by Antara Mann
“They seem to be quite an interesting lot,” Carlos remarked. “Do they cause a lot of trouble?”
“Nah, most of them are low- or mid-level supernaturals. But, of course, you must be careful not to give in to a succubus’ charms.” Brendan grinned at the tiger, and I rolled my eyes at Brendan.
At the bottom of the long winding stairs we found ourselves in a huge underground hall. Crystal chandeliers hung from the ceiling and lights illuminated the vast space, coloring it in shades of red, green, blue, and yellow. Spaced throughout the hall were several dark brown columns, around which ornamental ivies coiled. As we drew nearer to the columns, I noticed runic symbols inscribed on them, and a few carvings of legends and myths about demons and vampires, presumably from the Old World. A hint of magic flowed through them, and my skin prickled. It was essentially dark magic, but nothing too gruesome or abominable. The club was crowded despite the fact that it was nearly five in the afternoon and still daylight. We weaved our way through the diverse crowd that filled the dance floor, swaying their bodies to the heavy beat. A bit farther down the hall, near the restrooms, I noticed a separate room with a sign above it bearing the inscription Debauchery. Making out near the entrance were several couples — and a foursome.
The club’s customers were exactly as Brendan had described them — low-level wizards, quite a few vampires, and the occasional succubus. I even thought I spotted a few incubi, though I wasn’t sure about that — incubi tended to conceal the nature of their sexual magic from women.
We approached the bar, where the logo of a skull and crossbones was painted very realistically on the bar wall. I asked the bartender for a martini.
“Just a martini?” He smiled at me and I saw his fangs. My magic sense told me he was either a panther or a puma shifter. “We’ve got Hell’s Pleasure, which is very popular with our female regulars, as well as the Devil’s Little Joy. Both are with Baileys. Do you want to try one of them, babe – or how about both?”
“Which one would you recommend?” I tried to ignore him calling me ‘babe.’ I hated when guys called me that. Usually, I either kicked them or ignored them completely. Neither strategy was feasible right now, so I gave him a false smile.
The bartender winked at me. “I’ll make you the Devil’s Little Joy — you’re gonna love it.” He poured some alcohol from a few bottles into one glass, mixed the contents, and served me the cocktail with the words, “Cheers, babe!”
I suppressed my frown and tried the drink. It was good, though a bit strong for my taste. “Delicious,” I told the bartender. He grinned.
“You’re a shifter from the cat family, aren’t you?” Carlos asked the bartender, leaning on the counter. “I’m a tiger shifter. Carlos.” He held out his hand. “Nice to meet you.”
“I’m Norwik — a panther shifter. So are you guys looking for anything special tonight? Dark magic? Sex? Whatever you need, I’ve got you covered.” He smiled at us.
“Nah, we’re just getting acquainted with the supernatural pulse in Manhattan. We’re from out of town,” Brendan said. “Two beers, please.”
He took two bottles from the shelf behind him, opened them, and set them on the counter before Brendan and Carlos.
“Haven’t I seen you here before?” The bartender leaned toward the werewolf. “You were here about six months ago — you caught a succubus.”
Brendan burst out laughing. “Dude, you have a wild imagination. But you were right — we’re searching for someone, a sorcerer.”
The bartender grinned and whispered to the werewolf, “For a grand, I'll tell you everything I know about all the sorcerers I’ve met here. I've been working in this club for over three years and know most of the patrons by heart.”
I was just about to bargain — a thousand dollars seemed much too expensive to me — when a man's deep voice called from behind my shoulder, “Oh, there are new faces here. What’s your name, baby?”
I turned around and saw a tall, attractive man with chiseled features beaming at me. I felt the rush of hormones heating my belly and cheeks as I blushed. Before I realized it, I was smiling, silly as a teenager.
“I'm… Maggie,” I said, trying to remember the fake names we had agreed on. “And these are my friends ..." I hesitated again. “Umm, Steve and Johnny. And who are you?”
