Burned: Wild Magic Book 2

by Danielle Grenier

  “You need to get back in there,” Matt told her, grabbing her shoulder with his remaining hand. “You need to help them!”

  “I don’t know if I can!” she replied, maybe a little more harshly than intended.

  “Please,” he said, softening his tone and grip, “they won’t survive that without your help.”

  “I know,” Angel said, “I know they won’t, but I don’t know how to help them. If I use witchfyre again, I might lose control completely and-”

  “Bullshit!” Matt cursed at her. “You kicked my ass without breaking a sweat, you can take on a bunch of goddamn corpses. Or are you just as much of a pansy as I thought you were?”

  Angel wasn’t sure if she should hit the ornery wolf or kiss him. Sure, his methods sucked, but he accomplished his goal: he pissed her off and drew on the part of her that always liked to prove people wrong. Grinning, she slapped him on the shoulder.

  “You’re a real asshole, Matt,” she told him. “But thanks.”

  Taking a deep breath and digging deep for energy she wasn’t really sure she had, Angel teleported back into the hotel. She was met with a terrifying sight: four wolves fighting like hell against vampires and zombies that came at them from every side. They desperately struggled to stay together, but their attackers were too numerous and too strong. One second Jesse and Jonathan were taking down a zombie, the next Jonathan was being dragged away by a vampire. Jesse darted forward, grabbing the vamp’s arm in his jaws, but a zombie came at him from behind, sinking his teeth into the wolf’s back. Caleb jumped into the fray, ripping the zombie away from Jesse while Serguei took down the vampire holding Jonathan. Seeing her opening, Angel teleported into the group.

  “Get down!”

  She let loose a blast of energy. The wolves reacted quickly, going down on their bellies and avoiding the blast; the zombies and vampires nearest them were knocked backwards. Not wanting to give them any time to recover, Angel threw together another witchfyre spell and pushed it outward, igniting it as soon as it was clear of the wolves. The fyre burned through every enemy in a ten-foot radius, but Angel had to pull it back and extinguish it when she started to lose control. She knew she wouldn’t be able to use witchfyre again safely. Looking around frantically, she spotted the front doors, only twenty feet away.

  “There!” she shouted, pointing.

  Jonathan looked over to where she was pointing, nodded, and charged forward. Jesse followed him, then Angel, with Caleb and Serguei right behind her. There were still too many vampires and zombies to fight, but they actually managed to make it to the door. Jonathan shifted, threw open the door, and turned to the rest of them.

  “Go on, get out,” he said.

  Jesse shifted quickly. “What about you?”

  “I’m the one they’re after,” Jonathan explained. “I’ll lead them away.”

  “They’ll kill you,” Caleb said, coming to stand after shifting back to human, “and then they’ll come after the rest of us.”

  “And if I come with you, they’ll just follow,” Jonathan replied.

  Angel knew he was right; whoever was behind this attack, they wanted Jonathan dead. The attack wouldn’t stop until the Master Alpha was dead, or every last vampire and zombie was.

  “Caleb!” she shouted, grabbing his arm. He turned to face her, and even covered in blood and guts, he made her insides melt. “Trust me,” she told him.

  He looked confused for a moment, but then he nodded in understanding. He knew she had a plan, though he likely had no idea what it was. If he did, he definitely would have protested. Wrapping her magic around the four wolves, she lifted them up and hurled them out the front door, pulling the doors closed behind them. The vampires behind her screamed, furious that she’d stolen their target from them. Angel turned and was grabbed by a zombie who sank his teeth into her forearm.

  “Motherfucker!” she screamed, kicking away the zombie and swinging her sword to remove his hand. But as soon as she dislodged the first one, another zombie grabbed her, sinking his teeth into her thigh. She screamed again, and deciding now was as good a time as any, she wove the spell for witchfyre, ignited it, and let it loose.

  Chapter 39

  One minute Caleb was standing at the hotel doors, debating with Jonathan about leaving him behind, the next he was hurtling through the air. He landed hard in the hotel parking lot, with Jesse, Jonathan, and Serguei right next to him. Turning quickly, he saw Angel - still inside the hotel - then the doors slammed shut.

