by Dannika Dark
It almost made me want to look around to see if this was a practical joke. I’d never met anyone so forthright and vibrantly positive. She also seemed a touch nosy, so I decided to make it a point to sit on a different area of the roof at night so she wouldn’t be wondering what I was doing up there.
“You have really tall shoes,” I said, staring at her chunky boots.
Gem stood up and hopped to the ground, hands on her hips. “A girl my size needs all the boost she can get.”
“What’s your Mage gift?”
She kicked an acorn, and it tumbled across the concrete and disappeared into the grass. “I’m a Blocker.”
“Blocker…”
Her brows rose. “You really don’t know much, do you? I don’t mean that in a bad way, but most Creators teach their Learners the basics. It’s a rare gift, and it just means I can block other gifts, kind of like I have a big ol’ force field around me or something. A Mentalist can’t read my mind, a Charmer can’t seduce me—it’s a form of protection.”
I wondered if I could pull core light from her. Did she know all her limitations? In any case, that was a useful gift for a Mage to have.
She snapped her fingers a few times, light sparking between her fingertips as she looked around. “We better go inside. I feel a storm coming. I’ll race you!”
“Only if you run regular speed.”
Gem took off, her duster flapping in the wind behind her. I couldn’t help myself; I raced behind her, and although she might have used a little flashing to keep my pace, I still beat her by an inch.
“I don’t see what’s wrong with the clothes I have,” I complained, holding up a black shirt.
Gem replaced it with a red one. “There’s nothing wrong with your clothes; you just don’t have enough of them. Viktor pays us good money, so treat yourself. Ooh, this one’s pretty.”
“I don’t do pretty.”
“Look at the sheen on it. You have to get a few nice things in case he sends us to a party or something.”
“It doesn’t sound like he’s going to be sending me anywhere in the near future, let alone a party.” I looked around at row after row in the consignment shop and realized if I didn’t start filling my basket, we were going to be here until the next ice age. “Fine. I’ll get the shirt, but I draw the line at sequins.”
Gem added the blouse to the basket and veered off toward the handbags. When she held up one that had a purple butterfly in rhinestones, I knew I probably wouldn’t see her for another thirty minutes.
“Enjoying yourself?” Niko asked.
“I guess. I’ve decided to let Gem pick out my clothes so when Viktor decides to give me the boot, I can just leave them with her. My bag won’t fit all this.”
A woman across from me flashed her eyes up at Niko for the second time, as if she were mentally chanting for him to make eye contact with her. I hooked my arm in his and led him away.
“Do you always wear black?” I asked him.
Even Christian had color in his wardrobe, and I only knew that because I’d peeked in his drawers before leaving his room that morning and spied a few beige shirts and other muted colors. I’d been curious what Vampires kept in their rooms, and it was his fault for having left me alone in there.
“It makes it easier to dress myself,” he said matter-of-factly, resting his hand against a nude mannequin. “I don’t have to worry about looking like a fool in public.”
“No, you don’t,” I said, pulling his grip away from the mannequin’s boob. “Let’s go outside. I’ll buy you an ice cream cone.”
“What about Gem?”
I glanced back, spotting her in front of a mirror with three scarves around her neck. “She can finish shopping for me. I gave her most of my money.”
As we headed toward the front, the brunette with the cropped hair gave Niko a regretful glance before she continued shopping for tube tops on clearance.
Niko kept his gaze downcast. Unless you were speaking directly to him, it wasn’t easy to tell that he was blind. He got around quite well, didn’t use a cane or guide dog, and had a confident air about him.
Before we stepped outside, he pulled his black hood over his head so that it obscured his eyes.
No one paid any attention. For one, it was gloomy weather. Aside from that, we were on the Breed side of town. People dressed all kinds of ways in this area, especially with so many immortals who held fast to their historical attire. That might explain why Cognito has always been known as an eccentric city and, because of its reputation, wound up attracting humans who were artists and free spirits. I’d heard many immortals in the bars talking about the good old days when Cognito was inhabited only by Breed, and human settlers lived on the outskirts of town or in isolated pockets. Immortals had been claiming and purchasing real estate over the past few centuries, and that made it easier to sell businesses and houses exclusively to supernaturals. In time, the human population grew and so did their form of law and government, and Breed had to relinquish some of the property so they wouldn’t get noticed. Sometimes humans wandered into our shops and cafes, but most of the clubs and restaurants embraced the reservation system to keep them out.
Viktor had given me cash in addition to the credit card, so I paid the street vendor a few bills and handed Niko a vanilla cone with a hard chocolate shell.
He licked it and then jerked his head back. “What kind of ice cream is this?”
I laughed and walked toward the corner of the building near the alley. “Bite into it and you’ll see.”
When he did, a giant piece of the shell clung to his cheek and then fell onto the sidewalk. His lips were covered with vanilla. “You’re an amusing woman.”
When I noticed the sarcasm in his voice, I took a moment to pick off all the chocolate from his cone.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t realize.”
He wiped his mouth. “It isn’t the end of the world. I just wasn’t expecting it.”
Niko closed his lips over the ice cream and looked content again, leaving a small dollop on the tip of his nose.
