Death Magic Rules

by Sharon Stevenson

  “They’re supposed to.” They were made and sold by the vampires who’d been the cause of the magic in the first place, so they were supposed to be the real thing. I had heard there were some dodgy dealers selling fakes, so you had to know where to go but that shouldn’t be a problem considering I knew Mickey’s blood whore. Trish would hook me up, no questions asked. I didn’t even care if she asked for a sip in exchange for it. At this point, I couldn’t care less about vampires. Anything that would keep me safe from that creep was worth it.

  When we ran out of sugar for the tea, I got up and went down the stairs. The phone was ringing in the bar. I wondered who could possibly have that number; it was unlisted. I rushed to reach it when I realised who it had to be.

  “Hello?” I was breathless by the time I caught the call so my voice sounded weirdly desperate.

  “Kit? Oh, darling, we almost gave up on you.”

  “Mum,” I said, feeling myself tear up again. “It’s so good to hear your voice.”

  “I kept asking your sister when a good time to call you was, but she gave us the wrong number and it took us forever to realise. How have you been?”

  “I’m fine. I miss you guys. Is it true about Spain?”

  “Yes! We found a User who agreed to take us. We’ll be there this time next week if you can meet us.”

  I should have known they couldn’t travel the traditional way. Mum was living in England illegally. It was slightly safer than dad trying to live in Scotland; he couldn’t pull off a convincing accent at all. “Give me the details and I’ll be there.”

  “I’m so glad to hear that. Kat isn’t sure if she can make it.”

  “Kat doesn’t like to fly,” I said, rolling my eyes.

  “Well, I’m glad you can come. It’ll be so good to see you.”

  “You too.”

  “Dad asked if William’s been looking after you okay?” The bemused tone made me smile. Mum had never understood Dad’s fascination with AI technology.

  “He’s been great,” I told her.

  “Any new boyfriends?”

  “I think Kat has one,” I said, trying to avoid the spotlight.

  “Yes, she said she’d met someone. I was asking about you.”

  “Not really,” I said, not sure why I didn’t just say no.

  “There’s someone you like then?”

  “Maybe.”

  “Okay, well you can tell us about it next week.”

  “I will,” I said with a smile. Maybe by next week I’d know how to break the news that I was attracted to a dead guy. It wasn’t my fault, not really. He’d saved me from a psychopathic rapist. What kind of girl wouldn’t find her own personal hero at least mildly attractive? Even if he didn’t have a beating heart or working man-parts. I groaned inwardly. And Pete was still the guy who’d made snidey remarks about my weight when he thought I couldn’t hear him. How could I even be a little bit into him? Had he really changed? I realised I’d spaced on our conversation when Mum ended her waffling, no doubt humorous, story with her usual “and that’s the last time I ever leave your father alone with an electrical appliance!”

  I laughed, but I wasn’t totally feeling it. As much as I’d missed my parents, I was still drained by everything that happened. Talking over the phone was nice, but I’d feel so much better when I actually saw them. It had been far too long.

  “I have to go now, darling, but I’ll call with the details tomorrow at the same time.”

  “Okay, bye, Mum.” I glanced at the clock and made a mental note to hang around the bar the same time tomorrow so I wouldn’t miss the call.

  “Bye, darling.”

  I hung up and took a breath. Things were definitely looking up for once. I just needed to get those charms, and I’d be back to normal. I might even open the pub as usual once I had them. I glanced around as I picked up the sugar. I’d been hiding in this place for too long. Maybe it was time I thought about my options. I’d speak to Mum about it.

  Thirty-Six – Mickey

  I left at about eleven. Kit had asked me to go with her to get the charms tomorrow and I’d agreed because it seemed important to her. I still didn’t get why she couldn’t give Pete a chance after everything. I was sure if she knew how much he’d worried about her she’d realise he was worth a go.

  I headed home, wondering what I’d find. I was practically running by the time I got to the building.

  “Pete?” I called out as I headed up the stairwell.

  The door to Nick’s flat opened and Pete peered out. “What are you doing back here?”

  “I wanted to make sure you weren’t doing anything crazy.”

