“The portals will still be faster—”
“Then we can use the portals, for goodness sake,” I fired back, arms crossed. “We have to do something. We need to warn those clans about this. Who has the strength and magic to combat Abramelin if he’s already out there? We do. We can handle whatever he throws at us along the way.”
His arms fell to his side as he studied me, his frown darkening, and I shifted my weight back and forth between each leg, under his stare.
“I never wanted this for you,” he admitted with a shake of his head. “I didn’t want to involve you—”
“Well, the time for that is long gone,” I told him. “I’m here. I’ve been fighting, and I’m going to keep fighting until one-half of our supernatural community isn’t on the brink of extinction from a hateful bigot.” There it was again—that flash of pain across his features, like he temporarily couldn’t handle the fact that his little sister was here. Well, he was just going to have to get used to it. What was the point of his magic lessons, if he didn’t want me to take an active role in all this? I lifted my chin slightly, determined. “Deal with it, Zayne.”
Darius chuckled under his breath, looking away so my brother wouldn’t see his delight in my saucy attitude. A little half-smile crossed my lips too, but I wasn’t quite as gleeful as my dragon. After all, did I really want to trek across the human world from shifter clan to shifter clan? No. Especially not after learning I was half-shifter myself. The whole subject was still too touchy, too fresh, for me to tackle right now. However, if I threw myself to the wolves, metaphorically and literally, then I would probably have to deal with some things sooner than I was ready for.
But there were more important things out there, of course, than my issues with my heritage and the secrets my family kept. Lives were at stake. We had to do this.
“Fine.” Zayne returned to his desk in a huff, trailing a finger over the various routes on his map. “But we’ll need to stop in Alfheim before we go. Abramelin’s been hammering it relentlessly over the last few days, and it’s time to do a bit of damage control…”
Chapter Two
Hammering Alfheim relentlessly was probably the biggest fucking understatement I’d ever heard in my life. The place was in absolute ruin when we emerged from our little underground sanctuary. Abramelin and his men had decimated it. Whole forests were nothing but ash and cinder now. Scorched earth now had a whole new meaning to me, as I took in what was once the most exquisite realm I had ever seen. While the forests had been devastated, many we passed were already experiencing new growth, fueled by the innate magic of the woods and those who dwelled within.
The Core was another story entirely. Before our merry band of traveling militia fighters even hit the city, we could tell the place had been ransacked. While there were no active fires, smoke spires twirled up toward an otherwise beautifully clear, blue sky. Once, the Core had been littered with apartment towers, both floating and anchored to the ground. Now many of the taller ones were no longer standing—at least, not at their full heights. It was like someone had swung a sword and chopped the entire city in half.
How had we not known all this was going on? While we tried our hardest to survive below ground in our immense caverns with plunging waterfalls and glittering lakes lined with diamonds, the core population of Alfheim suffered.
Before we left, my brother told me he had people up here, trying to help the weak and injured while rallying the strong to fight, but nothing much had come of their efforts. Most of Zayne’s forces, Darius and myself included, had been tied up with attack after attack at the hive and the surrounding living quarters. We’d been too busy trying to keep the devils out, that we missed them annihilating one of our biggest assets behind our backs.
“It looks bad,” Darius acknowledged. We walked side-by-side near the front of the pack, Zayne leading the charge way up at the head. When I didn’t respond right away, he clasped my hand and pulled me closer, pressing a rare, tender kiss to my temple. I tore my eyes from the smoldering remains of the Core with some difficulty, meeting his gaze as he said, “This will fuel people to join the cause. Those who want revenge will join our ranks.”
“So, this was a good thing?”
“No,” he insisted quickly. I knew I’d only said the words because it was either lash out angrily or buckle down and cry. Darius sighed and lifted his gaze back to the city, wearing enough of a scowl for both of us. “This is a tragedy. All we can do now is hope it will help our cause.”
