Defying Magick: an Urban Fantasy Novel (The Witch Blood Chronicles Book 2)

by Debbie Cassidy

  “Carmella, run!” Urvashi screamed.

  My feet acted on instinct, and I was off, running down the street, weaving and bumping into late night revelers. Horns honked and screams lit up in my wake. They were right on my tail. Fuck! The power within me tugged and flared wanting to be free. She wanted to be free, to fight. But I couldn’t let her out, not here, not with all these innocent people about. Someone could get hurt. The yamduth weren’t interested in anyone else, they wanted me. If I could lead them somewhere less populated? Hah, less populated in the center of London? What a joke.

  The neon lights of the club district blinked up ahead. Shit, shit, shit. There was nowhere to go. The dragon within me stretched, ready to burst from my itching skin.

  My heart was beating too fast. I couldn’t control her. Oh god.

  Please, you can’t come out here. Don’t come out. Just help me.

  The power snorted—hot plumes of smoke.

  Please.

  Pain skated across my skin, prickling and stabbing like a thousand needles. There’d be crowds of people up ahead—tourists to the city—innocent humans.

  Stop. It was time to stop.

  I ground to a halt and turned to face the reapers. They slowed their pace, coming to a stop a meter or so away. Both carried silver swords that gleamed in the moonlight. Their eyes glowed eerily from within the shadows that shifted across their faces and swirled around their bodies.

  I crouched, hands raised in a fighting stance. Silver glinted off my skin—my iridescent scales. My armor.

  Thank you.

  The power inside settled over me, rippling over my body, ready to protect the heck out of me. Could their weapons cut through dragon hide?

  They must be thinking the same thing, because they weren’t attacking. Not yet.

  “Come on! If you want me you’re going to have to come and get me.” Damn it mouth, shut the heck up. There were eyes on us, watching the scene. Humans out for a good time were now taking in an impromptu show. Fucking hell, just get on with it already.

  Attack.

  The urge was so strong I had to tense my calves not to comply, and then my fingertips were on fire as they gave birth to wicked sharp talons.

  Oh shit.

  My vision started to blur and a red tinge closed in. No, please don’t take over.

  Attack.

  This time there was no denying the command. I lunged at the yamduth, lashing out with my talons, and swiping away the shadows surrounding them to catch a glint of gold on bronze flesh. A sword arched toward me, and I rolled out of the way, coming up just as the other yamduth sliced with his weapon. Shit. I brought my arm up to shield my face. The sword made contact with a scrape and flash of embers. Fucking hell. Yes!

  “Carmella!”

  Honey and Urvashi ran past the Yamduth to stand by me. Ready to take on the reapers if need be.

  “Come on! What are you waiting for?”

  They didn’t attack though. Instead they began to back away. Scared? No. Just at a loss as to how to kill an asura with impenetrable skin. The shadows around them began to whirl faster and faster. There were going to get away.

  Attack.

  But what was the point? I couldn’t kill them. They were smoke and shadow. We needed more information. How did you kill a reaper?

  “Who sent you? What did you do with the Yaksha souls? Answer me dammit!”

  The shadows condensed, curled up, and winked out. The Yamduth were gone.

  “Oh god.” Urvashi doubled over, hands on her knees.

  “They wanted to kill you,” Honey said. “Why? Why you?”

  “I don’t know.” But I sure as hell was gonna find out.

  9

  The journey back to the flat was … eventful. People snapping photos and taking videos of the freak with scales for skin walking though the town, because no matter how hard I tried I couldn’t get the scales to just go away. I was armored, head to toe. My face … oh, man I didn’t even want to think about it.

  Honey had to leave when we got back—pack business—but Urvashi stayed while we waited for Vritra to show up.

  “How much longer is he going to be?” I paced the room.

  “Well, unless he can teleport, at least thirty minutes. We only called him a quarter of an hour ago.”

  A knock at the door. Urvashi jumped up. “Maybe he can teleport.”

  She answered the door and Banner came spilling into the flat. He stopped short at the sight of me.

