“Oh really?”
Her mouth opened and then shut. “Anyway, I figured since you weren’t boinking Vivian that I should tell you, Rasmussen is upstairs.”
I almost fell again.
“Yeah, that’s important,” I told her. “Things like that are good for interrupting a shower.”
“Yeah, I thought I was going to walk in and interrupt a bad porno. Thomas, come wash my back. Thomas, I dropped the soap, Thomas, I need a towel… oh, Thomas…” she moaned theatrically.
“Is everything okay in there?” Vivian called from outside the door.
Rose put both her hands over her mouth, her eyes large and wide.
“Yeah, Rose is giving me running commentary while I scrub down.”
“There’s a mental image,” Vivian said from the other side with a hint of sarcasm in her voice.
“You’re not helping things,” I whispered to Rose.
I dropped my hands and found the soap and started washing up quickly.
“What did Rasmussen want?” I asked her.
“To talk to you two. I told him you were busy, but you were so repressed you’d probably only last for twenty or thirty seconds.”
“Rose!”
“Well, I mean… I know all about your—”
“Don’t,” I warned her, rinsing myself.
“Uh, boss…?”
“Yeah?” I said, getting the shampoo out.
“I sorta lied about seeing you naked before.”
“Great,” I muttered darkly as she tittered, and I heard a popping sound as she disappeared.
8
Rasmussen was sitting on my couch when I got out of the bathroom, and I could hear my old coffee maker cooling down. I shot Rose and Vivian a thankful glance, but both of them were sitting at the table, away from the council mage.
“Morning,” I told him, “smells like the girls made coffee, I can offer you some leftover pizza for breakfast if you’re hungry?”
“No thanks,” Rasmussen said. “Interesting place you have here.”
“It works,” I told him, shrugging.
“Indeed. I came here because I suppose you have questions, and I need to speak with you about other matters as well.”
“Sure,” I said, taking a deep breath. “Like, who was the mage I killed, who opened the portal? The mage who raised up an army of zombies, why were they attacking the council, what was the council’s decision on Vivian’s sentencing, what did you mean when you said we both have the week off, and why is it I have to learn more about the mage world?” I asked in one long rush.
Rose whistled, and Vivian snickered. She caught my gaze and then looked down at her plate with a piece of day old pizza on it. So she didn’t hate my guts, she was just embarrassed. Good. I could deal with embarrassed, but that awkwardness went both ways. Now, her boss was here, and he probably read in her mind and mine that there was almost boinking… no, that was Rose’s word. Nothing happened and nothing would. Don’t think about boinking; he was probably reading my mind right as I thought about him reading my mind...
“You know, when you try not to think about a word, it’s the only thing you can think about.”
“Dammit,” I said out loud.
“What’s the word?” Vivian asked, clueless.
“Boinking,” both Rasmussen and I chorused.
Rose turned bright red in the face and zoomed into the bathroom, the door slamming. We all watched, then gales of laughter erupted from inside.
“Boinking?” Vivian asked.
Somebody was skinning a cat in the bathroom. That was the only excuse for the screeching coming from behind the door.
“No clue,” I told her, deadpan, then turned to Rasmussen.
“So what you got?” I asked him.
Rasmussen sighed and held up a finger, motioning Vivian to come over. She sat down between us on the edge of the couch like she might suddenly run. That was when I noticed she’d already stripped the couch and my bed was made. She was fast. She was also wearing my plain white t-shirt with the gray sweatpants, rolled at the waist to fit.
“Well, the mage you killed was one of our UCs—”
“UCs?’ I interrupted.
“Undercover’s,” Vivian said.
“Right,” I mumbled.
“So our best guess is that he was the one who opened the gate. He was obviously turned at some point. Somebody else, an unknown death mage, had to have raised the army of the undead. Did you see through the portal?”
“No,” both of us said, slightly overlapping each other.
