Magaestra: Found: An urban fantasy series

by Katherine Kim

  “She has played with Jake. She has made coffee for everyone, and helped the kids make cookies for us all. She took one look at Aldric, bleeding all over the kitchen and not only cleaned his wounds and made sure that he was resting comfortably afterwords, but started chastising him for getting injured, which is a hell of a lot more than any of us can do."

  Ori snorted. "No kidding. I've watched that guy kick ass, then go back to sit at that damn desk while he was still bleeding."

  "Damn straight," Marc nodded. "And Kaylee is not even six years old. She deserves a chance to grow up, to decide her own life. I haven't met Kaylee's mother, but if she is anything like her daughter and her sister, she is kind, caring, and generous, and sure as hell doesn't deserve to be caged up as some werewolf's auction product or some psychotic vampire's food supply. She deserves to watch her daughter grow up happy and healthy and, most importantly, free, and that means they will need people around them that can help keep them safe. If we choose to turn away from them now, how are we any better than those who would use them like that?”

  Aldric felt proud to hear his friend and leader speaking up for Faith like this. Faith sat up and watched Marc with wide eyes.

  "And you," Marc swung his attention over to Aldric now, and though the amusement was still clear in his eyes, he was also very clearly serious. "Stop hissing at people. We know you like Faith. She is very likeable. But you can't just intimidate everyone into good manners. It's rude, for one thing, and you'll end up hissing at a cop or something if you keep it up. Nobody is suggesting that we leave the Latham's defenseless."

  Aldric sighed and bowed his head. "My apologies, Alpha. Kenya. Ori.”

  "I think we get it, boss," Ori answered for her, with a smirk. Kenya nodded with a small smile of her own.

  "Yeah, I'm sorry it sounded like I didn't want us to help. I was thinking more of logistics and strategy than anything else," she said. "Faith, seriously. I promise we'll get your family back and keep you safe."

  "It's okay," Faith said. Her voice was still quiet, but it was steady. "Aldric has told me a lot about why my grandfather was hidden in the first place, and it makes sense to be cautious. I was always lectured about how important it was to keep my magic secret from everyone. Now I know why, I guess. It's dangerous."

  Aldric jumped as his computer screen flickered back to life. "I'll tell you what's dangerous," Leo's voice said. His expression was grim until he looked up and saw that Aldric had Faith curled in his lap. A delighted grin replaced the frown. "I'm sorry, was I interrupting?"

  "Not the time for teasing, Leo," Marc rolled his eyes before stalking around to look at the screen. Ori and Kenya stayed on the sofa, but leaned forward, listening.

  "Oh, Marc! Good," Leo snapped back from his teasing attitude and returned to whatever business had him activating Aldric's computer remotely. "I found them."

  19

  "I'm going with, and you can't stop me." The heck with the kidnappers, Faith was going to try a little vampire hunting if Aldric didn't back off. "They are my family and I'm going with you to rescue them.”

  Leo had told them exactly where to find Honeyford and his cronies, and Aldric had called the rest of his enforcers back but for a few to keep guard at the clinic, and alerted his cousin to be prepared for wounded. Rod and Mia had arrived together, and the other member of Rod's team that Faith hadn't officially met yet had walked in through the back door, nodded an acknowledgement, and then headed to the basement before returning with several duffel bags full of clothing and weapons.

  They were heading to a hunting lodge way back in the woods on the other side of town. It was one of those huge vacation places that often got rented out for company team-building, or retreats for large youth groups. Not the fancy, expensive retreat style places, but one of the inexpensive man-versus-nature survivalist camping sort of places. Perfect for some low-life wolves who planned to kidnap people and hide out for a while and had a suspiciously large bank account.

  Leo was looking into that.

  "Faith, it will be neither safe nor entertaining when we get to this lodge, and you are not a trained warrior like we are."

  Aldric's reasonable tone was about to get him a fat damn lip.

