Heart of the Thief (The Wardbreaker Book 1)

by Katerina Martinez

  He turned at the last second and put his hands up, his tall, lanky form looking more like a praying mantis than an actual human being. The spell struck him in the forearm with enough force to send him crashing to the floor. Arcs of lightning whipped around his body, causing him to violently convulse like he’d just been hit with a taser.

  I ran over to him, pausing to catch my breath. “Why’d you make me do that, man?” I asked, “I told you before, I just wanna talk.”

  Karim kept convulsing, his veins popping around his skinny neck. “This is…” he struggled, “Horribly undignified…”

  “Yeah, I know… sorry, it’ll wear off in a second. You alright back there?” I called to Axel.

  He didn’t respond. I turned around, frowning.

  “Axel?” I said again. My heart started to race. I’d left him alone with a zombie thinking he could handle it, but what if something had happened to him? “Axel!”

  Axel slowly came rising out of the layer of mist covering the graveyard. He padded his suit down repeatedly, then squirmed like he’d just been hit with a violent shudder. “Yeah, I’m fine,” he said, “Just got nearly mauled by the walking dead.”

  “Now you have a story to tell,” I said, “Help me get Karim up before the spell wears off and he decides to wake up the entire graveyard.”

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  Karim stared at me with a look that would’ve sliced up my face, if his eyes were razors. Despite his gangly, gaunt, mildly unshaven look that put him somewhere between homeless man and mad scientist, Karim was one hell of a mage. I knew better than to mess with him; I also knew better than to leave even one of his hands untied or pointing in my direction.

  My stunning spell had almost worn off by the time Axel was done tying Karim’s hands around the very same tree he’d been using as cover. I realized this probably looked a lot like kidnapping, but I’d been kidnapped last night, and I got over it. He would too.

  “Was it tying me up really necessary?” Karim asked.

  “Correct me if I’m wrong, but the last time we met, you tied me up. I’d say that makes us even, now?”

  “In my defense… I don’t trust you.”

  “Neither do I. You’re tall, you’re shifty, and you’re British.”

  “What does my being British have to do with trust?”

  I shrugged. “Maybe nothing, maybe everything.”

  “Is this why we came here?” Axel asked, “So you could both snipe at each other?”

  “We were doing that just fine a moment ago,” Karim said, “And I much preferred that kind of sniping, thank you very much. This… this I could do without.”

  I shook my head. “Look, you and I have had our issues, I know that. But I didn’t come here just so that I could stun you and tie you to a tree—even though that’s probably been the highlight of my day so far.”

  “Oh, excellent, so there is a point to this. Good. A less intellectual sort of fellow would’ve considered this a random act of violence, which wouldn’t be totally out of character for a rube like you.”

  “Rube? Screw you and your stiff-upper-lipped insults. I’m no idiot.”

  “And yet…”

  “Alright, enough of this,” Axel cut in. “Isabella, tell him why we’re here so that we can get out of this place.”

  “See?” I rounded on him, pointing a finger, “I knew you didn’t like graveyards!”

  “What’s wrong with graveyards?” Karim asked.

  Axel cocked an eyebrow. “I’m… not comfortable with ghosts.”

  Karim frowned. “Any good Necromancer worth his salt can tell you, you don’t find ghosts at graveyards. You find horny adolescents, people with weird kinks, and grave-robbers at graveyards.”

  “Which are you?” I asked.

  “Well, considering I’m neither an adolescent, nor do I have kinks—of the necro kind, anyway—then I’m probably just a mild-mannered citizen patrolling the boundaries that separate our world from the hungry, restless dead.”

  “Didn’t you just say you don’t find ghosts at graveyards?” Axel asked. “Wait… are you stealing from graves?” He’d lowered his voice to say that last part. I didn’t know why he was whispering. Besides the corpses, we didn’t have an audience.