“That’s what I thought, but questioning you after you had almost fried yourselves was going to be pointless. Well, whoever raised those zombies was on the other side. We suspect House of Shadows, but have no direct proof. As to why they attacked, I think that’s fairly obvious. They got word of Vivian’s trial and knew most of us would be clustered at the bottom level.”
“Is that the way the council always operates?” I asked him.
“Until now. Our eyes have been opened greatly. Your Were council friends were instrumental in pushing back the tide and making a hole for many of our fighters to gate to strategic locations. After they secured you and Vivian, they got us and demanded the best healers for the both of you and then left. Your fight against Vivian and her team and this attack has shown that we are hamstrung and almost defenseless against attacks in our own stronghold. As it was, we lost too many good mages and support personnel.”
“I’m sorry,” I said, not knowing what to say. I’d figured everyone on the first floor was overwhelmed, turned, or consumed in the first volley.
“As it is, the senior council has a lot to work through. If The House of Shadows wanted to sow chaos and strike a blow against us, this one succeeded.”
“Sucks,” I told him as Rose poofed in front of me, then landed on my shoulder.
“Yes. Speaking of sucks… and this relates to both of you… Vivian’s sentencing… She’s to work directly with a handler. She’s no longer the leader of the strike team and will probably only earn her way back to that in a century or two. Her only other option is to teach at the academy. Her death spell that took out the zombies has never been used before. It’s that kind of mind that we could—”
“I don’t want to teach,” she said softly, then slid back into the couch, no longer on edge.
“Then you’re going to be subordinate to the new team leader. With this attack, we feel it’s time to go on the offensive. I realize now, Vivian, you must understand… Most death mages go bad. You are the only one who isn’t a power hungry, slavering idiot—”
“Wait, I thought you were talking about her for a second, but you just said—”
“Shut up, Rose,” Vivian said in a ‘bless your heart’ smarmy voice.
“And I realize that our laws and restrictions on death magic have prevented Vivian and us from realizing how powerful she might really be in helping us defeat the House of Shadows.”
“And here I thought she was just covert ops and a strike force team leader, not a nuclear weapon.”
“I don’t know how I did that spell exactly,” Vivian said.
“I do,” Rose told her.
“You do?” Vivian asked then turned to Rasmussen. “Who’s my new team leader?”
Rasmussen turned. “Thomas, this is the bad news for you I’m afraid.”
“What?” I asked him, confused.
“Him?” Vivian asked, horror-stricken.
“You?” Rose shrieked.
“Yes, Thomas,” Rasmussen answered.
“You can’t do that,” Rose said. “She wants to boink her boss!”
“I do not,” “She does not,” we both said at the same time.
“Well, looks like this might be a good time for me to get out of here,” Rasmussen said, standing up abruptly. “I don’t need to fill you in all at once. Is there anything you need?” he asked me.
“I need to get back to Utah,” I told him. “I need to check on my p
ack, my bunker, and—”
Rasmussen made a hand gesture that looked right out of Doctor Strange, and a portal opened up in front of us. “Whenever you’re ready. I can bounce around.”
I looked at him funny and then grabbed the duffel bag of weapons I’d stashed there last time and stepped through.
The Jeep was parked in front of the fake cabin, and JJ and Dana were leaned against the front doorway, kissing deeply, hands groping each other, as the four of us stepped through.
“That’s how you boink,” Rose said.
“What’s with all the boinking boink?” Vivian said and then giggled until JJ broke off and she saw who was who.
Oh. Good. Now she’s pissed.
“Oh hey, boss,” JJ said, breaking off his embrace from Dana and walking our way. “What’s she doing here?” he asked crossly, his face darkening when he saw Vivian behind me.
“She’s… it’s complicated. She’s on Team Wright.”
“Yes, the right team,” Rose piped back.
“She’s seen the Wright way,” Rasmussen said, and when I turned to look at him, he was smiling.
“Does everybody do this?” Dana asked me as JJ fumed.
