Black tendrils burst forth in every direction as the ogre bore down. I stood shakily and felt a surge of power as the tendrils slammed into my body.
“Come, beast,” I heard myself say. “Race to your doom.”
I stepped forward as the ogre rushed at me. At the last second, I twisted and executed a single-handed rising diagonal cut to the upper right, going into a descending diagonal cut to the lower left.
The ogre took one more step forward before falling to the ground and dissolving. Energy flooded my body, and I raced to the rummers surrounding Koda. I stopped some distance away and struggled to sheathe the sword.
“Don’t be foolish, mage,” Izanami said as she pushed against me, resisting. “Together we can dispatch these foul creatures.”
“I got this, thanks,” I said through clenched teeth, managing to sheathe the sword and put it back in the pocket. I drew Fatebringer and fired several times, dropping rummers with each shot. “Time to go!”
Koda slashed her way through several rummers as we ran for the Beast. “Where are the ogres?” she asked as we ran.
“Retired,” I said as we rounded the corner of the library and bounded down the steps with the rummers close behind. She got in, and I slid across the hood to jump in the driver’s side. I saw rummers falling down the steps as I started the engine and pulled away.
I raced uptown as my heart beat a machine-gun rhythm in my chest.
“I’ve never seen ogres move that fast.” She sighed as she rested her head back in the seat. “How did you manage all three?”
“Negation rounds—for the win.” I clenched the steering wheel with a white-knuckle grip as the power flowed inside me, and I stepped on the gas.
“Stryder?” Koda’s voice was distant noise as I stepped down harder on the gas pedal. “Stryder!”
She grabbed hold of the wheel and pulled. I felt her tug against me as we avoided the truck that had stopped ahead of us. I stepped on the brakes and we screeched to a halt. I jumped out of the car, the power flowing through me and looking for an outlet. I let it bleed out of me and formed two orbs of black energy.
“Get back in the car,” I said, my voice hoarse with pain. “I can’t hold on to this.”
“What is it?” she said, staying on the far side of the Beast. “What happened to you?”
The howl ripped through my chest as I fell to my knees, releasing the orbs in a wave of pent up energy. The sword materialized in my hand. I swung the blade around me, bleeding off more dark energy. For a few seconds, I felt whole again. Magic coursed through my body, vibrant and alive, a part of me. Then it was gone, along with the sword. Replaced by a void I couldn’t fill.
“Haven—Roxanne,” I managed, before falling face-first into the street and blacking out.
TWENTY-ONE
BRIGHT LIGHTS BLINDED me as I tried to keep my eyes closed against them. I lay in a large restrictive bed. Rancid old coffee flooded my sense of taste—Haven. I saw the bandages on my arms and chest. The rummers must have had a field day.
“I could really use a gallon of Deathwish right now,” I muttered without opening my eyes. “What time is it?”
“You really are quite stubborn.”
I recognized the voice and accent—Mr. Tea and Crumpets. I opened my eyes then and took in the scene.
Roxanne stood to one side of my bed checking my vitals. She held a clipboard and looked like she wanted to crack me upside the head with it. A little further back sat Koda, who stared at me with concern. On the other side sat Mr. Tea and Crumpets.
I looked up at Roxanne accusingly and scowled.
“Don’t you dare give me that look.” She checked the IV in my arm. “You nearly killed yourself tonight.”
“I’m fine.” I tried to sit up and failed. “What did you give me?”
“Something to keep you off your feet for a while.” She pointed at my chest. “You’ll leave when I think you’re ready to leave. Not one second sooner. You fight me on this, and I can guarantee you a world of pain. Do you understand, Grey?”
“I understand that you’re making a big deal out of nothing.” I glanced over at the mage. “And I told you not to call him.”
Roxanne stepped close to the bed and got in my face. The anger came off her in waves. I’d only ever seen her this angry a few times in my life. A troll had managed to get into Haven once and was headed for pediatrics. Roxanne took it down and nearly destroyed the floor in the process. There wasn’t much left of the troll when she was done.
“And I told you not to cast.” She narrowed her eyes at me. “And don’t tell me you didn’t cast. There’s a crater in the middle of 6th Avenue they’re calling a water main break, thanks to you not casting.”
“Excuse me?”
I had no recollection of what she was talking about. It must have showed on my face because she stepped back and gestured to the mage.
“This is what I have to deal with.” She waved a hand at me. “He doesn’t even remember what happened.”
“No, no…” I raised a hand in protest. “I remember.”
“Tell me how you got here, Grey.” She placed the clipboard slowly on the side table. “Did you walk, teleport, fly, or did Koda have to drive you in your infernal car to bring you here?”
I drew a complete blank, but it had to be bad if Koda drove the Beast. I remembered the sword filling me with power, most of it dark, and then falling. I must have said Haven or something close for Koda to bring me here.
“I’m going to go with Koda driving the Beast for four-hundred, Alex.”
“I know you think this is a game,” she said softly, which actually concerned me. “This is bad enough when it’s your life on the line, but now it’s not just your life, is it?”
“Rox, I’m—”
“Koda,” she said, ignoring me. “Come with me. I need to run some tests to make sure there are no residual side-effects from Mr. Stryder’s reckless use of dark magic.”
