Lisa winked, “Don’t worry, I’ll keep my eye on your body, as a concerned friend of course.”
I frowned in mock distress, “Don’t undress me, I know you like doing that.”
She laughed, “Foiled again.”
Our inappropriate humor was a mask, I was just as disturbed by the body’s appearance as Lisa and Cheryl seemed to be. The whole coven felt off right now, nervous. It’d been a gruesome way to die, but there was also the feeling of being helpless. I might have blocked a water sorcerer’s magic, but most vampires would be completely helpless against such a thing.
I spirit walked and did a quick city search, and was not all that surprised that I didn’t find a water sorcerer. I turned toward the most likely place after that. I searched east over Lake Washington first, and then to the west in Elliott bay and up north into Puget sound. Eventually I found him, in a yacht just a few miles off the east coast of Bainbridge Island.
I could also search a lot faster now, with a two-mile-wide spotlight of spirit magic to read what I passed over, and the water sorcerer was a fount of elemental power that was just plain obvious. He wasn’t anything near as powerful as Melody was in earth, or even as powerful as I was in spirit.
He was young, and foolish, perhaps twenty years old. He laid out comfortably in the sun in a bathing suit on a reclining deck chair. He was alone, and so confident that despite the power of elemental water that he exuded, he had no shields up at all. He also couldn’t detect me in spirit form, or feel the very small amount of magic I’d planned to use, so I had no fear of discovery. I reached out with a tendril of spirit magic, and read his soul.
His name was Tad Herman, and I groaned on the inside when I realized what this was about. Tad Herman was from L.A., and as a relatively young sorcerer out to make his fortune, he’d hooked up with Zackary Domingo to do the occasional job. Not so different from what I had done with Ceara, although after that one similarity, we were quite different.
He was basically an assassin, and didn’t care at all about killing innocent people.
Sure, I’d killed before, but always in defense of myself or someone else. He was the perpetrator, the attacker, the one who killed for nothing but money and a sense of power. He was nothing like me. I shook my head and returned to my body.
After explaining all that to Lisa, I added, “His orders are simple. Zackary wants Ceara out of his city before she figures out just how dirty he is. Tad is supposed to kill one vampire a night until that happens. Zackary figured one a night would pull her away, but not overly alarm her enough to dig beneath the surface far enough to find the true connection. Tad’s orders are to run for it when Zackary informs him Ceara left.”
I frowned in thought as I’d said all that, “Isn’t that a bit simplistic, and obvious?”
Lisa tilted her head, “Maybe, but then we had no idea it was connected with L.A. until you read his mind, can you stop him?”
I cleared my throat, “Yes, I think so. Since you asked so nicely. Also, I didn’t read his mind, I read his spirit.”
Lisa snorted, “What’s the difference?”
I shrugged, “Spirit… the soul has all the real memories. So say I read a human that had been snacked on by many vampires over the years, I’d see each and every one, even though he wouldn’t remember it ever happening at all in his mind. I get nothing but the truth, memory modifications don’t affect soul memories.”
She waved a hand, “I get it, and it’s different than I’d thought.”
I worried about that a little bit, her asking me for help I mean. Was she sincerely ceding her free will? Or was she just a friend using her knowledge of me and the tenets as a loophole of sorts? I wasn’t really sure, and I had no one to ask. I was kind of stuck between two worlds, and had to do the best I could, but I still worried.
I’d do it anyway though, I’d been asked to protect the coven from a specific threat. Technically, it did free me from my restraints. I just worried it was sophistry, because I really did want to protect them, they were my coven, and some of them were friends, a few even close friends.
I worried though, after all, there was a reason spirit sorcerers spent a life with close family, and avoided entanglements with others, including other supernatural creatures. It was specifically for this reason, so we weren’t tempted to intervene in lives.
But that was water under the bridge, I was also a vampire, and coven, not to mention the mate of an alpha werewolf. That life would never be for me, I had to take this harder road, and try to follow the tenets anyway and as best that I could.
“We should wait until tonight, he’ll come back at three in the morning, that’s when he sucked all the water out of Stacey last night, and when he plans to move tonight. I could probably take him now at his boat, but maybe not if he jumps in the water. I’d rather not chance it, since he’ll be weaker here in the city.”
She smirked at me, “What about your hot date?”
I glared up at her, “I’m going on it of course, I’ll be back around one, way before Tad will arrive.”
She tilted her head back and forth and said softly, “I suppose that’s fair, I don’t want wolves banging down the doors.”
I smiled and shook my head, “I’ll go rescue Cheryl from the wolves, and then work the rest of the day, have my date, and then get back here to stop Tad a couple of hours early. It’s the perfect plan.”
I just wondered if it would really work out that way. It should go right, at least up until the stopping Tad part, that was still up in the air.
Lisa nodded, “Sounds fair, thanks for coming. I’ll update Ceara on what’s going on here. I’m also going to put someone on the roof with an HD night camera.”
I frowned, “Why?”
Lisa replied, “This has hurt moral, vampires expect fights, but being murdered while asleep from someone not even in the building is kind of freaky. It will do them good to see you kick his ass.”
