Drift: The Renegades Saga: Book Two

by E. M. Whittaker

“Limere, back off. Let the human vent and don’t zap Neuro’s laptop. I’m not paying to replace whatever shitty computer he’s using.”

  Limere lifted his hands in a defensive stance before meeting Aviere’s eyes. “What’s gotten into you? And since when are you siding with—”

  “You explained humans aren’t capable of processing magic well, right?”

  The snide tone of his sister’s voice stung. “Your agent works with a mage, Aviere. You can’t use that excuse.”

  “They’re special, Lim.”

  Goosebumps ran down his arms as Aviere drawled out his name.

  “I’m working with morons scared of everything supernatural. You’d think I’m working with Reese or Jemina. Hell, Mina fights, but she’s not terrified of her own shadow. And they accept the supernatural, even if it’s against their beliefs.”

  Any minute, Sis will flip her shit, Limere remarked, thumbing for his back pocket. As soon as those glasses lower and her feet change position, it’s on. I don’t need this on top of sifting through another mage’s power and listening to a psychopath inside my head.

  ~It’s fun dealing with your sister, though. She’s the perfect example of trying to maintain control, Limere.~

  Copper flooded Limere’s mouth as he bit his lower lip, resisting the demoness’s statement. Instead of fighting with her, Limere focused on Aviere, who flipped a strand of hair behind her shoulder.

  “You try working with Tweedledee for an hour. He proclaimed ghosts don’t exist earlier.”

  “Aviere, remember your place. Stop behaving like a spoiled teenager for five minutes and treat him as one of your crew.” The pressure intensified behind Limere’s eyes as he forced calm breaths and ignored Aviere’s deadpan stare. “Lead by example. You won’t reclaim Central Baltimore by letting a meat eater get under your skin.”

  “Agent Neuro’s the furthest thing from a corrupt cop. The weasel is squeaky clean and lives by the books. Just messes up protocol with intelligence, that’s all.”

  “You kept your cool with Martinez, and you guys fought for two years after you married Gunther.”

  “He stopped after I poisoned his ground beef,” she responded, folding her arms across her chest. “Family reunion and it almost spoiled in the humidity while they barbecued. No one considered the poison… just assumed the humidity played a factor for food poisoning. And I had every right.”

  “No, you didn’t. And you made everybody else sick!”

  “Martinez went behind my back and sold one of Ma’s race cars to finance our pharmaceutical company, remember?”

  Oh boy, Limere groaned, pressing a finger against his nose. Here comes her glorious tirade. Who knows… maybe Sis can keep her partner speechless till my headache goes away.

  Despite rolling his eyes, Limere hid a snicker behind his hand at Peters’s shocked expression.

  “Gunther gambled away our money, but he wouldn’t dare sell Ma’s vehicles. As for the party, everyone I cared about took antidotes before we left. You and Reese came out safe, didn’t you?”

  “By the—Jesus Christ, Mye.” The specialist’s shaky voice rang through the quiet room. “Remind me never to eat your cooking.”

  “Well, we’ll agree to disagree, but Martinez isn’t your problem now,” Limere said, thumbing toward Peters. “Settle the beef with your agents. I get the human’s skepticism. It’s understandable, considering they’re touchy about the dead woman. But take your temper out on me, not the miserable bastard clutching a titanium laptop. He might clock you with it.”

  “I can handle myself,” Peters objected. “She doesn’t scare me, but the suggestion’s nice.”

  I’m glad I don’t work with him, Limere sympathized, scratching his nose. God, it’s hard blocking him out with a headache.

  “I wish Peters classified as a meat eater,” Aviere grumbled. “It’d be easier to whack Neuro if he was a crooked cop. Some days try my patience. However, Donahue has them in the BCPD. Travis found two of them inside the Puckered Lips.”

  The laptop thudded against glass and Limere swore it almost cracked. “I knew about Truman, but not his partner. Thought he’d be straight.”

  Limere turned and rolled his eyes, trailing bony fingers across his pocket, praying his sister’s colleagues left within the hour. A stinging sensation swept across his fingertips as he fetched the metal box, avoiding the vape stick in his front pocket.

