Enemy of Magic (Dragon's Gift: The Protector Book 4)

by Linsey Hall

“Good. Tell me if you want me to heal you.”

  Not unless I am about to croak. Not until I knew more about our blood connection, at least.

  He turned around and revved the engine, setting off away from the gorge. This side was no longer jungle, but rather a field of waving wheat. Like the great vast fields of the American Midwest, where Dorothy lived. The air changed scent, leaving behind the rich greenness of the jungle in favor of thunderstorms on the prairie.

  The moon shined brightly upon the swaying fields of wheat. In the distance, thunderhead clouds billowed high into the sky. Lightning cracked within the clouds, far enough away that I couldn’t hear the thunder. The display was fabulous, though.

  Joy welled in my chest as we plowed across the field, wind whipping at my hair. Compared to the jungle, there was so much freedom here. This kind of speed reminded me of Fabio.

  An old farmhouse crested the horizon, sticking up like a sore thumb. Ares veered toward the building, his big bike eating up the ground.

  “Will there be help there?” I shouted.

  “The opposite!”

  Great. As we neared, a woman came out onto the porch.

  Ares pulled to a stop at her front stoop. She propped her hands on her hips, giving us a considering look. Her graying hair was pulled back in a loose bun and her apron tied smartly about her waist. With her uniform and work-worn hands, she looked just like Auntie Em from The Wizard of Oz. There was even a dog lounging on the stoop. But he was no Toto. The little black beast had huge fangs.

  He growled at me. I waved, a weak smile tugging at my lips.

  “Vampire dog?” I whispered to Ares.

  “Maybe.” He raised a hand in greeting. “Ma’am.”

  “You want to cross my fields?” Her voice was more powerful than I’d expected, something you’d hear from a goddess.

  “We do.”

  “Then you’ll have to solve the riddle if you hope to reveal the path and make it out alive.”

  Riddles. I wasn’t terrible at riddles. But what did she mean by ‘reveal the path’? I looked past her house, toward the open field beyond.

  But there was no more field. Just the vast nothingness of space.

  Well, crap. We’d definitely have to solve this riddle now.

  “Of course,” Ares said.

  Thunder rolled in the distance. The massive clouds neared us.

  The woman’s eyes glowed brightly, an eerie sight, and she recited her riddle. “I go, brave and roaring across the earth, burning buildings and houses in my wake. Smoke rises from the fires as I leave in a trail of disruption and death. I have the power to shake tall trees until their leaves fall down, covered in water, and scatter exiles far from their lands. What am I?”

  I frowned, searching my memory. What the hell was she? Thunder cracked in the distance, making it hard to focus. My mind raced as the woman began to tap her foot. Tension thickened in the air, stress from the riddle and the oncoming storm.

  “There’s a time limit,” the woman said.

  “We’re thinking.” Ares turned around to look at me. “Any luck?”

  My mind spun like a hamster wheel as I thought of things and discarded them. What the hell was she talking about? One wrong guess and we wouldn’t get through, so I had to be sure of my answer.

  The thunder boomed, growing closer and making it hard to concentrate. We’d be rained out, struck by lightning before we fixed this.

  An idea flared. “This riddle is supposed to help us cross and avoid dangers?”

  The woman nodded, her magic glowing eerily. “It is.”

  The thunder cracked again. Understanding dawned. “It’s a deadly thunderstorm. The lightning leaves the fires, and the wind shakes the trees. The rain drowns everything and drives people from their homes.”

  The woman inclined her head. “You’d best hurry across, then.”

  I looked past her house to where there’d previously been emptiness. There was now a waving field of wheat, just like the one we’d crossed.

  Ares nodded his appreciation, and tore off across the valley. The storm rolled toward us, thunder at our backs.

  “Good job!” Ares shouted.

  “Go faster!” I turned around, eyeing the clouds and lightning roaring toward us. High above, the moon disappeared behind the clouds, sending the night into darkness. Vicious lightning strikes illuminated the dark sky. Droplets of cold rain splattered against my face.

  “We can’t outrun it!” Ares shouted. “Watch for the lightning.”

