Magic Thief (The New York Shade Book 1)

by D. N. Hoxa

  And when it was over, he lay me down on the bed, never letting me go. I curled into his arm as the aftermath of the best feeling I’d ever experienced still vibrated on my skin. My eyes closed and my body ached in the most wonderful way. He held me and kissed my hair, my forehead, my closed eyes. He kissed me like he couldn’t get enough of me, and the knowledge made me smile against his chest. I wanted to get up, to talk to him, to tell him exactly what I felt when he looked at me, but my brain refused to cooperate.

  It was okay, for now. He was here with me, and Sonny was okay, too. We would find a way to get to him, Damian and I. Together, there was no monster strong enough to stop us.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Damian Reed

  Listening to the steady beating of her heart was the most beautiful melody I’d ever heard. She slept in my arms, completely at peace. I could hear it in her heartbeat, I could see it in her face, so beautiful it hurt to look at her. The gods must have made her especially for me, and I couldn’t think of anything I’d ever done to deserve this, but I’d take it because I was a selfish bastard. She would always be mine from this night on.

  My eyes closed and the memory of her riding me, touching me, calling my name, glowing with the pleasure I brought her, had me hard again in a second. I had only begun to explore her, and I had the feeling I would never be able to satiate my thirst. Her blood called to me, too, but it was easy to control, much easier than I thought. Because her skin was too perfect to break, her blood too precious to be wasted on a dead body like mine.

  A dead body that suddenly felt alive. Even my heart wanted to beat again at the sight of her.

  Moira was right. I was in deep, deep trouble.

  When I heard her voice, I thought I was imagining it.

  “Dam, I need you.”

  My senses cleared instantly. I was fully aware of everything inside the walls of the penthouse again. The team was here, in the living room. They were all there, and they had company.

  Breaking away from Sinea felt like betraying her, but I needed to go and see whose hearts were beating so loudly, who stank of so much fear, now that I could smell something else besides the jasmine scent of her skin.

  I pushed her on the bed as gently as I could, hoping not to wake her. She looked so peaceful while she slept. Even better than an angel. I’d met a celestial being before, and even he didn’t look as pure to me as she did.

  Slipping out of the bed, I found my clothes and put them on in a second. My shirt was ruined—I hadn’t had the patience for buttons when she’d been on the bed, naked, begging me to take her. I went to the closet and got a new shirt Moira had bought me and walked out of the room.

  The sound of hearts beating frantically with fear filled my ears, and the smell of dirt and smoke reached my nostrils. I walked out of the hallway to find Moira, Zane, John and Emanuel in the living area, standing around two men who were on their knees, arms and legs tied behind them.

  “About goddamn time,” Moira said through gritted teeth, holding her sword over her shoulder.

  “What is this?” I asked, as I looked them all over, to see if anyone was hurt. They seemed to be intact, but the tied up men were bleeding in several places. They lowered their heads and tried to lean away from me when I approached them.

  “These fellas are from the Uprising, and they have quite a story to tell about your lady friend,” Moira said, raising her sword toward the hallway.

  The familiar feeling of dread gripped me instantly.

  “Hey, tell him what you just told us,” John said, pushing one of the tied up men on the back with his foot.

  “It’s not our fault! We weren’t doing anything, I swear!” his friend cried out.

  “Fucking men!” Moira said and kicked the man who’d spoken in the nose. Blood exploded from his nostrils, staining the carpet under him. Then she turned to me. “She made a deal with the Uprising, Dam. She agreed to kill you in exchange for her brother’s life, and these guys were sent to make sure she got the job done.”

  “We found them in the building across the street, keeping watch on the penthouse,” Zane said.

  I shook my head. They were wrong. Sinea wouldn’t do that to me. She just wouldn’t.

  “Did you drink from this?” Emanuel said from the kitchen, the bottle of wine Sinea had brought in his hand. I just stared at him, unable to respond. He uncorked it and sniffed inside. His nose wrinkled and he growled. “Witch potion. Very strong.”

  No.

