by Joey W. Hill
She gasped as she saw Yvette brace for that impact, but instead of shielding herself as the man had done, the vampire sorceress caught the haft of the spear on a spin as she moved out of its path and turned toward it. Medusa saw a brief flash of red flame from her palms, as if she’d shielded herself from harm before clasping the magical weapon. It morphed in her hands, split into strands and swirled around her, turning into a whip of fire with serpent heads that snapped along the ground as she advanced on the male.
Medusa remembered John saying they’d been doing dress rehearsals tonight, and Yvette looked like it, in an astonishing outfit of thigh-high boots, a laced corset and snug sleek pants similar to what Gundar had been wearing the other night. The vampire wore the outfit so naturally, it could have been normal garb for her. But Medusa suspected this was not part of the dress rehearsal. Yvette’s next words confirmed it.
“You owe me, Maddock,” she said ominously. The whip popped. The sound was like a clap of thunder, similar to the thing John had called a gun when they were attacked on the island. When the whip snaked out and popped again within inches of Maddock’s face, Medusa was surprised the scientist-wizard, as John often called him, didn’t flinch. He also didn’t throw up a shield this time. He sneered instead.
“Oh, bullshit. I’ve done you plenty of favors. What about the spell craft that surrounds half this camp?”
“You contributed here and there.” Yvette sniffed. “But those workings were due primarily to my efforts. And Mikhael Roman’s.”
“Roman? That humorless fossil who refuses to accept science has anything to do with magic? I had the piece you were both missing. Your protections wouldn’t be half as strong without my input.”
“That fossil is mated now.”
“No shit?” Maddock straightened, the hostility disappearing from his face. “I heard he’d hooked up with some half-succubus witch, but didn’t know it had gotten that serious. Have they—ow, fuck.”
He snarled as the whip snaked past his guard and wrapped his arm. Yvette did a quick jerk to loosen it, but as it fell away it left a ring of singed skin. The wizard hopped around, cursing and waving his forearm to cool its effect.
Yvette brought the serpent-head tails back into a coil in her hand. A blink later the whip was gone, the energy dissipated.
“There. Payment made. Though it would have been so much more satisfying on your bare ass. Or those beautiful naked shoulders and back.”
“Yeah, dream on, Mistress Psycho. Son of a bitch, that hurt.”
“Oh, don’t be such a baby.” Yvette scowled. “Charlie will put a poultice on it.”
She strode across the ground to close the distance between them. Bemused, Medusa noticed the roustabouts returning to their card game, shaking their heads and chuckling, but otherwise undisturbed by the sudden battle or its equally quick conclusion.
Yvette clasped Maddock’s wrist and lifted the arm to examine the mark. When he tried to pull one of her braids with his free hand, she slapped it away without even looking toward it. She tutted. “I’ve left worse on my servants. You’re right, we wouldn’t suit, even if you did butter your bread on the sub side. You’re far too intolerant of pain.”
“Thank God for small favors.” He rolled his eyes. Despite the violent tone of a moment ago, the two now seemed affable. Medusa pushed warily away from the tent side, but remained where she was, watching. “So what was that with the whip?” Maddock asked the vampire. “That was a pretty bit of pyrotechnics.”
“And heavily flavored with irony. I was seeking to emulate the flame whip wielded by the Balrog when he fought another meddling wizard.”
Maddock snorted. “Woman, you’re a closet geek. Where’s JP? I’ve info he’ll need and I’d like you to sit in on it.”
“He’s cleaning up. He’ll be out soon enough, but there’s someone else here you might want to meet.” Yvette turned toward Medusa, showing she’d been aware of her presence all along.
“Medusa.” Maddock brightened as soon as his gaze lighted upon her.
When he moved toward her, she finally had time to gain a physical impression of the man who’d brought John Pierce to her. He was tall like John, but not broad and wide. His whipcord leanness didn’t suggest weakness, though. He emanated power on both the physical and magical side, suggesting he could have made the disagreement with Yvette far more acrimonious. Yvette was no fool, so Medusa concluded the vampire knew how powerful the wizard was, but also how far he’d restrain himself in the interest of fairly resolving a dispute. Especially if they were wary friends, as seemed to be the case.