  Oh, holy fate. I was the lightning spotter? My skin chilled with fear, and I turned around to study the clouds. The problem with lightning was that it was impossible to see it coming. It just struck and burned.

  Thunder deafened me as I squinted toward the clouds. Lightning struck a hundred meters away, but there’d been no freaking clue that it was about to hit.

  Rain poured from the sky, and we raced across the field. Pūķi flew alongside us, high in the air. They gathered in certain areas of the sky, darting across the clouds like groups of birds.

  After a moment, I realized that they clustered right where lightning was about to strike, no doubt drawn by the energy. Rain blurred my vision as I kept my head tilted upward to observe them. When they clustered right above us, my heart rate spiked.

  “Go left!” I screamed.

  Ares dodged the motorcycle to the left just as a bolt of lightning struck the ground where we’d been. I laughed, crazed and relieved.

  As we tore across the prairie, I kept my gaze glued to the Pūķi. Every time they gathered right above us, I shouted to Ares, and he diverted our path.

  My heart raced and my body buzzed with adrenaline as we narrowly avoided our death countless times. When the rain finally stopped and a massive castle on a hill appeared on the horizon, I was just about out of energy.

  “Oh, thank fates.” I collapsed against Ares’s back, holding on for dear life.

  He drove us up the hill leading to the gates of the castle. It was the same fabulous white stone structure from my trials. The three pennants still flew from the towers—gold, silver, and opal. I now knew that there was one each for the goddesses of fate.

  The blue water in the moat glittered clear and inviting. I looked away, remembering what Ares had said about it dragging a person straight to the center of the earth.

  “Well done, you two!” a voice called from above.

  I looked up at the parapets. Laima leaned over the edge, Karta and Dekla at her side. Their magic hit me hard—Laima’s crashing wave signature, Karta’s thunder, and Dekla’s electricity. Each held a cocktail in one hand and a pair of binoculars in the other. Laima’s golden hair was studded with opals that glittered in the moonlight.

  “Do you make people go the hard way so you can watch them?” I shouted, remembering Laima’s obsession with reality TV. Anything to stem the boredom of immortality.

  “We do!” She laughed. “Clarence will show you inside.”

  The drawbridge lowered, and the massive castle gate lifted, revealing a handsome young man in a black suit. He couldn’t be more than twenty-two, with the fresh-faced appeal of a clothing model who sold expensive tank tops to teenagers.

  “You’re the butler?” I asked.

  “Intern.” He gestured us inside.

  What the heck kind of college credit was he getting out here?

  Ares drove the bike into the main courtyard and cut the engine. I climbed off, limbs still shaking from the stress of the motorcycle ride through hell.

  “Would you like to freshen up?” Clarence asked.

  “Oh, my fates, yes.” My wet clothes were chilling in the night air.

  He led us through the flower-filled courtyard toward the entrance into the castle. This was the back entrance, I realized. Though the gate had been similar, this area was smaller. Still filled with flowers, but more intimate.

  We entered the castle through the back. The impressive door and massive great foyer screamed luxury and style. Antique
furniture contrasted wonderfully with modern art done in swirls of blue and silver. Clarence led us up a wide, curving staircase. I felt like Scarlet O’Hara, but wetter and dirtier.

  We followed him to a door at the end of the hall, which he pushed open to reveal a fabulous bedroom of gold and blue. He grinned, white fangs glinting in the light of the chandelier overhead. “There is a bathroom in the back. Take your time, and the goddesses will meet you when you are done.”

  “Thanks.” I entered, longingly eyeing the bed. It looked like a pile of heaven, but it’d be a long time before I slept.

  A door beckoned from across the room. I hurried toward it and gasped when I stepped inside.

  The whole place was gold, with gems set into the light fixtures above. It scattered the light into rainbows. It was both gaudy and glorious. My FireSoul tugged hard, roaring up at the sight of all these riches.

  I turned to Ares, who’d just entered. “Can you believe this place?”

  He glanced around, bemused. “It’s quite…something.”

  So he wasn’t as big a fan of the sparkly sparkly, but I loved it.

