Duo (Stone Mage Saga Book 2)

by Raven Whitney

  I shut my trap.

  “Now eat your burger, change your clothes, and we'll get back to work. There's a few hours left until sunset.” With that, she stood and went back to the car for a plastic grocery store bag. She threw it to me and walked to the cliff's edge, staring out at the sea.

  “Snippy, snippy,” Lexie said.

  Huffing out a breath, I dug into my burger.

  After I'd wolfed it down in record time, my body started to feel much better. The aching in my bones was ebbing and my muscles had stopped their screaming. Cautiously, I sat up. When I felt no pain, I stood and went around to the other side of the car to change out of my itchy, sea salt and sand crusted clothes. It was wonderful to feel the soft fabric against my skin, but I would still need a shower soon to clean the residue of salt and fine sand off my skin.

  I came back out a moment later to see Lexie talking with Grandma in the middle of the field. As soon as Grandma saw me, she pulled a white orb from her jacket and slammed it into Lexie's chest. A thick, grayish-white goo wrapped around her torso. Grandma then flung her hand out, casting a rope of the same material to wrap itself around a tree branch that extended beyond the cliff.

  Like she was on a winch, Lexie was jerked across the fifty foot distance to dangle over the cliff's edge. She shrieked and thrashed against the stringy material until she realized where she'd ended up. She went perfectly still.

  “Th-there's a shark down there! Get me down from here!” Even from this distance, it was clear that her body was quivering just as much as her voice.

  I ran to help her, but Grandma stepped in my path.

  She bent down to pick up her pole again. “Lexie will fall another few feet for every minute that you don't defeat me and for every blow you take.”

  “Are you insane? Get her down!” When I tried to go around her, she whacked me on the chest with the pole, sending me onto my ass.

  Lexie yelped. She now swung a few feet lower than she was a moment ago.

  “I told you that if you want to save her, you have to get through me first.” She swung her pole down, intending to hit me on the top of my head.

  I rolled to the side, managing to dodge her. Once I got to my feet, we circled each other.

  “What are you waiting for? Attack!” Grandma swung for my knees from the side.

  I jumped back just in the knick of time and snatched the end of the pole. I pulled as hard as I could, putting my whole body weight into it, but it wasn't enough to pry it from her hands.

  She jabbed the pole forward, nailing me right in the diaphragm and pushing me back onto the ground.

  Lexie screamed again. Her blonde head was just visible above the edge now.

  “Always pay attention to the person trying to kill you!” Grandma kicked me in the side. She may not have been actually trying to kill me, but damn it felt like it.

  I swung my weight up into my chest, flinging my foot up and right into her boob. She backed away quickly and brought one of her hands to cradle her chest. Using her distraction to my advantage, I got up and jerked the pole from her hands.

  “Fighting dirty, are we? That's good for a scrappy underdog like you, but….” She opened her jacket and palmed a few of the orbs in her hands. “What you need to do is USE— YOUR— POWER!” She punctuated her words by throwing three orbs.

  The first was a fireball, which I ducked under. A second later, when it exploded behind me, it sent a blob of flaming slime to my leg.

  I jumped away and tried to scrape it off with the pole when the second volley hit. I fell onto my back to evade the white orb and rolled to extinguish the last of the flames that were trying to creep up my pants.

  The final was green and she beaned me right in the face with it. From where it hit, vines erupted and twined around my entire body.

  I couldn't even twitch my finger.

  Lexie screamed. I couldn't look for her, but I knew that there was still another thirty feet or so until she hit the water. Probably.

  The vines lifted me up to face Grandma.

  Instead of looking smug in her victory, she only seemed more angry. “Well, dearie, now that you're trussed up like a Christmas goose, you've only got one option if you want to save Lexie: your bloody magic!”

  I tried to wiggle loose, but the vines were like a Chinese finger trap, tightening every time I moved. Lexie was calling for me. I had to get out of here.

