If they were considering lifting the ban on killing Legacy, Conner and crew were about to make sure they wouldn’t. I couldn’t have another war or another Cleanse.
“You don’t think they are all dead?” Savannah asked, peering at him from over the rim of her cup.
“No. It’s just too neat. Things are never that neat. Their city was destroyed, but there were tunnels. Vertu could transport and shift. Like faes, they can take on various forms, change appearances. We can’t do it for very long and can’t make mass so we can’t become someone larger.”
Kalen shifted as though he was trying to toss off the dreariness of the story.
“The Necro-spear, can the magic from it be mimicked and harvested? Mages can do that, can’t they?” I asked.
The blank look on Savannah’s face made me realize I might have been the only one to put it together. Magic working on different frequencies, the reason the Cleanse worked, taking down everyone, witches, mages, faes, vamps, and shifters, because we possessed it all. I kept thinking about what Conner said—allies. Now he had allies. Who would betray their own, and for what? The shifters, witches, faes, and mages found dead at the sites?
I jumped up. “You’ve helped a lot. I think I know who has the Necro-spear. I’ll call you later.” He looked startled when I hugged him. I wasn’t very affectionate, but I’d figured it out. And it could have been him just him talking and allowing the pieces to unfold. I was out of the house before he could ask any more questions.
As soon as we were in the car, I tried to explain everything to Savannah. Her brows furrowed, and she had lost a lot of coloring. It wasn’t just the supernaturals who could be affected; humans died, too. Those with dormant supernatural powers who didn’t have enough in them to manifest as true magic.
“They thought I was a witch,” I said, trying to fill her in after I instructed her to go to the Guild. “When we were attacked at the club, it was just to test blood. My blood. They misidentified me as a witch, because no one knows what a Legacy should feel like. That night in the park he must have figured out I wasn’t a witch.” I spoke quickly but Savannah kept up as she drove through the streets, fast. I would have asked her to slow down but we needed to get to the Guild as soon as possible.
“How did they know that?”
“Because you can’t steal our magic. And I bet it was that son of a bitch Conner who wiped my memory.”
Now I was pissed I hadn’t killed him, but I wasn’t sure I would have gotten through the veil without him. Savannah’s hands were white from gripping the steering wheel and she had a weird parchment color.
“Savannah, are you okay?” I asked. She shook her head hard.
“Even if the person isn’t as strong as you all are and can’t do a spell to get the whole world, they can get a city—this city.”
I tried to calm her, although I realized nothing I told her was going to help diminish the apprehension. Weathered fear had marked her, and between holding her breath and the color continuing to drain from her face, she looked as if she was ready to throw up.
She let down the window; the wind painfully thrashing her seemed to oddly be what she needed. Ten minutes driving with the window down seemed to settle her into calm. Although the color was missing from her face and her breathing was still short ragged gasps, she seemed better.
“So what do we do know?”
“We need to find and take the Necro-spear. Nothing can be done without it.”
“Why you?”
“That was just coincidence. I think.” But I wasn’t sure and the doubt reflected in my voice. Savannah frowned.
I grabbed my phone and called Gareth, and when he answered I asked, “Do you have any leads on the Necro-spear?”
“No? Why?”
“I need to talk to you, I think I know what is happening. We’ll be at your office in about five minutes.”
Savannah was in a perpetual state of high alert and walked into the Guild with a dagger clinched in her hand like she was ready to poke anyone who came within six inches of her. She was on edge, and definitely hadn’t needed the coffee we had at Kalen’s.
“Put the knife away,” I said out of the side of my mouth as we walked toward the receptionist, the same woman with the plastic smile. I shook my head; she had a purse on her other arm. Yeah, you’re a stealth assassin with a handbag.
When she put it in her purse as we neared the elevator, she asked, “What do you think is going to happen to us in the Guild?”
I pointed into the office full of employees. Not one person in there didn’t look like life would get a lot worse if anyone dared to cross them. They all looked as if they were just moments from bringing a world of pain.
“We’re in a building of supernatural badasses, you’re safe.”
She scanned the room; her scowl wavered and then turned into a straight-lined frown. “The same ‘supernatural badasses’ who let the Necro-spear get stolen.”
“No, it was stolen from Gareth.”
“How is that better?”
“It’s not. But the Guild is separate from the Shifter Clan. Guild handles all supernatural things. Clan handles only shifters.”
We’d just gotten off the elevator and headed toward Gareth’s office. I was trying to speak quickly and quietly, aware of his acute hearing. I didn’t have a chance to finish before he stepped out of his office, arms crossed over his chest as he waited for our approach.
“Ah, Savannah, you’ve decided that close visual surveillance is the best, I see.”
She gave him a polite smile, although based on the little glint of irritation that hit her eyes I knew that she didn’t find his statement humorous at all.
“To what do I owe this pleasure?” he asked, directing us into his office. He invited us to sit in the chairs right next to his desk as he sat on the edge of it. Although he seemed relaxed I was aware of tension along his brow and the brackets of his frown.
“When was the Necro-spear stolen?” I asked.
