by Linsey Hall
“Thank magic,” I said.
Del could transport from anywhere in the world in a second, but she had to have enough power stored up to do so. Her power regenerated weirdly, but it wasn’t a matter of practice like mine was. If I used my magic, I became so exhausted I couldn’t do much for a while. I just wanted to sleep. She was physically fine after using her magic—she just didn’t have any more juice for a while. It was one of the reasons she couldn’t often make transport charms. It was also one of the reasons that we didn’t call her home unless we really needed her.
“Shit! That reminds me,” I said. “Check the demons’ pockets for transport charms. They sometimes have them.” Raiding demon corpses was one of my favorite tricks of the trade.
Wincing at the pain in my back, I crawled over to the demon that Nix had felled and searched his pockets. Nothing. I turned back to my friends.
“Mine already disappeared,” Claire said.
“No charms in this guy’s pockets,” Aidan said.
“Damn. Worth a shot, anyway.” I sat back down by Del. I tried not to shift my back too much. “So you made it here.”
“Yeah,” Del said. “Claire and Connor were already here.”
“We heard the blast that took out the door,” Connor said.
Guilt tugged at me. “Thanks for coming, guys. You didn’t have to.”
“Sure we did,” Claire said. “You’re our friends.”
“Yeah, but our business is dangerous. Connor, at least, chose a profession that wasn’t deadly. We shouldn’t drag you into our mess.”
Connor shrugged. “No problem. And my sis here gets antsy if she doesn’t kill something every week, so this was good exercise for her.”
“True,” Claire said. “But what did that guy take?”
“A box. I couldn’t make it out though.” I gingerly climbed to my feet. As I made my way to the counter, I remembered the Chalice of Youth that Nix had stashed under there. The original.
When I looked down at the empty shelf, it was gone. Damn. I glanced at the back shelf. The replica was gone too. He must have grabbed it right before he disappeared.
What the hell?
“Thanks for your help, guys,” I said to Connor and Claire. I didn’t want to drag them farther into this. “You’ve got to be beat. Why don’t you get cleaned up, and we’ll meet you over at your place. No need to hang around this dump with us.”
“We’ll help you clean up,” Connor said.
I looked around, my heart breaking at the devastation inside our shop. Half the shelves and possibly as much inventory were smashed. “I think we’re going to save that for another day.”
“Yeah,” Nix said. “I don’t think I can face that right now.”
“Same,” Del said.
“All right,” Claire said. “We’ll head over to P & P and get cleaned up. Come on by for food later.”
“Thanks.” I smiled at my friends as they limped out.
I glanced at Aidan. I wanted to ask him to leave so that I could speak freely with Nix and Del, but he’d never do it. Not until we’d at least discussed some of what had happened here.
“Who was that guy?” Nix asked.
“The guy from the temple in Norway,” Aidan said. “He’s got the scroll.”
“What kind of Magica was he, Del?” I asked.
“I don’t know. He threw a lot at me. Fire—he’s got at least one elemental gift. But he was also hitting my mind with horrible memories. So he’s got some telepathy too.”
“So a mystery mage wants the scroll and the Chalice of Youth,” I said. “But he grabbed the original too.”
“Do you think he realized?” Del asked.
“I guess so, but I don’t know how.” I turned to Aidan. “Do you have any idea why that guy would want the Chalice of Youth and the scroll?”
“No. They’re unrelated, as far as I know.”
“Damn. I don’t get it. We need to go find him.”
“You need to heal, first,” he said.
“I will. But could you go get us some plywood or something to cover up the door?”
Aidan looked at me suspiciously, like he knew I was trying to get him out of here for a minute.
“Please? I can’t leave until the shop is at least closed up. We need something to put over the door. And we need to hire someone to enchant it.” I wished I could put security enchantments on things, but I couldn’t. Then I remembered what Aidan did for a living. “You’re the perfect guy for it. Don’t you have someone on your payroll who can come over and enchant it?”
