Electric Heat (A Raven Investigations Novel Book 3)

by Stacey Brutger

  “I had all last night to search the campus. Even in the middle of the night, people came and went from this building.” He stepped out from the protection of the tree line, and it was all she could do not to yank him back. “They delivered another body a few hours ago.”

  The witch she’d interviewed, Crystal, must have died late last night. Raven couldn’t say she felt sorry for the woman. “How do we get inside?”

  “All the openings are covered with magic.” He glanced at her over his shoulder, having no trouble picking her out of her place of concealment. “I believe that’s your department.”

  The key to breaking and entering was making it look like you belonged. Everyone knew she was there to solve a crime. Hopefully they weren’t also aware she’d been asked to leave. She marched up to the front door, grinning when she heard Rylan curse behind her.

  She held out her hands, and the wards flared to life. Static itched against her skin, the magic so thick it was as if she’d slammed into a wall. She sank her fingers into the spell, allowing it to wrap around her. When it didn’t recognize her magical signature, the ward thickened and trapped her hands more effective than any handcuffs. “It’s a lock, not an alarm system.”

  “Can you break it?”

  “Yes.” She lied through her teeth. Honestly, she didn’t know, but it was imperative they get inside the building. They’d come too far to leave without answers.

  Instead of trying to get away, she shoved against the wards. Magic spilled down her arms in scalding waves, far too much to absorb. She suspected if she tried to tear it apart as she had the gate, an alarm would sound. No, she needed more finesse. She needed her power. She closed her eyes and waited for electricity to rise at her call.

  Nothing.

  It had disappeared again.

  Frustration grabbed her by the throat, and she spoke to the creature. You want me to trust you, then give me a reason. Help me. Give me my powers back.

  Mine.

  Raven shivered at the raspy, possessive voice, but learned something important with that one word. You’re lying. You’re using the power to make yourself stronger. If you don’t learn to share, we’re both going to die.

  There were a few seconds of silence, and she began to worry the creature wouldn’t answer her plea. Then fire ignited from deep in her bones, nearly dropping her to her knees as raw, untainted power flooded her system. Acid splashed through her veins, and her breathing grew labored as she struggled to keep the pain from eating her alive.

  She needed to ground the power, or she would burn out.

  Just when she was ready to thrust the brunt of it into the ground, she hesitated. They needed to start working together.

  Praying she knew what she was doing, she looped the current back through her body and gave it back to the creature. She waited for it to bounce around inside her like feedback and braced for the crippling pain to strike. Much to her surprise, the electricity steadied. Part of her suspected the creature had unleased it all at one time to teach her a lesson. She grabbed a couple of strands of energy and wrapped them around her fingers.

  She stepped closer, pushing her entire body into the spell until she was fully immersed. The wards shoved back at the intrusion—not to release her, no, she was fully trapped in its webbing. It was determined to keep her right there until she was to be retrieved by the guards in the morning.

  Not going to happen.

  Raven unloaded her power into one section like a blowtorch, creating a hole in the ward as the tiny filaments of the web began to bend. She wasn’t sure how much time passed before the opening was large enough for both her and Rylan to pass through.

  She dropped the teeming power, and it settled heavily into her bones, taking all the lovely warmth with it. She shivered at the sudden nip in the air. They needed to keep moving. When she reached for the doorknob, a small tremor shook her fingers, an aftereffect of using so much power, and she quickly jerked open the door before Rylan could notice. “I’m not sure how long it will last, so we’d better hurry.”

  She slipped through the opening she’d created, taking care not to touch the edges to avoid getting scorched. Rylan wasn’t so lucky. Without the constant stream of power, the entrance had begun to shrink. He brushed a little too close, and the smell of singed clothing was acrid in the air.

  All the building lights were off, but her vision adjusted within seconds. Raven wanted to believe it was her beast, but there was no more denying that her body had begun to change.

  “Follow me.” Rylan took the first left and headed toward the back of the building.

  Even with her enhanced eyes, Raven had a hard time picking him out the shadows when he used his vampire skills, and she scrambled to catch up. “How do you know which direction to take?”

  “I can smell the decay. The scent is strongest this way.”

  She winced, wishing she hadn’t asked, because now that he’d mentioned it, the insidious smell of rot was everywhere. Rylan moved without making a sound, but there was nothing she could do to avoid the way her shoes slapped against the linoleum, no matter how she placed her feet.

  “Raven.”

  She jumped, barely holding back a squeal at the sound of her name. “What?”

  “That’s the third time we’ve passed this door.” Rylan glared at it as if it was the door’s fault.

  Raven glanced around. The place was so full of magic, she’d stopped tracking it.

  Stupid rookie mistake.

  She focused on the energy around her, and the place lit up like a Christmas tree. She ignored the natural energy from the walls and floors that came from cables, but it only eliminated half the sources. One particular line was brighter than the others. When she plucked the string, magic dusted in the air.

  One whiff told its own tale, and she was nearly overwhelmed by the stench of overly sweet caramel. She dropped her second sight and faced Rylan. “It’s a confusion spell, the longer you’re immersed in it, the stronger it gets. We must’ve triggered it when we entered.”