  “Oh god. It’s true.”

  I stood hands on hips. “How the heck did you know?”

  “It’s all over the internet. The fight with the Yamduth and then you … changing.”

  “Great, now I’m a celebrity.”

  “The videos have gone viral.”

  “Urgh. Kill me now.”

  “Kinda impossible since you have impenetrable skin,” Urvashi said.

  “Really? You mean they couldn’t hurt you at all?” Banner asked.

  “Yeah.”

  He blew out a breath. “But that’s good, right? Great in fact.”

  “Yep, you can’t see it. but I’m dancing for joy inside.”

  Banner pressed his lips together. “No need to be sarcastic. I nearly had a heart attack when I saw that video and realized it was you.”

  Gah, these scales were making me testy. “I’m sorry.”

  “I don’t understand why they’re after you though? It makes no sense,” Banner said. “I thought this was a hit on the Yaksha.”

  “Yeah, so did I.”

  “Unless …” Urvashi said. “Unless this is a different hit. A new hit. The Yamduth are mercenaries for hire right?”

  “But who would want me dead? I mean why?”

  Urvashi raised her brows. “Seriously? Who did you chuck a pearl at and pretty much tell to go fuck herself? You refused the Daayan job.”

  Banner rubbed a hand over his face. “No, I can’t believe the Mayfair coven would stoop to this.”

  The High Witch had said she was protecting me from the coven’s wrath by cutting off my magick, but maybe my denying the Daayan job had pissed someone off. But wrath didn’t mean kill, right? Because if they killed me they’d lose the only person who could put the Daayan back where she belonged. They were going to need me once they found her. Dead Carmella was a useless Carmella. And yeah, I’d help, because this was bigger than my hurt at being labeled an abomination.

  I shook my head. “No. It’s not the covens. They need me alive to send the Daayan possessing Karen back—once they find her of course.”

  Banner sighed. “They’re working on it.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out the pearl. “The High Witch asked me to give this to you for your protection. As much as you may not like it, the Daayan will most likely come for you. And as hard as the coven is scrambling to trace her, the truth is that you’re the only one who can send her back where she belongs.” He shrugged. “It’s important to the high witches, not only to free Karen, but I get the impression it’s something to do with the balance of power and the skein. But no one in the upper ranks is talking.”

  Of course, he didn’t know the truth. About the bargain the thirteen original witches had made with the demon, or the price they’d paid for it. He didn’t know that the Daayan were the vengeful souls of thirteen innocent women offered in sacrifice to the demon. He didn’t know the Daayan were from the thirteen original witch bloodlines. And as much as I’d like to, I couldn’t tell him. I was bound by a witch’s oath. Even though my connection to the skein was suppressed, my genetics still screamed witch.

  I had no choice but to accept the pearl, really. My anger wasn’t justification enough for innocent people to be hurt by whatever this demon doled out if he didn’t get his Daayan back.

  “If she comes for me, I’ll trap her.”

  Banner nodded. “Good. You know what? The armor skin … It’s beautiful.”

  “Yeah, right.” Thank goodness you couldn’t blush through scales.

&n
bsp; Another knock at the door. This had to be Vritra.

  Urvashi let him in and the room was instantly too small. Banner looked from me to Vritra.

  I smiled to soften my next words. “Thank you for coming over to check on me. I’ll let you know how I get on with the Daayan thing.”

  Banner’s expression shuttered. “If you need help with anything, call me.” He skirted around Vritra and strode out of the door.

  Urvashi gathered her things. “I’m going to get going. Call me later.”

  The door closed behind her, leaving me alone with Vritra. Nervous excitement bubbled up in the pit of my belly.

  “There’s a hit on you,” he said, his voice a low rumble.

  “Yeah, I kinda figured that out.”

  “You’re coming with me.”

  This again? “No. I’m not. I have a life, friends, shit that I need to get done. I am not running and hiding from a bunch of reapers who can’t actually hurt me.”

  “And what if they send someone else? Someone with a weapon that can cut through your armor?”

