Kill It With Magic: An Urban Fantasy Novel (The Lillim Callina Chronicles Book 1)

by J. A. Cipriano

  Chapter 37

  I wanted to slug my former master. I wanted to hit him so hard that it would cause his future progeny lifelong pain. Warthor Ein had sacrificed everything to win, and because of that, he had lost nothing. I took a deep breath, pleased that I hadn’t hit him, though I still wanted to do it. I turned away from him and began limping toward the exit.

  “I think you should know, Bunny,” Warthor’s words carried a strange sort of edge to them. “Joshua didn’t want to help me. He begged and pleaded with me to find another way. I could not.” He put a hand on my shoulder. It was sticky with sweat. I wanted to shrug it off, but for some reason, I didn’t. “You should blame me for what happened. I forced him to steal the gun from you. I knew you would not bring yourself to use the gun. Not with only two bullets left.” He turned me until I was facing him and stared at me with his icy-blue eyes.

  “Joshua could have refused,” I said so harshly that he took a step away from me. I took a wobbly step forward and pushed him. “You could have come to see me initially. You could have asked for the weapon. You… you…” I sank to my knees, tears blurring my eyes.

  “If I would have gotten you involved, you could have been killed. That’s the only reason Joshua didn’t refuse. We know you too well. We knew you would go up against Valen alone, and here you are. Do you have a death wish, Lillim?”

  “Maybe I do. Maybe I never wanted to come back in the first place.”

  Warthor closed his eyes. “I’m sorry, Bunny.” He vanished in that instantaneous way that he did. I was alone. I was all by myself in the middle of a half-wrecked stone castle. I wiped the tears from my eyes and crawled back to my feet. I wished I could make him feel what I did. I hated him because I knew that I would forgive him. I mean, how angry can you be at a scorpion for stinging you? It’s a god-damned scorpion. That’s what they do.

  “I wouldn’t have helped if I’d thought there was another way.” Joshua’s voice startled me, and I whirled around, looking for him. He was standing by the entrance, the moonlight from outside cast over him in such a way that he glowed.

  “I know.” I wobbled toward him. “I knew there had to be a good reason.” He took a step toward me and tried to put his arms around me. I shrugged them off and poked him hard in the chest. “I knew that you wouldn’t purposely make me hate you… again.”

  “I wasn’t trying to make you hate me. I was trying to save your life. I wanted to keep you from getting yourself killed.” He shook his head. “And yet you came anyway.”

  I understood why he had done it. I even felt bad for him. He had helped Warthor steal my gun knowing I would hate him. He had willingly become Judas to save me, and in doing so, had saved me from myself. That’s what made it all the worse. I knew he had a good reason, and yet, if I could have, I would have thrown him off a building.

  “If I hadn’t gone along with Warthor’s plans you’d be dead.” Tears were forming in his eyes, and he wiped them away with his sleeve. “You just came back to me. I couldn’t lose you again. I couldn’t let you die, not for good. I love you, Lillim.”

  This was why I could never take him seriously. Imagine waking up and having all these memories. I remember how much I loved him. I remember the way he ran his hand through his hair made butterflies dance in my stomach. I remember kissing him and crying with him and holding his hand as we stared at the moon. But I never actually did any of those things, and I know I didn’t actually do them. Dirge had.

  When Joshua said he loved me, I always thought that maybe… maybe he wished I was Dirge. It was something I could never get past… it was something I shouldn’t have to get past.

  He took my chin in his hand and leaned down to kiss me. I turned my head so his lips touched my cheek. “No, Joshua. You don’t. The woman you love is dead.”

  I pushed past him out into the night air knowing he would not follow me. The brisk breath of the wind made me shiver. I stood in the moonlight, and for the first time, noticed how beautiful this castle truly was. I was standing next to a quiet stream looking at the lilacs, awakened from their winter’s slumber. It was a strange to find them outside a castle owned by a vampire who regularly used human flesh like a potter might use clay.

  Still, the water behind me gave rise to a pleasant sort of sound. The accompanying wind carried the scent of blooming flowers, and it filled me with a sort of calm happiness. It was something I was unused to, so much beauty without any blood.

  I turned my head, hearing someone approach. Had Joshua followed me after all? I looked up and nearly choked. Caleb was standing there with a look on his face that I had never seen before.

  “And what brings you to this neck of the flowers?” I asked as he plucked one of the little blossoms from its stem. It was a queer little thing and he held it to his nose, looking as though he would consume it with his eyes. He turned it once in his hands before holding it out to me.

  “You won.” His voice was strained in a way I didn’t expect, and I didn’t quite know how to respond. An awkward silence pressed down on us, and he cleared his throat. His cheeks reddened, and he looked away from me.

  “You kept your word. You didn’t help me.” I blushed, and he waved my response away.