  This whole mess was all Grandma's fault! I'd never seen her so crazy or so mean as she had been today. I was mostly sure that she wouldn't actually feed Lexie to a shark, but with the way she was acting today, I couldn't be a hundred percent certain and Lexie needed that. She needed me.

  My palms started to get hot— really hot. I squeezed my eyes shut and fanned those flames. I had to get out of here and the only way I knew I could get out was to burn the vines away. I'd set a wendigo on fire. Surely, I could burn some stupid plants.

  “That's great! Keep it up and maybe you'll be able to get to her in time.” Grandma called out by way of twisted encouragement.

  That heat spread all around me like a cocoon until it vanished and I hit the ground.

  I opened my eyes to see a burning pile of greenery in front of me, but I didn't have time to think. I grabbed the pole and dashed to the tree whose branch Lexie was suspended from.

  Lexie was about eight feet below the edge, too far for me to give her the end of the pole.

  “Now what are you going to do?” Grandma asked, her hands crossed over her chest as she watched me.

  “What are you going to do? You said you'd get her down from there if I beat you!”

  “No, I didn't and you didn't defeat me. Figure out how to use your magic to save her.”

  Right before my eyes, she dropped another four feet. The rope of white stuff was out of my reach, so I couldn't pull her in. I could try to climb the tree and pull her up, but that branch was already supporting all of Lexie's weight and didn't look like it'd take mine as well. Burning the rope would send her falling to her re-death.

  If I could reach that rope, I could pull her up. She was a featherweight. If I sent a current of air up from underneath her, she could probably just float back to the solid earth. I tried to gently “push” the air under her. She came up just a little bit before dropping back down another four feet.

  I pushed more firmly and this time lifted her about a foot.

  Maybe she wasn't as light as I thought. I pushed hard and got her about halfway up.

  “That's it.” Grandma sounded genuinely encouraging this time. “You've almost got her!”

  I didn't want to send her flying off into the ether, but I wasn't getting anywhere with this gentle nudging. What's the worst that could happen? She was already dead. So I shoved as hard as I could.

  In a whoosh, she came flying past me over the edge, but in my surprise, I couldn't grab her in time. So she fell back down and bounced like she was on a bungee cord.

  I readied myself and pushed at her again, this time adding a little bit of an angle to push her to me rather than straight up.

  The blast of air hit me right in the face and instinct clamped my eyes closed. A hard knock slammed me into the ground.

  “Ouch.” Lexie grumbled.

  “Oh, thank God!” I flung my arms around her head where it'd landed on my stomach.

  She flopped to the side, landing face-first in the grass. “My head hurts now.”

  I laughed. “Your head hurts? At least you had something soft and squishy to land on!”

  Still wrapped up, she pressed her head against my arm. “You so rock.”

  Grinning, I said, “I know.” And, at least for a moment, I really felt it.

  Grandma came up from behind Lexie with a knife and cut away the rope. Lexie stood and pulled me up.

  Grandma put her hand on Lexie's shoulder. “You do know that I wasn't actually going to drop you off a cliff?”

  “No, I did not!”

  “Oh ye of little faith!” Grandma clasped her
hands to her chest, feigning offense.

  “You pushed Constance off!”

  She shrugged. “I had full confidence at the time that her survival instinct would kick in and save her. Turns out, she cares more for you than for herself.” She laughed a little. “It's a touching sentiment, but a little misguided. If she dies, you die, so saving herself would have been saving both of you. But it's a hard new reality to get ingrained into your minds. You'll get used to it in time.” She seemed to think about that for a second. “Hopefully not too long, though. You don't have a whole lot of it before your asses are on the line again.”

  Grandma sauntered off to collect the cubes. “Come on, girls. Grab a bag and let's move out. We're going to your favorite ice cream parlor for dinner! I'm starving.”

  Lexie and I froze.

  “Um, are you sure that's a good idea, Grandma?”

