Magic Possessed

by Jaime Rush

  Hold on for one more minute.

  Kade walked awkwardly to Dune’s office, happy that Guard policy dictated no locked doors. He collapsed to the floor the second the door closed behind him. The illusion pulled out of his cells the same way a needle pulled out of the body. The dark skin vanished, his body went from the bigger, bulkier physique back to Kade’s lean state.

  He lay there for several minutes, blocking the door with his body. Illusions like Changing were one of the most intense and laborious of the Deuce magick abilities. For Dragons, it was natural to Catalyze, or so he’d been told. Not so, Deuces.

  He watched the minute hand of the clock tick away, until five minutes had passed. His head throbbed with each tick of the second hand, no doubt the effects of being knocked in the head. It was two fifteen. Ferro should be gone now. Kade had to use the desk to help him to his feet. Once more he’d have to conjure the illusion.

  He pulled Dune in again, repulsed at the reflection in the mirror—vain bastard—hanging on the wall. It flickered.

  Hold on. Your life depends on it.

  He walked out and headed to Ferro’s door. In the event that Ferro had changed his plans, Kade came up with some other tidbit to give him about the assignment. He knocked. No answer. He opened the door and walked in, closing it behind him.

  Seeing no one inside, he released the illusion, this time pushing past the exhaustion. No time for that. He started looking through the desk drawers. He found the map, with a yellow dot in August territory, next to the red one. Written beside it was the name Kaitlyn. Beneath that was a calendar with names written in each box of the last three months. The same time frame as his daily two o’clock sojourns. Sometimes it wasn’t a name but a note like Unk dragon in Opa Locka and a number. Most of the numbers ranged from three to the thirties. And on the next day’s square, the letters SS were written in thick black marker and circled several times. Solar storm, had to be. That was the only thing on here that made sense.

  He called Violet, feeling something surge inside him at the sound of her voice. She had every reason to hate him, and she probably did. But she was going to work civilly because she was levelheaded. “Are you where you can write down some names?”

  “Hold on.” He heard a scuffling noise. “How’s it going?”

  “I’m in Ferro’s office. So far so good.”

  “I’m ready.”

  He listed off several of the names on the calendar. “Dragons, I think. See what you can find out. The solar storm plays into whatever they’re up to. And there’s a target—in August territory. Kaitlyn.”

  “Kaitlyn! She’s a child! Nine, maybe ten.”

  “Then do what you can to protect her. As long as Ferro thinks Dune has done his job, you’re safe. I’m going to stake out his home. Dune will go missing, but that shouldn’t be connected to his previous assignment since I’m dead.”

  “Don’t say that,” she said in a rush of words.

  He wanted to say more, but it wasn’t the time. Especially when he heard the doorknob turn. In those seconds, he pressed the phone power button at the same time as he conjured the illusion. He didn’t have time to put the map and calendar away before Ferro walked into his office. Kade dropped the phone into the trash as he pushed the chair in.

  “He was right,” Ferro said, closing the door. His gaze shifted to what Kade had been looking at.

  “Who was right?” Kade stepped away from the desk.

  “That doesn’t matter. He told me someone was in my office. You know, something didn’t feel right about Dune’s report. He takes too much enjoyment from his kills. This time he was in a hurry. You can drop the illusion, Kavanaugh.”

  He did, feeling the drain on his already taxed body. “Tell me what’s going on. That’s all I wanted.”

  “I think you know enough.”

  Kade’s dagger slid automatically into his hand. He would have to kill Ferro if he had any chance to get out of this alive. Ferro wouldn’t be able to maneuver as Dragon in the small space, but as a First Gen, he didn’t have to Catalyze to use some of his powers. Ferro’s face shimmered, both man and Dragon.

  Kade ducked the dark rope of smoke that whipped out like a snake, the signature of an Obsidian Dragon. He sent an arc of magick slicing across Ferro’s shoulder that cut through shirt and skin. Blood bloomed through the torn material. Why hadn’t he tried to avoid it? The man hadn’t even moved.

  Ferro spun toward the door and opened it. “Code Red!”

