Dirty Magic

by Jaye Wells

  The potion had begun its work transforming the face into the twisted mask of rage. But there was no denying that I knew my attacker.

  “Danny?” I whispered.

  A flurry of questions and panicked thoughts scrambled through my brain. How had this happened? Had Bane gotten him before he reached school? Or did he lure him away? Oh God! Did Pen know Danny was missing?

  What the fuck was I going to do?

  Danny growled. Spittle bubbled from his lips. His eyes flashed hot red with bloodlust. Bloodlust forced upon him by a psychopath.

  Bane. I was going to tear that motherfucker limb from limb for this horror.

  The sounds of fighting rushed into my shocked mind, pushing out all the questions and replacing them with a shot of adrenaline. It was fight-or-flight time. But I knew if I ran, he’d only chase and we’d both end up dead.

  The kid who had happily eaten breakfast with me that morning snarled and lunged.

  Out of instinct, my arm came up to block the blow. “Morales!”

  Danny’s hands went for my neck.

  “What?” Morales yelled.

  “Fuck!” I ducked a punch and delivered a jab of my own to Danny’s ribs. He groaned and retaliated with a swipe to my neck with his claws. The skin there stung like acid and went cold as blood welled.

  “Mez, go help Kate!” Morales called between grunts that indicated he had his hands full, too.

  But the scent of blood was like lighting a match too close to gasoline. No longer content to try just to maim me, Danny went after my jugular like a shark attacking chum. He moved so fast I could barely keep up with defensive blows, much less cause any damage of my own.

  “I’m coming, Prospero!” Mez called.

  “Hurry!” I kicked at his shins and clawed at his face with my fingernails. Some horrified voice in my head whispered that I shouldn’t be hitting back. That I should figure out how to defend myself against Danny without hurting him. But the practical side—the one that liked being alive—reminded me that if I didn’t manage to fight him off I’d be dead and then the team would kill Danny.

  The sound of running footsteps echoed from somewhere behind me. “Back off, asshole!” Mez shouted. I raised my head enough to glance at him. When I saw the Mundane gun in his hand, terror gripped my heart with a cold fist.

  “No!” I screamed and swiveled to put myself between Danny and the gun.

  “Prospero, get out of the way!”

  Behind me, my brother realized I wasn’t fighting him anymore. As I opened my mouth to explain to Mez, the attack came. Canines slammed into my neck like a serpent’s strike.

  I gasped and lurched forward.

  “Goddamn it, Kate. I can’t get a clear shot.”

  “No!” I yelled. “No bullets!”

  The pain in my neck was indescribable—hot and sharp. Danny’s weight on my back. The terrible sucking noises. Tracers dancing in the edges of my vision. Ice coating my skin.

  “Danny—it’s Danny.” I swallowed against the taste of copper on my tongue. “Knock … out,” I rasped. “Potion him.”

  Mez either didn’t understand what I said or was too jacked up on adrenaline for it to register. “Drop to your knees.”

  “Potion, potion,” I begged, my voice losing strength, “potion.”

  Little sparks danced in the periphery of my vision. My knees were weakening. If I didn’t convince Mez to shoot Danny with the potion quickly, I was going to pass out and Lord help us all. “Morales!” I forced through my tight throat. “It’s Danny!” I screamed the name with every last ounce of energy and air left in my body. “Danny!”

  Just before I passed out, I saw grim-faced Morales grab something from Mez. The last thing I heard before I slipped into the black was the sound of a gun firing.

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Red and blue pulsed everywhere. A high-pitched drone whirred through my head, but I couldn’t tell if it was real or the result of the vacuum between my ears. For several minutes, the neon signs and buildings of the Cauldron blurred by, creating a dizzying kaleidoscope. After that, the scent of disinfectant and a wall of cold whiteness surrounded me.

  The world passed in a blur of color and noise. Occasionally a familiar face would cross my field of vision, but my eyes couldn’t focus long enough to establish context. Electricity must have zapped between my neurons, but none of those little packets of information registered anywhere on my motherboard.