“Come on, Rox, you’re overreacting.” I pushed up on the bed. “I’m okay. Nothing happened.”
Koda fell in behind her as Roxanne stopped at the door and turned to the mage.
“Tristan, talk some sense into him before I keep him in an extended medically-induced coma.” She glared at me and cut off any response I had. “I think one hundred years would be a good nap. What do you think, Grey?”
They left the room and Tristan Montague stared at me.
TWENTY-TWO
“HELLO, GREY.” HE steepled his fingers as he looked at me. “Where is it?”
I narrowed my eyes at him and saw he had shifted recently. I was older, by about a century, but he could cast. I’d say things were about even if it came to a confrontation. Last time I fought a battle mage, we leveled a city block. In my defense, the battle mage started it—I just finished it.
“Blow up any buildings lately?” I pointed to my duster. “It’s over there, inside pocket.”
He gave a short nod, ignored my comment, and brought my coat to the bed. He was doing the serious, conscientious magic-user routine, and it was aggravating me. He was dressed in his usual suit. What was it with some mages and suits? His hair was all over the place and he looked like a Einstein on a bad hair day.
“Have you ever heard of hair gel?” I motioned around my head. “You don’t even need magic for it to work.”
“When I sent that sword to Hades, I didn’t expect him to give it to a dark mage.” He reached into the pocket and pulled out the sword. “I certainly didn’t expect that dark mage to be you.”
“You sent him that sword?” I couldn’t hide my surprise. “Where did you get it?”
“It’s complicated.” He narrowed his eyes as he held the sword and shook his head. “Bloody hell, you’re practically bonded to it.”
I nodded. “She likes me.” I crossed my hands behind my head. “We may even move in together.”
He drew the black blade, and the red runes along its length pulsed with power. “If this is anythi
ng like Simon’s Ebonsoul, all it needs now is—”
“Blood,” I finished. “It keeps reminding me.”
“It communicates with you?”
“She does, yes.”
“She?”
“Female voice. Goes by the name of Izanami.”
“Izanami?” he said and rubbed his chin—that always annoyed the hell out of me. “The goddess of creation and death?”
“Is there another Izanami?”
“Do you understand the ramifications of this?” He ignored my gibe, using his best professor-lecture-hall voice. “What were you thinking?”
“Are you trying to tell me this is a bad idea?” I answered. “Because we’ve raced past bad idea and entered into full-blown nightmare.”
“Grey, you unleashed an entropic wave in the middle of the city.” He placed the sword down on the bed. “The only thing that saved your partner was that she had the presence of mind to enclose herself in your vehicle.”
“Shit, how bad is it?”
“You heard Roxanne—6th Avenue is a war zone, complete with a huge crater in the center of 42nd Street. What the bloody hell happened?”
“I don’t know.” I shifted in the bed. “Most of it is hazy. I cut down some ogres, fast ones, and it siphoned power into me—a lot of power.”
“More than you could handle,” he said quietly.
He narrowed his eyes at me and I sensed the quiet menace. Then it dawned on me. “You’re here to assess if I’m a threat.” I cocked my head to one side. “You think you can ghost me?”
“I’d rather not have to find out.”
“I have a century on you. Even with your recent shift, I’m not a soft target.”
“You’re older, slower, and can’t cast.”
“Last I checked, you weren’t bulletproof.” I shook my head. “It’s won’t, not can’t. Hubris blinds those who claim to have the keenest sight.”
“The arrogance of age must submit to be taught by youth.”
“Burke. Not bad.”
“Not as bad as quoting yourself.”
“What can I say?” I shrugged. “I’m a legend in my own mind.”
“I’m not here to fight you, Grey,” he said, and I felt the energy around him dissipate. “At least not in this state.”
“Then why are you here, Tristan?”
“You released an incredibly devastating spell in a populated area, while wielding an artifact of unknown power, and you’re a practicing dark mage,” he said with a nod and extra levels of snootiness. “Forgive me if I’m a little concerned.”
I looked down at the sword and noticed that the runic conduits had become darker and more pronounced. They had gone from fine hair-like filaments to thin cords of power that shimmered in the dim light.
“You’re right,” I said, getting out of bed and swaying as the meds made the room tilt. “It’s not like I unleashed a void vortex or anything—twice. That would’ve been really dangerous, right?”
“There were…extenuating circumstances.”
“Aren’t there always?” I shot back. “Let me ask you something, Tristan.”
He nodded. “Of course.”
“If Roxanne were in mortal danger and the only way you could save her was to use dark magic—would you?”
“Yes,” he said without hesitation. “If it was the only way.”
“I hope you never have to make that choice,” I said, my voice grim. “I wasn’t able to save Jade.”
“I know.”
“Then you know I don’t cast—so I’m not a practicing anything anymore. I’m a Night Warden. It’s who I am—it’s what I do.”
“Not according to the Night Wardens.”
“We’re in the process of redefining my job description,” I said. “There’s been a slight miscommunication.”
“Really?” He raised an eyebrow. “It was my impression they want you to retire—permanently.”
