Magic After Dark Boxed Set (Six Book Bundle)

by Deanna Chase

  His blue eyes flashed up to mine. “Learner, we are all gifted.”

  I was given a book to read and found it thoroughly interesting and yet simultaneously boring. I felt like I was in school all over again and I hated studying. After lying on the sofa and finishing up three quarters of a volume on Mage wars (ugh, you really don’t want to know), I glanced up at the bookshelf teeming with books and deflated. Justus was totally in his element being the instructor, whether it was tutoring my mind or my body. And neither in a way that felt good.

  I closed my eyes and thought of what it must have been like back in the 15th century to be one of us. There were no advances in science and technology, and fear begat hatred. To be hunted down, stripped of your rights, accused of things you could not prove in a court of law to be innocent of. You could not disappear in a city like you can in today’s world. No wonder they had come together to form their own social structure separate from humans.

  Justus mentioned healing but it hadn’t quite sunk in that I was now immortal. My life was renewable as it was constantly absorbing energy and rejuvenating back to its original state. I had a core light within me that couldn’t be snuffed out so easily. I couldn’t starve to death or even be beaten to death as long as that core light existed within me. Oh, we can die, the younger ones are especially more susceptible to death because we are not as strong and able to fight back. Who knew, and all this time I thought vampires had dibs on that.

  I took a long nap and when I awoke, I drifted into the dining room and found a plate of leftovers with a note.

  Learner, I am out for a while.

  Be ready at 6 a.m., sharp.

  Eat. Try to keep it off the wall this time.

  I wadded up the note and tossed it at the kitchen door. Lifting the tin, I stared at the ribs, warm and freshly glazed. Dinner was always a social occasion with Adam; we never went to our corners or ate alone. There were really nice conversations between us and I missed having the companionship. I bet Justus had plenty of company; I was imagining him racing up to the nearest bar in his sporty little ‘size doesn’t matter’ car.

  I get to be locked up in a dungeon doing sit-ups all day while he’s out getting his freak on. Is this the life I signed up for?

  After wandering around the house and snooping through drawers, I went into my room, flipped on my music player, and listened to a favorite song. The house was so quiet the noise was a welcome relief and I danced, rolling my hips while I went through my bag. I didn’t see any signs of air-conditioning, but he had ventilation going on somehow. It was cooler than I’d prefer, and if the fireplace was the only source of warmth, winter was going to be unpleasant.

  I flung a shirt to a chaise lounge and backed up to the beat of the song. I used to think going to the club with Sunny was getting played out, but now I would trade anything to go out for a night of dancing and fun. I swung my hips and as I strutted across the floor, I swiveled right into Justus.

  My face heated with surprise and I pulled the earbuds out. “What are you doing in here?”

  His hands fell on my shoulders to steady me and I clutched his chest to keep from falling. I dropped my hands, but his lingered, and he moved them slowly down my arm. It was the first time I really felt him, not physically but something else. The energy was something extrasensory, nothing sexual or dangerous about it. Just an imprint that was unique to him much in the same way that someone has a smell, or the sound of their voice.

  “What is that I feel?” I leaned in closer.

  “That’s me, Learner. You feel me.”

  Justus was pulsing on my skin like a heartbeat through his hands.

  “How come I didn’t feel this before?”

  His breath and voice softened and his eyes glazed as they lowered to my neck. “Your shields are down and you are open to it, and because I’m letting you. You need to recognize your Ghuardian’s light.”

  It dawned on me that I was standing there in my panties, so I pushed him away. He stepped forward and as our bodies grew closer, the heat took away the chill. Hell, it obliterated it. He shut his eyes as if concentrating and let out a heavy sigh.

  “Why do you not yield to me?”

  “Are you trying to seduce the Learner? Because that was not in the brochure.” I folded my arms, but I knew better. His tone wasn’t a man beckoning a lover to bed but one of frustration for not having an answer to something else.

  “That’s not how I meant it.”