  “Well, I’m not so you can leave.”

  “What are you doing in Nick’s flat?”

  Pete rolled his eyes. “I’m talking to Dave.”

  “So he’s keeping Nick’s body?” That would be about the best case scenario for everyone, I supposed.

  “Maybe. We’re working on it. Oh, hey,” he said, taking something out of his pocket. “I forgot to give you your phone back.”

  “Thanks,” I said, catching it as he tossed it at my hand. “I’m just gonna grab a beer and get up the road then.”

  I headed into his flat before he could complain about it. I had an answer-phone message on my mobile, so I checked it while I headed in to Pete’s kitchen. The blissful silence was erased by Tim’s sombre message. I played it again, sure I’d heard it wrong.

  “What?” I dialled his number. It went straight to voicemail. I was too lost for words to leave a message. I dialled again and again. Each time I hit his answer-phone.

  The last time I’d seen him couldn’t be the last time I’d ever see him. This wasn’t right. He had to be in trouble. He’d said he’d get in bother because of what happened with Pete. Was this his punishment? He was being sent away somewhere? I couldn’t take it in. I slumped down onto Pete’s couch and listened to the message he’d left one last time.

  Thirty-Seven – Pete

  Our conversation/argument was beginning to spin around in circles as I trashed Nick’s flat looking for the damned contracts. Well, I say trashed like it wasn’t already a disgusting mess. I was probably actually making it tidier. I sighed as I dug around in the cupboard under the sink.

  “Stop staring at me like that,” I warned Dave. He still looked like a guy I wanted to kick the shit out of so he really should be trying to piss me off less right now.

  “Pete, I don’t like this,” Dave moaned, staring down at the knife in his hand. I hadn’t told him to put it down, so apparently he couldn’t.

  I got up and slammed the cupboard door shut with another hefty sigh following the bang it made. “Fuck. Where the hell are they?” I glanced at Dave, but he just shrugged at me.

  “He’s blocking me from that,” Dave said. “He knows what you’re doing, Pete.”

  Translation: there’s going to be hell to pay when he gets his body back. Here’s the thing, Nick, you’re not getting your goddamned body back. Not even if I have to… “Get me Cal’s contract, Dave. I can make that a command if Nick’s against it.”

  He frowned at me, but he started moving towards Nick’s bedroom.

  I’d already checked through there, of course, but Users were sneaky fuckers. Dave snapped his fingers over the bed and a contract appeared in mid-air. He took it in his free hand and glanced at me warily. “Pete…”

  “Give it over,” I told him, holding my hand out. “You can put the knife down.”

  I stared at it as he passed it over. The knife dropped to the floor with a dull thud. It was decision time. I had a chance to kill Nick right here, right now, and all I had to do was die along with him. It sounded easy. My rage was telling me to do it. I wanted this. I looked at Dave. There was no way he’d willingly help me do this, and I could never ask him to.

  I let my shoulders slump. “Fuck.”

  Dave breathed a sigh of relief. “Thank…”

  I picked up the bedside lamp and smashed it into
the back of Nick’s greasy head. As suspected, causing harm to my User was entirely possible when he wasn’t quite himself. He went down hard, crashing against the bed and cracking his head off the bedside table as he tumbled to the floor. I took something out of my pocket—a lighter Nick had told me to carry around as part of my zombie slave routine. I used the lighter to set Cal’s contract on fire.

  I waited until the signature was burned away before I dropped it on a pile of magazines and bent to check how unconscious Nick actually was. He was out of it, blood trickling from his temple.

  I commanded Dave to exit his body. Dave’s ghost hauled itself out of Nick and stared at me in horror. I didn’t want to hear what he thought about my crazy plan so I commanded that he move on. He ascended towards the ceiling before he disappeared completely.

  I hauled Nick onto the bed and then rushed to the door to the flat and locked it. That done, I picked up a few flammable materials from the kitchen and headed back into Nick’s bedroom. I wasn’t doing much heavy thinking right then. My reactions were quick and simple. Making this whole thing look like some kind of accident just seemed like the thing to do. It wasn’t as if the cops would believe Nick was killed by his own Animate. This wouldn’t invite too many questions, I hoped.

