the huntress 04 - eternal magic

by Hall, Linsey

  The bodies of the fallen demons had all disappeared, so it was too late to check them for transportation charms. At least we had two and the one from Corin. Enough to get us back and then some.

  Aidan bent and picked up the dampening cuff I’d discarded. He handed it to me. “This might come in handy now. Maybe dampen some of your power so you can control it.”

  I smiled and put it on. Calm descended over me as it diminished some of the crazy-strong power ricocheting around inside me. Hopefully with this thing, I could perform something closer to normal magic. The kind that didn’t come with a sonic boom.

  “I think it works,” I said. Until I learned to control the strength of my new power, it’d be better if I was at a slightly lower intensity.

  “Back to Magic’s Bend?” I asked. “We’ve got a rescue mission to pull off.”

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  We arrived back in Magic’s Bend a few moments later. Because of the time change, it was early evening, the hour when the light turns to dark. I hadn’t been able to tell precisely where my deirfiúr were from so far away, so we’d transported to my living room.

  Connor held up his empty bag. “I’m running to my workshop. I need to refill my potion bombs.”

  “Get something that’ll work as a mask,” I said. “If that building isn’t empty, we don’t want to be recognized.”

  He nodded. “Good idea.”

  “Grab one for me,” Claire said.

  “And meet us at my car.” I shrugged out of the coat Aidan had loaned me and said, “Let me grab a jacket and masks. Help yourself to anything. I’ll be out in a sec and we’ll go.”

  Not that there’d be much in my fridge or pantry, but they were probably starving. It’d been ages since we’d eaten.

  I hurried into my room and grabbed the first jacket I saw. It was draped over the bed, a discard from earlier. As I tugged it on, my golden dampener cuff glinted on my wrist.

  I scavenged in my dresser for a couple old ski hats. I found two black ones—very robber-chic—and pulled them out. There was a pair of scissors lying on my dresser, and I used them to cut eye holes.

  I returned to the living room to find Claire and Aidan eating granola bars and chugging soda. Claire tossed me one, and I tore into it, shoving a bite into my mouth before mumbling, “Ready?”

  “Let’s get them,” Claire said.

  I grabbed my keys on the way out, and we hurried down the stairs, polishing off our impromptu dinner. I ate because it was probably a good idea, not because I was hungry. But I was so rocky with worry that it was hard to swallow.

  When we stepped out into the dark night, a drizzly rain chilled the air. Connor jogged up the sidewalk to join us, carefully cradling the messenger bag that now bulged with his ammo.

  I closed my eyes and called on my dragon sense. It pinged with recognition, that familiar tug pulling me down the street and toward the center of town.

  “The business district?” I said. That was the last place I’d expected.

  “What the hell are they doing there?” Connor asked.

  “It’d be quiet this time of night,” Aidan said. “And it’s a weekend, I believe. Not a bad place for a secret meeting.”

  “Let’s go.” I crossed the street toward Cecelia.

  We hopped in, Aidan next to me and Connor and Claire in the back. I said a little prayer as the engine coughed and sputtered, but it turned over.

  Thank magic.

  I drove like a maniac through town, keeping my eyes out for cops and pedestrians. Fate favored us tonight, and no cops pulled us over.

  When we neared the business district, I nodded to a tall gray building in front of us. “It’s that one.”

  “Take the next turn,” Aidan said. “There’s an overflow lot where people park for O’Connel’s, a local bar. We can park there so he won’t see us coming.”

  I nodded, my gaze caught by the many windows that were blacked out like dead eyes. The building was mostly empty, but I didn’t want Victor to be looking out a window and see us come in.

  And if we were going to be breaking and entering, it’d be better if Cecelia wasn’t sitting right outside like a beacon.

  I pulled into the lot, which was appropriately dark, and turned the car off. I pocketed the keys and sucked in a deep breath.

  Aidan squeezed my leg and said, “We’ll get them, Cass.”

  I gave him a small smile, the most I was capable of right now, but I appreciated the gesture.

  “Yeah,” I said. “We will.”