I studied him for a moment, curious about something. “Why did you want to come shopping with the girls? Men usually flee in the opposite direction.”
A strong gust of wind blew his hood back, and his hair tangled around him. He swept it to one side, drawing attention to his carved cheekbones.
“Did you ride along to babysit me? Was Viktor afraid I’d start a world war on my shopping spree?”
“On the contrary. I enjoy your company, Raven. Besides, someone needs to keep an eye on Gem, and Claude is at work. She’s impulsive and sometimes gets into trouble. She might spend all your money.” He leaned in close with a playful look on his face, his voice falling to a whisper. “Gem likes to sho—”
A shadow crashed into Niko, and then he was gone. I watched his cone fall to the ground as if it were all happening in slow motion. One minute I was talking to him, and the next I was staring at thin air.
Two seconds later, someone slammed into me from the right—knocking the wind out of my lungs.
Chapter 12
The entrance to the alley disappeared into a thin veil of fog. My body jerked to the right as someone carried me around a corner—probably a Mage based on how fast he was running. I prayed it was a Mage and not a Chitah, who could run just as fast, if not faster. The force of speed kept me from reaching behind my back for my push dagger.
We abruptly stopped, and my head spun like a Ferris wheel out of control.
Before I could reach around, someone grabbed my wrists in a tight hold. The familiar sound of duct tape ripping came seconds before the sticky adhesive was wrapped around my mouth and head, covering up my two best weapons inside my mouth.
Still dizzy, I writhed despite being stretched between two men who were subduing me with an iron grip on each arm. I couldn’t reach for my weapons, I couldn’t fight them, and I couldn’t escape.
I erupted with anger, kicking at their legs and trying to p
ull out of their grasp. Someone punched me in the back, and I crumpled to the ground long enough for them to tape up my ankles. They lifted me back to my feet, still gripping my arms. I sensed their Mage energy, and that meant I couldn’t even use my energy to blast them.
“Let her go. She has nothing to do with us,” I heard Niko say.
When I shook some of my hair away from my eyes, I got the full scope of our situation. Niko was in a position of genuflection, but I had my doubts that he was worshipping these men.
I hoped.
Two flanked him, joined by a third man, who tossed a giant roll of duct tape to the ground. The others looked to him, waiting for his command.
“Nikodemos… did you think I wouldn’t find you? I almost didn’t recognize you with the long hair.”
Niko’s arms tightened around his stomach as if he was going to be sick.
I grimaced, bending my knee and trying to loosen the tape around my ankles. The dark-haired men were also Asian, but not the same ethnicity. Sometimes older immortals had different physical features than modern people—carrying genetic traits that had phased out or changed through new generations. But in this case, I was certain they weren’t of the same origin. The leader appeared Samoan with a broad nose, dark hair and eyes, and skin like bronze. He had ink on his biceps that looked like sleeves of armor disappearing beneath his blue shirt.
“Let the woman go, Cyrus,” Niko repeated.
Cyrus advanced and flipped Niko’s hood back. “Still the same weak man I remember. I’ve spent five centuries searching for a blind Mage. I finally gave up in Europe and came here. You were always so much trouble.” He briefly glanced over his shoulder at me. “So, did this white woman take pity on you and make you her servant? You fool. You can’t even see the people you don’t belong with.”
Niko’s crystalline eyes rose, and when I saw a flicker of light within them, I fought harder against the men restraining me. The man on my left was the weaker of the two, so I buried my nails into his arm until he almost lost his grip. He wrenched my arm, nearly pulling it out of its socket.
“I am not the weak boy you remember,” Niko said, his voice cold and defiant.
Cyrus laughed haughtily.
That laugh galvanized Niko into action. He withdrew his hands from inside his open jacket, brandishing two katanas, one in each hand.
My eyes widened as he expertly sliced the air around him, forcing the men to retreat.
Cyrus stared him down, unflinching. “Let us see what the boy has learned.” He stepped back and nodded at the two men, who reached behind their backs for their own swords.
Energy flooded my veins, and without being able to use it, I was forced to keep it tempered so that it wouldn’t consume me.
The swords weren’t long, which was how Niko had managed to keep them concealed underneath his long jacket.
Niko extended his left arm and glanced over his right shoulder, his gaze skating about as the men advanced. Steel clashed together, clanging as they exploded into action with expert moves I’d never seen before. These men didn’t fight with savagery but with precision.
Cyrus’s men attacked from different directions, and Niko spun around, blocking each strike and dodging their swings with impossible speed before countering with his own attack.
One man swiped his sword in a lateral move, and Niko bent backward, his long hair cascading behind him. Before righting himself, he swept his arm along the ground in an arc and sliced the legs of the man behind him.
A guttural scream poured from his opponent, blood streaking across the air and splattering on the wet asphalt.
When Niko was upright again, he lunged at the uninjured man with a vengeance, wielding both swords in a whirling blur and driving the man back, who could barely keep up his defenses. This wasn’t a typical skirmish between men; these were warriors.
The man with the injured legs looked up, cursing the clouds for shielding the sun and preventing him from healing. He staggered forward, holding his sword like a baseball bat, ready to swing at Niko from behind.