  I rolled my eyes, then said with a little flash, “Axel Barlow, I’d like to introduce you to Karim Chambers; decrepit organ peddler, extraordinaire.”

  Karim scoffed, then shuddered as an aftershock of my stunning spell rippled through him. “You call that flare? There was no heart that little performance.”

  “Oh, that’s right, he’s also an actor. How many movies have you been in?”

  “I’m a thespian… and none, but I exclusively work on the stage. Maybe if we were in London, I could point you to any of the many theatres in which I’ve performed. Now, could we please get to the part where you untie me?”

  “Not until I tell you why I’m here.”

  “Right, could we also get to that part? My arse is starting to get wet.”

  Axel shook his head. “I’m still trying to get over the part where you steal organs from corpses in graves. Is there a market for that?”

  Karim cocked an eyebrow. “I think you’ll find no matter how strange your specialty is, you’ll always find someone willing to pay you for your services. As it happens, organs in various states of decay are useful to Necromancers and even Vivimancers who wish to better understand the human condition. If you’re clever enough, you can even use them to enhance your spells, or simply offer them to a ghost in exchange for knowledge they might possess. Did you come here to extract my services? You could’ve simply called and made an appointment. Of course, I would’ve told you to go screw yourself, but…”

  “I do need your services,” I said, “But this wasn’t something I could ask over the phone.”

  “No, you needed to stun me and tie me up first, so it must be good.”

  “It is…” I turned my head over to Axel. “See this man? He kidnapped me last night.”

  Axel shot me stern, but surprised look. He hadn’t been expecting me to say that. Karim studied Axel, then me. “That’s weird, because from where I’m sitting, I’m the one that’s been kidnapped. You look relatively free.”

  “I think you forget your place,” Axel said, his voice low; a warning.

  “I know my place,” I said. “Last night, you and your henchmen found me and kidnapped me because I’d stolen from your father—stolen an item he’d stolen to begin with.”

  “Which doesn’t count,” Karim put in.

  “Right?” I said, “That’s what I keep saying. Anyway, Axel’s dad figured out it was me, and he was gonna kill me, but instead he offered me a job to do. Now, I know you and I don’t see eye to eye.”

  “I hate you and wish I could bury you in one of these plots is probably a little more accurate.”

  I smiled, sweetly. “Ditto. But as much as you hate me, I know you have even less love for the Magistrate, right?”

  “Don’t get me started on those arseholes. Bunch of entitled, self-righteous pricks. Who are they to tell me what is ethical and what isn’t? Imposing laws on beings of unmitigated power is a travesty, and it’s stunting the development of our race. Mark my words. Our Guardians will get bored of us and leave soon enough if we don’t start pushing against the boundaries of knowledge itself like we used to.”

  “Alright,” I said, “So, look, here’s the deal. His dad wants me to pull a heist on the Magister.”

  Karim’s eyebrow moved up, stretching the dimensions of his face. Though he was only in his twenties, the stubble on his cheeks and the dirt on his clothes made him look much, much older. He stared at me from behind cool, dark eyes that were like pools of black water against the dimness of the graveyard.

  “Eliphas…” he said, letting the word trail off his lips. “You want to steal from Eliphas…”

  I put a hand to my chest. “I don’t, but his daddy does. That’s why I’m putting together a team to hel
p me pull it off. You’re my third pick.”

  “Gee, thanks. That makes me feel special.”

  I shrugged. “In my defense, I don’t like you. Be happy you’re a pick at all.”

  “Happy?” He shook his head. “Let me get this straight. You steal from one of the most powerful men in New York. He then kidnaps you and forces you to steal from the other most powerful man in New York. Now you’re going around involving other people in your mess, and you expect me to be happy? Did you consider that this is perhaps one of the reasons why I find you so… so… dammit, so many good words to choose from, I can’t land on one.”

  “Yeah, okay, I get—”

  “Bothersome, selfish, narcissistic, erratic, reckless, immature—”

  I crossed my arms and stared at him. “—really laying into me there, huh?”