He didn’t even have to think about it. “The same day I got it from Kalen.” He shifted, watching me with interest, his cool eyes narrowed. I felt like this had changed from a casual encounter to an interrogation. “Why?”
“What do you know about it?” I asked.
He shrugged, frowned. His eyes were still settled on me with avid curiosity and apprehension. I wondered whether he considered me human. I always felt disconcerted when he looked at me, and I felt it even more today.
“If we are pierced by it, we lose the ability to change while in contact with it, and our magical historian states it screws up our immunity to magic.”
“Do you know why it does that?” I asked.
“Yes.” But he didn’t elaborate.
I needed to tell him, but even with the extended drive over here I couldn’t come up with a reasonable story without outing myself. I couldn’t tell him about Connor, although I planned on finding that bastard.
“We think someone is trying to do the Cleanse again. Small scale. We don’t know why, but they are stealing magic and using the Necro-spear to hold it.”
“And you came to that conclusion because?” He raised a brow as his gaze drifted over in Savannah’s direction but quickly returned to me. I dropped my eyes. Dammit. How do I tell him?
“Have you spoken with Jonathan?”
He looked at his clock. “Just a few minutes ago,”
“And?”
Gareth sucked in a breath. “I don’t trust that he is innocent in any of this, but I don’t have any proof. I can’t just accuse him without probable cause.”
“But you have cause. There are too many coincidences. Who did the ward on the Necro-spear?”
Again, there was another coarse silence. His was stolid and unreadable. I wasn’t sure what was going through his mind, and when he turned to leave, I figured I wouldn’t find out. “I need to talk to him again.”
I started out after him, behind the four other people he had with him, three of them ma
ges. Stopping at a large SUV parked outside of the Guild, he turned to find Savannah and me right behind him.
“Where are you going?”
Before I could answer, Savannah blurted out, “With you all. I want to see you get this jackass. You can’t tell me he’s not guilty, and after everything he put Levy through, I will not be too hurt if you have to rough him up.”
Gareth smiled. “As much as we would love the cheering squad … we can’t have one. This might get dangerous.”
I opened my mouth to say something and he cut me off. “No, Levy.”
We conceded because they could prevent us from getting in the van, but they couldn’t stop us from following. Or so we thought.
For five blocks we followed them at a distance when two flashing lights and sirens whirled behind us. Savannah looked at the speedometer, confused. When the officer came to the car, she had her license and registration ready.
“I don’t need that. Gareth stated you needed to be saved from yourselves so we decided to intervene. We will be giving you an escort home.”
“And if we decline?”
He smiled, his thick jaws ruddy and stiff, but he managed a cool vibrancy in his eyes. “You’re not going to do that. Now are you?”
We really wanted to. We really did, but instead, begrudgingly, we took the nice escort home and even the nice surveillance that remained the entire time. Savannah paced, and the attorney’s daughter was riled up. Words like unlawful detainment came up, civil unrest, abuse of the badge, and a slew of other things that really didn’t seem legitimate or even real words or sayings. More like the rantings of a pre-law student, who knew more legal terms than actual definitions.
“I can’t believe he did this to us.”
I didn’t like the role reversal. She was the voice of reason, the logical one. The pseudo-big sister. I liked my role and now it had to change to calm her down. “You can’t believe that he made sure we were out of the way in case things got dangerous?”
“Well, there were three others with him,” she huffed, periodically looking out of the window at the police cars in front of our building.
“Yes, and at least one of them would have been used to make sure nothing happened to us.”
She scoffed, “We can take care of ourselves. And you’re like a demigod.”
She had taken to calling me that a lot. I really hated that title, although I was willing to give it to Conner. It seemed apropos. Perhaps they did consider themselves deities and for that reason felt that the Cleanse was justified.
“A demigod who can’t do magic in front of anyone,” I pointed out.
The realization of it seemed to cool her anger because she stopped pacing and took a seat.
“I’m scared,” she finally admitted.
I knew why. If Jonathan was going to do a Cleanse, who would be exempt? People didn’t know about their dormant magic until they were dying. Savannah could be one of those people.
I tried to calm her. “We’ll know something soon.”
It wasn’t even soon. Just minutes later Gareth called and told us that Jonathan was gone. His tone was professionally curt and didn’t allow room for me to ask questions. Moments after the call, the police escorts left.
Damn. Things were bad.
CHAPTER 14
I’m sure it was my imagination, but the smell of death and blood wafted in air, the film of magic still there, too. My plans were to never return to the cave and find a new hiding place, but it still was the closest thing I had to safety, despite both Gareth and Lucas knowing about it. The Necro-spear needed to be found, and I was sure wherever it was, Jonathan wasn’t far from it. Find that and the Cleanse can’t happen, but the tension and fear were there tightly bound around me like a cocoon. How many Legacy and Vertu remained? I needed to know. Once I found the Necro-spear I would have to find the veil again and find out. But I was working on a lot of assumptions, one being that they would all be in there. What if they scattered, forming alliances all over the world so that they could slowly do it again, this time making sure it was effective? I shook off the thoughts because I needed to focus.