  Whoa, now that was a worrying thought. “There’s a weapon like that?”

  Vritra sighed. “There’s always something, Miss Hunter, and if someone wants you dead badly enough they will find it. It’s unlikely but not impossible.”

  There was a hit, not denying that, and yeah, Vritra was right. The person who’d hired the yamduth might find a weapon to hurt me. They would most likely come after me again. But fuck ‘em, let them come. I wasn’t running. This flat, my friends—they were my life and I wasn’t letting fear of what might happen take them away from me.

  I place my hands on my hips. “A lot of things could happen. If I worried about all the possibilities I may as well lock myself in a steel box and never come out.”

  Vritra sighed. “Stubborn woman.”

  “Overbearing man.”

  We faced off casually, because, you know, I was tired and stuff. “So, can you do your thing and make these go away?”

  He was studying me carefully. “Do they cover you under your clothes?”

  I swallowed. “Yes.”

  “Beautiful.” The word was a soft exhale.

  Oh, man. Was it hot in here? “Look, just get rid of them. Please.”

  “You’ve tried to communicate with the power?”

  Doh. “Of course I have. Do you think I would have called you all the way across town if I could do this myself?”

  He shrugged off his jacket, unbuttoned the cuffs on his shirt, and rolled them up to expose his bronzed forearms. “Women do a lot of strange things to get me alone.”

  I rolled my eyes. “Arrogant much?”

  “Incompetent much?”

  That stung. “You know this isn’t my fucking fault.”

  “Well you got the power to protect you, so you can communicate with it and get it to comply. Question is, why are you failing at retracting the dragon skin? You asked and the power ignored you. Why is that?”

  “I don’t bloody know. Because it hates me? It’s playing games.”

  “Your dragon doesn’t play games when it comes to your survival, Miss Hunter. Your survival means its survival. So try again. It complied with your cry for help, so why isn’t it complying with you now?”

  “I. Don’t. Know.”

  “How does it make you feel? The dragon skin?”

  Like a freak, a monster … no, those were projections of what others may think. Think Carmella. I’d almost been killed and the armor had saved me. Saved me … It made me feel safe and protected. Oh god.

  I met Vritra’s gaze. “Lack of conviction. It knows I still need it. It knows I still need to feel safe.”

  Vritra smiled. “Your asura power and dragon are connected, and when you are in sync with them they will give you what you need, even when you don’t consciously realize it.”

  “I’m in sync?”

  His lips twitched. “For now. It’s a positive step. Now the threat has been averted.”

  “But they’re still out there. They want to kill me.”

  “Yes. But for now you’re safe.” He took a step toward me, and then another.

  The dragon inside lurched in his direction. Tendrils of his power snaked around me, cocooning me in an ethereal embrace.

  “You’re safe now, Miss Hunter.” His voice was a low vibration.

  Yes. Yes, I was safe. I exhaled, letting go of the tension that had my muscles in knots. My knees wobbled and then gave way. Vritra caught me neatly and lowered me onto the sofa. He crouched in front of me, his huge frame dwarfing mine. He could crush me with that body. Cover me completely.

  “Look.” He ran a finger down my arm—my totally non-scaly arm. “All better.”

  I raised my gaze to look into his face. This close, his eyes were mesmerizing molten orbs. His thick dark lashes twitched as he scanned my face before locking gazes with me. His power was still surrounding me, cradling me, but then the sensation changed into something else, something akin to a caress up and down my back. Fingers of power slid into my hair and massaged my scalp. Oh, wow. A low moan escaped my lips and my head fell back, exposing my throat. His body shifted closer, and his heat pressed against me. I wanted to curl into him, press against him and become one.

  My mobile buzzed across the coffee table. Whoa, what the heck was I thinking? I jerked back and Vritra sighed.

  “You insist on fighting this.”

  “This?”

  “The attraction between us.”

  Oh god. I was still throbbing from the head massage. “There is no attraction.”

