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

by Margo Bond Collins

  “I’m starting the repair job,” I said.

  “Drop the door and turn around,” Hadrian ordered.

  I jammed the door so it remained in place then turned around. “Saving a person’s life doesn’t get the same credit it used to, I know,” I said. “But I thought I might get ten minutes, at least.”

  “For all I know, you caused this whole thing.” Hadrian gestured to the men at either side of them, and they raised their weapons to point at me. “Now, step aside.”

  I raised my hands but didn’t step away from the door. “I surrender.”

  “I’ve heard that before,” the mage with the handgun said. “You surrendered to Alpha Two. You didn’t mean it then, and I doubt you mean it now. What are you hiding?”

  “You’re the mage who controlled Alpha Two, aren’t you? I whopped your ass,” I said with a smile. “Those robots are pretty, but they aren’t as tough as they look.”

  “What are you talking about?” the mage asked. “You were running for your life until the ceiling collapse saved you.”

  “Stop engaging him,” Hadrian said, addressing the mage without taking his eyes off of me. “I know helsings are tough. But I don’t think you can survive a burst of machine gun fire at point-blank range.”

  “Your cousin, Lionel, is through the door behind me,” I said. “If you fire at me, you might hit him.”

  “Step aside. I’ve known Lionel since we were little, and he’s not worth taking one bullet for, never mind a hail of them.”

  “Are you not worried about killing him?”

  “That would be a stroke of luck, and I’m not that lucky.” Hadrian showed me his teeth.

  “Okay, okay.” It wasn’t Lionel I was protecting anyway, and I sure didn’t intend to take a bullet for a vampire. “You’ve convinced me.” I wrenched the door free and tossed it away.

  “It actually is Lionel,” Hadrian said, a note of surprise in his voice as he walked through the doorway.

  “That’s what I said.”

  The other mages kept their guns pointed at me as I followed Hadrian. Alessa had disappeared, and it was now Lionel who was in the mindtrap. He held his head in his hands with tears streaming down his face, sobs convulsing up his chest and out his mouth.

  “Isn’t this a picture?” Hadrian said.

  “Can you get him out of that?” I asked.

  “I can,” Hadrian said. “Will I, though?”

  Footsteps caused us to turn around. Two mages marched toward us with Danielle in front of them. With the magic strands gone, the corridor didn’t look half as long.

  “What are you doing to Lionel?” Halfway down the corridor, Danielle ran ahead of her captors.

  “Who’s this?” Hadrian asked.

  “We found her in a van out back,” one of the mages behind her said. “She was operating a seeing eye.”

  “A mage, then. What’s your name?” Hadrian asked.

  “Free Lionel,” Danielle said. “What are you waiting for?”

  “Why, I’m waiting for him to start crying out for his mom.” Hadrian’s lips curved upward.

  “He was low in life force when he entered the mindtrap,” Danielle said frantically. “If you don’t get him out soon, he’ll die. It might already be too late.”

  “Ann would be upset if I didn’t save him.” Hadrian pulled a spellbook from his inside jacket pocket, quickly flicked through it until he found the page he was looking for, then began to chant. As I was quickly learning, the words spoken in spell-craft made no sound, but I saw the effect when the bubble of magic disappeared and Lionel collapsed to the floor.

  Danielle dived down beside him and took his head into her arms. “Lionel, are you okay?” she asked. “Lionel?”

  “He’ll take some time to recover,” Hadrian said.

  When Danielle had crouched down by Lionel, I’d noticed the black corruption creeping up her neck. We still hadn’t dealt with her wound. “Can you heal Danielle?” I asked Hadrian. “She was bitten by a zombie.”

  “A zombie?” Hadrian turned to face me. “The facility broken into, much of it destroyed, and now a zombie is involved. You are going to have to explain to me what went on here.”

  “Several of our security guards have been turned into zombies,” Alpha Two’s controller said. “Our mages are taking care of them.”

  “Several zombies?” Hadrian’s face looked even more puzzled.

  I nodded down at Danielle. “Can you help her?” Explaining was going to take a while.