  Rylan downright scowled at being tricked. “The perfect trap to ensure an intruder doesn’t escape. Is there a way out?”

  Raven hesitated while she studied the hex. “The spell is woven through the outer sections of the hallways. I can try to cut through it, but I’m not sure what kind of backlash would result. If we’re lucky, it might alert others that we’re here.”

  He raised a brow at her definition of luck. “And if we’re not lucky?”

  “The magic could rip us apart.”

  He didn’t pace, didn’t move—hell, she doubted he even breathed as he faced her. “What do you suggest?”

  He trusted her to find a way out, and Raven wracked her brain for a solution. She turned and trailed back down the hallway. The spell clung to her, insidiously trying to work its way back into her system. “We need to head back to the last corridor. I think if we leave the main hallway, the effect of the spell will fade.”

  Rylan didn’t hesitate. He bent, tossed her over his shoulder and streaked down the corridor using his vampire speed. She grunted in surprise, then quickly closed her eyes as the world blurred. As soon as they turned the corner, the pressure building in her chest dissipated.

  She tapped him in the middle of the back. “It’s gone.”

  He gently lowered her to her feet as if she was fragile and precious. Rylan studied her face for a moment, then nodded, as if reassured by what he’d found. “I’m sorry. I should’ve suspected something—”

  “Don’t.” She held up a hand and peered down the deserted hall. “We both knew it wasn’t going to be easy. It’s my fault for not paying attention. I got careless. Let’s find those bodies and leave before someone decides to investigate.”

  Rylan nodded and wove his way through the maze of halls. Before long, she was hopelessly lost.

  “Here.” Rylan stopped before a door. “They’re in here.”

  Raven approached cautiously. Nothing out of the ordinary jumped out
at her. There were no overt spells waiting to snare her. She tentatively reached out, but didn’t encounter anything other than cool steel doors. She placed her hand over the keypad and drained the electricity with just a brush of her fingertips. It gave a warning bleep that screeched before winding down to nothing.

  The door clicked as the locks disengaged. Raven grabbed the handle and shoved it open. “Quick. As soon as I enter the room, the energy will pour back into the number pad. It should register like they just lost power for a few seconds.”

  Rylan slipped through the door like a wraith, and she marveled at his preternatural speed and silence. She felt as clumsy as an ox when she followed. When the door latched shut behind her, she breathed a sigh of relief.

  But when she glanced up, she lost all the air in her lungs.

  There were eight bodies encased in the tomblike room. Each was spread out on a gurney, their poses anything but restful. Their deaths had not been easy. When Rylan reached to touch one, she shot forward and grabbed his sleeve. “Don’t. There appears to be a spell wrapped around the corpses.”

  Rylan looked down at the hand on his arm and deftly slipped out of her hold, leaving her grasping at air. “They’re in stasis.”

  Raven couldn’t take her eyes off the mummified corpses. “Explain.”

  “Stasis is a spell that keeps the body from breaking down too fast. Decomposition is almost completely halted.”

  “So they’re marinating in their own decay.” She turned to look at him. “Why preserve the bodies?”

  “For you? For the Prime?” Rylan shrugged it away as unimportant. “The sun will be up soon. You need to hurry.”

  Right.

  Raven clutched her hands behind her back so she wouldn’t accidently touch anything, then forced herself to move closer. There wasn’t a wisp of magic remaining in any of the corpses. They’d been drained dry. She leaned forward, then lurched back in in alarm when she caught a whiff of decay and wild magic sealed inside the bodies.

  She called up her second sight and peered at the corpses. The symbol on their wrists blazed to life. The same mark she’d seen on Crystal. Determined to follow the clue, she pushed her sight into the bodies.

  Dark spores infested every cell in the corpse. At first, she assumed it was decay eating away the tissue, but the way it multiplied seemed off. Instead of destroying the tissue, the spores seemed to preserve it.

  The stasis not only delayed decomposition, but gave the disease time to spread throughout the whole body. Curiosity got the better of her. She unlocked her hand and grabbed a single strand of electricity with a twist of her fingers and sent it into the body.

  The corpse jumped, not like it had been shocked by current, but actually moved of its own volition.

  Rylan swore, grabbed her by the shoulders and jerked her away. “What did you do?”

  “It’s a trap.” Her heart launched into her throat, and she stumbled away from the now still bodies, revulsion coursing through her.

  “For us?” Rylan’s voice was sharp, and he hauled her toward the door.

  She shook her head in denial. “I don’t think so. There’s a spell, a marking on their wrists. When magic touches the body, the spell is triggered.”

  “What kind of spell?” Rylan grabbed the door, ready to yank it open when she spoke.

  “There’s something trapped in their bloodstream. Once magic hits them, the stasis will fail and they will rise.”

  He continued to stare at as if he didn’t understand what she said. His grip tightened painfully on her arm until her fingers tingled, and he opened the door. “We need to leave.”

  Primal fear coated her like black tar; there was no way to scrape it off without spreading it more. She wanted to escape in the worst way, but dug in her feet. “We can’t. We have to burn the bodies. They can’t be allowed to reanimate.”

