“Show your face.”
No chance. I looped the amulet around my neck. “I don’t have a quarrel with you—”
A current of air slammed into me, sending me flying back head over heels. The breath punched from my lungs, my body soaring through the air like a rag doll. I’d have grabbed onto the nearest target, but there wasn’t one. Air buffeted me on all sides, and my mouth stretched open in a scream.
This is gonna hurt.
I slammed into the ground so hard that for a long moment, I couldn’t move. My limbs twitched, cold as the grave, and a voice came from somewhere nearby.
“Liv. Liv, are you okay? Can you hear me?”
Who was that? Not Brant, though the voice was male. I’d heard it before…
“Who are you?” I tried to say, but it came out as a groan.
“Liv!” The voice was frantic. Familiar and yet unfamiliar. “He’s dead. She needs help.”
Dead? Who was dead? The image of a room flickered behind my eyes—an office with iron-grey walls painted with splatters of blood.
The real world swam back into focus. My eyes flickered open to a steel-grey sky, and something painfully sharp in my rucksack dug into my back and shoulders.
Brant was leaning over me, his face pale and his eyes wide. “Shit, Liv. Don’t scare me like that.”
I pushed upright, wheezing. “Didn’t really have a choice.”
“Are you all right?” He helped me to my feet, where I promptly fell against him. His hand trailed through my hair, touched the back of my head. “You’re bleeding.”
“Hit my head.” I coughed. “Damn, the Death King’s Elements are strong. Did you get hit, too?”
“No, you got the brunt of the attack,” he said. “I’m sorry. Did you give the amulet to the guard?”
“What d’you think?” I searched around my neck. Then my pocket. “Dammit. I was holding it when I got sucker-punched across the swamp.” I didn’t even recognise the area I’d landed in, a patch of rain-soaked ground behind the warehouses where the city and the swampland met. Mud soaked through the legs of my jeans and the back of my coat, dampness creeping underneath to my bare skin.
I searched my other pocket, but my fingers closed on emptiness. The amulet was gone, and worse, the invisibility cantrip had worn off. Presumably because said cantrip had fallen out of my pocket, too. This just kept getting better and better.
I scanned my surroundings, cursing under my breath. We were close to the place where I’d run into Trix last time, and I’d been lucky not to fall through a warehouse roof with the speed at which the Air Element had thrown me. The amulet might have landed anywhere, in the swamp or otherwise. Devon would be pissed at me for losing her cantrip, but that was the least of my problems.
“C’mon,” said Brant. “You can’t walk around bleeding like that.”
“Says who?” I paced across the muddy ground. “I can’t leave that thing lying around, even out here.”
If a vampire found the lich’s soul, for instance, it might well kick off a war with the Court of the Dead. And I didn’t even want to know what that soul thief could do with a lich’s soul at his disposal.
A nagging sensation in the back of my mind drew my attention like a hard-to-reach itch. I’d seen… something, when I’d hit the ground. A scene from my past, from among my lost memories. The echo of the coppery taste of blood lingered at the back of my throat, while my hands tingled as though I’d stepped headlong into a node. Spirit magic was linked to death—everyone knew that—and maybe hitting my head had knocked something loose, but not being able to identify the owner of the voice bothered me in a way I couldn’t put my finger on. It wasn’t Dirk Alban, because by then, he’d already been dead.
He’s dead. She needs help…
Brant swore under his breath. “There’s trouble.”
I looked where he pointed. A tall pale figure stood in the mouth of an alley between warehouses, the skull amulet dangling from his hands. A smirk came to his mouth, from which a pair of gleaming fangs protruded. “Looking for this?”
8
The man was tall, thin, and wore a floor-length grey coat. His perfectly formed fangs and the intelligent gleam in his dark eyes gave him away as a vampire—not a revenant, but a blood-drinking, genuine vampire. Of all the people to get his paws on the amulet, it had to be one of the Death King’s immortal enemies.
“Give that here,” I warned.
