Magic Hunter: An Urban Fantasy Novel (The Vampire's Mage Series Book 1)

by C. N. Crawford

  “I don’t take it off. Ever. It’s my good luck charm. Some people have votive candles. I have my ring to keep the monsters away.”

  “Doesn’t work, though. After all, I’m here.” He leaned closer, and despite the rain she could feel the warmth of his skin. She inhaled his powerful magic: air seared by lightning, a hint of sage and earth. She felt a strange wave of something like desire rolling off him, though she had no idea how she could sense that. He whispered into her ear, “You need to run, Rosalind. They’re coming for you.”

  A shudder crawled up her spine as understanding began to dawn in her mind. He hadn’t found her by accident—he’d come for her. But why?

  She gripped the iron dust tighter, knuckles whitening. “Who’s coming for me?”

  “The Brotherhood. They want to watch the world burn, and you with it.”

  Ice closed around her heart. No. He’s lying. “Why would the Brotherhood come for one of their own?”

  “You’re not one of theirs. I know what you are. And the Brotherhood will soon find it out.”

  He turned, slipping silently into one of the alleys.

  With a shaking hand, she lowered the dust.

  Chapter 2

  Rosalind stepped out of the steamy shower, drying her dark hair with a towel. Josiah had been frantically texting her about meeting in the library for a post-mortem, but she wanted to stop by her residence hall first. The encounter with the mage had left her nerves ravaged.

  Plus, it was kind of hard to rush to a work meeting when you knew you were about to get fired.

  She slipped into a pair of jeans and a low-cut white shirt. The right outfit wasn’t enough to get her out of this mess, but it couldn’t hurt. She’d chosen her clothes strategically: the white represented purity—Josiah seemed turned on by that, and the low-cut top was just revealing enough to distract him with her cleavage. Only her weapon belt, complete with a loaded gun, ruined the sleek lines of her outfit. But there was no way she was leaving home without it.

  She slid her knee-high boots on over her jeans. The iron-lined toes would come in handy if she saw the mage again.

  As she leaned closer to the mirror, she pinched her cheeks, bringing out a blush, before glancing at the faint, white scars on her neck. The redcap’s attack had been a very close call. She should be happy to be alive at all. Still, she couldn’t shake the crushing disappointment of her failed kill.

  Maybe she could persuade Josiah to bend the rules a little, to keep her on as a Hunter. She’d been born for this. Granted, she panicked when confronted with actual demons, but she’d get better if they gave her a chance.

  She gathered up her hunting clothes and pushed through the bathroom door. The mage’s terrifying warning—whatever he’d meant by it—whispered through her skull. As she walked through the hall, she blinked back tears, trying not to imagine the worst case scenario: exile from the Brotherhood.

  She pushed open the door of her cramped dorm room.

  Her roommate, Tammi, lay on her bed, playing music through her iPhone. As soon as she saw Rosalind, she yanked out her headphones.

  “Rosalind!” Beaming, Tammi flipped her long, blonde hair behind her shoulders. As she took in Rosalind’s grim expression, the smile quickly faded from her face. “What’s going on? You look like you’re about to cry. Is this about Josiah?”

  “Sort of.” She dropped her clothes on her bed. “I actually have to go meet him in Harvard Square to talk about some stuff.”

  Tammi crinkled her brow. “What stuff? Is this one of those conversations where you have to sit there and listen to him rehash all the reasons he dumped you? Because I would skip that if I were you.”

  “No. It’s work-related, but probably just as painful.”

  “Oh, right. Your mysterious job that no one is allowed to know about.”

  Rosalind sighed. “Not for long. I’m pretty sure I’m about to get fired.” She shouldn’t be talking about this, but she was still so charged up from the encounter with the mage. It was hard to even think straight.

  Tammi cocked her head. “Okay, what exactly do you do at night? Because I’ve been vacillating between stripper and assassin for a while.”

  Rosalind’s phone beeped, and she yanked it out of her pocket. “Hang on a second. What the hell? It’s Mason.” Rosalind and her father didn’t exactly have a close relationship. In fact, she only ever thought of him by his first name—when she thought of him at all. And he never texted her.