  Clarence appeared in the doorway behind Ares, a tray in his hand. Crystal wine goblets glittered in the light, and a tray of fancy sandwiches made my mouth water.

  I licked my lips like a hungry hound. “That was fast.”

  “I want full credit.” He set the tray on the counter.

  “What internship is this?”

  “Business administration.”

  “Hmm.” I frowned at him. “I think the goddesses are taking you for a ride.”

  He grinned. “I know. But have you seen them?”

  They were pretty fabulous. I could see why Clarence didn’t mind hanging around here for the summer, hoping to get lucky.

  “Enjoy your stay.” Clarence smiled and disappeared. The bedroom door clicked shut.

  “Smart kid.”

  Ares grinned. “Out of his league.”

  “Yeah, but hope springs eternal.” I went to the tray and picked up a goblet, sipping the golden liquid inside. Flavors exploded on my tongue, fruity and sweet and sparkly. My head immediately started to buzz. “This is amazing.”

  “Ambrosia.” Ares sipped his own, eyes going heavy lidded. “Drink sparingly.”

  “Or what?”

  “All kinds of things. And we need our wits about us here.” He handed me a sandwich. “We can expect help from the goddesses, but also tricks. They are bored, and we must be wary.”

  I bit into the sandwich, my eyes rolling back in my head. I had no idea what the delicate little thing was made of, but holy fates, was it tasty. I scarfed down four more and polished off my Ambrosia, then turned toward the showers.

  I desperately wanted to jump into one of those fabulously large showers, but Ares was here. We weren’t exactly at the get naked together phase of things. There were also two shower stalls, however. Enough for both of us. Though I might briefly entertain the idea of sharing, now was not the time.

  “I’m getting in that one.” I pointed to the glass door on the right. “You can have the other.”

  “Fair enough.”

  I grabbed a fluffy white towel from the counter and went into the shower stall. It was as big as my bathroom at home, the walls entirely covered with pearls. I tapped one with a fingertip, my FireSoul roaring. Yep, they were real.

  And this was the guest bathroom? I couldn’t imagine where Laima showered.

  Quickly, I cranked on the water and then tugged off my soaking clothes, tossing them over the shower door. The warm water soothed the stress from my muscles as I buried my head beneath it. My mind drifted, carried on a wave of Ambrosia. Steam twined around me, making me feel like I floated on a cloud. The water pounded away at my shoulders, sending me into a trance.

  Distantly, I heard the water turn on in Ares’s shower. He was naked. In this room. With me.

  My breath escaped me.

  Whoa.

  Visions of him in the shower raced through my mind, followed quickly by all the things I could do if I slipped out of my shower and into his. I felt so good and relaxed and carefree right now that the idea felt pretty genius really.

  I shivered with anticipation as I reached for the shower door handle.

  Chapter Four

  My fingers closed around the door handle when an errant thought popped into my head.

  This was all too amazing to be true. The gorgeous bathroom. The wine, the food, the fluffy towels, and the butler/intern.

  The bored goddesses.

  Ares was right. That Ambrosia was dangerous stuff.

  I scowled, head still swimming from Ambrosia, and looked around. Was there a video camera in here? I didn’t spot one, and couldn’t imagine that the Vampire Realm could accommodate that level of technology, but maybe goddesses wouldn’t need video cameras to spy.

  Either way, I wouldn’t put it past them.

  So I turned away from the door. Away from Ares. “Are you trying to make your own dirty movie, Laima? Because I’m not falling for it!”

  There was no response, but I flicked her the bird anyway for good measure. Maybe they didn’t see it, but it made me feel better. And I wasn’t going to worry about them when I had this amazing shower to enjoy. Just because I wouldn’t be sharing it with Ares didn’t mean it wasn’t awesome to shower inside a pearl-encrusted wonderland.

  I scrubbed my hair and sobered up a bit before I turned off the water and wrapped a towel around me. I peeked out of the shower stall to see if the coast was clear. It was, so I stepped out.

