Stolen Magic

by Char Webster

  He knocked louder, banging on the door. “Aria!” Something about this didn’t feel right.

  Whispering an open spell, he unlocked the door and slid it open a crack. “Aria! Are you in here?”

  When he didn’t receive an answer, he walked all the way in and let the door click closed behind him. She wasn’t in the room, and a quick check confirmed she wasn’t in the bathroom either. Where was she?

  He left the room quickly and went to the lobby to search for her. He checked the bar, the gift shop, the business area, and then went out by the pool. He walked the whole outside of the hotel and still didn’t see her anywhere.

  Damian jogged back inside and waited for the elevator but ran for the steps when it was taking too long. Frustrated, he went back to her room to see if there were any clues to where she could have gone. He was getting a very bad feeling.

  Her opened purse on the dresser caught his attention. He didn’t think she would leave without her purse. He was getting more worried. He noticed her cell phone was not in her purse, so he called it.

  The call connected after the third ring. “Aria. Where are you?” Damian demanded.

  “I’m sorry. Aria can’t come to the phone right now. She’s recovering from a stunning spell.”

  Damian felt like someone had punched him in the gut as hard as they could. “Pravus, where are you? What have you done with her?”

  “I’m not planning on keeping her. You can have what’s left after I’m finished, or maybe you’re not interested in leftovers.” Pravus laughed maniacally.

  “Don’t touch her!”

  “Mmmm. Maybe if I cut her, I can drain her magic. I can hear the rush of her strong magic in her veins.” Pravus continued to laugh loudly. “I’ll be in touch.” He disconnected the call.

  Damian cursed, slammed his phone on the dresser, and ran his hands through his hair. Pravus had her, and he had no idea where.

  He should have known she was in trouble, but he had locked away his feelings for her so long ago. He used to be able to feel when she was in danger or hurting, but it had become too much, so he sealed those emotions in an unbreakable iron box in his heart, never to access them again. Their bond from back then had been so strong remnants still burned through him.

  If he unlocked those feelings, would he be able to sense her, or would his emotions overwhelm him to the point where he wouldn’t be able to feel anything?

  He grabbed the phone from the dresser and sent off two text messages. As soon as he hit send on the second one, a portal opened. He reluctantly greeted the new arrival.

  “Hey.”

  “What in hell do you mean my sister was taken? You promised me you would protect her!” Markos stormed up to Damian.

  “I don’t know what happened. I left her in her hotel room for an hour to get showered and changed for dinner, and she was gone when I came back to get her.” Damian began to pace the room.

  “How do you know he has her and she didn’t just walk off to get away from you? You know how she gets when she’s stressed, and dude, you stress her out.” Markos leaned against the wall and watched Damian walk back and forth.

  “Pravus answered her phone when I called her.”

  “Damn. We need to find her.” Markos raked a hand over his face.

  “Don’t you think I know that?” Damian stopped pacing and faced Markos. “It’s killing me that after everything I’ve done to protect her and everything I’ve given up, he has her anyway!”

  Markos let out a breath. “You can find her. You’ve done it before. I know you have. You’ve shown up when she’s been in trouble in the past.”

  “She doesn’t know that.” Damian sat in the chair next to the bed. “I don’t know if I can do it. It’s been hundreds of years.”

  “Stop being so damn stubborn, and do whatever you need to do.”

  Damian hung his head. “I’ll find her.”

  Another portal opened, and Aedan and Julie rushed in. “What can we do?”

  Chapter Nine

  Aria regained consciousness slowly but let her senses open up wide. That monster knocked her out, and she had no idea how long she’d been asleep.

  Her training kicked in, and she assessed her situation. She couldn’t hear anyone around, so she figured she was probably alone. She calmed her breathing to listen to the room. She cracked her eyes open slightly. The room was completely dark, and the blinds were open on the window, showing darkness outside as well. Hopefully she had only been missing for a short time.