  Alpha Two’s controller knelt down by Danielle’s side, taking a spellbook from a pocket.

  “While she is being healed, she can tell me her name,” Hadrian said.

  “Danielle,” I told him.

  “I know that part,” Hadrian said. “Danielle what?”

  The tip of Danielle’s tongue wetted her lips. She didn’t look up.

  “Danielle what?” Hadrian asked again. “The truth will come out, sooner rather than later. Danielle what?”

  “Danielle Wright,” she said in a quiet voice.

  “Wright, I don’t know any family by that name.” Hadrian lips twisted. “A hood mage?”

  Danielle didn’t reply.

  “I’ll take that as a yes.” Hadrian looked her up and down. “Where did Lionel find you? And how did you learn magic? Not many hood mages can create a useful seeing eye.”

  I coughed, pointing down the corridor, because at that moment another seeing eye floated into view, stopping in front of us. Inside this seeing eye was a stern-faced, silver-haired man.

  Hadrian turned to face it. “Christian,” he said.

  “Care to explain why Dulane Building is open to the stars?” Christian asked angrily.

  “I don’t know what’s going on,” Hadrian said. “I’ve just arrived and started investigating. Lionel is at the heart of it. With the help of a pet hood mage. And a helsing warrior, for some reason.”

  “Lionel? My son Lionel did this?”

  Hadrian gestured down to Lionel, still unconscious, his face pale and his head in Danielle’s lap. “We found him in one of the mindtraps. Zombies are wandering the grounds, and Alpha One’s magtroller has been stolen.”

  “It wasn’t Lionel,” I said. “A necromancer stole the magtroller and created the zombies. We tried to stop him.”

  Christian’s face turned my way. He studied me for a moment, then turned back to Hadrian. “Bring them all to the house immediately.”

  “Yes, sir,” Hadrian said.

  Chapter 10

  It had started raining, and heavy drops splattered against the roof of the car. The window wiper swished back and forth at speed.

  I wasn’t sure if we were prisoners, or something else. That we were being transported in a limo was a good sign, though. Hadrian sat in the front with the driver. The back of the limo had seats facing each other. I faced forward with Harps on my lap, and Danielle and Lionel were in front of me, facing back.

  Lionel had regained consciousness, and with help, he had managed to stagger into the limo, but he hadn’t yet spoken since he’d come out of the mindtrap, and he hadn’t stopped shivering. Danielle leaned against him, and my hunting coat was draped on top of him. His face was pale.

  “Why didn’t you use magic to help him?” I asked. Danielle’s zombie bite had been healed without much fuss.

  “It doesn’t work like that. Magic needs life force to function, so magic can never replace someone’s life force.”

  “So how will Lionel’s life force return?”

  “With time,” Danielle said. “Life force gradually replenishes with time, as long as magic isn’t being used. And as long as a person doesn’t allow their levels to fall below critical. Only idiots do that.”

  “You called,” Lionel said through chattering teeth.

  “Thank Christ,” Danielle said. “You had us worried.”

  “I was never in danger. I’ve lost this much life force before and recovered stronger than ever.”

  “I do
ubt that,” Danielle said. “If you’d lost an iota more life force, you wouldn’t be recovering at all.”

  “I was worse the last time,” Lionel said. “You remember, Danielle, you were there.”

  “Oh, then. I don’t think you were as bad that time,” Danielle said. “If you were, it makes you double the idiot.”

  “Can I put this on for a while?” Lionel asked me, lifting up my hunting coat.

  “Of course.” You don’t mind if Lionel borrows your home, do you, Harps?

  You already let Fierce eat me. What’s being made homeless compared to that?

  That’s the spirit.

  Lionel leaned forward to maneuver his arms into the sleeves of the coat.

  “Don’t put your hands inside the pockets, though,” I told him.

  “Protected by gypsy magic?” he asked.

  “Slightly less mystical than that. Protected by monkey feces.”

  Lionel smiled and reached across to stroke Harps’s head, but Harps jerked his head away, baring his teeth. “What did I do?” Lionel asked.

  “He’s just a bit traumatized right now,” I said. “He doesn’t like combat.”