The wizard’s eyes were hazel, a mix of gray, green and gold. A black silken moustache and close-cropped beard followed his well-shaped jaw. His dark hair fell to his shoulders. He looked Persian to her, or from a country in that region. He wore the type of clothes John seemed to favor, jeans and short-sleeved shirts with pictures on the front, but from what John had told her of the Merlin character in the Arthurian tale, she liked the idea of a flowing cape and jeweled scepter better. The fluid way he moved suggested it would be a good look for him.
“Maddock,” he said in introduction, extending a hand. Medusa was learning the gestures John and his kind favored for greetings, and was secretly proud of herself for not hesitating to take the hand and give it a healthy pump, which seemed to amuse Maddock. His hand was rough with calluses, which surprised her. As she’d told John Pierce, her experience with the demands of spell work were similar to what was required of an apothecary, mostly measuring and preparing ingredients.
“I am Medusa,” she said courteously.
“Yeah, I know.” He smiled, and it was a nice gesture, though it didn’t detract from the sharpness of his eyes. He was studying her avidly, as if taking in every detail about her appearance. With faint alarm, she remembered what John had said about his capacity to ask endless questions. But such was the nature of a man of learning. When Klotho had met with scholars and philosophers, sometimes she and Callidora spied upon them during their prolonged discussions. His look of intense curiosity toward her reminded her of them.
“Thank you for making it possible for John Pierce to come to my island,” she said.
“Well, the usual superheroes were all booked, so he was all we could scrape from the bottom of the barrel.”
At her blank look, he grinned. “Sorry, you’re still learning lingo, I know. Seriously, it was his will that did most of the work. I was just lucky enough to find someone crazy enough to believe my theories. Or crazy enough about the woman behind them to make that leap through the portals.”
She blinked, warmed by the bald assessment. “It is still hard for me to believe he did that for someone he has never met.”
“Most of us find our heart’s desires in dreams and stories first, right?” He met her gaze. “The difference was, he’s the exceptional kind of individual willing to jump into the story to meet them.”
Maddock lifted her hand and examined it. “This is new. Your claws…”
“They are gone. As are my fangs. And my tongue is no longer transformed.” She opened her mouth briefly to show him, since he looked as if he might pry her lips open to check before he recalled himself. “John Pierce can perhaps speak better to it, but he thinks…”
She wasn’t sure how to proceed but Yvette, silently standing by and listening, helped. “He thinks it’s a pivotal act of trust between her and him that’s doing it. She lost the claws when she followed him through the portal. The teeth and tongue happened after an adventure today, but same issue. An act of trust occurred.”
Medusa was grateful to Yvette for not going into the details and inclined her head to the vampire. Yvette blinked in acknowledgement. “Do you miss the fangs?” she asked.
“They did not serve the same purpose as yours,” Medusa said. “Mine were intended, I think, merely for intimidation.”
Standing next to Yvette, it seemed ludicrous to imply Medusa was intimidating. Her lethal gaze might strike terror i
n her foes because of what they knew it could do, but Yvette was purely terrifying. Medusa tried not to shift uncomfortably under the vampire and wizard’s regard.
“That is not the question I asked,” Yvette said. Maddock shot her a look, but Yvette’s statement was neutral, not hostile. Medusa understood. The vampire was a literal kind of being.
“Oh, my apologies, my lady. You’re right. I’m still deciding if I miss my claws and fangs. I’m glad in some ways, to be more ‘normal,’ but since I’ve arrived here, my definition of that has expanded. And I’m not sure if I want to be considered ‘normal.’”
“Many here wish they could switch it on and off, the abilities they have. Not deny that part of themselves, but not always have to worry about concealing it in a world that doesn’t understand them.”
“I understand that greatly. I meant no offense,” Medusa said courteously.