  “So weird they’re in there, though,” Connor said. “Evil masterminds hiding out somewhere boring like the business district?”

  “Not that weird, actually,” Claire joked. “Ask anyone where the bad guys are hiding during a recession.”

  I laughed, but it was an awkward, nervous sound. I’d take a snake-filled, demon-infested temple any day over this kind of terror.

  Before getting out of the car, I turned around to look at my companions. “Okay, I’ll lead. We move quickly and quietly.”

  “And shoot to kill,” Aidan said.

  “Happy to,” Claire answered.

  “Delighted,” Connor added.

  I handed a ski mask to Aidan and pulled mine over my head, adjusting it so I could see out the eye holes. It was itchy and awkward.

  “I feel like a low-rent robber,” I said.

  “You look like one, too,” Claire said.

  I grinned at her. She’d pulled hers on as well. None of us looked good, but it didn’t matter. I didn’t want to be recognized by the security cameras. That’d be a one-way trip to the Prison for Magical Miscreants. I’d only used my powers in Magic’s Bend a couple times in the past because I was so afraid of revealing myself to the Order of the Magica. Having security footage of my face breaking into this building—where I’d also be breaking out the magic—would be really bad. Aidan could only shift into animals, which was too bad. If he could shapeshift into another human, I could mirror that and avoid this damned mask.

  Silently, we climbed out of the car and slipped through the shadows to the alley. It was quiet and dark back here. No one bothered to come to this part of town at this hour. Like Connor had said, it was boring.

  The alley fed out to a small street that lined the back of our target building. It was one way, and there were no cars, thankfully.

  Connor pointed to the heavy metal back entrance and the camera above it. “Let me freeze that security camera first.”

  “Good idea.”

  Connor raced across the street and melted into the shadows at the edge of the building, careful to stay out of range of the camera. When he was about a dozen feet away, he reached into his bag and pulled out a round bottle. With expert skill, he chucked the bomb at the camera.

  It shattered over the camera, and a sparkly silver fluid spread over it. Connor gestured for us to cross.

  “It’ll look like static to the security guard,” Connor said when we joined him.

  “Thanks,” I said.

  We approached the heavy metal door. It was some kind of service entrance, which was perfect for our needs. There shouldn’t be a security guard on the other side—just at the front to check people in and out.

  “Do we need the penatrist charms?” I whispered.

  “I can handle it.” Aidan pulled his spell stripper out of his pocket and ran the small silver charm around the edges of the door. Once again, I was grateful that he was only mostly a good guy.

  Good where it counted, at least, which was always on my side.

  The prickly feeling of the protective spell that guarded the door faded, and Aidan put the spell stripper back into his pocket.

  I grabbed his hand before he could turn the handle and said, “If we’re outnumbered, you guys need to run for it.”

  “No way,” Claire said.

  “I mean it. If any of us get caught, someone has to stay free to rescue them. I’m not saying ditch entirely, but pick your battles.”

&nbs
p; “Don’t be so negative,” Connor said. “We can do this.”

  “Yeah.” But I didn’t have a good feeling about any of it.

  I nodded at Aidan, who turned the handle and entered on silent feet, then held it open for the rest of us.

  We slipped into the building like thieves. I wasn’t used to breaking and entering into anything modern.

  “I prefer tombs. This modern B&E makes me nervous.” I hoped that was all it was, not some sense of foreboding.

  I led us down the dimly-lit hall. Our footsteps were silent on the industrial grade carpet. It didn’t take long to find a set of stairs, and we began the climb.

  “They’re near the top,” I whispered back to my friends.

  My dragon sense tugged hard at the fifteenth floor. I was gasping by the time I pushed open the door, not used to the climbing. As soon as we’d all made it out of the stairwell, a security guard turned into our hall. His eyes widened when he saw us, and my heart jumped into my throat.

  “Duck!” Connor whispered.

  I crouched low, and Connor threw a potion bomb over my head. It exploded on the man’s chest. Surprise flashed in his eyes before they rolled back in his head, and he tumbled like an oak tree onto his back.

