Red Blood (Series of Blood Book 2)

by Emma Hamm

  “I thought you wouldn’t come to see the Five?” she asked Wolfgang.

  “I wasn’t given much choice.”

  This close, she could see through the shield of runes and darkness masking his features. He was glaring at Pitch with a heat she remembered all too well. He wore the same expression he had when the Banshee had bumped into her. He wasn’t about to fly off the handle when she needed him to remain calm. Light danced upon his hands and grew until it lit the area between them.

  She reached underneath the robe to place her hand inside of his. The electricity sparked stronger between them, but she held fast to his bony fingers.

  “Wolfgang,” she whispered. The others didn’t need to know she was reprimanding him.

  He did not stop the quiet spell immediately. She felt a burning sensation on her hand and winced. Yet another scar and this one not so easily hidden.

  His mismatched eyes missed very little. Suspicious, his gaze locked upon hers. “Why?”

  The quiet murmur would have confused others. But she knew he was asking why she had winced. With her thumb, she stroked the top of his hand. This was not a conversation she would have with him now.

  “Because.”

  “You are hiding something from me.”

  “I don’t think it is important right now.”

  His troubled gaze danced over her features. He wouldn’t argue with her in front of the others; he was too prideful for that. This was not her Wolfgang. This was the Graverobber. But Lyra knew he was telling her it was important to him.

  “Later.” She shook her head. “For now, you have to meet the Five.”

  He pursed his lips but shifted her to stand beside him rather than in front of him. The blue tinge of his power slowly disappeared as he bowed. Lyra couldn’t help but think that he may have been mocking them.

  Gaia raised a hand to wave at him. “Welcome, Graverobber.”

  “The pleasure is all mine.”

  “You have been avoiding us.”

  “With good reason.”

  The words rewarded him with an arched brow from the leader of the Five. “Care to embellish?”

  “No.”

  Aether stood from her chair to stand behind Gaia. “You are guarded very well.”

  Wolfgang nodded. They would not have been able to see the nod if were not for the way the robe had shifted with him.

  “Gaia,” Aether said. “I cannot read him.”

  “Surely you can.”

  “I cannot read him at all. It is as though he has no thoughts.”

  Wolfgang snorted. “I can assure you, I have plenty of thoughts. Perhaps I do not wish you to hear them.”

  Both sisters were clearly taken aback by his words. Gaia in particular bristled at his tone. “What are you?”

  “Surprises are considerably more fun.”

  “You will reveal yourself now, or we will find out through other means.”

  “I would like to see you try.” Wolfgang’s angry tone prompted Lyra to reach for him again. She squeezed hard against his arm. A battle against all of the Five was not going to end well for any of them. Even Wolfgang may not be strong enough to put them in their place.

  “I’m bored with all the blustering,” Lyra said. “Can’t we all just sit down and get along? I’ll even break out the playing cards.”

  The joke landed flat. Everyone in the room was far too tense to listen to Lyra’s usual prattling. At least, they were until Wolfgang lightly chuckled.

  He tilted to look down at her. “You know I prefer my own cards.”

  He spoke of his dangerous tarot cards that spoke far more truth than lies. She wasn’t certain how to feel about those things. He had only shown them to her once and had predicted her entire day for her. She would be happy never seeing them again.

  Wolfgang sighed and pulled his arm out of her grasp. He raised his arms towards the hood but paused when she made a soft sound.

  “Are you sure?” she couldn’t help but ask.

  “Would you be ashamed?”

  “Of course not. I don’t mind the way you are. I just don’t want you to lose your privacy.”

  She could see a slight flash of white teeth underneath the darkness of his hood.

  “Oh, Lyra. I do it all for you, Love.”

  She swallowed hard at his words. Of course he would call her that. He had heard more of the conversation than she had thought. She’d need to thank Aether for helping her take this important step with him. At least now she didn’t have to be the one to say it.