  When she unlocked her phone to read the text, panic curdled her stomach. It simply read:

  I tried to save you from yourself, but I can’t protect you any longer.

  Her breath caught in her throat. Did her father really know about her failure already? “This isn’t good,” she whispered. The last thing she wanted to do was talk to Mason, but she needed to find out what was going on.

  “What isn’t good?” Tammi asked. “You seem all dramatic.”

  Rosalind paced the floor as she dialed his number. His voice mail picked up. Jerk. It was just like him to send a cryptic, panic-inducing text and then shut off his phone. A cold sweat broke out on her forehead, and she threw her phone in frustration.

  “Rosalind!” Tammi said. “You’re freaking me out. What is going on?”

  “Mason is an asshole.” Rosalind picked up her phone from the pile of discarded clothes on the floor. Luckily, it hadn’t broken, and she jammed it into her pocket.

  Tammi unscrewed the top of a nail polish bottle and began painting her toenails. “You already knew that. But I’m guessing whatever you’re upset about has to do with your father?”

  “I don’t even know.” Rosalind took a deep breath, suddenly desperate to confide in her friend. “Can you keep a secret?”

  Tammi stared at her. “Of course I can. Plus, I’ve told you my secrets.”

  Rosalind was the only one on campus who knew Tammi’s original name: Marcus Robbins. Twenty years before, Tammi had been born into a boy’s body. And while that part wasn’t a secret, Tammi didn’t want anyone knowing about her birth name. And she especially didn’t want anyone seeing the photos of her awkward mullet phase.

  Rosalind sat at the edge of her bed, just below her poster of a bearded Darwin. “I’m just trying to figure out where to start.”

  “Oh, just come out with it. Whatever it is, it can’t be as bad as the time I had to tell my fundamentalist parents I was transitioning.”

  She raises a good point. Rosalind dug her fingernails into the duvet. “Okay. The thing is, I’m part of the Brotherhood. I’m a demon hunter. I was supposed to kill a redcap tonight, and I messed up.” It came out in a rush. She already felt a weight off her chest.

  “What?” Tammi knocked over her nail polish, and a pool of crimson stained her duvet.

  “Josiah is my ex-boyfriend, but he’s also my Guardian in the Brotherhood,” Rosalind said. “He dumped me because the Brotherhood forbids novice and Guardian relationships. And I’m supposed to be reporting to him in about fifteen minutes, so he can fire me for screwing up.”

  “He can wait. This is fucking huge. I did not have you pegged as a Hunter. I wasn’t even sure if Hunters were real. Can you even fight?” Tammi stood, her face flushed. “Start from the beginning. How long have you been a part of the Brotherhood?”

  This really was a long story. “I became a Hunter at eighteen, but I’ve been in the Brotherhood since I was five. That’s when Mason adopted me. The one good thing he ever did for me was introducing me to the Brotherhood. The order gave me stability and a sense of belonging—everything Mason failed to give me. I always thought a future with the Brotherhood was my destiny. I thought I’d be promoted to Guardian someday, leading a group of novices in the ancient tradition of the hunt. And then, tonight, I messed everything up. Again. They can’t risk having incompetent people fighting demons. It’s too dangerous.”

  “What happened?” Tammi asked breathlessly.

  An image of the mage’s cold, icy stare flashed in Rosal
ind’s brain, and she shuddered. “I’ve already racked up two failed kills. Three, and you’re out. Tonight, I was supposed to kill a redcap, but I let the situation get out of control.”

  “You let him get away?”

  “Not exactly. He bit me.”

  “Holy shit, Ros. Why aren’t you dead?”

  “Because a really hot mage showed up, ripped out the demon’s heart, and then healed me. And then I let the mage get away.”

  Tammi stared at her, open-mouthed. “Jesus, Rosalind.” She pulled her hair off her face. “Look on the bright side. At least you made it out alive. And it can’t be that terrible to get saved by a hot guy.”

  Rosalind flinched. “I don’t think the Brotherhood will be so impressed with those things.”

