by R D Martin
Concentrating for a brief second, she opened a small jetty of magic, letting just enough trickle in to use it. Using magic for attack or defense was easy, and it generally wasn't necessary to ration how much she used. It was always better to have it and not need it than need it and not have it. But using magic on herself could be dangerous. Channeling the power, she spread it around herself in the thinnest layer she could as she concentrated on warmth. As the magic flowed, she felt the cold receding, held back by her will and the heat she was creating. When the warmth reached a level just below comfortable, but well above the cold, she tied it off. She still felt the chill in the room, but if she made the spell any stronger, she risked burning herself.
Ice cracked beneath her feet as she walked across the room toward Wallace. His back was to her and he was waving his arms as though trying to swat a storm of invisible flies. The image was enough to make her giggle, and he turned at the sound.
"Feeling better?" He pressed his lips in a grim line, but his shoulders relaxed a bit when she nodded. "Good. Maybe you can help me. I've been trying to destroy this ice and can't even get it to melt. What spell did you use?"
As he stepped aside, revealing his assistant trapped in a solid cage of ice, Bella's stomach twisted with guilt. Her face must have betrayed it because Wallace spoke.
"Oh no. No. She's all right. Not even human. She's Amalga." The way he said it sounded like it should have meant something, but all she could do was stare at him with her own blank expression. "You don't… Ha. Guess Oberon didn't teach you everything, did he?"
He turned back to the frozen woman, and a glow of power surrounded him. She could see him weaving elements together and watched as his magic splashed against the hard ice, unable to penetrate any part of the frozen shell.
"It's kind of hard to explain what Amalga is, or are, or whatever. We found it, uh, them? Damn it, I'm just going to call it a her. We found her about thirty years ago. Your Finder was the one responsible for locating her. He'd informed us about a rupture, and we went to investigate. Came upon her in—" He stopped speaking as his spray of magic died along with the glow surrounding him. "Look, can you do something about this?" he asked, stepping aside.
Bella nodded and, moving next to him, stared down at the woman in the ice. She still looked like a panther about to sink its teeth and claws into its next meal, but from this angle, she wasn't quite so scary. Taking a deep breath, Bella sent out threads of power to prod at the ice. As her magic touched, she felt a familiar vibration, almost as if the ice was an extension of her power. Her threads found cracks in the shell and began burrowing in.
"I think I… Yes. Yes, I can…" As soon as the words passed her lips, there was a pop in the ice and a crack appeared. It wasn't deep, or long, but it was a start.
"How did you…? You know what, never mind."
From the corner of her eye, she could see him shake his head.
"Just get it open enough to make a hole to her. She'll take care of the rest."
Bella nodded and concentrated, widening the crack bit by bit. Small chips formed and popped off as her magic delved deeper into the thick layer. Forcing more power into the expanding crevice, she pushed, feeling the magic vibrate as it bored into the ice like a drill. Another pop, loud enough to echo throughout the ice-filled room, and the crack spiderwebbed through the ice. She could feel her power drawing closer to the woman, sensing the life yearning to break free of its cold imprisonment.
"That's great. You're almost there." Even with Wallace standing next to her, and with all her mind concentrated on the magic, Wallace's words seemed to come from a distance.
Her magic tore at the ice, breaking through centimeters at a time. She could feel the inner edge, almost see it as her magic approached. One more push and she would break through.
When her magic shattered the last thin layer of ice, exposing the flesh beneath it, a sound like a million birds screaming through megaphones blasted from the hall. Wallace grabbed her arm and pulled her back from the ice as something small and flesh-colored wormed its way through the opening. A second followed it, then another and another until a stream of small wriggling things created a pile on the floor.
Bella's stomach twisted and her throat clenched in revulsion as the things on the floor wormed around each other, twisting and combining as though becoming a solid mass. Wallace stepped up, putting himself between her and the squirming pile. As the mass grew larger, she realized it was becoming solid. Flesh fused with flesh as the thing grew and twisted.
At last the flow of fleshy worms slowed and stopped, but the mass continued to shift, and features began forming. A seam appeared in the lower half of it to become legs. Arms emerged from its sides and a head took shape. Eyes, nose, mouth, and even hair formed from the writhing mass. Almost as soon as it started, the transformation ended, and Bella stood slack-jawed, staring at a furious-looking, not to mention very naked, executive assistant.
The now unfrozen woman looked about for a second as though trying to gauge her surroundings and spied Bella. A snarl flashed across the assistant's face and she raised her hands, moving as though to lunge.
"Stop, Amalga," Wallace barked. The woman's eyes flicked to him before returning to Bella. Her shoulders pushed back and even Bella could see the assistant had no intention of ending her fight. "I said stop, Amalga." The words were rich and deep, holding a power that shouldn't be there as they rolled across the woman like an ocean wave.
Bella watched the rage in her eyes dampen, though not completely disappear, as her hands lowered to her sides. Rising to her full height, head straight and shoulders back, she looked almost as if she was going to argue with Wallace, but kept her silence. As her gaze moved between Bella and Wallace, Bella's skin tingled as she got the disturbing notion that if the leash Wallace held on his assistant ever slipped, people would die in very painful and disturbing ways.