He leaned against the counter and smiled broadly. “You can call me Roy. So, babe, why haven’t I seen you here before? I would have certainly remembered you.” His eyes ran up and down my body, and I felt the heat rushing up through it, warming my insides. His magic was intense and devouring; it tasted like a delicious dark chocolate or well-aged wine. Instinctively, I licked my lips. “Oh, you know — I’m new to the city, haven’t had the time to look around or have fun,” I replied, grinning ever so widely. There was something about this guy that intoxicated me.
He was close enough to me that I felt his magic on my skin — it was strong and dark, permeating and obsessive, giving me the additional flavor of beautiful but rotten fruit. His face was only a few inches away from mine, and I couldn’t help wondering what it would feel like to kiss him. The voice in my head called, This is not good, Alex, don’t do it! but I pushed its advice aside.
“We’re here visiting from San Antonio,” Brendan said. “You ever heard of a place called ‘the Hollow Skull’?”
Roy chuckled. “No, but it sounds sexy. What brings you guys here?”
“We’re looking for an Elliott Rumford. He was friends with Daniel Stone, a friend of mine. Do either of those names ring a bell?”
The guy pondered for a minute before shaking his head. “Nope, sorry. Why? What business do you have with him?”
“We’d like to talk to him,” Brendan said.
“Well, good luck then.” The guy smiled and directed his attention back to me. “So, baby — are you dating anybody?”
I glanced at Brendan. He had a thunderous expression on his face, which pleased me immensely. “No, I’m single,” I replied, and leaned closer to the stranger. His magic alone was an incredible turn-on.
“Good.” He leaned over me and smoothed a few unruly strands of hair. “You’re beautiful.”
All of a sudden I started feeling dizzy, as if I were going to black out.
“Are you all right?” Roy’s voice sounded anxious.
“No, she's not all right — why don’t you just back off?” Brendan said irritably.
“Hey, don’t talk about me like I’m not here. And I can make my own decisions,” I said. I took a deep breath and began to feel a little bit better.
“I'm glad to hear that, babe.” Roy ran his hand over my waist and lowered his head to kiss me. But before he could do it, I was overwhelmed with a feeling of being threatened, strong enough to make me feel sick. Without planning to, I instinctively summoned a fireball and hurled it straight into his chest.
He went crashing down into the next chair, taking the person who had been sitting on it down with him. I looked at my hand in astonishment — why had I used magic? Something must have threatened me, because it hadn’t been a deliberate action, but rather a self-defense reaction.
“Hey, calm down. Don’t attack our clients,” the bartender said.
“I have no idea what happened,” I muttered. A small crowd of supernaturals gathered around me, Brendan, and Carlos. I could see clear bloodlust in the eyes of the vampires among them, and somewhere among the crowd I spotted a bogeyman. Damn. The fact that we weren’t regulars here and that I’d had an uncontrolled magic outburst didn’t count as friendly and welcome signs. Supernaturals could get very touchy when their sense of security got threatened, and if they all suddenly attacked us, we would have a hard time fighting them off.
“What kind of supernaturals are you? Mages, wizards?” someone asked us.
I turned to Brendan, worried, and he gave me a silent sign to stay quiet.
“Wow. That was strong, but I liked it — I love aggressive women.” Roy had gotten back up and was trying to move over towards me, but
Brendan blocked his way.
“Dude, the lady doesn’t want to talk to you. Come on… uh… Maggie, we’re leaving.” He took my elbow and we began weaving our way through the crowd around us. Carlos followed in our wake. Some of the supernaturals watched us suspiciously and in the eyes of a few others, I recognized the desire to attack us.
“What was that?” I asked Brendan as we reached the exit.
“I have no idea, but you better not mess with an incubus.”
“Incubus?” I repeated. Suddenly, it dawned on me — that’s why I was so attracted to him! His raw sexual energy had lit up my libido, making me respond to him, even though I wasn’t the type of girl who picks up random strangers at bars.
“And now what’s the plan? Are we leaving?” I asked.
“We have no choice — your fireball drew attention to us.” Brendan opened the door and we stepped outside into the dark alley. We’d better lay low for a while.”
“What? Just like that, we drop the search for the sorcerer, because I made a silly mistake?” I asked in disbelief. My emotions were still high after the spontaneous magical outburst, and part of me didn’t want to leave.
