by Jess Haines
Mulling over the issue, she chewed on her inner cheek in thought as she slowly made her way to Central Park. The Moonwalkers wouldn’t care very much for her presence, she was sure, but Sheep’s Meadow was a wide open space with plenty of people around at this time of day. It was considered neutral ground for Others during the day, so the pack of territorial werewolves wouldn’t accost her unless she stayed past sunset.
With the cloudless sky a lovely robin’s egg blue and the chill edge of winter fading into the warmth of spring, there would be tons of tourists out in force and locals out for picnics and a little sun. Not only would the profusion of mundanes make it unlikely Viper might try anything untoward, she also thought it might be a good place to leave herself open and approachable to any Others who had been scared off by Cormac’s proximity. She wasn’t hiding anymore, and she’d noted how a few of them had been following her and Cormac around after that incident at the Black Star.
As she’d suspected, every time she scanned with her Sight, a pair of Others were following her path from across the street. A man and a woman, they looked like unremarkable twenty-somethings until the Sight betrayed their flowing, green-tinted auras.
They kept shooting her curious looks when they thought she wasn’t paying attention. She might have been preoccupied with her monetary woes, but not so much so that she’d let her guard drop and miss such an obvious tail.
Rather than pull a disappearing act, at the next crosswalk, she turned and waved at the two to come to her side of the street. They both gave her matching deer-in-headlights stares, pausing in their tracks. After a long moment, they turned to each other and exchanged a few heated whispers before the woman crossed the street to join Kimberly.
Once she was closer, Kimberly realized she had seen her at the Black Star the other night. She had straight, dark brown hair that had a few sun-bleached streaks and fell to her waist, some of it spilling forward to obscure her features as she stared at Kimberly through her bangs. Her clothing was very nondescript; a simple sandy-colored top over russet khakis tucked into mud-stained hiking boots. No jewelry. She looked like she was ready to hit the hiking trails in the Catskills, not like she was wandering the streets of one of the busiest cities in the world.
As soon as she was close enough, Kimberly gave her what she hoped was a reassuring smile. The woman held herself a little too rigidly, like she was wary or afraid.
“I saw you two following me. Did you want to talk to me?”
The lady cleared her throat and shot a look back at the man waiting across the street. He, too, looked like every muscle was wound up tight as he stared intently in their direction. She waited until they were alone on the corner to speak, save for the occasional passing pedestrian, keeping her voice low.
“I’m sorry if we’re bothering you,” she said, her voice throatier and deeper than Kimberly expected, “but I saw you at the café with the Hunter. Were you telling the truth? That you just want a familiar for a few days?”
“Yeah, that’s right. I mean, it might be more than a few days—probably two or three weeks. Why? You know a dragon?”
Her cheeks pinkened. “No, I’m afraid not. I was hoping you might consider one of my herd. If you’ll have it, one of us will agree to be bound temporarily if you’ll provide us a service in return.”
Kimberly blinked, then tried her Sight one more time to see if she could get a clue what this woman and her companion might be. The pair both had comparable levels of power. Steady, strong natural defenses, but nothing powerful along the lines of Viper or even the naga, Sam. It wasn’t like she would need to cast much, but whatever they were appeared to be depressingly mundane and poor conductors of elemental magic. No wonder they wanted a mage to help them; they probably didn’t have the ability to cast much of anything on their own.
A little disappointed, Kimberly bit her lip, trying to think of a good way to explain that she didn’t think they would fit the bill for what she needed.
The woman took her hesitation the wrong way, quick to jump in with reassurances. “Please, it’s nothing extraordinary. I know you’re still just a student. All we want are some basic wards to protect our range, but we can’t afford the fee to hire one of the local covens. A pack of werewolves has been pushing into our territory and we need to keep our colts safe. None of us have the gift and Eddie can’t be everywhere at once…”
She trailed off, gesturing helplessly at the man watching them so closely across the street.
Clearing her throat a few times, Kimberly shifted her weight from foot to foot, considering. The two needed help and they were stuck in the same position as she was. Needing something desperately but not having the money, power or influence to get it without help. For the lady to have to come to her this way, hat in hand, must have chafed, and helped Kimberly make a snap decision to help no matter how things turned out.
Considering the talk of herds and ranges, she had a suspicion what the pair might be. They weren’t ideal material for familiars, and certainly wouldn’t be a sterling example of her skills when she applied at The Circle, but they would get her through her exams. If things with Viper didn’t pan out or Cormac didn’t deliver, she could keep these two in mind for what she needed.
“Okay, here’s the thing,” Kimberly said, “I’m actually on my way to meet with someone else about this very thing. Wait, don’t worry—I think I might be able to help you either way. If things go sideways with this other guy, I’ll take you up on your offer. If not, maybe you guys can owe me a favor. Like give me a spell component or something if I need it at some point. Does that work for you?”
The woman’s breath hitched, and she nodded. It made Kimberly feel even more awkward over performing what she thought was at best a minor favor.
