by A. L. Tyler
The snapping jaws and frantically digging claws of the wolf came down hard on the other side. The ice slammed into my wrist on his impact and I pulled my hand away, kicking frantically.
There’s an edge. There had to be—there was an edge to the radius of water I had frozen, and I just had to find it. But no matter how much I kicked and swam in the darkness, eddies of bubbles swirling around me and salt burning my eyes, the ice didn’t end. Above me, I could feel the wolf chasing me. He was digging, and sniffing, and snapping, and in the intense silence of my water-filled ears, I could hear the skittering signature of his disease and sense his enormity as the ice gave a loud, unsettling crack. There has to be an edge!
If the ice broke while he was above me, I didn’t know what would happen. Those wolves hated water, but as Axel had so kindly pointed out, they loved me. And I was running out of air.
Bam! Bam Bam!
Gunshots? Were those gunshots? The wolf was gone. I was out of options. I fired off everything I could summon and the ice exploded into a dozen boulders around me. I gasped a breath and narrowly avoided the crashing bergs that threatened my skull and arms. Fifteen feet away on the dock, Nick was on his back, one hand gripping the wolf’s throat while the other stabbed a knife repeatedly into the wolf’s ribs. The animal’s back legs were braced and set wide.
Not good. I bobbed between the massive chunks of ice, hardly sure of my aim as I sent a fireball flying toward them.
I missed. The wolf glared at me, and that was the moment. Fear lit in his eyes at the sight of the water—no longer covered by fog or ice—and Nick dug the blade in deep enough to elicit a howl.
The wolf leaped away, limping and dripping too much blood as the water drove panic into his brain. His injuries were severe, but he was a werewolf. He would heal.
He ran.
Nick hauled me from the frigid waters. I hardly realized that the tingling in my hands was from the nervous sparks put forth by my mana burn and not from the frigid ocean.
“Jette!”
I was still staring after the wolf in disbelief. “You said they wouldn’t come out on the water.”
“I’ve been wrong before,” Nick said darkly.
For all of his trouble, Nick’s expression was oddly calm and focused as he lifted each of my arms to check for wounds. Blood covered most of his front, and while his warded trench coat was unscathed, the rest of his clothes had suffered lacerations.
My teeth chattered. I was shaking as Nick steered me by the shoulders. “You fought a werewolf for me.”
“You could have taken him,” he said dismissively. “Don’t mention it.”
“Great gods!” Callum’s face came into view at the boathouse door. “Is she okay?”
“I’m... fine...” I said through a shivered breath.
“She’s a fast thinker,” Nick added. “No bites.”
We went in with the boats and Nick shut the door. The sound of the wards, firm and unyielding as the ones at the house, forced a chattered sigh of relief through my teeth.
Nick shed his jacket as he leaned in close to my ear. “No bites, right?”
Small miracles. “No.”
“Can you dry what you’re wearing?”
I flexed my aching hands, and Nick glanced down. During a mana burn episode, even simple spells became dangerously unstable.
“I’m going to help her get dry,” he said to Callum. “Then we’ll go to the car if it’s safe.”
“I’ll be okay until we get back,” I insisted. I was shaking uncontrollably. No, I won’t...
Nick pushed his jacket at me. “Take a corner and change out into this. I’ll dry your clothes after, but you need to get warm first.”
Our hands brushed as I took the jacket, and when his skin felt warm against mine, I knew I was in trouble. I nodded in defeat and shuffled off behind some storage shelves, stripping out of my clothes and wringing out my hair before wrapping myself in Nick’s jacket and handing him my clothes without making eye contact.
Poor Callum was still standing awkwardly by the door.
“Sorry,” I called to him. “This is a much more exciting introduction than I usually get.”
Callum laughed. “It’s quite alright. Nick has already introduced you. You can call me Cal. He says you’re going to get us safely back to the house.”
I smiled at him, pulling Nick’s jacket tighter around my front. “Well, Nick has been known to be wrong, but I’ll do my best.”