  Come immediately, be ready to fight.

  And they did, Arguses and Vegas rushing toward the door to find Kade with his dagger at the ready, Ferro’s shoulder bleeding. Ah, that’s why he hadn’t evaded the swipe.

  “Get him!” Ferro shouted, pointing to Kade. “He’s gone Red!”

  Not the same as a Dragon going Red Lust, but it meant the same thing—magick psychosis.

  Kade brought his dagger in, raising his arms. “Ferro’s having innocent people killed. He’s—”

  A flash of magick hit him, knocking him against the desk. He gained his footing just as four of his fellow Vegas tackled him. A cuff snapped over his wrist before he could use his magick to throw them back, these containing a larger dose of Lucifer’s Gold. His magick died. The Vegas shoved him against the wall and jerked his hands behind his back before snapping on the other cuff, these meant to restrain physically as well.

  “Sorry, buddy,” one of them said in a low voice.

  As he was pushed out into the pit and down toward the prison entrance, the last thing he heard was Mia’s terrified scream.

  Violet stared at the phone every few minutes as she researched the names Kade had given her—all Dragons, all dead. She didn’t like that he’d hung up so abruptly and hadn’t called back. It’s only been twelve minutes. He’ll call back soon.

  When her phone rang, she lunged for it. Not Kade but Ernie. She frowned. Why would he be calling her?

  “What’s up?” she asked. Please don’t let my clan be there causing trouble.

  His voice was low as he said, “You’d better come on down here. A few of the clans are having a meeting. Didn’t start out that way, but they’re talking. And that would be a good thing, but they’re talking about your clan and the murders in the same conversation. You didn’t hear it from me.” He hung up.

  She thought about bringing her brothers but decided against it. They would cause more trouble, and, really, she had enough right now.

  There were only a few vehicles in the lot when she pulled in a short time later. At the door, she took a deep breath, smoothed her shirt, and walked in all casual-like. A group of men and women clustered at the low tables inside Ernie’s bar. Peregrines along with the Augusts and a few Murphys, the people who had likely killed Arlo. Rage rippled through her and burned where her Dragon resided. She put her hand at her waist and sauntered over.

  “Well, lookee who’s here. Fancy that.” One of the Murphys shot a glare at Ernie, who was wiping glasses.

  “I came in for a beer. Been a helluva last few days.” She took them all in, anger simmering in their eyes. “Fancy you all sitting here playing nice.”

  Toth August came to his full, lanky height. “That’s more than your clan is doing.”

  Danger prickled over her skin. “What are you talking about?”

  Bob Murphy stood, too, and held up a key ring. “One of yours came onto our land and killed Dan. Left this for us to find.”

  Bren said, “My cousin saw you pick up something over at our place, after Butch got killed. You came over, pretending to be all concerned, but I think you were hiding evidence. I know you’re trying to protect your brothers, but someone’s gotta pay.”

  They started moving in on her, fists at their sides.

  “Stop!” She held out her hand, standing firm. “We’re not murdering people. The Guard is.”

  They paused and looked at each other. Then burst out laughing.

  “The Guard snuck onto our land and planted your key ring, did t
hey?” Bob said.

  Well, when he put it like that. “Look, I know it sounds unbelievable. I haven’t had a chance to figure out the why of it. Marshall,” she said to the Peregrine patriarch she’d spoken with, “you said there were footprints leading to the Wolfrums. And you,” she said to the Augusts, “you found a handkerchief that likely belonged to the Spears boy. Think about it. Suddenly members of three clans independently decide to murder someone and leave evidence, to boot. Blatant evidence.”

  “Why not? Everyone’s getting restless, with the solar storm coming. But that doesn’t mean we’re going to put up with it.”

  The solar storm. How did the power of the storm factor in? It made the Deus Vis fluctuate, affected weaker Crescents and made others loopy, like the effect of the full moon.

  She turned to Toth. “You’ve got to call your people, tell them to watch out for Kaitlyn.”

  “Is that a threat?” Bren’s eyes narrowed.

