Cold Burn of Magic

by Jennifer Estep

  I bolted into action, grabbing the rickety drainpipe attached to the side of the building and climbing up it as quickly as I could, something that I’d been practicing all summer since it was faster than plodding up the stairs.

  I made it to the fifth floor and swung myself through the open window and into my bedroom. I stood next to the window, breathing hard, and tried to hear over the roar of my heart beating in my ears. But the apartment was quiet—too quiet.

  “Mom?” I whispered.

  No answer.

  My bedroom door was closed. I drew in a breath, tiptoed over to it, and turned the knob. I cracked the door open, but I didn’t see anything out of place. I didn’t see my mom, either, so I opened the door a little wider . . . and a little wider . . . and a little wider still . . .

  When I saw the first pool of blood on the floor, I shoved the door the rest of the way open. “Mom!”

  There was blood, so much blood—everywhere. On the floor, on the walls, even spattered onto the ceiling.

  And my mom was lying in the middle of it all, her arms and legs bent at awkward angles, as though they’d been brutally broken. She had been stabbed repeatedly, and cuts and gashes crisscrossed her body, each wound deeper and uglier than the last. But the worst part was her face—her sightless blue eyes fixed on the ceiling, her mouth open in a silent scream—

  “Lila ?” Devon whispered in my ear. “Is everything okay?”

  I blinked, and the blood and the memories vanished, and I was back in the Red Cannoli again, watching Victor slap Blake on the shoulder as though nothing was wrong. As if he hadn’t been the architect of my own personal nightmare. As if he wasn’t more of a monster than anything that lived in the alleys of Cloudburst Falls.

  “Lila?” Devon whispered.

  “Yeah,” I said through gritted teeth. “Everything’s fine.”

  Victor Draconi didn’t deign to look at anyone else in the room as he headed for the table in the center. Everyone sitting there got to their feet as he approached. Victor smiled, which made his face seem more cruel than handsome, as he went around the table, shaking hands with the heads of the other Families. He laughed and joked with many of them, but his meeting with Claudia was decidedly cold. They shook hands, barely managing to hide their dislike for each other long enough to give the perfunctory handshakes.

  “Victor.”

  “Claudia.”

  And that was as far as their pleasantries went.

  Now that the Draconis had arrived, the dinner finally began. Roberto Salazar snapped his fingers, and the bartender went into the back of the restaurant. A few seconds later, an army of waiters appeared, carrying trays of white and red wine, along with sparkling water.

  “And now, we mingle,” Devon muttered.

  The waiters circulated through the restaurant, offering drinks to everyone. And slowly, folks began to leave their Family members behind and mix with people from the other Families. Grant was the first one to leave the Sinclairs, moving from one group to the next, laughing, smiling, and talking with everyone. I shook my head. Maybe he really did know everyone in all the Families.

  Devon moved off as well, standing next to Claudia as she walked from group to group. Felix wandered off to talk to Poppy, but I stayed where I was. I didn’t trust myself not to do something stupid, like grab one of the throwing stars on my belt and try to kill Victor.

  I’d thought about trying to avenge my mom’s murder hundreds of times over the years—dreamed about it, longed for it, ached to do it. But in the end, I’d had to let the fantasy go. Victor Draconi had too much money, too much magic, and too many guards for someone like me to ever touch him. I doubted that I could even get close enough to key one of his cars, much less run him through with my sword. Besides, I liked living a little too much to throw my life away on some suicide revenge mission. Still, every time I heard his name, every time I saw him, every time I thought about him, I wondered what I could do to make him pay for murdering my mom.

  Now, I was in the same room with him, closer than I’d ever been before, and I still couldn’t touch him. Because the second I tried, his guards would be all over me. They’d take me in the alley out back, execute me, and leave my body for the monsters to fight over. And they’d probably do the same thing to Devon, Felix, Claudia, and the rest of the Sinclairs.

  So I stood there, rage smoldering in my heart, and watched the man I hated more than anything else hold court.

