Magic After Dark: A Collection of Urban Fantasy and Paranormal Romance Novels

by Margo Bond Collins

  “Robots. That has to be a joke, right?”

  “The magtrollers need mages to control them,” Danielle said. “So the robots should be inactive. Providing the alarm isn’t set off.”

  Every time I found out something new, it created half a dozen new questions in my mind. “The magtroller is what we are going in to retrieve. How are robots going to stop the necromancer from opening a portal into the underworld?”

  “No, no, no. You have it all wrong. Magtrollers are universal controllers for some of the latest and best inventions of magictech. Like the magsafe in Cressington Tower, which contains a swirl key. The swirl key is what we need to keep out of the hands of the necromancer.”

  “Magsafe? Swirl key? Magictech?” I was completely lost.

  The back door slid open, and Lionel climbed into the van. “I’ve got my spell ready if we decide to go. Alessa’s not back yet, though, which is surprising. Hope she’s okay.”

  “She can take care of herself,” Danielle said.

  Lionel nodded. “You’re right, of course. You were asking about magictech, Slate. An example is the earpieces we are wearing.”

  “This?” I picked the small device Lionel had given me earlier off the dash. “It doesn’t look that special.”

  “It’s a nifty bit of kit, let me tell you. It mainly responds to the frequencies of human speech, transmitting any conversations that the wearer can hear,” Lionel said. “And it has echoing cancellation so you don’t hear the same thing twice when standing beside someone who is also wearing one on the same network. End-to-end unbreakable encryption. Much smaller than a similar device created just using technology. Each set of ten costs more than most cars.”

  “And Gabriel has that kind of money?”

  “No,” Lionel said. “Or rather, I’m not sure. He did provide the funds to buy the van. However, these earpieces arrived into our possession via some stock slippage.”

  “Stealing from the Cressingtons should be part of the team’s mission statement,” I said, putting the earpiece close to my ear. “How do I attach it?”

  As I put it close to my ear, I heard a voice. “In your case, you pull down your pants, bend over, and—”

  “Alessa,” Danielle warned.

  “What’s going on out there, Essa?” Lionel asked. “Everything okay?”

  “Fine,” Alessa said through the earpiece. “I’ll be back shortly and explain the situation then.”

  Lionel touched the stretchy loop on the earpiece in my hand. “You wrap that around the base of your ear; it’s designed to stay attached even if you fall off a skyscraper. The little nub is the core of the device; I usually put that on the bottom of my ear, but it doesn’t matter much.”

  “Can it be turned off?” I asked, realizing that the vampire had been listening to everything we’d been saying via her earpiece.

  “Sure.” Lionel took the earpiece back, fiddled with it, then held it up toward my mouth. “It has voice-activated commands. Say the phrase you want to use to turn it off.”

  I thought for a moment. “Mage team off.”

  Lionel adjusted the nub slightly. “Now the phrase to turn it on.”

  “Mage team on.”

  “Done.” Lionel handed it over.

  I lifted the hair over my ear with one hand, then stretched the loop with the other so it fit over my ear. When I released it, it fit snugly around the base of my ear.

  A red shimmer passed in front of the windshield, and a moment later, the door slid open, and Alessa appeared at the door. Lionel slid across to let her sit down. As Alessa climbed in, she gave Lionel’s shoulder a tender squeeze. Were those two involved? A possible union between a vampire and the son of the most powerful mage family in Philadelphia. Every time I thought things couldn’t get any worse…

  “No alarms have gone off, but something evil is definitely at work—likely that necromancer Gabriel warned us about,” Alessa said. “Security continue to guard the place, but they are all zombies. The one Danielle found must have wandered off, but something or someone is controlling the others.”

  “I’ve never heard of zombies being controlled before,” I said.

  Alessa nodded. “Me neither. Nor anyone being turned into a zombie as fast as these people seem to have been. Danielle, show me your shoulder.”