“I can drop by again in a few hours. Hopefully, everyone will have forgotten about the accident by then,” Carlos suggested.
“Do whatever you think is appropriate,” Brendan said. “I have to go. The Magic Council just sent me a message; I have to go talk to them. A piece of advice, Alex: Stay away from any incubi. I don’t think they have a good effect on you. Also be on your guard; I didn’t like the look of those vampires who gathered around you. Just keep your eyes open, in case someone from them decides to follow us.”
“Don’t patronize me, Brendan. I think you’re just jealous,” I snapped at him. Brendan turned his back without uttering a single word, and strode away down the dark street. I stared at him for a moment before turning to the tiger shifter. “Well, what are we going to do?”
“I think I’m going to go back to my room and take a nap for a couple of hours, then I’ll come back around ten. There should be more supernaturals inside by then. I think Brendan is right to want you to stay away from the club — at least for tonight.”
“A nice plan,” I grunted. “Well, tonight’s not going to be a fun night for me, obviously.” I was reaching for the metal container with the transport charm when I heard a cracking noise, and something hit me hard in the back. I flew to the ground and my vision went black.
Chapter 6
“Alex, are you all right?” Carlos asked, his voice sounding rough and strained as I came back to consciousness. I was dizzy and my legs had given out at the surprise blow. For a moment, I thought I might pass out again, but I quickly recovered.
“I’ve been better.” I stood up as quickly as I could. My back throbbed — it felt like I’d been struck with a heavy object, maybe some sort of rod. Then something whizzed by my face, passing just inches over my left shoulder as I ducked. I connected with the invisible thread inside my center and a big fireball appeared in my right hand. The light allowed me to take a look at the space around me, and I saw two men only a few yards away. One wore a fedora hat, tilted low to obscure his face, and carried a large wooden rod. The other was dressed in black leather pants and a hooded jacket. The man in leather directed his gaze at the wall behind us, his eyes glowing with a blue brilliance, and the wall exploded. Sand and gravel swirled in the air and poured over our heads. Great — a telekinetic! I immediately extinguished the fireball in my hand to focus on the more immediate problem, and ducked as several dozen bricks flew past our heads. A few struck us, but more were coming. I summoned the element of air and a gust of wind swished to life on the tips of my fingers. I hurled the wind toward the bricks, and they were flung back in the opposite direction. Meanwhile, Carlos had transformed into a tiger, his eyes glowing like two yellow burning coals in the darkness.
Once I got rid of the danger from the bricks, I summoned fire again and hurled a gigantic fireball at our attackers with all the force I could muster. They ducked and the fire missed them by inches, burning the edges of the first guy’s fedora. I flung one of my enchanted knives too, and this time I didn’t miss — it hit the telekinetic in the upper right arm, near his shoulder, and he cried out in agony.
I called the knife back and the guy screamed again, falling to his knees. In the meantime, Carlos the tiger flung himself on the man with the fedora hat, who had dropped his rod in all the commotion. Carlos roared, standing with his front paws on the man’s chest. The fedora fell to the ground, revealing the man’s blond hair.
Carlos shifted into his human form and, clutching the man’s shoulders, bellowed, “Who are you working for? Who sent you?”
But before the blond could utter a word, the telekinetic focused on a nearby trash can, using his powers to hurl it straight into Carlos’s chest. With a cry of pain Carlos transformed back into a tiger, the better to ease his suffering and help him heal faster. I was going to make this guy pay for hurting Carlos!
In tiger form, Carlos was already charging the telekinetic, so I went for the blond guy. But the bastard had recovered his rod and now, with a swirl of his hand, he mumbled an incantation in Latin and the rod transformed into a gigantic three-headed snake. It hissed at me, its eyes glowing red with promises of pain and suffering.