"Good girl," Wallace said, his voice calm but still projecting authority. "Go get dressed and armed."
The assistant nodded and strode away, treading on shards of ice without flinching as though they were blades of grass. Bella watched her go, ignoring the footprints she left in the ice with frozen bits of herself stuck in it.
"What is that?" Bella asked, turning to look at Wallace. The smile almost splitting his face only made her wonder about his sanity.
"That," he said, nodding toward his receding assistant, "that is Amalga."
"You said that, but…"
"But that doesn't really cover it. Yeah, I had the same thought the first time I had to work with her. She's a hive being. Thousands of little parts all coming together to move, act, and even think as one. You were lucky to survive meeting her. The only way to kill her is to kill every single part that makes her. If even one survives, it will make more, and every one of them knows and remembers what the rest of the hive does. Makes the perfect bodyguard."
Bella shuddered. She'd thought she was fighting something human, or at least close to human, but it only dawned on her now how close to death she had come.
"So she's a bodyguard, then? Not an assistant?"
"Bodyguard, assistant, spy. She's whatever we need her to be."
"Spy?"
"Well, yeah. As a hive being, she has no actual shape other than her individual parts, so she can look like anyone. Makes it easy for her to slip into places off-limits to anyone else."
"But what about spells? Can she use magic?" Bella felt the stir of fear beginning to move in the pit of her stomach. If something as powerful as that could use magic too, it could become an unstoppable killing machine.
"Not as such," Wallace admitted as the glow of magic returned around him. He held up his hands and an orange-red wall of magic pulsed from him, expanding as it flew across the room. Where it passed, ice and frost melted from the heat it created. More pulses followed and the temperature in the room rose. "Her magic is limited to creating more units to add to itself."
"How do you keep it under control? Why do
esn't it just keep growing until, I don't know, it makes enough of itself to drown everyone?"
"We don't control it. We, the Imperium that is, rescued it. Now it works with us because it wants to. It even teaches at the school."
"It what?"
"Yep," he said, pushing another wall of heat to sail across the room. Much of the ice was gone, skipping melting into water and turning into steam instead. With her warmth spell in place, the room was on the edge of becoming unbearable, so Bella let it drop as Wallace continued. "Hand-to-hand combat mostly, though she teaches a few other courses. Being a hive mind makes it a genius in some areas. Still doesn't understand social interaction, though."
"Is she, uh, it? Is it limited to what it can change into? Size-wise, I mean."
Wallace's forehead creased as he considered her question before answering, "Not really. She seems to have a max size she can't grow beyond. As for getting smaller, that doesn't seem to be much of an option either. She can break herself down into as many individual parts as she needs, though, but can't stay that way too long."
"Why not?"
He shrugged. "She dies. The smaller part dies off and the larger part grows back to its full number."
Bella couldn't help comparing what she'd learned about Amalga to the Conclave. If only they worked together half as well, she thought wryly.
Considering the Conclave reminded her the vote should only be a few hours away. Her time was running out, and if she was right, she was going to be the scapegoat for the Algonde's murder. The more she thought about it, the more it seemed to make sense Darius had something to do with it, though she still wasn't sure why. As an Elder vampire, he had both the ability and the strength, not to mention a disregard for life, since to most vampires anything living was little more than a moving snack.
What she needed was a plan, some way to find out what Darius was up to that also kept her from being put on trial in front of the entire Conclave. Whatever he was up to, he was desperate enough to break the Conclave peace and sacrifice its unity.
But what would he stand to gain from it? The peace had been in place for hundreds of years. She thought back to her conversation with him. Something about it nagged at her, but she just couldn't decide what.
"Um, Wallace. I was wondering. If, if the Conclave votes to separate from the Imperium, what do you think will happen? I mean, will it be war?"
"War? It'll be a slaughter."
"So the Imperium really would—"
"No, no. Not us. Them," he interrupted. His expression turned serious.
"Who? The Conclave?" She imagined it would break apart when there was no more Imperium to face down.
"No. The vampires."
"What do you mean?"
"The Imperium was formed because of the vampires. Almost four hundred years ago, there were so many vampires in Italy you couldn't take a step without running into one. They were dividing the country into small fiefdoms and penning humans up like cattle on a ranch. A group of magic users, the first Imperium Council, came together to work out how to stop this. Not only were they afraid the vampires would spread beyond Italy, but they wanted to stop a second war before it started."
"What war?"
"That one will take too long to explain. But anyway, the first Council came up with a plan. They reintroduced the plague to Italy."
Bella stared at him as though he'd just admitted to killing a kitten.
"Yeah, not our finest moment. They didn't really understand how the plague works, but they could keep it from spreading."
"But why do that at all? I mean, couldn't they have reasoned with the vampires? They were human once too."
"There's something about vampires. Call it a drive. Keep too many of them in one place and they'll start killing each other. They need to spread out to be comfortable." He wiped sweat from his forehead. Steam from the melted ice made the room feel like a Florida summer, and even Bella was feeling as though she'd walked into a sauna. Wiping her own brow, she considered the fight she'd seen and wondered if that was the actual cause for it.