  This was a mistake. It was just a mistake.

  “It’s not our fault. We were just told to keep watch and report once it was done, that’s all. We weren’t doing anything!” the man with the broken nose said.

  Then, John stepped out of the hallway. I hadn’t even seen him leave the living room. And he threw something at me. It was a tiny thing—a vial with white powder inside it.

  “Found it in her pocket.”

  He’d been in the room? He’d seen her sleep? Anger filled me—and I heard the door of the master bedroom open. Her footfalls reached my ears and I couldn’t move a single muscle until she came out into the kitchen, wrapped in a grey sheet.

  I looked at her. It couldn’t be. She wouldn’t betray me. Not her, too.

  “What’s going on?” she said, pushing her tangled hair away. Her hellbeast squirrel came after her, half hiding behind the sheet by her feet.

  “These men were sent here to make sure you completed your end of the deal you made with the Uprising,” Moira said, her voice ice-cold. She was angry. She was mad.

  I couldn’t look away from Sinea. That’s why I saw the exact second the words made sense to her. Her eyes widened. Her beautiful lips parted. Her heart began to beat faster, louder.

  No.

  “I-I-I can explain,” she whispered, holding onto the sheets with all her strength.

  I can explain. She didn’t say they’re lying. She said I can explain.

  My legs took me to her. Her eyes were wide, darkened with guilt. “Did you make a deal with the Uprising to kill me?” My voice sounded foreign, detached from the rest of me.

  She pulled her lips inside her mouth. Tears spread into her eyes, but she refused to blink and let them fall.

  “Did you make a deal with the Uprising to kill me?” I asked again, refusing to raise my voice.

  “I did, but—”

  “Did you try to poison me with that wine?”

  “Damian, I—”

  “Answer me, Sinea! Did you try to poison me?”

  She held her breath. “Yes.”

  Yes.

  She would betray me. She had betrayed me, too.

  I turned away from her, unable to look into her face. Rage burned within me, extending my fangs.

  “Damian, listen to me. I can explain,” she said.

  “There’s nothing to explain. You agreed to kill me.” And I’d been too much of a fool to notice. Moira was right again—I was more naive than a child.

  “I didn’t have a choice! They said they’d kill Sonny!” Sinea cried, and I felt her coming for me. I knew that if she touched me, I would have no choice but to stop.

  So I moved away, in desperate need to kill something. Or someone. And I had two poor souls right in my living room. I went behind the first man, with the broken nose, and pulled his head to the side.

  “No, please, please…” said the other, and his cries were cut in half as I broke his neck, too. Dead.

  “Damian, just look at me. Please, I can explain, just—”

  The sound of metal slamming onto bone made me turn around. Sinea was on the floor, unconscious, and Moira stood behind her with a pan in hand. Something squeezed inside me, but I shoved it down. Sinea didn’t need me to protect her. She didn’t need me to do anything for her—she could do it all by herself. Even plan to kill me.

  When was she going to do it? Why did she fall asleep after she had me completely defenseless in her bed? She could have done anything to me while I lay beside her, and I’d have
never been able to stop her.

  “Shut up!” Moira hissed at the hellbeast squirrel who was protesting loudly, standing over Sinea’s stomach. She looked so peaceful again. But she no longer was pure.

  Moira tried to grab her by the arm to pull her away when the squirrel jumped and bit into her hand. She fell back with a cry, and the squirrel let out a screeching sound—not at all squirrel-like.

  Then, he shifted.

  He jumped up and tendrils of black smoke wrapped around him. By the time he landed on Sinea’s stomach again, the smoke had disappeared, and he no longer looked like a squirrel. He looked like a hellbeast.

  “What the hell is that thing?” Moira cried.

  “A hellbeast? Are you kidding me?” said John, coming closer to look at the little creature.

  He was no taller than ten inches, but he was one scary fucker. He stood on eight spider-like legs covered in short, grey fur, and his little furry body rose up from between the legs. His head was perfectly round, his arms long, his hands with only two fingers, tipped with long claws. His eyes burned red as his small mouth, full of tiny sharp teeth opened and he cried out, something intangible, as if he were trying to speak.

