Vampire Mage 4: An Urban Fantasy Harem (The Vampire Mage)

by Joshua King

  It suddenly struck me that the musing might not actually be as far off track as it seemed. We had just walked away from a fairy in the middle of the field and I would in no way put it past one of the other women to have such serious issues over not being invited to a baby's christening she would turn evil and start cursing people. Maybe I had just had a revelation. I might not need the manual after all. I might have been preparing for my time in the Underworld my whole life. Of course, none of those stories or movies ever involved a vampire, and none of the warlocks I'd encountered so far looked like Merlin. Malakan might have a touch of the unhinged factor, but not enough to fully convince myself I had just uncovered the mystery of the Underworld and the truth was I was just traipsing around in storybooks.

  We had gathered several stalks of the poisonous plant when Aurora stopped and looked around.

  "Is something wrong?" I asked.

  She shook her head.

  "No. Not wrong. I just realized I know where we are. It didn't look this familiar at first, but I realized I've been here. A long time ago. But I know it. There's a village not far from here. That must be where Malakan wants us to go."

  "We already knew there was a town nearby."

  "No. Not the town. That's down the tracks. The village. It's through the woods. Malakan talked about it, but it was one of the types of stories he would tell where it started as being about one thing, transitioned somewhere in the middle to being about something else vaguely related, then ended up not having anything to do with what it was to begin with. But when he talked about the village, he seemed focused for longer than with the other things. It was obvious how fond he was of the place, even though he didn't give me any details. That must be where he's leading us."

  20

  Jaxxim was sitting up again when we made it back to the field. We told him, Bex, and Brielle about Aurora's memory of the village.

  "We should head there," Ashe said.

  "Not yet," I told her.

  "What do you mean not yet?"

  She sounded stunned that I didn't want to immediately pack up and leave. To be fair, my track record did give her a fairly strong foundation for thinking that was what I would want to do, but not this time. I felt confident Aurora was right and it was where we were supposed to be headed, but I also had the strong urge to stay where we were, at least for a little longer.

  "The village isn't going anywhere," I said. "We need to be prepared at all times. We can't forget that we don't know what we're going to be facing on the rest of this journey. None of us do. So much has happened that we can't make any assumptions or predictions, and we need to be prepared for anything we might run into. Even things we don't want to think about or talk about."

  "What are you saying, Hayden?" Bex asked.

  "Malakan gave us this book for a reason. The edible plants are very important, and it is reassuring to have what we need to make medications and supplies for minor injuries, but that's not it. He wanted us to see this plant. I think our idea about the poison plants is exactly what he wants. Malakan wanted us to find that specific plant and start getting interested. When we were in the woods, before going through the portal, I barely saw any of the poisonous plants, if any at all. There were plenty of the other plants. We managed to find almost everything for the medical kit and I know a few of our bags have some of the plants stuffed in them so we don't have to resort to food cubes yet, but I didn't notice the poisonous ones. Did any of you?"

  They systematically shook their heads.

  "I paid close attention," Stephana said. "That's not a mistake anyone wants to deal with. I was focused on building and replenishing the medical kit, but I wanted to pay close attention to what I was getting so we didn't end up wiping everyone out with what we thought was going to save them. But, you're right. I don't think I saw any."

  "But there are tons of them in these woods," I said, gesturing toward the trees where we collected the moon ferns. "We walked in there and as soon as you caught sight of them, they were everywhere. That can't be an accident. Malakan has to know how powerful those plants are, which must be extremely powerful if he reveres them so much. If he is leading us to that village, that means he knew we were going to be passing through the woods."

  "But this isn't where we were supposed to get off, remember? The train was going to bring us somewhere else," Bex pointed out. "If that's the case, then there's no reason to put additional significance on the ferns, and the village might not even be where we are supposed to be going."

  "You don't know this isn't where we were supposed to get off," I told him.

  "What do you mean? Xander said he would let us know when we got to the right station, and he didn't tell us anything."

  "He was coming into our car this morning, but he didn't have any of the usual breakfast things with him. There was another reason he was coming to talk to us. What if it was because he was going to tell us it was time to start getting ready to get off the train? Just because he didn't tell us to wait until the next station doesn't mean Malakan didn't specifically arrange for us to get off here."

  "That's why the Shade waited until now," Aurora said. "They wanted to make sure we were going to suffer and die, but they were also curious about where we might be going. Darian somehow knew where we were going. I don't know how, but he knew we were going to be on this train. He wanted to make sure we were cut off before getting to the village. He just didn't expect how strong we've gotten."

  "How did he know where we were?" Ashe asked.

  "I don't know. That means someone has been tracing us and somehow knows where we are and where we're going, at least up until now."

  "I didn't…" Jaxxim said.

  "I know. There's no way you could have known where we were going to go. Going to the fortress of the Dark Fae wasn't expected by any of us. I'm sure Malakan didn't anticipate the Fae sending us there."

  "The king did reference him," Bex pointed out. "Remember? He called him the shadow of the forest."

