by B N Miles
His sister had always been slim and pretty. Big brown eyes, a small nose, thin lips. She looked a lot like him but with darker eyes. Her long hair was pulled back in a messy bun and she wore a simple black button-down shirt and slim black jeans.
Not much had changed about her over the years. She looked older, more tired, and even a little thinner. Her long pale fingers were skinny and skeletal, but beyond that, she was the same person. Not much had changed, except for her Magi Mark.
He stared at it as a deep well of shock shook his foundations. The thing was a deep purple-black, not quite as intense as Lumi Medlar’s, but still exceptionally dense. She must have touched the priori every day since he left to get a Mark like that, taken in so much of the magic that it left her body used and stained. He took a step toward her, tentative, looking into her eyes to see how much of his old sister was still there.
She gave him a very small, exhausted smile. “You shouldn’t have come back,” she said.
“I know.” Their voices echoed in the wide-open room. This space was bothering him. He couldn’t place it. He tried to remember what used to be in this spot back when he lived here, but nothing was coming to him. That bothered him more than he wanted to admit. “I wouldn’t have come if it wasn’t important.”
“You’re not a part of this family anymore.” She spoke in a singsong voice, like she was playing some kind of game. She stood up and he noticed that she was barefoot. Her toenails were painted a bright blue.
“I heard you got married,” he said.
She nodded once. “I did.”
“And you have children now. Congratulations.”
“I do.” She tilted her head. “You have a niece and a nephew.”
“I’d like to meet them one day.”
“You know that’ll never happen.”
He nodded and looked away. He expected this to be uncomfortable, but he didn’t think it would be so painful, too.
His sister had never taken to magic. She learned it as any other good Magi would, and was actually quite talented. But she never liked the Need, never liked what was necessary to keep it at bay. She saw the ugly sides of the family, just like Jared did, and she resisted it all. That fueled their daydreams, their long conversations about another life. She despised magic in a way that Jared never understood, not until the day he walked away from it all.
Seeing her with a Mark that deep made him want to rage against this house.
She’d been good once. She was a good person, kind, funny, outgoing. Now she seemed subdued, half-asleep, and likely half-sane if her Mark was any indication. This family had burned through her in the span of six years, so much faster than any Magi should’ve been used up.
“I’m sorry I left you behind,” he said out of nowhere.
She laughed again. It was harsh and short. “You didn’t leave me behind, Jared. I chose not to come with you. And Gods, I’m so happy I didn’t.”
He looked at her, a frown on his face. “Soph—”
“Look at you,” she sneered. “I can see your Mark, you know. It’s weaker even than the last time I saw you. The thing’s barely there. It’s pathetic, Jared. Have you really gone all this time without touching the priori?”
“Not all this time,” he said. “But most of it.”
“Mommy and Daddy would be so disappointed,” she said with a sigh. She clasped her hands behind her back and tilted her hair. Stray hairs fell down in her face and she blew them away with a puff of her breath.
His face hardened. If the sister he knew was still in there, she was buried underneath years of magic use, her mind half fractured, half whole. He couldn’t keep thinking of her as the girl he once knew.
“I’m here for a reason,” Jared said, putting a layer of steel into his voice. “I need a favor.”
She laughed again. “Favor? Why would we ever do you a favor? You’re a stain on this family, Jared. Do you have any clue how embarrassing it is to have you running around out there? You’re an Independent now.”
“If you don’t want to help me as a former member of this family, then help me as a Meta Marshal.”
She snorted. “Oh, good for you. You’re a big, bad Marshal now. Is that like a fake cop or something? Couldn’t make it in the Meta Police?”
“Sophie. There’s a group of Vampires that the family’s been having trouble with. I need you all to leave them alone.”
She frowned at him. “Vampires? I don’t know anything about Vampires.”
