by E G Bateman
A loud crack heralded her impact with hard concrete. She swore and hugged her arm, sure from the immense pain that she’d broken it. It was a shock because she’d never broken a bone in her life. An extra-strong bone structure was one of the benefits of being a legacy that she did enjoy.
She didn’t recognize the building she was in but a quick scan revealed it to be the entrance of a parking garage. In search of her quarry, she ran out to the street and searched the throngs of people who bustled past. Her hasty scrutiny revealed nothing, though, and she glanced into the garage in bewilderment. He stood a few feet from where she’d landed.
The fae door she’d arrived through had vanished and another lay behind it. The criminal lurked on the other side of it, stared directly at her, and grinned.
“You sneaky fucker.” She tried to make another energy ball, but she was out of magic. His grin widened before he disappeared.
Lexi stumbled into the street, hugged her arm across her chest, and joined the crowds.
When she reached the intersection, she looked around in bemusement. “Holy shit, I’m in Times Square.”
A woman glanced disapprovingly in her direction but not directly at her, then strode on.
Completely disoriented, she leaned against a wall. Her arm throbbed from the pain and she felt queasy. She reached for her dimensional pocket, but her fingertips met her leather pants. Bewildered, she tried a few times with the same result.
What the fuck?
She looked at her scar and gasped when she saw it was gone. All that was visible was the fine silver line that ran along the inside of her arm, which was how people with no magic saw the unhealing scar. Her heart began to race. “Where’s my magic?”
“Honey, all the magic’s gone from this world. Sadness is all there is.”
Lexi looked at a homeless woman bundled in blankets in the doorway beside her. She made another attempt to access her pocket with her good arm, with the same result.
The impossibilities crowded in and she couldn’t think. “I need to get off the street.”
“So do I, baby, so do I.”
She stumbled past the woman, along the street, and into a coffee shop.
The barista stared at her as she staggered in as though he expected her to be trouble. She wondered if he thought she was drunk or on drugs.
Distracted by everything and a little panicked, she spoke to the barista while she scanned for an empty table. “I…was mugged. I need to call my mage.”
“Your what?”
Lexi grimaced and turned to him. “My…friend.”
He sneered at her. “You have to buy something if you want to sit.”
“Jesus, man.” A guy spoke from a table near the counter. She turned to see he was seated with a young woman. They both looked at her with concern. “She’s been mugged, it looks like she’s hurt, and you want to throw her out? I’ll buy her a coffee, okay?”
She was embarrassed but fortunately, remembered her emergency cash. “Wait, I have money, thanks. I have money.”
Quickly, she turned to the barista and slipped two fingers into her vest. His eyebrows raised but she noticed that he didn’t look away. “A triple-shot extra-large latte.”
It was awkward because the little seam in the vest where she kept a rolled-up twenty-dollar note was more naturally approached with the other hand. Still, she managed to access it and dropped it onto the counter.
He looked at it and rolled his eyes as he flattened it. Seriously, he had begun to get on her nerves. He rang up the sale and gave her the change. “What name?”
She smirked, then grimaced as her arm jostled a little. “I’ll spell it. E-Y-M-A-D.” She paused. “I-C”.
The idiot frowned but wrote on the cup. “That’s unusual.”
“It’s Dutch.” She nodded to the couple and moved to a table in the corner next to the window.
Lexi looked at the pouch. It was empty. She stuffed it into a back pocket and tried to make sense of what had happened.
I can’t see my scar. I have to assume I’ve used all Scott’s magic. Maybe I’ve never exhausted this much magic before. It could have been the energy balls.
She closed her eyes and reached out for her friend but they snapped open when she couldn’t feel him. Now, she began to truly panic and wondered what had happened to him.
Were there more fae but I didn’t see them? Is he dead?
She couldn’t ever not feel him. He was always there and with his absence came real fear.
“I’m a dick. I’m a dick,” shouted the Barista.