“What’s one of the Order’s underlings doing with a soul amulet, I wonder?” The vampire smirked, showing his pointed teeth. “Interesting. Is this a valuable possession of the Death King’s?”
“Give. That. Back.” My head pounded with every word, and while part of me was tempted to let him take his prize and fuck off, I knew better than to think letting him steal the amulet would take any of the responsibility away from me. The vampires had been trying to get in on the Death King’s territory ever since they’d taken power in Arcadia, and I wasn’t about to let them start another war because the Death King’s trigger-happy Elemental Soldier had decided to hit first and ask questions later.
“I’m not sure you know who you’re dealing with, human.” His fangs flashed. “If that amulet is not yours, it’s forfeited to the first person to find it by default.”
“Like hell.” Now I recognised him. I’d had a run-in with him and a couple of his fellow vamps a few months back, and knew he made a habit of ‘acquiring’ things from unwitting humans in the city.
The slight problem? Vampires could move faster than an Olympic runner and had strength higher than a professional powerlifter. As I reached for the amulet, he sidestepped with lethal grace, his sharp fangs snagging my wrist.
“Ow.” Damn, that hurt. Blood trickled down my hand, and Brant’s shout of rage reverberated in my ears.
Fire flashed from his hands, but hitting a vampire was like trying to catch smoke in a fishing net. The vamp’s slim figure disappeared into the alley, and Brant ran after him. Flames flickered outwards and left burn marks on the wall, but in an enclosed space like this, he was as likely to hit me as the vampire.
Cursing myself for leaving most of my weapons in the tree, I reached for the amulet again and my fingers closed on nothing. Next thing I knew, the vampire had Brant in a headlock. “I wouldn’t push your luck, mage. Be careful who you ally with.”
“I’m with Liv,” he said though gritted teeth. Flames burst from his hands, but the vampire released him before his attack made contact.
Cold hands closed around my own throat an instant later. I rammed my elbow backwards, and pain splintered up my arm. Ow. Note to self: do not hit any more vampires. It was like striking a boulder.
“Give me that amulet,” I gasped, my eyes watering with pain.
“Why spoil the fun?” said another voice.
Two more vampires appeared in the alley’s mouth. Just great. Vamps were known for playing with their food, and I should have figured the blood dripping from my hand would draw every bloodsucker in the vicinity. Fighting them all off at once would be out of the question. I squirmed in the vampire’s grip, and my rucksack emitted an odd rattling sound. Huh?
Wait. The jar I’d trapped the phantom in. I was lucky I hadn’t broken it when I’d fallen onto my back, but it sounded like the lid had come loose in the process. I’d bet that phantom wasn’t happy in the slightest. I can work with that.
The other two vampires closed in, teeth bared, lusting for blood. I tried to catch Brant’s eye, but his attention was on our foes, his hands alight with fire magic. The third vampire held me in his grip, his cold hands squeezing the life from me.
With all my strength, I threw myself backwards into his body with a crash which would have knocked me senseless if I hadn’t put my rucksack in the way. As I’d hoped, the phantom shot out of my bag like the cork from a champagne bottle, straight into the vampire’s face. He released me with a startled cry, giving Brant the opportunity to grab my arm and tug me out of the alleyway. I would have objecte
d to being manhandled, but the blood pulsing from my wrist hadn’t slowed, and my arm felt dislocated. Definitely shouldn’t have hit that vampire.
Lightheaded and shaking, I ran after Brant through the alley and around a corner. Next thing I knew, Brant was opening a door and ushering me into a dark room. He closed the door, and a spark from his hand ignited an old-fashioned lantern.
“Where is this place?” I wheezed.
“A hideout of mine.” He took my arm. “You’re still bleeding. Your head, too.”
“Shit.” I touched the back of my head with my fingertips. “It’s not deep.”
“No, but we’ll be lucky if the vampires don’t follow us once they’ve shaken off our little friend.” He released my hand. “I have a cantrip here that can stop the pain and another for bleeding.”
