Blood Hunt (Codex Blair Book 2)

by Izzy Shows

  “You will not be needing those, Wizard.” The voice spoke again, and I identified that it was coming from the middle figure.

  I walked closer, refusing to be intimidated.

  “I’ll be the judge of that,” I said, lifting my chin defiantly. “I feel like three arseholes sneaking up on me at night is cause for attack.”

  “If we sneaked up on you, it’s only because you failed to pay attention.”

  Ah, fuck. They got me there. I hadn’t been paying attention. Lesson learned.

  “Yeah, well, doesn’t change the fact that you’re skulking around here. What do you want?” I continued to advance on them, they were starting to come into the realm of eyesight where I could begin to make out their features. Just a step or two more and I would know who I was dealing with.

  “Cease, Wizard. Come no closer.” They withdrew one step and I halted, I didn’t want them to run.

  Not yet.

  I wanted to know who I was dealing with, because this was starting to feel like a curtain rising sort of moment, the moment where I got to meet the arsehole I was dealing with, maybe blow their brains out. That was what I wanted to do—what was stopping me, anyway? I had my wand at the ready, I could take them down.

  It was the curiosity that stayed my hand.

  “What do you want?” I asked again.

  “You must know that your cause is pointless, that you cannot hope to prevail. We will take this town and spread like the plague across Europe.”

  “You seem to have miscalculated. I’m not going to let you do any of that. This is my city, these are my people to protect, and I’ll be damned if I let you get away with any of this. I’m going to rip your hearts out of your chests and feed them to you like the scum of the Earth you are.” I bared my teeth at them in a savage smile.

  “What can you hope to do to stop us? You are but one woman. Alone. Helpless. You could die here, right now, and no one would be here to even mourn you.”

  A year and a half ago that would have struck a nerve. A year and a half ago I had no friends, didn’t know what I was doing, and I was helpless then.

  Now I was Blair Sheach. Wizard without a licence. I had friends in high places, and I had my own power, I could blast a hole in these chuckle fucks a mile wide and no one would stop me. I wasn’t going to die right here, right now, and I knew that in my soul.

  I laughed at them.

  They hadn’t been expecting that. They flinched at the sound of my laughter, looking at one another as if they could find comfort there that I wasn’t a mad woman about to tear them down.

  “You have no idea who or what I am, or you wouldn’t bloody be here in the middle of the night, not when I’m fully armed. I’ve killed one of you already, and boy am I just itching to get your blood on my hands. You think you know blood lust? You think your ravenous hunger is even a tenth of what rages inside me? Try me.” I snarled the words at them. Now, one would think that challenging a vampire’s blood lust was a foolish thing to do, after all that was literally what they went through daily. How could anything compare to that?

  Well, you try living with a mark on your wrist that screams at you to rip the heads off everyone around you every day. I held it in place, I could be around Finn and Emily, I could present myself in polite company, but that did not change what it did to me. I wanted to sink my metaphorical teeth into them and shred them into pieces, just like the corpses they’d left behind. Give them a taste of their own medicine, as it were.

  But I had it tamed, right? Right. I had it licked. It didn’t control me.

  I stepped closer and they did not dare to try and stop me this time, didn’t waste their breath on pathetic commands. I was the monster that broke monsters.

  As soon as they came into the field of vision where I could make out their facial features, my brain went into hyper drive committing them to memory. They all wore cloaks as if they’d just come out of the medieval era, but their faces told a different story. Young. Not so young as the one I had murdered in the alley, but young enough that they had not been around for a century or more. The one on the left wore black slacks and a black button down shirt, blonde hair curled out from beneath his hood in a poof, and his features wore a look of unmasked fear. Good. He had every right to be afraid of me, and I would not hesitate to use that fear to my advantage. The middle one, the Face, the one who kept talking, stood taller than the others, flinched a little less than they did. He thought he was the big boy on campus, and his clothes showed it. He wore a suit, ill fitted though it was—stolen, perhaps—underneath his cloak. I could not make out his hair, but he had dark black skin and eyes the colour of melted clay. A woman stood on the right, she wore an umber coloured maxi dress that swayed with the wind, melding brown and black together.

