by Dannika Dark
Novis stopped in front of my chair and winked. “Silver, it will be a pleasure working with you.”
There was an audible gasp in the room and my skin became feverishly hot.
“Novis,” Justus cut in, leaning forward in his chair. “You might have consulted with me. I don’t know that this is a wise decision. She’s still a Learner.”
Christian dropped his red candy in Justus’s brandy glass and it clinked.
“I need not consult you in Mageri business, Justus. They are aware of her status. Most Learners are obedient and do not act impulsively—for good or bad. They would rather save their own life than risk it for others, because let’s face it, that’s the reason why most of them pursued immortality. She has caught their eye. The decision was not mine to make, so if you have any issues, then you’ll have to go above me. Perhaps they felt I would be an adequate mentor so that her transition into our world would be smoother. With that being said, be cautious not to interfere with Mageri affairs.” Novis pinched his chin with the tips of his fingers. “I expect you to give her the congratulations she is due; this is a cause for celebration, so let us eat and drink.”
Tough crowd. I hugged my arms at the lack of enthusiasm, feeling suddenly underwhelmed and overdressed.
“Show your respect and commend this Mage,” Logan demanded of all present. It was a command that pulled everyone out of his or her seat to reluctantly extend the courtesy.
***
After a delicious seafood and steak dinner, Novis offered drinks and we dabbled in light conversation for a couple of hours. Adam skipped out on dinner, but every so often, he appeared to check in on Cheri. The women were reluctant to speak to him and that might have kept him from socializing.
I didn’t much care for Talia—Simon’s piranha—but I played nice and made an effort to remain polite.
When the men broke out the cigars, Cheri had a fit.
“Outside,” she ordered, waving her hands through the cloud of smoke. “Men shouldn’t ruin good upholstery with cigar smoke.”
“Yes,” Talia agreed. “I didn’t pay a fortune for this perfume to leave here smelling like a dirty ashtray.”
Simon kicked up his feet on the sofa while the men drifted out front.
I couldn’t relate to their conversations about travel and the cost of gold. Talia was conceited, but Simon was too enamored by her plunging neckline and oiled-up breasts to care. Maybe I was a little jealous of how much she filled out her dress as I glanced down at my own assets. Not that they were small, but by no means were they my showcase item.
Honey appeared distraught. She rifled through her black purse for the third time.
“What are you looking for?” I asked.
“Darn. I forgot to bring my perfume. I think Justus likes it.”
I sniffed out a laugh and shook my head. “You don’t need any perfume, Honey. Just wear a rack of ribs around your neck and he’s all yours.”
Simon sprayed a mouthful of beer onto his pants. Talia rolled her eyes and made a scene about it. It was time for me to get away from this motley crew, so I excused myself to head upstairs.
Two paces up the steps, a melodic voice called out. “Silver, wait!” Cheri briskly made her way to the banister. “The guest bathroom is down here.”
“I know. I just needed to stretch my legs and have a few minutes to myself.” The women weren’t really my crowd and listening to their cattiness was exhausting.
Her delicate pink nails curled around my forearm. “The toilet is broken,” she whispered.
“Ohh.” I laughed. “In that case, lead the way.”
She led me to a small, pristine guest bathroom with ceramic floors. It was just a sink and a toilet and the only splash of color in the room was a painting of a magical forest.
All through dinner, Justus never spoke to me. Was he upset over the idea of me being an apprentice, or the fact that I hadn’t told him? A conversation I hoped to rectify later that evening. The man was overbearing but endearing at times. I knew that he meant well, but Justus didn’t have the best skills when it came to compromise. He once promised to make me a strong warrior, but I soon discovered that I didn’t want to be a warrior. Just show me how to guard my light and allow me to have as much of a normal life as possible.
Normal. That word in itself described nothing about my life from conception.
At least I survived dinner.