  “No, it’s a warning. Someone in the Guard has a map of all our territories, and he’s methodically targeting us. We caught a female Carnelian about to Breathe Paul Slade…after she murdered him.” She met their gazes. “Everyone who’s been killed so far has been Breathed. She’s doing it for the power, but we stopped her from Breathing Paul.”

  “Who’s ‘we’?” Bren asked.

  “The guy I was with.” She wanted to check her phone again and see if he’d called. She had a bad feeling about him going back to Headquarters. “He’s Guard, but he’s been helping me investigate this on his own time.”

  “The Guard?” Bren said. “You brought the Guard into our business!”

  “The very Guard you’re saying is trying to get us to kill each other,” Bob said, crossing his arms in front of his chest.

  “He left the Guard over this, because he suspects corruption.” She wasn’t going to get into all that. “I want peace here. I don’t want to have to bury my family, and I know you don’t want to bury yours either.”

  Toth at least seemed to be listening to her. “Why would someone target Kaitlyn? She hasn’t been Awakened yet, so it’s not for her power.”

  “If someone wanted to incite war among the clans, killing a child would do it.”

  Bren blew out a skeptical breath. “I think someone in your clan has gone haywire, and you’re trying to cover his tracks.” He glanced at the others. “I say we make her tell us who it is.”

  Several men grabbed for her. She Catalyzed and blew out a swath of darts. Two hit targets, sending them to the floor. Several Catalyzed, too, knocking tables and chairs across the room.

  “Enough!” A shot rang out, and they all turned to see Ernie holding the gun aimed at the ceiling. His own Dragon eyes flickered fiercely. “You know the rules. No Catalyzing except in the Conference Room.”

  “Fine, we’ll take it in there,” Bren said with a nod.

  She went cold as she Catalyzed back to human and grabbed up her shredded clothes. If they all got her in there…

  Ernie shook the gun. “No ganging up on one person, ignats. What kinda place you think I’m running here? She’s not the one killing your folk.”

  “No, but she knows who is,” Toth said.

  She shot Ernie a grateful look. He wasn’t Switzerland when it counted. Then she turned to the group. “Yes, I do. Lieutenant Alec Ferro of the Guard and his Carnelian cohort. Ferro’s a First Gen, by the way, whose sire is Drakos.”

  More disbelief moved across their expressions. Clearly most of them knew Drakos was one of the Tryah.

  She continued before they could start arguing with her again. “I’ve seen Ferro’s map of our territories, and he’s got yellow pins for potential targets. There was one in the Slade territory right before Paul was murdered. And another one in your territory, Bren. With Kaitlyn’s name written next to it.” She felt her phone vibrate in her pocket, but now wasn’t the time to answer it. “Damn it, call your people, you…ignat.” She gave Ernie a look of solidarity, using his particular word for the Fringe favorite idjit.

  Bren obviously wanted to give her a piece of his mind, but he yanked out his phone and called. “Where’s Kaitlyn?” After a pause, he said, “Go find her. Violet Castanega has some cockeyed idea that she’s in danger.” He aimed his narrow-eyed gaze at her. “Among other cockeyed ideas.”

  They all waited for Bren to find out that Kaitlyn hadn’t been seen since that morning. A minute later, Bren said, “Well, go find her. I know she runs all over the place.”

  Violet recalled the Carnelian’s hungry, vicious smile when the Slade girl had come running to Paul’s side. She slid her phone from her pocket and looked at the missed call information. Not a number she recognized. “I have to go.” She took them all in again, putting every bit of emotion in her eyes. “Please don’t be rash. Give me time to figure this out.”

  Violet walked out, calling the number and watching her back at the same time. “It’s Violet. Someone from this number—”

  “This is your fault!” a woman screamed, tears thickening her voice.

  “Who is this?”

  “Mia Kavanaugh. I don’t know what you’re up to, but you got what you wanted.”

  “Whoa, what happened?” Her chest was already tight, because it wasn’t good, not if Mia was calling like this.

  “You made him crazy. He doesn’t care about his career, me, or his life. He threw it all away for you! And now they have him, and I can’t even see him, and—”

  “Slow down. The Guard has him?”

