Hells Magic (The Armistice Book 1)

by Leslie Vatenar

  “I thought you didn’t know how to fly.”

  He gazed at me, eyes wide open, panting. He’d used his magic to control the air. He’d saved me.

  “I have just come to understand that, for you, I could do anything.”

  The harpy landed behind him, cackling as irritation crossed over her face. I saw Jayden’s eyes take on a whitish color. This time, it was no longer his iris that shone, but his whole eyes were white. His face hardened, and his anger was palpable in the air. Blue flames blazed around his hands.

  The harpy darted toward him, and he threw a stream of destructive flames. The flames traveled the distance between them before engulfing the harpy. She screamed but was disintegrated within seconds.

  The fiery heat spread through the air. Jayden turned to me. The flames were still dancing around his hands.

  He took a step toward me, and a violent tremor shook the earth.

  “Jayden?” I called, worried by the tension seizing his body.

  “The fight is over, the centaur is dead. Join them.”

  He turned to the woods surrounding the Armistice.

  “Where are you going?”

  “Go with the others, I don’t want anyone bothering me.”

  Then he set off for the woods.

  I let him go without saying a word. His condition concerned me, and the one who knew him better than anyone else was Liam. I ran to the Armistice, using the stairs to get to the room where the fight had taken place.

  Fortunately, everyone was alive. And the wounds didn’t seem dreadful. The centaur lay in his blood, his head nowhere to be found. Well, I hadn’t made my life mission to find it to be sincere. One of Jayden’s dogs was lying down and wheezing; Liam was leaning over it.

  “Katy! You’re okay? You’re hurt!”

  “No, I’m fine. It’s not my blood,” I lied, using an illusion to hide most of my wounds. “What happened?”

  “He took an ax hit in my place. The wound is deep. Where’s Jay? He must feel Logi’s pain.”

  “He is… Liam, I think there’s something wrong with him. It seemed… I don’t know how to describe it. His eyes were white, he saved me, but he seems… weird… soulless. He looks like a man about to kill masses,” I blurted.

  “White eyes? You have to find him.”

  “He said not to disturb him.”

  He pondered it for a moment and I tried to give a little of my vital energy to Jayden’s dog to help it heal, even though I didn’t have enough to finish the night on both legs.

  A hand on my shoulder startled me.

  “Don’t exhaust yourself. I’ll take care of it,” the beautiful young woman who joined us said.

  “He won’t do anything if it’s you. If you’re worried, listen to your instincts and go talk to him,” Liam said.

  “Craid ran away. And we can’t stay here. He can send other surprises like this after us,” The Reaper said.

  “I’ll take care of Logi. She’s right; we have to get out of here. Go find Jay.”

  “Okay,” I said before running in the opposite direction.

  I found myself back at square one, my heart pounding against my rib cage.

  Cardio. I hated it.

  I was following the path Jayden had taken earlier. I searched the woods. I knew them by heart; Alice and I often went there. I tried to overcome the echoes of our memories in this little forest and ran, looking for Jayden.

  I found him sitting in the grass in front of the river separating two lands. I ambled toward him. The surrounding grass had disappeared.

  “Jayden?” I murmured so softly it was even difficult for me to hear myself.

  My heart was still beating fast, but it had nothing to do with the race. I was worried something was wrong, and I felt it deep inside me. He didn’t move.

  “Jayden?” I repeated, this time stronger. “We’re going home; I’ll create the portal for all of us.”

  He finally got up. “Let’s go.”

  I stood in his way, searching his gaze, but he fled my eyes, looking at the trees farther away.

  “Jayden?” I called again.

  “The others are waiting, we have to go.”

  Then he left. His voice was devoid of emotions; his eyes reflected a soulless state. He was cold. He had always had this detachment, this control of his emotions, but now it was different. And I couldn’t figure out what was happening.

  I created the portal to Jayden’s house, and we all spent the night there, all of us exhausted. Sleep fell on everyone. Except for me.

