by Holly Evans
Ben took off at a jog down a narrow street lined with spindly trees.
“Keep up, Dacian!” he called back to me.
I began jogging to keep up with him. The buildings around me looked familiar, but I couldn’t quite place them. They were distinctly Wildrun, but they were in a part of the city I didn’t visit often. Sleek pale buildings blended into pitch black gothic affairs, complete with a multitude of spires. Stained glass dripped blood red and glittered silver in the eerie golden-grey light of the dream. Ben vanished around a corner and almost lost me. Everything was becoming sticky; my limbs weren’t moving as efficiently as I wanted.
The city wobbled and shimmered around me. Buildings curved and warped in ways that no stone could do. I finally caught sight of Ben, standing in front of the thief. He hadn’t changed much from the college days. His muscles were a little better defined than I remembered, but the dark hair and green eyes remained the same. He didn’t seem to notice me as he stalked towards Ben with a tiger at his side. The tiger dripped dark orange and black ink, great paw prints left on the path in its wake. Ben was wide eyed, frozen. His mouth hung open, his muscles were locked tight, but the crease between his eyes gave him a look of confusion rather than outright fear.
“He’s here, Dacian. In the physical plane,” Ben shouted.
I looked around, trying to pick out details from the dripping distorted buildings around me. Glass bled into solid stone, doors shivered and rippled, removing any chance I may have had. I frowned and tried to pick out features that made some sort of sense. The sky was a deep red with a trio of corvids circling overhead. Ben was focused on the tiger. I stepped away and looked around, trusting that he was safe. It was his realm, after all.
The spires of the building next to me shifted from extravagant affairs covered in small carvings that I couldn’t make out to shards of sheer glass. Slowly the buildings shivered and bled down into the patchwork pavement. There was something painted on the path across the road. I ran and peered at it. A pair of birds stood back to back, one blacker than night, the other sky blue. None of it made any sense. I committed all I could to memory before I was thrown out of the dream. Ben must have felt that he’d shown me what he wanted to. I sat bolt upright, panting and shaking.
Isa ran his hand up and down my spine and nuzzled against my neck.
“You’re safe,” he whispered.
My heart thundered in my ears. Kyra jumped onto my shoulder and rubbed her cheek against mine. I hated when Ben dragged me through the dreamscape like that. It felt so real, and, truth be told, I didn’t know just how real it was. The dreamwalkers were cagey about how their magic worked. Isa pulled me down to the bed and pressed himself against my body. I wrapped myself around him and allowed myself to return to sleep. Ben had shown me what he wanted me to see. I could sleep in peace and deal with it in the morning.
I headed over to Ben’s straight after breakfast. I hoped to catch him and get some more details on the location he’d shown me the night before. It had looked like the new development in the north, by the river where the wild magic was prone to giving particularly spectacular displays. That wasn’t enough to get the thief. I needed an exact location and something to track him with. I hoped that Ben could provide that, as he’d spoken about finding the thread that bound him together.
Ben’s building looked different, duller than I remembered. I frowned and brushed it aside. I was clearly growing too used to his outrageous colour schemes. The feeling that something was wrong crept through me as I jogged up the stairs. The air was thick with something, and there was a faint buzzing sensation in the back of my mind. It hit me when I reached Ben’s floor. The buzzing crawled over my skin, the distinct sensation of broken ink magic. I ran to Ben’s door. I was too late.
The door hung open, and his home looked like an alchemist’s lab had exploded within it. Shards of multi-coloured crystal glittered from the walls and bookshelves, strings hung limp from the ceiling, and ink was splattered everywhere. I couldn’t distinguish between the ink and Ben’s remains. I didn’t dare step into the apartment.
“Mr. Corbeaux, why am I not surprised to find you here?” a familiar voice said.
I spun around and saw Enforcer Scythe.
“We received a call about a disturbance.” He leaned around me to look into Ben’s apartment. “And here I find you, at the crime scene. There’s a lot of ink here,” the enforcer said.
