Seized: An Urban Fantasy Novel (The Thrice Cursed Mage Book 4)

by J. A. Cipriano

  “Okay, that was weird,” said a strangely familiar female voice from the table. While I couldn’t recall ever having met her before, everything from her chocolate skin to her blonde dreadlocks and pixie nose made me think I had. “You promised you weren’t going to be weird.”

  “I did no such thing. I never make promises I can’t keep,” Vassago said, flashing his car salesman smile. I glanced from him to her, and as our eyes made contact, recognition flashed across her dark features. Did she know me? Had we met before I’d lost my memories? I’d have to find out.

  “You really found him,” she said, leaping to her feet so quickly her chair screeched on the tile. The next thing I knew, she had her lithe arms wrapped around me in a tight embrace. “I never thought I’d see you again after Afghanistan, and from the look of surprise on your face, I’m guessing the feeling is mutual.” Something dark and ominous swam through her eyes as she pulled back a half-step and looked me over.

  A bad feeling seeped into my bones. She did know me, or at least, she had known me, and the me she had known had definitely done something to her. I wasn’t sure if it was a good thing or a bad thing, but knowing what I did about my former self, I was betting it had been bad. Very, very bad.

  “I see you’ve met Jenna before,” Vassago said, his lips curling into a cruel smile. “Care to tell us how you two met?” He raised an eyebrow as if to say “I know so much more about you than you could ever dream.”

  “We met in Afghanistan,” Jenna said, her eyes filling with warmth until her darkness was completely hidden under a mask of cheerfulness. “I doubt he’d have forgotten our last night together either.” A smile crossed her lips. “But then again, Mac’s never been the type to kiss and tell, have you?”

  She wrapped one arm around my waist and pulled me close to her body. It worked because she was about as tall as I was. It was so familiar it threw me off, and not just because I didn’t remember her. No, it was because for all I knew, Afghanistan had been last week. I mean I could only remember the last few days. The thought was scary because if that was true, she and I were going to have to have a very uncomfortable talk about my new girlfriend. That seemed like a fucking blast.

  “You know how it is,” I said, letting a cheesy smile melt across my face. I didn’t remember anything about Afghanistan, but I was suddenly curious to find out. Something about her tone suggested we’d been very close, but at the same time, I couldn’t help but think I was getting played. There was definitely something off about the way she was acting. It was like forced closeness, making me think she wasn’t sure how to act around me anymore. If that was the case, something had definitely happened during our relationship. I just wished I knew what it was.

  Either way, it was probably best to play it cool. Who knew what she’d let slip if she thought we were reminiscing together. Maybe it’d be something that would help me put pieces of my fractured past back together. Then again, it seemed like I’d been a pretty horrible person in my past. Maybe I didn’t want to know. Maybe, just maybe, ignorance would be bliss.

  “So is it just me and her?” I stepped away from Jenna, creating some much needed space between us and turned toward Vitaly.

  It wasn’t that I was uncomfortable being so close to her, which was strange in and of itself, it was more that I had a girlfriend, or whatever it was you called being imprinted on by an alpha werewolf. Even if our feelings for each other had more to do with magic than anything else, I was reasonably sure if she found me in such close proximity to Jenna, she would probably rip my head off after beating the crap out of me.

  “No, there are two more. Well, two and a half,” Vassago said, glancing at his watch. “They’ll be here shortly. I, unfortunately, won’t be joining you. I have another appointment. Appearances and all that. Play nice, kids.”

  Before I, or Jenna, could protest, Vassago vanished in a plume of emerald smoke that left the smell of rotten eggs hanging in the air like low-hanging fruit.

  “Okay,” I said as Jenna slid into the booth and patted the seat next to her. “Do you have any idea what we’re supposed to be doing?”

  “Rescuing a kid,” Jenna said, grabbing a plastic menu off the table and looking it over. “I’m not the team lead. It’s some Russian guy. He’ll explain it to you when he gets here.” She shrugged. “For now, let’s eat. I’m starved.”