  “That isn’t why I didn’t help. I thought that if I saved you now, you would never forgive me. I could have helped you. Together we might have easily disposed of Valen, but you chose to fight him alone. You chose to forsake my help and had I forced it upon you anyway…” He shook his head and knelt beside me among the flowers. “It would be the same as killing you myself.” Caleb’s hands were balled so tightly that they trembled. “But I stood back and watched. I stood back and had to endure watching you suffer. I promised myself that when it was over, I would walk over to you. I’d tell you how much better you make me just by existing.”

  The moonlight melted on us, fragments of starlight attempted to pierce both the smog and the harsh glare of the city surrounding the castle. It was under this muted sky that he took my hand and we walked, very close to one another, through the garden.

  I wanted to say something, anything that would make him understand how I felt. In all my memories we had never been anything more than friends. Dirge had never felt anything for him. Dealing with my feelings for him was something that none of my past lives had prepared me for. I shivered at the thought. This one experience was mine, all mine.

  “So you’re really not coming back to the Dioscuri then?” Caleb smiled half-heartedly and shook his mop of sandy hair.

  I didn’t bother looking at him. This was what we were doing now? Fine, I could play this game.

  “How’s your chest?” I asked.

  He moved to rub it. “It was still just magic, once most of the initial damage from the spell was healed…” He trailed off for a second and smiled. “It’ll be healed completely in a few more days.”

  “You know, you’re really an idiot.” I regarded him carefully. “You could have died if you’d gotten into a fight with that kind of injury.”

  “It wasn’t so bad.” He waved his arm.

  “You’re just lucky that I decided to leave you behind. The fight with the drake, the storming of the castle… that could have hurt you a lot.”

  “But it all wound up okay in the end.” He placed his hand on my shoulder. “You shouldn’t focus so much on past mistakes. If you do, you’re likely to be swallowed up by them. I’d know.”

  I nodded and put my head against his chest. “I was just so concerned that you’d die because of me. I didn’t even think about the consequences. Because I was foolish everyone here almost died. At least, if you’d been there, I wouldn’t have fallen under that spell. I wouldn’t have had to deal with Wyrm.”

  Caleb wrapped his arms around me just then and pulled me close to him. I trembled under his embrace but didn’t fight him off. “If you hadn’t left me, I would have never survived.” He smiled, leaning down close to me. “But you’ve got it all wrong. I’m the lucky one. I’m the one lucky enoug
h to have a friend who was willing to risk her own life just so that I wouldn’t get hurt. I was able to fight beside someone that didn’t give up when her body was broken and beaten, but still stood, through the sheer force of her willpower, and fought onward to victory.”

  “Don’t be silly.” I placed a finger to his lips. “Those are all qualities you possess.”

  Caleb leaned down close to me until our faces were almost touching, my finger still at his lips. “But I’m not the one who is planning on taking a stand for what I believe is right and saying to hell with the consequences. Everyone that fights by your side stands up and does things they never thought they could otherwise. You make the world a better place just by existing.”

  “Caleb?” I was looking into his green eyes now, trembling.

  “Yeah?”

  “Shut up.” I slid my fingers out from between us. Our lips met and he pulled me into him, holding my body against his own.

  “I don’t want you to die,” I said, my voice shaky as he rested his forehead against mine.

  “Just for tonight let’s forget about that.”

  Thank you for reading Kill It With Magic. If you wouldn't mind, please leave a review. If you are wondering what happens to Lillim next, check out The Hatter is Mad. As a special bonus, the first chapter is included on the next page.

  If you are curious about what happened to Rome, you may also want to check out my other book, May Contain Spies. If you want to know more about Caleb, you can check out his short adventure, Halcyon Days.

  Want to know when my next book is available? Sign up for my new release e-mail list here. If you do, I'll send you my short story, Alone in the Dark, for free.

  Visit my blog at JACipriano.com for all the latest updates.

  Chapter 1

  I fell forward, arms flailing wildly as I tried to right myself before face-planting into the cement. I jerked to a stop mere inches from the ground and let out a short cry of pain.

  “You should have been watching that last step. That one’s a doozy.” Melanie Stone grinned, holding me with both hands by the scruff of my overcoat as she stood just outside my door.

  I grunted as she helped me regain my balance. I wriggled my toes in the pink footpads of my pajamas and sighed. I thought about changing, but I didn’t have time if I wanted to answer the door in any respectable amount of time. So there I was, standing there in my navy blue overcoat and a pink onesie with sparkly ponies on it. I’d probably looked more ridiculous at some point in time, but I had a hard time remembering when.

  Why did I grab my overcoat instead of a bathrobe? It was enchanted with spells that made it bullet proof, stab proof, and fire proof. Besides, there was near limitless space inside to hide my own personal armory. However, none of that helps when you trip and fall through your own doorway as you scramble to open the door.

  Stupid jacket on the floor! The fairy cleaning-service was really slacking lately. If this kept up, I might actually have to start cleaning up after myself. I shook my head in disgust. That was so not happening. If there’s one thing Lillim Callina does not do, it’s clean.