“No, you didn’t. I think you meant it as a compliment to my Circus, and I appreciate it.”
Charlie had arrived, evidently summoned by her mind-link with Yvette. Interestingly, Medusa noticed she hesitated before approaching Maddock, and executed her deferential head dip toward him before drawing close. “Lady Yvette said you had a wound that needed my tending?”
“She shouldn’t have bothered you. It’s less than nothing.”
Medusa lifted her brows in Yvette’s direction, as the vampire rolled her eyes.
“Still, perhaps I should look at it.”
“All right. I might grab a plate of grub from those heaven-blessed ladies in the kitchen while we’re waiting on JP. Want to join me? I’ll buy you lunch.”
Medusa became even more curious about the situation as Charlie flushed under Maddock’s intent gaze. “The food is free.”
“I know that. I was making a joke. You’re spending too much time around Yvette. Let me reintroduce you to a sense of humor.”
“Dry wit and sarcasm do not a sense of humor make,” Yvette intoned. “Charlie, do not blush around this fool.”
Which made Charlie blush worse and Maddock’s eyes narrow on Yvette. Medusa thought it did unnecessarily draw attention to the healer’s embarrassment, but she wasn’t privy to their history and wasn’t sure how to alleviate her discomfort.
“JP.” Maddock saw John making his way toward them through the tents at nearly the same moment Medusa did. Fortunately, it broke the tension between Maddock and Yvette and drew attention away from Charlie.
Maddock looked pleased to see her champion. When John Pierce was close enough, the wizard clasped his hand warmly. For her part, Medusa was bemused to experience a surge of relief, as if a part of her had been missing until he returned. When she inhaled his damp, clean skin, Medusa wanted to slide closer to him and have him touching her in some way, but it seemed the inappropriate time to seek such contact. Fortunately, John Pierce didn’t seem to think so. As soon as he released Maddock’s hand, he shifted to her side, cupping his hand over her hip in a familiar way that encouraged her to lean against him.
Threading her hand around his waist, she shyly slid a finger in the belt loop of his jeans. He brushed a kiss over her forehead, and gave her a look that suggested he was pleased with her increasing the contact between them.
“You look like the tropics agreed with you,” Maddock continued, though she saw him tracking the intimacy between them with those sharp eyes. “I’m in the lab working my ass off on formulas and spells, and you’re out getting a tan.”
John snorted, taking Medusa’s other hand to link them in front of their bodies. “I assume you’ve met my lady Medusa.”
“Yes. Despite Yvette trying to kill her with a shot of friendly fire.”
“She was in no danger. The spell was tailored specifically to fry your sensitive parts.”
John grinned. “Still have your usual way with females, I see.”
Maddock chuckled, but then he sobered. “We need to talk. All of us.” He included Yvette and Medusa in his gesture.
“We will go back into my tent,” Yvette said. “Charlie will come with us so she can tend the hurt on your arm. Then you can take her back through the portal to the lunch you promised. To a restaurant where you have to pay for the meal,” she added.
“But I love the cornbread the ladies make here,” Maddock protested as Charlie mumbled something about him not having to put himself out for her.
“She likes Italian food,” Yvette said, ignoring them both. “There is an excellent bistro within a few miles of your home, if I recall. Quiet, so it won’t be too much of an overload for her sensitivities.”
When Charlie would have said something else, Yvette looked in her direction. The healer subsided instantly. John had said a vampire could speak in a second marked servant’s mind, and Medusa wondered what she’d said, because Charlie had two spots of color high in her cheeks. Whereas Maddock’s expression suggested both conflict and desire.
She glanced up at John, but his slight headshake told her it was a topic for another time. Unfortunately, they had weightier issues to discuss.
Inside Yvette’s tent, Maddock took a seat in a velvet and mahogany chair, indicating he’d been here often enough to be familiar with his surroundings.
John sat across from him and gestured Medusa onto a nearby stool. Yvette went to another velvet and intricately carved chair in a shadowed corner of the tent, which made her present for the conversation but left the focus for Maddock’s explanation on John Pierce. Charlie knelt at Maddock’s feet to treat his arm.