  I can handle combat, Harps objected. Tell them it’s being eaten by wolves, getting half drowned in an oily underworld, then strangled by black vines, not to mentioned nearly being head-stomped by a Terminator. Go on, tell them that.

  “I’m afraid Harps has no sense of adventure,” I said.

  Harps stood tall and hissed at me.

  The limo slowed to a stop; the headlights illuminated a set of high gates. Two men armed with machine guns emerged from a gatehouse and approached the vehicle on either side, raindrops dripping from their coats and hats. Hadrian opened his window, and the guard leaned down. He briefly shone his flashlight into the back seat, and as he did so, his pendant slipped out of his coat, showing the same design as Hadrian and the others. Being a mage didn’t get one out of nighttime guard duty in the Cressington family, it appeared.

  After a short, clipped conversation, Hadrian closed his window, and the two mages returned to the gatehouse. The gates opened, and the limo nosed up a private drive, its tires crunching against gravel. The limo’s headlights lit up thick foliage on either side, the leaves sodden and dripping. The drive was long, with several sharp turns. This close to Center City, I was surprised that any private house had grounds this extensive, though I probably shouldn’t have been. The most powerful mage family in the city was undoubtedly obscenely wealthy.

  Just when I was beginning to catch sight of lit windows beyond the trees, the limo skidded to a sudden stop. A woman wearing a white nightdress and rainboots stood in front of limo, peering through the windshield. Between the glare of the headlights washing over her, plus her sudden appearance out of nowhere, she was, for all the world, an apparition.

  Hadrian opened his door and ran out to her.

  “What’s going on?” Lionel asked, turning in his seat.

  “A ghost has come to greet us, it appears,” I said, opening the door and stepping out into the rain.

  Hadrian took off his jacket and swung it over her shoulders. “What are you doing out here? What’s wrong, Becca? Has something happened at the house?”

  “No, nothing like that. I know it’s just up the road, but could I ask for you to give me a lift back to the house with you?”

  “Of course. Come quickly.” He guided her to the side of the car.

  “So you aren’t a ghost,” I said, speaking over the roof of the car. It was a stupid thing to say, but I was enjoying the feeling of rain falling on me, rivulets of water running down my face.

  “Not a ghost, no.” She was a young girl, a few years under twenty, pretty, with shoulder-length blonde hair. She looked at me with an intensely curious expression on her face. “I always wanted to be a ghost in the machine, though.”

  “Why is that?” I asked.

  “So I can break things.” She laughed. “Don’t get me wrong. I like fixing things, too.”

  “Perhaps things wouldn’t need fixing if you didn’t break them?”

  “Where’s the fun in that?” she asked.

  Hadrian attempted to guide her into the limo, but she resisted. “You’re the helsing warrior, aren’t you?”

  I nodded. “How do you know that?” Harps wasn’t on my shoulder, and I wasn’t wearing my hunting coat.

  “The whole house is in an uproar. I’ve been sneaking around eavesdropping, trying to figure out what’s happening. A helsing warrior was mentioned several times.”

  “In glowing terms, I hope.”

  “You won’t be shot when you walk in the door. That’s all I can speak for.” Becca gave me a little smile, then allowed Hadrian to guide her into a seat. Hadrian then turned his attention to me.

  “What are you doing?” he asked. “Get back in the car. Don’t think to escape.”

  “I wasn’t.” I turned my head to the left, then the right, peering into the darkness. Running hadn’t crossed my mind until Hadrian brought it up. “I didn’t even consider myself a prisoner.”

  “You can consider yourself however you want, just as long as you do what you are told,” Hadrian said.

  Rain dripped off both our faces as we stared at each other. “As you say.” I sat back into my seat and shut the door.

  At the opposite end of the limo, the door was still open, and Hadrian crouched close to Becca. She had his jacket over her shoulders, and he now carefully folded it across the front of her body. The rain had made the nightdress slightly transparent, clinging to her body. After he’d satisfied himself that her modesty was protected, Hadrian glared at me as if he’d caught me staring, but it had been he whose gaze had roved hungrily over her body as he covered her up.

