by Lisa Edmonds
“You do not know what you risk,” he rasped, sitting up with effort. “This magic…it is like a disease. It can spread.”
“I know. I read the Vamp Court file on the stone.”
His frown was thunderous. “On whose authority?”
“Niara’s. There are a lot of people who don’t want to watch you die, even if you’ve gotten to the point where you don’t care one way or the other.” I sat on the bed, despite Ben’s soft growl. He probably didn’t like me being so close to a vampire, but if Charles let me try to help him, we’d be getting a hell of a lot closer before the night was out.
Charles’s expression darkened further. “There are many who would be glad to see me dead, I think.”
“Then you should live just to spite them. That’s what I would do.”
“Of that, I have no doubt.” The corners of his mouth turned up in a ghost of a smile. “From the moment I met you, your defiance has been one of your most defining characteristics. It has been both a source of frustration and amusement for me. More the former than the latter, perhaps, but I find I have missed that fire for the past month.”
I reached out slowly and held my palm over his chest. Dark magic crawled and slithered beneath his skin. “When you bought the stone, did you know you’d have to drain people to keep it from killing you?”
He shook his head. “I believed I could take just enough to hold the stone’s magic in check, but it would not take only a small amount. The first person I tried to feed from…died.” His anger and regret left a sour taste in my mouth. “When I did not feed again, the magic spread so rapidly that I had no time to remove the stone before it took root. And so I find myself on the edge of falling into darkness, whether by dying or succumbing to this evil.”
“I’m sorry. How far has it spread?”
He said nothing.
“Charles, answer me.”
“I do not know a part of me that does not resonate with this foul darkness,” he admitted finally. “The blood mages from the Court tell me there is no chance of removing the stone or extracting the magic. I have received visits from some of the most knowledgeable practitioners of vampire magic and been told the same.”
“So you just gave up? Is that why you wouldn’t ask me for help?”
Again, he refused to reply.
I pressed him for an answer. “Or was it because you didn’t think I could do anything more than what the Court mages and the others could do?”
That got a reaction. “I did not wish to call you because I believe you can do far more than the Court mages are able and willing to do,” he said quietly.
I stared at him, nonplussed. “You didn’t call me because you thought I could save you? What the—?”
“This magic is poison,” he spat. “I will not trade your life for mine.”
Bryan and Adri looked shocked by that pronouncement. Whatever they’d thought Charles’s reason was for refusing to ask for my help, that hadn’t been it. I was startled myself, actually. Most vampires wouldn’t have hesitated to sacrifice a human life to save their own, but then again, I’d come to realize Charles wasn’t most vampires.
“I will not allow you to do this.” He pushed my hand away from his chest. “I do not wish to live with your death on my conscience. I would rather end my time and take this cursed object with me.”
He’d already made peace with his death, but I hadn’t. “I believe I can save you and not die from doing it.”
He shook his head. “I will not risk it.”
Blasted vampire stubbornness. I took his hand and placed it over my heart. “You can sense deception. You know truth. Listen to me.” I met his eyes. His cool gray vampire magic was a thin shadow of itself. “I can save you without dying. I know what that stone is, and what it does, and what its magic can do. I’m a stronger blood mage than any you have working for the Court. I will take that stone from you and pull the magic out of your body, and then I will destroy the stone so no one else can use it as a weapon.” I held his cold hand in mine. “You’ve saved me twice, Charles. It’s my turn.”
Charles seemed to really notice Ben for the first time. “Good evening, Mr. Cooper. Where is your wolf, Alice?”
My stomach lurched for reasons that weren’t quite clear. “He had an important errand to take care of. He’s coming by later.”
“He’s upstairs,” Ben said, looking up from his phone. “Do you want him to come down?”
“No. I need to be alone with Charles to do this.”
Ben shook his head. “I’m not leaving you alone with him.”
“I’m not leaving him alone with you,” Bryan rumbled.
“You either trust me or you don’t,” I told him. “If I wanted him dead, I would have simply said I couldn’t help him. I wouldn’t have fought this hard to save him. Ben can stay because he doesn’t have any vamp magic, but you and Adri have to go upstairs so your connection to Charles doesn’t become a liability for all of us.”
“Sean isn’t going to like this,” Ben said.
“I know, but I can’t afford to be distracted.” I took a deep breath. “You can tell him I’m not throwing myself on a grenade; I’m defusing it.”
“I’m not sure about that analogy, but I’ll tell him.” Ben sent a text message.
Charles, Bryan, and Adri had apparently been conferring telepathically while Ben and I talked. When my attention turned back to them, however, Charles spoke to them out loud. “I will not order you to leave, but I ask you to do so. Alice speaks the truth when she says she means me no harm. She has acted in good faith in coming here and venturing underground. If she cannot heal me without harming herself, she will let me die.” He turned to me. “Give me your word, Alice.”
“I give you my word.” I turned to the enforcers. “You asked me for help, so let me help.”
Bryan and Adri exchanged a look, one of those brother-sister moments where they held an entire conversation in a single glance. It had to be beyond difficult for them to leave Charles alone in this condition with a blood mage and a werewolf.