“I know you are, but what am I?” The young man and his companion both laughed.
“I’m—” the Barista closed his mouth and looked at the name he was reading out. He glared at Lexi, put the cup on the end of the counter, and walked away to serve a young couple who had walked in.
With a smirk, she collected it and decided she felt a little better. After levering the lid off with her teeth and pouring a mountain of sugar into her latte, she returned to the table and her thoughts. She’d have to call Scott.
“Damn it. My phone’s in that goddamn pocket.”
A man working on his laptop glanced at her. She returned to her thoughts.
The couple at the counter walked to the table next to hers and sat. She looked at them and met the eyes of the young woman, who was thin and pale and looked like a timid, quivering mouse. Lexi glanced quickly at the young man. He didn’t seem to look at her but she felt somehow that he was very aware of her. She knew she must look a sight. Her arm was swelling and wasn’t the color it usually was.
She wondered if she could find a pay phone or borrow a cell to call Dolores. That immediately raised the next problem and she facepalmed. I don’t know anyone’s number. God, could this get any worse?
To calm herself, she drank more coffee, closed her eyes, and took stock of her situation. No money, no cell phone, and barely any weapons. She rocked her head to the left, then the right, and cracked her neck.
Lexi’s eyes snapped open. If I’m no longer connected to Scott or have access to his magic, do I still have his shield? Or can I now be traced by Kindred?
She glanced at the girl again and their eyes met.
She’s Kindred. The idea seemed to come from nowhere, but she knew it to the very core of her. Not only that, she had a good idea who the girl and her partner might be.
Her senses picked up a thrumming excitement in the young man’s body—the telltale sign of anticipation.
He’s here to kill me, but I’m not in any condition to fight. She sighed. There’s one number I know by heart.
Lexi stood, picked her coffee up, and made her way to the couple seated near the counter. She pulled a chair closer with her good arm and sat. “I’m sorry to bother you. I wonder if I could borrow your cell to make a call to my…family?”
If they even remember me. It hadn’t even occurred to her until that moment that her family could have been counseled. She might have been erased from their minds in the same way Bryan had been erased from hers.
“Of course.” The guy put his password in and passed it to her.
She typed the number in, held the cell phone to her ear, and waited for a few seconds.
“Hello?” Hearing the woman’s voice almost made her cry. “Hi, Maggie. Remember me?”
“Lexi? Oh, my God. Lexi? Are you okay? Where are you?” Maggie was crying.
Lexi swallowed. “Can you come and get me?”
“We haven’t been able to find you. Where are you?”
“You’ll be able to find me now.” Lexi closed her eyes. She disconnected and handed the cell to the young man. “Thank you.”
“Do you need money?” the woman asked.
“No, I don’t. They’re not far. They’ll be here soon.”
The buzzer on the door sounded and Lexi looked in as a man entered and made eye contact with the Kindred couple. One of his eyes was white. Eric. Another man entered behind him and remained at the door.
<
br /> She hoped her old unit would arrive in time to help her. Then again, maybe they would help their fellow Kindreds instead.
“Thanks for your help. You’ve been really kind.” She glanced around the room and wondered how many patrons might be injured in the fight that was about to break out. That made it an easy decision to take it away from the couple who had helped her.
Lexi stood and headed to the ladies’ bathroom. Cradling her arm, she turned and bumped the door open with her butt. Inside, she glanced in a mirror and grimaced. She’d never seen herself so pale. Wearily, she walked to the end of the stalls and entered the last one, closed the door behind her, and locked it.
In the few minutes she had, she took stock. She was down to what was in her vest and pants and what she could use. The garotte was out as she didn’t have the mobility to use it. She had two shurikens on her vest, one outside and one inside, and various little blades hidden in seams.
The outer door to the bathroom opened and someone walked in. Her senses told her it was the Kindred girl.