  He noticed Aviere’s thin-lipped expression and folded arms across her chest, but pointed the joint toward Travis, who stirred during their exchange. The silent argument continued until Limere tapped his temple, throat turning cold when Aviere spun away, huffing under her breath.

  Sorry, Sis, but Mary Jane’s stronger than nicotine, and it’s been a lousy afternoon.

  “It’s a common tactic,” Limere pointed out, drawing out his lighter. “Not hard to spot someone hard-up for quick cash. Every family sprinkles a few within the agencies.” The mage fumbled with the Zippo lighter and after three tries, a blue flame ignited the joint. After two deep drags, the skunky smoke worked into the mage’s system.

  “Are you trying to get arrested, Lim?”

  “You’re lucky I avoided buying coke. Dealing with Angelique always frays my nerves.” To establish his point, Limere blew smoke in Aviere’s face, snorting when she coughed. “She screwed your agent good, Aviere. I’m not sure I’m experienced enough to fix his problem. There’s shadow magic weaved with his first element, but somebody else is siphoning with her guidance. I don’t recognize the energy signature.”

  Silence lingered and Limere regarded each member inside the living room, gauging their responses as he inhaled. While the human clutched the titanium laptop, Aviere stiffened and drooped her head until brunette tendrils shielded her face. Soft trembling came from her shoulders, followed by a low roar.

  “Sis, I won’t lie—it’s a complex spell. There’s a reason it’s forbidden by agents of the Red Coat Society. However, I don’t think Angelique’s rogue. Their agents become something higher… Arbitrators, I believe.”

  As the mage took another slow puff, a coarse voice cut through his conversation from the sofa bed. “Yeah.”

  Limere let out smoke and regretted blowing it in Travis’s face, but relaxed when the agent waved it away, shielding his nose with the pastel comforter. The bright purple made Limere chuckle when he spotted Aviere’s condescending glare.

  “Well, at least your agent’s brain isn’t scrambled, Sis. Maybe he’ll live, after all.”

  “Christ, something’s going right,” Aviere said, her voice lifting in pitch despite her quiet demeanor. “Since Travis isn’t dead, I’ll leave you to this, Lim.”

  The mage tensed when Aviere brushed past him, snubbing him as tea tree shampoo trailed from the faint breeze where she went by. Limere grabbed her shoulder and was met with identical hisses from earlier, but gripped her shirt when she jerked away.

  “Nothing’s good enough, is it, Aviere?” Limere smoked the tail end of his joint and crushed it against his scruffy tennis shoe, stomach growling at the roast beef cooking in the kitchen. “I went into a nightclub with dead bodies, a psychopath sucking your agent’s life out of him, got snagged in the crossfire, and prevented your deaths. You can deal with one joint.”

  “Da was right. You won’t change. Once a dealer, always a dealer.”

  After a strained breath and fighting lightheadedness, Limere forced Aviere to him, thrusting his chin into her bare shoulder. Even when she cried against his bony features, the mage dug further, horrified at the surge of rage possessing his scrawny frame.

  Not now!

  ~I gave you an order, boy. See what happens when you defy me.~

  He loosened his grip and released the cotton shirt, found the Poisoner’s eyes, and then seized her partner’s arm until his fingers bruised the other’s skin. After a few seconds, Limere created a dark forcefield, trapped Travis’s spasming form and poised the captive overtop the sofa bed.

  A stiff arm trie
d lowering, but the temptress locked it in place.

  “Aviere, I’m tired of helping you,” Limere proclaimed, darkness claiming his vision as Travis spasmed underneath his hand. “Perhaps I should listen to everyone else and let you die.” His voice deepened as the sultry temptress whispered to him, overriding his judgment. “You’re alive because the Mistresses blessed you, but you’re ungrateful for your gift.”

  Midnight eyes met each person as they scrambled to the paralyzed agent’s side, but Limere thrust a hand out, directing silver energy at them. It bounced off several objects until it blew a silver breaker box in the middle of the apartment.

  A bullet rang through the apartment, accompanied by a feminine cry when the dwelling powered down.

  As electricity whizzed through Limere’s ears, the harsh vibration snapped the mage back to normal. He glanced at Travis inside the color-changing barrier and made silver energy nullify the darkness inside the barrier. The light brightened enough for him to jump as cold metal pressed against his chin, followed by a sharp set of fingernails grazing against his exposed neck.