  “Don’t come out yet!” I called, carefully averting my eyes from the glass door enclosing Ares’s shower. It was frosted, so I couldn’t see much, but I didn’t need any more temptation than the goddesses had already provided.

  Quickly, I conjured some fresh clothes. This time, I went for a Keyboard Cat T-shirt. For good measure, I conjured Ares an identical set of clothes to the ones that he’d soaked. Hopefully I got the sizing correct.

  “All clear!” I called to Ares before going into the bedroom. I ignored the fabulous bed in favor of the large window. It overlooked the courtyard below, where the Pūķi still lounged, eating from golden plates that Clarence was currently refilling with sliced fruit.

  “I wonder if he’s really getting college credit for this,” I muttered.

  An orchid on the windowsill leaned toward me. I petted the stalk, feeling the magic inside the plant. My new powers were crazy. No question, I definitely needed to find time to practice.

  Ares joined me a moment later, wearing the clothes I’d conjured for him and scrubbing a towel over his hair. “Ready to find the goddesses?”

  “Yep.” I turned to him. “This place is pretty but it’s dangerous.”

  “Keep that in mind. I like Laima, Karta, and Dekla, but they’re powerful, bored, and entitled. It’s a dangerous combo for mere mortals such as ourselves.”

  “An understatement.” I followed him out of the room, descending the stairs to the main foyer. I was just about to call out for Clarence when he appeared, a friendly smile on his face.

  “I shall take you to their Fabulousnesses.” He gestured toward a hallway.

  I grinned. “That’s a mouthful.”

  “It is how they prefer to be addressed today.”

  “Today?” Ares asked.

  “Glory as great as theirs cannot be described with only one title.”

  “These ladies are nuts,” I whispered to Ares.

  “That they are.”

  “I like them anyway.”

  We followed Clarence down the wide hall toward a door at the end. He let us into a luxurious movie theater. Three huge chairs sat in front of the screen, each housing a goddess. Laima wore slinky ivory pajama bottoms and a top, both of which shimmered like diamonds. Dekla was dressed in torn jeans and a golden bustier that made her dark skin glow. Karta lounged with her legs thrown over the side of her chair. Her bodysuit glittered like silver lightning, and her dark hair fell like
water over her shoulder.

  I looked toward the movie screen. Instead of Ares and me on the screen, it was Bree and Ana, the badass girls from Death Valley. They were driving their buggy across the valley once more, fighting off a huge monster made of black smoke.

  “Why are you watching them?” I asked.

  Laima turned, eyes sparkling with interest. “They’re fascinating! Do you see how they attack that beast? They’re untrained, but the sheer ferocity!”

  Ana was driving straight for him, and Bree was on the roof of the vehicle, her arms outstretched to shoot her magic toward the monster. “They’re impressive. But should you be spying? And how are you doing it?”

  “It’s our one great luxury.” Laima waved a hand, and the image disappeared. “We’re not going to quit now.”

  I laughed. “Given the bathroom that we just showered in, that can’t be true.”

  “Just gems and gold. Nothing very interesting. Not like them.”

  My dragon soul disagreed. “We were hoping you could help us with some questions.”

  Laima leaned back in her chair, gaze thoughtful. “I thought you might be returning.”

  “For help with your great task,” Dekla said.

  “We were actually waiting,” Karta said. “Took you long enough.”

  “You were waiting for me?”

  The three nodded, then spoke in unison. “We had a vision.”

  “You did? What was it?”

  “In good time.” Laima waved a hand, and two chairs appeared in front of theirs.

  They were big and comfy, and I was relieved to see that Laima wasn’t playing some stupid power trick by giving us tiny kiddo chairs. She’d never struck me as the type, anyway.

  “Tell us what has happened since you were here last,” Laima said. “I’d like to know where you stand before we discuss what we three have seen.”

  Ares and I sat. The words poured out of me. I told them all about the magical enchantment surrounding my village and Drakon.

  The three goddesses leaned back, their expressions thoughtful. Karta even tapped her chin and pursed her lips.

  “So you believe this Drakon is responsible?” Dekla asked.

  “Yes. Though I don’t know why.”