INVISIBLE POWER BOOK TWO: ALEX NOZIAK (INVISIBLE RECRUITS)

by Buckham, Mary

  I had to turn visible.

  Now.

  My lips were so dry I croaked as I started the reversal chant.

  Animadverto, percipio, specto.

  See and be seen. I thee seek.

  As I was, so make me be.

  Intellego aspicio sentio.

  The magic flowed around me, strong enough to fluff the hair along Van’s back and there I was, hands beneath the blood, arms attached to the hands, attached to me.

  At last, something went right.

  Until I realized popping back into visibility solved one problem only to create another. A more lethal one.

  I’d surprised Van and the last thing you wanted to do to an angry wolf was startle it.

  He made no sound as he sprang forward, all hundred and ninety pounds of him slamming me to the ground, his teeth piercing my shoulder.

  CHAPTER 69

  Bran rolled to his good side, sucking in a deep breath as the pain from near his ribs spiraled through him. But he had to do something.

  A voice shouted. He had to move.

  Bracing one hand against the ground, the sounds whirling around him became more distinct as clarity returned to his sight.

  But what . . .

  Alex was tumbling across the grass not far from him, her arms locked around the throat of a wolf, its muzzle covered in blood.

  If he cast another containment spell now he’d freeze both together in a death struggle. If he didn’t act, she’d die.

  A bellows nearby echoed across the lawn. Van paused in his attack, both Noziak siblings glancing in the direction of the cry.

  Bran didn’t have to twist to see a large dark-haired wolf rip into the side of Vaverek, savaging the bison, pulling entrails until the large animal’s legs gave out and it shuddered to the ground.

  Alex used her brother’s distraction and thrust her knees to her chest, wedging her feet against the belly of the wolf and catapulting him toward Bran.

  Brilliant.

  Before Bran could rise to his feet he stretched one hand toward Van and uttered the chant, feeling the magic pull from within him, channel down his arms and through his fingers.

  The wolf froze in mid-leap. Alex curled into a fetal position and Bran sank to the ground, crawling toward Van.

  If he could save Van he’d save Alex.

  Using elbows and knees he pulled himself until he was almost on top of the wolf, who lashed out at him.

  Too weak to hold the spell solid, he had given Van just enough juice to lunge toward him. Now Bran was the one fighting for his life, rolling over and over through the grass and gravel.

  CHAPTER 70

  I sank to the dirt, burning pain ripping through my shoulder where Van had savaged me. Blood streamed from between my fingers, the ones I pressed to stop the flow.

  Useless. As useless as trying to save him in the first place. The beast that attacked me was not my brother. Not even human.

  Screams and shouts echoed around me. My back was against the crushed gravel of a walkway, the soft blue of a French sky overhead. I could lose myself in that sky, let it waft me away on one of those big puffy clouds.

  That’s when I noticed the contrails intersecting the expanse. The form of a cross. Well I'll be damned, Jaylene had been right. Beware the sign of the cross.

  If it didn’t take so much energy I’d have laughed.

  But it hurt too much. Way too much. It was easier to just lie there. Feel my life seep away, my breathing become shallow, my heartbeat slowing.

  Fight. Don’t give in.

  The voice slashed against me. I ignored it.

  In a minute I’d move . . . figure out what to do, help the others.

  But I couldn’t do anything right then. Too cold. Too empty. Sounds around me grew softer and softer.

  A face suddenly loomed over me, blocking the sky with its shadow. A small Were by its smell, breathing heavily, and dripping moisture from his half-morphed mouth. A part-man, part something else. A meerkat?

  Stubby in size, yellowish-brown fur. Sort of like an elongated rat or woodchuck. Not as dangerous as the other Weres rampaging through the park grounds.

  Weren’t meerkats supposed to protect villagers from the mood devil; another name for Weres? Frau Fassbinder would love the irony.

  Thoughts flitted here and there. Memories. Regrets. The might-have-beens. I struggled up through the fog growing thicker around me.

  The Were looked over his shoulder. “She’s still alive.”

  Not for long, rat face. I’d show him.

  “Good.” Another voice rolled over me, deep timbered and unfamiliar. “He wants her in one piece.

  He?

  The meerkat’s chuckle rasped along my nerve endings. “Not sure she’ll stay in one piece with a shifter’s bite. Probably die.”

  “She could turn.”

  “Nah, most females don’t make the transition.”

  I wanted to shout, I’m here. I can hear everything you idiots are saying. But no words came.

  Just as well. My brothers always told me my mouth was my biggest weapon, one that backfired more than helped.

  Van? What happened? And Bran?