  “Angel!” he screamed, jumping to his feet and charging back towards the building.

  Before he could reach it, fire exploded outward from the first floor of the hotel, knocking him on his ass. He scrambled to his feet, only to see a gaping hole where the hotel entrance used to be. The fire had spread from the main floor and was climbing steadily up the outside of the building.

  “Angel!” he called out, straining to catch a glimpse of her somewhere in the wreckage. Jesse joined him, searching through the debris while trying to avoid the fire. “Do you see anything?” he asked the other wolf, pulling the remains of a door aside and finding nothing.

  “No, nothing,” Jesse replied. “Wait - over there!”

  He pointed to an area just to the left of where the hotel entrance had been. Angel was lying face first on the ground, unmoving. Caleb dashed over and kneeled down next to her, praying she was still alive. She was covered in blood and dirt and ash, her clothes were torn, her swords were nowhere to be seen, and she wasn’t moving. Ever so gently, Caleb rolled her to her back. Her eyes were closed, but he couldn’t see any serious injuries. Reaching out his hand, he pressed two fingers against her neck, hoping and praying he’d find a pulse. At first he felt nothing, and his heart sank. But then, ever so softly, there it was. A steady pulse, just underneath his fingertips. She was alive.

  “Is she?” Jesse asked.

  “She’s still alive,” Caleb said, giving her a quick once over.

  She had a bunch of superficial scratches, several bite marks along her arms, and her face was swollen from where that vampire had struck her. These kinds of injuries would be nothing for a wolf, but Angel was a witch, and Caleb was worried. He picked her up gently, heading away from the hotel.

  “Over here!” Jonathan called them over to where he’d recovered one of the pack vehicles. Caleb set Angel down gently in the back seat, then pulled on a pair of sweatpants Matt handed him.

  “Is she OK?” Matt asked.

  “I think she needs a doctor,” Caleb replied.

  “There’s a witch hospital in the south end of town,” Jesse told him.

  “Take the car,” Jonathan said, “and take Matt with you. Jesse and I will stay here and do damage control. We’ll meet up with you later.”

  “Thank you,” Caleb told him, reaching out to shake his hand.

  “I’m the one who should be thanking you,” Jonathan said, “and we should all be thanking Angel. Get her whatever help she needs.”

  “I will. Good luck.”

  Jonathan and Jesse headed across the parking lot to join the hotel staff and guests who’d managed to escape the attack. Emergency vehicles were everywhere; ambulance, fire, police. Caleb grabbed a blanket from the back of the car and wrapped it around Angel. He attempted to buckle her in, but it was difficult with her lying across the back seat.

  “I’ll sit in the back and hold on to her,” Matt offered.

  “Are you sure?” Caleb asked. He wasn’t entirely sure he could trust the other wolf, given how upset he’d been with Angel about his hand.

  “It’s not like I should be the one driving,” Matt joked, holding up the damaged limb. When Caleb didn’t respond, his face became serious. “I overreacted back there,” he admitted, “she saved my life, and I owe her. Let me help.”

  “Alright,” Caleb said, moving aside and letting him climb into the back seat. Once Matt was settled, with Angel held securely in his good arm, Caleb climbed into the driver’s seat.

  “Yo
u ever been to a witch hospital?” Matt asked when they were about halfway through the city.

  “Nope,” Caleb replied.

  “What do you figure it’s like?”

  “No idea, but when Angel was helping us with the black witch a few months back, she had these potions she took that healed her almost instantly. It would make sense, at least to me, to have that kind of thing at a hospital.”

  “Witches don’t always make sense,” Matt remarked, and Caleb couldn’t help laughing a little at the very accurate observation. In the rearview mirror, he saw Matt open his mouth, pause, then close it again.

  “What’s up, Matt?”

  “I, uh, it’s just that…”

  “Spit it out, Matt.”