  Someone should have told them they looked like a group of gothic schoolkids, maybe that would have made them grow up and leave well enough alone.

  “Your world is ending, Wizard. Another is rising. One where we shall have dominion, and your people will be our sheep. The herd will be culled as we see fit, we shall have the pick of you to eat. Perhaps you will be first on the menu, perhaps we will make you watch as we kill every individual in your precious town. And then in your precious world. I think that would be a fitting end for you, we would be smiled upon to have served justice in this fashion. You have killed one of ours? So be it. There are many more to take one’s place. Only we are irreplaceable, only we are to be worshipped, only we are to be royalty once this land has been claimed. You will die. Your friends will die. I have spoken, so it must be.”

  He sounded like he believed his own shit, I had to give him that. He had conviction, no matter how psychotic it sounded.

  Too bad I didn’t believe a word of it.

  OK maybe I believe one or two of the words. Maybe they had scurried their way into my mind and gnawed at my insides, taunting me with the idea that my city would be taken from me. Gods, it would be hell on Earth to watch everyone dying around me—nope, no, can’t go down that hole. Not willing to do it, not willing to deal with it.

  Fuck all this shit.

  “Listen, you dried up blood sucker,” I said, snarling, advancing on them again with wand at the ready. I pulled the ice wand from my other pocket so that I grasped both like the weapons they were, calling their magic to life. They flared with a vengeance, splitting me down the middle with their elements. On my left the world had turned to frost, I could feel the eyelashes on that side bead with crystals, on the right I was illuminated in flames that could not harm me. Every step I took alternated between freezing the stones and melting them. My mark burned, burned, burned, screaming at me to use it and let it loose upon the world. “I am Blair Sheach. I will end you. You will beg for death. Twice. Remember my name.”

  They fled.

  22

  I panted with the effort it took to bring myself back down and under control. For several moments, I remained lit up, sucking down air, before I managed to shut it down. My wrist ached with the pain of the mark threatening to consume me from the inside out.

  I can do this. You have no place here. I screamed inside my own mind, forcing it to back down, to go back to the jail I had created for it.

  I was shaking from the adrenaline, my heart was in my throat, and my vision had blurred.

  What does normal thought even feel like?

  I jammed the wands back into their holsters, casting a cursory glance around to make sure the street had remained vacant. Good, no one had seen me. I had come dangerously close to revealing myself to the world, all because I had allowed a trio of vampires to catch me unawares and get inside my head. What the hell had that interaction even been? I was so ready to rip them to shreds, and they had talked a good talk but hadn’t been willing to walk the walk. No fight for me, which meant I had a lot of pent up energy that needed to go somewhere.

  Too bad there isn’t a real supernatural fight club I could join. I thought to myself, and laughed aloud at the thought. I’d j
oked with Shawn that I was in a fight club and now here I was wishing that I had told the truth, it would be so nice to take out my frustrations on someone who wasn’t going to hold a grudge the next day.

  I glanced down at the ground, frowning at the thought tickling at the back of my mind.

  There were a few clubs—actual clubs, dance clubs—that I’d heard about in various rumors in the community, that catered to the supernatural alongside mundanes. It might not be a place to pick a fight, it might be, who knew, but at least I could get rid of some of this pent-up energy.

  I yanked my phone out of my pocket, letting out a frustrated groan when I saw how charred it was—not from the fire, no it wasn’t melted or anything, but the magic use had destroyed its inside. I stomped over to the nearest pay phone, digging the coins out of my pocket, holding them tight while I punched the numbers, then shoving one at a time into the machine when Shawn answered on the third ring.

  “Hello?”