Nick cracked a smile as he twisted one of his rings and said a spell to dry my clothes. All of his magic was learned instead of inherent, and I’d grown to appreciate his brand of spell casting and focal instruments. The magic sounded like honking geese in my ears as he handed back my clothes.
“Thank you.” I shook out my left hand one more time. My frost-and-fire outbursts had become tamer since I’d started treatments with Angel, a healer, but the progress had come at a price. Anxiety often triggered my attacks, and they’d begun manifesting as a series of cold, painful sparks on my palms.
Nick winked at me before he turned away, offering some extra privacy as I changed.
I touched his shoulder as I came back out, handing him his jacket. Nick took it back, never once looking at me as he kept his eyes fixed on Callum.
“Shall we, then?” Cal asked.
I twisted my wet hair in my hands, wishing the warmth would come into my palms. I was going to take a long shower when we got back to the room.
“We shall.” Nick waited until Cal turned away to look out a window. He leaned in to whisper a word as he ran his hand through my hair. “Sicalidum.”
Warmth moved across my scalp as I felt Nick’s breath on my neck. I reached up to touch dry hair, and Nick locked eyes with me for a millisecond that felt like an eternity before walking toward Cal.
When he got to the door, he turned back to me, looking like nothing had just happened. Like my heart hadn’t skipped two beats, I hadn’t just been wearing little more than his jacket, and I wasn’t cursing Cal’s presence right then.
His tone was all too innocent. “Jette? Care to check if the coast is clear?”
I tried not to glare at him as I walked over. He was flirting over a dead body and a near-death experience, and it was working. One of us was a terrible person, and I wasn’t sure if it was him or me.
Probably both of us.
Nick braced the door with his shoulder as I cracked it just enough to listen. The fog was breaking again, and the wolves were all in the trees.
“What exactly are you listening for?” Cal whispered. He watched me intently with his large green eyes.
“Wolves,” I said patiently. I’d explained it a million times over the years. “And more specifically, the sound of the disease they carry. I have a form of synesthesia that allows me to hear magic.”
“Oh!” Cal made the same face I’d seen earlier when Nick jumped up on the boat. “Well, that’s damn useful. Have you two been together long?”
I shared an uneasy look with Nick.
Lucky he was faster on his feet than I was. “We’ve been together as colleagues for a while. It became personal recently.”
Cal chuckled. “You’d better keep an eye on her around Axel. He does like the gifted ones for his collection.”
Nicked smiled wryly. “That he does.”
My heart sank. I tried to hide my expression by looking toward the door again. Cal didn’t know yet, and we were going to have to tell him.
If he was innocent. If he was innocent, he didn’t know. If he was guilty, he was a hell of an actor. In either case, now wasn’t the time.
I led the way out into the fog.
“...And you must be the vampire, Mr. Warren,” Cal went on. “Axel has spoken very highly of you over the years.”
Nick was carrying Cal’s suitcase. “He lied. You travel light, Cal.”
“I do, but truthfully, I wasn’t planning to stay long,” he replied. “I’m leading an effort to track and milk poisonous s
nakes in the American southwest next week.”
Nick’s expression didn’t change, but I saw a slight shift in his eyes. His interest was piqued. “Snake poison? Are there many spell-worthy uses for it?”
“Absolutely not!” Cal laughed. “It’s used for research at some of the hospitals and universities in the area. The locals have my number on file. I’ve developed a reputation as a charmer. It seems I have the magic touch.”
He winked at me. As a biologist, I was sure he’d developed all manner of side spells to calm the animals he studied. If he’d found a way to make an honest living with those skills, more power to him.
Cal paused when we reached the car, looking Nick over. “You aren’t very vampire-ish, are you, Mr. Warren?”
“Vampire enough,” Nick responded.
“Somehow I thought you’d be paler. Rougher.”
Nick glanced at me, then looked back at Cal, drawing out the word. “Okay.”