  “Earlier,” he said, “when Angel got me out of the hotel, she didn’t seem right.”

  “What do you mean, ‘didn’t seem right?’” Caleb repeated.

  “She was tired,” Matt explained, “but not physically. I think she was using too much magic. Can a witch use too much magic? Is that even possible? And what happens to them if they do?”

  “I don’t know,” Caleb replied, “but I’m sure she’ll be okay.”

  That’s what he kept telling himself - that she was going to be okay - mostly because he wasn’t sure if he could deal with the alternative. He stepped on the gas, navigating around slower moving vehicles, and spotted the exit for the hospital just up ahead. A few minutes later, they pulled up in front of an average looking hospital. He would have thought it was a normal, human hospital, except for the telltale tingle of magic he felt as soon as they pulled into the parking lot. He parked in the red zone, cut the engine, and climbed out, dashing to the side door to take Angel from Matt.

  “I’ll park the car and meet you inside,” Matt offered.

  Caleb nodded and jogged up to the main doors of the hospital, which opened automatically at his approach. He found himself inside your typical hospital lobby: rows of chairs set up all around, and a desk immediately ahead of him. This time of night, no one was in the waiting room. A young man sitting at the desk looked up as he entered, a look of confusion crossing his face.

  “This is a witch hospital,” he said, “are you sure you’re in the right place?”

  “She’s a witch,” Caleb answered, stepping forward and resisting the urge to smack him for asking such a dumb question. “Help her.”

  The witch came out from behind the desk and took his first good luck at Angel. His eyes widened at the bite marks on her arms.

  “What the hell happened to her?”

  “Zombies,” Caleb replied curtly. “Now get a damn doctor.”

  The man noticeably paled at the mention of zombies but went back behind the desk and picked up the phone. He dialed a number and quickly rattled off instructions to someone on the other end. As he was speaking, Matt joined Caleb in the lobby. A minute later, a set of double doors to the right of the desk opened, and a doctor marched through, following by a nurse pushing a gurney. The doctor didn’t skip a beat at the two werewolves standing in the lobby of a witch hospital; he just got straight to business.

  “Set her down here,” he instructed, motioning to the gurney. Caleb set her down gently and stepped back, letting the doctor examine her. “What happened?” he asked, checking her pupils and examining the bite marks closely.

  “Zombie attack,” Caleb told him, “and vampires. She helped us fight them off.”

  “You were at the werewolf conference?”

  “Yes.”

  “What on Earth was she doing there?”

  “It’s a long story,” Matt told him.

  “Alright,” the doctor said, turning towards the nurse. “Let’s get her into a room and see what we can do for her.” Caleb started to follow, but the doctor held out his hand, stopping him. “Wait out here, please. We’ll let you know when you can see her.”

  Caleb watched as they wheeled Angel down the hallway and back through the double doors. He desperately wanted to go with her, but he knew he would only get in the way. So instead, he dropped into one of the waiting room chairs and waited.

  Chapter 40

  Jonathan stood and surveyed the chaos around him. The hotel was no longer on fire, but smoke billowed lazily from the wreckage. One side of the building had collapsed completely, while the other side was little more than a burnt out shell. Multiple ambulances were parked along the road, headlights left running to illuminate the parking lot. Several of them had already left, sirens blaring, carrying those with the worst injuries to the hospital nearby. The remaining paramedics had set up a triage area, handling minor bumps and scrapes. A few of the wolves attending the conference had first aid training and worked their way through the injured, helping where they could. Jonathan walked among them, lending a hand to one human paramedic who was having a difficult time convincing a wolf to let him dress the large bite wound on his arm.

  “Hold still,” he told the agitated man. Jonathan couldn’t recall his name, but his eyes were bright, and his wolf was close. He laid his hand on the man’s shoulder and pushed the wolf back, urging the beast to be calm.

  “Thank you, Alpha,” the male said.

  Jonathan nodded and left so the paramedic could finish the job. He looked around and noticed a group of wolves standing nearby. None of them seemed injured, but they stared at the remains of the hotel, likely in shock.