  “Maybe your trick doesn’t work on others like us.”

  He laughed. “Oh, but it does.”

  “What did you come in here for; I thought you were out?”

  “I brought you these. You need suitable attire. I’ll leave them here. Your plate is on this table and I want you to eat. Goodnight.”

  He stepped out the door and I looked down and saw several large bags. Bending over, I lifted the edge of one bag so I could peer inside. It was filled with dresses, shoes, blouses, and baubles.

  Justus had spent the evening shopping for me.

  Chapter 17

  4 months later.

  Justus straddled me with a blade, cutting into my neck. “Better, Learner. Again.”

  I lifted my head and pulled up to my feet, legs slightly spread apart, one hand was behind my back, and the other was palm down. I waited for the anticipation of movement; he moved and I vaulted over him, landing on the other side. When his body spun around, we stared off again. I watched closely for subtle hints to pick up a sense of potential direction. Justus was teaching me about what the eyes tell, the position of the hands and feet, and even the lean of the body.

  The training sessions had become my favorite time of the day. I was very pleased to find that I actually had skills, or at least potential. We did not have extraordinary strength, but we could utilize our abilities in a fight to gain the upper hand, making strength irrelevant… to a degree.

  The only problem was that he wasn’t teaching me how to fight.

  Justus was teaching me self-defense until I learned to master it. It became pretty clear I was living with a caveman who believed that men were the protectors and women had no business learning how to fight. He taught me some basic moves but he treated me differently.

  I learned how to feel out the other person—to find out what made them tick—look for repeated patterns in their fighting in order to gain the element of surprise. He often compared sparring to a mental battle, making sure to teach me to always keep my wits about me and look for signs of weakness in the other. And it was a challenge each and every day to find some way to stomp his ass to the ground. While I knew I would never best him, it didn’t stop me from giving it my all.

  His leg swiftly moved beneath mine and I lost my balance momentarily before I spun away and propelled myself to his left. In a flash, I moved back to face him—he wouldn’t have expected that because that was not my usual move. Justus would have expected me to fake him out by going to his right. But I had caught him off guard and thrust my open palm to his chest.

  It was a fluid motion; in the four months of training I had learned how to become a current. Justus said I needed to get over my inertia, to accept the fact that I could move with the current of kinetic energy by flashing. It should only last a period of seconds or it would otherwise drain you. Basically, I could move like a ninja on speed. It’s not like I could zip on over to Canada and back in an hour, it didn’t work that way because your energy would be spent.

  But I could at the very least cross the street faster than any known pedestrian.

  Of course there were rules; there were always rules. I was not to use (or abuse) my abilities carelessly. With cameras everywhere, it was a risk and Breed did not expose themselves to humans. Justus said it was easier when they had insiders who worked for law enforcement who always kept their ears open and would destroy any evidence of Breed. But now with all the new technology of cameras in cell phones, anything could be recorded and uploaded to the internet. So they also had to branch
off with serious computer geeks who knew how to hack into a site and take down these videos or spread a rumor that they were doctored if they had already gone viral.

  Videos and photos could be easily manipulated, so most people didn’t believe what they saw anyhow, but it was still a conscious effort every Breed made to ensure that they were not outed. I wasn’t surprised to find the government knew about us, but even they were not stupid enough to expose the Breed.

  The fighting did not come so naturally. I was still learning defense, but I tried to mimic some of his hand-to-hand combat techniques.

  Whenever I did, it pissed him off.

  “Why do you keep fighting me?” he yelled, snatching my wrist.

  “Because that is the point! I don’t understand what you’re trying to teach me, if I am not able to get away I need to learn how to fight back and win.”

  Justus was irritated, mostly because he knew I was right.

  “You do not have to be the strongest or most skilled fighter to win. You tap into your source and ride it, trust it, then you have the advantage.”

  I wiped some blood from my lip. “Win. You say this, but you’re not teaching me how to win, you’re only teaching me how to dodge a punch. Why don’t you teach me how to use one of those,” I asked, nudging my head to his blade.