“Yeah, pretty much. Time to pick on Tom,” I told her. “How much has JJ told you about my place here?”
“That it’s pretty slick, but that’s about it. He already showed me his place,” she said, her eyes boring holes into Vivian, daring her to say something.
“Okay, well, let me open the joint up,” I said, walking forward, and taking the keys that JJ pulled out of his pants pocket.
“I must be going soon, but I’ll stick around for a little bit if you don’t mind,” Rasmussen said. “I’m curious how you held yourself off against an entire strike force.”
“Use your magical sight,” I told him as I got the door open.
“Son of a—”
“Pretty, isn’t it?” Rose interrupted.
“Is this—”
“I love the smell of C4 in the morning,” JJ told Rasmussen.
“Told you so,” Vivian said and then followed me in.
I listened to the surprised murmurs as I opened the vault door into the bunker. Rasmussen had been expecting it, but Dana hadn’t. She was the second one through the door, and soon I had a whole gaggle of people inside my bunker that until a short period ago, had only been visited by me. I let JJ lead the tour, and I stepped off to the side, walking to the kitchen area to get a pot of coffee going. So… I had a feeling this was one of those types of moments.
“…and I guess he has sirens buried in rock back there and then ahead of the roadway where the charges are placed…” JJ said as he walked toward my workbench.
“You okay?” Vivian asked me.
“This. It’s too fast, too weird. I am not leading the strike force,” I told her.
“Well, it’s either that or we’re both going to end up in New York’s version of Hogwarts.”
I cringed at the thought. I hated being around a ton of people. Too many chances for somebody to take a shot at me out of the dark…
“I did not sign up to become part of the establishment I ran from for my entire—”
“Suck it up,” Rose said, landing on my shoulder.
“Suck it up? What’s gotten into you, short stuff?” I asked her.
“You want to go after Vassago, that’s the only way you can do it and work within their circles. You wanted to save Vivian, this is the only way you can do that. You made a choice to get involved, it’s all on you. Just like you decided to challenge JJ, you took responsibility for me.”
“Why are you suddenly the rational one?” Vivian asked her pointedly.
“Boys are pretty dense,” Rose shot back.
“True. What was up with all the boinking talk he was saying earlier?”
“You mean you forgetting a towel wasn’t on purpose?”
“Wha… NO!”
“I’m lost,” I admitted.
“What?” Vivian said, turning to me. “You thought I was trying to come on to you like a cheap—”
“You were standing naked in front of the door,” I told her.
“I wasn’t… you were perving on me!” Vivian almost yelled.
“You didn’t leave many secrets left unknown,” Rose said. “I only pretended to poof out of the room at first. I left after he chickened out.”
“I was not trying a cheap seduction trick—”
“It was a misunderstanding,” I said, backing up.
“This looks fun,” Dana said, walking up. “What are we fighting over?”
“Bossman here was perving on her in the shower,” Rose said helpfully.
“I wasn’t… she wasn’t in the shower…” I snarled.
“Oh, so you just go into bathrooms where random naked ladies are standing?” Vivian asked.
I was backpedaling and looked to see Rasmussen and Dana grinning. “You know, they set this up before you came out of the shower, don’t you?” Rasmussen asked, tapping his temple.
“Got you,” Vivian said, and Rose burst into giggles.
“I hate girls,” I said glumly and flopped into the bunker’s kitchen chair.
9
Rasmussen had been hesitant about talking in front of JJ and Dana, but I assured him it was fine. He laid out in broad strokes what Mage Kiersten had in mind. I would lead the new strike team, but I wouldn’t be doing the day to day paperwork, she would. I would, however, be responsible for working with Vivian in matters regarding the House of Shadows and Vassago, and any training she would need to expand her battle readiness. As she’d told me more than once, she wasn’t a battle mage, at least not yet.