  Danielle leaned back between the two seats, and Alessa pulled the at the neckline of her hoodie to examine the bite mark at her upper shoulder. Skin had peeled away from the center of the wound, making it look like a dark, hungry mouth. It smelled of corruption and decay. Black lines spiraled around the wound, one tendril reaching up her neck.

  Alessa made a face. “She’s definitely infected, and it’s nasty. But it isn’t advancing as fast as it must have done for the security guards out there. We have time. Not much time, but some.”

  “If something goes wrong, time will get eaten up fast,” Lionel said, scowling at the wound.

  Alessa nodded. “I agree. It’s a risk. We really should have Lionel heal her now.”

  “If he does that, can we still attempt to get to the magtroller ahead of the necromancer?” Danielle asked.

  “Probably not,” Lionel said. “If I healed you, my life force would be too low to hold the wards open. So we need to make a decision now.”

  “Surely we haven’t come all this way to scratch our asses,” I said, looking around at the rest. “Have we?”

  “It may be a time to live to fight another day,” Alessa said. “Consider the circumstances. The necromancer has a significant head start on us, and is clearly much more powerful than we expected. We have no idea what he is capable of, or how close he is to getting the magtroller. Danielle needs treatment for her bite, and Lionel is already low on life force. Gabriel, who is behind the plan, isn’t here. The helsing—” Alessa glanced at me. “Even if he doesn’t decide to stab me in the back, he has just now learned what we face. I’m not sure we can expect much from him.”

  “Expect whatever you want, and I’ll exceed it,” I said. “You have little comprehension of what I’m capable of.”

  “What other options do we have?” Danielle asked.

  “We could deliberately set off the alarm,” Lionel said. “And get out of here before the Cressington mages arrive. Let them deal with the necromancer.”

  “Will we get another chance to get a magtroller, though?” Danielle asked.

  Lionel shrugged. “Maybe.”

  “Our whole plan was based on the Cressingtons needing to test these robots at Dulane Building, where the security is relatively weak,” Danielle said. “Do you think your father will let the magtrollers out of Cressington Tower again after tonight?”

  “Probably not,” Lionel admitted.

  “If we make an attempt to break in and fail, then the alarm will go off and we’ll see if these mages can deal with the situation better,” I suggested.

  Lionel shook his head. “It’s not that simple. If we are caught—well, Father might forgive me, and you could be let off—but for a hood mage, or most especially a vampire, the risk of getting caught is greater.”

  “I’m prepared to take the risk, if others are,” Danielle said. “Though, easier for me to say, since I’m not going inside.”

  Alessa and Lionel looked at each other, then shared a nod. Alessa slid open the door, and exited.

  Lionel followed her. “Danielle, get the seeing eye into the air and send it after us. I’ll start working on the outer wards. We’ll abort, well, when it looks like disaster is close.”

  “You’ll note that this is different from Lionel’s usual policy of stopping when disaster is already crushing him,” Alessa voice, tinged with amusement, came clearly through the earpiece. She’d already crossed the street and was quickly approaching the Dulane Building.

  Danielle climbed between the two front seats of the van and got into the back, pulling out a bag from under one of the seats.

  “Wait.” They had spent ages discussing, then they’d just decided to act w
ithout telling me what my role was. “What was Gabriel going to do?” Perhaps I could fill in for their missing leader.

  “Coordinate, give orders,” Danielle said. “React if anything goes wrong.”

  That didn’t sound like me. “What’s the vampire going to do? She’s going inside, isn’t she? I’m going with her.”

  “No way,” Alessa said through the earpiece. “The helsing doesn’t know what he’s facing and hasn’t practiced for it. He’ll just get in the way and set off the alarm.”

  “I’m going,” I said. “Anything a vampire can do, I can too.”

  Chapter 7

  I opened my door to follow Alessa and Lionel, then paused to watch Danielle. She held a crystal ball on her lap, and she was reading from her spellbook, chanting words I couldn’t hear. The crystal glowed. She spread her hands wide over it, then a white nebulous sphere rose up and disappeared up through the roof. The crystal ball changed from white to black.