She knew exactly how painful and humiliating it was to be stuck without any way to pay somebody back for a favor or kindness, and to be treated like a charity case. By adding in the alternative of giving her spell components (which might be anything from a few strands of hair to a flower or plant they might find on their farm) if she didn’t need a familiar, Kimberly had just saved the face of the woman and her herd while still giving them what they needed. She thought the poor girl was on the verge of crying with relief.
Kimberly gave her a minute to collect herself before saying anything else.
“What’s your name? I can’t stick around—I have that meeting—so how can I get in touch with you?”
Sniffling, the woman put her hand over her eyes. “Oh, my gosh. Where are my manners? I’m so sorry, I was so worried you would say no—”
Kimberly cut her off with a laugh. “Really, don’t worry about it. I’m happy to help.”
“I’m Damaris. That’s Eddie across the street. He’s a little nervous about meeting you. Here, let me give you my card…” She dug around in her pockets and handed over a slightly crumpled business card. Kimberly was unsurprised to see that it was for a farm feed and supply store on Long Island. “When can you come by? I’ll ask the others to be ready to meet you.”
“I’m not sure.”
The woman’s face fell. Kimberly ran a hand over her face, not wanting to have to keep reassuring Damaris that she wasn’t going to back out on the deal or get into detail about just how broke she was. Getting a cab across town was completely out of her price range. Taking one to Long Island and back would be insane.
“Transportation might be a bit of an issue. Can one of your people give me a lift? There and back?”
“Oh,” Damaris said, obviously relieved, “oh, of course.”
Kimberly made the arrangements to be picked up after her shift at Allegretto’s the following Saturday afternoon. That would be cutting things close. Her finals were the week after. If she didn’t have arrangements for a familiar made by the Monday after next, she would be totally screwed.
Though it was a load off her shoulders having a sure thing lined up, Damaris, Eddie, and the rest of their herd only had enough magic to do basic, ingrained
defensive spells. Shifting into a human form, probably a few simple camouflage or misdirection spells, that sort of thing. Nowhere near the level of power Kimberly needed her familiar to have in order to impress The Circle.
For that reason, she hoped that Viper was not as dangerous as Cormac had made him out to be. As far as she was concerned, Viper was still on the table as an option for a familiar, though she wouldn’t be so foolish as to trust the man without getting to know him first. There wasn’t much time, but she felt she was a decent judge of character.
If he turned out to be a creep, even if he was exactly what she was looking for, she would take the safe road and take up Damaris’s offer. She was a bit worried considering how heavy-handed Viper’s attempt at tracking her down had been, and taking into account what Cormac had told her. However, she wasn’t going to write him off without hearing what he had to say first.
She exchanged goodbyes with Damaris, waved to Eddie across the street, then continued on her way to Central Park.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Sheep’s Meadow, so named because it used to house a herd of sheep until the 1930’s, was a sprawling, 15 acre open field near the southern end of Central Park. It was surrounded on all sides by trees, some turning bright with fresh, pale green spring leaves. Skyscrapers hemmed in the park, visible beyond the tree line. The scent of lilacs drifted over the grassland from the white, pink and purple flowers by the northern end. Surrounding it all was the hustle and bustle of a busy city, the sound of not-so-distant traffic punctuated by the hum of conversation and trills of birdsong.
Just as she’d suspected, now that it was warming up and since the day was clear, the wide open field was jam packed with people. There was a group in tights, yoga pants, tanks, and sports bras doing lunges and half moons on the grass. Single people and couples lounged on blankets, getting sun or having late picnics. A few painters had their easels and art supplies. A group of teenagers were flinging a Frisbee around, people were exercising with their dogs, and children ran, laughing and playing.
It was a sea of green tranquility in the midst of a concrete jungle, and it looked like a good portion of the population was out to make the most of it.
Kimberly headed to an empty patch of grass and lay back, using her purse as a pillow as she folded her hands behind her head. She closed her eyes against the sun and enjoyed the warmth of it on her skin.
She let her senses drift on the neat, orderly ley lines that composed the park’s nature magic. It was an oddity in the midst of a city like this to have such a strong well of elemental energy to draw from. Considering the park was manmade, it added to the mystery of why in the midst of a city that represented man’s mastery over nature so much natural magic thrived. There were rumors that The Circle had a hand in it since the lay of the lines conformed to the various sections of the park, like the Pond, the Reservoir, Sheep’s Meadow, the Great Lawn, and so on.
She couldn’t tap into and use that power until she had a familiar to help filter it—but she could ride along the streams to feel any disturbances in the web of elemental energy in the area.
At precisely that moment, there were 6,529 mundanes enjoying the charms of the meadow. At the far northern end, near the lilac walk, she detected the power signatures of a group of werewolves. Out to keep an eye on things, she was sure. There was another mage making a small, reverse whirlpool-like indentation in the western line as he or she sucked up some of its power through a familiar. A few other elemental beings were soaking up the sun, minor power sources that swirled and eddied in mutual exchanges with the lines of energy, scattered all across the meadow.
No sign yet of Cormac or Viper. The two were such powerhouses that they would have disrupted the flow far more spectacularly than the mage even if they weren’t casting a thing.