A few of my bobby pins fell out and I carefully readjusted them, sliding the last one in. Suddenly, the lights shut off and I was engulfed in darkness as a scream rang out from the other room.
I turned the knob and when the door swung open, I ran into someone. Frozen with fear, I instinctively sharpened my light and held up my hands. Tiny sparks actually dripped from my fingertips, but all I saw before me was a shadow.
“Silver, it’s me,” Adam said. “I see you’re all right.”
My heart wandered up into my throat so I swallowed it back down. “What happened?”
“Stay in the house,” he said, and walked away.
The first thing I heard when I shuffled into the sitting room was Talia.
“Oh for the love of God,” she said in a thick accent. “Be a man, Simon. Find a goddamn light.”
“Bloody hell,” I heard him mutter and then something hard cracked on the floor.
The lights flickered for a moment and then stayed on. Simon stood beside a broken piece of ancient pottery and a sense of normalcy returned. He glanced down and cursed under his breath. “That better not be worth my new car.”
The front door burst open, hitting the wall with a thud. “Get the women downstairs,” Justus barked rapidly. A flurry of men followed behind him.
Honey clutched her necklace. “Justus, what’s wrong?”
Simon took Honey and Talia by the arms and hurried them across the house while yelling out, “Check if the alarm systems are disabled!”
Christian cupped my elbow and I pulled away. “Tell me you’re not insinuating that I am one of those women that need to be tucked away in a basement? What the hell is going on?”
“Security breach,” Justus announced.
Novis turned away, talking in a low voice on his cell phone.
“I thought this house was secure? Maybe it was just a power outage.”
“Silver, go downstairs,” Justus ordered while closing the drapes. “If the power was compromised then so was the security.”
“I’ve got a thing about basements, if you recall. Those women aren’t helpless humans. Why not let them stay up here if we have to fight?” I paced to the window on the left side of the door.
His fingers brushed over his short hair, making an abrasive, angry sound. “Mage women are not as… learned as you are.”
I glanced over my shoulder. “They were never taught to defend themselves?”
“Women were never intended to be warriors,” he said slowly, and I drew all kinds of conclusions from that statement. “That was never their purpose.”
“Tell me you’re not serious.”
I never gave any deep thought to the history of some of the older women; I had assumed it was their choice to become a Mage and be equals. Now it was evident what they were choosing to become. Thousands of years ago, a Mage would have wanted strong progeny—warriors. Civilization was raw, and men fought over territories to protect their wealth. Naturally, Creators wanted brave and loyal men to serve them. Of course, that would not abate the desire to pair up with a woman to experience binding, which could only be shared with another Mage. That meant they had to make some women. Otherwise, it was a hands-off experience unless they decided to make out with a Vampire, which I’m sure was frowned upon in 1298 A.D. Given the rank of women on the Council, women’s lib made it into the race eventually, but it couldn’t erase the reason why these women were created in the first place.
Sex.
“That is seriously pathetic,” I said, looking through the dark window. The guards flashed across the lawn as I caug
ht sight of their flickering shadows. “Where’s Logan?”
Novis looked up from his phone. “He’s tracking.”
I mentally sighed. If he had been social with a bunch of men puffing away on their cigars, then his sense of smell was likely impaired.
“Did anyone see anything unusual?” Justus inquired as he scanned the room.
“No, I was in the bathroom.” The moment I said it, one of those dreadful chills swept over me.
Novis stood very close—his reflection ghostly in the glass. “What is it?” he whispered, watching my troubled face.
Shaking my head, I downplayed it. “Paranoia.”
“Simon,” Justus snapped. “Stay with the women. We may need to move them into the tunnels. Christian, come with me.”
“Wait a bleeding minute, mate,” Simon seethed. “Why don’t you watch the women? If I have to spend another minute with that crazy hat, I’ll personally see to it that—”
“Simon, go.” My Ghuardian’s voice unleashed a swell of anger and impatience. “Take Silver downstairs and lock the door behind you. Novis, where’s your control room?”