He gave me one long look that said he wasn’t going to let this go. “Yeah, I’ll make a call. Then we’ll deal with your back.”
“My deirfiúr will help.” My chest felt tight as I watched him rise gracefully and walk out of the shop.
“What the hell is going on?” Nix hissed as soon as he was gone. “Weren’t those the shadow demons you mentioned before?”
“Yeah. I have no idea what’s going on. Dr. Garriso said there are thousands of them. They can’t all work for the same guy. After I talked to him, I decided it was coincidence. The demon who guarded the chalice was separate from the ones who were trying to steal the scroll. But now that they came for the chalice, it’s clearly no coincidence.”
“So we hunt them down,” Del said. She gripped her sword.
“Yeah,” I said. “We hunt them down.”
“We’ll go with you.”
I nodded. Though part of me wanted them to stay here where it was safe, I knew they’d laugh in my face if I suggested it. Just like I’d laugh in theirs if they suggested I stay behind the front line.
“Let’s get cleaned up. When Aidan gets back, we’ll close up shop and follow them. The tracking charm should still work.” In my panic, I’d left it in Aidan’s car. I hoped he’d make sure it was all right.
Aidan walked in the door a second later.
“That didn’t take you long,” I said.
“I wasn’t going to the hardware store for plywood.”
“No?”
“No. I just made a call. It’ll be here soon.”
“Oh, right.” He was filthy rich. Of course he didn’t go to the hardware store himself. And if he did, it wasn’t in moments like this, when he’d rather be interrogating me or hunting down our prey. “We’re going to get cleaned up. Then we can go after that guy.”
“All right. Let me help you with your back,” Aidan said.
“Nix or Del will do it.”
“I’m way too beat,” Del said.
“Same,” Nix said. “I need a shower.”
I glared at them. Seriously? They were doing this because they wanted to force me and Aidan together. “Monsters”, I mouthed at them.
They both shrugged, then helped each other to their feet. Del looked particularly wobbly. No surprise, considering the strength of the mystery mage.
My back burned as I stood. Every movement wiggled the glass lodged in my skin. My jacket had kept a lot of it out, but there were still some good-sized shards in there. Even the little ones burned.
A van pulled up outside the broken door. A logo on the side said Origin Enterprises, and two men in blue polo shirts hopped out. They nodded at Aidan and went to the back of the van.
As they pulled out big pieces of plywood, I asked Aidan, “Can these guys watch the shop while we get our wounds taken care of? We’ll only be ten minutes, then we need to go after the thief.”
“Yeah.”
“Then let’s do this upstairs.” I’d have to take my shirt off, and I really didn’t want to do it in the middle of the shop.
Aidan spoke to the repair guys while I retrieved my copper-hilt daggers and headed out the door, Nix and Del behind me. He caught up to us as we were letting ourselves in the door that led to our apartments.
We climbed silently up the stairs, Del and Nix veering off to go into Del’s apartment. Aidan followed me up the next two flights to my place. I let myself in and headed straight to
the bathroom.
“Give me a second alone,” I said. Then I shut the door in his face.
I tried not to make any noise while I peeled my jacket off, but I really wanted to curse a blue streak. The leather pulled some of the glass out of my skin, and it tinkled when it hit the tile. I couldn’t tell, but it felt like more was lodged in my t-shirt.
It took me a minute to find some scissors in the cabinet—I preferred to cut my own hair because I hated the small talk in the chair—and I cut my shirt off. It was toast anyway, and just the idea of peeling it over my head sent a streak of pain through my back. No way was I trying it in real life.
“Are you all right?”
I jumped at the sound of Aidan’s voice.
“Fine!” I stifled a curse as I gingerly removed the shirt. Even more glass fell to the floor. I was sweating as I turned my back toward the mirror and peered over my shoulder.
Blood streaked everywhere and glass glinted in the light. A sigh heaved out of me. Okay, so I wasn’t going to be able to take care of this myself. Hopes officially dashed.