  He sheathed it and placed it back on the wall, wiping sweat from his brow with his forearm.

  “Because you cannot learn to use a blade until you properly learn to dance with one. Once you understand how it moves, how it is used, you can disarm your enemy.”

  “Care to dance?”

  Justus whirled around and shredded me apart with those eyes.

  “Do not continue provoking me, Learner. Remember your place.”

  Our sessions had gotten physical, and while we threw punches and drew blood, part of my learning was the acceptance of my immortality and ultimately, the acceptance of pain. Some of the bruises and scrapes I just had to suck up. I didn’t like the idea of borrowing from Justus all the time and God knows I never saw the light of day. I was stubborn, admittedly.

  What I did know about our weapons was that a few wielded special power; some metals were forged long ago with a kind of magic. They are called stunners, and once plunged into the body of a Mage, will paralyze them for as long as it remains.

  I pushed back the pain and dropped to my knees. I had cracked a rib during the last sparring session and it was starting to flare up. If Adam knew about our little death sessions in the basement, that would have been it. If he knew I spent my days getting knocked around, spitting out blood, and being chewed out by Justus, I’m certain he would have killed him.

  At least, that’s how I imagined it. So much time had passed that it seemed like a lifetime ago since I had seen Adam. I often wondered if he had forgotten about me.

  “Allow me.” I presumed he felt guilty for some of the injuries he inflicted.

  One thing I noticed was that my threshold for pain was higher—I wasn’t sure if it was enduring the repeated sensation of pain and building a tolerance or if it was something more.

  The room felt stuffy and the overhead lights were irritating my eyes. I could feel his light moving within me before it dissipated.

  Pulling my ponytail tight, I took a few more shallow breaths. Justus was in his standard workout attire: black pants, tank top, and barefoot. In our sparring I found out his tribal tattoo on his arm wasn’t the only one he had. Beneath his shirt was a hollow sun with what looked more like lightning bolts than flames coming out centered on his back.

  My legs jumped when a deafening buzz reverberated off the walls.

  “What’s that?” I asked, staring upward.

  He leapt to his feet and stared at the ceiling, a deep line forward on his brow. “Company.” And by the look on his face, he wasn’t expecting them. “Stay here, Learner.” His tone was edged with concern.

  Justus disappeared up the stairs. I felt a little uneasy when a few moments later there were footsteps moving around up there and muffled voices. No one had ever come to visit. Curious, I went up the stairs as quiet as a cat, eavesdropping.

  “Just stopping in to give a shout. I’m done with England, for good. Couldn’t exactly give you a ring, now could I—seeing as you haven’t entered the modern era. I heard you were here so I came to see my old friend. What happened to your face, mate?”

  I noticed the accent was mottled, mostly English that faded in and out. When he said the word “here” it sounded more like “heh”.

  “I thought you went home for good this time? It’s been a long while.”

  “Well, Justus, that didn’t work out as well as I thought, a bit of a mistake really. I’ve been back for a few years. The last time I rang you weren’t here, so I got the sense that you were on the move again.”

  His voice was not as deep as Justus’s and a little more melodic, but he put personality in his conversation, which made me believe he would be a really fun person to talk with… whoever he was.

  “The Council is now up to five. Merc is one of them.”

  “Merc?” he exclaimed. “Sodding idiot was on probation; you’re pulling my leg.”

  “I’m not; the dynamic has changed.”

  “Times are changing.”

  “That they are, my friend. That they are.”

  I stepped into the entrance and both heads turned.

  “Bloody hell,” the guest cursed as he moved his eyes to Justus. “Haven’t we been the busy little bee?”

  I looked over the man Justus was standing next to and he ran his hand invitingly down his chest as he appraised my attire.