  “He tried to kill his boss, just…snapped. That’s what Ferro said. Snapped. But he was fine when he left here to…”

  “Kill me,” Violet said quietly, hardly able to push the words out. She leaned against her car, her body sagging.

  “For whatever you’ve done. Then he spends time with you and throws everything away. I can see how dangerous you are, why they want you dead, you manipulative, evil—”

  “No, you don’t see at all. Kade didn’t throw you away. He just didn’t want to involve you.” She needed to get Mia on her side, and to do that she had to calm her down. “Listen to me, Mia. He realized Ferro was involved in something devious, and that the order to kill me was only because I had figured it out. Once he killed Dune—”

  “He killed Dune! Oh, my gods, oh, my gods.”

  “Dune was sent here to execute him. Kade had no choice. And once that happened, he knew he couldn’t go back.” She swallowed hard, because everything she said rang true. “He told you he’d fallen for me to push you away, so you wouldn’t be dragged down like he was when your father tried to break that woman out of prison.”

  “You know about that? He told you?” Mia’s outrage rocked the airwaves. “He didn’t tell me, but he told you. No, he’s crazy.”

  “Mia, everything he did was to protect you. He was devastated by his father’s supposed betrayal. I could see it in his face, hear it in his voice. He was only trying to spare you the fallout by turning you against him. I was mad at him when he did that, but I understand it now. My brothers would probably do the same for me.”

  A moment of silence. “He is in love with you,” she said quietly. “He’s never shared his feelings with me about anything. Not our father’s death, not about everything he’d gone through.”

  Violet let those words sink in. Was he in love with her? She was so turned around as far as Kade went. “Ferro is going to kill Kade because he knows too much. Did they hurt him?”

  “Ten officers dragged him out of here, and now he’s in the psych ward. Ferro promised I could see him later, when they had him…sedated.”

  Violet didn’t like the sound of that, though the promise meant he would be alive for her to see. “Mia, I need your help. You have to get me the layout for the Headquarters building. I’m going to break in and get him out of there.”

  “You’re going to do what?”

  That came from behind her. Violet spun to find Jessup and Ryan approaching.

  “I’m breaking Kade out of prison
. They will kill him in there, just like his father was killed. They’ll make it look like Kade snapped, and it’ll be shoved under the official carpet.”

  “I’ll meet you,” Mia said, her voice stronger now. “And sketch out the floor plan.”

  “Where’s a safe place to talk?”

  “Kade’s boat.” Mia gave her directions and disconnected.

  “No way,” Jessup said.

  “She’s going to do it,” Ryan said. “She’s got that fire in her eyes, like she used to get right before she drove off with the swamp buggy when Dad said she couldn’t.”

  “’Cause she was only eleven.” Jessup studied her. “You were such a spitfire. Then you got so practical.”

  “Someone had to be the levelheaded one,” she said.

  “You’re not being levelheaded now. Breaking into Headquarters.” Jessup shook his head, making a hank of his hair swing with the movement. “You gotta be crazy to even think it.”

  “I’m not letting him die in there.” She put her hands on their backs and pushed them to the truck. “You stay out of this. I don’t need you badgering me or trying to talk me out of it.”

  Jessup stopped and turned to face her. “Uh-uh, little sister. We’re going with you.”

  Chapter 17

  Onyx watched the girl wander through the woods, so innocent and curious. Kaitlyn bent down to pick up a bug, lifting it to the light that streamed down through the Australian pines. Its wings beat a staccato rhythm, and then Kaitlyn let it go.

  Jealousy consumed her at the girl’s guileless smile. Onyx remembered when she was young and naïve. Before she’d witnessed her first murder—her younger sister when Onyx was just ten.

  Soon no one would ever hurt Onyx again. She would have immortality. That was almost as important to her as saving a god. Well, maybe more. The whole I’m-almost-a-god-because-I-consort-with-one thing was Ferro’s. Not that he would say it outright, but she knew he relished having a relationship with his sire. He didn’t seem bothered that Drakos never showed affection or any real kinship.