by Dawn Ibanez
She went to the front of the shop and saw a woman with black hair squatting in front of the candles along the undamaged wall. The woman wore a simple tank top and jeans, and her left arm was covered with an intricate dragon tattoo. “Can I help you?” Kalina asked.
The woman lifted one of the candles and sniffed it. “Did you make these?”
Kalina nodded. “Yes. It’s a craft that’s been in…”
“Your family for generations. I know. I already looked you up.” The woman placed the candle back on the shelf and picked up another one. “I just wanted to make sure I was talking with you and not some random innocent.” She wrinkled her nose at the scent of the second candle and placed it back. “You’re wasting away here. You realize that, right?”
“Excuse me?”
“You are wasting away.” She stood and turned to Kalina. Her long hair hid a scar that ran over half of her face. The woman’s almond shaped eyes were also milky white, but something told Kalina she wasn’t blind. The woman gestured around the room. “I can smell the magic in the room. You lost control of it maybe two hours ago. There’s no consistency in your candles. You, little witchling, are about to waste away.”
Kalina moved away from her. She didn’t want to be in arm’s reach of this strange woman. “You’re the second person to come in here and say that. Why is that?”
The woman smiled. “I don’t know about anyone else, but it’s part of my gift. Or curse. However you want to look at it.” She picked up another candle and sniffed it. “You didn’t make this one. The magic is different.”
“That exact candle was made by my aunt. That’s only a display candle.” Kalina approached the woman and took the candle. Before she could step back, a hand grabbed her arm. Her mouth opened to scream, but no sound came out. The woman in front of her pulled her close. The bracelets she wore melded together to form a sort of armor.
“I know the scent of a witch about to be destroyed by their own magic. Why haven’t you learned control?” Her milky eyes narrowed as she pulled Kalina closer. She inhaled deeply as she held on to the shop owner. “This isn’t possible.”
Kalina placed her hand against the woman’s chest and pushed her away. Magic gathered in her hand, but the grip on her arm was too strong. Kalina screamed in pain as metal claws cut into her skin.
“Let her go!” Carly screamed as she ran to Kalina and the stranger. She quickly moved and had what looked like some sort of wire between her hands. The strange woman held up her hand and Carly crashed against an invisible wall.
“What do you want?” Kalina screamed.
“To be rid of you selfish, destructive creatures once and for all.”
A ball of fire crashed into the side of the woman’s face. As she fell over, she released her grip on Kalina’s arm.
Carly stood surrounded in a purple aura. “I told you to let her go,” she said.
Kalina sat on the floor and could only stare at her friend. Carly’s dirty blonde hair was streaked with black and small objects swirled around her body. Carly turned her eyes to where Kalina sat. “What the hell is going on?”
The objects moving around Carly formed a sort of shield in front of her. Kalina inhaled as she realized they were the playing cards Carly always kept in her pocket.
The woman sat up. Her milky eyes glowed brightly as she made her way to her feet. “You think I’m scared of Death, child?” she asked. The armor of one arm melted down her wrist and formed a sword. A sinister smile crossed her face. “I’ve survived nearly two millennia dealing with your kind. You can’t kill me!” she shouted.
The building rumbled around them and the woman’s bare left arm glowed. Kalina hadn’t noticed the tattoo that wrapped around the woman’s arm. But the earthshaking roar that left her throat had her on her feet before she realized she stood. A dragon’s head pulled itself off the woman’s shoulder. Kalina took a step back.
“Run,” Carly said. Her voice was calm as her cards continued to guard her and Kalina. “I got this. Don’t worry.”
Kalina shook her head. “No, she’s after me. I want to know why.”
“This isn’t the time.” Carly’s eyes darkened. “Go to him. His card is in your pocket.”
The wall behind the woman crumbled when the dragon blew a ball of fire at it. Kalina turned and ran to the back room. Her eyes filled with tears as she grabbed the keys to her car. Her arm was nearly useless as she opened the rear door. She nearly fell out into the alley and screamed when the side window of her shop exploded. Kalina got in her car and started it. She looked in the rear-view mirror and cursed when she saw the strange woman calmly step out of the shop. Kalina’s hands trembled as she gripped the steering wheel. She swallowed and put her car in reverse. Before she could hit the strange woman, she jumped into the air. Kalina cursed as her car made it into the street. She switched gears as the woman landed on her feet and looked at her. Kalina shook her head and took off down the street. Her eyes filled with tears as the building that housed her shop crumbled to dust behind her.
She drove through the city streets, terrified the strange woman still followed her. From Gold showing up at her shop to this woman, it all made her wish she never learned how to make candles in the first place. It was nearly an hour before Kalina felt safe enough to pull into a gas station. She took the card out of her back pocket and looked at the strange man’s address. Her eyes focused on phone number printed on the bottom of the card. She climbed out of her car and went into the station's store. The clerk behind the counter looked at her for a moment and then retrieved the key to the bathroom. Kalina looked down at herself and frowned when she realized her arm was still covered in blood. “Do you have a phone I can use? Or something I can buy?”