  He stood a hair shorter than Justus; his body type was leaner and he looked more like he should be fronting a rock band. Black leather jacket draped over his shoulders, graffiti T-shirt, and a silver chain that ran along the belt loop of his black pants. His brown tousled hair hung to his shoulders with that “just got out of bed” style. There was a sweet richness to his eyes, which were a light caramel and complemented his cheekbones and light skin coloring. And his mouth… a mouth that was full, kissable, and meant to be all over a woman’s body. A mouth that began to curve into a wicked grin as his eyes locked with mine, revealing a pronounced dimple on his left cheek, which immediately made me blush and study the floor.

  “Gonna introduce me, mate?” He folded his arms and elbowed Justus.

  Justus took a position at my side. “Learner, this is Simon Hunt, an old friend of mine. Simon, behave.”

  “Justus, I would have never imagined you would finally take in a woman. Well done.”

  “No, it’s not like that,” I interjected. “He’s my Ghuardian.”

  Simon dropped his arms and his jaw unhinged. I could see all the questions bubbling in his eyes. “You don’t say.” His mouth curled up again, showing off his dimple. “We’ve got a lot of catching up to do, Justus. I want every bleeding detail.”

  Simon strode toward me with a swagger that couldn’t be taught. His hand reached for mine, and when I went to shake it, he bent over and pressed a kiss to it. There was a glimmer of amusement in his expression as he briefly looked at Justus. He seemed absolutely…

  “Enchanted,” Simon greeted me as he straightened his back. A dark look flashed across his face before it was replaced with a smile. “Your Ghuardian has no manners, love. Here, allow me.” When he reached up to touch my face, there was a slap of skin as Justus caught his wrist.

  “That’ll be enough, Simon.” He cleared his throat before adding, “She’s already taken in more than she should.”

  “Of course.” He winked.

  “Will you be staying for dinner? I have to shower, but I’d like to come back and join you two if you don’t mind.”

  “If you don’t mind,” he added, “I’d very much like to join you.”

  Meaning—in the shower.

  Justus leaned forward as if he meant to do something about the comment and Simon lifted his hands defensively. Simon was the fresh air that I
craved; I was brimming with excitement that a visitor was in the house.

  Strolling into the living room, Simon called out, “You know, now that I give it a bit of thought…” He fell on the sofa, arms wide across the back. “I believe I will be needing a place to put my feet up. Justus?”

  Justus shook his head, displeased, and joined Simon on the couch. “Stay as long as you like, friend; my home is always open to you. I want to hear all about your travels. Learner, go clean up. Dinner will be at six. Be prompt.”

  I did as ordered and quickly sprinted down the hall into my room.

  What I immediately liked about Simon was that while he looked like a bad boy, he acted like a total gentleman. Didn’t really speak like one, but he wasn’t vulgar about it, nor did he peruse my body with sexual need in those eyes. Not that I would have had a problem with that. He was a contradiction of himself and it fed my curiosity as to which one he really was. Oh my god, was I getting high school butterflies? You bet.

  After my shower, I dried my hair and braided it back, threw on a little mineral powder to cover the bruise on my face, and applied lip gloss before rummaging through my clothes. I opened the closet and pulled out the black trousers and white shirt that Justus had bought me. I slid the trousers on and was satisfied with how well they fit—snug around my hips and the shirt was classy but simple. It made me curious how Justus knew my size when even I didn’t. I gave myself a once-over in the mirror. My green eyes popped behind my black lashes and dark hair, accentuated by the light coloring of my skin, which had a honey tint. While my fingers were long and delicate, my nails were a mess. I had to keep them short due to the fighting, so I never bothered with a manicure—not that I ever had before—but now I was flicking at my cuticles with a little embarrassment.

  I realized I was stalling. On the way to the dining room, I brushed my hands over my slacks and heard voices, laughter, and the sound of clinking glasses filling the space of a once-silent house.

  “Hi,” I greeted, clearing my throat.

  No, it wasn’t the grand entrance I imagined in my head. Someone forgot to cue the band and give me a witty line.