  She looked back over her shoulder and laughed lightly. “Having a sit-down dinner, yes. But we're getting takeout. I am having a crazy craving for one of their strawberry milkshakes. Next to you girls and Winnie, it's what I missed most while I was in Wales.”

  I looked over to Lexie, who shrugged back at me.

  It took some feng-shui to get all the bags back inside now that there was a big box. A big box that had a very big eyeball in it….

  “Girls!” Grandma yelled from across the field. “Get down!”

  6

  We dropped to the ground without thinking.

  The second we hit the gravel, a loud, electronic-sounding treble vibrated through the air. At once, the atmosphere became prickly and it felt like I couldn't breathe. Air went into and out of my lungs, but my cells still felt somehow starved.

  Lexie and I scrambled to our feet. Grandma stood in a defensive posture on the other side of the field with an elongated dagger in her hands, looking around almost desperately.

  “Come along quietly and nobody gets hurt,” a man's voice warned. From out of nowhere, a man appeared in the center of the field.

  The man had a golden skin tone and a tall, wiry frame dressed in Bermuda shorts and a Hawaiian shirt. His long, jet black hair was pulled back into a queue that reached his lower back. He stood looking for all the world like a beach bum, with a slouch in his back and his hands in his pockets.

  His almond-shaped eyes were fixed on me.

  “Come on,” he repeated, a note of irritation in his voice. “I don't have all day.”

  I shook my head. Grandma was slowly creeping up behind him. I had to keep his eyes on me.

  He let out an aggrieved sigh. “The waves are calling, Stone Mage. Final warning.”

  “Not on your life!” Grandma yelled, charging him the rest of the way.

  She attacked him from behind, slashing… into nothing. Because he was suddenly standing in the middle of the field, looking at her now.

  “Seriously, lady?” he asked, cocky. “You don't know who you're messing with.”

  “No, but I know what.” She reached into her jacket.

  “Did you miss the null bomb I threw just now? That was grade-A shit. You can't even use your genus.” He shrugged. It was a lazy movement of arrogance. “Do yourself a favor and walk away.”

  Grandma grinned as she pulled out an orb full of a pale yellow liquid and threw it at him. He stood perfectly still, allowing the orb to smash against his chest.

  He shrieked and began to wipe frantically at his shirt. He ripped it off and threw it aside. His bare chest revealed a deep, fresh burn that let off wisps of smoke.

  The man snarled at Grandma, revealing a set of long white fangs. “I really liked that shirt, bitch.”

  “You did the world a favor in shredding it.” Grandma held her blade tightly, braced for his counter-attack.

  “Foxglove oil is a low blow.”

  “But not magical,” she chirped with an acidic cheer.

  “I was gonna let you go,” he drew a pair of four-sided daggers from his pockets. “Now I'm gonna to cut you into chum for the sharks.”

  He teleported behind Grandma, who ducked just in time and back-kicked him in the stomach.

  Whirling around with her blade in hand, she slashed downward to where he was stood hunched over.

  He teleported out of the way just in time to perch atop a big tree branch above and behind her. From his back pocket, he whipped out a small tube.

  “Behind you!” I shouted.

  Grandma couldn't dodge him in time. He shot her with a pink-feathered dart in the back of her neck.

  She jerked it out as quickly as she could, taking a small chunk of flesh with it, and threw it aside.

  “Too late,” the man taunted with a snide grin on his fangy face.

  Lexie opened the hatch of the Jeep back up and ripped one of the bags open. She had the right idea.

  Following suit, I opened another bag that was full of colorful little spheres. “Come on!” I called to Lexie. We were going to take the fight to him.

  Each taking a handle of the heavy bag, we ran across the field. As we got close, we grabbed them by the fistful and flung them at him.

  He didn't budge. The ones that hit him did nothing— just fizzled impotently.

  “Did you not hear the words 'null bomb' or are you really that stupid?” he asked, no teasing. He was honestly asking us if we were stupid, the pompous jackass.

  “Hers worked,” Lexie snapped, slinging another volley.