I glared at him and held out my hand palm up. “Use your blood magic. You’ll see that I didn’t do this.”
The smile on his face was positively feral.
Enforcer Flynn stepped forward and sank his knife into the palm of my hand, far deeper than was necessary. I kept my gaze on enforcer Scythe and refused to acknowledge the increasing pain.
“Did you kill the dreamwalker?” Scythe demanded.
“No,” I spat back.
“Are you an ink magician?”
Well, fuck.
52
I smiled as sweetly as I could muster and said, “I’m a tattoo magician.”
“Yes or no. Are you an ink magician?” Scythe said.
“That question is irrelevant, stop harassing him,” Caiden said.
I had no idea why he was there, but I thanked the gods for it.
“We are enforcers. This man has committed a crime,” Scythe ground out.
Caiden squared up to him, his eyes ambered.
“I am a hound. Now, leave Mr. Corbeaux alone,” Caiden growled.
The enforcer’s nostrils flared, and his hands clenched into fists.
“Apologies, sir,” the enforcer ground out.
The enforcers parted, allowing Caiden to lead me out of the building into the fresh air outside. As a hound in the wild hunt, Caiden outranked the enforcers by a long margin. It was something that I was painfully aware of. I’d be completely at his mercy if he found out I was an ink magician. Once a hound has set their sights on you, there’s only one way out – to kill the hound and take their place in the hunt. My head was spinning. I should have done something last night. I’d assumed that Ben was safe in the dreamscape. He was a talented dreamwalker.
“I rang Keirn to tell him the thief has killed again. He told me you were here,” Caiden said.
He stood tall and strong, watching me very closely. Did he know? Was he planning on handing me over to the council, or worse, his god? I squeezed my eyes shut and pushed it all aside.
“Thanks. Those assholes have been making trouble for me as of late,” I said.
Caiden nodded.
“No one can track the thief. You know how to lure him, though, don’t you, Dan?” he said.
I met his eyes, still amber around the irises. I had to tread carefully.
“Yes. He wants a spirit animal,” I said.
Caiden growled, “We cannot allow more innocents to lose their lives to him. We must act.”
“Then we’ll find a spirit animal,” I said.
“We don’t have time. The elves are very protective over them, and they are all soulbound to their elf,” Caiden growled.
I drank in his words and was horrified at the implications.
“Are you suggesting we use Keirn’s fox as bait?” I demanded.
“What other choice do we have? Do you know of any other spirit animals, Dacian?”
I exhaled slowly and calmed myself. “No. I don’t.”
“You’ll have the backing of the pack.”
“We can’t plan this without at least speaking to Keirn.”
“Keirn won’t stand by and allow a chance to stop these murders slip through his fingers,” Caiden growled.
“I will speak to him,” I said as I squared up to him.
I wasn’t going to be railroaded by the hound.
“Get in the car.”
I got into the passenger side of the expensive black car and wondered how it had come to this.
Caiden accompanied me into the tattoo parlour, much to my chagrin. I understood that he was a
hound, and as such it was part of his position, the protection of the people of the city. That didn’t stop it from grating on me. Keirn was my oldest friend. I’d much rather have broken the news to him in my own way. Keirn was in the kitchen with Vyx, both of them looking dolefully into their coffee.
“Poor Ben,” Vyx said.
“We have a potential way to stop the thief,” Caiden said.
I squeezed Keirn’s shoulder and tried to find a way to soften the request. His fox stood up on its hind legs and nuzzled my other hand trying to comfort me. I rubbed behind its ears and spat it out.
“We can’t track the thief. We have to bring him to us so we can end this. The council is sniffing around, but the gods only know what they’re actually doing. There is one thing the thief wants above all else.”
Keirn closed his eyes and leaned against me.
“A spirit animal,” he said softly.
“We will find another way,” I said.
“No. We can’t lose more innocent lives,” Keirn said.
Caiden smiled a little too triumphantly for my tastes.
