Red picked up her feet to keep up, jogging toward a sleepy, unfamiliar parking lot. The building complex was a maze even without counting the academy. She’d been here nearly a week and hadn’t left beyond a quick shopping trip. Still, the academy held its secrets well. She mostly knew her way to the casino, the library, and the gym to workout with Hannah while Trudy led them through routines. The Bard seemed just as interested in their physical prowess as the magical.
Trudy waited for them curbside, checking her watch. “Fantastic time, girls. Hannah, you’re showing marked improvement this week, I’m pleased to report. Vic trained Red well in the field, and I think it’s rubbing off on you.”
Red smiled at the genuine compliment. Time had smoothed over the rocky start with the Bard, even if Trudy was a stricter mentor than Vic. She channeled the vibe of a drill sergeant, hard on his recruits now to keep them alive later in the war, but that intense focus seemed to soften after a good endorphin rush from exercise. The Bard worked herself as hard as she pushed them.
“So, we can end early tonight, and I can hang out at the Nostradamus?” Hannah asked, wistful hope on her sweaty face.
A repressed grin teasing the corner of her mouth, Trudy folded her arms. “You’re doing good, but we won’t go that far. Heroes need more than supernatural gifts to survive their battles.” She nodded to separate areas along the deserted sidewalk. “Red, do a rotation of jumping jacks. Hannah, wind sprints."
Hannah stifled a groan as she wiped her face with the edge of her pink top.
Red patted Hannah's shoulder, leaning into whisper, "I have ice cream in the fridge for later."
"You're on." Hannah smiled. She trotted off.
Launching into jumping jacks, Red didn't mind the workout. It burned off the edge of nervousness that had been brewing all day. Her first magic lesson was tomorrow. Time had sped by at the academy with full days of study and training that left her tired but happy. She had even managed to get in a session with Dawn, her empath therapist, to unpack her grief around Quinn, Joe Chang, and even the traitor Trey. The serenity of life under the banyan tree was just what she needed after the fight with the Dague.
An alarm trilled on Trudy’s wrist, and she turned away from the girls, pulling an elixir vial out of her satchel.
Barely noticing the Bard taking her nightly prescription, Red paused between reps, hands on her hips. She caught her breath, watching the sprinting teen.
Hannah stilled at the far end of the sidewalk. She pawed through her bag, then dropped it. A discrete beckoning wave to the others was the only warning before she tore off into the parking lot.
Red jogged off after Hannah. It took a moment scanning the darkened rows of cars to see what alerted her.
Emerging from behind a van in sunglasses and a popped-up collar, a tall man held a slumping young woman by the waist. He was followed by a round-shouldered male whose husky form and darting glances gave him the appearance of being a literal bundle of nerves. Both too pale, their teeth glimmered an unnatural white. Vampires.
Red wanted to shout to get back, but the teen had already raised a glowing crystal. She slipped on her spirt gaze, hoping Hannah had a spell ready.
“Let her go!” Hannah called out, stopping behind the vampires. She held up a cross in her other hand. Soft, translucent waves of energy sprung from it. Gulping visibly, she shuffled forward. “Drop her!”
Hissing, the vampires drew back, clumping together. The squat minion muttered, “I told you we should have stayed in Cali, Chad.”
Regaining his courage first, Chad pushed the unconscious woman to the other man. Tossing a side glance at the complainer, he popped his wavering collar up, then rolled up his sleeves, striding toward Hannah. “Look, dessert found us. Wait until Leroy comes around with the car and sees this party.”
Cursing at Hannah’s head start, Red raced ahead, calling out, “Dessert has a friend!” She didn’t mention that she didn’t have a stake on her.
Trudy outstripped Red, pulling an old book from her satchel.
Attention snapping to the two advancing women, Chad laughed.
Red pumped her legs, blood running cold. Not from the villainous guffaw, but from the determination on the teen’s face.
Stepping forward, Hannah dropped her crystal and tossed the cross at Red who caught it instinctively. Voice wavering, the teen addressed the dead man. “Give her up peacefully.”