The clerk frowned as he pulled a cell phone out of his back pocket. “If you’re not calling the cops, you don’t need to go back to whoever did that,” he said.
Kalina laughed as she started to dial Gold’s number. Her smile faded when she saw his name pop up in the clerk’s phone. “You know Ryan Gold?”
The clerk nodded. “I work on his car. Do you need his help?”
Kalina put the phone on the counter and shook her head. “I just need to clean up.” She took the key to the bathroom and made her way to the small private room. Once inside, she turned and looked at her reflection. Her eyes filled with tears as she took in her appearance. She looked like she had gone through hell, and her arm was still bleeding. She would probably need stitches.
Unless she could figure out how to heal herself.
A sob escaped her. Thoughts of her mother ran around her head in circles as she turned on the faucet. When she was little, Kalina remembered her mother always searching for the high using magic could give her. Everything little thing that could be done with magic, Jessica Benton did it with magic. And it only became worse when Kalina’s own abilities started to manifest. Jessica would drain her nearly dry, and while she was high, act as if her child didn’t exist.
Kalina never wanted to be that dependent on magic. If she really had a choice, she would give up every ounce of power that flowed through her. She pulled several paper towels from the dispenser and wet them. As she cleaned her arm, she felt the familiar tingle of magic reaching her finger tips. She didn’t fight the feeling as her skin started to knit itself back together. As she wiped at each scratch, it slowly sealed up. After the third pass of the paper towels, her skin was raw and an angry shade of red, but it wasn’t bleeding anymore.
The high she was dreading didn’t come. Kalina didn’t focus on that fact as she threw the paper towels in the trash and continued to clean herself up.
By the time she was finished, she felt more stable. She wouldn’t be alright until she knew what happened to Carly, but she wasn’t a total mess. Kalina reached for the stone around her neck and inspected her only link to her past. The charm that was given to her as a baby now had a fine crack along the smooth surface.
It was just something else in her life she would have t
o fix. Kalina opened the door and went back into the mart proper. She inhaled sharply when the attendant looked at her with apologetic eyes.
Ryan Gold stood at the counter, paying for a soda, candy bar, and pack of gum. “I was going to give you a few more minutes before I went in there.”
“My best friend is probably dead.” Kalina folded her arms under her chest. She didn’t know what kind of magic Carly knew. But she was pretty sure having a building fall on her was not something she could survive. “And that shop was all I had left of my aunts. That’s gone too.”
Ryan held out the soda. “I’m sorry to hear about your friend. And your shop. Nothing is more frustrating than starting over.” When she took it, he turned to the clerk. “Thank you for your help. I’ll be in touch.” He stepped closer to her and held out his hand. “Are you willing to accept my help now?”
“Who was that woman that attacked me?”
“Describe her.”
“I don’t know. Asian. Milk colored eyes and a dragon tattoo that comes to life.”
His expression soured as he led her out of the gas station. “That really doesn’t help. How were her eyes funny? What kind of dragon was it?” he asked.
Kalina stopped walking. “Are you kidding me?”
“Unfortunately, no.” Ryan approached the passenger side door and opened it for her. “There are some witches that undergo various rituals that increase their magic, but in return, they become slaves of the beast within them. Most popular of those creatures are dragons and an occasional phoenix.”
“What?”
“I’ve seen a thunderbird. That witch destroyed a countryside.”
“What?”
Ryan shook his head. “The queen of that country well and truly deserved it. She messed with the wrong people. Sadly, the poor countrymen that also paid dearly for it.” He shook his head as he held out his hand. “Give me the keys. You can tell me everything as we go to the apartment.”
Kalina felt like she was tumbling down a rabbit hole. She placed the keys in Ryan’s hands and felt the world around her shift. As she started to fall, he wrapped his arms around her. “Hell,” he whispered.
She felt lightheaded as he helped her sit in the car. “I was expecting this,” she said lowly.
He frowned as he buckled her seatbelt. “I’ll get you to the apartment. You rest,” he said placing his hand on her forehead.
Before Kalina could say anything, the world around her went black.
*****
Ryan parked her car in a spot in the underground garage and looked at the woman at his side. Kalina was still out, and he would prefer she stayed that way. At least for a little while. There was only witch hunter with the destructive power to take out a building. He needed to get Xian off her hunt, and he needed to do it fast. She wasn’t known as the best executioner out there for no reason.
His cellphone started to vibrate in his pocket. He climbed out of the car and pulled the device out of his pocket. The number on the display was unfamiliar, but with the events of the past hour, it wasn’t going to stop him from answering. “Gold.”
“Is she with you?” a panicked female’s voice asked.
He frowned. Many people had his number, but this voice wasn’t familiar to him. “Who is this?”
“Don’t be a dick. It’s Carly. Kalina’s friend. Is she with you?”
He looked back in the car to check on Kalina. She thought her friend was killed. Yet here she was, on his phone. “What are you?” he asked.
“At the moment, I’m the one asking the questions. Where is Kalina?”
There were times when answering questions would get your own answers. He had a feeling this was not going to be one of those times. “She’s safe. She thinks you’re dead.”