I knew that, of course. I only wished it hadn’t come to such dire straits in order to pad the militia with revenge-driven supernaturals. After all, this whole damn thing had started with revenge; I couldn’t fathom that particular motivation making many of the new recruits disciplined and rational. We didn’t need someone losing his cool, especially with the lives of so many shifters on the line.
Not that I could blame them. The Core was a mess. We could all see it, even as Zayne stopped the marching horde before entering the city to issue his orders. If the architecture of the city had taken such a hit, I couldn’t imagine what had become of its people. The thought made my palms sweaty, and I pulled my hand out of Darius’s so I could cross my arms. I knew many within the Core. Friends. Fae sisters. Our cell phones didn’t work down here, so I couldn’t connect with them that way, nor did I have any magical communication devices handy.
I was in the dark. I had no idea who was alive or dead—and to think, yesterday we were having a merry old time punting goblins around a cave, joking about Darius’s nudity. It all seemed so…cavalier now. The little permanent knot of guilt in my stomach tightened, as I started to spiral down into the depths of my thoughts, fearing the worst.
“Kaye.” The sharpness in Zayne’s tone brought me back, sounding as though he’d tried to get my attention a few times already. Suddenly he was only a few feet away, and factions of his militia were already moving into the Core. I frowned. How long had I been mentally churning through worst case scenarios?
“You and Darius are with me,” my brother—half-brother, I ought to be used to it by now—told me, assessing me with a faint hint of concern. I nodded, not wanting him to send me back or make me wait outside the Core limits, because he thought I couldn’t handle what might be inside.
“Right. Cool.”
I caught Darius shooting me a sidelong glance. Okay. Maybe cool wasn’t the most appropriate response. But Zayne had already moved on, his posse of captains and generals following at his heels, and instructed a band of elfin warriors to sweep the forests and find volunteer recruits.
When the talks were complete, most of the militia split off into separate groups, leaving about thirty of us to follow Zayne directly into the city. I shouldered my way through the crowd and strode along behind Zayne, Darius was behind me glaring down any who objected. My half-brother chatted softly with one of his generals, hands clasped behind his back and features furrowed. There was no time for him to hold my hand—not that I wanted him to, anyway.
We crossed the barrier between the outer limits, the suburbs mostly, and the Core’s downtown area, and for once, the chaos reminded me of that which I’d experienced my first day at the hive. Although the city had been decimated and the people were dirty, there was non-stop movement. Children ran rampant, their schoolhouses most likely destroyed or shut down. Shopkeepers still peddled their wares, but it was obvious their hearts weren’t in it. Window ledges lacked their vibrant floral arrangements, and no advertisements shouted at us as we walked by. The Core felt both subdued and fettered with nervous energy.
It made my stomach turn. I couldn’t imagine living here in this.
As we passed, much to my surprise, men and women of all supernatural races dropped whatever they were doing and joined us. Our group of thirty almost doubled along the path to the high council buildings in the center of the Core. It was clear that those who remained within the city knew all about Zayne’s militia—and probably thought they should have joine
d sooner. Those who fell in line beside us were welcomed with broad smiles, back claps, and handshakes. Those who stared us down, with eyes narrowed and mouths pinched, were ignored.
It wasn’t our fault that Abramelin had gone totally ballistic up here. At least we were trying to do something about him. At least we weren’t just burying our heads in the sand and pretending everything was fine.
I didn’t blame those who didn’t want to fight alongside us, but the glares were uncalled for, as was the spitting. A few spat at our feet as we passed, but Zayne ordered those who tried to engage to stand down. We weren’t here to cause more drama.
“Kaye!” A strangled cry from one of the side streets caught my attention, but while I stopped, the militia members around me kept moving. Darius’s frame managed to shield me, forcing people to walk around us, rather than knock into us. I tried to see over the crowd, but only once they all passed, was I able to spy who had shouted for me.
