by B N Miles
“I promise we’ll let you shift again soon,” Jared said and released the fog spell. It began to dissipate, like smoke blown into the wind. “But for now, we need you Human again.”
She let out a low growl but her body began to twist and change shape. Jared felt a small twinge of Need in the back of his mind, but he pushed it away as Cassie’s fur sucked into her body, her muzzle flattened and softened, and long, thick red hair sprouted along her skull.
Moments later, Cassie crouched in front of them, naked and gorgeous, wreathed in the shadow and darkness cast by the overhead highway.
“There she is,” Lumi said.
“He’s in there,” Cassie said. “I’m sure of it. I can smell him, right now.”
“Get dressed,” Jared said. “We’ll go in and look.”
Cassie took the offered bag from Lumi and began to pull on her clothes. Jared looked around the underpass and felt that strange nagging sensation again, just a prickle down his spine.
He could’ve sworn they were being watched.
But there was nobody around. The underpass was dark and shadowy, but it wasn’t impossible to see. The pillars stood out like gray monuments in the gloom, and he could see to the far end where another street cut down toward the Delaware River. He took a deep breath to steady his nerves and looked back at Cassie as she wiggled into her tight jeans then sat down in the dirt to get on her shoes and socks.
Lumi turned and walked over toward the fence again. She held her hands up against it, but instead of a flare of heat, Jared sensed something else. He tilted his head and watched her spellwork, watched her weave it into some unfamiliar shape as it flowed from her body and toward the building. It radiated from her in waves, lapping up against him, gentle and invisible.
“What are you doing?” he asked as Cassie managed to get one shoe tied.
“Sensing,” she said. “I want to see how many people are in there.”
“Sensing how?”
“Looking for blood.” She grimaced. “Little trick I picked up from my pharma bros. They use blood magic all the time, some really weird stuff.” She shut her eyes and her hands clenched into fists as waves of power washed past Jared. “I feel rats, I think. Other rodents. And—” She stopped herself, eyes wide. “Oh, fuck.”
She spun around her, fists unclenched, palms up in the air. She sucked in a huge amount of priori, so much that Jared’s stomach felt like he’d dropped off a cliff. He clenched his jaw, a growl on his lips, and had half a second to touch his own magic before a flash of heat and flames burst out from the darkness and slammed against them.
12
Lumi’s shield barely held together as flame and lightning slid along its face. Flashes of power and energy blinded Jared as he snapped his own shield memgram into place, filling in the gaps where Lumi’s began to crack.
“Fuck,” Cassie said, scrambling closer to them, her right sleeve singed. “What the fuck is that?”
Jared didn’t have time to answer. He pushed his shield out, giving them more space. He felt Lumi drop her spell and reach for something else.
“How many?” he asked.
“Four,” she said.
“Fuck.” Jared looked around and spotted one form, hanging near a pillar, flames floating near its outstretched hands. Another was fifty feet away, lightning arcing like snakes around its body.
“I only see two,” he said as another flame smashed against his shield.
The spell that tested his magic was powerful. It roiled and bubbled against his hardened air, looking for cracks in his spellwork, searching for a way inside. He kept it at bay, dumping more energy into his magic with a strained growl, as Lumi darted out from behind the shield and threw her hands outward.
Arcing, dancing bolts of blue-black lightning raced toward the fire figure. It screamed and fell back behind the pillar, and the magic dropped from Jared’s shield. He looked around for the other three missing Magi, but lightning smashed against his protection again, and he clenched his jaw from the strain of it.
Those weren’t hedge witches or some minor house magicians. Those were Magi, full blood Magi, and he would bet his life that they were Medlar trained. The spells that attacked him were powerful, and although they weren’t as strong as Lumi, they were at least as sophisticated. If he hadn’t been training with her every day, he would’ve buckled under the pressure already.
But Jared was a lot stronger than he used to be.
“Stay down,” he said to Cassie.
“I can help,” she said. “Let me change. I can—”
She started to take off her shirt, but Jared glared at her, his eyes wide and fierce.