  His hands reached once more. The sleeves fell down to reveal the painfully thin fingers that were webbed with scars. Even the pads of his fingers were marred and misshapen by blood magic. He delicately pinched the edges of his hood and pulled it back.

  Somehow, he was far more grotesque in this lighting than he had been in his home. Or perhaps it was seeing him in this place where he was not at home. The scars stretching across his face stood out in stark relief against his chalk white skin. One of his eyes was painfully stretched to the side because of a scar, which was an angry red.

  The black band around his throat was hardly the most startling thing about him. There were too many details upon his skin to stare at. He was not a man at all, she realized. He was a patchwork quilt of pain and magic.

  And he was hers. She had never been more proud than in this moment. He stood before them without flinching and revealed everything that he despised about himself. Wolfgang was stronger than any man she had ever met before.

  “This is the guy you want to end up with?” Jasper’s harsh words dug at her heart. “Really?”

  She didn’t have words for that. Lyra knew that whatever she managed to say would be angry and hurtful. Instead, she kept her eyes upon Wolfgang and did not flinch. She refused for him to think she did not consider him to be worthy of her affections.

  As foolish and selfish as it sounded, next to him she appeared all the more beautiful. He was strong. He was kind. He was everything she was not. He did not need beauty to shield himself from the world as she did. He gave her that shield simply by being himself.

  Wolfgang gifted her with a small smile before turning his mismatched gaze towards the others. “I am a Magician.”

  Gaia immediately shook her head. “All Magicians were wiped from this earth many years ago. You will not fool me that easily.”

  “Magic has a way of finding its own path. No matter what you tell it to do.”

  “Prove it.”

  It was then that he reached for Lyra’s hand. His ugly fingers that appeared so brittle clutched her own with surprising strength. He squeezed her only once before he whispered the smallest word.

  The spell was not one she recognized. Everyone seemed to be holding their breath for some grand show of magic. They waited. Seconds and then minutes passed while Wolfgang remained with a smug smile upon his face.

  “Well?” Gaia asked him.

  “Ah, my apologies,” Wolfgang replied. “Perhaps your eyes are not as keen as I thought.”

  He lifted his and Lyra’s hands and tilted until her hand was turned palm up. Gently he pried his fingers from hers and slowly lifted their hands apart. As his rose, Lyra could see bright petals of ruby red.

  Farther and farther his hand moved from hers, until she had a long stem of a blood red rose growing out of the center of her palm. Upon its delicate leaves a single drop of water was held suspended in time. It was beautiful.

  “Oh, Wolfgang.”

  “Don’t touch,” he scolded as she lifted her other hand. “It’s not done yet.”

  The bud continued to bloom until the petals fell. They landed on her hand and drifted to the floor. The cloying scent of rose stung her nose as it slowly died in front of her. Rotting and molded, the rose slowly crumbled to dust in her hand.

  All that remained within just a few moments were the dried edges of the petals. Wolfgang leaned down and scattered them with a mere breath. The beautiful rose he had gifted her now had been redu
ced to nothing.

  “You practice Blood Magic,” Wren said quietly from her corner in the room.

  Lyra recognized that voice. It was Wren yet not. E had a very soft accent that Wren did not usually have. Although the longer she was part of E, the more Lyra recognized the accent coming through during the day.

  “Indeed, I do.” Wolfgang nodded. “All of my life.”

  “Blood Magic is dangerous.”

  “All magic is dangerous,” he responded. “I have no time for petty tricks.”

  Gaia stood up, and the rest of the Five followed suit. “I will not have a Magician on this team. Let alone one who meddles in affairs he does not understand.”

  “I understand perfectly what it is I practice, Madame. Blood magic is a consuming poison that spreads throughout a person and changes who they are. I knew that the moment I opened my first spellbook.”

  Nurin stiffened. He represented the element of Fire and was known to have an explosive temper. He was not someone to trifle with. His voice was angry and grating as he spoke. “All the spellbooks were destroyed along with the Magicians.”