Little by little, her muscles lost their tension. It was hard not to let the serenity of the park seep into her bones, soothing her troubled mind.
Then the pings of a tracking spell rippled over the web-work of energy, making nearly undetectable waves that brushed over her skin before bouncing back. Not hammering into her this time, though it still sent her heart into her throat as the first ripple bounced back off her aura.
She followed the wave as far as she could, trying to pinpoint which direction it was coming from so she wouldn’t be caught flat-footed when the source of the spell appeared. Northwest. The general vicinity of the museum.
Rubbing her eyes, she sat up and cut her link to the ley lines. Wrapping her arms around her knees, she took a few deep breaths, holding them as long as she could before expelling them and taking the next in an effort to calm her racing heart.
Answers were finally forthcoming.
She didn’t have to be tapped into the lines to feel the surge of energy as Viper drifted out from behind the tree line. Even the mundanes were looking around, some tugging cardigans and light jackets on or packing up and getting ready to leave as shivers of foreboding chilled their enjoyment of the afternoon sun. Aware of the carnivore in their midst, even if they didn’t know what to look for.
He took his time picking his way around the people stretched out on blankets or sprawled in the grass. Utterly nonchalant in his unconcern for the reactions he was causing in the people around him, he strolled across the green, head lowered and hands pocketed in acid wash jeans. Most looked up as he passed, eyeing him warily, some edging away.
Kimberly stayed frozen where she was, muscles locked as she watched him approach. Her heart had crept up in the region of her throat again. When he reached her side, he paused, scanning the sky briefly before hunkering down on the balls of his feet beside her, knees bent and arms resting on top of his legs.
“A lovely day for a walk in the park. I can’t fault your choice of meeting places.”
Kimberly wasn’t sure if that was meant as a compliment, so she just nodded. He grinned, teeth gleaming very white and sharp in that brief show of amusement.
“Go on, ducks. I know you must have any number of questions for me. Let’s hear it.”
She swallowed hard. This was the moment she’d been waiting for. It looked like Viper was ready and willing to answer all her questions.
So why was she still so nervous?
“Well,” she said, slow and drawn out. It took a couple of tries before her voice stopped wavering in her throat. “I guess my first question is what kind of dragon are you?”
That stirred a low chuckle out of him. “Oh, I’m not a dragon. Not exactly, though my kind has often been mistaken for one. I am a wyvern. From a very noble line, considered a symbol of royalty for any number of European countries and fiefdoms, I might add.”
Wide-eyed, Kimberly stared for a very long moment before she remembered her manners and scrambled to get to one knee, her hand over her heart as she bowed her head. “I am honored by your presence, wi—”
“No, no—none of that, now,” he said, interrupting the impromptu formal speech of greeting she was about to launch into. “Not that I’m usually one to say no to a bit of ceremony, but this is not the time or place.”
She gave him a jerky nod, fingers tangling in the hem of her shirt in nervousness. Now that she was faced with the next best thing to a dragon, she wasn’t quite sure what to do with herself. Viper was perfectly capable of squishing her into a fine paste. If she said the wrong thing, he could very well decide she was too much trouble to bother with and destroy her.
Plus it was more than a bit intimidating to be faced by an honest-to-goodness wyvern. They were fierce hunters, intelligent winged serpents very similar to dragons in appearance, and often used as symbols of power, prestige and royalty. Unlike their larger counterparts, in addition to their wings, wyverns only had two hind legs, no forelegs. They used the claws attached to the wrist joint on their wings, similar to the thumbs on a bat, to make their way on the ground.
He may not have been a dragon, but he was close enough as to make no difference to her. Now she needed to figure out why Cormac
had been so dead set about warning her away from him—and why he was so interested in her. If she wasn’t so intent on getting answers, she’d have been immeasurably pissed off at Cormac for trying to lead her away from Viper. It was beginning to look like he was exactly what she needed.
“I’m flattered—very flattered—that you’ve chosen to speak with me about this. I guess Rieva already told you what I’m looking for?”
“Yes. A temporary draconic familiar to ensure you find a place in the coven of your choice, if I’m not mistaken.”
She nodded. “Right. It shouldn’t be for more than two or three weeks, I don’t think. I’m afraid I don’t have much to offer in return. If you need an illusion, I’m your girl, but I’m not sure if you heard that I’m not good at elemental spells…”
She trailed off, a little uneasy by the way his eyes took on that subtle golden glow as his smile widened. Even in the sunlight it was noticeable.
“Not to worry, ducks. That’s just the sort of skill set I need. I’ll tell you what. You let me bind you—temporarily, of course—and I’ll return the favor.”
Kimberly jerked back with a gasp. Cormac hadn’t been lying. She’d never heard of a mage agreeing to such a thing. She’d honestly thought it was some bad joke or exaggeration since that sort of thing wasn’t supposed to be possible.
The thought of having the tables turned on her filled her with dread, but she wasn’t sure if there was an alternative that would handle all her problems so neatly as this.
“H-h-how long do you…?” she stuttered out.
