Blood and Blade

by Lauren Dane

  “Is that how most witches learn?” It sounded similar to Rowan’s education beginning at the hands of Theo at the Keep and then to Celesse and then to Susan at Hunter Corp. She didn’t have the years Genevieve had, but they were a lot alike.

  “No. Most witches are born and are taught according to whatever gifts they manifest. And before you ask, no there is no Hogwarts, but within the various covens and via the Conclave, there are mentors and classes on how to use magic if it’s a different discipline than a parent might have. We don’t want untrained witches out there doing themselves or anyone else harm.”

  Rowan knew there was more to the story so she kept quiet and let Genevieve speak at her own pace.

  “My family, much like Clive’s, is important and highly placed within the Conclave. I’m the child of two very powerful, very gifted witches from two very prestigious families. There are a few of us in my generation. Most of us are still alive. The ones that aren’t couldn’t find a way to live with the pressure. Couldn’t find a way to process and live with the Aubert method of education. From the time I could remember, I was told that it was my job in life to be able to wield as many types of magic as I possibly could. The more disciplines I understood and could wield, the more powerful I would be and the more secure my family would be at the top of the Conclave. I did and we are and continue to be. I am something very few witches can be, a lattice witch. I can fold myriad disciplines and shape them into spellcraft.”

  Rowan didn’t have to be looking at Genevieve to know she shrugged like it was no big deal. But it so was. Still, she took Genevieve’s lead and didn’t comment.

  “How old were you when you killed the first time?”

  A very abrupt question, but Rowan answered it honestly. “Nine. It was a rite of passage. Theo made me mete out punishment to one of his Vampires who disobeyed him and nearly exposed our existence. As it was, that Vampire was the reason seven humans had to be executed in a staged car accident to keep them from blabbing it all.”

  “Did you feel guilty?”

  “No. I did what I was told to do. The Vampire had endangered everyone and The First had given an execution order.”

  “A human child was ordered to execute a full grown Vampire?”

  Rowan laughed but there wasn’t much joy in the sound. “That wasn’t the last time he ordered me to do something like that. He was a very old-school parent. He believed in beatings and other harsh punishments to hone me into a weapon. He told me most human emotions made me weak and that it was his job to Make me into a Vampire.” In his own twisted way, it had been love. Love she was still recovering from in many ways, but he had indeed Made her into a Vampire in many important facets. And she was still alive for it.

  “You are a weapon, but you’re not without emotion or compassion. You made the best out of what your life was. You changed what you could when you could. That’s survival and it’s why we’re here right now.”

  Rowan had the feeling Genevieve meant that for herself as well.

  The plot of land was miles from the highway so Rowan’s speed diminished exponentially once they left 318 and started taking smaller and smaller side roads until there was no pavement and only hard packed dirt.

  “Stop here,” Genevieve said.

  Rowan pulled off to the side and cut the engine.

  Genevieve stepped out of the car but Star put a paw on Rowan’s arm when she started to join her friend.

  “Is this your way of stopping me?” Rowan asked the dog while keeping her eyes on Genevieve.

  Star put her chin on Rowan’s arm next and she figured that was the closest she could come to saying yes.

  “This is making me nervous. What if she needs me?” Rowan asked Star.

  Her beautiful dog just stared back, as if to say, Genevieve can take care of herself.

  * * *

  The moment she stepped from the car Genevieve got caught up in the magic all around. The air seemed to hang thick with it. Wisps of power seemed to brush against her skin with little electric zings. The magic here was delicious and seemed to welcome her.

  She let herself open her senses. Took it slow as she used her othersight to seek out the magic. Dismiss everything but formations and patterns that indicated a working. As she walked, she barely registered the sound of her steps on the ground but the scent of sage and salt and scrub rose all around her.

  After a few minutes she caught the first glimmers of the edge of a ward. Ah, there. Patritzia’s land was nearby. And given the looks of it, layer upon layer of runes and sigils, warded tight.

  Well.

  This witch was a criminal and not a particularly effective one, but she wasn’t without talent.

  Genevieve had lived long enough that something new was a delight and finding a worthy adversary a rarity. And she loved learning new things. Loved digging and finding new ways to use her magic.

  She also loved being alive so she turned and headed back down the long dirt road to the car.

  Once inside she cast a quick spell to hide them before she said anything. “This is the right road. The boundary markers to her property aren’t too far away but she’s got some really excellent warding and I’m totally sure she’s got warning spells that’ll trigger when anything bigger than a coyote gets close. She’s watching. I certainly would be. And no offense, but your power is unique and so bright it’s nearly blinding. Good thing I’m so very talented so obviously I can hide us both. I don’t think I need to hide Star though. I think she’s got herself handled.”

  Star just kept her chin on Rowan’s arm.

  “The car will interfere. It takes a different sort of magic to hide. It’s a waste and if I have to use a lot of powerful magic to defend us I’d prefer not to waste any of it.” And she wanted to be outside, wanted the earth at her feet and the air all around her.

  “It’s already getting dark. There are snakes out there and if you think I’m traipsing around in the pitch dark with fucking snakes you’re very wrong.”