  At his feet, Limere felt cat claws impale through his tennis shoes, then growled when he kicked the stout black and white stripped cat across the living room.

  The cat hissed, but maintained its distance.

  ~Aw, for once, the kitten grows claws, boy. Maybe I should provoke her more.~

  “I didn’t want Da involving you. I told him!” One fingernail dug into his jugular vein. “Something’s wrong, but you stink of death, not narcotics.”

  The metal barrel forced Limere’s chin up. “Mye, we should arrest Dalara, you know. He attacked three agents.”

  “I’m surprised you reached Limere before I did. Perhaps there’s hope, after all.” The haughty tone Aviere adopted dropped when her bright cerulean eyes met Limere’s dark ones. “You’re losing control, but I can’t help you.”

  “Sis…”

  “Tell me how to help you,” she pleaded, voice cracking. “Tell us how, instead of hiding behind drugs and secrets, Lim.”

  Cackling boomed in the mage’s throbbing ears, adding to the intense pressure building behind his eyes. He squeezed them shut, shivering when warm blood pooled in the corners of his eyes. Keeping his throbbing eyes downcast, Limere stepped away from them, shaking his head as his spellcasting hand trembled.

  A thumb and forefinger wiped away droplets of blood, still warm against his sticky fingers.

  The kitchen door squeaked when it opened, but Maurice’s calm voice resonated in the soundless room.

  “Limere, Aviere’s right. Mistresses ’n’ all isn’t our stuff, ain’t our belief. You can’t claim somethin’ you don’t believe, right?”

  Flashes of color intertwined with short glimpses of monochrome as Limere regarded his brother-in-law, flexing his fingers at his statement.

  “I don’t like these agents either, but baby girl’s workin’ with ’em. Drop the mage, meet your girlfriend and stop whatever the she-devil’s workin’ inside you. Celene said so much, but I can’t imagine livin’ with somethin’ so monstrous.”

  The mage slammed his eyes shut as blood replaced shameful tears, drawing power from his captive. When Limere gathered enough energy, he disappeared, taking Aviere’s partner with him to his new destination.

  Aviere’s choking sobs were the last thing Limere remembered before the temptress’s whispers dominated his thoughts and diverted his attention.

  Woodsy forest air registered through Limere’s nose when he appeared inside a park several miles away from his apartment, and the mage dropped Travis’s shivering form along a grassy knoll seconds after finishing his spell.

  Silver energy retracted before flickering and dissolving into thin air. However, Limere’s vision didn’t improve—it remained conflicted between monochrome in one eye and sprinkles of color in the other.

  His left eye—the one with color—watched Travis’s astounded expression as the agent rose, pointing his handgun at the dazed mage. Astonishment turned to sympathy, before shifting to a familiar calculative look.

  Like Sis. Agent man’s eyes—they’re like Sis’s.

  ~Why didn’t you steal his power, Limere?~

  The older man grabbed his left eye as pressure increased once more, threatening to make his eyeball explode. Lancing pain trailed to his temple as the mage panted, knelt, and cradled his throbbing head. When it stopped working, Limere doubled over in the fetal position.

  Wet leaves and dirt brushed against Limere’s arms, but the earthy scent welcomed him compared to the demoness’s voice piercing through his skull.

  ~I shouldn’t have let the woman live,~ she continued, jeering louder as she spoke. ~Your bitch told another. Now I’ll make him suffer, like you.~

  Leave Celene out of this! Limere demanded, pushing himself to one knee. You’ve done enough, demon. You promised to spare Aviere and Maurice.

  “That’s one hell of a monster you’ve got, Dalara.”

  “Please don’t,” Limere groaned, holding a palm against his throbbing eyeball. “She’ll hurt you, too.”

  “No worse than a few minutes ago.” The safety clicked off the Desert Eagle as Limere craned his neck toward Travis’s direction. “Anything’s better than what I went through at the Puckered Lips, except that abominable voice. Reminds me of another mage.”

  ~Hmph, he recovers fast, boy. Fine. I’ll quit for now.~

  Limere released a heavy breath before blood gushed from his nose, then underneath his left eye.