  “That was oil, not a potion,” he laughed. “Those are potions.”

  “Shit,” I said under my breath.

  Behind us, Grandma dropped to one knee, clutching her neck. “Get to the car and go. He can't teleport a whole car.”

  “And how do you know that?” he asked like a taunting bully on a playground.

  “Because I know the only vampires that old and powerful.” Grandma's words were starting to slur and she struggled to stand on her quivering legs.

  “We're not leaving you,” Lexie promised, dropping the bag and running over to support her.

  I took the sword from Grandma's limp hand and stared him down.

  He teleported to the ground a few feet in front of me. “Just put the blade down and let's go. I get grouchy when I'm thirsty.”

  “And we won't like you when you're angry?” I asked, returning the sarcasm.

  “When I get pissed, I don't smash things.” His voice dropped, almost hissing. He brought those two knives in his hands up and tensed. “I slice them.”

  My cheeks stung and I felt the familiar tickle of blood dripping down my skin.

  Something hot and wet slowly ran across my right cheek. He whispered in my ear, “I play with my dinner.”

  Two more sets of stinging lines slipped up the sides of my waist.

  He reappeared in the same place in front of me and made an exaggerated show of licking the dark red smear from his lips.

  “Ew,” Lexie cried out.

  “Do you know how delicious mage blood is?” he smiled and for a moment, he looked like a viper. “Chock full of magic. It's my favorite.”

  “That's disgusting,” Lexie yelled at him.

  “Don't you worry your pretty little head,” he crooned to her as if she were a puppy. “Dead blood tastes like ashes.”

  “Keep Grandma back,” I called to her.

  “Touching,” he teased. Suddenly, he wasn't in front of me anymore. Two cuts, deeper this time, sliced into my outer thighs.

  I stabbed backwards into air.

  He stood laughing in front of me and dragged one of his daggers along his tongue. “I don't think Master will mind if I take a bite before bringing you to him.”

  I gripped the hilt tighter and prepared for the next strike. This time, I'd stab him right in the neck.

  He eyed me like a toy as he savored the taste of my blood. His eyes turned upward, tracking something moving through the air.

  “Shit,” he swore.

  I wanted to turn to look, but didn't want to take my eyes off him. For all the good it did me.

  �
��Run!” a familiar voice shouted. I couldn't help but turn my head to see Liam, my friend from the pits, flying right at us like he was skating on air.

  When he got closer, his trajectory dropped to the ground like a rock, but he landed on his feet with a practiced grace.

  “Null bomb,” he stated with irritation on his handsome face.

  The relief that washed over me when I saw him was strong enough that my knees almost buckled. I thought for sure we were goners this time.

  Liam strode past me, with all the confidence and aggression of a lion.

  He stood in front of me. “Go back to your friends,” he said with his faint British accent, keeping his eyes fixed on the mystery man.

  I heeded his warning and backed up to where Lexie stood holding Grandma, who was completely unconscious now. I wrapped an arm around her waist to help Lexie.

  “We need to get back to the car,” she whispered.

  I nodded in agreement and we started to back away as quickly as we could without attracting too much attention.

  “Liam Burnett,” the man said by way of greeting. “It's been what, twenty years?”

  “Since you left the Pax.”

  “I wish I could say it's good to see you, but it isn't.”

  “Same here, Toshiro, you sodding thief.” Liam pulled a longsword out of the tattoo on his right forearm.

  Lexie made an awed sound as we set Grandma down in the back of the car.

  The vampire, Toshiro, vanished again.

  He reappeared behind Liam at the same time as he thrust his sword back into Toshiro's stomach, the tip of Liam's sword just peeking out from his ribs.

  He dropped both of his knives and clutched his stomach.

  Liam pulled his sword out and swung for Toshiro's neck just before the disappeared again.

  He reappeared a distance away from Liam. He was on one knee, keeping one arm braced over the gushing wound and the other propping him upright.

  “I see your time on the other side has made you no less predictable.”