  “Hey, Shawn, it’s Blair.”

  “Oh, that’s weird, you didn’t come up on my caller id. Did you change your number again?” I could hear the laughter tinting his voice.

  “No,” I said, growling in frustration. “But I will be shortly. I destroyed another phone. For the fiftieth time. This week.”

  He laughed, and I wanted to be angry about it, but the anger melted away at the sound.

  “Shut up,” I said, but I didn’t mean it.

  “It’s late, Blair. What can I do for you?” His voice carried an unspoken invitation, one I knew I could pick up if I wanted to. I wanted to, I knew I did, but I also knew I couldn’t go down that road. I wasn’t going down that road, and I had to keep reminding myself of that fact. I just wanted a friend with me who could watch my back, and I knew Finn had a lot on his plate right now.

  Right. That’s why I was inviting Shawn to a club where my secret could slip out at any given second. That wasn’t a bad idea at all.

  “Listen, there’s this place I need to check out for my case, and Finn’s got a lot of paperwork to catch up on tonight. I was wondering if you could come with me, just make sure nothing goes to hell, you know?”

  There was a brief pause. “So, this is a business call?”

  I could hear his disappointment.

  “Yes.”

  “Alright, fine, I’ll take what I can get. How could I say no to an evening with a woman like you? Where are we going?”

  I smiled, and hesitated to tell him. Because I knew he was going to give me crap as soon as I said it. “Well. It’s a club.”

  “Oh, ho, so you’re asking me out on a date but using your job as a cover. Clever girl,” he said, laughing.

  “Oh, take it down a notch. I am not asking you out.” Was I asking him out? I should probably figure that one out for myself. No, no, I wasn’t asking him out, I was almost certain of that.

  “So, do you need me to pick you up? What club are we going to anyway, I need to know? So, I can dress appropriately to sweep you off your feet?”

  “Oh yes, because somehow what you wear is going to leave me breathless,” I said, grinning for a moment before it disappeared when I remembered the effect his wearing a simple t-shirt and jeans had. I shifted my weight, suddenly uncomfortable. “Yeah, I need you to pick me up. I didn’t take my car out, kind of a spur of the moment decision to check this out tonight.”

  “And I’m the first person you thought of? I’m touched.”

  “I can count the people I could call on one hand.”

  Not fair, it would have made more sense to call Carmen to check out a club and try to find supernatural creatures, but I didn’t want to see her. She wouldn’t help to disperse the energy coursing through me, she would only make it worse. A vampire was not going to do anything to make me feel better about running into vampires.

  That was probably the first thing I’d thought that made sense, even I had to admit that.

  “Where shall I pick you up, then, sweetheart?” If I closed my eyes, I could picture him leaning back with that satisfied grin on his face.

  “I’m by the Thames, near Big Ben.”

  “I’ll see you in a few minutes. Bye.”

  “Bye,” I said, hanging up the phone. I leaned against the wall by the payphone, arms crossed over my chest.

  Waiting is always the worst part of an evening.

  23

  The club was packed with people, all pressed against one another and moving to the beat of fast paced music as if they were all one organism. It was disorientating to watch, the kind of thing you couldn’t quite tear your eyes away from even though you knew you weren’t getting anything out of the experience. I felt naked without my wizarding gear, abandoned in Shawn’s car so I wouldn’t be kept out of the club.

  I felt it, though.

  The pull of the crowd.

  The inherent desire to join them and become a part of the activity. Even though everyone was moving on their own or with one other person, it was a group activity, the dance. A moment you wanted to be a part of no matter who or what you were.

  It was almost supernatural.

  “Do you want a drink?” Shawn asked.

  “I’m not thirsty,” I said, and as soon as the words were out of my mouth I felt my throat close. My mouth was dry. I was acutely aware of his proximity, his presence beside me was something that could not be ignored. I glanced at him, taking in his casual apparel. He wore a simple plain white t-shirt, tightly stretched across his muscled chest, his blue jeans hugging his hips in a suggestive fashion. I dragged my eyes back to the crowd in front of me.