  Tammi frowned. “Don’t you think we should be making peace with the demons, or at least the mages? I’m just a little wary of the Brotherhood, since they don’t do trials and all…”

  Rosalind didn’t need to hear this lecture right now. When demons were trying to feast on your guts, you didn’t always have the luxury of putting them on trial. “Did the mages give us a chance to make peace when they murdered a hundred kids in Boston? Did that redcap ask for peace when he ate the two cashiers in Market Basket? The vamps have killed two people on campus in the past month. Tonight, this guy was going to slaughter ten times that.”

  “I guess so…” Tammi said doubtfully.

  Rosalind could feel the blood rushing to her head. “The Brotherhood have been protecting humans from dark magic since the dawn of civilization. Without Hunters, demons would enslave us all. And the demons aren’t going to wait around for us to put everyone on trial while they rape and eat their way through Boston’s citizens. Demons don’t respect weakness. We have to fight back.”

  Tammi sat on the edge of her bed, her brow furrowed. “Fine. But why you? Why can’t you have a normal job? You’re a computer science major. You have useful skills.”

  Rosalind shook her head. “Because the world needs people like me. Anyway, programming doesn’t exactly light my world on fire. I’m not meant for a nine-to-five job. But since I’m about to get fired tonight, coding is probably back in the cards for me.”

  Tammi raised her brow. “Killing is the only thing that would make you happy? That’s messed up.”

  “I still haven’t killed anything. That’s why I’m in trouble. And it’s not that I want to kill anything. I just like being part of something important. And I like the sense of adventure. If I could choose any job in the world, I’d join Darwin’s Beagle voyage. But until someone invents time travel and Victorian gender equality, I’ll have to stick with the Brotherhood.”

  Rosalind’s phone beeped again, and she scrambled to yank it out. It was Josiah again, demanding to know where she was. “Shit. I really need to go.”

  “If you get fired, come find me. There’s a streak night planned. We’ll get hammered and watch all the naked guys running around campus. You’ll forget all about the redcap.”

  “I’ll text you!” Rosalind grabbed her umbrella and rushed out the door, leaving her coat behind. There was no point wearing a low-cut top if you were going to put a coat over it.

  And she’d need all the resources she could muster to face Josiah.

  Chapter 3

  With an umbrella in hand, Rosalind hurried through one of Harvard Yard’s brick gates. She kept her eyes locked on the Brotherhood’s towering command center: the Victorian brick building known as the Chambers.

  It had once been a performance and lecture hall. Since the mage attacks in Boston, the Brotherhood had taken it over, refurbishing the interior at an astounding speed. It had been refitted with a combination of cutting-edge technology and old world grandeur, and it now acted as the Brotherhood’s Massachusetts headquarters.

  As she walked up the stone steps to a set of glass doors, she tried to pull her thoughts together. She’d need to project competence if she wanted to convince Josiah she was valuable to the Brotherhood.

  She paused next to the small scanner by the door, lining up her iris with the blue circle in the retina scanner. When she heard the beep, she swiped her ID card, and the glass door clicked open. The Brotherhood were a little paranoid with their security measures, but you had to be vigilant when fighting blood-drinking demons.

  Through the glass doors, she nodded at Martha, the rosy-cheeked security guard behind the desk, and hurried on to the central corridor. After scanning her retina a second time, she pulled open an oak door, its surface carved with Latin phrases.

  The sight of the Great Hall always took her breath away. It was the most stunning part of the building—a cavernous, cathedral-like space modeled after a Roman amphitheater, with semicircular rows of benches surrounding a round stage. She often envisioned herself lecturing beneath its enormous stone dome about the history of witchcraft, instilling students with a sense of reverence for the Sanguine Brotherhood’s history.

  During the day, sunlight streamed through an oculus onto the lecture stage, illuminating the Guardians with pure white light. But now only pale moonlight lit the interior.

  Her footsteps echoed, and she scanned the stone benches for her Guardian. For most, he’d be hard to pick out at all, but she was an expert at spotting tiny movements in the dark, and the slow rise and fall of his enormous chest drew her eye. As she caught sight of him, her heart quickened.

  “Rosalind.” His voice boomed through the hall. “I’ve been waiting for twenty-seven minutes. You’re late.”