“Don’t you fucking move,” he said. “They’re here for you, Cass. They’ll take you and forget about us.”
“Jared,” she said, her eyes wide and desperate.
“Stay put,” he said. “Don’t distract us.”
He looked away before she could answer and reached for more power.
The Bechtel family had a trick. It was a family secret, the one thing that kept them distinct from all the other minor houses. Most Magi could only use one spell at a time, a limitation that frustrated even the most powerful of them. But Jared’s family developed a technique that allowed their Magi to hold two opposing ideas in their mind at the same time, to hold two impossible spell memgrams and run them both off one source of priori.
He slipped into his spellwork and snapped his second memgram into place. Thin spikes of ice sliced out from the earth ten feet in front of the lightning Magi, ripping through the air. The lightning fell away as the Magi was forced to call on a shield. Jared felt his ice slam against it and pressed more power into the magic, ramming his ice harder, trying to break through. He probed, looked for cracks and holes in the spellwork, looked for the one little weak link that would unravel it all.
But the shield was strong. He staggered and ran to the side, dropping his shield memgram, looking for a better angle.
He saw flashes of Lumi’s duel in the periphery. Lightning and fire danced, slashing through the air in bright bursts. Lumi’s power felt like a meteor smashing against the earth, and Jared could barely breath under its weight. He clenched his jaw and focused on his own fight.
As he ran to the side, trying to flank the lightning Magi, there was movement behind him. He whirled in time to hear Cassie scream.
A figured dropped down from the highway above and slammed into the ground with an earth-shaking rattle.
Jared came to a sliding stop and started back toward the crater in the dirt. Cassie coughed, stumbling away. The figure stood and Jared stared as the thing stepped out from the wreckage.
He was rippled in muscle, wearing only a tight tank top and wide legged jeans, his hair cut short, his eyes dark slits as magic trickled down his arms and legs. Cassie stumbled, fell, and rolled away from him. She screamed again, trying to get back up.
Jared brought two spells up. One behind him to take the brunt of the lightning that came arcing from the pillars, and another in front of him, thick spears of ice that shot from his open palm at the muscled Magi.
He grunted and smashed a fist into Jared’s magic, a wicked smile on his face. The ice cracked and splintered, bouncing off his fist like it was nothing. The thing laughed, and it looked like too many teeth were shoved into his jaw. He flung the last shards of Jared’s spell away then turned to Cassie.
Jared sliced more ice at the Magi as the man’s thick hands grabbed at Cassie’s flailing, kicking feet. Jared cut thick rents of flesh down the heavily muscled arms and along his abdomen. The muscled Magi took a few steps back and roared as Cassie scrambled away on all fours along the fence. It smashed a fist into the ground, making the ground rumble and shake, knocking Jared to the side as more lighting slammed into the shield from behind. He could handle one Magi at a time, but two of them pushed his abilities to the limits. He held the lightning back and forced himself to focus on the monster in front of him as the Magi grabbed at Cassie again.
>
Jared threw himself forward. He burst his shield outward, grew it as large as he could sustain, bouncing back as much of the lightning behind him as he could. Two long, curved ice shards appeared in his hands as he shouted a thick, guttural scream.
The Magi turned from Cassie just as Jared smashed against him. He brought his ice sword forward, breaking it across the Magi’s arm. It sliced through his skin, sent a trickle of blood flowing, but the Magi only laughed and flicked it away. He shoved Jared back then smashed his fist against Jared’s chest.
Jared lost all of his breath and staggered backward. He heard a crack and felt blinding pain flash up along his side. That sword strike should’ve lopped off its arm, but the muscled Magi had some kind of physical augmentation Jared didn’t understand. Jared could feel the energy trickling through the monster, making the man’s muscles harder than steel.
Jared staggered back as another meaty fist smashed into his face. It knocked him off his feet and sent him down into the dirt. He groaned and felt his shield crack as another lightning blast smashed against it. He had only half a second before the big Magi was on top of him, the man’s teeth straight and white like a shark, his dark eyes wide with rage and glee.