  I glanced at Melanie Stone and smirked. She stood even shorter than my five foot nothing with curly, golden locks that made her face look pixie-like. It also made her black combat boots and matching trench coat and hat look almost cute, like a five year old who had gotten into her father’s clothes.

  She tipped her hat toward me, took the cigar from her lips, and blew a small cloud of smoke from the corner of her mouth. Behind her I could see her latest fling, Antonio. He was over six feet tall and wore on each pinky finger a diamond ring that looked more like some lucky girl’s engagement ring than something a man would wear. Hey, I wasn’t judging. It was just that where I came from men dressed like men. My father wouldn’t have been caught dead wearing a dainty band like that on his pinkie. He could also chew coal and spit out diamonds, so there was that.

  Antonio stood motionless between the open door of his Beamer and the car itself. Apparently he was in some kind of major hurry, which begged the question of why he came along at all. He looked like he was probably up to no good, and not because most people dressed in custom suits gave me that vibe. No, it was because he was tagging along with Melanie Stone, the resident trouble causing private detective in these parts. Then again, I guess a good fit for her would be an eccentric millionaire who liked to ‘play detective’ from time to time.

  “My dearest Melanie, to what do I owe this lovely visit?” I asked as I stepped back to shut the door in her face as kindly as possible.

  “I’m well. Thanks for asking,” she replied, leaning against the door frame so I couldn’t close it without hitting her. “How are you? Still posing as vamp bait?”

  I glared at her as the heat rose on my cheeks. “No. I’m over it,” I growled.

  “So Caleb finally called you back?” she asked in that annoying way she did when she already knew the answer.

  We’d met six months ago while I was posing as a teenage runaway at a vampire owned half-way house. Why was I doing that? Because Caleb left me in the middle of the night without so much as a goodbye, and I was angry. I bounced around supernatural feeding grounds busting heads for a while after that.

  If Melanie didn’t find me, ignore the fact that I was only seventeen, and teach me some tricks of the trade, I’d probably still be luring vampire johns to their doom.

  “No. I still haven’t heard a word from him.” I sighed and stared at my feet. “Why do you ask?”

  “Lillim, I do actually care about you. You’re like the little sister I never wanted,” Melanie said and harrumphed. “And there have been some weird occurrences over the last few days. If I trust my gut at all, it tells me your ‘things’ have something to do with it.”

  I shrugged my shoulders. “As far as I know, there’s nothing abnormal going on in the supernatural world.”

  She put her hand against her face and rubbed her temples before letting out a long sigh. It was her dealing with me gesture. I saw it nearly every time I irritated her. Melanie blew out a slow breath that reeked of tobacco, and my stomach tried to crawl out my throat.

  “I was never really good at asking for help. You know that.” She stopped talking and stared at the floor as if looking for the right words. “I know you’re good at finding things, specifically strange things.” She waggled her fingers for emphasis. “Things others aren’t so good at finding, if ya catch my drift. Antonio might have found something, and I want you to look into it.”

  “I have been known to find a bauble or two upon occasion. What do you need found?” I smiled and leaned against the door. As much as I disliked Antonio without actually meeting him in person, I was sure he was a millionaire and could totally pay me. I liked that a lot. In fact, it moved him to nearly the top of my list of my people to not hate without a good reason.

  She pulled a sealed envelope from her coat and thrust it into my hands. “Let me know when you find out what’s going on. Your usual rate is in there with a little bonus. You know, for ice cream.”

  Melanie was one of the few people who knew I could be bought. Especially if I was being paid to do something I was already interested in. This though, this seemed a bit off. She referred jobs to me before but…

  “Trust me. This is right up your alley.” She turned and moved down my walk toward Antonio and the Beamer. He seemed even more agitated. Briefly, I wondered why he was in such a rush. “And next time, try not to answer the door in your pajamas. It’s really unprofessional, though the ponies are cute.”

  I fought the urge to yell at her as I shut the door. Instead, I leaned my back against the doorframe and tore the top off the manila envelope. A smile crossed my face as I dropped its remains to the floor. A while back Melanie told me how she liked to save manila envelopes for use at a later time, to save both money and hassle. I smirked as a glossy photo slid out of the mangled envelope and into my hand.

  If Melanie hadn’t given it to me, I wouldn’t h
ave spared it a second glance. It was of the most completely average looking man I’ve ever seen walking down a street carrying a briefcase. He was wearing a royal blue suit with a navy fedora. Even his shoes were blue. On his wrist was an oversized watch that seemed blurry in the otherwise clear photo. It was circled in red marker with There it is written next to it.

  I turned the picture over. Written on the back were several completely incomprehensible symbols. I set it on the pile of candy wrappers covering every square inch of my desk, and I looked inside the envelope. There was a neon blue post-it note that said, “He's murdering the time.”

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  Table of Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Chapter 36

  Chapter 37