Casually, she unlocked the stall door and stepped out. She looked at the gaunt figure. “I’m sorry. Dolores told me your name but I can’t remember it.”
“Lucy.”
“That’s right, and Warren?” she asked.
Lucy nodded.
Lexi remembered her boss appearing from her dimensional pocket after being attacked by Warren, Scott’s insane Kindred brother. Scott had been intended as the blood match for him but preferred to go on the run on account of Warren being a total psycho.
She smirked. “I bet Warren was furious when Dolores escaped.”
The girl lifted her hand to her cheek. “Yes. He was.”
The smirk faded from her face. She must be going through all kinds of hell.
“Can I ask you a question?” She had no idea how long Maggie would take. If she planned a quick bath before coming to get her, she’d likely find her dead.
Lucy didn’t say anything but she waited.
Lexi turned her arm slowly. “Why can’t I see my scar anymore?”
The girl narrowed her eyes, perhaps suspicious of a trick. “I don’t know. I can’t see anything either.”
“And I can’t feel him.” She heard her voice tremble.
“The link is broken. Maybe—” The door opened again and interrupted her.
“I told you not to talk to her. I told you to simply get it done.”
Lucy jumped in fright at Warren’s voice. “But she said—”
He pushed her back toward the door. “Get out. I’ll do it.”
The girl ran out. Warren thrust his arm at Lexi and she darted to the side and into the cubicle after she released a shuriken which had been hidden between her fingers. The hand dryer exploded off the wall behind where she had stood.
She stuck her head out cautiously, half expecting it to be blown off. Warren pulled the shuriken from his neck. Blood pumped out as he dropped the spiky metal throwing star on the tiled floor, where it landed with a ping. He held his hand up to his neck and stared directly at her as the blood leaking through his fingers stopped.
Slowly and with an exaggerated motion, he drew a sword from his dimensional pocket. Lexi imagined that the long scimitar was supposed to intimidate her, but the sword was so long that drawing it out took several seconds longer than it should have and seemed almost comical.
“That’s a long one.” She chuckled. “Are you compensating?”
Warren’s face settled into a cold mask. “I planned to do this quickly but now, I’ll take my time so I can tell Scott how you begged and cried.”
“Oh, my God. What are you? A Bond villain? Do you get paid by the hour or what?” She tossed another shuriken but he was expecting it. The little star careened away and struck one of the mirrors on the wall beside him.
Her adversary took one step toward her but froze when a bolt drilled through his neck. He writhed as he made choking sounds.
“You still favor the pistol crossbow, then.” Lexi watched as her Kindred brother Isaac stepped out of a cubicle, followed by Maggie. “There’s more of them outside. His name’s—”
“We know who he is,” he interrupted. “The mental fucker keeps turning up looking for you, saying you kidnapped his intended blood match.”
Maggie stared at her. “Where the hell have you been?”
“I have so much to tell you. If it’s worth it. It might not be and they’ll probably simply counsel it out of your head again. I found things out about Kindred. Some really bad th—”
As she spoke, Isaac lifted his pistol crossbow and aimed it in her direction. Her words stuttered to a halt and she stared at it in disbelief.
He made a “come here” gesture with his other hand. “Lexi, move toward me. It’s fine, but come to me.”
“Hi.” Scott’s voice behind her made her shriek and turn.
Isaac loosed a bolt at the sorcerer, who flicked it away where he stood in a fae doorway. He stared at her. “I couldn’t sense you. I thought you were dead.” His voice trembled.
“I completely ran out of the good stuff.” She raised her arm and winced in pain. “I couldn’t sense you either. How did you find me if not through the blood match?”
“A common old locator spell with one of your socks.”
“You’re matched?” Maggie squeaked.
Lexi fixed her gaze on Scott. She’d never been so happy to see him. “This is Scott. Scott, Isaac and Maggie.”
He waved awkwardly. “Hi.”
“You’re matched?” Maggie said again. “So this is Scott.”