“You’re going to use his fox as bait?” Vyx asked.
“You will have the backing of the pack,” Caiden said firmly.
I stroked Keirn’s hair, which drew a growl from Caiden. I glared at him.
“Problem?” I snapped.
“You’re with Isa,” he said, pushing into my space.
“And Keirn’s my oldest and closest friend,” I said, squaring up to him.
“And ex-lover,” Caiden said.
I pushed Caiden away from me. “I have been entirely faithful to Isa, protecting and comforting my friend does not change that.”
Keirn bared his teeth at Caiden and snarled. I didn’t know if I’d ever seen Keirn show such open malice, and we’d been in a good number of fights together.
“How dare you doubt Dacian? Are you so cold, so far from your pack that you have forgotten what it feels like?”
Caiden stepped back, stunned.
“Hounds do not have the luxury of forming those pack bonds,” he said quietly.
Keirn covered his teeth, but his tone remained sharp. “You are not an idiot, Caiden. I don’t give a fuck what your real reasons were for such a ridiculous and, quite frankly, pathetic reaction were. Dacian is my oldest and closest friend, we regularly hold each other’s lives in our hands. Do not try and fuck up an honest attempt at comfort, which, quite frankly, I need.”
Caiden exhaled slowly, his eyes flicking down and away. The tension began to dissipate. Keirn took my hand and brushed his lips over my knuckles.
“I appreciate the comfort, old friend,” he said softly.
What felt like an eternity passed with everyone refusing to speak.
“How are we going to set the trap?” Keirn finally asked.
“We will circulate the fact that a spirit fox is present here throughout the city. We know what the thief looks like. When he comes here looking for your fox, Ethan will break his magic, and the pack will dispose of him,” Caiden said.
“You’ve been planning this for a while,” I said.
“No, I’m an experienced warrior, and this is the logical course of action.”
“I want to help,” Vyx said.
“You know what he looks like, you can act as sentry,” Caiden said.
Vyx smiled, satisfied with her role in things.
“Isa can arrange a construct to hold the thief in place and make sure Keirn’s fox is kept safe,” Caiden continued.
I didn’t want either Isa or Vyx caught up in that mess, but Isa was the only weaver we had, and thus the best chance of keeping Keirn and his fox safe.
Keirn smiled up at me.
“I trust you. I trust them. We’ll put an end to this, Dacian,” he said.
I glared at Caiden, who gave me an easy smile back. “Save your words. I know what you’ll do if even a hair on the fox’s head is hurt.”
With that, he left to ring Isa. Everything hit me at once. The images of Ben’s mutilated remains and destroyed flat.
“He came to me in a dream last night,” I said.
Keirn and Vyx pulled me into a group hug.
“You didn’t know,” Vyx said.
“Do not dwell on what can’t be changed, old friend,” Keirn said.
“What happened?” Ethan asked.
I hadn’t heard the door open, I’d been too lost in my own head. I felt like I was crumbling. I shook my head. That wasn’t who or what I was.
“The thief killed Ben last night. The council tried to blame me. Caiden pulled me out of the hole,” I said.
Ethan’s eyes hardened.
“And you’re sitting here hugging?” he asked.
I stood up, knocking my chair over as I did so.
“No. We’re going to use Keirn’s fox to lure the thief here. What are you doing? What have you done to stop this thief?” I demanded.
“As much as my potential allows, which is more than I can say for you,” he snapped.
“Isa and Jake will be here in ten minutes. The pack is spreading the word about the presence of your fox, Keirn,” Caiden said calmly.
“Dan? What did Ethan mean?” Vyx asked.
“Who’s having more coffee?” I asked.
I wasn’t getting into that. Not there. Not then. I’d have to run once the thief was disposed of, I’d been given no choice, but I couldn’t walk away without finishing the job. I wasn’t that type of man.
53
Isa pushed past Caiden and ignored his complaints. He pulled me into a tight hug and kissed behind my ear.