  “Sleeping potion,” Connor whispered. “He’ll be out for a few hours.”

  “Good choice.” I’d seen Connor’s potion bombs do some nasty things, and I was grateful he’d gone with something more benign. No reason to kill a guy just doing his job, as long as he didn’t work for Victor Orriodor.

  Sure, I wanted to commit murder. But only Victor. Everyone else was in the way, but I didn’t want them to get hurt unless it was the only way to save Del or Nix. The fact that I’d throw anyone under the bus for my deirfiúr was bloodthirsty, but it was the truth.

  I gestured to my friends, and we continued down the hall, our footsteps light. My heart pounded in my ears as we neared Nix and Del. They had to be alive because my dragon sense picked them up, but that didn’t guarantee they were unharmed.

  The scent of rot rolled toward us down the hall, and the now-familiar feel of bee stings on my skin made my muscles tense.

  Victor. His awful magic was so distinct that there was no mistaking him. I picked up on another scent, too, a sickly sweet aroma. Disgusting. I gagged. There was also the feeling of sweaty palms, which was one of the worst magical signatures I’d ever felt.

  I shook off the gross feeling and crept forward. But I bounced off an invisible wall, my nose hurting like hell.

  “Barrier,” I whispered. It was strong magic, too. I turned to Aidan and held out a hand. He passed me a penatrist charm and kept one for himself.

  We slipped through, then handed them back to Connor and Claire. They came through, then each handed a penatrist charm to Aidan and me. I shoved mine into my pocked and crept down the hall on silent feet, my friends at my back.

  We had to be close if there was a special barrier here.

  The sound of low voices drifted down the hall. I halted right before a massive glass wall that probably led into an office, and everyone else stopped behind.

  We were near the corner of the building, so perhaps there was a big office here. I peeked through the glass, trying to keep as much of me hidden behind the wall as possible.

  Within, Nix and Del slumped on a couch, passed out and wearing collars of some sort. Slave collars that would bind them to Victor, perhaps, or magic-dampening collars.

  The bastard himself lounged in a chair in front of a massive desk. The figure behind the desk looked vaguely familiar. A large man with heavy jowls, he looked about sixty. His piercing blue eyes were cold and dead. The sickly sweet smell came from him. The sweaty hands feeling, too.

  Magica.

  It hit me then. This bulldog of a man had been walking on the stage at the Nullifier’s memorial. He was from the Order.

  So, Victor really was working with the Order. Or at least, one of them.

  I strained to hear what they were saying through the glass.

  “I can get the other,” Victor said. “We can still make this work.”

  I had to be the other. But make what work?

  “I put my faith in you, Victor,” the bulldog grumbled. “And it’s taking longer than promised. How can I trust that you’ll finish the job? My support is costly, as I’m sure you know.”

  “I brought them here to prove to you that things are moving along.” Victor’s voice sounded cold.

  The bulldog’s brows lowered over his eyes. No doubt he was used to people bowing and scraping before him, considering his position in the Order. But Victor wasn’t the type to do that, even if he did need the bulldog. He was too proud.

  I shoved aside my desire to loiter and eavesdrop. Nix and Del were unconscious. If they needed medical attention that I’d delayed because I was curious, I’d never forgive myself.

  But I’d have to try to win this with my daggers instead of magic. Even if the bulldog couldn’t see my face, I didn’t want to alert an Order member that magic as strong as mine existed.

  “What the hell—”

  The gravelly voice sounded from behind. I spun to look. A massive man loomed over us. I reached for my dagger, but his huge hand swept out and knocked me across the cheek. I went flying, pain blaring in my face.

  In a flash, Aidan threw a fireball that consumed the man, but it was too late. We’d lost any element of surprise. Footsteps thundered down the hall, probably men working for the bulldog or Victor.

  I scrambled to my feet. On the other side of the glass, the bulldog and Victor surged to their feet. Two guards, whom I hadn’t seen because of their positioning, whirled on us. Connor threw a potion bomb at one, and Claire threw a blast of fire at another. They dropped to the ground.