  “Are any of you injured?” Jonathan asked, using a bit of his Alpha voice to pull their attention away from the wreckage.

  “No, Alpha,” one of them replied. “We’re fine.”

  “Good,” he said, “I want you to split into groups of three and search the grounds. See if you can find anyone who needs help.”

  “What if we run into more of them?” a young wolf with blond hair asked, fear plain on his young face.

  “Kill them,” Jonathan said. “Call for help if you need to, but we can’t let these monsters run free. If they get into the city, they could do a lot of damage.”

  The young wolf still looked frightened, but he nodded. “Yes, Alpha,” he said.

  The group split up and headed towards the hotel, some of them stripping quickly and shifting to their wolves. Jonathan watched them go for a moment, hoping they wouldn’t run into any trouble. He was pretty sure most of the zombies had been killed in the fire, but he didn’t want to take any chances.

  “Dad,” Jesse called out. Jonathan turned and watched as he approached. His son wore only a pair of sweatpants, much like his own, and he was covered in dirt, blood, and goodness knew what else. But he was alive.

  “What is it?” he asked.

  “They’ve set up an area for the, uh, for the dead,” Jesse told him, pointing towards the far side of the parking lot.

  “Show me.”

  Jesse led the way, taking him past the emergency vehicles to a spot where passers-by couldn’t easily see. A dozen still forms lay on the grass, covered in tarps and blankets and even jackets in an attempt to provide dignity to those who hadn’t survived. Jonathan visited each person, kneeling a moment and offering a few words. The dead were mostly wolves, but a few of the human hotel staff had been caught by the zombies before they could escape.

  “The fire crew said they want to start recovery in the hotel as soon as the sun comes up,” Jesse told him. “They’re hoping the structure will hold now that the fire’s out.”

  “I want the names of everyone who did make it,” Jonathan said. “And I want to know who’s missing. Wolf or otherwise.”

  “Got it,” Jesse said, and he was off at a brisk jog.

  Jonathan stayed for a few minutes, watching over the dead. He’d known this might happen, he’d weighed the risks, and he’d decided to go forward with the conference. It was one thing to imagine the consequences; it was another thing entirely to have them laid out at your feet. He knew this was only the beginning, that it wouldn’t be the only fight, the only casualties. War was here, whether they wanted it or not.

  Chapter 41
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br />   Angel woke with a raging headache, overwhelmed by the smell of antiseptic and ash. Blinking her eyes open, she tried to figure out where she was. She was lying in a bed, wearing a white gown. The room was small, painted white, with a couple machines against one wall and a shelf against the other, filled with an assortment of bottles and vials. The steady hum of magic surrounded her, and she realized she was in a witch hospital.

  Sitting up slowly, things started coming back to her. The zombies, vampires, witchfyre, Martin, and Matt. Her whole body ached, but it didn’t seem like anything was broken. A couple of her ribs were tender, but probably not much more than mild bruising. Lifting a hand to her head, she realized it was wrapped in gauze. At least that explained the headache. While she was still getting her bearings, a nurse entered the room, smiling when she saw Angel was awake.

  “Hello, there,” she said, “it’s good to see you awake. How are you feeling?”

  “Sore,” Angel said, “and my head aches pretty badly.”

  “That’s to be expected,” the nurse said, picking up the chart at the end of the bed and flipping through it quickly. “Looks like you had a moderate concussion. We would have given you a healing potion, but your injuries weren’t life-threatening, and the doctor was worried it would drain you further. We did, however, use an ointment to heal the bite wounds on your arms.”

  “Thanks,” Angel said. “Any chance I can get something for the pain?”

  “Of course,” the nurse replied, pulling a small vial from her pocket, “I’ve got something ready for you right here. If you need any more, just let me know.”

  Angel took the vial and downed it in one gulp; the pain lessened almost immediately.

  “Do you think you’re up for some visitors?” the nurse asked. “You’ve got quite a few, uh, friends, camped out in the waiting room.”