“Nah.” Chad lunged to meet the defenseless girl, fist aiming for her face. A bright flash rose on impact. He flew back, slamming into a sedan, setting off a car alarm.
“Dumbass.” Hannah snorted. “There’s a sanctuary spell.”
“There’s more than that,” Trudy said, holding an open grimoire. Dark orbs jetted out of the book to orbit over Chad’s head like birds in a cartoon. “Stay down, dead man. You run and my magic follows.”
Voice firm, Hannah put her hands on her hips to face the trembling minion. “The innocent, now!”
The minion shoved the barely conscious woman at Hannah and sprinted away.
Red bounced off on her heels to chase after him. Trudy’s orbs beat her to him. She’d already guessed Trudy’s gambit to avoid triggering the sanctuary spell by containing the vampires.
The minion skidded to a stop, fangs out and eyes amber as the dark spheres circled him. “I saw the no violence spell. You can’t hurt me!”
“I suppose you’re right.” Mischief behind her glasses, Trudy beckoned her orbs back with a crooked finger. “Someone else can.”
“Huh?” He tilted his head.
A golf cart zoomed between a pair of parked cars and slammed into the minion, Perenelle Flamel at the wheel.
Bowler hat tipped low, Ian popped out of the passenger side. He lifted a small handheld crossbow and aimed it at the stout dead man. Uncut onyx studs shimmered with power on his shoulder harness. A precise bullseye to the heart made the vampire collapse in a decaying slump. With a professional’s cool, Ian reloaded with a small arrow plucked from his trench coat.
Chad the vampire scrambled over the hood of a car to get away. The arrow embedded deep into the center of his back. He dissolved to bones, rolling to hit the asphalt.
Trudy snapped her book closed and smiled at Ian. “I’m surprised it took you this long. There is a third to find.”
“Already staked him.” Pushing back his trench coat, Ian hung the mini crossbow on his belt. “We were tracking them in the casino already.”
Red whistled. “Three dead vamps. The supreme around here is going to be pissed.”
“He wouldn’t say boo to the First Alchemist over outsiders.” Ian smirked, tipped back his hat. He turned away, putting a cellphone to his ear to order cleanup for the bodies.
“Well, this has a been a most exhilarating staff observation.” Perenelle gestured to the awakening victim. “Hannah, if you would lead this poor woman to the cart.” The Immortal Alchemist adjusted her windblown bell sleeves as she stepped toward Red. “I am not surprised to find the vampire hunter in the thick of things.”
Red let out a self-deprecating chuckle. “It was really Trudy and Hannah who saved that woman. I was just here for the exercise.”
Calm as if they had done yoga for their cooldown instead of taking on some vampires, Trudy put a hand on Red’s shoulder. “I believe the night’s workout is complete. Get my young Hero back to the dorm. Rest up. You’ll be using a lot of magic tomorrow.”
“An early night, it is.” Red grinned, waving the teen over to lead her out of the parking lot.
“We are so not going home now.” Hannah announced, pushing open a side entrance of the casino. “The guys are probably at the Nostradamus.”
“But Trudy said…”
“Basil needs you. He’s working on his guest lecture,” Hannah wheedled. “He and Vic are still fighting over puns.”
“You’re right. Ezra can only smooth over so many creative differences with beer and buffalo wings.” Lifting her hands in defeat, Red shrugged. “Fine,
you win. Just don’t tell your Bard.”
She could hang out for a bit. It was still early. It wasn’t like she was going to be late for her first magic lesson tomorrow.
---
Red hurried down the hall, feeling more lost with each step. Groggy from the late night, she’d woken early to finish the last book on the assigned reading list over breakfast. Hannah had wanted to sleep in. It wasn’t a special day to her after all. She’d waved her roommate along after murmuring directions. Red thought she could handle it. Cursing to herself, she couldn’t believe she was going to be late.
She darted through a doorway that she could have sworn Hannah said went to the east laboratories. The pulled taffy sensation of portal travel barely fazed her anymore. It opened behind a curtain in a room full of chain-smoking gamblers watching screens of dog races and boxing matches.
