by Sierra Cross
IGNITE
SPELLDRIFT: COVEN OF FIRE BOOK 2
SIERRA CROSS
ENIGMATIC / ELIXIR
Contents
Title Page
Glossary of Terms
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
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About the Author
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Acknowledgments
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Copyright © 2017 by Sierra Cross
Editing By: Jaime’s Editing Service
Proofreading by Dana Proof Write
Cover art by Y. Nikolova at Ammonia Book Covers
All Rights Reserved.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and events are either the product of the authors’ imagination or are used factiously. Any resemblance to actual places, events, and people, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
ISBN: 978-1-938767-27-2
GLOSSARY OF TERMS
Amalgam (mal) - A magicborn individual born of a forbidden union, such as the offspring of a witch and a guardian. Historically hunted down as abominations, they are even now viewed as dangerous by modern Council Supremas.
Caedis - A highly intelligent, exceedingly strong class of demon able to take over a human bodies near the moment of its owner’s death.
Council Suprema - A legal body made up of representatives from every local type of magicborn. A city’s Council Suprema is judge, jury, and executioner for the magicborn within its jurisdiction.
Demongates - Places on the earth where the veil between the Earthly Realm and the Demon Realm is very thin. These sites must be warded to prevent the free passage of demons into the Earthly Realm.
Fidei - A secretive, Wont-led international organization that oversees the magicborn and keeps their doings hidden from the Wont world.
guardian - A magicborn race whose strongest male members are trained to serve as coven bodyguards and fighters. Their magic solely enhances their combat abilities.
magicborn - Referring to the wider community that encompasses witches, warlocks, guardians, vampires, shifters, fae, and even rarer creatures such as gargoyles.
mage - A Wont who studies magic and makes use of potions or magic-charged objects in place of wielding inborn magical gifts.
Nequam (Neq) - One of various forms of low-level demons who use glamours to conceal their hideous looks and who instantly reincarnate on the other side of the Demongate upon being killed.
runes - An ancient set of symbols that, when etched onto a blade, turns lower-level demons to dust upon death.
scry - To divine a living being’s location, using one’s own magic and the simple tools of an enchanted pendant.
shifter - A magicborn individual with the ability to shift into one particular species of animal, as determined by their bloodline.
skinsuit - A human body that is being commandeered by a Caedis demon.
spellbeads - Small, marble-sized beads of different shapes that come pre-charged with a particular spell. They activate when shattered.
The Spelldrift - a central Seattle neighborhood that has always been a magicborn hub, thanks to its unique subterranean current of free-flowing magical energy.
ward - A magical veil that serves as a security system, lock, or boundary. Stronger magic creates stronger wards.
wardsuit - The magical equivalent of a bulletproof vest; battle garb that absorbs much of the impact of a demon blast.
warlock - A magicborn male whose inborn magic allows him to cast spells, perform incantations, and do various other magical tasks. Traditionally, warlocks are tasked with hunting demons and policing the witch community.
witch - A magicborn female whose inborn magic allows her to cast spells, perform incantations, and do various other magical tasks. Traditionally, witches play many roles in the magicborn community, including building and maintaining wards, brewing potions, and controlling magical commerce.
Wont - An ordinary human with no magical gifts.
CHAPTER ONE
O ne minute I was in dreamland, relishing Matt’s big, rough hands sliding across my bare skin—and the next, I was painfully aware of the cold steel pressed to my jugular.
My heart jackhammered against my ribs, but I forced myself to lie still under the mound of borrowed blankets. As my vision adjusted to the shadowy darkness of my temporary bedroom, I braced myself to look up into the hideous face of a Nequam demon. My magic saw through Neqs’ glamours to their ghastly true forms: always handy, always creepy as hell.
What I wasn’t prepared to see staring back at me was a human face.
White male. Late twenties. Dishwater brown hair. Pale blue eyes blinked behind thick glasses.
For a stunned moment, all I could think was, Why is this random guy attacking me?
Then reflexes kicked in. Fighting instincts Matt had drilled into me long ago. Adrenaline pumped furiously through my bloodstream, and my hand grabbed the intruder’s wrist, ready to twist and pull him down with his own momentum. Instead, the moment our skin made contact, a familiar cutting sensation stung me. The room seemed to pitch and roll. I gasped at the pain, like a hundred tiny razorblades pricking my skin. Not from the blade still held to my throat. From his dark magic.
The man standing over my bed was no lowly Neq, but he was a demon all right. A very rare type of demon. I had encountered his kind only once before, and I almost didn’t live to tell about it.
“There’s nothing to be afraid of, witch.” His soft, gentle voice made me wonder—not for the first time—if Caedis demons could read minds. They sure had a gift for faking sincerity; humans crumpled under their powers of persuasion. I had to remind myself that the human face I gazed upon was only his current skinsuit. A body he’d stolen near the moment of death.
“Get the hell out of my apartment,” I commanded in a low growl.
“Of course, I’ll be leaving this squalid flat any minute now.” The Caedis leaned in, warmth and friendliness animating his rather plain features. “But not without you.” Damn his silken voice, he sounded reasonable even as he suggested kidnapping me from my bed. “Come along quietly, Alix.”