“I was so worried when I heard. I’m so sorry about Ben,” he said.
I smiled and stroked along his jawline and across his lips, committing his face to my memory. If all went to plan, we had a matter of hours left together.
“Thanks, Isa, but we have to focus on what we can do to stop this from happening again,” I said.
He frowned, his lips pursed, and his eyes searched my face.
“As I said on the phone, we need you to keep Keirn and his fox safe,” Caiden said.
Isa remained close to me, his arm around my waist and his hip resting against mine as he turned to face Caiden and Jake.
“I’ll need a few hours to do a working as complex as will be required.” He turned to Keirn. “I’ll need something of yours and your fox’s, a single hair of each will do,” Isa said in a cool business-like tone that I hadn’t heard before.
Keirn plucked a blue hair from his head and a single hair from his fox’s tail, much to his fox’s irritation. The fox went and sulked under Vyx’s chair in response. I wanted to brush the creases away from the corners of Keirn’s eyes, to tell him it would all be ok. He handed Isa the hairs.
“You can use the rooftop, if you need somewhere quiet,” I offered.
Isa kissed me softly. “Thanks, Dacian.”
His eyes shone with unspoken words and sentiment. I drove down my own sentiments and smiled.
“What are the rest of us doing?” I asked Caiden.
“Vyx can go out into the city and tell her network of ferals and such about Keirn’s fox. It can’t come from you or Keirn, that would be far too obvious. Ethan will arrange a magic-breaking artifact with a focus on ink magic to back up Isa’s workings around Keirn,” Caiden said.
“The pack is setting themselves up around the building to keep watch and be ready to step in,” Jake said.
I sighed. “So now we wait.”
“Unless there’s something more you could be doing,” Caiden said, his eyes sharp and amber.
I ground my teeth. “I’ll see if the ink network has anything to offer me.”
I didn’t like being pushed into a corner, but I wasn’t going to sit by and allow something to happen. I headed up to the rooftop with Isa. The day was young, but I couldn’t help but notice the hint of red on the horizon. Something caught my eye. I walked over to the wall and peered into the distance. If I looked closely, I could just abou
t make out the new development, or the edge of it. Right there in plain sight was a tall-spired building with a trio of black birds circling the top. My heartrate increased as the dream with Ben burst back into my memory. What if we could get to the thief and stop him before he reached Keirn’s fox?
I ran down the stairs and burst into the kitchen. The conversation stopped. Everyone turned to look at me.
“Ben showed me where the thief was, in his dream. There’s a tower, a black building with a spire on the edge of the new development in the west. It has three large black birds circling around the top.”
Caiden and Jake passed a look between them. Caiden gave a short sharp nod, but it was Jake that spoke.
“I’ll take some of the pack over to check it out,”
There was a chance we could keep Keirn’s fox out of this. I kicked myself for not seeing the tower before.
“We need you to do whatever you can here, Dacian, we can’t rely on this. The thief has slipped from our grasp before,” Caiden said, his voice icy.
I stared him down and wondered, not for the first time, if he knew. I’d have to run. Taking a slow breath to steady myself, I turned and returned to the rooftop. Caiden was right. I needed to do what I could to finally put an end to the madness.
54
Isa was lost in his workings. His face was full of creases where he was concentrating. He sat with his legs crossed and his back pressed to the wall of the building. I watched for a moment. His hands moved in nimble, elegant gestures, forming complicated shapes. He was beautiful. I was going to miss him.
I sat down on the cool stone and leaned my back against the wall on the other side of the door to Isa. Stepping onto the ink network was easy and natural at that point. It felt like a second home. The darkness surrounded me, and I pressed out the idea of finding the thief. I hadn’t found a way to really communicate with the network. It was a frustrating process, but I’d made some progress over the months. The network wasn’t so different from the tattoos. We dealt in images, feelings, and ideas. Given that it had been the network that pulled me into the sorry mess and demanded I stop the thief, I hoped it would help me then.