Two fists came down, one connecting with Jared’s face just as he managed to snap another spell into place. A thick wave of black rock tore up from the ground in a round, undulating column and smashed against the muscled Magi.
The Magi hit the ground and rolled as Jared slid out from under the curved rock column. He climbed to his feet, breathing hard, each gasp bringing more pain. He shook his head, trying to clear it, and launched himself at the Magi before the monster could get up, two new ice swords forming in his hands. More lightning crackled against his shield and he barely held it together as he slashed and stabbed, forcing the Magi back.
The ice swords cut through clothes and skin, but didn’t bite deep. The Magi staggered backward, his jaw clenched, his arms crossed in a defensive posture. Jared put every ounce of power into his swords, made them as sharp and as hard as he could, and each slice bit a little deeper.
The Magi ducked a swing and brought a fist down into Jared’s thigh. Jared gasped and stumbled back, stabbing wildly at the Magi. He took a deep cut along his chest but barreled into Jared, knocking him to the ground.
Jared heard explosions dimly in the distance, and he assumed that was Lumi fighting the other two Magi. He couldn’t sense them, couldn’t sense anything but his own failing shield and the giant Magi that pinned him to the ground with a slobbering grin. There was a scream, maybe Cassie, maybe someone else, and another burst of fire.
Jared took a ragged breath then gagged as the Magi wrapped a palm around Jared’s throat.
“Big mistake, little boy,” the man on top of him said in a deep, rumbling voice. “You should never have come here.”
Jared snorted, spit in his face with the last of his air. The Magi reeled back, disgust lighting up his eyes, his grip relaxing just a shade.
Just enough for Jared to pump as much magic into the ice shard in his left hand as he could.
It grew out fast, curving and slicing through the air. Jared gasped as he dumped more power into that sword than he’d ever used before. It punched into the Magi’s throat at an angle, and the man tried to roll to the side, gurgling in fear and shock as the tip sunk in deep.
Jared kicked away, gasping for breath. He coughed, retched, then got to his feet. He stood over the gagging Magi, raised his other ice sword up high in the air, and brought it down as hard as he could into the Magi’s exposed neck, ramming it into the man’s trachea.
Blood spurted out as the Magi tried to get away, but Jared’s two ice shards were lodged deep into his body.
He heard another scream and turned as his shield shattered to pieces. Lightning sizzled through the air and he threw himself to the side. The jagged bright electricity jolted into the Magi’s corpse, melting Jared’s ice. The dead man’s body slumped forward and hit the dust with a thud.
Jared scrambled away, aching from his wounds and breathing hard. He thought he had a few broken ribs, but he couldn’t be sure. He saw Cassie huddled near the fence a few feet away, and saw more magic slice the air at the far end of the underpass.
Lumi, drawing on more power than Jared thought was even possible, threw herself at two glowing Magi as they battled back against her pure energy.
“Cassie,” Jared said as more lightning arced through the air, just missing them. “Are you okay?”
“I think Lumi’s losing,” Cassie said, her eyes wide with fear.
Jared grabbed her arm. “She can handle herself,” Jared said. He pulled at Cassie, but she resisted.
“Jared,” she said, eyes wide.
He whirled and threw up a weak shield just in time to stop a bolt of lightning from skewering them both. The energy cracked and smashed his shield, blowing them both backward in a shower of sparks. He covered Cassie the best he could and felt the hot energy singe his clothes and neck.
He turned as a woman walked toward them. She had long, dark hair that hung in the air as if suspended by wires. She wore white pants marred with black burns, a button-down navy-blue top that fluttered in an invisible wind, and fingerless gloves. Her lips were painted black and her eyes had a thick black ring around them. She held up her hands and more electricity arced between her fingers as she laughed.
“Should’ve run while you had the chance,” she said and glanced over at her dead comrade. “Poor Peter, thought he was unbreakable. Idiot watched too many superhero movies.”