I faced my back to the door and crossed my arms over my chest, then called, “Okay, you can come in.”
Aidan’s footsteps crunched on the glass as he stepped in. “Holy hell, that’s bad.”
“Yeah. Can you do something about it?”
“Yeah.” His fresh forest scent washed over me as he stepped close.
Suddenly, my back hurt a lot less. I was more focused on how close he stood than on the glass lodged in my skin. When he laid his big hand on my shoulder, I thought I stopped breathing. His palm was warm and a bit rough, as if he worked with his hands.
Warmth radiated out from where he touched me. Sharp little pricks of pain shot from the shards of glass as my skin pushed them out. They plinked when they hit the floor.
“Most were shallow because of your jacket,” Aidan said.
I’d known those jackets were a good idea.
“A few of the deeper ones will take another day to heal fully, but they shouldn’t give you much problem.”
“Good,” I said.
“You know, you’d get hurt a lot less if you practiced and used your powers.”
“I said I didn’t want to talk about it.”
“We don’t have to talk about your parents or your past, but this is important.”
My parents and past? “How do you know I have a past?”
He pulled me around so I faced him. I covered my bra with my arm. Fortunately my tits were small enough that this did some good, but I still felt exposed. His nearness made me jerk back, but he held me firm. Was I ever going to get used to how he loomed over me? His freaking shoulders were twice as wide as me.
“Everyone has a past.” His voice was soft. “Most supernaturals have at least one miserable thing in it they’d like to forget. Someone with power that feels like yours probably has a really interesting past. Or a tough one.”
“Powers that feel like mine?”
“Yes. Different. Stronger. There’s something odd about your magic.”
“I’m not odd. I’m totally normal.”
“You’re far from normal, but in a good way.”
“Well, focus on that then instead of my weird powers. I don’t use them, so it doesn’t matter.” I knew I was speaking too quickly, but I couldn’t help it.
“It matters to me. They could protect you.”
“I can protect me.”
“Magic would be better. Let me help train you.”
“I already told you, I blow things up. Even you can’t keep me from blowing things up.”
“No, but I have a lot of land. It’s private. You can practice there. No one will know your powers are so uncontrollable. Temporarily uncontrollable.”
“I don’t know. That sounds risky.” Though I really liked the idea of it. Being able to moderate the amount of power I used would be amazing. I could start to use my magic on the occasional job. More importantly, if the terrifying man from my dream ever showed up in my life again, I’d be able to fight back.
“I’ll keep your secrets.” Aidan’s voice was rough as he lowered his head toward mine. His evergreen scent enveloped me, and I swore I could feel the warmth of him. “Whatever they are.”
“I don’t have any secrets,” I whispered, my gaze caught on his mouth. He had the best lips. I could just stand on my tiptoes and press mine against them.
“‘Course you do. All supernaturals have secrets. Like I said, I’d keep yours.” He bent down farther as if he really might kiss me.
Sense snapped back into me. I was about to kiss him while talking about secrets? My secrets could kill not only me, but my deirfiúr as well. It hit me exactly what was at stake here. My family. Even my friends. I didn’t know how much those demons knew about my past or what it all meant, but they threatened everything I loved. Aidan knowing about my past threatened everything I loved. And it might be a threat to him as well. He’d be required to report us or face punishment himself. And we really needed to get a move on with finding the guy who’d stolen the cup.
I ducked away from him and slipped out of the bathroom.
“Thanks for healing my back,” I said as I ran into the bedroom. “I’ll meet you downstairs in a sec.”
CHAPTER TWELVE
As soon as I shut the door to my room, I remembered that I was filthy. Aidan might have gotten rid of the glass and closed the worst of my cuts, but I was still covered in blood and sweat. It itched like mad. Impatiently, I waited at my bedroom door, listening for him to leave.
When the apartment door finally opened and closed, I slipped out and went to the bathroom.
The floor was clean. He’d gotten rid of all the glass.
Hmm. He might be a threat to my safety, but cleaning the glass off my bathroom floor was pretty cool.