  If we could get Del and Nix before the backup got here, we could maybe make a run for it.

  I gestured to Connor and Claire, pointing them to Del and Nix. “Get them. We’ll distract the others.”

  I was careful not to say their names for fear of leading the Order of the Magica back to them. A swirl of gray light surrounded Aidan, and he shifted into a massive black leopard, not his signature griffin. Probably to hide his identity, I realized.

  Aidan launched himself through the glass window into the office. It shattered and crashed to the ground as he charged Victor, who threw his signature sonic boom.

  Aidan dodged it by an inch, but I felt the reverberations when it slammed into the hallway wall behind him.

  Connor and Claire rushed into the room, headed straight for Del and Nix, who hadn’t woken.

  Acting on instinct, I hurled a dagger at the bulldog, but he threw up a hand and blocked it. The blade clattered to the ground. The footsteps of approaching guards grew nearer.

  “You think you can rescue your friends, FireSoul?” Victor asked coldly.

  I didn’t bother answering, but called my dagger back to me and flung Lefty at the bulldog again. It pierced him in the shoulder and he howled.

  Connor and Claire had grabbed Del and Nix, draping them over their shoulders in a fireman’s carry. As they dragged them toward the door, Aidan lunged at Victor again, this time getting his arm and shoulder in his massive jaws.

  Victor roared, his face twisted with pain. Aidan shook him, clamping down harder, but Victor’s magic swelled on the air, the scent of rot overwhelming. A moment later, he disappeared from between Aidan’s jaws, no doubt realizing that staying meant being torn apart.

  With Victor gone, we almost had this!

  But the sound of the guards’ footsteps were too close, and there had to be at least a dozen of them. The bulldog had pulled the blade from his shoulder, and his eyes were wild with rage. His sickly sweet magic surged, as if he were loading up a big spell with whatever his gift was. We’d already discovered that he could create force fields, but I thought he was planning something more violent. I glanced out the gaping hole where the massive glass window had been.

  A dozen guards were charging up the hall,
their magic signatures rolling toward us. They were strong, and there were a lot of them. More magical signatures came from another direction, perhaps from the floor below. We had to escape both groups.

  “Get them out of here!” I shouted. “I’ll hold off the guards.”

  I reached for the bulldog’s gift over force fields. He’d protected himself from my first blade, so I just had to create a massive one to hold the guards off.

  Aidan’s massive head swung toward me, disbelief in his golden eyes.

  “Go!” I begged. I put everything I had into the word, every promise that this meant more to me than anything else and that I’d never forgive him if he didn’t get my deirfiúr out of here. “I can feel more guards on the other floor. You have to protect them so they can escape. I’ll follow!”

  Aidan cocked his head as if searching for the magical signatures of the other guards I’d felt. They had strong magic—it rolled over my skin in waves—and I could tell when he felt them.

  He nodded, his gaze intense and angry, then charged the door. I caught a glimpse of Connor and Claire fleeing with Del and Nix. Aidan had their back. They’d probably run into the other group of guards, but I had to have faith in Aidan.

  If I failed at this and let them catch me, the bulldog knew what I was. I’d end up in the Prison for Magical Miscreants. Or a prisoner of Victor Orriodor. I didn’t know what was worse, but I didn’t care.

  I raced into the hall, blocking the way my friends had fled, and turned back to the guards who ran toward me. They were only twenty feet away. The bulldog charged toward the office door, coming for me with whatever magic he possessed.

  I wanted to throw off the dampening charm and blast them, but my friends were still too close.

  I pulled on the bulldog’s magic, envisioning a barrier between myself and the guards. I just had to block them from my friends. I thrust my hands forward and gave the force field everything I had, trying to keep control just in case the dampening charm didn’t work.

  Magic flowed, silvery and bright, creating a sparkling, transparent wall between me and my enemies. My chest ached with the amount of power I was trying to control, and my breath grew short. The bulldog threw out his hands, hurling whatever magic he’d been building up.