  “So you thought.”

  The Five obviously did not know how to take this information. Lyra found herself wondering just how involved they had been with the process of destruction. The school books always said removing Magicians and Witches had been a unanimous choice. Now she wondered just how much truth that statement held.

  “Send him back home, Pitch.”

  Lyra had forgotten he was still here. Pitch had a way of seeming to disappear without anyone noticing he was still in the room.

  “How do you do that?” Lyra couldn’t help but ask him.

  A flash of bright teeth was her answer. He stepped forward and reached for Wolfgang along with his sticky shadows. But Wolfgang stepped out of his reach.

  “I did not come here for you,” Wolfgang told the Five. “Malachi is planning on attacking my home. My people. I need you to help me stop him.”

  “Like we asked you to help us fulfill a prophecy to stop him? The answer is no.”

  Lyra could hear Wolfgang’s teeth gritting. “I am asking nicely.”

  “And I appreciate that, but just because you said please does not mean you get what you want.”

  “These are people we are talking about. I cannot do it all myself.”

  “And the answer will always be no.” Gaia opened the door. “You will address this issue yourself, and my team will remain safe. We will find another to take your place in the prophecy.”

  “I will do it.” Wolfgang’s frantic request made Gaia pause. “I will do whatever it is you ask of me. But I must save my people first.”

  She appeared to consider his request. Gaia glanced over her shoulder to make eye contact with Nurin who gave the slightest of nods. “Very well then. I expect to see you back here with the rest of the team. We will not make it easy for you, Magician.”

  “I never thought you would.”

  The door slammed shut behind her and the rest of the Five. Aether reopened the door to give them all a saucy wink before slamming the door again.

  Lyra swallowed hard. The dust in her hand fell like a waterfall. “I’ll help.”

  “No, you won’t.” Wolfgang denied her.

  “What? Do you think I can’t do it?”

  “I don’t want you hurt.”

  “That’s not your decision.” The words crackled with anger and indignation. “If I want to fight, I’m going to fight. That’s either with you or against you. It’s your choice.”

  He glanced towards her with an amused quirk on his lips. She noticed mirth sparkling in his eyes. “Then I wish to fight with you on my side. I fear fighting against you would be a losing battle.”

  “You know it would be.”

  Burke crossed his arms firmly over his chest. He watched them with rapt attention until slowly he nodded. “All right. All right, we’ll help. But how do you know that Malachi is going to be attacking the Black Market?”

  “A letter. He has been communicating with all the Lords of the Black Market. We have not responded as there has been no reason to.”

  “You were not interested in more power?” Wren asked him skeptically.

  Wolfgang made an undignified sound. “No. We are not interested in more power. That is something we do not need some upstart providing for us. We can obtain that ourselves.”

  He held his hand forward, and Lyra could smell the faint scent of burning flesh. On his palm a letter appeared. The parchment unfurled and swirling letters danced before them.

  “Only the person whom the letter is addressed can read the words. However, this is not the first time he has written. We have ignored him, and because of that, he has finally given up. As the strongest of the Lords, he plans to attack my people first. It is the obvious choice. If my territory should fall, the others are likely to follow or agree to work with him.”

  Lyra could not imagine the horror that Malachi would bring. She remembered all too vividly the last time she had seen what he was capable of. The people who followed him were only growing in numbers.

  Or so they assumed. They hadn’t had a lot of information provided to them from their spies. The unknown was a terrifying horror when it came to Malachi. He was very good at convincing people to do what he wanted. There were plenty of dark and light creatures who saw his reasoning.

  None of them had believed Lyra or the rest of her team when they told them Malachi wanted to wipe the earth clean. He was adamant that he only wanted the strongest creatures to survive. Humans were weak.

  He was starting there. That was the only plan they could glean from their spies. He would kill the humans first. Only once they were all gone would he turn his gaze towards the magical creatures.

