by Linsey Hall
Insane man!
The broken hang glider flapped around me as I tumbled through the air. I neared the ground, Ares racing closer. Just as I was about to plow into the lawn, he lunged for me, snagging me out of the air.
His superior speed kept us moving for only a fraction of a second. Then we were tumbling in a tangle of limbs, the plastic posts of the hang glider tearing away as our bodies battered the ground.
We skidded to a stop, dirt and grass flying up around us.
Every inch of my body hurt. My head spun, my vision was nearly blacked out. I groaned, rolling over.
“You okay?” Ares grunted, slowly sitting up.
“Yeah.” My ribs sang with pain—definitely broken—and my arm hung at a funny angle. Blood dripped into my right eye, but I only needed one to see the inferno that was the building. “Holy shit.”
It was a massive fireball, so big that it lit up the lawn like it was daytime. Cass and Del were on the ground about fifty yards to our left, not looking much better than us. The blast must have blown them out of the sky too. Cass, still in griffon form, got unsteadily to her legs. Del struggled to stand as well.
Pond Flower, along with the rest of the dogs, sprinted toward them. At least they hadn’t been in the building when the blast had gone off.
Roarke, Aidan, Connor, and Claire were nowhere to be seen, but they’d had enough time to escape. Though fear for them simmered in my chest, I suppressed it. They would be okay. They had to be okay.
I looked at Ares, my head spinning. “You caught me.”
He grimaced. “That’s a bit generous.”
True. It was more like he’d gotten in my way and partially slowed my hurtling trajectory towards death. But it’d kept me alive.
“Thanks,” I said. “My hang glider idea was pretty insane. My odds weren’t great.”
“I thought it was genius.” Ares grinned, his smile painful. I’d bet he had some broken bones, too. “You’re a badass, Nix.”
I grinned. Though my whole body ached from an unknown number of injuries, his words warmed me.
I reached out and grabbed him by the back of the neck, pulling his face towards mine. I planted a hard kiss on his lips, tasting blood and sweat from our near escape. Warmth filled me, healing and good.
We’d made it out. We’d all made it out.
And I was going to be grateful for that. We’d survived.
Chapter Fourteen
As it turned out, I’d barely survived. The fall had broken more bones than I’d realized and caused some internal bleeding that the healers had just barely managed to stop in time.
Apparently adrenaline had made me able to sit up after the explosion. After Cass, Del, and Pond Flower had reached us, I’d passed right out.
Or so they’d told me. I’d woken up in the hospital the next day. Ares’s blood donation had helped, but I’d needed a few nights in the hospital to sort everything out. I wasn’t sure how I felt about having more of his blood, but since I’d have died otherwise, I couldn’t complain too much.
Everyone had been in bad shape, but we were now on the mend. Some magic and R&R had my bones mended and my cuts healed. I felt like I’d been run over by a small car rather than a bus, which was a win. An hour ago, Del and Cass had picked me up at the hospital. We were now settled in at my apartment.
I was propped up in the corner of the couch, a plate of cheese pizza and Cass and Del on the cushions next to me.
A knock sounded at the door.
“Come in!” I called.
Claire opened the door and stepped in, followed by Connor. Her bruises had faded and Connor now wore only a bandaid on his head.
“You look good!” Claire said.
I grinned. “Thanks! I feel only slightly like crap. Which is a remarkable improvement.”
“I can’t believe you jumped off the roof in a hang glider,” Connor said.
“Yeah, that was nuts.” I still couldn’t believe I’d done that. Not like I’d had many options, but that had just been crazy. These last few days had been as nuts as a squirrel’s refrigerator. “You look a lot better, too, Claire.”
She smiled. “Thanks. I feel a lot better. Thanks for getting me out of there.”
“Duh,” Cass, Del, and I said in unison.
“Just sorry you got nabbed.” Cass turned to me. “We were trying to find a weak spot in the fence’s enchantments when the goons came out. Overpowered us.”
“He did have a lot of back-up. Dozens of men,” I said.
“That he blew up.” Del shook her head, clearly horrified. “He just fried them all.”
“Monster,” Claire said.
“But it means he probably has a lot more men where those came from,” I said. Another knock sounded at the door. “Come in!”
Ares, Roarke, and Aidan stepped in. Ares’s gaze went immediately to me. He hadn’t left my side at the hospital, according to Del, though he’d bailed as soon as I’d woken. To deal with something at the Vampire Court, he’d said.
“How are you feeling, Nix?” Roarke asked.
“A lot better.” I pointed to the kitchen. “There’s drinks. Help yourself.”
I sipped my well-deserved glass of Four Roses on the rocks, sighing contentedly at the burn. On the coffee table sat the two beakers that the mob boss had stolen. Ares had managed to grab them before jumping out of the window. Back at the compound, he had set them on the grass before catching me, which had been quick thinking, because otherwise they’d have ended up as shattered as my bones and then we’d have lost the magic for good.
Everyone grabbed drinks from the kitchen and then piled into the living room.
“So, who wants to start?” I said. We needed a recap of what had happened, and each of us had different pieces of the puzzle.