  Victor was the only one who didn’t make any effort to move around. He stayed in his seat and made everyone come to him instead. It was an obvious show of his power, but more than one person came forward. It was a wonder that some fawning Family members didn’t bend down and kiss the gold cuff on his wrist.

  I grabbed a bottle of water from one of the waiters, just so it would look like I had something to do, and noticed Deah heading in my direction. Wonderful.

  Her blue eyes scanned the crowd, as if she was looking for someone. Felix, probably. She looked at me and did a double-take. Instead of walking on, she actually came over to me.

  “You again,” she said.

  “Yeah. Me again.”

  Instead of making some snide comment and moving on, Deah glanced around, as if she was afraid someone would overhear her. “Look, I’m sorry about what happened at the arcade with Poppy. Blake was way out of line.”

  “No. Really?”

  Her lips pressed into a thin line.

  “I’m not the one you should be apologizing to. That would be Poppy.”

  Deah stared across the room, where Poppy was standing with Hiroshi, Felix, Devon, and Claudia.

  “I tried,” she admitted. “I’ve been trying ever since that day. But she won’t speak to me or even answer my texts.”

  I blinked, surprised she would make the effort. No one else in her miserable Family would—

  “Well, well, well, if it isn’t the little girl from the arcade,” a snide voice cut in.

  Blake loomed up in front of me, looking particularly sinister in his black suit and red shirt. His blond hair gleamed like dirty gold underneath the lights, making his face seem that much darker. Blake looked me up and down, giving me the same lecherous gaze he had Poppy at the arcade.

  “You’re lucky that all of the Families are here tonight,” he sneered. “Or I’d take you out back and make you show me what you’re wearing underneath that cute little suit.”

  I smiled sweetly at him. “And I’d shove my knee into your balls. That’s what you’ll get if you touch me, Poppy, or any other girl ever again.”

  His hands curled into fists, and his brown eyes locked with mine. His anger was like a red-hot knife slamming into my stomach. Blake wouldn’t just make me strip—he’d do a whole lot worse. My eyes narrowed. Let him try. I’d enjoy showing him that he wasn’t the only one here who could be cruel and ruthless.

  Blake grinned, but his expression was as cold as a monster’s about to strike its prey. “You want to go out back and see what’s what? I might have to follow the rules in here, but out there? My Family runs this town. And it won’t be too much longer before we own Cloudburst Falls and everyone and everything in it.”

  I would have brushed off his words as just a wiseguy mouthing off, but the cold certainty blazing in his eyes made my own stomach twist with worry. Were the Draconis planning a move against the other Families? If so, what? And when?

  Or maybe . . . maybe they’d already made their move by killing Lawrence Sinclair. Maybe they were behind the attacks on Devon, too. Maybe the mystery man worked for them.

  “Deah! There you are! I’ve been looking everywhere for you—”

  Felix rushed over to us, but he pulled up short and choked back his words at the sight of Blake glaring at me.

  Blake turned to face him, his hands still clenched into fists. “And why, exactly, would you be looking for my sister? Huh, punk?”

  For once, words failed Felix. “Um . . . I . . . uh . . .”

  Every stammer only made Bla
ke’s eyes narrow that much more. He started flexing his fingers, as though he were warming up for a fight.

  “Felix was probably coming over here to save me from having to listen to your sister brag about how rich and powerful your daddy is.” I rolled my eyes. “You’d think he was a king or something the way she kept going on and on about him.”

  Deah’s lips fell open the faintest bit in surprise, but she quickly recovered. “I wanted to put her in her place. For what she did to you at the arcade.”

  Blake nodded his head in approval. “C’mon. You were right before. These losers aren’t worth our time. Let’s go see what Dad’s up to.”

  He jerked his head, and Deah followed him. Felix reached out to her as she passed, but she ignored him. A minute later, she and Blake were standing next to their father, laughing at some stupid joke he’d made.

  Felix stared longingly at Deah. “Thanks for the save.”