  “Yeah, okay,” I said, sitting down next to her in the booth. I wasn’t sure what to make of this. Sure, I was new to the team, but Jenna obviously wasn’t. Still, something told me she knew a lot more than she was letting on. Then again, if the team lead was supposed to explain things, I supposed I could wait. After all, it seemed like she’d be going after the kids too, although she hadn’t used the plural. Odd.

  “So, Mac,” Jenna said, setting down the menu. “Where the fuck have you been for the last week or so?”

  I stopped, my hand still reaching out toward the menu with my left hand. “Oh, you know. Doing things.”

  Jenna stared at me for a moment, and as she opened her mouth to say something, the brunette hostess came over with a small pad in one well-manicured hand. “Are you ready to order?”

  “Yeah,” Jenna said, her eyes shifting seamlessly from me to the girl, and for a moment there was a trace of that darkness. “I’ll have a peach pie. The whole thing. Bring a big mound of ice cream with it, and some French fries.” She glanced at me. “You want the usual?”

  “Huh?” I asked, taken aback. I had a usual and she knew what it was? That seemed a little strange. Still, if this was a thing we normally did, it seemed like I should let her do it. “Yeah, sure.”

  “He’ll have a strawberry milkshake, extra whipped cream. A Bacon cheeseburger rare. And I mean that. You need to be able to chase it around the plate with a fork.” She glanced at the menu for a second, thinking. “Onion rings too. And bring two extra combo number ones. We’re expecting company.”

  “Okay,” the girl said, nodding at the pad before repeating our order back. Evidently, ordering a whole pie wasn’t concerning, but then again, Vassago had rented out the whole place.

  “I’m surprised you let me order for you, Mac,” Jenna said, smirking at me. “Normally you insist on doing it yourself.”

  “I hadn’t had a chance to look at the menu, and since you know what I like…” I trailed off and finished with a shrug. Wow, we’d been alone together for all of two minutes and she was already testing me. This was going to go really well.

  Jenna eyed me carefully. “Makes sense.” The way she said it made me think it didn’t make a lick of sense, but I wasn’t about to push the issue. Her hand moved across the distance between us and settled on my thigh. For a second I wondered if she was testing me, but the way her hand felt on my thigh was so familiar I could conjure a million flashes of partial fantasy where it felt real. “I missed you.”

  I opened my mouth, unsure of what I was going to say, but thankfully I was saved by the bell. The chime at the front of the door rang, and as I turned to look at the people coming in, I nearly laughed.

  “Glad we’re finally here. You drive like an old lady,” said the ventriloquist doll perched in front of a teeny, tiny Asian girl who didn’t seem old enough to be out of high school. Then again, she was wearing a blue and white West High cheerleader uniform, so that could have been why. I glanced from the doll to the girl and back again. As I did so, the girl smacked her doll upside his wooden skull.

  “Ignore Marvin. Sometimes he talks when he’s not supposed to talk,” she said, glancing at the big Russian guy in an absurdly expensive suit holding the door open for her.

  “No matter,” said the Russian with a voice so slurred, I was pretty sure his blood had been replaced with pure vodka. If he was supposed to be our leader, we were going to be in a lot of trouble because I was pretty sure he was totally drunk.

  “Do you think they’re here?” the girl asked, stepping into the room as the hostess came out of the back room, spied them, and walked over.

&n
bsp; “Are you with Mister Vassago’s party?” she asked, her voice filled with cheery strain.

  “Yes,” the Russian said, looking past her and spying us. “Is that them?”

  The hostess nodded before turning and leading them toward us.

  I stood up as they approached and reached out one calloused hand to the Russian. “Hi, I’m Mac Brennan.” I gestured to Jenna who hadn’t bothered to stand up. “This is Jenna.”

  “I am Vitaly, and I am pleased to be meeting with you, Mac Brennan,” the big Russian said, taking my hand in his. As we shook, I kept waiting for him to shatter every bone in my fragile fleshy hand. He didn’t. His grip was firm in a way that told me he was very sure of himself. “You are the replacement, yes?”

  It made sense since he was the size of a grizzly bear. His shaved head gleamed in the sunlight as he smiled at me from behind a beard that would put a hipster lumberjack to shame. Despite looking like a convict straight out of the gulag and giving off the air of someone you don’t, under any circumstances, fuck with, he was dressed in a suit that cost more than I’d have been able to spend in a lifetime.