“Catriona!” Fae speed propelled me forward, turning me into nothing but a blur to onlookers until I collided with my fae sister—one of my best friends, in fact. We grasped each other like centuries had passed, clinging to one another, hard and tight. I could feel her slim figure trembling against me as we buried our faces in each other’s hair. I closed my eyes as relief coursed through my veins. She smelled like smoke, a scent so unbecoming for a fae as beautiful as she. Her platinum blonde locks were slightly matted, and as I opened my eyes to hazard a peek down her back, I noted that she was dirty, like she had been hands-on in the Core’s rebuilding efforts.
“I’ve been so worried,” she whispered in my ear, hugging tighter than I thought possible. I gave her shoulder a squeeze, then pulled back to get a better look into her ice blue eyes. To others, they might appear cold, but to me those stunning orbs had always been the epitome of comfort and love. I clasped her face with both hands, my eyes filling with tears, and hastily kissed her cheeks before dragging her into another hug.
“What are you doing here?” I hissed. “You’re supposed to be in New York!”
We broke apart, and Catriona wiped the stream of tears rushing down her cheeks away. Both of us sniffled, my rush of protective anger fading fast.
“I came looking for you,” she told me, her words followed shortly by a strangled laugh. “Belladonna told me you were staying at her place and I was welcome to join you if I wanted to. Then I heard rumors of that man, that Archmage, and I had to pull you out!”
“Oh, Catriona, I wasn’t even in the Core when all this—”
“I hoped not,” she insisted, voice high, almost panicked. I stroked her cheeks again, wishing her some relief—wondering if I ought to infuse her with a bit of my white magic. She felt like she needed it as she pressed on. “I arrived the day before all… this happened. I’ve been trying to survive ever since. Helping others. Fighting off rogue demons. Rebuilding. Belladonna’s apartment was totally destroyed.”
“Is Belladonna okay?” I asked hastily at the sight of tears welling in her eyes. “She wasn’t—”
“She’s in the human realm,” Catriona told me, wiping under her eyes and taking a few deep breaths. “She and Lily and Rose are fine. From what I last heard, they were hopping on Bella’s boat and sailing as far from all this, as possible. Maybe Bali. I don’t know. She has houses everywhere.”
That she did. Belladonna was like a surrogate mother to me, a fae of immense power with two beautiful daughters who I looked to as sisters, blood ties or not. She spent half the year in Alfheim and half the year vacationing around the human world. I never knew where the lovely woman got all her money from, to do as she pleased, but at that moment, I was grateful for her seemingly endless funds. At least she could keep her daughters and other supernaturals safe from Abramelin, if she stayed out of the conflict.
“And the others?” I asked, thinking about the many fae I knew, that were in danger, if they didn’t head for cover. Catriona hiccupped, but seemed to be calming down.
“Headed for the mountains,” she told me. “They asked me to join them, but I wanted to find you first.”
“Except Jasmine, I’m sure,” I said without thinking. Catriona’s dark brows shot up, her eyes widening a bit, and I shrugged. Jasmine was a fae like us, but if this were high-school, she would be the ringleader of the pretentious bitch clique. A total mean girl. “What? You know she spouts anti-shifter sentiments whenever she gets the chance. I’m sure Abramelin recruited her in a heartbeat.”
Not that I had any real proof—just a hunch, based on the kind of person Jasmine was, and a strong dislike for her character. It wouldn’t have surprised me in the slightest if she agreed with everything that Abramelin was doing. Hell, for all I knew, she was fighting alongside him.
But then again, she’d always made a fuss about getting her hands dirty. Maybe she was hiding away with the others, using the safety of the group to protect herself from breaking a nail.
“Ladies,” my dragon’s voice rumbled in my ear. I practically jumped out of my skin when I felt his warm hand slide around my hip. “Maybe we ought to take this conversation somewhere a little more private?”
While Catriona ogled Darius like he had six heads, I scanned the alley we found ourselves in and quickly agreed. While there were, dwarves wearing high council pendants—a sign they were hired by the city—working all around us, there were also a number of other supernaturals who seemed far too interested in our conversation for comfort.