  “You’re afraid of snakes?”

  “And holes you step in that break your ankle and are probably full of other things like spiders and lizards and whatever other gross creepy crawly shit I do not care to mix with. Maybe witches have some sort of snake hole radar but Vessels don’t.”

  Genevieve laughed and patted her friend’s arm.

  “I don’t want you outside the car anyway. Like I said, your power is like a lighthouse in the fog. I need to read her wards and you’re too much static. I mean that in the best way.”

  Rowan snickered. “If you say so. Don’t take unnecessary risks.”

  “Of course.”

  She told Rowan when to drive and when to stop and got out, walking the long line of the wards, unraveling as she went. Tucking away bits and pieces of workmanship in the craft of the overall working.

  There was something else Genevieve realized connected with the magic she’d been seeing lately, that something different she couldn’t quite place in the magic.

  She told Rowan about it the next time she got back into the car. It was already dark but Genevieve could see just fine.

  Rowan asked, “This thing you keep sensing, is it like a signature from a witch you might have worked with in the past or is it just something totally new?”

  “The structure of the spell is unique in the same way the other spells have been unique. It’s like no magic I can remember seeing before. But still, familiar in some sense. Maybe related to something else I might have briefly seen at some point. Like it’s on the tip of my tongue.” And if she could just piece it all together, she’d be able to structure a homing spell. Patrizia was part of this, but not the head of whatever was going on. A cog.

  Just ahead a small log house sat on a rise. Perfectly situated to keep an open viewpoint to all directions.

  “She’s there. I don’t even need you to know that.
I can feel her,” Rowan said.

  “Yes. She doesn’t know we’re here. Yet. I don’t want her to until we knock on her front door like civilized people.”

  “And then what? Because between you and me? She’s not going quietly. She’s going to fight. Maybe she’s bothered by whatever she did for the Blood Front, but I doubt it. She could have come to you at any time and she didn’t. That says a lot. It says all I need to know to go pounding on her door expecting a battle.”

  “Always so quick to fight,” Genevieve said.

  “Oh fuck that. Should I feel guilty that I understand how the world works and react appropriately? The price of me ignoring reality is people dying.”

  “You’re right. I apologize for being so flip about it. I find her fascinating. Not because I agree with her crimes or that I find it acceptable that she’s done what she has. She has power, Rowan. Talent. These wards are so well done and I look at her life and wonder why there’s a disconnect. What happened to her that she’s made the choices she has? Even if the magic she used to make the wards was stolen magic, she put it all together. Part of me admires that and I let that get between us for a moment. Yes, she’s going to fight us. She’s got talent so please be careful.”

  They drove right up to the house and parked out front. Every few steps Genevieve paused to rip the wards down until Rowan knocked on the front door.

  “I’m bummed she doesn’t have a doorbell,” Rowan muttered as she kept knocking.

  Patrizia opened up, anger all over her face.

  “Who are you and how did you get to my doorstep?” she demanded before she paused to really see just exactly who and what waited for her. She froze and that’s when Genevieve did something with her hands that froze Patrizia in place. Nifty.

  Once they were inside, Genevieve closed the door.

  “I’m Genevieve Aubert. This is Rowan Summerwaite and Star.” The dog pressed against Rowan’s side, on full alert. “Let’s talk about how you know Roderick Haigh, shall we?”

  “Get the fuck out of my house!” Patrizia screeched.

  Rowan rolled her eyes. “Not gonna happen. So let’s talk, because once I’m convinced talking is fruitless I’m going to move to punching. So much less fun. For you anyway. I like punching a lot.”

  “Who the fuck are you?”

  Rowan got in Patrizia’s face. “I am your worst nightmare, Pat. See, I’ve got all sorts of stuff on my plate and here you are making things worse for me and adding items to my to do list. I’m not a fan. I’m here as a representative of Hunter Corp. and Genevieve here is representing the Conclave.”

  “What’s that got to do with me?” Patrizia’s tone had changed as the reality of what was happening began to set in.

  “See?” Rowan demanded of Genevieve. “Not so fascinating now, huh? Just annoying as hell. Look, Lisa, Pat, Trish, whatever you want to be called, here’s the thing, I know what I know. Which is that you’re involved with this whole Blood Front situation. Selling siphon and energy power trap spells. What’s your place in this? You someone’s main squeeze so you run spells to the black market on their behalf?”

  Rowan figured that was bullshit, that Pat was the one doing the spells and selling them to the Blood Front herself, but why miss an opportunity to offend someone? People got sloppy when they were offended.

  Especially someone like this crusty fucking witch who needed her ass kicked from now until Sunday.

  “You have no right to be here. I did not say you could come in,” Patrizia said.

  “We’re not in a Vampire movie. We don’t need your permission to come inside. But you can call the cops. We’ll wait.” Rowan tossed herself onto the couch.

  Genevieve rolled her eyes. “Patrizia, I am here as an envoy from the Conclave. You have broken several of our laws. We can talk, or I can let Rowan handle the interrogation.”