“Just a difference of opinion. They think I should be dead and I disagree.”
“What are you going to do?” He stood and pulled on his sleeves. “Are you going to complete the bond?”
“Not if I can help it.”
“And if you can’t?”
“I’ll cross that bridge when I get to it.” Pain was creeping up my face, even with the meds in my system.
“You can’t sever the bond now—not without—”
“Killing myself, I know.”
“If it overpowers you…”
“If I go full dark mage, take-over-the-world mental, I’ll make sure you get the memo.” I got back into bed because the floor was starting to sway again. “You’ll be welcome to try and ghost me then.”
“I apologize if I jumped to conclusions, Grey.” He held out a hand and I took it. “I didn’t mean to imply—”
“Hard to say no to the angry sorceress when she gets going, I know.” The meds were making it hard to focus. “I’m serious, if anything goes wrong, you’ll know. Until then, I have a rummer situation to deal with.”
“I’ve heard,” he said, serious. “Anything Simon and I could do to assist?”
“I’ll give you a call if I need some buildings obliterated.” I grabbed the sword and placed it on the side table next to me. “Other than that it’s better if you stay out of the way—Night Wardens are a touchy bunch, and I already have them pissed off.”
“I’d better get going.” He opened the door. “Take care of yourself, Grey.”
“Try not to blow up my city.” I closed my eyes and felt myself drift.
TWENTY-THREE
“IT WAS AN entropic wave, Grey,” Roxanne said with her arms crossed. “You know, the same kind of thing that’s killing you?”
“And your solution was calling Tristan?” I snapped back, annoyed. “He came here ready to ghost me. Did you know that?”
“I called him.”
I stared at her. “That’s harsh—even for you.”
“If you let yourself become corrupted by a dark blade, I’ll ghost you myself,” she said, her eyes fierce. “He was just in case I needed the assist.”
I stole a glance at the sword. “You’ll have to take a number. How did you know it was a dark blade?”
“Because Hades is going to give you a blade of love and light?” she scoffed. “Grow up, Grey. Hades is the god of the underworld. Everything he does is Dark—capital D. He makes shadows look bright.”
She was right, I should’ve known better. Desperation makes men fools. I wanted to believe in a cure—even if it meant taking a dark blade from Hades.
“Koda?”
“Still alive, with no side effects.” Roxanne looked at her clipboard. “She jumped in that thing you call a car and kept herself safe. How your car resisted the wave is another thing entirely.”
“Runic phase shielding.”
“On a car?” she said in disbelief. “But that would mean you took Ziller’s theorem of quantum interstitial physics and—”
“Put it down, flipped it, and reversed it.” I nodded, gesturing with my hand.
“You can’t do that; it should tear the matter apart and shunt it out of phase.”
“I didn’t—Cecil had Elliott work on the Beast.”
“The entropic wave you and that sword unleashed is still eating a hole in 6th Avenue,” she said. “The Dark Council is bringing in Negomancers to deal with the containment, and they’re going to be asking questions—the kind you don’t want to answer.”
“I need to get out of here before they show up.” I grabbed the rest of my clothes. “They’ll send someone here eventually.”
“That wave could have killed you and Koda, Grey.”
I squinted against the morning sun as she approached with a glass of water and pills. “I know what an entropic wave is, Rox,” I said. “The last one I cast is slowly killing me every day. What is this? No more meds.”
“These will remove the side effects of the meds from last night.” She pushed the glass at me. “Trust me.”
“What are those pills?”
“Pure caffeine, one thousand milligrams—each.”
“This is almost as good as my super Deathwish coffee.”
The raggedness from the meds vanished and my thoughts were clear. I had to make sure Cole kept some of those pills at The Dive to crush my migraines.
“What is it, Rox?”
“The rummers are getting worse,” she said. “NYTF is reporting daylight attacks now.”
“Shit,” I muttered, putting on my shirt. The ink on my arms reacted to the sunlight, making the photoreactive runes on my skin shimmer and fade. “Where?”
“They were reported near Bryant Park.”
“Any normals attacked?”
“None yet, but it’s only a matter of time.”
“Could you send some of those pills to Cole?” I put on my duster. “Where’s Koda? Is she cleared to leave?”
“Pills to Cole—not on your life,” she answered. “Koda, yes, next door. She tested negative for any effects of the entropic wave, but when I tried to get a reading on her energy signature, there was an anomaly.”
“Anomaly?” I knew this was coming. Koda’s energy signature wasn’t going to show up on any equipment.
“I couldn’t get a reading on her.” She frowned. “I may need to recalibrate the equipment. I’ve never seen anything like it.”
“Could be the wave created some interference in the scan.” I grabbed the sword and placed it in my duster pocket. It didn’t jump this time, but I sensed the energy thrum in my hand. “I’ll get Koda. You’ve wasted enough time on me. Get going Rox, I know you’re busy.”
“You and that coat always unnerve me.” Roxanne observed as I put the sword away. “I didn’t think of wave interference. I’ll rerun the scans and factor for residual wave noise. I have to make my rounds. Please be safe out there, Grey.”
Wander-A Night Warden Novel Page 10