  "In case you forgot, I'm not exactly a weak, helpless damsel in distress. I may not know how to be a badass ninja or whatever, but I still held off those damn rogues,” Faith was growling a bit herself now, and jabbing a finger into Aldric's chest.

  She was also trying not to think too hard about how comfortable that chest had been to lean on when she was about to melt down earlier.

  "Faith, I understand. Please believe that," Aldric took her hand in both of his own, stopping her jabs. "But this will be a battle, do not doubt that. People will get hurt, and likely killed. I do not want one of those people to be you."

  He looked so earnest, so concerned about her wellbeing that she almost conceded. "Aldric..."

  "I hate to say this, boss– like you don't even understand how much I hate it in this particular situation– but Faith might need to come with us," Ori said. He stepped into the office and Faith shivered at the change. She kind of preferred his lazy punk outfit. He was still dressed similarly to Aldric in black cargo pants, black t-shirt, and combat boots.

  But the addition of what she assumed was a bulletproof vest and not one, but three guns strapped to various places, and the disappearance of his colorful mohawk under a plain black knit cap made him look very much the soldier.

  That by itself wasn't what made her suddenly press into Aldric, but the big, vicious-looking knife he had strapped to his leg and the casual way he caressed the handle with his fingers, seemingly unaware he was doing it made her shiver. Aldric didn't help much when he turned a snarl on his subordinate and wrapped his arms protectively around her shoulders.

  "Look, boss. I'm not just saying that to be a jerk. You know I would never put someone in danger just for fun," he said.

  His eyes moved to watch Kenya walk in with Tamika, who was not dressed to go with them despite her protests, but had her arm bandaged up and resting in a sling. Faith hated to see it, and considered that there were more bandages under the baggy t-shirt and sweatpants. Kenya perched on the arm of the sofa next to Tamika who winced as she leaned back.

  "Then why would you put Faith in harm's way?" Aldric growled.

  Tamika sighed. "Probably because her sister doesn't know us from Adam, and if she's been held by wolves for days now, she's not going to take kindly to a whole bunch of strange new wolves showing up and trying to grab her."

  "And even if Kaylee is right there next to her, whose judgement is Cristina going to trust more? Her preschooler or her sister?" Ori shrugged. "I'm sorry, man. I really am.“

  "We will keep her safe, Aldric," Rod agreed, walking in with Marc, the last of their team going out on the rescue from here. "Anyone who can soften your edges even slightly is too important to risk."

  Rod grinned at them and raised an eyebrow at how they were still standing. Faith felt her cheeks heat up. Kenya laughed and even Marc seemed amused.

  "Listen, Faith," Marc took over the conversation. "If you get into any kind of trouble at all, just pull up that shield you used with the rogues and shout for all you're worth. We will hear you and come running, okay?"

  Faith was nodding when Tamika chimed in. "And take that knife I gave you. Remember, paranormals bleed just as well as humans." She glanced down at her arm and grimaced.

  “Wait, aren’t you supposed to still be at the clinic?” Faith glared at the woman who had just popped out from behind Marc.

  “Like hell I’m sitting around in some exam room while y’all are going into battle. They’re not letting me come with, but I’ll be here on radio with Leo.” Tamika glared at Aldric who simply raised a brow at her and pointedly looked down at her arm.

  "Come on, girl," Kenya stood and gestured for Faith to follow her out of the room. "I've got some spare gear, and you look about my size. How fast can you change clothes?
"

  An hour later Faith was crouched next to Aldric in the bushes outside a rambling wood-sided cabin. Aldric wasn't letting her far from his side, and she wasn't upset about it. Marc and Rod were not far from them, around the left side of the building, circling around and hoping to catch a scent of Crissy, Kaylee, or Jake that would tell them where they were being held. Ori and Kenya had practically evaporated into thin air as far as Faith was concerned. Aldric said they had gone around to the back.