  Stinging pain on my neck. Promises it would pass. Needles and thread, trying to sew my jagged edges back together. But all the king’s horses and all the king’s men couldn’t make me feel whole again.

  Warm hand on my arm. A quiet voice whispering in my ear. My eyes burned. My ribs crushed my too-tight lungs. My heart a pulsing bruise inside my chest.

  “Kate?” That voice again. I recognized it but didn’t. Some part of my fractured mind realized I’d heard it before, but the tone sounded … off. Too careful. Worried.

  “She’s in shock.” A woman’s voice this time. “Anyone would be.”

  “He was going to kill her.” A male voice, deep, shaken.

  “Thank God you stepped in,” another shaky male voice said. “I almost—”

  “Hush now, you didn’t.”

  The words washed over me as if I didn’t exist at all.

  The white void gave way to the shape of a man. He had dark hair and brown eyes. A leather jacket creaked as he knelt in front of me.

  “Kate,” he said, “the doctor needs to talk to you.”

  I heard the words. Each had a definition I understood. But it wasn’t worth the effort to analyze the collection of vowels and consonants and turn them into actions. I wanted to stew in the blissful numbness. That liminal space between what came before and what would be. The place where I could pretend this was all just some sort of horrible dream.

  DannyDannyDannyDannyDannyDanny …

  I squeezed my eyes to shut out the memories that threatened to rush forward. My body rocked back and forth to ward off the intrusion of reality.

  The sharp scent of ammonia hit my nose like a punch. I reared back, shocked out of my haze. I blinked and saw Pen standing over me with a vial in her hand.

  My eyes snapped open and my brain snapped back into the matrix of reality. “What the fuck, Pen?” I supposed I should have been glad she hadn’t slapped me, but the ammonia stench of sal volatile wasn’t much more pleasant.

  She crossed her arms and the frown between her brows was so deep, soldiers could set up residence in the trenches. “Enough, Kate. Pull yourself together.” She raised a hand and pointed a finger toward the closed door next to the waiting area. “The doc needs your permission to provide treatment.” She leaned down and got in my face. “So you’re going to get off your skinny, white ass and make sure that boy gets the help he needs.”

  I stared up at her but it was like looking through a plate glass window. Beyond Pen, Mez and Morales stared in open-mouthed shock. Shadi leaned against the far wall looking as if she couldn’t decide whether she was mad at Pen or respected the hell out of her. Gardner’s expression was unreadable, but she didn’t move to step in.

  I witnessed all of these things as an observer more than as a participant. Which meant I also suddenly got this image of myself, slumped and surrendered on the chair, while my baby brother lay alone and broken in the next room.

  “What’s it going to be?” Pen arched a brow in challenge. “You going to sit here and feel sorry for yourself, or are you going to get up and do the damned thing?”

  I cleared my throat, sat up straighter, and looked her in the eye. “Were the smelling salts really necessary?”

  My best friend smiled and held out her hand to help me up. “Nope.” She shot me a shit-eating grin that did little to disguise the dark circles under her eyes and worry brackets around her mouth.

  The door to Danny’s room was ten feet away, but it felt more like miles. I glanced uneasily at Pen. “Will you come with me?” I whispered. Ever
yone else suddenly pretended they had more important things to do or talk about.

  Pen put her arm around my shoulders. “Try and stop me.”

  * * *

  The next couple of hours were a blur of medical jargon, sympathetic looks, and endless forms. Luckily, I was still officially on the BPD health insurance plan. Unfortunately, I’d signed up for the plan that had a sky-high deductible for any medical care that required the assistance of a medical wizard. At the time I thought I was being smart since I kept Danny away from magic. Guess the joke was on me.

  “Katie?” Pen stuck her head in the door. The incessant beep of the heart monitor and the hush-thrush of the breathing machine were momentarily drowned out by voices from the hallway. She’d exited earlier to take a call from the principal at her school. The entire administration was scrambling to find out what had happened and cover their asses. I didn’t blame the school. I didn’t blame Pen, either—even though she seemed determined to assume some of the guilt.

  I blamed Bane. Period.

  “Katie?”