  “He was in my room! Ew!” Moira said.

  Zane reached out his hand for him, but he snapped his jaws fast, then spun around and cut a clean line on Emanuel’s hand coming from behind him.

  “Goddamn sonovabitch!”

  The hellbeast turned to me, still screaming his protest.

  I squatted down. “We’re not going to kill her,” I told the hellbeast. Its red eyes narrowed. “You have to stop. We’re not going to—” He jumped at my face, his tiny mouth open, his teeth ready to bite my face off. I moved to the side and grabbed him by his spider legs and pulled him up.

  The nasty sounds coming from him as he hung upside down and tried to free himself made me cringe.

  “Kill it!” Zane said.

  I brought the hellbeast closer to my face. “Shut up,” I ordered it, and he clamped his mouth shut. “I’m going to let you go and you’re going to stop screaming. Nobody’s going to hurt Sinea.”

  “Like hell,” Moira said.

  “No more screaming,” I told the hellbeast and threw him to the floor. He landed on his feet and rushed to Sinea again, looking at me like I was the hellbeast here.

  “We are going to kill her. Right, Dam?” Moira asked.

  “No. Get her dressed and drop her at the Shade close to her friend’s apartment.”

  “Dam, come on. She tried to kill you. She tried to poison you, you fool!”

  “If we don’t kill her, she’s going to think she can come close to you again,” John said.

  “It’s what we’ve always done, Damian. If someone betrays us, we kill them,” said Zane.

  I raised a hand. “Get her dressed and take her to the Shade,” I repeated.

  They were right. When somebody betrayed us, we killed them, no questions asked. But this was Sinea. And the thought of her body lifeless, of that heart of hers no longer beating…I couldn’t. I was a fool. I was too far gone.

  “What about them?” John asked through gritted teeth, pointing at the dead men. He was mad at me, so mad he wanted to rip me apart as much as I wanted him to.

  “Leave them by the liquor store in the Shade, too. Naked.”

  It would be a message to the man who had made the deal with Sinea to come after me. I would find them and I would kill them all.

  “Where are you going?” Moira called when I walked to the elevator.

  “To feed. I’ll be back soon.”

  I needed blood. And I needed to be away from anything that smelled like her.

  The sun sneaked up in the sky, finding me sitting in front of the windows, without wine. She’d ruined it for me. She’d stolen it from me. I was right in calling her a thief. I’d never been a fan of cityscapes, but something about Manhattan had been especially vile for the past hour. I’d gone out. I’d fed. I’d come back after she was gone, back in the Shade, where she belonged.

  When Moira came out of her room, I expected her to come find me. She always found me.

  She sat beside me on the couch I’d moved in front of the windows and put an arm over my shoulders.

  “How are you feeling, Dam?” she asked in a soft whisper. I touched her head with mine.

  “Good. As good as new,” I lied.

  She laughed. “You’re a terrible liar, oh mighty Typhon.”

  I laughed with her and leaned back on the couch. I raised my arm, and she rested against my chest.

  “But really, though. Are you okay?”

  “I am if you are.”

  “Dam, you’re lying to my face.”

  “No, I’m lying to your head.” Her head was just under my chin.

  She looked up at me. “I really am sorry,” she whispered.

  “I know, my deranged elf.”

  “You should have let me kill her.”

  “I couldn’t.”

  “I know.” She rested on my chest again, and for a moment, I really felt better. She always had a way of brightening up my nights—even mornings, when the sun took away my strength. “So what happens now? Are we leaving?”

  “No, we’ll stay. Those people hurt you. They turned her against me. They need to die.” And I’d find them all eventually.

  “Good,” Moira said and leaned away from me. “Just so you know, the next time you like someone, even a tiny bit, I’m killing her before you get yourself killed.”

  “And I won’t stand in your way,” I said with a smile.

  She kissed my cheek. “You’re a good man, Dam, despite what people see when they look at you. You deserve better than this.”