“I met with the Underlord. She said—”
“You met with Nikita?” Sophie sighed and tilted her head. “Isn’t she lovely? Gods, can you imagine, getting turned at the height of your beauty? Granted, she needs to drink human blood, which is gross. And she only has power at night.” Sophie’s hands sparked to life with electricity, the energy crackling around her skin, playing along her fingers, up her arms, and back down into her hands again. Her expression didn’t change at all, like touching the priori was as natural as breathing to her. It sent a chill down Jared’s spine. “I wouldn’t trade this for anything. Still, an interesting girl.”
“She sent me here,” Jared said, ignoring his sister’s display of power. “She wants you all to back off those Vampire, to leave them alone.”
“I’m sure she does.” Sophie shrugged and let her power dissipate. Jared could almost taste the magic in the room, a sharp, acrid taste on the tip of his tongue. “But why would we? Nikita doesn’t exactly scare us.”
“That’s why I’m here. I’m asking this for myself.”
“Oh, boring.” Sophie sat back down on the piano bench. “I thought you might be here to beg for your position back. But you’re just here on some… official business.” She sighed and waved her hand at him. “Guess I shouldn’t have invited Uncle Rolf to this party.”
Jared took a step back toward the door, his eyes wide. “You called for Rolf?”
“Sure. He’s acting Head now, though I bet you didn’t know that. Daddy’s been a little…” She made a crazy gesture with her finger pointed at her temple and laughed. “You know how it goes. All that power and then one day, poof. There goes your brain.”
“Sophie. Rolf is coming here right now? He hates me.” Jared felt a pulse of panic as his heart began to race.
“Oh, I know. I thought it would be so funny to see you two talk.” She beamed. “I bet he’d bring you back into the fold, you know. Probably punish you first, but you’d deserve it. You’re lucky I didn’t call Thomas, he would just try and kill you.”
Jared turned to the door. He wanted to run, to get out of there, but he felt a sudden stab of power nearby. It wasn’t Sophie, he still recognized the way she touched magic still, even after all these years. It was gentle, delicate. No, that magic was heavy, harsh, a sledgehammer to Sophie’s scalpel.
Something clicked on the other side of the door. Jared took a few quick steps away, putting distance between himself and whoever was coming inside.
A man stepped into the room with curly dark hair, a heavy, thick beard, and wrinkled skin. He was pale and heavyset, thick but not fat, like an old weight lifter. His eyes scanned the room, passing over Sophie, until they fell on Jared.
And he grinned.
Rolf Bechtel was a bear of a man. He wore tattered, paint-stained cargo shorts and an equally beat-up hooded sweatshirt. His clothing made him look like a carpenter or a man that worked with his hands, but Jared knew better. Jared knew exactly what Rolf was.
He stepped toward Jared, his smile getting bigger. “You,” he said, and began to draw on the priori.
Sophie let out a cry of delight.
Jared barely had time to snap his shield memgram into place, the diamond-hard air forming between him and his uncle, as Rolf’s blue-black lightning energy cracked from his fingertips and smashed to either side like a wave breaking against a seawall.
22
Rolf’s lightning struck Jared’s shield and sent him stumbling backward. The electricity arced around him and he could feel the heat
radiating from the blue-black jagged bolts, the hairs on his skin standing up straight. He barely kept his feet as Rolf came at him again, his uncle’s eyes wide, a big smile on the wild man’s face. The wooden floor around Jared began to warp and lift, chunks of it tearing off and floating up into the air as Rolf’s magic swirled around him.
Jared felt sweat trickle down his back and his muscles strained as he worked to keep the shield intact. But he knew he couldn’t be passive here, and so he let his mind wander as the priori flowed through his body. He felt good, so damn good, glowing with the energy it took to defend against a Magi like Rolf. More wood warped, broke, and shattered into shards that bounced off the walls. He heard someone laughing and clapping nearby as dissonant chords cut through the air.
Fighting Ferric had been like trying to defend against an onrushing train. He had been all power, no finesse, no control. The Dryad hadn’t been trained in magic, and so he’d just been throwing out every spell, every ounce of energy he could dream up.