Ugh. I really needed to stop thinking about why he was cool. I raced through a quick shower, then threw on clothes. When it came time to put on my daggers, my shoulders slumped. My obsidian set was gone.
Damn. I’d really liked that pair.
I grabbed the copper-hilt daggers that I’d been using. After strapping on the dagger sheaths, I tugged on boots and grabbed a jacket, then ran out the door. I took the stairs two at a time, knocking on Nix’s door and then Del’s. They came out onto their landings by the time I was at the bottom.
“Ready?” I called.
“Yeah,” said Nix. “Meet you on the street.”
I went out. The morning had turned dark and dreary as rain clouds rolled over the sun. That seemed about right, since things were definitely taking a darker turn.
Aidan stood in front of my shop, talking on the phone. He nodded once, then hung up a second later. The repair guys had finished putting up the plywood and were enchanting the entire front of the shop. Blue light glowed from their hands as they ran them over the edges of the plywood.
“This holds up against pretty much any incursion,” Aidan said. “You or your friends will be the only ones who can enter.”
“Thanks,” I said.
Footsteps sounded behind me, and I turned to see Del and Nix coming.
When they reached us, Del stuck her hand out at Aidan. “I’m Del. Didn’t get a chance to introduce myself. Thanks for healing me.”
Aidan took her hand. “No problem.”
“We’re coming with you to find the thief,” Nix said.
“We can take care of it,” Aidan said.
“It’s personal now,” Del said. “We don’t take kindly to people stealing from our shop.”
“Fair enough.” Aidan reached into his pocket and pulled out the glass ball. He handed it to me.
“Thanks.” I might not need it anymore since the Magica we sought now had the Chalice of Youth, which I’d been able to find once before, but I’d take any help I could get.
I held the ball close to my chest. Mordaca’s magic seethed within the glass, reaching out and twining with mine. The scent of cigar smoke and the taste of whiskey
flooded my senses, but the dark feel of her magic didn’t make me nervous anymore. The tracking charm had worked once before, and I knew her magic wasn’t actually evil.
I envisioned the Magica I was searching for, adding the chalice for good measure, and waited for the familiar thread to wrap around my waist and pull me.
Instead, I got a general sense of the world map, with emphasis on Scotland. Damn, he’d gone so far.
I lowered the glass ball. “He’s on the west coast of Scotland. Near the Isle of Skye. Once we get there, I can get a better read on him.” I looked hopefully at Del. “Do you have enough juice to transport us?”
She frowned and shook her head. “Sorry. The trip from Nicaragua was a long one. I’m burned out for at least a day, possibly two.”
“It’s fine,” Aidan said. “I ordered that the jet be returned to Magic’s Bend last night. It should be fueled by now. I’ll call.”
Del looked at me and mouthed, “He has a jet?”
I just shrugged. It was ridiculous that he owned a jet. Who really needed their own jet? But honestly, it was coming in really handy. Any delay in retrieving the scroll was bad, but I’d accepted that if someone had read the scroll, we’d have to kill them.
“We can take my car,” Aidan said as he dialed his phone.
The four of us climbed in as Aidan ordered that the plane be prepared for flight, then we set off toward the airport. There was heavier traffic today, but Aidan weaved in and out like a pro. Or a madman. Either way, I didn’t care as long as it got us to the scroll quickly.
The plane was waiting for us on the runway. A man stood at the stairs leading to the plane. He handed Aidan a duffle bag and a package.
“What’s all that?” I asked as I preceded Aidan up the stairs.
“Change of clothes.”
“What, you don’t keep your plane stocked?”
“No, but that’s a good idea.”
“Your life is so different from mine,” I muttered as I found a seat near a window. For the second time this week, I was boarding a private jet. I didn’t need to get used to it or its cloud-like seats.
Del and Nix sat across the aisle from me.
“This is nuts,” Del leaned over and whispered. “I go away for one job and you’re hooking up with a guy who has his own plane.”