  Opening her eyes fully, she pushed to a seated position. She was on a bed with a flowered coverlet and frilly throw pillows. She took in her surroundings and saw silk flowers on the dresser across the room and lacy doilies covering the night stands and protecting them from the outdated lamps with scalloped shades. She cringed when she saw even more flowers on the wallpaper.

  This couldn’t be Pravus’ house. He had to have commandeered it from an elderly woman. Aria noticed she was fully dressed with her knee boots and all. She ran her hands down her boots and wanted to scream with joy. Her sword and daggers were there. Her portal knife was missing from her pocket, and so was her phone. She couldn’t portal away or call for help. She was on her own.

  Aria pulled one of her smaller daggers out of her boot. It was easier to hide along her forearm than her sword. She scooted off the bed but almost fell over. Weakness in her legs and arms had taken her by complete surprise. What did he do to her? A simple stunning spell wouldn’t make her whole body feel tired and worn out. She muttered a spell and could feel it fizzle out. He had to have bound her magic somehow.

  Forcing herself to walk to the door of the room, she tried the handle. It was unlocked, so she slowly opened the door and peeked into the hallway. She needed to be very quiet, or she wouldn’t be able to surprise Pravus.

  Aria slipped through the doorway and out into the hallway. There was more wall paper, and the carpet was well worn. She stayed close to the wall, peering into open doorways before hurrying past. She came to a stairway that led to the ground floor. She leaned over to see if anyone was in sight, but thankfully she didn’t hear or sense anyone near.

  Creeping down the steps, she reached the foyer of the house and froze. Voices were coming from a room not far from where she was standing. Her first instinct was to charge in and fight whoever was there, but she knew her body was weakened, so running might be her best option.

  Turning to reach the front door, she felt someone grab her from behind, hissing in her ear. “Where do you think you’re going?”

  ~*~*~

  Damian was issuing orders to everyone.

  “Aedan, round up some Enforcers who can help us. Call Ethan and the Westons.”

  Aedan pulled out his magic knife and made a portal. “Keep me informed of what’s going on.”

  “Julie, see if you can find a spell or something that can hold Pravus once we find him. He’s very powerful, so something simple won’t work.”

  Before Aedan left, Julie walked up. “Aedan, wait up; we can work together.” They disappeared through the portal.

  Damian continued with his assignments. “Markos, Legacy needs to be ready for us. We’re finding Pravus tonight, and they need to come get him.”

  Markos considered Damian for a minute. “I’ll be right back. You need to concentrate on where she is. If you need to be alone to tap into her essence, do it. Whatever it takes.”

  Nodding, Damian promised, “I’ll find her.”

  Damian could smell Aria in the room, and he knew which bed was hers. Sitting down, he let her fragrance envelop him. He needed as much of her as he could get around him for what he had to do. He flopped back onto her pillows and breathed in her scent. This was way harder than he thought it would be.

  He concentrated on Aria and, for the first time in hundreds of years, allowed his feelings for her to flood him. Pain unlike anything he’d ever experienced settled in his chest, constricting his heart and making it difficult to breathe. He had nev
er allowed his heartbreak to surface before. Now, it felt like it was killing him.

  No numbing spell could fix emotional turmoil.

  Staring up at the ceiling, he pushed past the pain and tried to focus on Aria. He tried to picture her in his mind, remembering her soft skin, gentle curves, and silky hair. Damian thought about how she felt in his arms and how much he wanted her there again.

  Damian shot to his feet. He knew where she was.

  ~*~*~

  While Aria was struggling violently, her captor spun her around, and she took in a breath. Pravus was not what she had expected. Standing before her was a tall, lithe man who could grace any of the runways in Paris. His hair was so blonde it was almost white and looked softer than silk.

  She could feel his commanding presence and an intensity that drew attention. This was a dangerous man. And he was too strong for her to break free.