  Jayden was nowhere to be seen, and no one knew where he was. I also had to deal with my injuries. Upon arrival, the wounds had manifested their presence with more infatuation than a capricious baby eager to be noticed.

  The adrenaline had dropped, so all the pain came back with a fierce attitude. My healing power had stopped the bleeding and treated some serious wounds as well as it could, but I quickly ran dry.

  I’d made the biggest magic expenditure of my life. If I could even detect energy after that it’d be a miracle. So back to the good old ways that I didn’t master at all.

  It was a mixture of Operation game, veterinary medicine, and luck to heal my wounds; all this with a towel in my mouth to stifle my screams. I was sitting on the floor of Jayden’s guest room with bloodstained handkerchiefs scattered all around me.

  I was in my panties and bra because blood covered all my clothes and I couldn’t see this liquid anymore. Besides, I was suffering, I was suffering martyrdom. It could have been proof that I sucked at medicine.

  I contacted Jayden. He could be far away, but I had to try. “Jayden, if you hear this message, please, I need to hear from you, I know you’re not well, answer me.”

  Oh, I sounded desperate. And, besides, I was. But I didn’t care. I almost crashed to the ground that day. Expressing my despair was the least of my worries.

  “Aren’t you supposed to sleep?”

  Jayden replied a few minutes later. I stood still as if I were playing stuck in the mud with other children.

  “I’m not sleepy. I want to hear from you first.”

  “Tell me what part of ‘do not disturb’ you didn’t get,” I heard behind my back.

  Recognizing the voice, I got up and hugged Jayden, who remained tense. Then he slowly relaxed; his powerful arms encircled me, holding me tight. My cheek against his chest, his arm around my bare waist. Everything was perfect.

  Wait a second. My bare waist. Holy shit. I was still in my panties and bra. I tensed when I realized what I was doing, but the moment was too good to be spoiled by this detail.

  Jayden laid his chin on the top of my head and kissed it. We stayed like that for several minutes. Raising both my arms to hug him was painful, but I didn’t care. I felt that we both needed this moment, so I said nothing.

  “What is this mess? Are you hurt?” he asked me, breaking our embrace to examine me.

  And he leaned on my shoulders to do that.

  I buried my head against his torso to prevent a shrill cry.

  “I’m sorry. I’m sorry. Dammit! The harpy! Why didn’t you tell me?”

  “Do not disturb. You said it yourself.”

  “Yes, but no. You come to me when this kind of thing happens.”

  He extended his power to me, to boost my healing power so I could heal myself. But then his power felt like a violent whiplash in the back that made me wobble. My legs gave out and another cry of pain threatened to escape from my throat. I bit my tongue so hard to contain my cry it bled.

  Jayden caught me and helped me sit on the ground.

  “What’s going on?” he asked in a panicked voice.

  I was completely dazed. A glass of rum wouldn’t have knocked me out that way.

  My entire body shook, I was panting and I was sure that if I’d eaten the slightest thing in the last few hours, I would have thrown up.

 
“Katy? What’s wrong?”

  The distress in his voice jarred me, but it was the only thing I could distinguish. I couldn’t feel my body, I couldn’t see anything, and his voice seemed remote. During a few long minutes, I felt that I no longer belonged to my body. Then I came round. Jayden was kneeling before me, looking alarmed and worried.

  “Your magic,” I breathed. “All this power doesn’t suit my body. I’ve spent a lot; my body can’t take it anymore.”

  “Damn it.” His gaze traveled over my body, stopping at each wound with concern. “Well, back to the good old ways then.”

  I shook my head. “No.”

  “It’ll get worse, Katy, we’ve got to take care of all this. I think we should even take you to the hospital,” he said, peering at the wounds.

  “I stopped the bleeding and treated some wounds. The most important thing is done, no need to go to the hospital.”