  "It doesn't matter whether he wanted us to go there or not. We are here now, and we defeated the Shades. There's no point in sitting around trying to figure out how they found us or what might happen next. All we can do is keep going. But before we do that, we need to get prepared. Are there instructions in that book for turning the plants into concentrated poison we can put on weapons?"

  "Yes," Stephana said. "It's not a long process, but we'll need a fire."

  "Then, let's build one."

  We went to work getting a fire blazing and Stephana followed the process in the book to transform the ferns into a thick, noxious green poison. Each of us chose weapons to coat in the poison, then stored the rest in two of the empty glass tubes. With our supplies replenished, we extinguished the fire and started toward the woods. That's when I noticed Jaxxim hadn't said very much since we came back into the field. He looked like he was lost somewhere in his thoughts, and I needed to pull him back into the moment so he could concentrate on what needed to be done. By now we knew there was no anticipating the next step, and if something was going to happen in the woods, we all needed to be ready to react.

  "What's been happening in Solan City since we've been gone?"

  His eyes snapped over to me as if he wasn't expecting anyone to talk to him. Tension pulsed in the muscles of his jaw and he swallowed hard.

  "Things are getting more tense. There have been a few incidents of violence, but no clear indication of which side, or which faction, initiated it. Of course, that means everyone is angry. The most extreme are calling for executions."

  "What is my father doing about it?" Aurora asked.

  "At first, the Prime tried to be as diplomatic as possible in public but was showing his aggression in the palace. Teams of guards have been sent on missions multiple times a day, some of us don't even know what they are doing."

  "And now?"

  "Darian hasn't been seen in four days."

  "My father is missing?" Aurora asked, sounding shocked at the idea. />
  "What happened? Where did he go?" I asked.

  "No one knows. He gave instructions for us to come here, then no one has seen or heard from him since."

  "He gave you instructions more than four days ago?"

  "Yes. They were extremely vague. He just told us where to meet the train and how to get on. Essentially, he said we would know what we needed to do when we got there. I immediately knew it had to do with you. I hoped I was wrong, but I had to come to find out."

  "He doesn't know about Malakan's notes or how he's leading us," I said. "He knew that we would be going to this village and that meant going through the portal."

  "Something is there, and whatever it is, we need to find it before Darian comes and finds us. His day is coming, but not yet."

  We pushed through the woods faster, barely speaking as we continued on our way. It was disturbing to think of the Prime being missing. I didn't know where he was or why he left, but I knew it couldn't be a good thing.

  The village at the end of the walk through the woods was a welcome respite. Everything was small and old-fashioned, creating a sense of security. It was getting late and we knew we needed to stop for the night. A tiny inn close to the edge of the village offered the promise of beds that didn't move, and after all that time on the train, that was an extremely appealing prospect. Aurora did what she does best and soon we had keys to three rooms. These weren't the thick plastic key cards like the ones at the rundown motel where Ghost had met us. They were heavy, intricate traditional metal keys and I liked that more than I would have thought I would. We piled into the rooms, relieved to put down our bags, and I crashed into one of the beds, asleep before I was even aware of the blankets settling over my body.

  The next morning, I took a shower long enough to probably use up all the hot water in the entire inn as well as several of the surrounding buildings. When I was finished, I dug clean clothes out of one of my bags and dressed. Not being offered fresh clothing every morning might be something I missed, but I'd get used to it. We went downstairs to the quaint dining room we'd noticed the night before. Tables with white linen cloths were scattered around, looking like the inn was hopeful about the number of guests who would come to fill their rooms. As it was, only two tables had anyone sitting at them. We took the largest table by a curved window looking out over the main street. Those of us who still ate food were most of the way through stuffing ourselves as Ashe licked her lips. She had just downed a large cup of blood and I realized it was the first thing I'd seen her consume in a few days. Aurora was just making it clear to me she was going to need sustenance soon when a timid-looking woman approached. She stepped up close to the table and looked directly at me.

  "Are you Hayden?"

  "Yes."

  "He told me you would come." That seemed to be the traditional greeting on this journey, and I nodded my acknowledgement. "He said to give this to you." She pulled a note out of a fold in her dress and handed it to me. "When you're ready, come and find me."

  She scurried away and I exchanged glances with my group.

  "What does it say?" Bex asked.

  Anticipation filled me as I unfolded the note and looked down at it, ready to see what words of wisdom and guidance the great mage had left us this time.

  "Find her." I flipped the paper back and forth a few times just to make sure I hadn't missed something. I hadn't. "Fantastic."

  "At least we're sure we're on the right track."

  "Speaking of which, Aurora do you have any idea where your father might be? Any idea where he might have gone or if there's somewhere he'd want to hide?"

  She shook her head.

  "No. He could be essentially anywhere, which means he could be doing anything."

  "And that means we need to keep going. Let's go find that girl and let her know."