Claire raised her hand. “Me.”
“Perfect.” I sipped my drink. “What’d you learn while those jerks were beating the crap out of you?”
“Dicks,” Del muttered.
“Rotten weasel shits,” Cass added.
Ares’s brows rose, but he just grinned.
“I didn’t hear much,” Claire said. “But I did learn that he’s some kind of crime lord who has been in operation for decades.”
“He looked younger than that.” I recalled his smooth skin and dark hair. “Forties, maybe.”
“Might be a long-lived species,” Cass said.
“No one said what he was,” Claire said. “But he’s working on some goal he’s obsessed with. He’s got strongholds all over the world. Asia and Europe were the two I heard of, but don’t know where.”
That matched with what Ares had learned, so that was good.
“And Magic’s Bend?” Ares asked.
“This one is new,” she said. “The guards were saying how much they preferred this place to the ones in Asia and Europe—that’s how I figured that out.”
“Makes sense,” Aidan says. “They kept a low profile by quietly renovating an abandoned factory that’s been on the outskirts for years, but they couldn’t have been here for more than a couple months without the Order of the Magica figuring something was up.”
“So he’s moving into new territory,” I said. “Or at least, he was.”
“Yeah. Whatever his end goal is, it was worth blowing up his fancy compound to protect.”
“Did you learn anything about dragons?” Cass asked. “Or what they want with them?”
Claire shook her head. “Since dragons are long dead, I don’t know what they’re planning to try to get. I know you said there was a prophecy with the word dragon and return in it, so it’s got to be that.”
I nodded. “Agreed. But what…I have no idea.”
Del leaned forward and picked up one of the beakers. It was the original—I could always tell my replicas from the originals. She handed it to me. I took it, the clay rough against my fingertips. Magic surged through my hands.
I glanced up at everyone, surprised. “They’ve transferred the magic back
to the original.”
“Why?” Ares asked.
“I don’t know.” I stared hard at it. “Must have been important for some reason.”
“They said something about drinking from it,” Claire said. “That the bossman drank from some weird old jug. That must be it.”
“Huh.” I inspected the beaker, feeling the magic that had been indecipherable. It was rare I couldn’t identify the magic in an artifact. “Perhaps that’s what this thing does. It makes a potion or something. That’s where the magic is.”
“Which means that if the boss drank from it, he’s gotten its power,” Ares said.
“Or something.” I frowned, worry a heavy weight in my belly. “The boss reached for it before he left. Which means it has more use in it. But he wasn’t desperate to have it, because he ditched once it got risky. So he got whatever he really needed from it.”
“And it probably has to do with dragons,” Cass said. “Right?”
“Right.” Del nodded. “They’ve got dragon tattoos and the prophecy Nix learned says dragons.”
“But what the hell does it all mean?” I asked. We had threads—several of them. But they were all loose and totally confusing.
“I don’t know,” Ares said. “But we’ll figure this out. The Vampire Court is also invested in this.”
“Because the boss killed your friend Marin,” Cass said.
“Yes. But also because it’s important to Nix. We’re bound to support her in this.” His tone was heavy. Deadly serious.
“Because of what the fate goddesses said?” I asked.
“Yes. And because even without them saying you’re important, it’s obvious. Whatever is going on, we need to get to the bottom of it. An immensely powerful supernatural—one who stunk of evil—is sacrificing millions of dollars to accomplish this goal. That goal can’t be good. He can’t be allowed to achieve it.”
I nodded, agreeing wholeheartedly. The fact that the boss had blown up his whole compound—with all the men inside—that was some serious shit. Some scary shit.
Cass sighed, then stood. “You’ve got to be tired, Nix. Rest up. We’ll figure out more tomorrow.
“Agreed.” Del stood.
Everyone else followed, giving me hugs and filing out of the room. Only Ares didn’t leave.
Instead, he stood by the door, as if uncertain. We were on a whole new ground here, I realized. Until now, he’d been the biggest threat in my life. Him and his Vampire Court. But now…
“You stayed by my bedside in the hospital,” I said.
His brows rose, as if he didn’t expect me to know that.
“Cass and Del told me.”
“They ratted me out.”
“They’ll always rat you out.” I grinned, and patted the couch next to me.
He approached and sat, not touching, but not on the farthest side either. He’d healed a lot faster than me, thanks to his vampire blood, and was looking damned good in his black sweater and jeans.
“How are you feeling?” Worry lines fanned out from his eyes.
“Great.” I flexed my arm—the one that had been hanging weird after the explosion—and didn’t even flinch.
“Good.” His voice turned weary. “I was worried.”
My heart warmed. The idea was…lovely. “When you jumped into the acid vines, you were choosing me over your court, weren’t you?”
It was a bold statement, but it was also so obvious. And I needed to hear him say it. I’d been so wary of him for the whole of our weird relationship that I needed to look into his eyes when he said it.
“Yes.” His voice didn’t waver, his gaze was confident. “Yes. It was easy.”
“So I can trust you?”
He nodded, the corner of his full lips curved up just slightly. “Yes. You can trust me. I’m on your team, Nix.”