“I think it’s wonderful!” Cal held his hands up. “I was just saying, good on you for running counter to the stereotype of the cold, brutish bloodsucker.”
Nick popped open his car door. “And good on you for running counter to the stereotype of the suave, handsome adventurer.”
Cal’s laugh bellowed in the fog as he shoved his hands in his pockets. “You’re everything my brother promised, Mr. Warren. I’m pleased to meet you after all these years finally.”
“Are you driving again?” Nick turned his attention to me. “I can get us there faster.”
I tossed him the keys. We got in the car.
“I am curious, though,” Cal leaned over the seat from the back. “Exactly how many of your vampiric traits remain intact? I’m asking purely as a biologist. Do you drink blood?”
“Yes.”
“Speed? Strength?”
“Comparatively.”
“Hypnotism?”
“Depends how drunk the other guy is.”
Cal laughed again. He drew a breath to ask another question.
Nick looked at me. “Close your eyes.”
I thought he didn’t want any witnesses, and I flashed a smile. When he slammed his foot down on the accelerator, I cursed and grappled with the seat belt to make sure it was on.
Chapter 10
Oh gods, oh gods, oh gods! He was driving the convertible over a dirt path like we were in an off-roader, and every bump and turn hit the fenders like an angry rhinoceros, making the low-riding car veer and buck. Trees and turns and hairy forms sprung up out of nowhere in the fog and Nick avoided them just as quickly.
“Holy hell, Warren!”
I couldn’t peel my eyes away from the terrifying ride unfolding before me, but the way Cal was bouncing around the back told me he hadn’t done as well remembering his safety belt.
“Slow down!”
Nick raised an eyebrow, eyes fixed on the road as he turned the wheel with a casual flick of his wrist. “No.”
We were barreling along, taking turns at speeds that threatened to flip the car if the wind hit right. I was gripping the door with one hand and the seat with the other, bracing my legs hard against the footwell. I had enough faith in Nick that he wouldn’t let a crash at this speed kill me: he carried enough healing elixirs, and he’d brought me back from the brink before.
That plan banked on not being thrown to the wolves waiting in the trees, though. And it would hurt like a bitch.
Something dark appeared in the road ahead of us. I thought it was a boulder at first.
Then it stood up, stretching its arms like it intended to hug us and letting out a growl so deep I felt it under the revving of the engine.
“Nick!” I tried to find the careful sweet spot between sinking low in my seat and keeping the seatbelt around my hips. Where it wouldn’t snap my spine if we hit a tree.
“Hold on.” Nick hardly seemed bothered. He made a sharp right—into the trees.
A sound like an opening jar popped in my ears as Cal used magic to glue himself flat against the floor behind my seat, and if the painful sparks on my palms hadn’t reignited in my anxiety, I might have done the same. I ducked low as branches slapped past and showered down pine needles.
Nick, sunk down behind the wheel, reached over to the glove box like he was cruising down the highway in need of sunglasses. He tapped the garage door opener inside.
Two seconds later we cleared the tree line and were back on the road. I had barely enough time to look at the monster-concealing patch of cloud behind us before I turned around and saw the garage door we were speeding toward.
It wasn’t opening fast enough.
“Nick!”
He reached over and put a hand on my shoulder, pushing me down as he slammed the breaks.
The car skidded in under the opening door, clipping the top of the windshield and breaking the laminated glass as Nick once again reached for the garage door opener, clicking to send the door back down.
As the engine went silent, I could hear the wolves outside. Three or four of them, waiting, just at the edge of the trees—or, maybe not.
I was shaking, bent over and huddled next to Nick with my arms sparking pain all the way from my fingers to my elbows. He still had a hand on my shoulder, making sure I stayed down.
The garage door closed. Nick pulled his flask of blood from inside his jacket, and I was suddenly aware of the adrenaline flooding my system and my speeding pulse. He stared straight ahead as he took a drink, tucking it away again as Cal emerged from the back.
