Hemorrhage

by SA Magnusson

  It might not be possible. I had done everything that I could in order to keep him alive, and it seemed that I had succeeded—and yet that success was incomplete. Could I have saved him only to lose him?”

  “Yes. It’s gone. It’s not anything I’m familiar with, though I will continue to work on him to see if there is anything that I can uncover. I should like to know how it is that you saved him. You were overheard discussing using the magic from his death to try and heal him.”

  At this point, it probably didn’t matter what I said. I’d already revealed myself far more than I had ever intended to, and there was no point in denying what I had done. I might as well throw all of it out there.

  “I feel death when it comes,” I said. I took a deep breath, breathing out. There was something almost freeing about sharing that. It was strange. For so long I had feared my magic, both the dark magic along with whatever it was that detected oncoming death, and now here I was telling a member of the council exactly what it was that I could do.

  And maybe I needed to.

  I had gone in search of answers more than once, but those answers had been difficult to find. Answers that I needed wouldn’t be found within the council or the Dark Council or among the shifters. The answers I needed involved power from the other side of the Veil, a place that I feared attempting to access.

  “It’s a similar sensation to what I detect when I feel magic being used around me,” I said. “It’s a sense of cold. Both have similar characteristics, but when I detect magic, it has a different sensation than that of death.”

  “You are speaking of using this sensation,” Sharon said.

  “I was, and I did. There is power when death comes, and I don’t know if it’s the power of the dying or whether it represents the remnants of the person’s magic. Either way, I use that power.”

  “What do you mean you use it?”

  “I’m not exactly sure. I can feel it. It energizes me, filling me with power.”

  I shuddered as I thought of it. I hadn’t known what it was for the longest time, and I still wasn’t entirely sure what it meant. There were ancient gods on the other side of the Veil, and I knew that my mother had somehow summoned some ancient power, but I would never have imagined that she would have summoned a god. Then again, I had never imagined that she had summoned a demon, either, and I had lived for several months believing I was part demon.

  Sharon studied me before turning her attention to my grandmother. “How long have you known about this?”

  “About her use of death?”

  Sharon nodded.

  “Only a few hours,” Gran said.

  “Do you recognize it?”

  Gran shook her head. “Not at all. We held her apart from the council because we feared she had dark magic. If you want to punish us for it, then the council would need to convene and we will face the consequences, but we knew what was in her heart. We knew that she had no intention of using her magic. And we knew—”

  “You chose to conceal her from the council because you feared what might happen to her. Don’t argue that you did so for any other reason than that.”

  “We have always served the council well,” Gran said.

  “That is not up for debate,” Sharon said.

  “I think it is. If you’re going to turn this from Kate onto Veran and myself, then I will point out all of the ways we have served the council over the years.”

  “We need to understand what she can do,” Sharon said.

  “No,” I said.

  Sharon turned to me.

  “I’ve already made my position clear. I’m not a mage, and therefore I’m not under the purview of the council. You can recognize the fact that I’m different, but you don’t get to decide what to do about me. And you don’t get to decide and try to learn what I can do. I’m willing to work with the council, but only if the council continues to do as I feel is right. And only if the council agrees with what I have already set forth.”

  “And what do you think the council has done that is not right?”

  “For one, there was fighting between the mage council and the Dark Council for years. That was unnecessary. And regardless of what you claim, there are some responsible for what I just experienced.” And I wasn’t even sure that I would get a chance to ensure it didn’t happen again. Could they really get away with it?

  “You don’t understand what the Dark Council has done to us over the years.”

  “I understand what the mage council believes the Dark Council to have done, but I have learned that much of it is tied to mages who have been held away from power for a long time. Most of them want only to live without fear of having their magic burned away from them. It’s the same thing I wanted. They have fought only because they feel they have no other option.”

  “We have a treaty with them.”

  “And as I said, it needs to be formalized. They still feel separated from the rest of mage society. And they will be brought into the council so that an attack like I just experienced does not happen again.”