  He reached out and cupped my cheek. I couldn’t breathe, couldn’t move. I wanted to shrug him off, but no, actually I didn’t. I wanted to nuzzle his hand. Dammit. What was wrong with me? The man was overbearing, and just too cosmic. Being around him made my chest ache with equal parts longing and anxiety. And then he ran his thumb over my bottom lip and my tongue flicked out to taste him. My ears heated. I’d licked him. What the heck?

  His eyes lit up, and a slow smile curled his lips.

  He released me and stood, towering over me. “Sleep well, Miss Hunter. I’ll see you tomorrow evening for a little one-on-one.” He strode to the door and let himself out.

  The tension thrumming in the room immediately dissipated, and I slumped back onto the bed.

  Something was happening inside me—strange and new and powerful. It was more than the asura power, more than the dragon. It was an awakening, and it knew what it wanted … I just … I wasn’t there yet.

  _____

  Murdoch looked up at me from behind his Clark Kent spectacles. “You didn’t get the interviews?”

  “No. Sorry. It got late and the yaksha were getting antsy.”

  His gaze narrowed. “And this had nothing to do with your new ability, right?”

  Urgh, of course he’d seen the viral video. I grabbed the nearest chair, pulled it up, and sat down. “Look, it won’t happen again. I have it under control now.” Or would after a few training sessions.

  Murdoch shrugged. “You’re not the only one with hidden talents in this place, Hunter. We all have our crosses to bear. Don’t beat yourself up about it. And if we’re going to work together on this case you need to be honest with me.”

  “Okay, I can do that.”

  “Who were the Yamduth after in that video? It looked like they were gunning for you.”

  I swallowed. “Yeah, they were.”

  “Any idea why? Pissed off any influential dangerous people lately?”

  “No one that would want me dead.”

  “Are you sure?”

  The witches needed me alive. “Yes.”

  He tapped his pen on the desk. “Okay. I’ll speak to warrants and get them to draw up papers to bring the new alphas in for questioning ASAP. We can split the interviews then knock heads on what we find.”

  “Sounds like a plan.”

  “We need to figure out if these attacks are related. Right now it seems unlikely. If the hit w
as related to taking over the reins in the packs, then it’s very unlikely that the second hit against you has anything to do with that. You’re not safe, Hunter. We need to get a detail on you.”

  As lovely as the extra protection sounded, I knew how stretched we were when it came to boots on the ground. A detail cost manpower. Manpower we didn’t have. “I’m fine. They can’t hurt me.”

  “Ah, yes, your armored skin. Pretty impressive. Still, I’d feel better if we had some operatives looking out for you. I’ll see what I can do about getting some assigned to your case.”

  “I’m a case now?”

  “Yeah. You landed on my desk this morning.”

  “I’m your case?”

  He shrugged. “I guess they figured since we were working together already on one Yamduth attack case, we may as well take the other one too.”

  “Well, I have no leads. No idea who’d want me dead.”

  “Leave that to me.” He grabbed a notepad and pen and slid them across the desk to me.

  “What’s this for?”

  “Make a list of all your close friends, relatives, and anyone you’ve had an altercation with in the last two months.”

  “Why two months?”

  “Because most people don’t wait more than eight weeks to exact revenge, not unless they’re a psychopath playing the long game, and if that’s the case then we’re dealing with a whole new ball game.”

  Great. “I get why you need names of people I’ve had issues with, but friends and family? What’s that about?”

  He gave me an indulgent smile. “Oh Hunter, you reveal your naivety. Don’t tell me, you look for the best in people right? See the smile and take it at face value?”

  “Well … um, yeah.”

  His smile dropped. And his expression hardened. “Well I don’t. I search for the dirt. Burrow until I find the juicy rotten center of a person—the real person beneath the mask. That’s where the truth lies. Not in the platitudes and pretty smiles. You’ll be surprised how many cases were solved by looking inside a victim’s friend circle and not outside. The people that know us best are usually the ones that can hurt us the most effectively.”

  Well that explained his hundred percent success rate. “Well that attitude may work for you, but I prefer not to look at my friends with suspicion. They’re my family. My tribe. I’d trust them with my life.”