“We’ll go upstairs,” Bryan said finally.
Charles inclined his head. “Thank you.”
“When we’re done, he’ll need a meal or three—the stronger, the better,” I warned them. “So make those arrangements while you’re waiting.”
Bryan and Adri headed for the stairs. We listened to them climb to the top, open the door, and close it.
I turned to Ben and gestured at the floor. “Can you please roll up that large carpet?”
“Not a problem.”
While he was moving the carpet, I addressed Charles. “I know you’re feeling pretty bad right now, but I have to ask you to lie on the floor so I can draw a circle around us.”
He moved stiffly to the edge of the bed and stood. He shuffled to the center of the stone floor as Ben finished rolling the carpet against the far wall. He sat carefully, as if moving was painful, then lay down with his arms at his sides.
I took a few things from my bag and left it and my phone on the bed. With a thick piece of chalk, I drew a circle around Charles large enough for me to move around him. Then I went to work drawing runes around the perimeter of the circle, forming a ward that would contain any dark magic that got loose. It took quite a while. Ben texted almost continuously while I worked, presumably keeping Sean updated.
When the spellwork was complete, I used the chalk to draw a series of runes inside the circle next to Charles’s body. I tucked the chalk into my pocket and knelt beside him with an obsidian dagger.
He studied the dagger with interest, as if calculating its worth. “That is a beautiful artifact.”
“Yes, it is.” I took a large black crystal from my pocket and placed it next to me. “This is going to get very messy. You’re not squeamish, are you, Ben?”
“No.” He leaned against the wall. “Am I outside the splash zone?”
“Yes, you should be fine. You might be new to working with mages, so here are the r
ules. No talking, no sounds, no trying to break the circle and get to me, no matter what you see, hear, or feel. Magic of any kind is dangerous in situations like this and that goes double for dark magic. You’ll have to trust that I know what I’m doing or wait upstairs.”
Ben muttered something I didn’t quite catch, but that caused Charles’s eyebrows to raise slightly. “I understand,” the werewolf added grimly.
“Okay.” I held my hand over Charles’s chest. “Where is it?”
He lifted his shirt, baring his abdomen and the scar that ran across his pale stomach just below his waist, where he’d been eviscerated before he was turned. During our daytime walk last month, he’d told me the story of how he’d gotten the scar and how he became a vampire. The story continued to haunt me.
He took my hand and placed it on the left side of his abdomen. Dark magic pulsed beneath his flesh like some kind of nightmare heart of stone. Most magic was neither good nor evil; it was the practitioner’s intent that shaped how the power could be used. This magic within Charles, however, felt evil in a way I hadn’t experienced before, and I felt an uncontrollable urge to destroy it.
I rolled my shoulders and looked down at Charles. “Ready?”
He wrapped cold fingers around my wrist. I am afraid, he said, his voice in my head very quiet.
We’d once been able to share thoughts with each other regardless of distance, thanks to the bond we’d had as a result of him drinking from me, but our link had been severed by Valas for reasons that weren’t clear. Without the link, Charles could still share his thoughts with me when we were in physical contact, as he had before, but I couldn’t share thoughts with him. Now it was more a matter of him listening to my replies.
That’s all right, I told him. Fear is normal. It would be weird if you weren’t afraid.
Fear is normal for humans, but I am not human.
I smiled slightly. You’re still a little human, Charles. Do me a favor and stay that way.
If I am, it is because of you. His eyes searched my face. You are the single spark of life that remains in my world. If you die attempting to save me, neither your wolf nor his third will have to kill me; I will end my own life.
I wasn’t prepared for that level of candor from Charles. I chalked it up to him being forced to confront his own mortality.
Nobody’s dying here tonight, I said firmly. Now, let’s do this before things get any worse.
He released my wrist. I closed the circle around us and the wards flared powerfully, making the loose hairs around my face stick straight out. The wards would contain any magic surges while I worked and keep the dark magic from affecting anyone else.
I picked up the dagger and took several deep breaths, breathing in through my nose and out through my mouth, to center myself. I spooled blood and earth magic as I shut everything else out that might distract me. The room, Ben, and even Charles faded away.
When I was calm and focused, I channeled blood magic into the dagger until the runes etched into its blade glowed with power and it resonated like a bell ringing. The vibration traveled up my arm, a familiar and peaceful feeling. I so rarely used blood magic anymore. When I’d belonged to my grandfather’s cabal I’d used it mostly to harm, but contrary to popular belief, blood magic had many other uses. It could save lives, not just take them.
Like most well-trained mages, I was ambidextrous when it came to writing—or carving—runes and spellwork. I took the dagger in my left hand and used the razor-sharp tip to cut four runes into the inside of my right forearm. The cuts weren’t deep, but blood ran down my arm and dripped from my fingers to the floor.
Charles’s fangs slid out, an involuntary response to the sight and scent of my blood. It was a testament to his age and power that even in his condition he held himself in check, but I could tell his control was not as strong as it should be. I had no time to waste.
I set the dagger down and cupped Charles’s cool face with my left hand. “Do you trust me?” I asked.