  Unlike me, she was a very good liar. I almost believed her, when we both knew it wasn’t the truth.

  “Hey, I’m fine, Moira. I am. I’ve been through worse and I’ve survived.” Even if it didn’t feel like it right now. “I don’t want you to worry about me.”

  Her wide silver eyes were filled with sadness, and I hated to be the reason for it.

  “I’ll always worry about you,” she said and stood up. “I’m going to bed to let you get back to your brooding.”

  “I’m not brooding.” Was I?

  “You get the entire day today, but by nightfall, it’s over, okay? We’ve got people to kill and I want to enjoy it. Those fuckers have it coming.”

  I nodded. “On that, we agree.”

  She went back to her room, and I was all alone again, back to trying to think about anything except Sinea.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Sin Montero

  Light fell on my face. My head pounded. Every part of my body hurt. I moved my head, trying to get away from the sun, but it didn’t work. Something moved right under my chin and my eyes popped open. Kit had been curled up into a ball next to my neck, sleeping.

  “Oh, no,” I whispered to myself when I remembered where I was. Or rather how I got here.

  I sat up, ignoring the pain as best as I could. I was in the Shade, a street away from Malin’s apartment. Sin stretched his arms with an annoyed squeak and looked up at me. I took him in my arms and put him on my shoulder. At least I was dressed. Red shirt, jeans, sneakers—the same clothes I’d had on when I went to…

  Ugh. “You’re a fool, Sin. A stupid fucking fool,” I said to myself, and Kit sounded like he agreed, too.

  I held onto the wall of the building behind me, and I made it to my feet. It was the second time that somebody knocked me out and I woke up in the streets of the Shade, and it was already getting old. My eyes closed as I remembered the night before, and anger gripped my chest.

  “Stupid, stupid, stupid!” I shouted at the empty street, kicking the hell out of the wall. The only thing I managed to do was hurt myself. It served me right. I thought I’d have time to tell Damian what had happened and it would all be just fine. It would have been, if it wasn’t for the Bane. Fucking assholes.

  Now he thought I’d really wanted
to kill him. Fuck, he was never going to trust me again.

  “Fine,” I said to the empty street. If he wanted me gone, so be it. I was going to find Sonny by myself, and I was going to return that stupid amulet to him even if it was the last thing I did.

  Kit squeaked on my shoulder. He was ready, too. “Let’s go.”

  Ten minutes later, I kicked open the door to Travis’s apartment. I expected him to have wards in place against intruders like me, but he hadn’t bothered. Good for me. I wasn’t sure if he was even in the apartment his mother rented for him in the Shade, but I didn’t care. I’d needed to break something anyway.

  It must have been my lucky morning because I found him sleeping on the couch in his living room, a glass of whiskey by his head and an ashtray full of cigarette butts on the table. His cat Dale that was not his familiar meowed from the kitchen.

  I slapped the shit out of Travis. “Wake up!”

  He woke up with a jolt, putting his hands over his head. “What the hell, man? What the hell?” I was making a habit out of scaring my brother’s friends, and I couldn’t have cared less.

  I grabbed his wrists and pulled his hands down as Kit jumped on the top of his head.

  “Look at me, Travis,” I said because he was trying to look at Kit, moving his head in hopes he’d fall. But Kit held onto his hair instead.

  “I didn’t do anything, I didn’t do anything!” he shouted, but at least he was looking at me.

  “I didn’t say that you did. Listen to me carefully, Travis. You’re going to find them for me and deliver a message to Boyle.”

  “I don’t know where they are, I swear, Sin. I don’t know!” He was lying through his teeth.

  “But you’re a resourceful guy, Travis. I trust you’ll be able to do this small thing for me because, if you don’t, I’m going to have to come back here, and Kit will do more than just pull out your hair, okay?” He nodded, his blue eyes wide with terror. “Tell Boyle to meet me at Virgin Square at midnight tonight. Tell him I have what he wants and to bring the amulet and Sonny with him. Do you understand me?”