Rolf was different. All Magi were different than Ferric, except for maybe Lumi. She’d been pure brute strength, unlike anything he’d ever seen before. Rolf’s magic was subtle, probing, clever. He tested Jared’s shields, forced him further back toward the far wall. Jared kept giving up ground, unable to stop the relentless push of his uncle’s strength.
Jared couldn’t sit on the defensive for long. Another strike from Rolf snapped a foot-wide chunk from the drywall, leaving the skeleton of wooden framing and copper pipes. Jared reached for a second memgram, barely maintaining the shields, and snapped it into place. Deep white ice formed around Rolf’s black boots, not on his body, but on the boards around the gleeful man’s feet. Jared staggered back as Rolf stepped onto the ice and nearly lost his footing, lurching sideways with a grunt.
“Enough,” Jared managed. “Enough, Rolf.”
But his uncle cackled with glee as he kicked the ice off his boots and stomped down hard on the floor. “I’m so happy you’re home, nephew. Your father would be so disappointed.” He grinned huge, his teeth white and primal, as the ice Jared had created formed into a thick spear. Rolf kicked it up into his hand and slammed it against Jared’s shield. The energy rippled in front of him and cracks formed faster than he could fill them in, spiderwebbing across the glittering, hardened air.
Rolf pushed at him. He roared, laughing, and slammed his fingers into the cracks of his shield, dropping the spear. His hands were glowing with priori as he began to tear Jared’s shield wide open, the man’s muscles straining, the sinews pulling and tensing as he roared with pure joy. Rolf pulled it wide enough to shove his face through, his eyes bulging. “What happened to you?” he screamed. “You were so good!”
Jared growled and slammed his fist into Rolf’s nose. He felt a satisfying, wet crack as Rolf staggered backward, hands flying to his face. There was no magic behind it, nothing beyond Jared’s own skin and bone, and that felt good.
The room went still as blood dripped between Rolf’s fingers. Shards of wood clattered to the ground and the piano music stopped. Sophie began to clap, laughing like she just watched a wonderful play. Jared dropped his shields, clenching his jaw at the Need. Rolf bent double, groaning, before he stood up and stared at Jared. He moved his hands away and revealed his crooked, bloody nose.
“Welcome home, nephew,” he said and smiled.
Jared took another step back, tensing for another assault. Rolf looked deranged, though his Mark wasn’t quite as deep as Sophie’s. He’d always been slightly off, never quite there, never quite with it. Jared watched as Sophie walked over to him, shaking her head. “Don’t move,” she said, her voice wistful, still smiling.
“Your brother has gotten weak,” Rolf said nasally.
“My brother hasn’t been living in this den of monsters for the past six years,” she said, reaching out. She took Rolf’s nose between her fingers and pushed it into place, snapping it. He groaned and laughed as Sophie drew on the priori, the healing energy moving from her hands and into his skin.
The nose shimmered and the bleeding stopped.
“Good enough,” she said. “But you’ll need to check in with Michael if you want it done properly.”
Rolf turned back to Jared and crossed his thick arms over his chest. “So what’s this worm doing back here?”
“He wants a favor,” Sophie said with a sigh. “Can you imagine?” She drifted back over to the piano, which somehow avoided the destruction. The room was torn to shreds, the floor ripped like claws tore into it, the walls blown open in spots. Shattered glass from the high windows glittered on the ground. But Sophie and her piano remained untouched. Jared wondered if she used magic during that fight, but he hadn’t sensed anything.
Jared flexed his fingers. He wanted to draw more magic into him and slam it against his uncle’s chest, but he knew that would be useless. His uncle had just ripped through his shield like it was nothing, and starting another fight was probably stupid, even if he’d managed to get the upper hand in the last one.
“What favor do you want, nephew?” Rolf asked. “What could have possibly made you come out from under your rotting log, you little worm?”
“Vampires,” Jared said through clenched teeth. “The Underlord sent me.”
“Nikita? Lovely girl.” Rolf grinned and tested his nose with his fingertips. Even though his nose was broken and the room was a shredded mess, everything would be fixed by nightfall once the younger members of their family were unleashed on the space as a sort of training exercise. Jared had fixed many a room when he was growing up.