I wasn’t sure what to say to that, I just hoped it worked out that way…
Chapter 17
The rest of the day at Legends went smoothly with no more real surprises, and when I locked up and went back to the coven, I had about a half hour to get ready. I jumped in the shower, and then dressed. He said casual, so I put on some short tight jean shorts, a light gray halter top that showed my midriff, and a pair of black calf high boots.
I was showing more skin than I usually did, and blushed when I looked in the mirror. It was a lot more material than I’d seen on some other women, but still another step for me. I was also thankful for Lisa dragging me into Victoria’s Secrets despite my objections at the time, I had a nice matched set of red lingerie with thin black lace on underneath.
I put on a subtle amount of makeup, and I was out of time. Actually, I was five minutes late as I rushed down the stairs and out the front door. I knew it was a woman’s prerogative, but I didn’t like being late.
Jared leaned against his car out front, looking entirely too good to be real. He definitely had an effect on my judgement. The look in his eyes as he took me in though, made the effort, and clothes, more than worth it.
He wordlessly walked over and kissed me rather chastely hello, and then smiled, “You look amazing Miku.”
I replied a little awkwardly as he walked me to the passenger side of his car and opened the door, “Thanks, you too.”
I wasn’t used to compliments, and the way he’d said my name sent pleasant shivers down my spine. I’d already explained I’d had to be back by one at the latest while we were at work. It had taken me a while to talk him out of fighting with me, although I wasn’t sure I’d actually succeeded. I was a little worried that Tad could always change his mind and come a bit earlier, but Jared still hadn’t told me where we were going.
I took a deep breath as we pulled out, “Is that food?”
He ignored my question, “The pack all wants to meet you, outside of Ted. Not tonight, but soon?”
I nodded slowly, “Sounds good, the
y all do?”
He smiled, “Some more than others. Reah is happy for me, and Bob already told me I wasn’t as much as a bastard now, but I think he was joking. But yeah, there’s what, sixteen members you haven’t met yet?”
That seemed rather overwhelming. I worked it out in my head, ten at Legends, Tim, Ted, and Reah made thirteen.
I replied carefully, “Fifteen, there’s twenty-eight right? Sure, I liked Reah and would love to meet her again, and the rest of the pack. So how did you escape your nursemaid?”
He laughed, “It wasn’t hard at all actually, he trusts you to protect me, can you imagine?”
I laughed with him, but truthfully got a little choked up, Bob trusted me that much?”
He sniffed, and then asked, “You brought your knives on our date?”
I said teasingly in an innocent voice, “You might get fresh with me.”
He chuckled, and it was silent for a few minutes. Comfortable though, and he’d taken my hand which felt nice. We were driving north out of Seattle, and then he went east. Definitely pack territory, but where were we going? It was driving me crazy not knowing. I also felt a little guilty, I kind of already knew the other fifteen werewolves from Carly’s memories.
I’d have to tell him, maybe later tonight.
He asked, “So will you be visiting me every night? Not that I’m complaining, last night was wonderful.”
We’d shared dreams again last night, and this time we’d been at Legends, maybe because it had been on his mind from working there the last few days. We’d enjoyed each other, but we also spent a lot of time just talking about our past and getting to know each other. Though my past was kind of boring, I hadn’t been part of the world until last week.
It’d been nice, if a bit surreal in a dream, but I remembered every moment of it, unlike a real dream. I also seemed more confident there, it was easier to tell Jared whatever he wanted to know, or what he asked, and the reverse seemed to be true as well.
I shrugged and squeezed his hand, “I’m not sure, it seems to just happen without me trying. I imagine I can be, if you want. I’m pretty sure I can do it on purpose too, but only with you.”
He nodded, “I’d rather have you in my bed, but it’s a nice second choice.”
I blushed, I seemed to go back and forth between shyness and being absolutely shameless when it came to him and my desires.
“I’m sure that can be arranged, but it’s a little early for on a permanent basis.”
He shrugged as if he disagreed but didn’t want to push it, and turned off the highway. I supposed that made sense, wolves did mate for live, and Jared seemed to already made up his mind that way. I was thrilled about that, but at the same time it was intimidating, and really fast.
We were definitely going to the forest, although I couldn’t imagine why. Still, it was one of my favorite places, and I imagined werewolves loved the outdoors as much as I did.
We parked and he got out, and then opened the trunk, and then came and opened my door. Whoever said chivalry is dead hadn’t ever met a werewolf.
He took my hand and we walked toward the trees. He had a cooler in his other hand, and I finally put it together.
A picnic at sunset.
We walked for about a mile and a half, and I froze when we walked between a clump of trees, and into a glade. The glade from our first dream.
“I thought you’d like to see the real thing, and the sunset is beautiful from this spot through the trees.”
I just nodded, there was a lump in my throat, and felt a little overwhelmed. We sat on the grass, and he pulled out some sandwiches, a bottle of white wine, and some fresh strawberries.
“You made that?”
He replied, “I made something, and then Reah threw it out and made this,” he blushed.
We ate, talked, and watched the sunset. Being in the glade for real was so much better, surrounded by the spirit of all the life, as well as the scents of the forest and the gentle breeze. It was about perfect, and I couldn’t think of anything I’d have liked better for our first official date.