  No, it wasn’t totally black. I leaned over the seat so I could look closer. Lights flickered in its depths, and I could see vague shapes. It took several moments before I realized what I was looking at. The crystal ball was showing the top of the van from above.

  I stuck my head out of the van to look up, and there floated the white nebulous globe. And inside it, I could see Danielle’s face. So that was a seeing eye. It sped away, and I ducked back inside the van to watch Danielle. She was shifting her fingers across the crystal ball as she manipulated the direction of the seeing eye. The images inside the crystal ball blurred as Danielle’s fingers rolled across the glassy surface, then sharpened as her movements slowed.

  Inside the crystal ball, I saw Alessa and Lionel crouched side by side outside the Dulane Building with the white shimmer of the outer ward before them. Lionel held his pendant in one hand, and his other fist slowly moved forward. He squeezed his eyes shut, pushing his fist farther, forcing a hole to appear in the wards. The hole, small at first, began to expand.

  As I leaned closer, I felt Harps jerking forward, grabbing hold of my hair to stop himself from falling. I pulled back so neither of us was in danger of falling onto Danielle’s lap and knocking her over.

  You like crystal-ball TV, Harps? I thought.

  None of the crystal balls in the gypsy wagons did that.

  Perhaps we’re frauds in comparison to the mages, I thought, remembering how I’d bragged earlier that Alessa had no idea what I was capable of. Most likely, she knew exactly what to expect from me. Are you feeling bold, boy? Ready to take on a necromancer?

  I think we should mastermind the operation from here as Danielle suggested, Harps thought.

  Not my style. My talents lie elsewhere.

  Don’t forget about my talents, Harps thought. I could give you instructions.

  I’m sure you could. I chuckled. Villains foiled by Harps, the monkey mastermind.

  Has potential, Harps agreed.

  As a Saturday morning cartoon, perhaps. I exited the van, shutting the door behind me. Brace yourself. We’re moving.

  With that, I ran across the road, accelerating to almost full speed. I slowed as I came up to where Lionel stood by the wards, his arm outstretched. Above him, Danielle’s seeing eye hovered. The hole Lionel created wasn’t much bigger than the window of a car door. A tight fit, but Alessa had already passed though.

  I decided not to stop, instead speeding up as I got closer. Don’t fall off, whatever you do, I thought to Harps as I leaped over Lionel’s arm, then pointed my arms forward and dived directly through the gap in the wards Lionel had created, landing on my hands and rolling back into an upright position in one smooth movement.

  Lionel started back, blinking.

  “Idiot,” Alessa said. “Showing off like a jock in front of the latest batch of cheerleaders.”

  “I don’t show off.” Anger flared up within me, and I forced myself to stay calm. “I was just being efficient. I can’t be blamed if routine maneuvers look impressive to those less skilled.”

  She snorted. “Are we going to keep playing this game? We are supposed to be on the same side.”

  “What game?” I asked.

  She shook her head, then turned toward the building. “This way.”

  The white globe passed over my head. I could the glaring expression on Danielle’s face as she looked at me through the seeing eye. “You told me you’d be able to work with Alessa,” she said.

  “She doesn’t have to provoke me,” I said, even though I knew that wasn’t the main problem. It wasn’t what she said, it was what she was.

  “Go. Be quick,” Lionel said. I looked behind me. Lionel’s arm shivered from the effort of holding his spell in place.

  “We’re through. You can stop…” I gestured toward the wards. “…whatever it is you are doing.”

  “I’m afraid not. The outer wards are pretty sophisticated, and I have to actively hold this open to prevent the magical alarms from going off. As soon as I stop…” He shrugged. “I can’t release my spell until you and Alessa are out.”

  The earlier mention of Lionel’s low life force took on new meaning. Seeing the strain in his face, I doubted he could hold on for long, but the only thing I could do to help him was to be as fast as possible, so I gave him a nod, turned, and hurried after the red aura of Alessa and the white glow of Danielle’s seeing eye.