  ~But mark my words, when his energy’s grown to its peak, I’ll claim it before possessing you.~

  He rocked himself back and forth on top of the earthy, orange leaves, drifting through the excruciating pain lacing his lanky body. One hand wiped gushing blood before lying flat, stifling the blood flow. From his good eye, Limere watched color return before reeling at the rapid transition.

  “Hell’s bells, Dalara. Mye wasn’t kidding.”

  “Stay there,” Limere pleaded, raising a hand to hide the agent’s body. “She might siphon and go mad again.”

  “How can you hide her?”

  “Three guesses. The first two don’t count, agent man.” Limere took a cautious breath through his nose before rolling on his side. “Look, I’m not proud of this, but every med I’ve made to encounter her insanity’s failed. One worked great for months, but Chelsea stole it, along with my notes to replicate it.”

  “Well, there went the coke guess.” Travis stepped toward Limere, but kept his weapon on the mage. “And the pot.”

  “You’re not wrong.” Two fingers removed the blood underneath his eye. “Mary Jane works well, unlike the stupid vape stick. Nicotine doesn’t do shit.”

  As he stood, Limere scratched his head, tilting it when Travis glanced at a black watch. He prodded around his cheekbone, then around his eye, making sure pressure relieved itself before standing.

  “Can we go back toward the apartment after taking you to the emergency room?”

  Limere scoffed at the tremor in Travis’s voice. “Ah, I forgot about your distance link. Yeah, you can, I suppose.”

  “You need to go back sometime, Dalara.”

  “As long as I’m forced into training you, no.” The mage mirrored his sister’s thoughtful expression. “You understand a binding spell works until one party’s killed, right?”

  “I thought you termed it siphoning.”

  “Racing terms eases my sister’s mind,” Limere said, snorting in a contemptuous tone. “As you saw, magic’s a complex beast for my family. However, killing your mage is tricky. Without a clear energy signature, we could pursue the wrong one. But you have a different problem, Travis.”

  “What?”

  Limere gestured to the digital watch. “It’s seven forty-five on a Friday night. Do you know where your partner is?”

  For the first time in hours, Limere laughed at Travis’s horrified stare, accompanied by a frosty look. “I would if you hadn’t teleported me.”

 
; “For god’s sake, I know where Sis is going. Our afternoon has been stressful and there’s still twelve hours left on her blood samples. She’s been hankering to drive since the surgeon removed her sling last weekend.”

  “You need a hospital, for fuck’s sake. Your eye leaked blood like the Ebola virus, and your nose gushed like a volcanic eruption.”

  “No hospital can help me, Travis. Already visited a few, and my father’s got the finest technology he can get with a privatized grant. Government bigwigs and their laws about medical care suck. Unless you’re rich, you’re fucked.”

  “Or you’re with the government.”

  “There’s that, but it’s a big middle finger to every citizen of the United States. Our president screwed everyone except humans.” Liquid leaked underneath his injured eye, but Limere wiped away tears instead of thick blood. “Vitreous hemorrhage from neurological trauma. All they’ll do is teach me to elevate my head, since my rap sheet’s too thick to issue drugs. Even my father won’t appeal the judge’s order.”

  The dumbfounded stare prompted Limere to continue as he fished out his box-mod, deflating once he realized his location.

  “I’ve had it all, agent man. MRIs, CT and PET scans, fMRIs, EEGs… the list goes on. She fights through them and things end up worse. The demoness loves causing drama, and I almost ended up in a goddamn psych ward. Raymond collected enough proof to confirm the magic’s destroying me. He’s surprised I’m still kicking, to be honest.”

  “I’m sorry.”

  Ice-blue eyes scrutinized the voltage of the black box mod and grumbled. “Nah, you’re cool. We should find Sis before that collar shrieks to kingdom come. Not good with a chronic headache.”

  “How can Mye think of racing after this afternoon?” Travis demanded, inching toward Limere. “I mean, it’s irrational. I’m under duress, and she wants to go speeding across Charm City while you need medical treatment.”

  “No idea, but Sis processes stressful situations with speed and thrill-chasing activities. Magic isn’t taboo, but not accepted, either.” Limere cracked his knuckles before peering around the deserted park, zoning in on a woman hidden behind a sycamore tree. The darkness shrouded her clothing, but he recognized the bloodshot eyes squinting in his direction.