Time moved strangely in the Circe Casino. The dazzle of the machines, the spin of the roulette wheels, and the ever-changing faces of the guests seemed to exist in their own dimension. Even if she weren’t obscured behind dingy velvet, they wouldn’t have noticed her. It wasn’t a spell that held them rapt, it was the allure of lady luck.
Ducking back into the portal disguised as a broom closet, she ended up in a completely different hall constructed from the same reddish stone as the dormitory tower. She hated when the doors switched on her. The halls had a lot of random décor and symbolism stuck in shadowy nooks. A marble statue could stand sentinel outside a laboratory one day and then disappear the next. Unless it was carved into a wall or nailed down, she couldn’t use it as a landmark.
Turning in a circle, she thought she recognized a copper sconce shaped like a salamander. “What the hell am I doing?”
A raven squawked in reply as it soared over head.
“I think we’ve all asked ourselves that question.” She defended herself to the already gone bird. Shrugging her bag up, she guessed and opened the third door on the left.
Perenelle stood at a table clutching a glass vial with tongs to examine the glowing contents. A thick lens on a copper stand magnified her wide cheekbones and pointed chin. Her skin looked eerily smooth and poreless. She poured the liquid into a raised metal horn. The mixture cast shimmering lights on her velvet dress.
Red froze.
The magnified eye narrowed, purple iris gleaming. “Did you want to speak, Red?”
Striding forward, Red shrugged and adjusted her bag. She hadn’t been able to have a conversation alone with the Immortal Alchemist since the library. Finishing the genealogy book had raised some questions, but she knew she had walked in on some mad magical science in progress.
“Er, I’m actually lost. I’m looking for the east laboratories. I’m supposed to be meeting Trudy for my first real lesson.”
“You have found the right wing. I enjoy working outside my private laboratory during ranking season, when I am assisting with the assessments. I find that I understand my adepts’ work better in their own environment.” Perenelle put down the empty vial and moved away from the lens. “Do you feel recharged? You’ve had many ordeals.”
Red dropped the psychic barrier she had over herself, revealing her bright chakras. She had been blessing her muffins like Hannah taught her. More importantly, she had convinced Vic to leave the werewolves to the Gendarme. She hadn’t needed to strain her energy on any supernatural shenanigans. “Looks pretty good to me.”
“Still. I’d like to… It’s just a quick aura scan. We’ve only just developed this prototype.” Perenelle reached for a small handheld device from the shelf. It looked like a store inventory counter mated with a medieval astrolabe. She hovered the gold-plated end over Red’s shoulder, murmuring something that sounded like French too quietly to make out. She clicked her tongue, returning it to the shelf. “You regenerated nicely from whatever horrid thing that drained you. I’m curious…”
The Genesis Machine was a secret the Blood Alliance would kill to keep. She was happy enough to leave it behind her. “What were you working on before I interrupted you?”
“I was replicating an adept’s experiment. A trinket. A drinking horn that can neutralize the magic of even the fae’s mead. Something to impress the Synod at his ranking. It’s still an experiment, but I guess they all are.” She pointed to a shelf hanging over the counter. Delicate blue blooms shaped like broken hearts flowered in a shiny black pot on the shelf reflected the light of the gleaming sphere beside it. The squat bottle in the middle was nearly lost in the surrounding brilliance. “Genetically modified ghostflowers for poisoning ghouls, an enthymema draught to unlock the mind, and my personal favorite, harnessed sunshine. All unstable experiments in progress.”
Red gawked at Perenelle. It wasn’t the draught that impressed her. She had drank her share of snake oil potions to uncover her memories. Even drank some foul psychedelic mushroom concoction with Basil. All she got was some funny dreams out it.
Harnessed sunshine was another story. The implications sunk in. That would revolutionize fighting vamps.
Her thoughts tumbled over themselves. She had seen magic before but never someone listing off wonders like they were just craft projects around the house. She didn’t understand how this place even existed. How was the network of spells and enchantments even powered? She had tried to chat up alchemists for answers, even stopping Ian in the Pyramid, but they all gave her the cryptic act. Only the librarian tried to help her understand by recommending books that read like a Byzantine monk had taken acid before picking up the pen.