  “No problem.”

  He barked out a harsh laugh. “But it is a problem. It was stupid of me, coming over to her like that. Sometimes . . . I wish I could just forget all about her. Pretend I never met her. Pretend I don’t feel anything for her.”

  My gaze zoomed across the room to Devon. “Yeah. I know exactly what you mean.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

  A bell chimed, signaling that the cocktail hour was over and dinner was about to start. The heads of the Families took their seats at the center table, with everyone else stationed more or less behind the leader of their Family. I sat in between Felix and Reginald.

  Pixies fluttered into the room, carrying trays of steaming food. Mounds of pasta smothered with spicy marinara sauce and meatballs that were as big as my fist, crunchy breadsticks slathered with garlic butter, Caesar salads dusted with snowy mountains of Parmesan cheese.

  Everything looked and smelled amazing, but I couldn’t eat a single bite. Not tonight. Not while I was in the same room with Victor and Blake.

  So I moved my meatballs from one side of my plate to the other and tuned out most of the conversations around me, which had to do with all sorts of boring things. Trade agreements, a tree troll infestation in one of the squares, and gossip—lots and lots of gossip. Everything from who was getting married to who was getting divorced and how the makeups and breakups would affect the balance of magic, money, and power among the Families. Then again, Family members considered such things important. I did not. All that really mattered was having a roof over your head, a warm, dry place to sleep, and enough food to fill your stomach on a daily basis. Life really was that simple. Everything else was just static.

  “. . . ruby necklace that he was giving to his mistress . . .”

  My ears perked up at that snippet of conversation, although I kept pushing my food around my plate.

  “Yeah, I heard that he bought the necklace for his mistress. When the wife found out, she naturally arranged to have it stolen right out from under his nose.”

  “Naturally,” Reginald agreed in a dry voice, as though he found the conversation inappropriate.

  I grinned.

  Once dinner was finished, waiters brought out the dessert course. Cannolis, of course, delicate, crispy shells stuffed with fluffy, vanilla whipped cream, mini chocolate chips, and fresh, sliced strawberries, served with a scoop of strawberry ice cream.

  A waiter set a plate in front of me. The ice cream had already started to melt, the thin pink rivulets reminding me of blood.

  Ice cream was the one thing I wouldn’t—couldn’t—eat. I hadn’t had a single scoop since my mom died. Just looking at it made me sick sometimes.

  This was definitely one of those times.

  I pushed my plate over to Felix. “You want this?”

  “Sure,” he said, snagging it. “But aren’t you going to eat it?”

  “I’m full.”

  He gasped and clutched a hand to his chest. “Will wonders never cease.”

  I scrunched my face up into what I hoped was a smile.

  “. . . find the last agreement to be far more lenient with the rubes than I would ever be,” Victor Draconi’s deep, rumbling voice caught my attention.

  I leaned to the side so I could have a better view.

  He frowned at everyone around him. “It’s disgraceful, really, the way they market the town as some sort of fairy-tale tourist trap. And then the shop and restaurant owners have the gall to demand that they keep more and more of the money they earn, lowering what they give to the Families. We’re the ones with the magic. We’re the ones with the power. Without us, they would quickly find out exactly how monstrous certain sections of this town really are. It’s shameful, how they take us and our protection for granted.”

  His stance wasn’t an uncommon one. Lots of magicks thought that they were better than the mortals. Hence the term rube. Truth be told, so did I. Oh, I didn’t think that I was more special or important than mortals, per se, just that I knew the dangers of what they were promoting a lot better than they did.

  Several of the other Family leaders nodded in agreement. Then again, most of them would have sided with him no matter what. Victor turned his golden gaze to Claudia, who had remained quiet through what had seemed to be a long-winded rant on his part.

  “Have you given any more thought to my proposal to impose a new tax on the rubes for profiting from our protection efforts?” he asked.