“MyTech’s attempt to take Medusa on her home ground failed, fortunately.” He grimaced at John Pierce. “As you suspected, it was another hacking attempt, rather than a genuine mastering of the entry and exit spells for the portal. I’ve not only doubled the fail safes on the accesses, but now have monitoring spells—trip wires if you will—to give us even more of a heads up if there’s anything unusual happening at the ones we know about. And Lot is heading up another team working overtime to identify as many as possible beyond what we already know. We’re taking nothing on assumption going forward. Time to get way more aggressive with these assholes.”
Yvette and John Pierce made noises of approval at that and Maddock lifted a shoulder. “It was still my fuck-up, though, and I’m sorry for that. To both of you.” He encompassed Medusa and John Pierce in his somber look.
“Yeah, enough with the excuses.” John waved a hand. “I damn well expect you to be God. So don’t make any more mistakes like a normal human and let me down.”
As Maddock met John’s deadpan gaze, his expression eased, his lips tugging in a near smile. “I’ll keep that in mind.”
He returned to the discussion. “My guess is MyTech realizes I’ve upped the game on the portals, so they’re back to their strategy of trying to get at her from this side. My spies tell me they have the word out to every dark world spirit and lowlife human that can be bought to find her. They’re watching a lot of my haunts, and comings and goings. At this point, they haven’t thought of the Circus, so she should be safe with you.”
“What is it they want from me?” Medusa asked.
“Your eyes,” Maddock said bluntly. “They want to figure out how they work and weaponize them. Truth? MyTech isn’t evil, not on its face. There are plenty of people who work in their rank and file labs who probably think they’re on the verge of curing cancer. If you were willing to meet with their corporate recruiters for the paranormal, they’d probably set you up in some cushy, luxurious place that didn’t look a thing like a prison. They’d give you a personal escort to Rodeo Drive and a fistful of credit cards to go shopping, whatever you wanted.”
Since Charlie was still examining ointments from her case of medical remedies, he leaned forward, clasping his hands. “Until the day came that the tests they were running started to be more invasive and destructive to you. When you decided you were no longer into being their lab rat, things would turn a lot uglier. Your free will is a moot point to them. You just had the opportunity to see that faste
r than most, thanks to their attempt to steal you off your island.”
“Why are you telling me this?”
“Because I’m not discounting that they might be considering a whole lot of ways to get to you and, if they do get access, they might try persuasion and bribery first. They’ll tell you that I don’t have your best interests at heart, that I’m just using you, or you’d be safer with a professional, high tech op like theirs with billions of dollars of resources. Rather than a fly-by-night wizard working out of his mom’s basement. It’s a really nice basement,” he added, with a half-smile. “And she bakes.”
“Great cakes,” John agreed. “And blackberry cobbler.”
Charlie was slathering something on Maddock’s arm now, a pungent poultice. He glanced down at her bent head as she did it, and Medusa noted the flare of his nostrils as he inhaled the scent. She wondered if he was reacting to the poultice or the smell of Charlie’s hair, though the wizard seemed a hundred percent present in their conversation.
Medusa glanced at Yvette. The vampire’s expression was unreadable. Her legs were crossed, two fingernails of one hand tapping the armrest of her chair. Click, click. Click, click.
“Lady Yvette.” Medusa drew her attention. “Do you think Maddock has my best interests at heart?”
If the vampire found the question unexpected, she didn’t show it. Maddock said nothing, his expression dispassionate.
Lady Yvette studied the wizard, then looked toward Medusa. “I think men of magic and science often let their goals cloud their conscience. They rationalize that what they do is for the greater good, and so the ends will justify the means. They overlook that there is an energy in this world far more important than any scientific or magical advancement, and that energy is the collective soul of all life forms. Without a respect and love for it, a tender caring that comes so easily to one like Charlie because of her gifts, and so much harder for the rest of us, we can lose our souls in the pursuit of things that only seem more important than that.”