  As if I’d spoken aloud the meerkat glanced to the near distance beyond where I lay. The last direction from where I’d seen Van. “You see that wolf shifter? Brown and black pelt?”

  “Yeah.” A harsh chuckled was followed by, “He ain’t moving now.”

  They couldn’t mean Van.

  The meercat shook his head. “Doesn’t look good.”

  “Dead?”

  Noooooo.

  “Oui. Other one’s not in much better condition. What was he? Mage?”

  “Warlock. He wasn’t supposed to survive. Only her.”

  The meerkat glanced back at me. “Then we best get going with her. She dies and it’ll be our heads.”

  Hands reached beneath me, spiking the pain till I screamed out.

  Van was dead. Bran had killed him.

  Nothing left.

  I welcomed the darkness.

  CHAPTER 71

  Where the bloody hell was she?

  Bran glanced over to where he’d last seen Alex’s body, crumpled and bloody, but she was no longer there. Had she only been slightly wounded by Van’s attack and managed to get away?

  Not likely. Not from what he’d seen. So where was she?

  François was still battling Weres over by the saut-de-loup, herding them like a sheep dog until they tumbled into the drop. The trench on the other side wasn’t going to hold them for long, but they’d be out of sight as soon as the human gendarmes arrived. Which they would. Any moment.

  Alex’s team had limped away. Humans, even with strong abilities, didn’t fair well when matched against Weres and fae in their human forms.

  Bran knelt beside Alex’s brother, aware the only thing keeping the wolf from killing him was the most recent containment spell Bran had managed to cast. A weak one except it was tainted by the blood coating Bran’s side.

  If he moved the spell would break, which would unleash Van on anyone in the area. But everything inside him screamed to find Alex. She needed him. Now.

  Whether she ever admitted it or not.

  Out of the corner of his gaze Bran caught the flash of a cinnamon wolf with black bands racing toward him. Friend? Or enemy drawn by the scent of blood?

  Didn’t matter as Bran struggled to his knees, the better to brace for an attack.

  Something about the black striping the wolf’s tail seemed familiar. An earlier attacker? Or . . .

  The wolf pulled up short about three meters out, crouched, his eyes golden bright, his lips stretched back into a growl that raised the hackles along Bran’s skin.

  But while it was Bran being threatened the animal’s gaze kept shifting to Van as if trying to figure out why the other wolf wasn’t moving, except for his eyes spitting fire.

  “You a friend?” Bran asked, using his one free hand to point to Van. “You know Van? Know this wolf?�
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  Just then a gunshot sounded. A spilt second later Van yelped.

  What the—

  Van sprang back as if propelled then folded, a puddle of blood pooling around him.

  A quick glance around didn’t show a threat. Must have been a sniper, targeting Van specifically. The same one who’d hit Bran no doubt.

  Bran leapt forward but the other wolf was there first. The growling changed tone, not enough to have Bran trust but enough to give him hope.

  The containment spell was broken. When he felt for a pulse on Van’s neck, nothing.

  “I need help.” He nodded toward Van, willing the other wolf to understand. “Now.”

  The growling stopped.

  Bran waited. He didn’t have enough left to fight the cinnamon wolf so the ball was in his court.

  In the blink of an eye the wolf shifted, leaving an older man, fully clothed and with the dark hair and skin tones of Alex. Bran hadn’t associated with a lot of shifters but knew power when he saw it. Plus the ability to transform clothes was very rare.

  “What did you do to him?” the other man said, his tone hostile and brutally curt. The wolf form might be gone but not the threat.

  “Nothing. Sniper.” Bran glanced at Van. Having one Noziak to deal with was a full time job. Now having three was enough to fry anyone, even a warlock. “I can save him but need your help.”

  “Why would you help him?” the older Noziak demanded, his eyes still looking part wolf.

  “For Alex,” he said simply. Sometimes the truth was the best option. Then he added, “She’s been doing everything in her power to find and save her brother. If I let him die she’ll kill me.”

  The older man seemed to grapple with something.

  “I have less than a few seconds to save him.”

  “Do what you need to do.” Noziak came to a decision. “How can I help?”

  “Watch for others.”

  “What others?”

  “The gendarmes are coming.”

  The older wolf glanced around. “Shortest way to a safe exit.”

  Bran nodded toward a line of cone-shaped shrubs. “I have a car beyond there. Safest and quickest route out.”

  “So you know who I am?”

  “A Noziak.”

  A curt nod. “Get started.”

  Bran hesitated, knowing how much energy what he was about to do would take. Alex’s father might have two corpses on his hands.

  Still he slowed his breath, closed his eyes and laid his hands, blood and all on Van’s side. The fact he was still in his wolf form might help. If Bran could pull one part of Van back from the dead, the other would follow.