The car gave a shake and a groan, and Cal scrambled from the back uttering some creative curse words. I stared at the windshield as the spiderweb-like fractures started to melt back together.
“It’s fine.” Nick pointed around at the walls of the garage. “Axel found a guy who installed a charm that repairs the cars for him. I have healing antidotes if anyone needs one.”
Nick looked down at me, finally taking back his hand. He got out of the car and retrieved Cal’s luggage as the car continued to flex itself back into shape. I sat up, catching just a hint of a smile before Nick closed the trunk.
“You’ve done that before.”
Nick shrugged. “A few times. Axel needed to win a bet.”
I looked from Nick to Cal, who had gone white as a sheet. “Axel’s a flaming idiot. He sent you to kill me, didn’t he?”
The touch of humor in Cal’s voice didn’t stop me from exchanging a look with Nick.
“What?” Cal asked, suddenly frowning. “What is it?”
Nick closed the trunk, setting the luggage down on the car. He turned to Cal. “Something happened to Axel. You should sit down.”
IT WAS DIFFICULT TO find a corner of the mansion that didn’t have windows overlooking the wolves that wandered in and out of view, but we managed. In a small nook of a library, Cal sat in a black velvet wingback chair, stunned, as I went around closing the heavy drapes. Nick went to find Rogers.
“You’re sure it was him?” he asked. “You don’t need me to identify the body, just to be sure?”
I would have liked a chance to examine the body myself. After telling Cal the news, though, there was lightning in the sky and dark clouds threatening. We retreated to the safety of the house.
I wasn’t even sure if there was any body left to examine. Judging by the fact that he hadn’t pushed the issue, Nick seemed to agree.
“It was him,” I said gently. “I saw it. It was him.”
Cal pressed himself back into his chair. He studied me as I went about, fighting with the fifteen-foot long drapes to close the windows. I figured he probably wouldn’t want to see any more of the wolves after their role in Axel’s demise.
“You don’t have to do that,” Cal said lightly. He looked like he might faint. “Axel loved those wolves. He found them fascinating, as do I. You can’t shame an animal for his natural instincts.”
I left the windows, taking a seat opposite Cal on a loveseat. Cal stared into space, absently tugging at his hair with one hand. Hi
s lips pressed into a thin line.
“Axel and I were best friends when we were boys. Thick as thieves. We told each other everything.” A small light came into his eyes, and he flashed a genuine smile. “I always thought we’d die together. On the same day. Probably doing something as stupid and reckless as letting a vampire drive us through the forest at top speed.” He frowned, shaking his head. “Then I met Natalie, and then Axel met Natalie, and it was all downhill from there. We’ve talked on the phone a lot in the last ten years, but this was going to be our grand reunion. I wasn’t even going to come because I didn’t want to ruin what we already had. We tried a few times after Nat’s death, but seeing Axel in person always ended in a fight. We fought at Nat’s funeral. We fought when our father died, and our mother. Gods, it’s been all funerals for us for decades... We took turns going home for holidays. I was going to leave well enough alone, but I got a phone call from Amos. He said he had news. Healing news, he called it—the kind of thing he wanted the family to share.”
The baby. Somehow, it didn’t seem my place to tell him.
“We should have let this go years ago,” Cal said regretfully. He looked at me frankly. “I’m never going to see him again.”
He reached up and wiped at his eye before looking away. He got up and went to a shelf, taking down a thick volume. He opened it and went back to his chair, staring blankly at the family photos resting in his lap.
Rogers came in holding a large bottle of whiskey and a tray with four glasses. Nick came in after and took the spot next to me on the couch while Rogers poured.
We all raised a glass to Axel in silence.
“How did this happen?” Cal asked.
The sweet and slightly burned taste of the whiskey filled all of my senses. I knew Nick could handle a lot more alcohol than I could, but he had already set his glass aside.
I did the same. We were here on business until the assigned handler arrived.