Whoa. My heart pounded. Bad, bad sign, his knowing my name. Meant someone sent him—who? My aunt?
“Quietly,” he repeated, “and no one will hurt you.”
Right, like I was going anywhere with a demon.
Knowing Matt was camped out on the living room floor, I opened my mouth to scream. Quick as lightning, the Caedis pressed two fingers of his free hand to my lips. A flash of dark magic seeped into me from his touch, wrapping itself around my body like an icy blanket. Numbing my skin, my nerves. Freezing my muscles. No sound escaped me.
“No more resistance,” he whispered in my ear, and the proximity to his razor-like magic made me feel seasick. “Not if you want your pet guardian to live.”
So he knew about Matt too. I tried to thrash with all my might to get away from him, but my shoulders barely twitched. My hopes slumped. Sweat bloomed on my forehead.
A cold breeze fluttered the curtains at my open bedroom window, and I heard snickers from just outside. I tried to turn my head but only barely managed to turn my gaze. H
unched in the shadows on either side of my bedroom window were two gnarled grey Nequam. His servants, no doubt. All three demons must have come in through the fire escape. After a fire destroyed my last apartment, I’d found it comforting to be sleeping in a room with easy access to a fire escape.
Not so much at the moment.
My mind raced, exploring one futile solution after another. If I was able to make a noise and Matt came in, would I be condemning him to death?
The Caedis smiled. “Come quietly and the guardian lives. Resist, and I’ll flay him and feed him to the latest batch of foundlings.”
On cue, the Neqs snarled, ready to attack if Matt opened the door. He’d never see it coming. Tears of frustration ran down my paralyzed cheeks, and I couldn’t wipe them away. My attacker demon slid his hands under my armpits, dragged me across the sheets, and hoisted me off the bed like a sack of flour.
My heels hit the floor with a soft thunk.
Damn.
I knew Matt. That small sound would alert his enhanced guardian senses.
Sure enough, the bedroom door burst open. Matt’s nearly six and a half feet of solid muscle filled the doorway. He was shirtless, in grey sweats, his short, dark hair sported major bedhead. But the cold fire in his eyes told me he was in fighting form. He threw a dagger, winging the Caedis in the right bicep, then dropped to a crouch. The Neqs each shot green blasts at him, but aimed too high. I should have known my guardian would be ready even for this.
My nostrils strung from the acrid scent of sulfur that now filled the room. The Caedis hissed in what sounded like agony. Matt’s blades weren’t etched with runes powerful enough to dust a higher-level demon, but they clearly had some effect. The demon faltered, losing his grip on me.
I crashed to the hardwood floor, grateful for the pain. The moment the Caedis’ hands were off me, his paralyzing magic had begun to leak out.
As my nerves screamed back to life, I scrambled to my knees to see Matt using his blades to deflect green blasts from the two Neqs. Sending them right back at the Caedis, who was busy pulling the blade out of his wounded upper arm. Before my attacker could recover, I crawled across the floor—straining to make my muscles work in unison—and grabbed Matt’s thrown dagger. Fingers wrapped around the weapon, I flailed to my feet and drove the blood-encrusted blade into the demon’s chest with all my might. But I missed the bull’s-eye.
His pained roar filled my ears, and his blue eyes watered. He growled a command to his servants, but the Neqs were dust. Before the Caedis could grab me again, Matt sank another charmed blade into his upper back, right through his professional-looking white button-down. Cursing, the Caedis whirled to face him.
“I’ve had enough of you, guardian.”
“Likewise.”
I had to hand it to Matt; he sounded as calm as ever. But my pulse was pounding out of rhythm. Though this one wasn’t as strong as Tenebris had been, hand-to-hand combat with a Caedis was too much for one guardian to handle. They moved supernaturally fast and were famously tough to slay.
And this one was all too eager to kill Matt.
But not me. I had one advantage: this Caedis seemed loathe to spill my blood. Whoever sent him must have made it clear I wasn’t to be harmed…making me almost certain it was Aunt Jenn. My aunt, who I’d loved like a mother, until mere weeks ago when she revealed herself to be a dark witch.
Feeling emboldened, I darted closer behind the demon as he thwarted Matt’s daggers and aimed green blasts at him in rapid succession. The magic of Matt’s blades disintegrated them on impact. My hands tingled with golden energy and I focused my magic into my fingertips, poised to throw a firebolt if I could just get a clear shot.
As if sensing my thought, Matt spun the Caedis around.
But the demon, moving at lightning speed, dodged so my fireball only grazed his wrist and charred the wall behind him. Hissing from the mild burn, he glared from Matt to me and back again. Long gone was the friendly, mid-level manager mask—monstrous rage contorted his face.
Adrenaline pumped through my bloodstream. Whatever his revenge, it would be sadistic.
Instead, the demon shoved Matt, so hard he flew across the room, and dove for the window.
I ran to Matt, who was already groaning to his feet, and threw my arms around him wordlessly. He held me tight, surrounding me with his heat. His bare chest pressed so close to me I could feel his heart beating. As rough as it had been to sleep so close to Matt every night without touching him, I felt grateful he was here tonight. I didn’t want to even think about him moving out.