  I stopped for a second after I soaked Nick’s clothing and guitar magazine laden floor with alcohol. The burning contract had already started a fire that was growing as it reached the trail of vodka. It wouldn’t be too long before the room was engulfed.

  I didn’t have any reason to hold on to this joke of a life any longer, but for some reason that didn’t stop me from feeling sentimental about it. I’d realised a few things since I’d woken up as an Animate. I’d been a prick when I was alive. I’d taken everything I had for granted. I hadn’t realised how quickly it could all be taken from me. Becoming an Animate had opened my eyes. I’d fallen for an amazing girl I’d barely noticed before, one who hated me no less and with good reason. I’d stood up to a powerful woman who’d tried to break me. I’d lived more in the last week than I ever had when I was alive, and none of it was going to matter anymore.

  At least my death would have a purpose. I’d been allowed that, I supposed. I set a few more small fires with Nick’s lighter before I realised the blue sheen the room had suddenly taken on was from tears coating my eyes. I blinked and they started to fall. I backed away from the ring of fire around Nick’s bed and sank down onto my knees into the corner of the room.

  Animates can’t cry. Nick is dying. I hadn’t been sure how hard I had hit him, but apparently it had been hard enough. He was dying before the fire even really got started. The magic that animated me was going to disappear entirely when he died. That magic is bleeding out of me slowly from my eyes. I touched the thick slimy liquid. There was no turning back now. I’d killed my User. It was time to die.

  Thirty-Eight – Nine

  It was the middle of the day, and I was seriously bored. Timmy was gone, and I had no-one at all to talk to. I totally didn’t get how Britt did this. She had to talk to someone, didn’t she? Sighing, I headed into the bathroom and started to fill the tub. A bath would feel so good right now. My gaze kept slipping to the phone by the tub. Calling Eight was a bad idea. I couldn’t tell her who I really was. If she even suspected…

  I couldn’t stop staring at the phone though. Imagining the conversations we’d have was all I could do. She’d be happy for me, I was sure. I could tell her about Timmy and how I’d fallen for yet another guy I couldn’t have and we’d laugh about it. Then she’d talk about the Animate she was seeing and I’d wish I had someone too, even if it was a dead guy. I blinked as the bubbles hit the rim of the tub. I turned the water off and tested it. It was hot without being scorching. I let Britt’s silk robe fall to the floor. My imaginary conversation went on as I stepped into the tub and got comfortable, pinning my hair back as I lay down.

  “He’s so sexy and so sweet,” Eight would say, sighing. “I can’t believe he likes me back.”

  “Well, who wouldn’t?” I’d smile at her and she’d beam back, gazing dreamily at nothing.

  “We’re going to run away together,” she’d say, for the bazillionth time.

  “You know you can’t,” I’d scold. “He belongs to…”

  My eyes snapped open. I sat up. The Animate Eight was in love with was gone! That horrible, sleazy-looking User had come and taken him away.

  “Oh no…” I had to do something about this. I reached over and grabbed the phone to call Timmy.

  That’s when I felt the presence of another User, an insanely powerful one. The sudden vast increase in magic in the room actually gave me a head rush. I looked up into the big blue eyes of the King of Scotland. I recognised him from the films he’d been in before he became one of the most powerful men on the planet. He smiled, but there was nothing nice about that smile. I swallowed and put the phone down. I wasn’t allowed to be terrified. It was time to remember who I was supposed to be.

  “What do you want?” I made sure to scowl and snap at him. I also splashed at him, which was so not intentional. I bit back a gasp of horror.

  He gazed down at his soaked through white shirt and his smile changed. It actually lit his eyes when he looked back up. Wow. This guy is actually kind of hot… Dammit, Nine! I am so not falling for the King of another country. Telling myself that didn’t stop my eyes from wandering, though. Sigh.

  “Was that an invite?” He started unbuttoning his shirt.