  "I can scent Kaylee and Jake for certain, and at least three wolves," Aldric whispered into her ear. He shook his head and she felt his stubble brush her ear. "I am not as sensitive as the wolves, but I can see several bodies in that front room there."

  Faith glanced at him and realized that he was fully shifted into his vampire form. His black eyes seemed to suck the light into them, making the area around him feel darker. She noticed that his eyes weren’t just what she now thought of as his ‘normal vampire’ eyes, but were black shading into a dark crimson. Aldric was hunting.

  He glanced back at her and for a moment she was caught in those eyes, deciding if she was falling into the intense gaze or being sucked into darkness. It was unnerving and for the first time she really shivered with nerves about the monster predator that she was snuggled next to in the dark.

  Werewolves were somehow less terrifying. Her brain could get around people turning into bigger-than-normal wolves, but Aldric's huge dark eyes and angular face were enough to trigger all her horror movie heroine instincts to just fucking run.

  "Are you well?" Aldric frowned.

  Faith swallowed and tried to blink away her sudden nerves. She tried to speak, but the words caught in her throat and she had to swallow again before speaking. "Yeah. Just kind of freaked out," she answered, tactfully leaving out the by you her mind added to the end of the statement.

  She felt the warm and reassuring weight of his hand land on her shoulder, and he smiled slightly, keeping his fangs covered. It was a very strange moment of mental dissonance between the sheer terror at being this close to what was unquestionably and lethally not-human and the deep feeling of safety that bloomed in her just from being around Aldric.

  After a very short moment, the feeling of safety won, and she relaxed slightly under his hand.

  "It is understandable to be anxious," he said. He leaned close to whisper, his breath brushing her ear as he barely spoke the words out loud. "But I will be with you, and our clanmates are with us as well. We will get everyone back safely."

  Faith managed a small smile and they turned their attention back to the lodge. They were back in position just in time for Aldric's reassuring hand on her shoulder to turn into a warning seconds before the door opened. A large, greasy man stepped out and looked around with a cocky grin.

  Jesse Honeyford.

  "You can come on out, I know you're there," he called. "Get out here so I can kill you and get out of here. I've got better places to be than this bullshit backwater."

  A low rumble vibrated through her body and Faith sucked in a breath as a sharp howl suddenly echoed through the trees. Something about the sound spoke to Faith’s hindbrain, and a fierce determination and pride swelled in her chest as she knew it was Marc calling to his clan.

  Dozens of howls answered, first several from nearby and then in a wave, howls from further and further out. Beside her, Aldric leaned back and added to the sound, and while it was clearly not a wolf's howl, it sounded right mixed with the wolves’ voices.

  The pride and determination and sense of– of pack she guessed– filled her and without even thinking, she found herself leaning back, too, and adding her voice to the chorus. Inside the lodge, very faintly, she heard two smaller voices calling out to their people. Jake and Kaylee.

  The man's grin faltered for a moment before he rolled his eyes and scoffed. "You think a few wolves and whatever the fuck those other two are will get through me and my boys? Keep dreaming. I know all about you weakass Frostwalkers." Honeyford leaned over and spit on the ground by the door. "We won't even have to work for the win. You want to die? Come get us."

  The growl that rumbled through the woods this time was clear and angry, and was joined by several others. Every fine hair on Faith's body stood on end and her brain reminded her once again that she was very definitely prey for these creatures. Aldric stayed silent now, and watched rather than adding to the intimidating noise, but his hand tightened on her shoulder again for a brief moment and her fear once again ebbed somewhat.

  Honeyford stepped out from the doorway and three other big guys followed him. One of them was the driver from the car that hit Simon.

  "Where's Justin Simmons?” Aldric asked, his words more of a breath than an actual question. He scanned the front of the cabin and grimaced. "I'm seeing two more bodies inside now, but I can’t see the children. Damn. They must be further in the house.“

  "You're going to have to tell me what the hell you're looking at when we're all done here," Faith grumbled.