I screamed through the tape, trying to warn Niko.
My heart clenched as the man raised his sword over his right shoulder, his eyes wide. He was aiming for Niko’s neck, and beheading was certain death for a Mage.
Cyrus’s men could barely restrain my arms as I writhed in an attempt to break free. My eyes widened with horror as a glint of light on the blade caught my eye.
Niko was too distracted—unaware of what was unfolding behind him as he struck his opponent, slicing his arm, his side, and leaving a gash across his face. It looked as if he took pleasure in delaying the kill, and the man weakened—finally taking a step back and conceding defeat.
The Mage standing behind him swung, and all that I saw was a flash of silver.
Niko dropped to his knees, reversed his sword, and drove it into the man’s stomach. He quickly withdrew his blade and backed away from them—his hair askew, his lips peeled back.
“What’s going on down there?” someone shouted.
In the distance, a woman leaned out of her apartment window, searching through the layers of fog that moved like smoke.
“Someone’s going to call the Mageri,” one of the men hissed at Cyrus.
Niko raised his bloody sword, aiming it at Cyrus. “Tell your men to release her.”
Cyrus stepped forward and narrowed his eyes to slivers. “We’ll finish this another day, Nikodemos. It’s been a long time, and we have catching up to do. I’d like to know who taught a blind fool to handle a sword.” He stalked toward the injured man and grabbed the cuff of his jacket, yanking him up. Their hands discreetly touched as healing light moved between them. “I’ve waited five hundred years, and I’ve learned how to be a patient man. We’ll see each other again, because you know what I’ve come for.”
The men flashed out of sight, leaving behind nothing but bloodstains and a roll of tape. Niko used the end of his coat to wipe his blades clean before returning them to their scabbards.
Meanwhile, I fell to the ground like a slug, tugging at the tape that was constricting my ankles.
Niko approached and drew his sword. He carefully lowered it until it tapped against the tape, and then he sliced it apart with a gentle stroke. “They didn’t hurt you,” he said, relief in his voice.
I peeled the tape off my mouth, pulling as hard as I could to try to stretch it since they had wrapped it around my head. Niko looked nervous about his sword near my face, so I handled the tip and cut the tape in the front. He touched my head and then paced around me, feeling the large strip of tape still stuck to my hair and making downward slices with his blade.
“Who the hell carries around duct tape?” I exclaimed. “What kind of people do you hang out with?” I stood up and kicked off the last remaining strip that was clinging to my ankle.
Red marks blotted my arms, but luckily nothing had been broken.
Niko put his hand on my back and led me away from the scene. “We must go before someone calls the authorities.”
I snorted. “No crime was committed. Since when are you a master swordsman?”
“Perhaps you should have paid closer attention to the way I handled my butter knife at breakfast.”
As we neared the end of the alley, he pulled the hood over his head.
“Wait,” I said, gripping his sleeve. “Who were those guys?”
Niko turned. “How many enemies have you acquired in your short years as an immortal? Consider that I’m over a thousand years old. In time, you’ll see that this world is much smaller than you imagined. Your enemies will become shadows around every corner.”
“Who would want to come after you?”
That was a thought to ponder. Niko was one of the most sincere people I’d met, and aside from that, he was blind. How could anyone be enemies with a disabled person?
Then I had to laugh at myself when I remembered how Niko handled two swords like a man who was born with them attached to his wrists. This
guy was an enigma.
“Is there blood on my face?” he asked, wiping at it again.
“On the left side.”
He cleaned it with his sleeve.
“Hey, what are you two doing in the alley? I’ve been looking everywhere, and my arms are killing me.”
I peered around Niko when I heard Gem’s bright voice and the crinkling sound of shopping bags. Niko must have heard them too, because he hefted the bags and collected them all before walking away.
Gem anchored her hands on her hips and gave me a teasing glance. “What did I say earlier about romance in the house?” She hooked her arm in mine, and we followed behind Niko.
“Does he know where he’s going?” I asked.
Her tall shoes clomped on the pavement. “He’s okay until he reaches the street. Cars make him nervous, but he can dodge people pretty well. Not so much fire hydrants or steps.”
“I just want to take a hot bath,” I murmured.
“Not yet. We have to make a detour for french fries.”
“Explain?”
Gem skipped a few paces ahead of me and turned around, walking backward. “Wyatt has an addiction. You’ll see. Did you know you have tape in your hair?”
After we arrived at the mansion, Niko branched away from us and disappeared. Gem had tried interrogating him in the car, but he was evasive and said we simply ran into a little trouble. It wasn’t uncommon on the Breed side of town since juicers were rampant and someone was always looking for a fight. I’d been in my fair share of rumbles, and most of them weren’t even worth mentioning.
“Delivery girl!” Gem announced, dropping two sacks of fries onto Wyatt’s desk.
The dark room had a desk alongside the right wall, which held multiple computer screens, a laptop, keyboards, snacks, pens, toys, and gadgets. Straight ahead was a massive television and several beanbag chairs in front of it. To the left, an L-shaped black sofa with colorful pillows. The floor was a smooth stone, but the grey walls were like something you’d find in an ordinary house.