"I get that, but still. Was it necessary to infect the humans?"
"Possibly not, but remember, the First Council was taking an enormous risk. Not only were they humans, just as susceptible to the plague as anyone, but they were also magic users, and that put them in even greater danger."
"Why?"
"Because when vampires move into an area, the first thing they do is hunt down anything supernatural and destroy it. They don't have many natural enemies. Well, apart from anything that doesn't want to become a meal," he snorted. "But the enemies they have are magical, so vampires wipe them out. Not even to feed, but just to kill them. Every second the First Council spent in Italy, trying to cull the vampires or keeping the plague from spreading, brought them one second closer to death themselves."
Bella shivered despite the heat. That was something she hadn't known, nor had Darius thought to mention it in his version of events. "Then the First Council, they were trying to save both the magical and mundane communities?" Wallace nodded. "So, why does everyone hate them? I mean, there's so many stories…"
"Oh, we've done some awful things, even if we thought they were for the right reasons. And there's been a few, uh, rotten apples. But we're mostly human, and we die. Vampires, and some others, can live forever and have all the time they need to spread whatever story they want."
"So then if the vote goes through…?" She wasn't sure she needed the answer.
"It will be like it was in the old days. Vampires hunting everything as their numbers multiply. Only this time, with the problem with the mists, everybody's life is in danger, even theirs."
"So, why don't we tell them? They'd listen, even if only to save their own lives."
"They already know."
Bella blinked and almost bit her tongue when her jaw snapped closed at the news. They know? "But, but if they know, why would they allow it to continue?"
"They think it will only affect magic users and they'll be safe. If we're all dead, then nothing will exist to stop them from taking over, well, everything."
That was it, she thought as Wallace's words rang in her ears. That was why he guided her, pretending to be on her side, because she'd voted for the separation. And that was probably why he'd killed the Algonde as well. Pin the murder on a human and hang that around the Imperium's neck, and not only would he have one less vote against him, but he'd have the entire Conclave up in arms and willing to vote his way. He'd get everything he wanted and there'd be no blood on his hands. Well, none besides the Algonde's, that is.
Though she could almost feel the noose closing around her neck, she still thought she saw a ray of hope. A plan formed, but as crazy as it seemed, if it worked, not only would she walk out of here a free woman, but Darius would lose everything. A smile pulled at the corners of her lips. It was a slim chance, but better than none.
"Um, Wallace. I think I will need your help."
24
Bella paced back and forth, the knot in her stomach growing larger with each step. What was taking him so long? He should have been here by now. The first gong of the morning, the one reminding Conclave members they had an hour to assemble, had already sounded, and the second one should be soon.
"Calm down. It will work," Cat said as he skipped to the side to avoid being trodden on.
Bella wasn't sure if he meant it to be calming, but all it did was aggravate her. "Calm down? If this doesn't work, we're all dead."
"Then we know it will work, don't we?"
"How do you figure that?"
"Because I'm not about to die, so it must work. Simple."
"Well, thank you for that."
"Yes, I know. I try to be helpful. Now, if only there was something to eat in here. I could kill a can of salmon."
"If we get out of this alive, I'll buy you a week’s worth and you can gorge yourself."
"Done," he replied, sitting at her feet with a smug expression on his face. She co
uldn't help smiling at it, though. Trust her familiar not only to believe everything would work out in his favor, but to prioritize his stomach above everything else.
"How can you be so sure?"
"I'm a cat," he said as though that was enough to answer any question.
To be fair, for him it probably was. Regardless, she tried her best to force her nerves to calm. She needed to look scared when he arrived, but if she let her imagination run wild, she'd be too frightened to act when he did.
Deep breaths, she thought. Deep breaths. She was just beginning to unravel the knot in her center when the front door opened. Bella's heart jumped into her throat for a moment before she recognized Wallace and Amalga. While she had the same dour look Bella associated with her, the look on his face was smug enough to compete with any Cat offered.
The door had barely shut behind them before Bella was racing across the room.
"Did, did you get him?" she asked. Her heart pounded a staccato rhythm, and her blood raced as electric tingles danced across her skin.
Amalga leaned over as though to set down a rather heavy burden. Though Bella couldn't see anything, she heard a thump and a muffled grunt from a spot on the floor next to the hive creature. Wallace raised his hands and, with a flourish grand enough to make any stage magician proud, said a string of words that magic ensured could only be heard and forgotten. The air next to Amalga rippled like the haze over a desert highway in the middle of summer before settling down. As it did, a dark shape emerged. By the time the air cleared, Bella could make out a human form, though he was neither human nor happy.
The vampire Charles stared up at her from his crumpled position on the floor, his bloodshot eyes alternating between rage and mind-numbing fear, both of which Bella could understand. His arms and legs had been bound, and they had tied a gag around his mouth. From the condition of his clothes, it looked like his bindings were torn from them. While his slicked-back hair was encrusted with a layer of caked dirt from his time buried in the stone of his chambers, the rest of him looked just as pale and whole as normal. Bella had worried that being buried would affect his healing abilities, but it didn't appear so. If anything, he looked a little more rested.