Why a nerfed seer was considered a battle mage was news to me, but Rasmussen had assured us that I’d gone to the fence more than a lot of their operatives and I didn’t have to worry about little things like accidentally dropping a building on my head when I cut loose. Vivian, on the other hand, had sent out a wave of death magic so potent it left Rose and me weak and almost incapacitated, and we’d only got the backwash of her spell. They were trying to balance the power struggles out a bit, but I thought it was a mistake, one I’d blindly, and even willingly, walked into.
This was my dealio.
“Okay, Luke has the other three from the Arches pack there. The three that hadn’t been there for your fight with Morrisey wanted to stick around. Dana and Luke were persuasive. Plus… having an Alpha Mage who is exempt from most laws is kinda cool,” JJ finished.
“So while I’m running down leads…”
“We’ll need to leave somebody from the pack, JJ or Luke, to protect our territory,” Dana finished.
“So another pack doesn’t come back?” I asked him.
“Yes.”
“That works,” I told her. “Wait… you want to ride along for this crazy ride?” I asked her, doing a double take.
“Let’s see… you’ve fought two Alphas, lived through a life mage assassin how many times… lived through a death mage’s curse, you have your own bunker, make your own guns… If you weren’t so breakable, JJ might have a fight on his hands,” Dana finished, slapping him on his broad chest.
JJ growled low in his throat, and she turned and kissed him on the cheek, stopping the jealous reaction she’d elicited. I grinned. I remembered what it was like to be in my twenties. It was a long time ago, but it was all hormones and the need to…
“That is unacceptable,” Rasmussen said.
“Um… that’s not really your choice, buster,” Rose piped up.
“Hermosa!” Rasmussen thundered, his low voice very loud, almost rattle teacup loud.
“Hey, you knew he was part of a pack, and you know he has a bound Fae. You either read everyone in or none of us.”
I looked at her, and she was digging into a handful of grapes that somebody had pulled out of the fridge for her. She looked up as he hesitated to answer then belched loudly.
“God, I love her,” Dana said, giggling.
; “She’s right,” I told Rasmussen. “I have more responsibilities now than I used to. If they want in, I want them in,” I told him.
“You’re going to cause problems with the council,” Rasmussen said, anger still emanating from his voice.
“You’re kind of a big deal on the council,” I told him. “You can fix it, I have faith in you.”
“I’m not talking the Council of Mages,” Rasmussen said.
“Oh… Well, I’ll work that on my end,” I told him after a pause.
See, the Arches pack… well, the Wright pack… right pack… dammit, now I was doing it too… my pack in Moab occupied territory that Vassago was familiar with. He had a stash spot there and had a gate stone made up, which made me wonder how often he operated out of there. I didn’t plan on moving territory or giving that area up in case I could hedge my bets.
“You do that. Now, I need you and Vivian to lay low until you’ve recovered enough, and then after some training and reworking of the department, I’ll gate you back to the New York location so the two of you can take up tracking down Vassago, Empress Khrystiana, and the House of Shadows.”
“Considering how much of a blow they delivered yesterday, do you really think we can put a hurt on them?” I asked him truthfully.
Because from what I’d seen of the Council of Mages so far, none of them other than a handful really had any of the terrifying powers I’d always grown up to believe they had. Sure, fire, electricity, stone and death magic were impressive in a battle, but that’s not that many people to fight what… armies of zombies? Somebody with enough juice to hold a gate open for a long time?
“I’ll be out of your hair. I believe young JJ there has your phone and the rest of your cache of goodies in the Jeep, so restock and resupply, do some research on that athame you didn’t mention to me, and I’ll be in touch in a weeks’ time.”
“How did he—”
“He reads minds,” JJ told Dana with a grin and a salacious wink.
“What am I thinking?” Dana asked him.
“About something that would break the neck of a normal mortal while he suffered in extreme pleasure,” Rasmussen shot back, turning a little red in the face and ears.
Second Sight: The Rune Sight Chronicles Page 7