  We walked out of the dining room and started toward the desk in the lobby. There were two men standing at it talking to the woman who had given us the note, and Aurora immediately grabbed me by the back of my shirt and yanked me back around a corner. The rest of the group followed, and we hunkered against the wall.

  "Those two men are upper members of Darian's Council," she said in a harsh whisper. "We definitely don't want them seeing us."

  "We need to get up to our rooms and pack."

  "What are we going to do?" Brielle asked.

  "We might have to escape."

  "But the note said we needed to find that woman."

  "And when he wrote it, he didn't anticipate members of the Council being here. There's got to be another way we can figure out where we're supposed to go next."

  We snuck up to our rooms and packed as quickly as we could, gathering in my room to distribute the weapons again. I had just picked up my sword when I heard a light knock on the door. Everyone went quiet. I held up by hands to the others to keep them silent and still as I crept toward the door.

  "It's me," the voice of the woman came through the door.

  I checked the peephole and saw she was the only one standing behind the door. Opening it just slightly and bracing it with my foot, I looked around the door at her.

  "They are gone. I got rid of them. But you need to get out of here. They're not going to stop looking for you. You aren't going to be safe for long."

  "Yeah. That seems to be the general consensus pretty much everywhere we go."

  "I can get you to the next portal, but we need to move fast."

  21

  We were all expecting the woman to usher us out of the inn and further into the village, or maybe even back into the woods. Instead, she led us down the hallway and up a short flight of steps to the floor above us. This area at the hotel looked like it hadn't been touched in many years. The doors on either side of the hall where the same as the ones on the floor below, but the light up here was dim, coming from only a few dusty bulbs rather than the brighter fixtures positioned every couple of feet on the floor where we were staying. I had the strange compulsion to open one of the doors and see the room beyond it. Even with the abandoned feeling of this section of the building, I knew the rooms on the other side that the doors were going to be completely intact, just sitting there exactly as they had been the last time there was a guest. There could be any number of explanations for why this floor was left this way. It could be a simple matter of the village being so tiny and out in the middle of nowhere that it didn't get enough guests to support having so many rooms available. But that didn't explain why the dining room was still equipped with enough tables to serve what looked like could be half the village's population. A memory of the pool at the other motel came to mind and a shudder rolled through me as I realized this also might not actually be so abandoned at all. The types of guests who might stay here could just prefer it to look this way.

  The woman, whose name still hadn’t been offered, led us to the very end of the hall and a scuffed white door that looked like a closet.

  "This is as far as I can bring you. The portal is just inside. The third switch turns on a light. Follow that light to the inscription, touch it, and answer the question. Answer it correctly, and you will be able to use the portal."

  There was a distinct silence after the instructions, one I expected to be filled with a vital, if dreaded, piece of information about the portal. The woman met my eyes after a few seconds, and I realized she was not going to offer it.

  "What's the price for using the portal?"

  "Don't worry about that now," she said.

  Aurora grabbed my arm.

  "That's not a good thing, Hayden. She's not being magnanimous. There is always a price to use a portal you haven't used before. When the portal keeper doesn't mention it to you immediately, it's often much higher."

  I looked back at the woman and saw her staring back with a storm of emotion in her eyes. Something drew me to her, but there was nothing I could do about it right then. The council members being there meant Darian and his most loyal followers were close on our asses, and we couldn't ri
sk hesitating any longer to put more space between us.

  "We don't have a choice. This is what we have to do now, and we're going to have to worry about the price later. We've already paid dearly to get here, and I can't honestly imagine that the journey is going to get a whole lot easier from here. We can't be afraid."

  The woman was already hurrying back down the hallway by the time my hand touched the doorknob. That was somewhat disconcerting, but I told myself she was the only person working at the desk in the lobby when we saw her. Maybe it was purely a matter of needing to get back to work, and not the knowledge of something disastrous happening when the door opened. At least I could tell myself that. Taking a deep breath, I turned the knob and pulled the closet door toward me. We all braced ourselves, but nothing happened. The most dramatic moment was when a mop, apparently jostled free by the door opening, slid slowly across the wall and clattered to the floor. I looked back at the four women and two men behind me. They had complete trust etched on their faces, and I knew they would do whatever I asked of them. That meant I had to be the one to decide and lead.

  It was a bit of a feat squeezing all of us into the small space, but we managed to fit once Jaxxim stomped on a bucket to crack it in half so he could take its place in the corner.

  "She said to flip the third switch," I said. My eyes swept over the walls, looking for a switch panel. I found it nearly invisible tucked under a rough wooden shelf nailed to the wall and holding various cans and bottles of cleaning products, some of which looked like they'd been there for several decades. "Here it is."

  Reaching under the shelf, I felt for the third switch and flipped it. Immediately, a beam of light burst from the ceiling and formed a concentrated bar of illumination on the floor. Shifting our positions in order to give us a view of the floor, so we could see what the light was pointing out to us. It involved some contorting and crushing myself close enough to Brielle and Aurora. I was glad the other two men were in the closet, or there would have been a much longer delay before we used the portal.