  Anima. Vita. Fiducia.

  He tried again, pushing his energy harder.

  Mortifer. Mortifer. Mortifer.

  Anima. Vita. Fiducia.

  Fiducia. Fiducia. Fiducia.

  Beneath his fingers a faint pulse. Van was alive. For now. He’d take what he could.

  “Does he live?” the older Noziak demanded.

  Bran managed a weighted nod. One Noziak alive, and he’d do everything in his power to keep him that way. For Alex’s sake.

  “Good. We’ll talk more.” the other man barked his voice all business. “Where’s Alex?”

  “I don’t know. She was here. Then . . .”

  The world grayed slightly then solidified.

  The senior Noziak looked like he was going to say something then lifted his head in attention. “They’re coming. No time now.”

  Bran rallied. “Can’t trust that he’ll survive being moved.”

  Noziak bit off an oath. “I’m stronger than he is. Let him go. I’ll take responsibility to keep him calm.”

  Bran would be glad to keep Van from killing anyone else, not that it was likely given his condition. With a reluctant nod he eased away from Van.

  The older man lifted his son, still in his wolf form, and slung him over his back. “Ready,” he grunted.

  “Let’s get out of here.”

  Bran took one last look for Alex but couldn’t see her among the chaos and dead bodies. If she had died though he’d know. Wouldn’t he? Across the field he could see the members of her team limping toward the parking lot, so at least they lived. Still no sign of Alex as he followed her father and brother to his own car.

  Where the hell was she?

  One step at a time. Save her brother, or at least get him stabilized. The second that happened, Bran would turn his attention to Alex. He’d find her. No matter how many people he had to expose and destroy to do so.

  CHAPTER 72

  Ling Mai picked up her phone by the second ring, recognizing the numbers she had memorized. The male voice on the other end sounded smug, which wasn’t unexpected.

  “We have her,” he said.

  Ling Mai nodded though no one could see her. “Any complications?”

  “No.”

  “Her brother?”

  “He has escaped.”

  “That could cause both of us problems.”

  “Not to worry. I shall see to him personally.”

  “Then my part is done. I’ll expect payment as agreed.”

  “I understand.”

  She hung up the phone, cast a half glance at the folder on her desk and sighed. A shame. But one must be willing to sacrifice when needed.

  Her fingers rested on the file for a moment then removed it to the credenza behind her before buzzing M.T. Stone.

  He answered so quickly it was easy to believe he had been waiting for the news.

  “Alex Noziak is dead,” she said.

  “Verified?”

  “Yes.”

  He hung up.

  Phase two was about to start.

  The End

  Thank you for reading about Alex Noziak in this novel and I hope you enjoyed her story! I’d appreciate your sharing your feedback via Amazon, Goodreads, or with fellow readers. Books are discovered by the willingness of great readers to share with others.

  I also love hearing from readers! Find me on Goodreads or Facebook or Twitter!

  Want to read more about Alex Noziak and the Invisible Recruit team? Check out:

  INVISIBLE PRISON (novella)

  http://www.invisiblerecruits.com/books.html#prison Discover how Alex Noziak became an Invisible Recruit team member and at what cost to herself, and those around her.

  INVISIBLE MAGIC (full length novel)

  http://www.invisiblerecruits.com/books.html#magic On her first official mission for the Invisible Recruit Agency Alex Noziak discovers that to save the innocent she must call upon her untested abilities. But at what cost? She has nothing to lose, except her life.

  INVISIBLE DUTY (novella)

  http://www.invisiblerecruits.com/books.html#duty On her first official mission for the Invisible Recruit Agency Alex Noziak discovers that to save the innocent she must call upon her untested abilities. But at what cost? She has nothing to lose, except her life.

  INVISIBLE FATE (full-length novel)

  (coming Fall 2013)

  http://www.invisiblerecruits.com/books.html#fate Alex Noziak will find out who her friends and who her enemies are. Nothing is clear as she faces a powerful Druid who is using her magical powers to release a three-thousand year-old demon on the world.

  About the Author

  Mary Buckham is the author of WRITING ACTIVE SETTING: Book 1 and Book 2; http://www.marybuckham.com/nonfiction_books.html the best selling book in a three-book series on the craft of writing; co-author of BREAK INTO FICTION™: 11 Steps to Building a Story That Sells, and now the amazingly well-received INVISIBLE RECRUIT Urban Fantasy series.

  When not conjuring preternatural beings, and figuring out how to eliminate them, she lives in Washington State with her husband, and is hard at work on more stories of the Invisible Recruits.

  www.MaryBuckham.com

  www.InvisibleRecruits.com

  (INVISIBLE RECRUITS)