Pricking my finger with a sai I watched the blood well and fall onto the ground. I did my invocation, pulling from everything I’d learned that had gone unused for so long. My breathing came slow at first, scanning the area, feeling all the variation and frequencies of magic that wasn’t my own. It would be the same. Flurries of colors, each one showing the ones different than mine. Piece by piece I wandered the city. It had to be close. It had to be.
Breathing came harder as I became acutely aware of everything: the minute sound of the dirt that settled under my feet, the smells that lingered, residual magic left behind the last time I was here, streams of other magic moving through. And then I saw it. Just the Necro-spear. My head pounded. I didn’t know why the feel of the magic was so potent it felt like I was there. It was being prepared, spells chanted over it. Dammit, it was about to be used.
I hopped out of the cave and ran to my car, grabbing my phone and starting my car at the same time. “Gareth, you’re going to have to trust me on this. They are about to try it now. You will need to bring mages and witches with you. They will have to bring down a ward.” I increased my speed, driving down the long road near Lancing Territory, an area more concentrated with supernaturals than any other part of the city.
I drove up to the abandoned area, the magic so strong it inundated and flooded my senses. I sent Gareth a text with the address and then got out of the car. I was confident I could bring the wards down. But was it just Jonathan in there? I didn’t think I could go up against Conner and Jonathan. But I was comforted by the fact that he considered Jonathan an ally. He had put his trust in him to do this while he hid behind a veil, safe from being affected by the spell, although I wondered if he could be.
Ten minutes passed and no one showed up. I got out of the car and approached the gray building. Thick doors that I’m sure were secured by a board and very durable locks. The small windows weren’t low enough for me to reach. As I slowly walked around the barrier it prickled at me, warm and strong, brushing against the hairs on my arm. My options were slim, but revealing who I was didn’t seem so important when thousands of lives were on the line. Sai in hand I called the magic, a warmth that started and extended through the sai. It shredded the ward. Another strong blast and the doors broke open. Magic blanketed the air, thick and powerful. Jonathan stood in the middle of the room, to his left three men dressed in the same black pseudomilitary gear as the men from HF. My eyes darted over the faces of the men in the room, and one stood out—Clive. This was the big thing he was talking about. He’d made a deal with the creatures that he thought shouldn’t be near humans to ensure that it happened.
They came at me at once. The first lunged, but not fast enough; the sharp front kick caught his nose, blood spurted. He stumbled back, eyes watering from the fresh break. I hit it again with the butt of my sai and spun to level a side kick into his ribs. I felt the bones give under the impact, and he buckled to his knees and sucked in a ragged breath. Someone punched me in the jaw, hard. My head snapped to the side, the pain shrieked in my jaw. I had to move it to make sure it wasn’t broken. Before he could land another blow I jammed the sai up, ripping through abdominal tissue. He wailed, and I grabbed an arm and with a hip toss landed him on his back. The other guys attacked from each side. A quick turn and they folded when the sai plunged into them. I heard invocations, and magic flooded into the room, turbulent and strong. Each second that passed it came harder and harder, overwhelming the space.
I was quickly making my way toward Jonathan when Clive said, “Levy, stop.” I kept advancing until I heard the click of a gun. “I said stop. Don’t make me.”
I stared into the barrel of the gun trained on me wondering if I could use magic to disarm him. Clive’s stern look showed that he knew how to use it and wasn’t afraid to. “Drop your weapons, please.”
Well, since you said please.
But I didn’t. I scanned the area—Jonathan was distracted, scared, trying to do that spell while looking at the bodies on the floor wounded and bleeding.
“I’ll only ask once more. Your weapons, Levy.”
I lowered them to the ground. His eyes were honed on me, apprehensive. “Now, put your hands behind your head and get to your knees.”
I remained standing, my sharp gaze pushing into him. Defiant. When his finger curled around the trigger more, indifference over whether I lived or died covered his face. I lowered myself to the ground and clasped my fingers behind my head.
“Clive, you don’t want to be a part of this. How do you know you will not be one of the fallen? Are you willing to bet your life on being wholly human without any supernatural blood in you?” I attempted to reason with him. Perhaps he’d change the direction of the gun from me to Jonathan and stop it.
His expression didn’t falter, it was just as hard and severe. “Yes. If I am not wholly human, then I am okay with sacrificing my life for the cause if I become the problem and not the solution.”
What? Clive might be a lost cause. It’s hard to reason with radical belief, but I couldn’t give up on rational thinking. Someone here had to be reasonable and see this for the disaster that it was.
“You should be ashamed of yourself,” I said to Jonathan. He looked up, his appearance stern and dismissive.
The scowl waned for just a mere moment. “Are you going to give me a speech about me being a better person? That I owe it to the Council and to my kind to resist? Whether you like it or not, it’s going to happen. But I will be spared. I will be given powers beyond my imagination. No, I don’t feel shame at all.” Cold, cruel eyes fastened on me filled with a level of power thirst that was scary.
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