  “—self-absorbed, narrow minded, unintellectual, and just plain annoying. You’re a wild card at best, Isabella Warden, and a hurricane at worst. Dragging everyone into your problems with no concern over how your actions and needs may affect other people.”

  I nodded at him as he talked, pretending like his words hadn’t started to sting. “Really went after my integrity there… feel better?”

  “A little bit…”

  “So, are you saying you won’t join the team?” Axel asked.

  Karim looked over at Axel. “That depends. Are you gonna kill me if I say no?”

  “I’m not a hitman.”

  “That didn’t exactly answer the question, though.”

  “It’s an answer.”

  I walked around the tree, and with a simple touch of my fingertips against the tie wraps, I made them melt. Karim pulled his hands around in front of him again and cradled his wrists. “Nobody’s killing anyone right now,” I said. “You hate me, I get it, but I also could do with having you on the team… and you’ll get paid this time.”

  Karim turned his head to the side. “Payment isn’t something I’m desperate for.”

  “Fine, then you can take something from the vault we’re gonna crack.”

  Axel took hold of my shoulder. “You’re not allowed to make that call,” he growled, and I felt his intensity pass through me like an electric shock. I could feel my insides shuddering and shying away from the sensation. I jerked my arm away, shrugging out of his hold and staring at him.

  “Did I say you could touch me?” I warned, jabbing a finger at him.

  I watched the anger fall away from him like a mask. He hadn’t liked my tone, hadn’t like the way I’d recoiled from him like his touch had repulsed me. It hadn’t, but I also hadn’t given him permission, and I hadn’t enjoyed whatever feeling or memory had wormed its way from him into me and disappeared into the dark parts of my mind.

  Axel’s jaw tightly clenched. “I don’t think my father will be happy that you’re giving away the contents of Eliphas’ vault. They belong to him.”

  “I think you’ll find they belong to Eliphas,” I said, “At least for now. If your father wants any chance at me pulling this off, I need this team. And if Karim’s price is an item from the vault, then let him have it.”

  He took a step closer to me, so close I could smell his cologne over the overpowering mixture of graveyard scents. “Fine,” he said, “Whatever.”

  Karim got to his feet, scratched his stubble, and then extended his hand. “I think I’ve been adequately persuaded. I still hate you, though.”

  I took his hand and shook it. “Ditto.”

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  Axel’s car pulled into the mansion’s driveway; that was the first time I saw the snipers.

  I’d known they were there from the moment I’d first set foot out of the mansion. It was an entirely different thing to see them. To their credit, I didn’t so much see them as I did their little red dots trailing around the grounds, and that was only thanks to the mist that seemed to have followed us from the graveyard.

  I wasn’t sure how I felt about them. On the one hand, a single wrong move on my part and I’d find myself on the business end of one of those red laser sights. On the other hand, having them around while I slept wasn’t the worst thing in the world. It helped me feel a little safer… that was until I remembered someone could walk into my room at any point and try to murder me.

  This place was confusing.

  The car rolled to a halt at the mansion’s front door. Karim cracked his neck. “The cynic in me thinks this is all just a frivolous waste of money,” he said, “But the thespian in me really appreciates the theatrics of the place. It really does make you feel small and insignificant, doesn’t it?”

  “That’s how they like their enemies to feel,” I said.

  “It’s good to know where we stand, I suppose.”

  It was Axel who stepped out first. He opened the backseat door for me and allowed me to slip out into the cold, night air. I’d barely taken a breath when one of the red laser beams trawling the grassy grounds found its way to my chest. I tried not to look at it, but my heart couldn’t help start to thump against my chest.

  Karim stepped out too, walked around the back of the car, and then headed for the front door. “So, am I a prisoner, now?” he asked, keeping a few paces ahead of Axel.

  “You’re our guest,” Axel said.