  In fact, I was afraid to touch my wounds again; the pain was overtaking my body. Fire was licking my skin.

  “Katy, I don’t think you’ve seen the wounds; even if we stop the bleeding, you have severe scratches on your shoulders and a little on your back. What did you try to do? Thank the Lord you didn’t get into medicine.”

  “I did all I could.”

  “It’s terrible; you haven’t treated your wounds. They seem very irritated by what you’ve done.”

  “Okay Jayden, I understand,” I said, taking his hand off my arm.

  He cracked a smile as if he’d expected that reaction.

  “You think you’re a doctor?” I asked when I saw him take all the first aid instruments.

  “No, but I’ll do my best. It’s bound to be better than you. No one can’t do worse than that.”

  He took the bandages, small medical supplies, and something to clean the wounds. When he approached me, I walked away. He repeated the movement, and I did the same. Yes, his words had slightly irritated me. And my reaction was what he was looking for. He grinned.

  “Katy, there are two main ways to do this.”

  “If you tell me the nice way and the other way, I’ll make you eat the bandages.”

  He burst out laughing. “I’d like to see you try.”

  “Don’t tempt me.”

  “I’m terrified, Katy.”

  I raised my chin and looked at him from the bottom up while trying to keep my credibility. “You should be.”

  After a few minutes of silence, as he healed my wounds properly and I tried to refrain from screaming in pain, his sudden and long exhale broke the silence. “When I saw you fall, I swear, I’ve never felt such fear.”

  His voice was weak and affected by a vulnerability that I didn’t know in him. But I could empathize. I had felt the same way about him when Craid had attacked him.

  “You know how I felt when Craid’s magic threatened to take your life.”

  Silence fell between us and his gaze captured mine. Something was born in my belly, a strange but exhilarating feeling. His eyes were burning, and his soft touch on my skin made me shiver. His gentleness, while he was treating me, revived hormones that had been extinguished for a long time. There was something in him that intrigued me and captured my soul. His kindness toward me didn’t help me out of this emotional trap.

  He broke the moment and focused on the wounds.

  “Jayden, what happened?” I asked after a few more minutes of silence. And suffering, by the way. My poor medical attempts had indeed inflamed the wounds.

  He was fleeing my gaze. Oddly enough, behind me had become a thousand times more interesting than me. I was envying a wall.

  “You should go to sleep. I’m done. If tomorrow your wounds get worse, we’ll go to the hospital.”

  We both got up.

  “I won’t sleep,” I protested, crossing my arms.

  He raised an eyebrow and stooped. I understood far too late what he would do. He took me below the knees and delicately behind my lower back. Then he swung me onto the bed. I was expecting a violent landing, but it was another feeling. It was like a cloud was carrying me. I floated in the air for a few moments and then landed gently on the bed.

  Jayden rubbed both hands as if he were getting rid of the dust. It seemed that he’d discovered the keys to air manipulation. I pulled the blanket up over my half-naked body.

  “That’s it; I let the bed do the rest.”

  “I won’t sleep. Not until you answer me.”

  This behavior on my part was a sign that I was getting tired. I respected people’s privacy and their secrets. If they wanted to tell me, great; if not, as long as I wasn’t threatened, I waited for them to be ready to open up to me. But tonight, I wanted to know why I’d found Jayden so different.

  “Will you sleep if I sleep with you?”

  The question stopped me dead.

  “Um… Uh… It’s… Well… The… I…”

  Oh my God. I stuttered. And the moron, the moron laughed. He was making fun of me. I pulled the blanket up to my head, hiding from… myself, actually.

  I felt the bed sag. My heart stopped.

  “Does my presence bother you or not?”

  I shook my head before remembering that he couldn’t see me. Tiredness didn’t suit me.

  “No,” I said, aloud this time.

  “Sure?”

  His voice was barely a whisper, less assured than usual. There was something wrong. I took the blanket off my head. He was sitting on the bed, turned to me, waiting for confirmation.