Which he was planning to do any day now, damn his sense of integrity. Despite my protests, he felt like he was taking advantage of my hospitality. He’d promised to be out the moment he’d saved up enough for a security deposit on a new apartment.
I hadn’t realized it, but I’d been shaking. While he smoothed my hair, my body slowly quieted. I gazed up at Matt’s rugged face, inhaling the scent of clean male sweat on his skin. Every receptor in my brain flipped awake. Heat rose from my belly.
He pulled me in closer. “Thank God you’re okay.” His voice came out gravelly. As he spoke his lips moved against the sensitive skin of my neck and my body began to tremble again, but this time not out of fear.
“Matt.” I liked the way his name felt on my lips. His fingertips found their way to the nape of my neck…and that’s when Matt cleared his throat. He swallowed hard and I could see him struggling to compose himself. To keep his vow intact.
“So.” Looking torn, he pulled away from our embrace. His tone shifted to the one I privately referred to as Coach Guardian. “Do you get why the Caedis ran?”
His hand lingered on my arm. I knew it wouldn’t take much to pull him back to explore my body, he was on a knife’s edge. But I had promised myself it was up to him now. If we were ever to cross this chasm, he’d have to make the next move. I shook my head. “He could have killed us both, easy.”
Matt waited, giving me a minute to figure it out on my own.
“But not without greater injury to himself,” I answered and was rewarded by a look of approval from my guardian. “Caedis fear the host-body’s death, they don’t just reincarnate like Nequam.” Matt nodded. “I still don’t get why he looked so angry and surprised.”
“My guess is whoever sent him neglected to tell him what an amazing fighting team we make together.”
The thought made me feel proud…until I followed the thought to its conclusion. “It had to have been my aunt who sent him. She still hasn’t let me go.”
“Doesn’t matter,” he growled. “I was never going to let him take you as far as the door.”
“Hey, neither was I.” I gave a half-laugh. Now that the Caedis was gone and we were safe, I felt a rush of adrenaline lighting me up. “And I sure wasn’t going to let him flay you and feed you to his ‘foundlings.’”
Matt pulled away from me, his dark eyes narrow, his voice surprised. “What the hell was he talking about? Foundlings?”
I shrugged. “Demon trash-talking?” I joked, though Matt’s expression was anything but jovial. “What are foundlings anyway?”
From Matt’s grim face, I suspected this was one more occasion where my not being raised in magic put me behind the curve. “When Nequam first cross the Demongate into our realm,” he explained, “they need a Caedis Lord or dark witch to feed them. It forges their loyalty. From then on they serve that Caedis.” He paused while I took in this interesting bit of demon culture trivia. “See the problem?”
Damn. Unfortunately, I did. “There shouldn’t be any foundlings to feed.” Not when our coven’s primary job was keeping Seattle’s Demongate warded.
“Get your ward suit on.” Matt touched my arm. “I’ll call the rest of the team.”
In a matter of minutes, Matt and I had called the rest of our coven and suited up in our battle gear. With Liv and Asher in the backseat of my car, the four of us sped to Caster’s Park. The kidnapping attempt had shaken me up—no
point in denying it—but the weight of the spellbeads in the pockets of the snug vest I wore over my wardsuit was comforting. So was the company of my friends.
“You’re certain it was a Caedis?” Asher’s English-accented voice piped up from the backseat.
“Unless Neqs can suddenly wear skinsuits and act charming.” I’d answered his question three times, but he still didn’t seem to want to take it in.
“Currently, there are only three known Caedis in the North America,” he explained, holding up a tablet computer in his ungloved hand. The chimerian tattoos running up his arms swirled and glowed with golden magic. “I have a friend in the Fidei”—knowing Asher I mentally translated that as friend-with-benefits—“and I just had her send me their descriptions. None match the one you gave.”
“So where’d this guy come from?” Liv demanded with her bull-in-the-china-shop tenacity.
I slid into the freeway exit lane. “All I know is that his magic felt like razors, just like Tenebris’s did.”
Matt raised his eyebrows from the passenger seat. “You said the demon knew your name. You don’t think it could be—”
“No. It wasn’t Tenebris.” I surprised myself by how quickly I answered. But I would have recognized the ex-CEO of Millennium Dynamics even in a fresh skinsuit. His personality had been that strong. So had his magical signature. “This guy wasn’t half as powerful.“ Besides, I reassured myself, we’d sent Tenebris back to the Demon Realm.
“This guy must be new in town,” Matt said, “and the Fidei haven’t registered his existence yet.”
“Maybe, but Caedis are risk-averse. Why would he enter an unfamiliar city?” Asher mused. “Just to kidnap one, forgive me, inexperienced witch?”
Matt’s square jaw tightened. “Guess someone made it worth his while.”
“I think we all know who.” I bit my lip. “Aunt Jenn’s worth billions now. And she’ll never stop wanting to turn me.”
“Ugh.” In the rearview mirror, I saw Liv toss her head back in anger. Her loose blond curls bounced against the car seat. “How the hell could your aunt think she could make a dark witch out of you?”