  As she dialed slowly, she saw Val and Roderick slip up behind the guard.

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  When Roderick lifted the hilt of his sword, Elle put down the phone and looked at the guard. “I’m really sorry.”

  “For what?” he asked, just as Roderick brought the hilt down on his skull.

  The security guard crumpled to the ground.

  “There will be more,” she said as she pushed them toward the elevators. “We haven’t got long before someone comes in and finds him.”

  As the elevator took them to the top of the building, Elle could hear the unearthly screams of the Harpies. “They sound so close.”

  “Because they are.”

  She shivered at Val’s words. Her gaze sought Roderick’s. “What are we going to do when we reach the top?”

  “I want you to stay hidden,” he told her. “Val and I have done this plenty of times, but with three of them, I cannot watch you as well.”

  “You’re

  outnumbered.”

  “We’ll be fine.”

  But she knew they wouldn’t. The thought of either man hurt or killed left her with an aching void she didn’t want to confront. In a short time, she had come to trust these men with her life, and the least she could do was watch their backs.

  When the elevator doors opened to the top floor, Val and Roderick crept out. Elle slowly followed them, keeping an eye out behind her in case someone walked from one of the closed offices.

  “There,” she whispered and pointed to the doorway that was sure to lead them to the top of the building.

  Just as she expected, the door was locked. In awe, she watched as Roderick took a step back, then kicked the metal door in.

  “Wow,” she mouthed silently and followed him inside as Val closed the door behind them.

  “Vile stench,” Val said as they reached the door that would open onto the roof.

  She glanced at him. “I don’t smell anything.”

  “It’s the evil he speaks of,” Roderick said. “Remember,” he said as he looked at her. “Stay hidden, Elle. This realm is counting on you.” Great. Nothing like pressure.

  He didn’t move until she nodded, and then he pushed the door open and he and Val rushed outside. Elle moved slower. She peered around the door to see Roderick and Val, weapons in hand as they looked around them.

  She stepped onto the roof and closed the door behind her. She leaned against it and waited, heart pounding wildly.

  Then she heard the scream. She knew that voice.

  She ran towards the sound. “Jennifer,” she yelled, only to be jerked back against a wall of solid muscle.

  “Nay, Elle,” Roderick whispered harshly in her ear.

  She watched powerlessly as one of the Harpies held Jennifer over the side of the building.

  “Someone help me,” her best friend screamed. “Alex! I don’t want to die.”

  Elle felt Roderick stiffen as Alex walked toward Jennifer. “You would live if you A KIND OF MAGIC

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  had listened to me,” Alex said.

  “Don’t let her die,” Elle beseeched Roderick. She looked up and over her shoulder at him. “I’ll give you anything you want, just don’t let her die.”

  “I’ll try and save her,” he promised and ran his finger along her jaw before he gently pushed her away from him. “Stay hidden,” he said again.

  Tears poured from Elle’s eyes as she watched her friend dangled from the building. She knew it was going to take a miracle to save Jennifer, but if anyone could do it, Roderick and Val could.

  She heard the scrape of something against the roof the same time the smell assaulted her. Elle knew without turning around that one of the Harpies was behind her.

  Slowly, she turned and faced the creature.

  To her amazement, the top half of the Harpy was a woman so ethereally beautiful as to only be seen on a magazine cover, but the bottom half that was bird was more hideous than any monster Hollywood could create.

  “What have we here,” the Harpy said as she moved closer. Long, flame red hair spilled over the creature’s shoulder as she bent towards Elle.

  Elle was short, but the Harpy stood at least seven foot tall, if not taller. Elle’s tongue stuck to the roof of her mouth, preventing her from calling out to Roderick.

  The harpy closed her eyes as she took a deep breath. Her eyes flew open and narrowed on Elle. “I know your scent. You’re the one that eluded us.”

  Elle didn’t know what to say. Her hands slid along the warm metal of the door as she tried to think how she would escape the harpy. She thought to run, but with the harpies metal wings there was no way she could outrun it.

  With more courage than she felt, Elle moved to the left and hoped her feet kept up with her heart as she raced away from the creature. She hadn’t taken three steps before hands took hold of her.

  “Going

  somewhere?”

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  Chapter Thirteen

  Roderick didn’t stop to think. He launched himself at the harpy that had a hold of Elle. A smile formed as his f
eet landed square on the harpy’s back, causing her to stumble and release Elle.

  “Run,” he yelled at Elle as he rolled to his feet, weapons in hand.

  Thankfully, Elle did as he asked. But the harpy didn’t fight him as he wanted.