  Patrizia threw some sort of magic at Rowan but before she could react, Genevieve batted it aside. The edge of it sliced along Rowan’s leg, bringing a hiss of pain.

  “Don’t try me, whelp,” Genevieve snarled after making sure Rowan was all right. “You have some talent, but I’m something else entirely.”

  “You don’t know anything!” Patrizia shrieked in Italian.

  Rowan just sat and watched her friend magically knock the shit out of Patrizia until the other woman’s nose began to bleed and welts rose on her forearms when she raised her hands to guard her face.

  That’s when the bitch ran.

  Out the door and into the night beyond.

  Shit!

  Rowan and Genevieve followed.

  “She’s using the magic here. There’s a lot of it,” Genevieve said as they caught up to Patrizia who’d run out of steam a few hundred feet away from the front steps.

  “Can I just shoot her and be done?” Rowan asked. “I hate when they make me run.”

  “We need some information first and she’s injured enough that she couldn’t even make it out of her front yard,” Genevieve muttered and then broke from Rowan’s side to circle Patrizia.

  The hair on Rowan’s arms rose straight up as Genevieve toed her shoes off and stood, barefoot against the hard packed dirt and sand. Rowan wanted to tell her friend to watch out for spiders and snakes and stuff, but they were probably all afraid of her anyway.

  “I can see why you live out here,” Genevieve said to Patrizia. “So much ambient magic in the air and earth. Though given the way the magic embraces me and you’re having to yank on it, it likes me better. Probably because I don’t need stolen power to call it and you have to.”

  Genevieve switched to Italian and Patrizia went stock still. Thank the Goddess it was a language Rowan spoke well too, or she’d have had no idea what was going on.

  “You can’t beat me. You can’t escape. You can only tell me what’s happening or die. It’s your choice,” Genevieve said softly.

  As far as Rowan was concerned it was both. The other witch couldn’t just be allowed to walk away from all the damage she’d wrought against so many people. It was a blatant Treaty violation. The sort that got someone executed.

  So Genevieve could say it was a choice, but it really wasn’t the choice Pat would think it was. It was a die quick and painless after telling the truth or die horribly and hard if she didn’t.

  Whether Genevieve liked it or not. It might be their first big fight.

  Despite herself, Rowan wanted to laugh but managed to hold it in.

  The air all around them crackled with energy. As if a storm approached. Ozone hung thick as if lightning was coming or had recently struck.

  * * *

  Genevieve reached for power and it leapt to her, eager to serve. Eager to help. There was a metallic tang in its flavor. Something she’d recognized from the time she’d done a working at sunrise in the desert. That day Darius had been watching.

  “How did you know Roderick Haigh?” Genevieve demanded, putting power behind the request.

  “She doesn’t know shit,” Rowan called out, her tone a taunt. “This criminal bitch is living out here because she’s unemployable and no one gives a shit about her. Let’s go find the real culprits. This loser is wasting our time.”

  “Loser? Fuck you!” Patrizia attempted to send some violent magic Rowan’s way but Genevieve’s shield spell protected her completely that time.

  The magic she’d pulled from the air all around them was adamantine and brilliant. It worked with her other talents, boosting her power.

  “All you people living with humans like we owe them something when they should be the ones owing us!” Patrizia said as she threw another spell at Genevieve, who batted it to the side.

  Rowan’s snort of derision was loud and clear. “For real, this attitude is gross as fuck. Why is it that people who hold themselves out like this with this disgusting rhetoric are always the worst of whatever group the
y’re part of has to offer? Humans do this too and they’re all losers as well. Successful people never say things like this. You may as well be wearing a sign around your neck with an arrow pointing to your head that says, Don’t listen to me, I’m a failure.”

  Genevieve struggled not to laugh. If anyone could poke a recalcitrant witness into speaking and incriminating themselves it was Rowan.

  “Roderick was a pawn too. They all were. Let’s go. We have important places to be and important people to deal with,” Rowan said.

  Patrizia laughed, brittle and bitter. “Of course Haigh was a pawn. Thought he could get around all the things his family had done by making a profit off the revolution. Typical. He’ll be the first to die when we finally take over.”

  Rowan laughed and laughed. “Please. We? Honey, there’s no we here. You actually think a Vampire of any kind is going to install you at the top of some new ruling class? Have you met a Vampire before?”

  Genevieve tended to agree with that.

  “They don’t think they’re better than you, Patty. They know it. And they’ll suck you dry and cast you aside like garbage when they don’t need you anymore. All you have to do is look around you to see the truth of that.”

  “What do you know about it?” Patrizia demanded as she attempted to send another round of spells Rowan’s way.

  “I’m Rowan Summerwaite. If you don’t know who I am, let me go on and give you the quick, pertinent details. I was raised at the knee of The First. You know, the leader of the Vampire Nation and the oldest of their kind. So, yeah, kind of a harsh childhood. He wasn’t much on hugs and stuffed animals. I’m also the human Vessel to the Goddess Brigid. She really isn’t pleased with you. Oh and I’m representing Hunter Corp. Just a day ending in Y I guess. All that adds up to bad news for you because if anyone out here knows how Vampires work, it’s me.”