  “You must be freezing,” Hadrian said to her.

  “Not at all,” Becca said. “Late spring rain is pleasant.”

  “In the middle of the night? What are you even doing out here?” Hadrian asked.

  “I overheard enough to know you were bringing Lionel and his crew up in the limo,” she said. “And I knew I’d be sent to bed as soon as I was noticed, so I stole some boots by the back door and came out to intercept. Find out what was going on.”

  “That’s crazy,” Hadrian said.

  “I wouldn’t be able to sleep until I knew more,” Becca said.

  “It’s not a surprise,” Lionel said. “My sister is the biggest idiot in the known universe.”

  Becca laughed. “I’m not the one who was caught breaking into one of our facilities, then apparently destroying it. Wandering around in the rain doesn’t compare with that.” She grabbed the length of her hair and shook it in Lionel’s direction.

  Lionel raised his hands to block the spray. “Stop that.” Lionel raised his hands to block the spray.

  “So, did you get what you wanted, brother?” Becca asked. “You were after the magtroller, I presume.”

  “You know about the magtroller?” Hadrian asked.

  “I didn’t until now,” Becca said. “Sharp guesses turn up more than dumb questions any day.”

  Hadrian scowled, then straightened and shut the door. He climbed into the front, and the limo started forward once more.

  “Do you have the magtroller with you?” Becca asked. “May I see it?”

  “The necromancer stole it, not us,” Danielle said.

  “A real necromancer,” Becca said. “How exciting. Do you think he’s after the swirl key? He must be, mustn’t he? Of course, the magtroller won’t help him open the magsafe unless he can reprogram it. That’s not trivial.”

  “The very existence of the swirl key is supposed to be top secret,” Lionel said. “Never mind where it’s kept.”

  “Top secret restrictions don’t apply to me,” Becca declared. “I’m an exception in all things.”

  “Except perhaps at being annoying,” Lionel suggested.

  Becca reached forward and tugged at Lionel’s cheek. “Being annoying is my most endearing trait.”
r />   Lionel yanked Becca’s hand down and glared at her. She smiled back sweetly.

  The limo came to a stop. Hadrian quickly got out and opened the back door to allow Becca to climb out. The rest of us spilled out after her. Lionel and Becca’s family home looked more like a castle than a house with crenellations on top of gray stone walls.

  Hadrian took Becca’s arm and guided her up the steps to the front door. “You’re drenched and shivering. All this just to hear a few snippets of conversation. I’m really surprised at you.”

  “It’s like you don’t know me at all,” Becca said. “Oh, that’s right, you don’t.”

  “Now, Becca, that’s not fair. You know I know you very well.”

  “I know what you think you know, and you don’t know what you think you know at all.”

  “Huh?”

  She disentangled herself from him and ran up the last few steps. “I better get out of sight before Mom—” The door opened. Christian Cressington and his wife stood side by side on the doorstep with matching frowns. “Oh, hi, Mom.” Becca didn’t miss a beat. “We were just talking about you.”

  Neither of the elder Cressingtons looked like they’d been dragged from their beds in the middle of the night. Both were dressed smartly, looking elegant and composed.

  “What did I tell you about going to bed?” Mrs. Cressington asked Becca.

  “That I should only do it with men who are too pretty for me to refuse,” Becca said.

  Unable to help myself, I spurted out a laugh. Frowns turned my way.

  “Come with me,” Mrs. Cressington said. “Let’s get you out of those wet things.” As Becca walked past her, she gave a shake of the head. “Are those rainboots you are wearing? Seriously, Rebecca, sometimes I just don’t know what to do with you.”

  Danielle glared at me. “You having a fun time?”

  I shrugged. “What? The laugh? She’s funny.”

  I turned around looking for support, but I only caught Hadrian’s gaze, which was colder than it had been when he had been threatening to shoot me. He clearly wasn’t a fan of other people appreciating Becca’s jokes.

  Christian Cressington looked down upon us. “Lionel, you’ve recovered your life force, I see. Though, I’m finding it difficult to be glad about that, considering what just happened.”