  Claudia dabbed at her lips with her napkin, her fingers curling tightly into the cloth before she set it aside. “My answer is the same as it’s always been. No. The mortals are doing their best to drum up business and attract more tourists, something that we all profit from. I say we let them do their jobs, and we do ours.”

  “You’re making a mistake,” Victor said, his voice dropping to a lower, more sinister tone. “Someone should remind the rubes what their place is. In fact, I say that it should have been done a long time ago.”

  Claudia grabbed a biscotti out of a basket on the table. “And I say that the mortals are already paying quite enough in protection money. If we ask them to pay more . . .”

  She snapped the biscotti in half. “They are liable to quit paying altogether. And none of us want that.”

  This time, everyone at the table nodded in agreement with her—except for Victor.

  Claudia knew she’d won this round, and she gave Victor a smile that was about as sweet and pointed as a dagger to the throat. I liked her more in that moment than I ever had before.

  Victor’s eyes narrowed, but he tipped his head and returned her smile with one of his own. Claudia started murmuring to Hiroshi Ito, while Victor took another bite of his strawberry ice cream. Even though the two of them were pointedly ignoring each other, you could almost see the tension between them hanging over the table like a storm cloud.

  Everyone knew that the Sinclairs were second only to the Draconis in power. Once again, I couldn’t help wondering if Victor was behind the attempts to kidnap Devon. Because if her son was taken, Claudia would do anything to get him back—anything.

  Victor must have sensed me watching him because he glanced in my direction. Our eyes locked for just a moment, but that was long enough for my soulsight to kick in. His expression was calm, but his heart was cold.

  So completely, utterly, chillingly cold.

  Most anger and rage felt hot, like fiery knives stabbing into my heart or water boiling in the pit of my stomach. But not Victor Draconi’s. Instead, his was pure ice—hard, cold, utterly unbreakable, and completely unrelenting.

  In that moment, I realized that he hated the rest of the Families, especially Claudia and the Sinclairs, and that he would do whatever it took to eliminate them all—down to the smallest pixie. Blake had said his father was planning something, and I knew that it would have deadly consequences for everyone in this room, maybe even everyone in Cloudburst Falls.

  Victor looked away, breaking my connection to him, and I slumped over the table, shivering.

  “Lila?” Devon asked, leaning forward in his s
eat on the other side of Felix. “Are you okay?”

  I let out a breath, certain that it would frost in the air, given the cold rage still racing through my body, but nothing happened. I forced myself to straighten back up, and I dropped my hands together and hid them under the napkin in my lap, so that no one would see how badly my fingers were trembling.

  “Yeah,” I said, trying to make my voice sound normal. “I’m fine. I probably just ate too much.”

  Felix snorted. “You think?”

  I forced myself to smile at him. Felix turned to Devon, and the two of them started talking again. The cold rage slowly faded from my body, but it was quickly replaced by a stomach-churning combination of worry, dread, and fear about what Victor, Blake, and the rest of the Draconis were up to.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

  The dinner wrapped up soon after that.

  Devon went back over to Claudia, standing by her side in silent support, as she shook hands a final time with the heads of the other Families, including Victor.

  I positioned myself off to the side of the crowd, away from everyone else, just trying to get through the rest of the night.

  The Draconis left the restaurant first. Victor didn’t even glance at me as he swept outside. Of course he wouldn’t. I wasn’t a senior member of one of the Families, so I wasn’t important. A nobody, just like my mom had been to him.

  However, Blake stopped long enough to sneer at me, a clear promise on his face that our little feud wasn’t over. I gave him the same sort of cold smile that Claudia had Victor.

  Deah followed her dad and brother out of the restaurant, but her gaze darted away from mine before I could get a lock on her emotions.

  Once the Draconis were gone, the tension level went down about ten notches, and everyone else left in a more leisurely fashion, talking and laughing with one another.

  Felix split off to ride back to the mansion with Angelo, Reginald, and Claudia, while Grant, Devon, and I headed for our SUV. It was close to midnight now, although you wouldn’t know it by the lights and tourists still going strong in the Midway.