“Calm down. We’re matched, not married. Listen, Zac, Mags. It looks like I don’t need that lift now. But we do need to talk. I’ll keep in touch. It was good seeing you.” She caught Scott’s hand, stepped through the fae door, and looked at them from the other side.
Maggie smiled at her, then looked at Warren. “Is he dead?”
Isaac checked him. “It looks like he’s waking up, so he’s not dead yet but could be soon.”
He seemed to think about it before he fired a bolt into the bathroom door to alert those outside that things weren’t going to plan. Then, he took Maggie’s hand. The four of them looked at each other briefly before her Kindred siblings disappeared.
“I’d have let him die,” Scott said bluntly and glowered at Warren, who opened his eyes. When he saw the sorcerer, the man flopped like a fish and stretched toward him.
Scott turned away. “Come on, let’s go.”
Chapter Sixty-Two
Scott and Lexi stepped out of the fae door into the garden of a little cottage.
Dolores was waiting for them. “Was that my old friend Warren?”
“Yes.” Scott nodded. “Should I have killed him?”
“For the good of all mankind, probably.” She patted his arm. “Don’t worry about it for now.”
Lexi looked around. “Where are we?”
“We’re at my place and will return to Boulder City in a moment. We merely need to make sure you’re safe when you’re back in your world.” Her boss turned to Scott. “Okay, do your thing.”
“I’m trying. The magic’s not going into her.” He looked at Lexi’s arm.
She looked at it too. “Can you still see the scar? I can’t.”
His gaze doubled its intensity as he stared at her arm. “I don’t understand. It’s not working.”
Dolores nodded. “Okay. Shield her. We’ll talk about it when we get back.”
He put a hand on her head, then nodded.
Their boss opened her fae door.
Lexi looked over her shoulder before she stepped through. “Why don’t we stay in your cottage?”
“The cleaner hasn’t been in yet,” the fae replied in a deadpan voice.
She narrowed her eyes. “That’s not the real reason, is it?”
“No dear, it’s not.” The woman smiled, then sighed. “There’s a limit to my protection. I already have Betsy and Todd in there.”
“A
ww! I’d have liked to have seen them.” Scott frowned.
“You will, dear.” She patted him on the back.
They walked through to a suburban garden.
Lexi gazed around at a soccer ball and a little pink bike lying outside the door. “Who lives here?”
Dolores opened the door and they entered. It was her little apartment, no longer a fishing shack near the lake.
They sat at the table and the girl retrieved the pouch from her pocket. “He dropped this.”
“What is it?”
She handed the item to her boss. “It’s the pouch the talisman was resting on in the museum. He went back to the museum for it. Should we leave it here for safety?”
The fae felt the material with her fingertips. She turned it inside-out and back, then handed it to her. “I think you should keep it with you and wait. If it’s important enough that he came back for it once, he’ll try again.”
Lexi took it and winced.
Scott shook his head. “Let’s fix your arm.” He turned his chair to face her. She sat while he placed a hand gently on her arm and began to mutter unintelligibly.
After a minute, he looked at her. “You’re all done.”
She flexed her arm. It felt as good as new but when she looked into his face, she saw the concern there. “Yes?”
“Nothing.”
“Say it.” She was getting annoyed.
He frowned. “Your bone density is…different.”
“Scott. I broke my fucking arm for the first time in my life. Do you think I haven’t already figured that much out?”
“Sorry.”
Lexi sighed. “No, I’m sorry. I’m not used to feeling so…” She wanted to say scared but chose not to. “Useless.”
“Okay. Dick freaked out when you went missing. It’s time to get back.” Dolores went to the door. “We’re back at the diner. I can’t get us any closer with the wards.”
She snorted. “Have you tried lately? We know for a fact that someone else is doing it.”
Her boss grasped the handle and opened the door. “The wards are up now. I don’t understand how it’s happening. I’ll have to look into it.”