by Shona Husk
She was pretty, with her short dark hair, but nothing like the Albah woman he’d end up settling for so he could do his bit for the gene pool.
Stud bull for the highest bidder.
Leira had understood that. She hadn’t even put a move on or made a suggestion the way he’d expected her to. That had only served to make him more curious. He smiled as he took a sip. He was looking forward to seeing her over the weekend to talk magic, assuming she replied and agreed, but he hoped she would. He hadn’t been able to talk magic with any girlfriend. The alcohol slid through him, warming him.
The popcorn started going off like gunfire. Another minute then it would be done. He could’ve gone back out there instead of waiting by the microwave and drinking alone. When he’d first met Emily, he’d have wasted the three minutes kissing her. He took another deep drink.
There was a part of him that wished he’d never left Sydney. He’d spend the last twelve years living there—in part to get away from his father. Six months ago the pull to come home had gotten stronger and he hadn’t been able to ignore it the way he had previously done. He should’ve tried harder.
The microwave beeped.
He put the half-empty cider down and tipped the hot popcorn into a bowl. He glanced at the pantry, then at the popcorn. It was butter flavored and he couldn’t be bothered getting out the icing sugar and sifting it for her. This would have to do. Cider in one hand and popcorn in the other, he went back to the lounge room.
Emily was holding his phone.
“What are you doing?”
She startled. “Your phone beeped. You got a message from a Leira?”
His eyes narrowed. She had never been interested in his messages before. But then he didn’t usually get messages from other women unless they were colleagues.
Julian put the popcorn down and reclaimed his phone. He glanced at the message and smiled and immediately felt brighter as if some problem had been solved. Then he put the phone in his pocket and looked at Emily.
Emily was watching him, her face pulled into a scowl as though she was jealous. “Who is she?”
His smile faded and the stress was back. “A family friend.”
“Oh, so she was there last night?”
He gave Emily a cool glance. “We’re going through some of my mother’s things if that’s okay? I wasn’t aware I needed your permission to get on with my life.”
Her mouth opened, but then she wisely chose to press play.
She didn’t mention the lack of icing sugar on the popcorn. There was no amount of sugar that could sweeten what had soured between them.
He made sure to keep his distance. If he had the talent of knowing like the women, he’d have read his own future to see what the hell was going on.
Maybe he didn’t need to. Relationships that started hot often burned out just as fast. He didn’t like to linger in the ashes. He nodded off, some sequel to a novel turned into a movie. He woke up just before the credits. When they started rolling, he went to hit pause and get this over with.
She put her hand over his. “Sometimes there’s a bonus scene.”
“No, Emily there isn’t. This is the end.”
* * * *
It was the call from her mother Emily had been dreading. Every week her mother would ring to ask how it was going. For the last couple of weeks, they’d been able to talk about the Albanex and the cult. This week there was nothing new in the papers about the vampire cult or its missing leader. Officially the police were still looking for him and the cult had been broken up.
Emily knew that the creature was either dust or underground waiting to rise again.
She answered and made sure she was smiling so her mother could hear it in her voice.
“Hi, Mom.” She poked around the freezer until she found what was left of the strawberry ice cream. It was that or frozen pizza for dinner and the ice cream had won.
“How’s it going, Emily? The Guardians are worried that it is taking you rather a long time to make this kill.”
Emily poured the chocolate topping directly into the tub. She wasn’t going to admit that her target, Julian Ryder, had dumped her. No warning and no reason. He’d ended it without even asking what she wanted. Leira probably had something to do with it. She doubted that Leira was his mother’s sister, or even old. She was probably a pretty blond Albah.
“They are shortsighted, Mom. Julian has a father and brother living here. We can take them all out.”
“You only need one kill, Em.”
She knew that. She tapped the spoon on the topping to see if it had set. It cracked. Excellent. “If I kill him, the others will vanish.” Like rats fleeing a sinking ship. “You always said target the men.”
“You have always been ambitious.”
Emily’s smile became natural instead of forced. Her mother had always pushed her to go that extra step. But her mother was right. This kill was taking too long. She could’ve killed him several times over by know and yet she hadn’t.
She’d gotten to know him and he wasn’t evil and undead, at least not yet. He was an asshole, though. But one couldn’t kill every ex-boyfriend no matter how tempting. Was he healing humans now to make up for the damage he’d do later when he became undead? Did monsters get guilty consciences?
“I put the tracking app on his phone tonight. That will speed things up.” She’d also seen that Leira and he were planning to get together on Sunday. He may not be a vampire yet, but he was still the dickhead who had dumped her and moved on when he’d had the next woman lined up. Hell, Leira probably wasn’t even Albah. She was probably a nurse from the hospital.
That certainly explained why he hadn’t been wanting to catch up with her much; he’d been busy sticking his tongue down someone else’s throat. She drove the spoon into the ice cream and bent the handle.
“Do not take on three without backup.”