  He sneered at her, changing his gracefully serene appearance into cruel and menacing within seconds. He seemed to be in his late twenties, but Aria knew he was centuries old. How could someone who had been locked away for hundreds of years be as agile and nimble as an Olympic athlete.

  “Get off me!”

  He continued to hold her without saying anything.

  She watched him blow a strand of blonde hair out of his face while not taking his hands off of her. She wondered why he was just holding her, but then she felt the knife slice her forearm. The blood immediately began to drip onto the dusty mauve carpet.

  She tried to call on every bit of training she ever had and began to fight him off violently. Pravus began to laugh at her struggles, but she had managed to free her arm enough to swing her blade up, plunging it into his body. She thrust the dagger with all the strength she had left and buried it into his stomach.

  He released her immediately, not having expected her to have a weapon or wound him. She watched him sink to the floor holding his bleeding middle. She stumbled backward away from him when she noticed something else was weeping from the gash. A noxious, black, smoke-like substance was seeping into the air. She ran for the door, yanking it open and nearly falling onto the front steps.

  Aria was weak from blood loss and her magic being restrained, but she ran as fast as she could straight into a hard body. Steel arms wrapped around her, and she screamed.

  “Aria! It’s me. It’s Damian.” He crushed her to him. “Thank the gods you’re okay.”

  “We have to get out of here. I stabbed him, but he won’t stay down for long.”

  Markos was already making a portal for them.

  Damian ushered Aria through the portal first with Aedan, Julie and Markos following closely behind.

  They entered the hotel room Damian and Aedan were sharing, and Aria fell onto the bed, exhausted. Julie hugged her quickly and then relinquished her place next to Aria to her brother.

  Markos brought her into his arms and squeezed her tightly. “Don’t scare me like that again.”

  Aria was fighting tears. “I got away.” She was still clutching her dagger, so she threw it to the floor away from her.

  Aedan picked up the knife and examined it. “Check this out.” He held it out for everyone to see. “The blood’s weird. It’s thicker than normal and darker.”

  “Don’t touch it!” Aria stood up to stop him, but Damian caught her before she fell. “When I stabbed him, this horrible smelling black smoke seeped out of him.”

  “Ewww.” Julie made a face. “It’s probably all the evil inside of him corrupting everything.”

  Damian nodded. “It’s the stolen magic. It’s rotting him from the inside.” He noticed her injury, so he grabbed a washcloth from the bathroom, damped the end, and approached Aria.

  Aria’s emotions were running too high for her to remember her wound until Damian began to wash the blood away. He ran the cloth lightly over her torn skin to clean it and then held it tightly against the cut to stop the bleeding. “We need to get a bandage for this.”

  Julie quickly created a portal and returned with peroxide, bandages and Neosporin. She handed them to Damian.

  He worked quickly while Aria and the others watched. Everyone was strangely quiet in the aftermath of Aria’s abduction and return.

  Markos rubbed his face and broke the silence. “We can’t stay here. He knows this hotel, and he could come back when we’re sleeping or unaware.”

  Aedan started throwing his stuff into a bag. “There’s a house on the edge of the garden district that belongs to a shifter I know. Julie and I ran into him today. He told us we could use it since he was leaving for a trip. It’s nearby and has a better setup for security.”

  Damian was reluctant to leave Aria’s side, but he began to pack his stuff as well.

  “I need to get my things.” Aria scooted to the edge of the bed.

  Markos shook his head. “Julie and I will get everything. You look like crap. Stay here and rest.”

  Aedan took Markos’ place on the bed. “If you wanted to get D’s attention, there are much easier ways to do that. You didn’t have to almost get yourself killed.” He bumped her shoulder with his.

  She gave him a small smile. “Yes, I orchestrated this whole thing to get his attention and, of course, yours as well.”

  He changed his demeanor to serious. “He spelled you and tried to steal your magic didn’t he?”

  “Yeah. I don’t think he got any of my magic, but I still feel worn out from whatever spell he used to weaken me.” Aria’s head was throbbing, and she felt like something was running along her skin. She hoped the magic spell would wear off soon.