  Lyra shook her head firmly. “We won’t let that happen. How are we doing this?”

  “We?” Jasper stood from his corner and immediately opened the door. “I won’t do this.”

  “Why?” she had to ask him. She needed an answer from the man she had always considered family.

  “Because we don’t know him, Lyra. This could be a trap.”

  “I know him. And you know me. That should be enough!”

  “After six weeks, you know him? You don’t know a thing about this man.”

  With his words ringing in her ears, he left the room. Lyra lifted a hand to rub at the spot on her chest that suddenly hurt. He couldn’t imagine how well she knew this man next to her. Perhaps she did not know his history. Perhaps she did not know what he would say or do or think. But she had felt his soul and knew that Wolfgang was a good man at his core.

  He was unlike any man she had ever been with before. He considered her to be special simply because she existed. He had found light in every part of herself that she had considered to be dark.

  Long, thin fingers found their way to her shoulder and squeezed. He did not shame her by asking if she was all right. He did not linger upon the moment that had caused her pain. Instead, he looked towards the other two remaining in the room.

  “In the next step of this adventure, we must part. I trust the two of you are capable of gathering all that may be needed to protect my people.”

  Burke spread his arms. “Just us I’m afraid.”

  “Then I will advise you to find your way to the cemetery on Ripper Street. Underneath the graves is where I call home. There you will find my manservant, Mungus. He will come when you call. Tell him to awaken the golems. All of them. And wait for us there until morning.”

  “What will you be doing?”

  Wolfgang seemed to hesitate. He searched for Lyra’s gaze and held it. She did not recognize the emotion that shadowed his usually comforting gaze.

  “What is it, Wolfgang?” she asked.

  “We’re going to make a monster.”

  Chapter 11

  “Will you tell me where we are going now, please?”

  Her voice seemed to echo as they stepped through her portal into a completely differen
t part of the Black Market. He had asked if she still had one, and of course she had. Lyra had enough portals to this place to bring a hundred people here. But she wasn’t focused on their location. Instead, she was focused on the words he had said only moments before.

  Making a monster? Why did that make a pit form in the base of her stomach?

  He walked away from her. Wolfgang acted as though he didn’t hear her question at all. Instead, he was walking down the street as though she hadn’t just asked him a very important question.

  She was instantly flustered. Perhaps he hadn’t realized it was important to her. Perhaps he thought it was a rhetorical question and he didn’t have to answer her.

  “Wolfgang. Did you hear me?”

  When he didn’t answer her again, she knew he was ignoring her. He had certainly heard her shrill voice. How dare he.

  Water leaked out of her ears as she was overwhelmed with the anger that surged into her body. She was panicking, wondering what they were doing, how they were going to do it, and why there were shadows in his eyes. Her fingers curled into fists. Her teeth grit together until she could hear a creaking sound.

  “Listen to me!” Lyra shouted.

  He continued to walk down the street.

  She was going to murder him. She was going to wrap her pretty fingers around his scrawny throat, and she would hold on until he remembered who was truly in control. He had no right at all to ignore her. Her! She was the Siren. She was the one who was supposed to have men wrapped around her fingers.

  “Am I losing my touch?” she muttered under her breath as she stomped after him. “Wolfgang!”

  Reaching, she grabbed onto the edge of his robe and gave a quick yank. The fabric bled from his figure as though it had been made of water. Great chunks of it floated towards her, and others simple dissolved into the air. Fragments of dark cloth drifted around them for a few moments until they fell to the ground.

  She was unimpressed with the show. Lyra didn’t even allow herself to be pleased with the rare sight of his form. She did not linger upon the long legs that were carefully wrapped in velvet. Nor did she wish to reach out and touch the crisp white lines of his shirt. She certainly wasn’t tracing the lines of scars and tattoos that were revealed clearly upon his hands and throat.