And after the sun went down, we had a repeat of what we’d done in that dream, and a part of me never wanted to leave. But eventually everything ends, and after several rounds of talking and making love, we got dressed, and hiked back to the car. It was time for me to get back to the coven and deal with Tad…
Chapter 18
Jared didn’t leave of course, we sat in his car a block away from the coven building. I wasn’t exactly happy about it, but I realized it would be hypocritical of me to force my help on him, and then refuse his. Still, it sucked having the shoe on the other foot so to speak.
Water sorcerers were different than spirit sorcerers because they pulled their magic through their connection with the water around them. Even in the city they had access to their magic from the elemental plane of water simply through water vapor, the humidity in the air. I imagined they could also pull it from sewers, water pipes, and even people that were in range.
Tad was young though, and only had a hundred-foot reach with his power. The reach of a spirit sorceress was much greater, though only because we channeled our magic through our own souls, and the more we channeled the greater our reach.
The best way I could explain it, is my reach of spirit was an effect of how much power I could channel. Where for the other four types of sorcerers, their reach determined how much power they could channel through the gateways of their medium.
Fire through heat, water through water, air through the air, and of course, earth through earth. The raw elements were bridges, or gateways to their elemental planes.
What that meant was, I saw him coming from a mile away, literally, and he couldn’t sense me without getting within a hundred feet. So we waited down at the end of the block. I thought it was too dangerous to have a fight out on the street, so we waited until he made his move.
As I’d hoped, Tad walked into the three story building.
“Now,” I said, and Jared followed me out of the car, and down the street.
When Tad reached the roof, I pushed out a strong stream of elemental spirit magic, and shielded Tad.
I also shielded both Jared and me too. The shielding would only protect us from magic, but my shield around him would also cut him off from being able to magically reach for more power. In essence, I cut his own source of power from a hundred-foot sphere, to the water in his own body. Of course, he still had magic built up inside of him.
He tried to destroy my shield of spirit with raw elemental magic of water, as Jared and I ran up the stairs.
Tad was getting weaker, whereas my magic came from within and my soul, and stayed constant. I could feel everything living around me for a mile radius, protected from the chaos of it through my grounding link to the spiritual plane, and most of my focus was on Tad, and maintaining that shield.
As he got weaker, he panicked and tried to run. But it was too late, Jared and I stepped out onto the roof. I drew my sword as Tad backed up and reached behind his back, and then threw a knife at us. His throw was accurate, but the speed of his throw was no match for my vampire speed, and I swatted it out of the air with the flat of my sword. I kept it in my hands, he had two more knives, and a gun in an ankle holster.
Like me, he didn’t just depend on his sorcerous power.
His voice was filled with bravado, rather than bravery, “Who are you?”
I smiled coldly, “Miku, and it was my coven mate you murdered last night assassin.”
I wasn’t sure if his shields were strong enough to resist my lightning, and he was hoarding his magic now, and even filling it more through the trickle of magic he could channel through the water in his body. I was also sure my sword couldn’t penetrate, I might have had an advantage magic wise, with the way I channeled all my power internally, but earth, fire, water, and earth could form shields against the physical, not just the magical.
Still, no point in dragging things out and letting hi
m get any stronger.
He asked, “What do you want?”
I hit him with spirit lightning for my answer, my shields wouldn’t block my own magic, so only his was a concern. Still, I was splitting my magic four ways, three shields and an attack. I cut off our shields, he was the only danger within a mile and I just focused on the shield around him that contained his magic, and my lighting.
Jared growled, and I wondered if it was because he just felt my air magic for the first time. He was also shifting, having finished with stripping his clothes off.
He poured more magic into his shields, he was close to running out, but didn’t really have a choice. It was that or die from my spirit lightning.
He reached for his gun. I threw a knife, but right before it reached him it bounced off his shield.
He laughed and pulled the trigger three times while I dove to the side and rolled. I felt a burn in my arm, leg, and shoulder. I was only as powerful as a fifty-year-old vampire and couldn’t dodge bullets yet.
Jared lunged for him, Tad’s shield stopped Jared from taking his neck, but physics was still a thing. A three-hundred-pound wolf hit the skinny sorcerer’s shield, and Tad went flying backwards, and off of the roof.
I got up and limped to the side. Tad was still alive, I could feel him, but the three story fall had taken its toll on his shield, not to mention the werewolf hit. I shot more spirit lightning down at him, and this time his shield spluttered, and died. Tad followed a moment later as I blasted the bastard’s soul from his body.
I brought my own normal low powered shield back up, and Jared seemed to calm. He chuffed and nosed my leg and arm. I checked my wounds, the shoulder was the worst. It had gone through and out the back. The other two wounds were more just burns and a slight gouge from bullet grazes.
Dear Inari, I hated sorcerers.
I giggled a little hysterically at the thought. That wasn’t true, I liked Melody well enough, and myself. I amended that to I hated to fight sorcerers. And I was really glad Jared had stayed. I might have still won, maybe.
Lion's Claw: Spirit Sorceress: Book 2 Page 10