  I felt my eyes widen as he dropped the shirt on the floor. He was nicely built, if a bit on the slim side. Oh no. Oh yes! Wait, there’s something I should be worried about… Oh, who cares? I moved back to give him plenty of room. My gaze was glued on his body as he undressed. I could barely keep my thoughts straight as he got into the bath with me. I couldn’t even believe this was happening.

  “Uhm,” I managed. “I can call for drinks?”

  He shook his head, making himself comfortable across from me, spreading his arms out across the edge of the tub. There was hair under his arms and that should have been disgusting. His chest wasn’t any less furry, it was covered in fine black hair I longed to reach across and touch. It was so manly. I couldn’t stop staring. It wasn’t just the hair, either. He had a way about him that was so damn sexy. He didn’t seem to give a shit that he was all naked and hairy and being gawked at. “Let’s just talk.”

  I straightened up, trying to properly cover my chest with the bubbles that had shifted when he got in. I stopped when I realised I wasn’t being very Britt-like. “About what?”

  He gazed at me in a cold, invasive way that made me all shivery. “About the death of Britton Rocks.”

  I hissed in a breath. He knew? Of course, he knew. He was way more powerful than me, and I wasn’t that close to Britt’s level. It was probably obvious to him.

  “Don’t worry,” he said. “I won’t tell anyone you’re not her.”

  “You won’t?” I sounded pathetic. Was he lying to me? I couldn’t tell.

  He leaned forward, getting in close. I was torn about this strange bath encounter. As attracted as I was to him, I knew he was trouble in a big way and I seriously doubted he was doing any of this out of attraction to me.

  “I’ll let you in on a little secret,” he whispered in my ear. “I hated that bitch.”

  His confession made me smile. His magic rushed over me, causing body-tingling shivers.

  “You feel so good,” I murmured, reaching out to run my fingers over his chest. When his eyes met mine, I knew he was seeing into my head. He looked deep and far; latching on to my first encounter with the Scottish Animate Britt had favoured me for finding. Warning bells went off in my head as he pressed for more.

  He already knew that Britt was dead and that I’d replaced her. But letting him see everything felt wrong. He was looking for something. I wasn’t sure what it was or what he’d do when he found it. I remembered Timmy teaching me about slamming my doors shut when someone’s trying to get in
to my head. He’d been worried someone might find out I wasn’t really Britt, so we’d practiced until I could do it without any help. I concentrated and pushed the King out. Gentle pushes didn’t move him. I had to shove hard, slam the door and then lock it as he hammered ceaselessly on it from the other side.

  He closed his eyes when I shut the door on his invasion. My heart was pounding like crazy waiting for his response. His lips finding mine was the last thing I expected. I sank into the kiss, feeling him pushing at my door again as his tongue slipped into my mouth. It was a vague, faraway impression as he continued to kiss me, but it took all the romance out of the embrace. I placed a hand on his chest and pushed him back, breaking the kiss.

  “If there’s something you want, just ask. Don’t try to sneak around. I’ll tell you whatever you want to know.” For a second his frown made me worry. If it came down to a magical fight, he’d win hands down and I knew he wasn’t the type to just walk away from anything. He wouldn’t hesitate to kill me if I stood in his way. Clones have no rights, and he’s a King. He does whatever he wants. Sigh. Why is that so hot?

  “How did she die?” He stayed in close, making me wish I hadn’t broken our kiss.

  “I killed her.” I wished I had, sometimes. It was in the back of my mind to make sure I didn’t mention Timmy. He’d said before that the King would punish him for what had happened. Still, I’m not really sure why I said I did it, other than to make him look at me like he was right now. “I wanted what she had.”

  “You don’t have her skills,” he said, watching my face carefully. “How exactly did you pull it off?”

  “It doesn’t take magic to stab someone in the back,” I said, feeling just a little bit smug. “Was there anything else?”

  He seemed satisfied with my answer. “I’ll take her Animates off your hands. They’ll suspect something if I don’t.”

  “They’re yours.” Was that really all? I felt a thrill run through me at the thought of what I’d just pulled off. An actual King thought I’d killed Britton Rocks to take her place, and he was looking at me like he wanted to kiss me again, without an ulterior motive this time. “Is that…”