  I reached a small recessed door just as the seeing eye passed through it. Alessa stood sentinel on one side of the doorway, so I took up position opposite her. Despite my promises, I had to restrain an urge to leap across and attack. Actually standing beside her without reacting was harder than I’d expected. Helsing warriors were born with the ability to detect vampires by their red aura for a reason: so we would be better able to hunt down and kill them. The only other time I had seen creatures with a red aura had been when Dagger, Flint, Crystal, and I had attacked a nest of five vampires, and killed them all.

  Nothing in that fight had made me doubt I was in the presence of pure evil, and that exterminating vampires was what I had been born to do. Harps shifted on my shoulder, sensing my internal agitation.

  “Danielle, how are you getting on?” Alessa asked. The note of worry in her voice perhaps indicated that she was aware of how close I was to attacking.

  “I’ve disabled the magical alarms,” Danielle said. “Working on the physical lock now. Nearly there. Aaaannnnd… done. It’s unlocked and safe to enter. Step inside carefully.”

  Alessa turned the handle and pushed the door open.

  “Wait,” Danielle said.

  Alessa immediately shut the door. “What is it? Have the alarms been triggered?”

  “No, it’s just I forgot to disable the cameras,” Danielle said. “Likely no one is watching them if all the security guards are already taken out, but best be sure. That’s done. Enter.”

  Alessa opened the door again, and this time, she entered. I sucked in a quick breath, then followed, shutting the door behind me.

  My mouth opened in surprise and delight at the spectacle in front of it. Unexpectedly, the corridor was a wonderland of floating white light. Of the five hurdles Danielle had mentioned—outer wards, electronic door, floating alarm strands, mindtrap, fighting robots—we had clearly reached number three. Strands of magic swirled and dipped through the darkness, moving like luminous eels swimming in the deepest reaches of the sea.

  “I’ll illuminate the strands so you can see them.” Danielle’s seeing eye lit up like a lantern, then it floated forward, passing through the strands as if they weren’t there.

  “Wow,” Alessa said. She hadn’t been able to see the alarms without Danielle’s help. The ability to see auras and magic was not a gift vampires shared with us.

  “It’s more dense than I expected,” Danielle said. “Will you be able to pass through, Alessa?”

  In answer, Alessa walked down the corridor, swaying to avoid one strand, then ducking under another. Then two faster strands emerged from the side, heading straight for
her. She jerked forward at speed, then stopped dead, raising her arms as a strand passed close to her chest, then turning sideways to dance between two fast-moving strands.

  Seeing what was involved, I was no longer certain I could match Alessa’s skill at avoiding the alarm. Still, I wasn’t going to allow a vampire to show me up. I stepped over the nearest strand, hesitated, then took a few steps to the side, ducking under a long diagonal one.

  “You don’t have to do this, Slate,” Danielle said. “Let Alessa go through and remain in reserve. If you trigger the alarm, it’s all of our heads.”

  “Especially Alessa’s and Danielle’s heads,” Lionel said.

  I ignored their caution, moving deeper into the midst of the glowing white magic. The strands slithered around me, some moving fast, others slow. Each strand had a mind of its own, it seemed, changing direction and speed at random. My eyes flickered back and forth. I waited for an opening, then swung my leg over a low strand, ducking under another, then shifting to the side. That took me directly into the path of a rapid-moving strand coming straight for me.

  I jerked back, then twisted to the side to avoid another strand coming from the left. The two sudden movements sent Harps toppling off my shoulder. I dived forward and up, grabbing Harps just before he set off the alarm, landing with one foot on either side of a thin, wiggling strand.

  As I took two further steps forward, a space opened up around me, giving me a moment’s pause. I took a deep breath, looking back at the distance I’d crossed, then forward at what was yet to come, dismayed to discover I was barely a tenth of the way through. Alessa was much farther along, a shimmer of red light weaving and dancing through the white mist.

  Are you sure you know what you are doing? Harps thought.

  I lifted Harps back onto my shoulder. I’m not going to have you doubting me, too, am I?

  Not that, no. I just have a healthy fear of failure.

  Because you doubt me. I shook my head. Just don’t fall off again.

  “How are things going?” Lionel asked through the earpiece.