“I have a place we can go,” Catriona offered after a slight pause. “It’s not much, but it’s definitely private…”
“I’ve always thought you were only half fae,” Catriona admitted as she refilled our tea cups. I watched the steam swirl up in beautiful ribbons, heat darkening my cheeks as she chattered on. “I mean, I assumed you just didn’t want to tell me for some reason so I didn’t want to bring it up.”
“What? No, I had no idea,” I said stiffly as I returned my little cup on its plate. Beside me, Darius looked ridiculous, slurping his lavender-scented tea from such a tiny mug, but his aura suggested he was all right with it. Calm. Alert, but not on edge. “Why did you think that?”
Catriona smiled as though it was the most obvious answer it the world. “You’re just different from us,” she replied, shrugging her shoulders. Then she saw the look of uncertainty on my face and her eyes softened. “In a good way, Kaye. You aren’t exactly a typical fairy.”
Catriona’s private place was a room in one of the few undamaged hotels in the Core. It was stationed near the high council buildings. While Darius had dipped over to let Zayne know where we were, I took the time to fill my best friend in on all the bullshit that had happened to me over the last few weeks. She was horrified by most of it, though she continued to be the dutiful hostess, refilling our tea cups and sharing her food supplies—cured meats and fae bread. The only thing she hadn’t flipped her lid about, was the fact that I was a fae-shifter hybrid. I was thankful for that, since Darius had returned just as I told her.
“It’s nothing to be ashamed of,” Catriona insisted, taking a seat on the little twin-sized bed while Darius and I occupied the two-seater couch near the door. “I have a great aunt who married a bear shifter way back in the day. There’s more crossing over between supernaturals and shifters than people think. I guess it’s still taboo, though.”
“Clearly,” Darius grunted with a nod to the window. Catriona gulped noticeably, still awkward in my dragon’s presence, like she wasn’t sure what to make of him.
“Well, it’s stupid,” she said, this time more firmly. “Don’t let it get to you, Kaye. You’re still the same person you’ve always been. Now you have a whole new family to explore, and that’s wonderful. It’s more people to love.”
My lips twitched into a smile. “That’s a nice way to look at it, I guess. I hadn’t considered that.”
“You should.” She sat up straighter. “I’m sure they’re lovely. Besides, some of the best people I know are shifters or part-shifter, yo
u included. I think it’s great.” Catriona bit her lip as Darius and I drank our tea, both of us sensing she had more to say. “And… I think it’s awful what Abramelin has done. I want to help you and your brother. I want to fight.”
I hesitated, slowly setting my cup back down on its saucer and sighing. Catriona was such a little thing. Angelic. Soft. Feminine. I knew she had power in her own right, but the thought of putting her on the battlefield… Well, it terrified me.
Darius, however, seemed to see none of that. He grinned at my best friend, gray eyes swimming with a newfound respect, and nodded.
“We’ll be happy to have you.”
“With us,” I said quickly, hating how happy Catriona looked to be joining a militia. I wanted her safe, not in the middle of the fray. But as soft and sweet and demure as she could be, if alcohol wasn’t involved, my best friend was stubborn as a mule and usually got her way. If she was joining this fight, then I wanted her where I could watch her at all times.
“Absolutely,” Catriona said brightly. “When do we start?”
“Now,” Darius said, talking over me. “Zayne wants us back at the high council buildings as soon as possible. We’ll be heading back to the human world today.”
So soon? I swallowed hard as we stood and helped Catriona pack up her things. Before, I’d wanted to get out of Alfheim immediately; there was no time to rest with Abramelin closing in on northern and western shifter clans. But now that it was happening, so fast, and my best friend getting sucked into the action, I wasn’t sure I was ready.
And, I also couldn’t decide whether or not that made me a coward.
“Are you sure you can do this?” Zayne asked, his voice hushed. I shot him a narrowed look. Even if I wasn’t sure, that didn’t matter at this point. It had all been decided for me, without me, and if I backed out now, I was definitely a coward.
Magic Burn: an Urban Fantasy Novel (Shifting Magic Book 2) Page 2