Just then I heard the telekinetic guy give a painful cry — I hoped Carlos had bitten him. Taking advantage of my momentary distraction, the snake attacked me, its mouths lunging for my flesh. I launched into a double flip in the air, but one of the snake’s heads buried its teeth deep into my left thigh. I screamed in pain, fury washing over me. The ghoulish creature had just ruined one of my favorite pairs of jeans! That was it — the last straw. I screamed bloody murder at the snake. It was about to attack me again, but I got ahead of it and blasted the creature with а fireball. This time I put all my emotions into it — all the anger, fatigue, jealousy, hatred — practically everything I’d been experiencing these past few days. It paid off: I hurled an enormous fireball into the repulsive snake, right into its three heads. Red-orange flames exploded in the air, and Carlos and the telekinetic guy fell to the ground. The air filled with smoke and dust, and flames engulfed the surrounding space. I tried to get to Carlos, but the chaos was complete and I couldn’t see anything. There was a searing pain in my thigh from the snake’s fangs, and I was also suffocating. I had to get out of here right away if I wanted to survive. I glimpsed Carlos, lying unconscious near a wall, and I made one final attempt to reach him. Debris clouded my vision and fire burned my forearm, but I gritted my teeth and continued walking. When my instincts told me I had reached him, I opened my eyes and saw his body. Next to him was the telekinetic, a trickle of blood running down his cheek. My magic sense told me he wasn’t alive. A pity — I’d have loved to beat the crap out of him and learn who had sent those two after us. But it was too late for that. I took out the transport charm, sprinkled it around the shifter and me, and visualized the Steaming Cauldron. The air around us vibrated and the familiar magic pull began, taking Carlos and me away from the fiery mess I’d created.
***
Panting and still bleeding, I found myself in our occult bookshop, Carlos lying unconscious next to me. I coughed and inhaled deeply of the fresh air in the shop. Only now did I realize just how terrible the air had been in that dark alley that I’d set on fire.
“For magic’s sake, Alex, what happened?” Naomi's voice pulled me from my thoughts. I turned and saw her running toward us. Thank magic there were no customers in the shop. The last thing we needed was to scare off what few customers we still had. She raced to the shop’s front door, turned the sign to ‘closed’ and locked the door, then rushed back to my side.
“Are you all right? Who’s this?” she asked, examining my wound and eyeing the shifter on the floor.
“I’m fine — I’ll heal in a few hours at the most. The bleeding’s already slowed down. I just have to change my jeans.” I looked ruefu
lly at them — another pair, gone. “This is Carlos. I think I mentioned that Brendan has an assistant investigator? Well, that’s him. He’s a tiger shifter.”
“Is he okay? What happened?” She leaned toward him and took his pulse. Once she reassured herself that he was alive, we moved him to the nearest chair in our shop, behind the cash register. While Naomi tended to his wounds, I went up to my room and changed my clothes. I put on a clean top and an old pair of jeans, which were already faded and frayed at the hems. At least I wouldn’t regret it if they also got destroyed.
“So, what happened?” Naomi said when I came back.
I tried to collect my thoughts, which proved to be difficult.
“A long story. The three of us were in the Hellfire Club — a supernatural hotspot in Manhattan for dark magic users — when I blasted a fireball and we had to leave. Brendan went to talk to the Magic Council, and Carlos and I were about to leave, too, when two guys jumped us. One was a telekinetic, and I think the other one was a dark wizard or something. Maybe a mage, I dunno. He spoke to his rod in Latin and it transformed into a gigantic snake… Oh, I need some water,” I panted, my head suddenly feeling extremely heavy. My back didn’t hurt too much — honestly, I’d totally forgotten about it, and besides, my healing powers had started to kick in. Today the moon was in the first quarter; in a week, my powers would reach their zenith with the full moon. I just had to wait till then.
“Here, I have a better idea. Drink this.” She patted me on the shoulder and handed me a mug of some hot herbal concoction.
I took it from her and sipped, no questions asked. It had a slightly weird taste, but I swallowed it nevertheless. “What’s in it?” I asked casually.
“Oh, nothing special,” Naomi said with a wave of her hand. “Vervain, sandalwood, pine, peppermint, blackberry… oh, and frog’s leg and bat blood.”
“What?” I cried, almost choking.
Naomi burst out laughing. “You should have seen your face, Alex! Of course I didn’t put a frog’s leg or bat blood in it. I’m a hedge-witch, not a sorceress.”