  “Yeah,” I said, not sure what else to say to that. “Care to fill me in on the job? I’m a little hazy on the details.”

  The big Russian nodded at me before waving the teenager into the booth. “We have job to do. We finish. We get paid. Is simple job. Lots of killing.” He shot me and Jenna a look. “Killing is your job. Is specialty, no? Vassago assures me you are very good at it.”

  Jenna smiled, showing just the barest flash of teeth. “Sugar, I’m an artist with a shotgun, and don’t even get me started on C4.”

  “I bet you’re an artist with lots of things,” the doll said as the girl plopped it on the table in front of her.

  “That’s kind of rude,” I said, glaring at the doll. I wasn’t sure why, but something made me feel protective of Jenna in a way that wasn’t a hundred percent normal.

  “I can’t help what he says,” the girl replied, shaking her head in a flurry of pigtails. “Believe me, I wish I did.”

  “Wendy doesn’t make me talk,” the doll said, giving him the stink eye with his blue button eyes. “I’m my own man.”

  “How much of a man can you possibly be with her hand up your ass?” Jenna said from next to me. The way she spoke tugged at a memory I couldn’t quite grab onto. As soon as I tried, it slipped through my fingers like smoke.

  “Want to find out?” Marvin the doll replied. “I’ve got nine inches of solid oak with your name on it.”

  “I’m not making him talk,” Wendy said, her face flushed with embarrassment as she stepped back from the table and putting her hands up. As she did so, the doll slumped forward lifeless. “He’s possessed by my brother, who usually behaves like a jackass.”

  “What do you bring to the table, exactly?” I asked, glancing from the creepy ventriloquist doll to the pigtailed cheerleader. Neither of them seemed like they belonged on this mission, but then again, I was well aware appearances could be deceiving. For all I knew, the girl was capable of tossing Vitaly through a solid brick wall with one hand.

  “Sacrifice,” Wendy said as a waitress walked up with two trays heaping with food.

  Before she could say more, the big Russian smacked the table with one huge hand, silencing all of us before gesturing for the woman to put the food down. “That is enough talk. Bunch of little girls you all are.” He pulled a flask from his pocket, took a huge swig, and wiped his mouth. “Now is time for eating. Afterward, we go kill many people and save Angela Prescott. It will be good day.” He grabbed a paper wrapped burger and eyed it carefully before taking a bite that engulfed half the hamburger. He chewed while eyeing each of us. “Any questions?”

  “Wait,” I said, narrowing my eyes at the Russian. “Aren’t we supposed to save all the children?”

  “No,” Vitaly shook his head. “Job is only for one.”

  “Not fucking good enough,” I snapped, barely resisting the urge to leap to my feet. Instead I put my right hand flat on the table and called my power. As my tattoos began to glow like a red neon sign, I let all the emotion drain from my face. “I signed on to this to rescue all the children, not just one.”

  “Mac, that’s not how this works,” Jenna said from next to me, and as I glanced at her, she shook her head just a touch. “We must get Angela out, the others too, if we can…”

  “Well, we damn well better get them all out or I swear, you’ll see just how hot-headed I can really get,” I lifted my hand from the table. The spot I’d been touching had melted into slag. “Understand?”

  “That is bridge to cross when we arrive. We will try to save all, but no point in arguing now,” Vitaly said, taking another swig from his flask. “Okay?”

  Even though it wasn’t actually a question, I nodded, anyway. I wasn’t sure what else I could do at this point because he was right, it might not matter at all and would lead us to pointless arguing. After all, it didn’t seem like they were opposed to the idea. Not that it mattered. I was leaving with all the children no matter what.

  “Okay,” he repeated, setting his burger down and the way he looked at me made me think he might tear off my arms and beat me to death with them.

  “Okay,” I replied, snagging an onion ring. “But when we get to those kids, plan on revisiting this conversation.”

  “Fair enough,” Vitaly said, and took another bite of his burger while leaning back into the booth. Beside me, Jenna visibly relaxed, and I realized she’d been pointing a Baby Eagle at the Russian from under the table. So, she would have helped me if the Russian got into it with me. That was good to know.