  “Sorry. I wanted to figure out what the hell I wanted to say to you.”

  He splayed his fingers. “How about the truth?”

  He was definitely pissed.

  She climbed the stairs, taking in his huge form, nearly as imposing as the Great Hall. The guy could deadlift five hundred pounds. She was still working on three hundred. Let’s just say I never want to get on Josiah’s bad side.

  As she approached, he fixed her with one of his stony stares. “What happened? I’ve been worried sick.”

  “I’m fine.” She sat next to him on the bench, its cold surface chilling her through her clothes. “But there was a complication.”

  He leaned in, his dark eyes intense. “Tell me.”

  “The redcap is dead, but I saw a shadow mage. He interfered. Technically, he’s the one who killed the redcap. And he healed my neck wounds.”

  “Your neck what? Seven hells, Rosalind.” He flicked on a small flashlight and inspected her skin. His face hardened. “You let a demon bite you. And then you let a shadow mage cast a healing spell. I’m going to have to purify you of any magical residue. Why did you allow that to happen? I’ve seen you fight. You hesitated, didn’t you?”

  He knows me too well. “The redcap looked human. I saw fear in his eyes.”

  “Need I remind you what demons have done to human kind? What they did to your birth parents?”

  “You don’t need to remind me. I think about it every day.” It was something she and Josiah had in common. Vampires had slaughtered both their parents. But in Josiah’s case, he could remember the event vividly. His trauma could make him a little intense on the subject.

  “If given half the chance, that redcap would’ve chained you up in a dungeon. Demons don’t have souls. They’re pure predators. As a Hunter, if you hesitate, you die. You’re lucky to be alive right now.”

  She hid her face with her hands. Her low-cut top wasn’t working at all. “I know all this.”

  He pulled out his phone, flipping through his photos before shoving a gruesome picture in her face: a young man lying on the pavement, most of his neck missing. “This is what your redcap did yesterday, a few days after he killed the cashiers. The victim’s name was Perry. A writer—recently engaged and planning his wedding. His fiancée lost her mind when we delivered the news.”

  Rosalind closed her eyes, suppressing the bile rising in her throat. “I know. He looked scared at one point. It threw me off.”

  Josiah’s dar
k eyes flashed. “Do I need to show you the pictures of the cheerleading team the demons ripped apart two months ago? Since the supernatural world has gone public, they don’t care about discretion anymore. They’re murdering indiscriminately.”

  “You’ve mentioned it once or twice.” Shit. She needed to keep her attitude in check if she wanted to keep her job.

  “It’s not just about vindicating human deaths. I want you to be safe. The Brotherhood isn’t going to lose you on my watch. You’re our strongest novice, and it’s my job to guide you. Your physical training is fine. You need mental training.”

  Our strongest novice. He still thought that? “If you give me another chance, I won’t hesitate next time.”

  “I want to hear about the shadow mage. Why was he there?”

  Why was he there? “He was terrifying. Insanely powerful.” Just thinking about his cold voice chilled her blood. “It was almost like he’d come to give me a message. He said he knew what I was. He said the Brotherhood will know soon, too.” She shivered, thinking of the powerful thrill of his aura. “What do you think he meant?”

  “I have no idea.”

  “He mentioned my ring. Something about how it keeps me sane.”

  “He obviously wanted to throw you off guard. And he did. Don’t tell anyone about it until we know more. That’s the sort of thing that leads to rumors.” Josiah ran a hand over his buzz cut. “Tell me what he looked like.”

  “Beautiful, really. Smooth skin. Pale eyes. Brown hair. Tattoos—I saw a crescent moon.”

  “Magic deforms human bodies. He’s obviously glamoured himself.”

  “Ah.”

  “Why didn’t you spray him with dust? It would have seared the magic off him.”

  She shook her head. This was the truth she really didn’t want to admit, but she owed Josiah an explanation. “With the demon, I saw fear in his eyes. And he seemed human. But with the shadow mage… I was afraid. I thought if he sensed I might hurt him, he’d murder me with his mind. His aura was immensely powerful. And when he first showed up, I was certain he was there for vengeance.”