  “Good, because I can already feel the ghosts of this place calling out to me, and it’d be a shame to have to send them all into a berserk frenzy.”

  “There won’t be any need for that. You’ll be given a comfortable room. Food and clothes will also be brought up if you need them.”

  “A bath, a cup of tea, and a fresh set of jim-jams would be fantastic right now.”

  “I’ll make sure all of that is taken care of.”

  The doorman opened the door to the mansion. Karim stepped through and admired the foyer, whistling at the sight unfolding around him. “This one hell of a place,” he said.

  “If you’d come with me,” Axel said, “I’ll show you to your room.”

  Karim threw me a glance. “Are you sure this isn’t a plot to try and kill me? Because I’m now looking forward to a bath and a cuppa, and it would suck if I didn’t get them.”

  I shook my head. “No,” I said, “All of this is legit. We’ll talk about it tomorrow.”

  “You mean, we’ll figure out a plan tomorrow? Because I’ve been thinking about this on the way over here, and I don’t see any of it working out.”

  I nodded. “Let me figure the plan out. You just get some sleep.”

  Karim frowned, but allowed himself to be led by Axel up the stairs. I ran my fingers through my long, blue hair, sighed deeply, and then marched myself over to my room. I paused half-way up the stairs, considering, now that Axel was gone, slipping off into the shadows and maybe going roaming for a while—see what I can find. But there were two problems with that.

  Or rather, one big problem and one little problem stuffed into matching suits.

  The crows stood at the bottom of the stairs, their arms folded, watching me think about what I wanted to do next. Delia pointed at me. “We know it was you,” she said.

  “What was me?” I asked.

  “The wind. You did something to us so you could whisper to your friend in private.”

  “Yeah, nah, I think you’ve got that mixed up.” I turned around and headed up the stairs again. Both crows instantly took their bird form, raced around me, and beat me to the top of the stairs where they assumed their human forms. It was seamless, the way they did magic. Fluid. They were good.

  I stopped in my tracks. “Can I help you with something?” I asked, angling my head to the side. “I’ve had a super long day, and I really want some sleep.”

  Delia’s eyes narrowed. “We’re watching you, witch,” she said. “One slip up, and I’d gladly be the one to punish you.”

  “That sounds kinky and everything, but I think I’m gonna pass.”

  She grinned a wolfish grin, her black lips spreading widely, but she didn’t say anything else before m
oving away. Karkov, on the other hand, stared at me for a moment longer. “Little girl should sleep with one eye open tonight.”

  It took everything I had to hold back. I could already feel the Tempest’s power pushing against the barrier between worlds, begging me to let it through into this one where it could wreak havoc. I didn’t, not because I didn’t think I could take them both, because like always, there were men with guns trained on me.

  Seriously, there was nowhere I could go in this place where there weren’t guys with guns hanging around. There was enough security in this place to rival a military base. I almost couldn’t believe it. Breathing deeply, I headed off to my room and stepped through the door which, again, was being guarded by a man with a gun and a bulletproof vest.

  I took my shoes off, first, kicking them into the corner of the room. Then I walked over to the bathroom and started getting things ready for a glorious bubble bath. Looking around, it hadn’t been long before I found not only shampoos and conditioners, but also face masks, lip scrubs, and bath bombs of all shapes, colors, and sizes.

  I took a whiff of a coconut one and set it aside, that was when someone knocked on my door.

  The sound made my back stiffen. I shot upright like a startled cat, waited, and then carefully padded toward the door. “Who’s there?” I called out.

  “Axel,” came the voice from the other side.

  I sighed. All I wanted to do was have a bath and go to sleep. What could he possibly want?

  I opened the door and stared at him. “This had better be good,” I said.

  He returned my stare. “Or what?”

  Alright, he had me there. “Is there something I can help with?”

  “I have something for you.” He handed me a pad, a pen, and what looked like a little silver stone that sparkled lightly as it changed hands and vibrated when I touched it.

  “What is this?”