  "I will answer any question you might have for me once we are home, I promise you," Aldric answered. "Right now we should move."

  He helped her stand and took her hand to lead her quietly around the trees, keeping the three Goldfang wolves in his sight. They worked their way around to near the corner of the building. It was a short, clear dash from where they were hidden to the door Honeyford had walked out of.

  Almost as soon as they stopped moving again, a gigantic black wolf stepped out of the trees on the other side of the small clearing in front of the lodge, a continuous growl rising and falling with his every step.

  Faith hadn't actually seen the werewolves' non-human forms before. Even tonight they had been disappearing into the forest already before they started their shifts. Marc now was something of a shock. Had she really thought that the wolves wouldn't terrify her?

  Marc's furry head would be able to stare her right in the eye, if he was inclined. His fur was mostly a deep midnight black, but in the late evening light she could pick out threads of a fiery red. His lips were pulled back in a snarl revealing teeth that had to be at least as long as her whole hand, wrist to fingertip.

  Golden amber eyes full of fury glared at Honeyford and Faith had to admit that if she was in his shoes, she would be a cowering, gibbering lump on the ground, not standing there tall and stupid, glaring back.

  Honeyford laughed, a cocky, greasy sound. "Marc Keller, I assume? I don't give two shits how big and bad you think you are. When I’m done here you’ll wish you’d just given us all three of them with pretty bows on.”

  He kept taunting Marc, who showed no reaction past his slow forward movement and constant growl until he stood no more than a half dozen feet in front of the man. There was a long, intense pause of just staring between them, the hulking thug and the enormous, sleek black wolf. Aldric's hand tightened around Faith's as they watched.

  Wait, when had he taken hold of her hand?

  In the clearing, the tension was thick, and one of Honeyford's thugs snapped it, by leaping at Marc and shifting. Faith bit her lips together to stop the scream that wanted to break free of her throat, but in that same instant a dark blur slammed into the man and took him to the ground.

  Immediately, all three Goldfang pack members were attacking, and Faith lost track of which wolf was who, except for Marc, who was head and shoulders bigger than the rest of the wolves now snapping and clawing at each other in the clearing. She noticed that they all had red eyes like the rogues and beside her Aldric hissed in a breath. Several more wolves came running around the corner of the house and leaped to attack the Enforcers they could see.

  All of them except the one she assumed was Honeyford. He was not as big as Marc– he and Tamika and Jake had tried to explain werewolf pack dynamics to her yesterday, and one of the weird magical things that had managed to stick was that when the pack (or clan in this case) chose a leader, he got a few benefits, and a larger size was one of them.

  Even though Honeyford
didn't have a size advantage, he was clearly still a skilled fighter, even in wolf form. His grey fur was just as greasy as his hair and his smile had been, but his movements were assured and he was fast. Before Faith really knew what was happening, Marc was bleeding from his shoulder.

  Another wolf came leaping out the lodge door and drew her attention back that way.

  "Come," Aldric said, tugging on her hand. "Our task is inside. Let's go find the children."

  20

  Aldric used the opportunity provided by the battle to sneak himself and Faith into the Lodge. Dashing as fast as she could go, they reached the door and burst into the front room, causing the two wolves still inside to jump in surprise.

  "What the hell?" one of them shouted, but the other had at least the presence of mind to leap at him.

  Aldric easily dodged the attack, but kept himself between the wolves and Faith. If they wanted her, he would have to be dead first. He was vaguely aware of her backing up to a wall and holding up her hands. He recognised the posture and focused on his opponents. She would be safe enough behind her shield.

  The wolf had already recovered and was coming back at him, his half-shifted claws swiping at him. "Goddamned vampires," he snarled. "Jesse was right, there's goddamned vampires here."

  Aldric didn't bother to answer, ducking the wolf's attack easily and grabbing his wrist as it went by. A quick twist and a shove, and the sound of bones snapping sent the werewolf to the floor gasping in pain and clutching his now useless arm.