  “Yes, I am sure.”

  He nodded. Then he began to take off his clothes.

  Breathe… Oh yes, that’s what I had to remember to do.

  He stayed in his boxers and lay down beside me, staring at the ceiling, his left hand behind his head.

  “Is it true what they say? That we see our lives unfold before we die? I mean you saw death up close tonight.”

  “I didn’t see my life, but I saw you, your face, your smile,” I replied sincerely.

  Then I realized what I’d just said. What was happening to me that night? I spoke without thinking, I acted without thinking. He didn’t need to know my interest in him. We weren’t there.

  “Thank you for saving me.”

  He didn’t answer. He remained silent for a long time and Morpheus’ arms opened to welcome me. Then they released me like a sperm whale to the sea when I heard, “I might as well have killed you.”

  “Uh… I’m glad you didn’t think about it at the time.”

  He turned to me, surprised that I was still awake. “I was almost too late. A second later and you’d have been dead. When I saw you… I put all my faith, all my soul in my magic. I just wanted to save you no matter what. I couldn’t even think about what to do. All I knew was that you shouldn’t hit the ground. But my father always told me I would only kill everyone I met. I’m glad it didn’t happen. I would never have forgiven myself.”

  “Never would have happened,” I said, yawning.

  Two seconds, Morpheus, give me two seconds. He opened his mouth to speak, but I cut him off. “When you were driving, the first night we met, you told me to have more confidence. I’m confident.”

  A small, low-key smile appeared on his face as his gaze stroked my face. I would have paid to know what he was thinking, but that look was of such intensity that I shuddered. He wasn’t looking at me. He was looking through me. Me, my soul.

  “Magic is the union of the heart and the mind. If you want to save lives, your power will follow you down this path. Allow me to contradict your father; you’re the sole master of your actions.”

  “From an early age, my magic was unstable. It was doing the opposite of what I wanted. The relief I had when it agreed to save you. That’s why I said I might as well have killed you. It always agrees when I have to destroy people or something, but when I have to save lives, it sulks. After I saved you, it became more unstable than ever. I cho
se to get away from everything before it took a life for the life it had saved.”

  I admit I wasn’t sure what to say. So I inched closer to him, placing a hand on his chest. “You’re the strongest man I know. I’m sure you’ll tame it.”

  A new yawn broke out, and I sank, despite myself, into a deep sleep.

  CHAPTER 22

  I awoke peacefully; the sun’s rays passing through the window caressed my skin pleasantly. I opened an eye while trying to dislodge my leg, which was strangely stuck. Faced with my failure, I opened my other eye.

  Jayden. Jayden was the rock that kept me from moving. He was lying on top of me with his face on my belly. One of his legs was bent and rested on my right leg. His other leg was lying next to my left leg. He was in boxer shorts, and I was in my underwear. This scene implied a different interpretation than what had happened.

  His immense and solid body exuded wonderful body warmth. I ignored the palpitations of my heart and the feeling of plenitude I felt. I felt a little too good when he was close to me, those feelings were dangerous.

  I tried to move to make my blood flow, but to say that this guy was a rock would be an understatement. Kilos of muscles rested on my little body, far from being so muscular.

  And my wounds… I looked at my shoulders; the bandages had disappeared as had the wounds.

  “Given the acceleration of your breathing, I conclude that you’re awake.”

  “Mm…”

  He raised his head to look at me, resting his chin on my belly.

  Be quiet, little heart, I commanded.

  The sunlight grazing his eyes revealed the green surrounding his blue irises. This mixture created a wonderful turquoise ocean eye. He always had a little strand of hair falling over his forehead, and it didn’t look like he had just woken up.

  “I bought you clothes this morning, everything you had was stained with blood. They’re on the office chair.”

  “This morning?”

  Ah, so he hadn’t just woken up, but he still came back to bed with me? Heat poured into my heart.

  “Yes, it’s four p.m.”