  Rylan stopped tugging, and she breathed a sigh of relief that he was finally listening. Vampires were highly flammable, so she needed to be careful when she lit the fire. Without leaving to gather supplies, her only alternative was an electrical fire.

  She searched the walls for the biggest source of energy, rubbing her fingers together as she readied to direct a large chunk of it toward the bodies. The last thing they needed was to set the whole building on fire. Which meant she had to funnel the majority of it through her. She grimaced, knowing it wasn’t going to be a pleasant experience. “You need to stand back—”

  “Raven.”

  Her back stiffened at his flat tone, the affection normally reserved for when he spoke to her was decidedly lacking.

  The current in the air changed slightly, enough to alert her that they were no longer alone.

  She slowly turned, knowing she wasn’t going to like what she saw. Five armed guards filled the hall, all pointing really big guns at her head. “Shit.”

  * * *

  “You have to listen. It’s a trap.” Raven gripped the bars, wishing she could reach through and shake some sense into the idiot guards. “I need to speak to Heloise.”

  The men snorted at her demand. “She’s busy at the moment. You’ll be judged for your offense and escorted out after you pay the penalty.”

  Raven paced the cell, trying to work off her fury at being treated as a criminal when she was working to save their lives. Sure, she broke into a secure site and planned to burn the only evidence of a crime, but they hired her for a job, and she was damned well going to do it. It didn’t matter that they’d fired her from said job yesterday.

  Then she stopped short at something the guard said. “Who will judge?”

  “The Prime.” They shot to attention, as if speaking his name was a privilege.

  “Son of a bitch!” Raven wanted to smack herself and whirled to face Rylan. “That was their plan all along. The victims were selected at random. Whoever is behind this doesn’t care who dies, they just needed bodies.”

  “So all those deaths—”

  “—were to lure the Prime to investigate.” Raven wheeled around, clutching the bars with shaky fingers. “You have to tell Heloise it’s too dangerous to bring in the Prime.”

  The guard laughed as if the whole idea of anything harming a Prime was a joke.

  “They won’t listen.” Rylan was stretched out on the cot, fighting the effects of the sun as it began its ascent. “Why go after the Prime?”

  She wanted to rip the cell door off the hinges. As if sensing her intent, the magic imbued into the metal bars flared to life, singeing her palms, and she backed away with a hiss.

  The guards chuckled to each other as they left, and she wanted to bash their heads together to knock some sense into them. “When the wild magic killed, it stole magic. It could have killed them much easier any other way. Crystal said it was hungry. If it wanted magic, the Prime is the perfect source. He can access an unlimited supply.”

  “You have to warn them.” Rylan struggled to sit up. It must have been close to ten in the morning. He should be out cold.

  Raven shook her head. “I won’t leave you behind.”

  “They—”

  “The instant I walk out of here, they’ll drag you outside in retaliation.” When Rylan opened his mouth to protest, she held up her hand for silence, ignoring the way her nerves crawled over her like spiders. “Isn’t not like they would believe me. I did all I could. What happens next is their own fault.”

  “You don’t believe that.” Rylan lay back down, slow as an old, stooped man. Most vampires stopped functioning as soon as the sun rose and stayed that way until the sun set. Only the most powerful had the ability to remain awake a few hours before sunset or after sunrise.

  “If it comes down to a choice between you and the witches, I choose you.”

  A bitter smile curled his lips, and his control slipped. Hunger glowed from his eyes, gleaming black like a living thing. The last time they were in prison together, she’d felt the same thing. Then she didn’t know whether he would kill her or not…or if she would let
him.

  But he had refused to hurt her then, and she knew he wouldn’t lay a finger on her now even with his addiction riding him hard.

  She’d give him her blood if he asked, but the last time had changed him. Made him stronger. Made him unique even among vampires.

  If others ever found out what her blood could do, she was dead and they both knew it. To keep her safe, he never allowed himself to get close, never stayed in one place too long for fear others would discover the truth.

  When he left the compound without her so many years ago, she’d been devastated, but she understood. It was selfish of her, but now that he was back in her life, she couldn’t bear for him to leave again.

  Being locked away with him brought back memories of those horrible times, and the creature swelled under her skin, ready to rend the place apart. The current fluctuated wildly, and her body practically crackled with the demand to be set free.

  “You’re thinking so hard I can hear you from over here.”

  “You’re reading my thoughts.” She should be furious, but she had nothing to hide from him. He knew her deepest, darkest secrets and liked her anyway. She didn’t understand him at all.

  He sighed, quite a feat since vampires didn’t need air. “You were broadcasting.”

  “Sorry.” But as she stared at the prison walls, her memories wouldn’t remain in the past. “I still don’t know who they were trying to kill when they shoved you in my room so many years ago.”

  “Me.” Rylan smiled, but it held no humor. “I was all used up. They had no more need of me.”

  Raven wasn’t so sure. “You were starved. You could’ve killed me easily.”

  “I was done with killing.”

  They’d fed him rotten blood until he was half-insane. Then they fed him mutilated shifters, the ones too weak to heal anymore. It was their favorite way of getting rid of nasty problems like dead bodies. “They forced us to do terrible things. You—”