I smiled and shifted, leaning against him. He wrapped an arm around my shoulders. His heat and strength were delicious, sending a shiver through me that my exhausted body was too weak to act upon.
But I could still enjoy it.
Ares was on my side. As mandated by the goddesses of fate. But more importantly— by his own choice.
“We’ll get this guy, Nix,” Ares said. “Whatever he’s up to—whatever that means for you and your role in the Triumvirate—we’ll find him. And stop him.”
“I hope so.” The sheer enormity of what we could be facing made worry fizzle in my mind like soda. Cass and Del had faced some enormous challenges. World-changing challenges. And now, I had the first clue about mine.
“You’ve got a lot going for you,” Ares said. “The Vampire Court as your allies, your hardcore friends—”
I chuckled. “They are pretty hardcore, aren’t they?”
“Yes. I would not pick a fight with any of them.”
I grinned.
“Or you,” he said. “You’re turning into one formidable supernatural.”
“Not just a Conjurer anymore, huh? I’ve got all kinds of things I need to figure out.”
“You’ve done a good job with the Destroyer magic.”
“Trial by fire.” I rubbed my stomach. “But I haven’t felt queasy since the incident with the boat and the boulder. That really did teach me quick.”
“You’re a quick study. And you’ll figure out this plant magic.” He rubbed my shoulder and I leaned into his touch. “That is going to be a very powerful skill, I think.”
I thought about my trove full of plants—of maybe showing it to him one day. Not yet. But soon, maybe. Because my new plant power made some sense when I thought about my trove. And the fact that I was supposed to be Life.
I snuggled deeper into Ares’s shoulder, luxuriating in his warmth and strength. Because I’d had some of his blood to heal my post-explosion wounds, I was more in-tune than ever with his emotions. It was strange to feel what another felt. I didn’t fool myself into thinking I felt everything.
But I could definitely sense the pure contentment that he felt just from sitting next to me. It was a bit weird, being here with the man I’d mistrusted since the moment he’d appeared at my door.
But I could trust him now. His actions, and his feelings, made that clear. And it was a good thing—for more than just my crazy libido.
I needed allies. All the allies I could get, if Laima was right about what I faced. The miserable women on the Vampire Court, my friends, Ares—whoever I could get.
“I think we can do this,” I murmured.
“We can.” He squeezed my shoulders.
I didn’t know where all this was going. The thing with Ares, the mob boss, the beaker, the Triumvirate. But I wanted to find out. It was time. I’d waited long enough to fulfill my destiny. And fate was making it clear that I wouldn’t have to wait much longer.
~~~
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Excerpt Of Hidden Magic
(Told from the perspective of Cass Clereaux)
Jungle, Southeast Asia
Five years before the events in Demon Magic
“How much are we being paid for this job again?” I asked as I glanced at the inhabitants filling the bar. It was a motley crowd of supernaturals, many of whom looked shifty as hell.
“Not nearly enough.” Del frowned at the man across the bar, who was giving her his best sexy face. There was a lot of eyebrow movement happening. “Is he having a seizure?”
“Looks like it.” Nix grinned. “Though I gotta say, I wasn’t expecting this. We’re ba
sically in a tree, for magic’s sake. In the middle of the jungle! Where are all these dudes coming from?”
“According to my info, there’s a mining operation near here. Though I’d say we’re more under a tree than in a tree.”
“I’m with Cass,” Del said. “Under, not in.”
“Fair enough.” Nix’s green eyes traveled around the room.
We were deep in Southeast Asia, in a bar that had long ago been reclaimed by the jungle. A massive fig tree had grown over and around the ancient building, its huge roots encapsulating the stone walls. It was straight out of a fairy tale. Monks had once lived here, but a few supernaturals of indeterminate species had gotten ahold of it and turned it into a watering hole for the local supernaturals. We were meeting our local contact here, but he was late.
“Hey, pretty lady.” A smarmy voice sounded from my left. “What are you?”
I turned to face the guy who was giving me the up and down, his gaze roving from my tank top to my shorts. He wasn’t Clarence, our local contact. And if he meant “what kind of supernatural are you?” I sure as hell wouldn’t be answering.
“Not interested is what I am,” I said.
“Aww, that’s no way to treat a guy.” He grasped my hip, rubbing his thumb up and down.
I gagged, then smacked his hand away, tempted to throat-punch him. It was a favorite move of mine, but I didn’t want to start a fight before Clarence got here. Didn’t want to piss off the boss and all. He liked it when jobs went smoothly.
The man raised his hands. “Hey, hey. No need to get feisty. You three sisters?”
I glanced doubtfully at Nix and Del, with their dark hair that was so different from my red. We might call ourselves sisters—deirfiúr in our native Irish—but this idiot didn’t know that. We were all about twenty years old, but we looked nothing alike.
“Go away,” I said. I had no patience for dudes who touched me within a second of saying hello. “Run along and flirt with your hand, because that’s all the action you’ll be getting tonight.”
His face turned a mottled red, and he raised a fist. His magic welled, the scent of rotten fruit overwhelming.
He thought he was going to smack me? Or use his magic against me?