“I won’t. I’m not stupid.” She’d learn where they lived and worked and then pick them off one by one. That would be fun. She’d make him wish that he’d been nicer to her.
“Why don’t I come over?”
“Mom, I got this.” She had to do this on her own. If she didn’t, she wouldn’t become a full Guardian of Adam and she’d be relegated to paperwork or sword sharpening or some other menial job. As her mother often reminded her, she came from a long line of Guardians of Adam. It was their job to protect the humans from the silver scourge that was the Albah.
However, when she’d once asked what the Albah were exactly, the only answer was that they were precursors to vampires. Humans couldn’t become undead. Only the Albah could. Must be a faulty gene or something because they all looked freakishly similar. Blond haired, blue eyed, with odd ears and toes. Those characteristics did make them easy to hunt.
Only once she was a full member would she get to learn the truth about the Albah and the Albanex.
“I worry.” This from the woman who had taught her how to throw knives. Her mother was only worried that someone would question her training methods. Just once it would be nice to be loved without having to earn it.
“How goes the U.S. branch?” She hadn’t been home in months. Ever since she’d been told she had to go to Australia to hunt down an Albah. No one got to make their first kill in their own backyard. Part of the test was getting away with it. A couple hundred years ago, claiming to have killed a witch had been enough of a defense. Now human laws protected the monsters too.
“There is another Albanex. They have broken the treaty,” her mother said.
“So the death doesn’t have to look accidental?”
Her mother made a small noise. “It is easier if it does look accidental as the cops ask less questions. We cannot have a war with the Albah when the humans don’t know what they are.”
When her mother spoke, it was as if she wasn’t human sometimes. “If we know, Mom, others can learn.”
Telling the world about the creatu
res might be a good thing. The humans would lift their pitchforks and wipe them out. One only had to look at the news to see that intolerance was at an all-time high. Hysteria had never been easier to create, thanks to social media.
“No, the Guardians have voted against using technology. We must stick to the old ways.”
Emily rolled her eyes and shoveled in a mouthful of ice cream. Chocolate and ice cream really did help to heal the wounds left after a breakup. Maybe the old ways were effective, but the tracking app on Julian’s phone was far more efficient than trying to follow him or staking out his flat.
“Well, let me knew what happens with your Albanex, and I’ll let you know when there is a funeral.” Why would the Albah start turning undead again? She had pieced together a little knowledge and she knew that there had been no Albanex in two hundred years.
It didn’t make sense, unless they had discovered the Guardians had never stopped hunting them, only that they had gotten better at covering it up. Perhaps they were creating an undead army to hunt the Guardians.
The idea was chilling.
The ice cream became a rock in her gut. She dumped the rest in the trash, her appetite gone. She wanted to get on a plane back home and get her trident tattoo filled in. Then her mother would have to be proud of her. And love her.
Julian might be helping people, but she would be saving lives by killing him.
And it wouldn’t be quick because he’d had the nerve to dump her first.
Chapter 5
The beach was cold and damp and absolutely perfect for practicing fire magic and talking without being overheard. The last of the dog walkers had left and it was too miserable for most other people. Julian loved having the beach to himself even if the weather was abysmal.
Of course when it was this cold, he didn’t swim. That was what he really needed to do to give himself a break. While the walk here had been nice, there was something about swimming that he loved and part of it was he had no affinity with the element and he could drown just like anyone else. The water also helped suppress all his magic, so for a little while he was free of it. And free of the responsibility.
Leira had texted this morning to make sure it was still happening, given the weather.
He should be feeling shitty about his two-day-old breakup, but if anything, he was relieved. The weight was gone, a weight he hadn’t even realized he’d been carrying. That was a good sign that he’d made the right decision. He’d actually woken up with a smile this morning.
A blond woman bundled up in a military-style coat and skinny jeans walked toward him. Her hair stuck out from under her beanie, blond strands trailing in the breeze. His heart did an odd little hiccup at the sight of her. He pushed it aside; they were here because of magic. Nothing more.
She was overdressed for the weather. It wasn’t that cold, not really. But then he was used to Sydney weather. They had a proper winter over there. This was still warmish, even though it was raining. He’d forgotten how sandgropers, people who lived in Western Australia, felt the cold, yet on her feet she wore flip-flops.
“This is…delightful.” She smiled but her tone suggested this was anything but.
The coat was too big. She must have borrowed it.
Julian smiled. “We have the beach almost to ourselves.” He tapped his jacket pocket. “I bought the diaries.”
Her eyes lit up. “Thank you. I wasn’t having the best night when we met. I’m very grateful you are taking the time to help me.”
“It’s okay.” He didn’t want her to be constantly thanking him. Any fire user would’ve offered her help; he wasn’t special. “You’ll probably get more out of the diaries than you will talking to me.”
There was a glimmer in her eyes for just a moment. “Well, let’s find out.”
They walked down the beach, away from the popular end and eventually sat on the damp sand surrounded by bits of driftwood.
“Want to build a fire?” He could get one going in a few seconds, even though everything was wet, but he wanted to see what she could do.