“This way,” he said, and they disappeared through the study.
Simon eyeballed me. There was no way he was going to get me down the stairs without a fight and we both knew it. “Stay in the house and sharpen your light,” he said, pointing his finger.
When the door slammed, I began my ascent up the stairs.
“Where do you think you’re off to?” Christian leaned on the banister with a sucker in his mouth. He hadn’t eaten with us, but had politely sipped the wine. Upon closer examination, the level of the wine never decreased. His candy obsession was just peculiar for a grown man. Gum chewing I was used to—even smoking. But that man had a candy store in his pocket.
“Christian, go make yourself useful. A maniac could be running loose on the property—either join the men or play charades with the little girls in the basement.”
His black eyes shimmered like liquid glass and he swiveled around, slamming the front door behind him for emphasis. I wondered if all Vampires were as bitchy as he was.
When I reached the first room in the hall, a picture of Adam and Cheri looked back at me from the dresser. I lifted the silver frame with the ivy etchings. Adam was handsome and smiling—all teeth. Not the kind of smile I saw on him often, but it was contagious and so genuine. I set the picture in its rightful place and returned to the hall, wondering if the reason they moved to the other wing when we stayed with them was because Cheri was a jealous control freak.
The dark hallway enveloped me like a cold blanket.
Novis had enough money to purchase the royal throne of England for his bathroom if he so wanted—bejeweled and gold-plated. Yet, he couldn’t fix a broken toilet?
The bathroom door eased open. A heady fragrance of roses hit me as well as a strange feeling that I wasn’t alone. Before I could react, a hand clamped around my wrist so painfully that I whimpered. From the inky darkness, a shadow emerged like honey pouring from a jar. His Vampire eyes were not charitable, his skin was smooth, and his expression was so chilling that his features were jarring. Nothing like Christian, because this guy truly looked like a monster from a movie.
“You won’t remember me,” he said in slow, threatening words. “Return downstairs because you don’t want to know the pain I’ll inflict on your bones if you choose to stay. Find Novis and tell him to come up here because it’s safe.”
Bastard thought he could wipe my memory. The blunt end of a handle stuck out from his hip. It was a sheathed dagger and probably a stunner.
“Would you like to go downstairs and get away from me?”
I nodded.
“Go.”
What the hell killed a Vampire? Christian mentioned stakes worked the same as our daggers. I flashed to the end of the hall and lifted a wooden picture frame off the wall. Before I could smash it over my knee, he lunged. I panicked and ran into an adjacent room. Calling for help would have been as good as inviting Novis into a lion’s den.
He strolled in and closed the door behind him.
“That’s a pretty dress.”
“I’ll scream.”
“Please do, it will save me the trip.”
The windowpane iced the tips of my fingers.
“So,” he said, tapping the knife in the palm of his hand, “why the fuck didn’t you go downstairs like a good Mage?”
“I don’t like doing what I’m told.”
His black eyes lashed me with his disgust. I hadn’t succumbed to his magic and he couldn’t figure out why.
“I’ll drop this knife in your chest and find out,” he said, twirling it in his fingers. “Your friends are busy checking surveillance footage from what I can hear.” He tapped the heavy blade against his lower teeth. “Head or chest? Head or chest,” he contemplated.
“You could always stick it up your ass until you decide.”
That inserted a fair amount of surprise on his face. Was it because I was a Mage or a woman? My fingers turned the latch on the window and he stalked forward.
“Going somewhere?”
The window slid up and a gust of wind blew in with the drapery. Christian swung in the room and dropped his heavy shoes to the floor.
“Jaysus. I thought you’d never open the window,” he grumbled as he approached the Vampire.
“What are you doing?” I hissed.
Christian turned to me and shrugged. “Making myself useful?”
“Why didn’t you just break the window?”
“I didn’t want to get billed for the glass. Novis would do it, too. Shall we continue this conversation later?”