  I looked up, thankful for the interruption. For the last half hour I’d been alone in the room with Danny. He was too quiet, too still, too … absent from the shell that lay on the bed like a sacrifice to the gods of Big Magic. Tubes and wires jutted from his mouth and nose, arms and chest. His face was calmer in repose, but the Gray Wolf was still in his system, leaving his features mangled and deformed. Combined with the medical equipment, he looked like a modern-day version of Frankenstein’s monster.

  Bane’s monster.

  My teeth clenched and a hot rush of blood coursed through my veins at that thought.

  “Kate?” Pen again, more insistent.

  “Yes?” I said, rising. I assumed she’d come to tell me she needed yet another set of forms filled out.

  “Your friends are asking if they can come in.”

  “Which friends?”

  She pursed her lips and cocked her head. “Your team. They’ve been here for hours.”

  “Oh right.” I shook myself. “Yeah, okay.”

  “I’ll give you a second to clean up.” She winked at me.

  Thankful to have something to do other than stare at my brother, I went to the sink. The small mirror over it told a sad tale of a woman who’d been through the shock of her life. Blood smeared her cheeks and chin. The dark circles under her eyes were a combo of lack of sleep and mascara tracks. A bandage glared harshly white on her neck.

  I wet a towel and scrubbed my face. The rough nap of the fabric felt like burlap and the water was cold as a slap. When I finished, the skin was flushed, but all the blood was gone.

  Another knock.

  “Come,” I called. The quick glance toward the bed was reflexive. I could have invited a brass band to play in the room and Danny wouldn’t have stirred.

  The door opened to reveal a solemn crew. Gardner came in first, naturally. Morales followed. Pen came in after him and leaned against the counter with her arms crossed. Her expression resembled a bulldog’s, as if she was ready to kick their asses out if they upset me.

  “Where are the others?”

  “Shadi’s helping the BPD.” Morales shared a tense glance with Gardner. “Mez is back at the lab.”

  “Has the BPD been able to identify any of the other people who attacked us?” I said.

  Gardner’s expression went tense, like she’d hoped I would have forgotten about that. “Not yet.” Her tone was subdued. “They’re hoping some of the fingerprints taken off the deceased will provide clues to their identities.”

  “What’s taking them so long?” I demanded.

  “Kate, listen, maybe we should talk about this later—” Morales began.

  I swiped a hand through the air. “Later? You mean after Bane’s gone totally underground and we lose all hope of finding him?”

  “There are some complications,” Gardner said. “The media got wind of the raid and Mayor Owens is crawling all over Eldritch’s ass.”

  “Fuck the mayor!”

  The words hung in the air like a black cloud.

  “Kate.” Gardner’s voice was quiet but steely. “I understand your frustration, but there are procedures we have to follow. If we go after Bane through improper channels, we’ll never make a case against him.”

  “Won’t need to make a case if he’s dead.”

  “Stop right there,” she snapped. “Haven’t there been enough casualties already?”

  The word “casualties” made the eggshell veneer of calm begin to fracture. Danny wasn’t a fucking casualty. He was just a kid who had become another tragedy in the war on magic.

  Tears burned the edges of my lids. I pointed to Danny’s gray face. “That bastard did this to him.” My voice cracked. I cleared my throat and took a deep breath. If there was one thing I hated more than crying because I was sad, it was crying because I was angry. “You know it and I know it. And if you won’t arrest him, then I will personally hunt him down and gladly do the time.”

  “Stop it.” Gardner’s expression didn’t change, but the air around us tightened, hardened. “That won’t fix Danny.”

  “Nothing will fix Danny,” I whispered.

  Her head tilted. “What? Is that what the doctor said?”

  I swallowed the fist-sized lump in my throat. “He has to stay in the coma until an antipotion for Gray Wolf is found.”

  Morales cursed under his breath.

  Gardner’s face softened a fraction and she came forward into what probably counted as a comforting distance. “Let us worry about all this. If I know Mez, he’s already two steps ahead and working on an antipotion. Shadi’s handling the BPD and Morales and I will be working other avenues to track down Bane.” She bent down so I was forced to look in her eyes for the vow she was about to deliver: “And we will find him.”