I watched, bemused, as he reached for a set of wooden drawers and opened the topmost one. The room was around the size of a studio flat complete with a small kitchen and a sofa bed. This must be one of his bolt holes, albeit one I’d never seen before.
“I think my arm’s either broken or dislocated,” I added. “I left my cantrips in a tree, and there’s an angry air mage and three vamps standing in the way.”
“Let me see.” He held up two coin-shaped cantrips and paced over to me, his fingers brushing my arm. Tingles of heat sparked in the pit of my stomach, despite the adrenaline surging through my veins. One cantrip stopped the pain shooting through my arm, back and shoulders, while a second stopped the blood flowing from my wrist and the back of my head. “That should do it.”
“Thanks.” I smiled at him with a rush of genuine gratitude. “It’s appreciated. Did you buy those cantrips from here?”
“Yeah, I figure that you can never have too many healing cantrips,” he said. “I keep them at most of my hideouts.”
“I thought you used to live north of Arcadia,” I said.
“I do, but this is a useful place to have a base.” He headed into the kitchen area and I followed him. “Anyway, let’s see that wrist of yours. Better clean off the blood.”
“I’m not going to turn into a vampire.” To do that, the vamp would have had to make me drink his blood. No, thanks.
Brant ran a cloth under the tap and dabbed at the blood on my wrist. “You’ve never met those vampires before, have you?”
“Yes,” I said. “They were stealing from Order personnel a few months ago. I was sent to raid one of their hideouts. Reckon I pissed them off, too.”
“You should have called me,” he said.
“Excuse me?” I jerked my wrist away. “It was a job for the Order. I had no obligation to go chasing after you. I assumed you never wanted to see me again.”
“That came out wrong,” he said. “There’s a rumour going around that some of the vampires are in league with the soul thief. Or at least they know he’s here in the city and have no intention of stopping him.”
“Not the council, surely.” The vampires who ruled the city might be avaricious and greedy, but even they wouldn’t be foolish enough to risk the ire of the Order and the Death King.
“Not that I’m aware of,” he said, “but the vampires have been getting bolder in their attacks on mages lately. There’s a rumour that some of them are intending to drive us out of the city altogether. They want to keep the regular practitioners around… a food source, you know.”
“Got it.” I took the cloth from him and dabbed at the back of my head before tossing it into the sink. “Is that why he bit me and not you?”
“No, he knew I’d torch his skin off if he got too close.” He scowled. “Anyway, I’ll send someone after those vampires, and they’ll get your amulet back. You should go—”
“Home?” My hands clenched. “I might not have any magic to speak of, but that doesn’t mean you get to tell me what to do. That’s the Order’s job.”
He winced. “It’s not that I don’t want you around, but—”
There came a knocking at the door. Was it the vampires? I should have guessed they’d shake off the phantom and follow the scent of my blood, but then again, would they really take the trouble to knock? The legend about vampires having to be invited in wasn’t based in reality, but perhaps these guys were more polite than your average thieves.
Or maybe it was someone from the Death King instead. Which would be worse, because I didn’t have the amulet on me, and I had no way to prove my innocence.
The knocking came again, louder. Brant’s mouth pressed together. Then he walked to the door and yanked it open. “Yes?”
“Hey,” said a guy I recognised as the person who’d interrupted Brant and me when we’d been talking at the pub. “Thought I saw you sneaking around.”
So much for the invisibility spell. “Yeah, we had a run-in with some vampires.”
“We… right, your girlfriend’s here.” He gave me an appreciative look-over. “Liv, right?”
“Yes,” I said. “Also, not his girlfriend. So you know the vampires?”
“You might say that,” said Vaughn. “What did the vamps do, rough you up and run?”
“They took something of ours,” Brant said, to my surprise. “I intend to get it back.”
I shot him a sideways look, but he didn’t catch my eye. Did this dude know about the soul amulet? Maybe Brant trusted him, but I’d seen no more reason to believe he wasn’t out to get me than anyone else.
“No surprise there.” Vaughn turned to me. “Brant’s been looking for an excuse to get those rogue vamps ever since they started picking fights with the mages. He told you about the soul thief?”