Red was already late to class, but the rambling questions popped from her. “How do you even do this stuff here? I’ve seen mages hold up spells using altars or craft magical objects, but there are portal doors here! Then the free-standing illusion spells and a bottomless pond by the banyan. That tree is a topic by itself. I haven’t even seen a ghost, and they love to lurk around mystical energy. And just the physical dimensions of this place! I don’t even know where that dormitory tower is actually standing. It’s not visible from the outside.” Red gulped, mouth dry from her rant. She shifted on her feet. “I thought alchemists were like potion makers, you know? Magic chemists.”
“Chemists…” Perenelle huffed a small laugh. “They did a rebrand in the 1800s because they thought they were better than us. Intellectual cowards. True alchemists are renaissance men. They are as literate in demon summoning as they are classic transmutation.”
“Still, how can you keep all these spells going?”
“The magic that a collective can do together… You’ve noticed that alchemists are leery of others finding their research. It’s been the work of many lifetimes for me to convince my fellows to study together in such numbers. This academy is a monument to layers of intricate craftsmanship of generations of alchemists. My next trick is to open our doors to other unaffiliated mages like you.”
“So, I’m a guinea pig to see if witch classes work out?”
“As is Hannah. However, if you find yourself interested in joining our order and learning our art, you’ll be welcomed.” Perenelle walked around the counter. “I do think you have the temperament for alchemy. Of course, we’re all mages, no matter our discipline, united through the spark of the mystical divine in us. I can’t help but be biased.”
“Well, you are like the Immortal Alchemist, after all.”
Perenelle smiled, heading toward the door. “I suppose I should let you have one lesson with the Bard before I try to recruit you. She’s a talented witch. Uniquely suited to your deficiencies. She is a master of magical control.”
Tucking a lock of fallen hair behind her ear, Red glanced at the Immortal Alchemist as she dropped into step beside her. She had met a lot of things that called themselves immortal. Mostly they were just old. There was an ethereal quality to Madam Flamel’s features up close that made the name seemed real. “Why are you interested in me? I appreciate it, but I’m getting the feeling that you’re too busy to have a personal interest in every adept.”
; “You are correct. I care for all my students, yet you have aroused my curiosity.” Perenelle cocked her head. “How much do you know about the August Harvest?”
“Enough.” Red bit the inside of her cheek. She knew some truths behind the original soul curse that not even the Brotherhood possessed. Even if she wasn’t sure exactly what role her past life had in bringing the soulmancer Father Matthew to his destiny in 1900. “Lots of vampires got souls.”
“Vampires delighted in witch hunts as much as the witch hunters, once upon a time. I lost dozens of students to such an unholy alliance one grim October over a century ago.” Perenelle’s searching gaze caught her eyes. “Politics tied my hands against revenge. The blood clans were too powerful.”
“Until the soul curse.”
Perenelle tapped the side of her nose, nodding. “Every coven with a soulmancer sent them out after local vampires. Some didn’t even bother with one. They created unstable spells, hoping to replicate the effects of Father Matthew’s original. With mixed results, I must say.”
“Lots of them died trying, I heard.” Red had heard the stories even before the name Juniper St. James entered her lexicon. The August Harvest had rocked the supernatural world for decades. The scars still hadn’t healed. Her last few months proved that.
“Those who survived to curse a vampire only seemed to summon more to hunt their coven in revenge. It was chaos.”
“Cue the Blood Alliance.”
The Immortal Alchemist snorted, a very mortal sound. “They organized their side, but it was the Global Covens convening for the first time in lifetimes that quelled the violence. Alchemists sat beside voodoo queens and druids, mages united for a moment to ban soul curses on vampires. Then the bickering began. I can still hear it.” Perenelle rubbed her temple. The conversation lulled as they turned a corner, passing a student gawking at the legend in his midst. “Maybe I am chasing a dream, but I hope one day you and Hannah will be joined by other knowledge seekers from every mystical path.”
Witch On The Run: A New Adult Urban Fantasy (Red Witch Chronicles 4) Page 9