  I could feel his eyes on me, I knew that he was staring, but I didn’t dare to meet his eyes now.

  This had been a bad idea. The energy was still within me, burning through my blood, demanding that I move, the mark wanting things from me that I could not give, and I needed to let the energy out in as safe a fashion as I possibly could—but this was a bad idea. Because this didn’t feel like a safe fashion. It had been an innocent enough idea, to come to the club and fade into the background, scope it out and maybe locate someone who knew something, maybe get in a fight if I was lucky. I’d brought Shawn to keep an eye on me, not to watch my back, to make sure that I didn’t hurt anyone.

  Now it felt like I had brought him for entirely different reasons.

  “Shawn?” I raised my voice to be heard above the crowd.

  “Yeah?” I could feel the air move as he shifted to face me. I still couldn’t look at him.

  He reached out to touch my shoulder, bared as it was due to the tank top that I was wearing, I felt my skin heat in response.

  I couldn’t remember what I was going to say.

  “Are you looking for someone?” He chose a subject that felt like solid ground.

  I searched the crowd now, eyes zeroing in on one individual to assess what they were doing before moving on to the next one. “No, not anyone in particular. It’s going to sound weird, but I heard I could find someone here, so I don’t know exactly who I’m looking for, but I’m sure I’ll know them when I see them.”

  “Maybe if we weren’t standing awkwardly near the door you would be able to find them,” he said, and I finally turned to look at him. His eyes were amused, and I realised that he was laughing at me on the inside. My jaw dropped for a moment, but I snapped it shut shortly after.

  “You have a point,” I said begrudgingly. “Fine, let’s move in a bit.”

  His hand brushed down my arm, lighting a fire as it went, to grasp my hand. “It would make more sense if we danced.” His voice had dropped a note, turned husky. I looked down at our hands and back up at him, my mouth suddenly dry, and all I could do was nod.

  He led me out onto the dance floor, pulling me close against him so that our bodies were flush together. My heart was somehow pounding against my chest and stuttering every other beat, unable to find a rhythm it could settle into, you would think it would pick up the beat of the music. The culprit was me, though, I didn’t know how to pick
up the beat of the music. Two left feet, I couldn’t dance if my life depended on it. But Shawn was holding me, his hips guiding me to sway with the music, and I found that I wasn’t tripping over like I had expected to be.

  “You don’t have to cling, I have you,” he murmured, his lips against my ear. We were close in height, so he didn’t have to duck his head to reach me.

  “Oh, I’m sorry.” I started to pull away, but his arms kept me in place, giving me only a small amount of space to pull back.

  “Not too far. I wasn’t complaining, just wanted to let you know that you’re not drowning. You’re not used to a dance floor, are you?”

  No, I’m not, but it’s you that’s killing me right now. The truth leapt into my mind and I had to shove it away as quickly as it came. That was a bad idea, a bad thought, that needed to get the hell out of my head.

  “No, I suppose I’m not,” I said instead. “Not a whole lot of reason to dance in my line of work.”

  “Surely you went to a dance or two in school? This is supposed to be natural to your generation.”

  “You’re a grand total of five years older than me, so shush with that,” I said, pulling my head back so he could see me screw my nose up at him. “And no, I didn’t go to any dances in school. That wasn’t my thing.”

  I was never invited to a dance, and I didn’t see the need in going alone to be with the people who had hated me all year when I could have a nice enough evening on my own. Nice being a word that could be interpreted differently depending on who you talked to, or on who was home that night. If my foster parents were home, then it was a horrid evening no matter if I went to a dance or not. At least at home no one was around to witness the pain.

  “Don’t tell me this is your first dance?” He asked, eyes widening a bit, and the beginnings of a smug smile tugging at the corners of his lips.