  Damian had been listening to their conversation and sat down on the other side of her. “You didn’t see him before he hit you with the spell?”

  “No. We all need to be more alert.” Aria stretched her arms out. “How long was I gone?” Aria squinted at the clock radio between the two beds. “I was missing for over 5 hours?”

  “Yeah. I didn’t know you were taken at first. You were supposed to be getting ready for dinner. When you didn’t answer the door and weren’t in your room, I searched the hotel and grounds for you. I didn’t want to accept that something had happened until Pravus answered your phone. It took us a while, but we discovered where you were. I wanted to rush in there after you, but Markos and Aedan convinced me that we needed to plan a rescue instead of barging in there. We were in the middle of planning something when you came running out.”

  “Sorry I messed up your scheme.”

  Damian hugged her, and she let him, noticing that Aedan had discreetly left them alone in the room. He pulled her up against him and let her lean on him. “Come on. Let’s get you out of here so you can regain your strength.”

  Aria was just about to follow after Damian when she turned to her brother. She stalked up to Markos, pushing him in the chest with her palms.

  “Hey! What was that for?” Markos took a few steps back from her. He hadn’t seen her eyes that heated in years.

  Julie and Aedan shared a worried look and slipped from the room.

  Aria zapped him with some stinging magic. “That was for doing things behind my back.” She zapped him again. “And that is for hiding things from me!”

  He threw up a shield to block some of her blows. “Aria! Stop!”

  She blasted him again. “And that is for not telling me that you and Damian have been secretly friends for hundreds of years!”

  Markos’s gaze flew to Damian.

  Damian winced. “Sorry dude. I had to tell her.”

  Markos kept the shield up, and sent calming magic across to his sister. “I know you’re pissed now, but we both were only trying to protect you.”

  “You went behind my back!” Aria didn’t want to let things go.

  “I tried to talk to you so many times! You blew me off every single time I brought him up. Even now, 300 years later, you weren’t any more receptive to me talking to you about him.” Markos mouthed sorry to Damian.

  Aria released her magic and sagged
against the bed. “You should have told me.”

  Markos dropped his shield and crossed the room to gather his sister in his arms. “You weren’t ready until now.”

  Aria let out a ragged breath. “No more secrets.” She turned to Damian. “From you either!”

  Markos fell to one knee with his hand on his heart. “I promise.”

  Damian rolled his eyes. Markos always had a dramatic flair. “I’ve already told you that I wouldn’t keep anything from you again. I mean that.”

  Aria nodded.

  Aedan stuck his head in the door. “Are you guys coming? We shouldn’t stay here any longer.”

  Aria nodded. “Yeah. We’re coming.”

  ~*~*~

  “Why did you let her escape?” Hugo demanded.

  “When are you going to learn not to question me?” Pravus hadn’t anticipated her stabbing him. That shocked him into letting her go before he had planned to. It all worked out in the end.

  He pressed a hand to his stomach to slow the bleeding. The spell he muttered wasn’t strong enough to heal a stab wound. All of his spells seemed weaker. He needed some additional magic. He must have gone too long imprisoned without adding to his magic. The cell had also had a magical dampener around it that prevented any of his spells to work.

  Pravus was lucky Hugo was able to sneak into the cell to release him.

  Feeling not quite right, he decided to rest. Everything could wait for a while. He needed to recover. Damian and Aria also needed time to rekindle their love. After all, emotions should become more intense after a near death experience.

  ~*~*~

  “She’s been sleeping for hours. Are you sure she’s okay?” Julie peeked into the bedroom to check on Aria for the fourth time since they had gotten up that morning. “It’s past 10 a.m. She never sleeps late.”

  Markos stuck his head through the crack of the door. “I’ll wake her in a little while. We have no idea what spell was used on her, and she was sliced open from her wrist to elbow. It’s amazing she recovered as fast as she did.”