“He did,” I said. “So the vamps work for this soul thief, then?”
“They work for whoever pays them,” Brant replied. “I think they deserve a good kicking, personally. Not least for what they did to you.”
Heat prickled at my neck. “They do, but I’d like to be better prepared before we provoke them again.”
“How’d you drive them off?” asked Vaughn.
“I threw a phantom at them,” I told him.
He laughed. “Bet that ruined their day.”
I didn’t return his easy smile. Something about his knack for timing rubbed me up the wrong way.
“I assume he hasn’t picked up the blood trail I left yet.” I paced to the door.
“No, they’re still running around in circles.” Dex appeared in a flash of light. “That phantom scared them silly.”
Vaughn jumped at the sight of the fire sprite. “Who’s that?”
“This is Dex,” I said. “A fire sprite. This is Vaughn, a…?” I ended on a question.
“Earth mage,” Brant said.
“Well, I’ll be damned.” Vaughn nodded to Brant. “She’s the one, all right.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” I looked between them, but Brant’s gaze bypassed mine.
“It means Brant has some explaining to do,” he said. “But I’d rather talk it over when vampires aren’t hunting us down.”
I agreed. Unfortunately. “I dropped my invisibility cantrip. If I had it, we’d be able to sneak past the vamps and corner them this time.”
“Invisibility?” echoed Vaughn. “Made it yourself, did you?”
“Nah, a friend did.” I wouldn’t be able to pull the phantom trick off twice, so their distraction would be the one shot I had at getting the amulet back. “Dex, did you see where my cantrip landed? It fell out of my pocket when our armoured friend sucker-punched me.”
“That’s what fell? I thought it was the amulet you dropped.” Dex flew over my head. “Oh. The vamps have it. Oh.”
“Exactly,” I said. “Whereabouts did the cantrip land, did you see?”
“Somewhere near the warehouses,” he said.
“Oh, right in front of the Air Element.” Bloody perfect.
“Did you say the—” Vaughn looked at Brant in alarm. “You picked a fight with the Death King’s soldiers?”
“Turns out they don’t like invisible people trespassing o
n their territory,” I said, wishing he’d go away. I’d barely begun to trust Brant again, let alone this stranger. “Tell you what, though, if we lure the vampires into the swamp, it’d be a good way to distract both of them for long enough to get the amulet back.”
Vaughn glanced at Brant. “She has a point.”
“Getting blasted by an Air Element would certainly get their circulation going again,” put in Dex, snickering. “I don’t want to miss this one.”
“Rather them than me.” I turned to the fire sprite. “Can you scout ahead and let us know if anyone’s outside, vampire or otherwise?”
He vanished, while I returned my attention to Brant. “We need to get the cantrip. If we’d been invisible when the vamps showed up, they wouldn’t have been able to corner us.”
“True,” Brant said. “They were toying with us, but even invisible, they’d be able to track us down.”
“Which is why I think we should lure them into the swamp,” I said. “I’m covered in mud and I smell like I’ve been for a swim in there anyway. Even if they do know we’re there and they follow us into the swamp, the Air Element will target them and not us.”
Though I’d prefer not to have another conflict with the Elemental Soldiers, I refused to let the vampires run off with the liches’ amulet. I might not be worth much to them, dead or otherwise, but that didn’t mean I wanted to be the accidental catalyst for another supernatural war. Even if the vampires weren’t working for the soul thief, they could cause a lot of trouble with an artefact like that on their hands, depending on how valuable the soul’s owner was to the Death King.
“I won’t weep if there’s three fewer vamps in the world,” said Vaughn. “You want to get that cantrip of yours back first?”
“You’ve got it.” I glanced at Brant. “I’ll get the cantrip. You can create a diversion from afar, can’t you?”
“Of course I can,” said Brant.
Vaughn laughed. “He’s been shooting fireballs for fun since before he could ride a bike.”
So they’d known one another for a while. I filed that information away for future reference. “Can you help with the diversion?”
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