A fight erupted between the Vampires faster than I could track, and I witnessed the raw power that made them feared. Christian threw the other Vamp against the wall and pieces of it broke away. I looked in horror at the handle of the dagger protruding from Christian’s side, but he continued to fight.
The door swung open and hit the wall. Novis and Justus absorbed the scene before they darted past the Vampires to dismantle the bed.
The Vampire threw Christian across the room and demolished a table. They fell to the floor on my left, hammering each other with raging fists.
The Vampire twisted the knife and Christian grimaced.
A small piece of wood that broke apart from the table sat at my feet and I held it high. With a hard thrust, I drove it into the intruder’s neck.
“Remind me never to piss you off,” Christian muttered as he tossed the body off him. He pulled the knife out of his side and cleaned the blade on the Vampire’s shirt. “Do me a favor, Justus, and don’t ever lock that woman in a basement.”
“How did he get in?” Justus wiped the sweat off his brow.
While Christian patted down the Vampire and spoke with Justus, I drifted into the hall and stood at the entrance to the bathroom. When the light flipped on, there was nothing out of the ordinary to see.
“Is this where you found him?” Novis asked.
“Yeah. And you can bet he wasn’t using the facilities.”
“None of the windows are broken and the alarms are still intact. I wonder how he managed to get inside,” he pondered.
I gently pushed the cold, rectangle handle on the toilet. A whirlpool of water drained to the bottom and swirled the air—revitalizing the floral bouquet of rose perfume.
“Cheri.”
Chapter 26
Justus hauled the Vampire down to the basement with Christian. My Ghuardian was not a man to mess around with, so I knew the interrogation wasn’t going to be pretty.
Novis looked incredibly embarrassed. “Simon, please escort them home. Ladies, I apologize for the unflattering turn of events.” He eased into a high chair in the lounge, watching the guests leave as Talia chewed off Simon’s head in another language.
“Cheri, sit,” Novis said in a hard voice.
Apprehensively, she complied, tucking in her white dress.
“I
’m offering you one opportunity to clear your conscience, young Mage. Confess how the Vampire got in the house and I will be lenient with your punishment.”
Adam appeared in the doorway and tossed a flashlight on a sofa. “No one else is in the house.” His eyes darted between the three of us and he picked up on the tension in the room in addition to Cheri’s frightened expression. “What the hell is going on, Novis?”
I cringed when Novis’s face hardened with anger. Adam had crossed the line of respect by speaking in a derogatory manner to his Creator in front of others. I slipped on occasion with Justus, but maybe he was more forgiving about it because he was a Ghuardian and not my maker. Adam could hardly meet his gaze; but then, Adam hardly looked anyone in the eye anymore.
Novis turned his blue eyes back to Cheri. “I will only ask you once more.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she replied in a monotone voice.
Novis leaned back in his chair with smooth satisfaction on his face. “Now that I know you will openly lie to me, I will have no trouble removing you from my home. Effective this evening, you will be without the protection of an elder. This is your own doing and quite regretful as you could have chosen to come clean and live an honorable life.”
“Novis, think of what you’re doing,” Adam urged. “Give her a chance to speak. Your questions are vague and she may not know what you’re—”
“She knows,” I interrupted. Adam’s brown eyes burned me like fire and I winced.
The front door swung open and Logan filled the doorway. He took in a breath, attempting to uncover all the complicated layers of mixed emotions in the room. His jacket was gone and the white shirt was torn. In five easy strides, he crossed the room and was at my side.
“Are you hurt?”
“I found a Vampire hiding upstairs who tried to put a spell on me. He was armed with a stunner and they took him downstairs to torture him for a while.”
Words I never thought I’d hear myself saying.
Logan growled inaudibly—the vibration rippled across my back when he pressed himself close.
“Cheri, what I’d really like to know is how did you get him inside?” Novis was blindsided by his extreme security measures being no match for one slip of a woman.