It was hell of a question, given the circumstances, but his response was immediate. “Yes.”
A fast cut would be more merciful. With my hand still resting on his face and my eyes locked on his, I pushed blood magic into my right hand and out through my fingertips to form a blade. I sliced into his gut.
Charles cried out. He cut the sound off quickly and set his jaw. Cool blood poured from the wound.
I invoked the spell I’d carved into my arm and it flared to life, sheathing my arm and hand in black, purple, and red blood magic. My fingers slid inside Charles’s abdomen, first up to the knuckles and then almost to my wrist as I searched carefully through cold viscera for the stone.
My fingertips touched something hard. Dark magic flared, battering my blood magic protection spell. A whisper brushed against my mind and I pushed back with my shields.
My fingers closed around the stone. I pulled but it resisted with a surge of power. Its magic had invaded Charles’s body like tentacles and it wasn’t giving up its host without a fight.
The Vamp Court file had warned that once these tentacles took root, removing the stone would be next to impossible. If it was forcibly excised without removing the magic as well, its host would die anyway, consumed from the inside.
I ran my thumb over Charles’s cool cheek. His eyes were full of pain. I picked up the black crystal and took a deep breath. “Here goes nothing,” I said, and dropped my shields.
The dark magic surged into me in a flood that seemed to turn my insides to rot. Fighting nausea and revulsion, I invoked the spellwork in the crystal and it flared in a blast of heat and energy that traveled up my arm and through my body. The dark magic, sensing what seemed like an even stronger source of power, surged more and passed through my body and into the crystal.
My intent was to be a conduit, channeling the stone’s dark magic out of Charles and into the crystal, where it could be contained and then destroyed. It was working, though I gagged at the sensation of it passing through my body. I had no idea how Charles had withstood the horrible rotting feeling for so long without going mad.
And then it stopped working. The flow of magic ceased. Dark tentacles spread in my own body as the magic attempted to take control.
Charles sensed it too and tried to pull away, but I held onto the stone and refused to let go. Time for Plan B.
I unleashed the full power of my blood magic on the dark magic in my body. The blood magic began consuming the stone’s magic with a sensation like something pulling and pushing at my insides. I retched but managed not to lose my dinner.
The stone’s magic retreated into Charles. I pushed my blood magic through my hand into his body. He writhed as my blood magic consumed the tentacles of dark magic, burning its way through his body and destroying the stone’s trace. It had to be agonizing, but he didn’t cry out.
He coughed wetly and black bile ran from the corner of his mouth. Damn it. I didn’t know exactly how much of the dark magic remained inside him, but if I didn’t get that stone out now I couldn’t be sure he would survive much longer.
I grabbed the stone again and pulled. My hand emerged from his abdomen covered in gore and clutching the triple-damned Tepes stone.
The stone pulsed in my hand, its dark magic fighting to get to me, Charles, or anyone else who could serve as its host. Charles had paid nearly two hundred grand for this cursed thing, believing he could hold its power in check, but the deadly magic could not be opposed for long.
I took a moment to think about the fact I was holding an object once owned by Vlad Tepes the Impaler, Wallachian warlord and inspiration for one of humankind’s most fascinating and terrifying supernatural legends. His current whereabouts were a closely guarded secret. Some speculated that he was truly dead. Others believed he was at the top of the vampire world order, amassing untold wealth and power and pulling strings from a secret lair somewhere.
One evening over Scotch, I’d asked Charles if Tepes was the Keyser Söze of vampires. Surpr
isingly, Charles understood the reference. His response: Yes, in that Tepes was the threat used by older vamps to scare young ones into following the laws of the Vampire Courts. But a thing such as Tepes—and that was the word Charles had used, a thing—would never pretend to be weaker than he was to hide his identity. He would have put everyone in that police precinct on pikes out front and strolled past them on his way out.
I put the black crystal down and transferred the stone to my left hand. “One last time,” I told Charles softly, sliding my fingers back into the wound I’d made in his side.
There was very little of the dark magic left in his body. Without the stone and diminished by my blood magic, it was like a guttering candle. I pushed blood magic into Charles’s body and destroyed the last of the stone’s magic.
Charles’s skin was gray and the puddle of blood around us had spread until it reached the barrier of the circle.
I took his hand and placed it on the wound to hold it closed while it healed. “The worst is over,” I told him.
His eyes went to the stone. “Danger,” he rasped. “Do not destroy it.”
“I read the Vamp Court file,” I reminded him. “Magic this dark and powerful will break any ward eventually. There’s nowhere you could keep it where it couldn’t be found and taken. I know it was expensive, but—”
“Money is not my concern,” he said harshly. “Losses are part of the risk a dealer in antiquities accepts. What I do not accept is that destroying the stone may harm you.”
“This won’t be the first vampire object of power I’ve nuked. This circle will contain the flare.”
“It is not the flare of power that I fear; it is Tepes’s magic that may—”
The crystal cracked with a sound like a gunshot. Dark magic erupted from the broken crystal and hit the barrier of the circle. It sizzled against the wards, trying to break them and consume all life energy it could find. Time was up; the stone had to be destroyed.