  As she slid the gun out of view, I took a bite of my onion ring. Unfortunately, I never got to finish that onion ring because as I swallowed my first bite of greasy, fried goodness, a nun wearing a bandolier and an eyepatch blew a hole in the big window at the front of the diner with a shotgun and tossed a grenade inside.

  Chapter 3

  Vitaly leapt past me in a nearly unfathomable burst of speed and threw himself on top of the grenade like we were fellow soldiers and he wanted to save us all. Well, that explained how he’d gotten himself injected with Captain America’s super soldier serum.

  “Get down!” he cried as things started to ripple beneath his flesh like a swarm of sub-dermal ants. Judging by the look on his face, I was betting he thought he could save us, but at the same time, I wasn’t sure how the big man could contain a freaking grenade blast. He was big, but he wasn’t that big, and for all I knew, it wasn’t a normal grenade. After all, it had been hurled at us by a nun in a bandolier. No, it was probably a Holy Hand Grenade.

  “Tueri!” I cried, calling upon my magic to shield me from the coming blast because I trusted the Russian about as far as I could throw him. As a protective coating of liquid fire blazed across my flesh like I was the Human Torch, I did a very stupid thing. I sprinted past the Russian, trying to get to the nun before she could pull another grenade off her bandolier and chuck it inside.

  As I landed on the other side of Vitaly, the grenade beneath him exploded, splattering me with pieces of the huge Russian. I bit my lip, ignoring the urge to turn around and look at the aftermath as the shockwave knocked me from my perfect landing. I stumbled forward and sprawled onto the tile, my ears ringing. As I struggled to keep hold of my bearings, my brain filled with cotton in a way that made me think I was on the beach of Normandy with Tom Hanks in Saving Private Ryan.

  I hit the ground hard on my shoulder, and my bones shrieked in pain. Thankfully, I managed to roll through it and spare my collarbone some of the unrelenting force. As I came up on my feet, I caught a shotgun blast with my chest. The force of the buckshot was enough to knock me on my back. Fortunately, my magic shield kept the blast from perforating my delicate skin with lead. Even still, it felt like someone had tried to shatter my ribs with a baseball bat.

  As I sucked a breath into my aching lungs, I crawled to my feet, trying desperately to regain my
footing, another pair of bandoliered nuns burst through the front door. One grabbed the spacey hostess, who despite having been next to a grenade blast, had done little more than stare at the door in a trance. The nun shielded the girl with her body and pulled her outside. It seemed a little weird since there were other workers in here, but then again, maybe they were too far away and had already been deemed casualties?

  “What, not interested in saving anyone else?” I grumbled as the other nun came straight at me. A wicked, gleaming scimitar etched with symbols I didn’t understand in one hand.

  Instead of responding, she slashed at me. I hopped backward, barely dodging her attack as the nun outside racked another shell into her shotgun. What the hell were my partners doing? Probably ducking for cover because they were, you know, intelligent. Still, if they didn’t act quickly, this was going to end very badly, very quickly.

  The scimitar came whirling at my head, and without thinking, I threw my right arm to block. Pain exploded through my forearm as the blade sliced through my shield and into my tender flesh. The smell of burning meat filled my nose as I grunted in pain, yanking my arm back in astonishment. I’d tanked everything from cars to massive exploding firestorms with my shield, but she’d cut through it like it was made of warm butter. How was that possible?

  “How?” I muttered just as the nun snap kicked me in the stomach with enough force to throw me backward off my feet. I slammed into the Formica bar and toppled to the ground as a huge shadow fell over me. Well, that was great. Like I didn’t have enough to deal with.

  “Your pitiful weapons are nothing to me,” a creature hewn from my deepest, darkest nightmares roared at the nuns, which was good because the sound damned near blew out my eardrums. If it had been aimed at me, I’m not sure what I’d have done. I mean, okay, I’d have kicked its ass, but I had no idea how I’d have gone about it since the eighteen-foot-tall creature stood just a few feet behind me. It sort of resembled the werebears I’d fought before except this werebear was large enough to make the ones I’d seen before look like cubs. “For I am Vitaly, The Widow Maker!”