That was just one privilege of the Magi. Break whatever they want and have someone else clean up the mess.
“You’ve been involved with some of her thralls,” Jared said. “Some Vampires. I’m not sure how or why, but she wants you all to leave them alone.”
Rolf stroked his beard. “I know what you’re talking about. Those little Vamps at that club around the corner.” He looked over at Sophie. “You know the ones?”
“I know them,” she said and began to play. It was a light, slow melody, but Jared didn’t recognize it.
“What were they doing again?”
“Loud music late into the night. Mommy went over and burned down half their building.” Sophie smiled and kept playing, her eyes fluttering shut.
“That’s right.” Rolf laughed. “Your mother’s been on edge lately, ever since your father went over the deep end.” He smirked at Jared. “You want us to leave the Vamps alone? We can leave the Vamps alone. They’re just little gnats that your mother enjoyed swatting around.”
“Thank you,” Jared said.
“But now you owe the family,” Rolf said, taking a step forward. “And you know damn well what that means.”
Jared tightened his fists. “I know.”
“Good. You’ll pay in blood if you have to, little worm. And don’t come back to this house, or I’ll tell your mother that you’re here next time.”
Jared refused to feel fear at that. He stared at Rolf for a long moment. “I’m with the Meta Marshals now,” he said. “If you need me, reach me through them.”
“Marshals?” Rolf laughed. “What a little worm. Go run along, little worm. You’ll get your favor, and I’ll get my pound of flesh in return.”
Jared walked to the door. He hesitated a moment, looking back at his sister playing the piano. She looked so serene, so happy. But then she turned her head toward him, and he saw the look in her eyes.
The emptiness, the blank stare. A smile slipped over her lips as she tilted her head back. Rolf said something to his sister, their voices muted as Jared left the ruined room, the piano music echoing after him.
He shut the door and stood there for a moment, catching his breath.
Rolf was trying to kill him. He knew it without a doubt. If he hadn’t broken the man’s nose, Rolf would’ve murdered him then and there, and probably tried to feed his body to Carlo. It had taken all of his power to stave Rolf off even for tha
t long.
Gods, he was out of practice, so far out of practice. If he was going to spiral into this world again, Jared needed to level up.
Carlo appeared at the end of the hall and gestured for him to follow. They walked in silence again, back through the house, like nothing had happened back there. That sort of thing likely occurred all the time. The Magi in the Bechtel family weren’t known for their self-control, and magic was dangerous even in stable hands.
They moved into the main hall, their shoes echoing on the marble floor, and stopped in front of the main doors. Carlo turned to him. “You’re free to go.”
Jared nodded. “Thank you. It was…” He trailed off, at a loss for words.
“The pleasure was all mine, Jared.” Carlo smiled. “It’s not every day someone breaks Rolf’s nose.”
Jared frowned. “You saw that?”
Carlo laughed and winked then opened the door. Jared hesitated then slipped outside, down the front steps, through the black gate, and onto the sidewalk.
Jessalene came to him first. She looked worried, her face drawn and tight. “What happened in there?” she asked, breathless. The bushes and leaves around her had grown larger, vines wrapped around her legs, and he realized she must’ve been using magic out of stress.
“It’s okay,” he said.
She threw herself at him, wrapping her arms around him. Jared saw Cassie lingering nearby, a smile on her lips.
“I was so worried.” Jessalene squeezed him. “I felt it in there, you know. You used magic, didn’t you? And someone else, too. Really powerful magic.”
“My uncle,” Jared said.
“Are you okay?” She pulled back, touching his face.
He smiled, took her hand. “I’m fine. Really, I’m fine.”
“The Need?”
He shrugged. “Not bad. If you’re so worried, you can take care of it when we get home.”
She smiled a little. “I’m sorry. I know you went in there for me… and I know you didn’t want to.”
“It’s okay. We didn’t have any other choice. Really, I’m fine.”