Jared tensed, ready to use whatever power he had left to defend Cassie, but a blur of darkness dropped down from the overpass to their left. The figure landed gracefully and stood. He saw just a glimpse of blonde hair, pale skin, dark jeans and a dark top before it blurred again and appeared just behind the Magi.
“What the fu—” the lightning Magi said.
Nikki’s hands came up impossibly fast and grabbed the Magi woman by the hair. She pulled, bending the Magi back at an impossible angle. The Magi screamed, and her electricity flared, but Nikki moved too fast. Fangs bit deep into the Magi’s throat and Jared heard a crack of bone as Nikki twisted the woman’s head back and to the side, wrenching the bones free. Sinew and tendon tore as Nikki lapped up the blood, using both hands to twist the woman’s skull and neck. The electricity fell away as Nikki tore the woman’s head off and kicked the lifeless body down to the ground.
“Lovely,” Nikki said, her voice a whisper, her eyes wide. “Oh, you were a lovely little girl, weren’t you?” She licked the dead Magi’s bleeding neck then threw the head off to the side like it was nothing.
“Holy shit,” Cassie whispered.
Jared stood, one hand on his side. He staggered and nearly fell.
“Lumi,” Jared said.
Nikki gave him a look, tilted her head, and for a second Jared felt a pang of fear.
That was a predator staring at him, and he was the prey. He’d just watched Nikki rip off a Magi’s head and drink her blood like it was nothing, and now she looked at him like she wanted another taste.
But instead, she winked at him, smiled, and turned away. She blurred toward the other battle, a wraith in the night, as more magic flashed from Lumi.
“Holy shit is right,” Jared said and slumped down to the ground next to Cassie. He groaned and pressed a hand against his side. Definitely broken ribs, maybe a broken thigh, he wasn’t sure.
He felt another surge of power from Lumi, heard a scream, and the night went dark again.
Cassie crawled over to him and pressed her hands against his face. “Are you okay?”
He nodded. “I think so.” He grimaced when he tried to stand again and slumped back down. “Well, I’m not going to die this second at least.”
“We need to get you to a healer,” she said.
“No,” Jared said, shaking his head. “Your cousin’s inside. We need to get him before he bolts.
“Everyone in this
neighborhood just heard all that,” Cassie said. “If he didn’t run yet, he’s about to.”
“We have to try,” Jared said and reached out for her.
Cassie hesitated then stood. She took Jared’s hand and helped him to his feet. He groaned in pain, but Cassie took some of his weight. That made the agony in his chest and leg a little more bearable, but not by much.
From the gloom, two figures approached.
Lumi’s hair was smoking at the ends. Her hands and face were covered in black smudges and a splash of blood splattered her front. She wiped her face with a sleeve, smearing some of the soot and sweat across her forehead.
Nikki walked next to her, licking blood from her fingers, a big smile on her face. More blood drenched her chin and mouth, covering her chest and legs.
“That was fun,” Nikki said. “God, I love Magi. Just absolutely delicious.”
“We need to go,” Lumi said. “MetaDept will send someone here soon. Every Magi in the city just felt all that.”
“No,” Jared said, leaning harder against Cassie. “We need to find her cousin first.”
“Forget about the Were,” Nikki said. “Lumi’s right, get going. I can clean up this mess.”
“We’re here for a reason,” Jared said. “I’m not letting this chance pass.”
Lumi shook her head. “You’re barely standing and that fight took most of your power.”
“Same to you,” Jared said.
Lumi just shrugged. “Doesn’t matter.”
Jared clenched his jaw as the Need suddenly flared to life.
“The Medlar are going to attack us any time we leave the house, and we might not be able to win the next one,” he said through clenched teeth.
“Good point,” Nikki said. “Next time, they might send more. Or I’ll be busy with something more important.” She grinned at them.
Lumi grunted. “Fine,” she said. “But we’d better hurry.”
Jared turned to the fence with Cassie’s help. Lumi walked over first and held open the slit in the chain link. Cassie and Jared slipped through, and Jared cursed under his breath, trying to push the Need and pain away.