  She frowned. “What else?”

  “That’s it,” I said.

  “That’s it?”

  “If you are willing to work with the Dark Council, if you are willing to truly work with them, I will work with the mages. It’s not that I want to go against mages. Hell, I believed I was one for the longest time.”

  Sharon frowned again. “There’s nothing else?”

  “Oh, and I want the names of the councilors involved in providing permission to the vampires. They will pay for that.”

  “I’m afraid that will be handled internally.”

  “As I said—”

  “That is council business.”

  I laughed. There wasn’t anything more for me to do.

  “What else?” she asked.

  “I guess there’s nothing else.”

  Turning my attention to Aron, I realized that wasn’t quite true. There was something else, but I wasn’t certain what to do about it. He was lost, and it seemed as if there were some way that I could be a part of helping him, but how?

  “I would like to work with Aron,” I said.

  “He is receiving the best care that he can get.”

  “It’s not the best, and it’s not the only care. I’d like to see what I could do to help him.” When Sharon frowned, I glanced over at Gran. “I’m a physician. A medical doctor for non-magical people. Let me work with him.”

  “You care about the archer?”

  I swallowed back the lump in my throat. “Very much.”

  “You may work with him, but you will do so here.”

  I thought about the ley lines and the power within them. It might not be enough, and there was one other possibility, but reaching it would be challenging, though it was the challenge that I was willing to take on, especially when it came to Aron.

  Using my magic here, around the council, and especially around someone like this, would put me in a place of danger, but I didn’t see myself as having much other choice. And maybe I could swing things in my favor, especially if the dynamics of the council changed.

  “I agree.”

  I wasn’t sure if there was anything that I would even be able to do to help Aron, but I wasn’t about to leave him, not like this, not when there might be something that I could do for him.

  If nothing else, I had to be thankful that he was still alive.

  But was that enough for me?

  I hadn’t known what I wanted with Aron, and maybe I still didn’t know, but seeing him brought back a flood of emotions.

  I walked over to him, forcing him to look down at me. Taking his hands in mine, I squeezed. I let my magic wash out from me, sweeping over Aron and flowing into him before retreating.

  He simply stared at me.

  “I’m going to help you,” I whispered. “I’m going to bring you back from this. And then you can help me find out more about this Odian and how he’s connected to my mother.”

 
I squeezed his hands again, and when he squeezed mine, I felt a moment of relief in that moment when he squeezed back. With it, there was almost a spark of recognition in his eyes.

  I would hang on to that moment. For Aron, I would do whatever I needed. Even if it meant exposing myself to the council. Even if it meant delving fully into the magical world.

  For Aron, I would.

  Grab book 5 of Medicine and Magic: Anaphylaxis

  Both medicine and magic failed saving Aron. I intend to change that.

  I’ve feared my magic my entire life, knowing my mother had chased dangerous magic before her death. I’ve never been able to look into how—or why—she died. Until now.

  I have a name.

  While struggling to help Aron, I use my new allies to search for information about the person who might be responsible for my mother’s death. With the appearance of a new mage and abilities far beyond anything I’ve ever encountered, I’m forced to abandon that search and find some way of stopping power that taps into the magic on the other side of the Veil.

  Only—how can I stop a power that calls to me?

  I’m close to understanding what I am, but this mage stands in my way. I intend to stop her… or die trying.

  Want to know how Aron and Ariel first met? Sign up for my newsletter to get Foul Moon, a short story set in the world of Medicine and Magic, for FREE!

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  Author’s Note

  Thank you so much for reading Hemorrhage. I’ve really enjoyed writing Kate and her adventures and hope you’ve enjoyed reading about her.

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  Cheers,

  SA Magnusson

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  Also by SA Magnusson

  Medicine and Magic

  Flatline

  Postmortem

  Malignant Magic

  Hemorrhage

  Anaphylaxis