  I hesitated, but I knew she meant what she said. They might be federal agents, but they were still cops. And cops took care of their own. At least these cops did. The same couldn’t be said for any of the BPD officers since none had even showed up at the hospital to show their support. My conscience rose at the uncharitable thought. Hadn’t Gardner just said Shadi was out with the BPD looking for Bane? That was the kind of support I really needed. Finally, I nodded. “What can I do?”

  “You’ve got your hands full here. Focus your energy on Danny and taking care of yourself. Leave the rest to us, okay?”

  “If you need anything,” Morales said, coming forward, “you call us. Seriously. Anything.”

  I looked up at him and a new wave of emotion rose up in my throat. This time, though, it wasn’t despair threatening to drown me. It was gratitude and something like hope. “Thanks,” I whispered.

  Two big arms suddenly wrapped around me. I started to pull away, but the support was so appreciated, so needed, that I surrendered and accepted the comfort offered.

  I held on for all I was worth. His muscled arms and shoulders seemed as though they could hold the weight of the world, which was good because my worries felt like just that.

  Gardner cleared her throat. Morales pulled back reluctantly and looked me in the eye. “I mean it—anything.”

  I forced a weak smile and nodded.

  He grabbed my hand and slipped something inside. “Mez left this for you.”

  I frowned and looked down. The item in my hand was a round leather amulet hanging from a braided leather cord. In the center, a small bubble of glass was filled with an iridescent green liquid. “What is it?”

  “We call it the ‘Oh Shit’ amulet. Break the bubble if there’s trouble and it will ward off magical attacks, as well as activate a GPS chip embedded in the disc.”

  I opened my mouth to argue, but Gardner spoke up. “If Bane comes after you we’ll be able to track you down anywhere in the city.”

  “I don’t—” I’d been in the process of rubbing my arms because I suddenly felt cold. The movement brushed a raw, reddened spot where I’d ripped off the patch.

  “Save i
t, Prospero. I’m well aware of your aversion to using magic.” Gardner crossed her arms, shooting my arm a pointed look. I didn’t have the energy to feel betrayed that Morales had told her I took off the patch. My conscience reared up. Maybe if I hadn’t pulled it off I could have fought harder, smarter. Maybe done something to prevent—

  Gardner’s voice cut through my self-recriminations like a blade. “Bane potioned your brother because he knew he was your Achilles’ heel.”

  Boom.

  Everyone went silent in the wake of that punch to the gut. I glanced at Pen, but she was suddenly very interested in the patterns on the flecked linoleum.

  “He will come at you again,” Gardner added, unnecessarily.

  “Yeah,” I snapped. “I got it. But if he does it’ll be so fast I won’t have time to activate the amulet.”

  “It might help, though,” Pen said. I shot her a disgusted look for siding with them. She of all people understood why I didn’t want anything to do with magic. Especially now that magic had turned my brother into a vegetable.

  I placed a hand on the butt of the gun at my waist. “Not if I get to them first.”

  “You listen to me.” Gardner’s entire posture changed. It seemed as though she grew six inches. “If I catch you anywhere near Bane or his property, I’ll personally arrest you for obstruction.”

  My mouth fell open.

  “I won’t have you risking your life or anyone else’s over some personal vendetta,” she snapped. “You let us worry about Bane. You keep yourself busy getting that boy the help he needs and watching your own ass.” She grabbed the amulet Morales still held and thrust it at me. “Put this on and keep it on. If I catch you without it, I’ll surgically implant a tracking device in your ass. Are we clear?”

  If I clenched my teeth any harder, they’d shatter. “Crystal,” I gritted out. She raised a brow, signaling she wouldn’t leave until she watched me put on the damned thing. With a sigh, I threw it over my head. The disc was surprisingly lightweight, but on the skin it felt like a lead yoke.

  “Good girl,” Gardner said. The patronizing tone made me want to punch her, so I clenched my fists. “Now”—her tone lightened up—“we’ll get out of your hair. I’ll check in on you tomorrow.”