“Got a fire truck handy?” She brushed her long bangs out of her eyes.
“You aren’t that bad. You only set fire to a bowl of crisps.”
“This time.” But she reached out and placed a few small pieces of wood between them. She scowled as she concentrated. “This is much harder with damp wood.”
“That’s the idea. If it’s too easy, everything can go up.”
“Speaking from experience?”
“As a teen, I had firefighters talk to me about the danger of playing with fire. I’m sure they thought I was at risk of being a firebug.”
“Ouch. Why didn’t your dad step in?”
“He was at work so the neighbor looked after us. She was very concerned about me after I accidentally set her potpourri on fire. Trying to flush it down the toilet didn’t help.” He kind of wished he hadn’t started telling this story.
Leira glanced up. “What part of the story am I missing?”
The embarrassing part. “I was a fourteen-year-old taking my time in the bathroom and she wanted to know what I was up to.”
“Oh. It wasn’t lighting fires I’m guessing.”
“No… But I knew why those crisps caught fire.” The shock response. But why had she been so surprised to see him? He wanted to ask, but the wood released a thin waft of smoke before catching alight.
“Yes.” She gave a fist pump. “Now I need a lie down.”
“Fire is one of the strongest elements. You’ll be fine.” Fire users had tempers and a heart that didn’t know when to quit. They burned on the inside and were driven. What drove Leira?
“Fire can be put out by the other three.”
He nodded. “Because they are all threatened by fire, but no one wants to see an element die out. That would leave us unbalanced.”
“One more iron nail in the Albah coffin.” She glanced out at the sea. “Do you ever wonder what it would be like if we hadn’t hidden, if we’d lived openly from the time we started living among humans and the witch hunts had never happened?”
“I do wonder what it would be like to be open about magic.” He used his surreptitiously at work all the time. There was no point in being able to heal and then not using it, though his father managed just fine—although he did take the protect part seriously. “I’ve never really thought about the witch hunts.”
She glanced at him. “I’m doing my master’s in history. I’m looking at the witch hunts and the way they made genocide palatable to a superstitious population.”
“You are talking about the Albah.”
“Not brazenly. Quinn would have a fit.” She bit her lip at the mention of his father.
“Yeah, he would,” Julian agreed before she could apologize. “How are you at throwing fire?”
“You really don’t value your life, do you?”
He put up his hand. “Try throwing some sand.”
She did. It hit the shield he’d created, melted, and then fell to ground as beads of glass.
“What is that?” She didn’t reach out and touch.
“Shield. It’s a little less obvious than a wall of flame.” But he knew some men used that method of defense.
“The shield is a guy thing.”
He nodded. “How are you at scrying?”
She flinched as though he had burned her with the shield. “Fine, I guess. Not as good as Saba. What do you want to know?”
He shrugged. He didn’t know. He didn’t want to know, but that didn’t stop him from being curious. “Does it bother you being able to see the future?”
“No, because it’s only the most likely future. If I don’t like what I see, I need to change it.” She dragged her finger down the length of wood and the flame followed. For a moment, it hovered at the end of her finger and he thought she was going to take hold of it. The flame winked out.
“Can you grasp the flame?”
“Sometimes.”
He turned his hand over and let the fire form in his palm. It was pure will, feeding of his energy. Fire needed to be fed. “Put out your hand.”
“No.”
“I won’t burn you.”
“I know, but…” She glanced at his hand and then his face. “Part of me doesn’t trust that it won’t.”
And that was her problem. She didn’t trust herself. He put the flame out and pulled out his mother’s magical diary. “Shall we go back to the beginning?”
“Magic for beginners.” But she scooted around so she could sit next to him and looked at the pages. “You sure I won’t accidentally incinerate the book?”
“Positive. They are warded against all damage. Nothing short of a nuclear strike could destroy it.”
“There’s a challenge.” She grinned and he found himself grinning back.
His jeans were damp, the drizzle hadn’t let up, and yet he was having more fun than he’d had since moving back to Perth. He really needed to get out more. But all he could think about was when they could get together to talk magic again.
* * * *
Emily lay hidden in dunes. The tracking app had worked perfectly and she’d followed Julian here. The blond woman he was with had walked right past her, and Emily had thought nothing of her until she’d spoken to Julian. Then it became clear this little bit was the family friend.
He was such a liar.
This was his new girlfriend. She took a few pictures. How many Albah were living in Perth? They didn’t tend to cluster. So was that bit of fluff from Perth or had she come over to see him and then marry him? The Albah were probably so inbred….
She shuddered.
They were trying to save their dying people, when they should be giving up. They’d lost that battle and now it was just the cleanup operation to round up the stragglers.
Julian and Leira had lit a little beach fire. If this was a first date, it was pretty lame, and cheap. But then Julian had never been a big spender. A tight-fisted doctor. She could do better.
When she thought it was impossible for this date to get any lamer, the two Albah sat close together and looked at a book.