“I know. I told her to run, and the shop exploded.”
“And this brings us back to my question.” Ryan closed the driver’s side door and went around to the passenger side. Kalina was perfectly still. He didn’t like that. He liked the mystery of her friend even less. “What are you?”
“Can’t we just leave it at I’m a witch too?”
Not in a million years. “I would have been able to sense you if it were that simple.” She would have had some sort of magical signature. A sort of scent. That was probably how Xian found Kalina. The woman’s magical scent was going crazy and without training, it was going to kill her, and possibly those around her. “If you were a witch, you could have helped Kalina long before now. You could have seen to her training yourself. Or your family would have. And where is her family?”
“We can’t help her. And normally we stay away from other witches and warlocks. Far away. But now I have to figure out how to protect her.”
Still not an answer. Ryan opened the car door and brushed his fingers along Kalina’s cheek. Her face was warm. He frowned as he looked at her. “The best person to protect Kalina is Kalina. And the only way she can do that is with me.”
“What about that bitch with the dragon?”
“Do you know what she is?” Ryan examined Kalina’s arms and saw them. Angry red welts that appeared as if someone clawed at her skin. “And when you last saw Kalina, was she bleeding?”
A disgusted exhale. Her friend was angry with herself. Good. “Possibly. She was being held when I got in there.”
Ryan didn’t know if he wanted to curse Kalina for trying to heal herself or Xian for her damned gauntlets. “I have her. She’s safe for the moment. But I have to get a potion into her to stop the poison in her blood.”
“Kalina was poisoned?”
Her voice was so small Ryan could have imagined the question. He unfastened Kalina’s seatbelt and turned her face to his. “I have her. Right now, concentrate on keeping yourself safe. She’s going to want to talk to you.”
“Fine. Just… take care of Kalina. I’m going to do some damage control on this side and then be over later.”
Ryan’s eyebrow arched. “Do you even know where I live?”
“No. But I can find you.” There was a hint of sarcasm laced in her voice. “We always find everyone.”
He didn’t have time to deal with her cryptic comments. He disconnected the call and took hold of Kalina’s limp form. When her feverish face turned to his neck, he opened a portal and stepped through.
The next instant, they were in his apartment. Ryan carried her to the sofa and quickly stripped off her shoes. When he looked at her brightly painted toenails, he fought a smile. “You are going to be an interesting one,” he said to her still form.
“Is that her?” Jasper asked from the kitchen.
Ryan fought the urge to blast him with magic. “What are you doing here again?”
“I wanted to see if you heard about Cao Xian’s latest rampage. She destroyed the candle shop.”
Ryan gestured to Kalina. “As you can see, I heard. Now, leave.”
Jasper leaned against the island. His face a mask of feigned innocence. “Ryan, you wound me. I am only here to see if I can aid a friend and you’re throwing me out.”
“Yes, I am. Because we have never been friends, and you only do things when they can benefit you.” Ryan went to his refrigerator and opened the freezer. As expected, there were seven bottles of various colors waiting for him. He reached in and picked up the orange bottle. “And since neither I nor Kalina will be participating in your sick little games of give and take with Faust. You can leave.”
Jasper waved his hand towards Kalina. The next moment, she sat up, gasping for air. As Ryan went to her side, Jasper held up a small black orb. “Messing with Xian can have permanent consequences.” As he examined it, he whistled. “And she really wasn’t joking. She had every intention of carrying out that mission.”
Ryan nodded. “I had that impression too.” He ran his hands along Kalina’s arm and froze his movements when she tried to move away from him. “Are you hurt?” he asked.
She reached for her tender arm. “Don’t tell me you know the woman that killed Carly
.”
The look in her eyes told him she would bolt out of his apartment if he wasn’t careful. He reached for her hand and rubbed her knuckles in a soothing motion. “First thing, your friend Carly is fine.” The hope in her tear-filled eyes did something to him. He continued the motions, and found it soothing to him as well. “She wanted to make sure I had you and that you were safe.”
“Where is she?”
Ryan shook his head. “I don’t know. I wanted to get the poison out of you before anything else.”
“Poison?”
“Are you sure she isn’t an airhead?” Jasper asked.
They both looked at Jasper. His eyes were locked on Kalina. “I’m sorry,” he said in a tone that was anything but. “You will have to forgive me. I was told that you were a smart and capable young woman that just needed to be taught how to control her magic. I wasn’t expecting a victim that only cares for others and nothing for yourself.”
“You know nothing about me,” she said.
Jasper held up the ball of poison he was able to extract. “You were dumb enough to let Xian get her claws in you. She’s going to really want to kill you now.” He placed it on the island and dusted his hands off. “And while there is a possibility of your survival, I would rather not watch a lamb get slaughtered by a dragon.”
Kalina’s gaze went to her hands. Ryan didn’t want to say anything. Jasper was right. “Xian isn’t the type of enemy that will simply leave because she failed to kill you,” he added.
“Then how do I kill her?”
Jasper laughed. “You can’t.” He went back to the fridge and pulled out a beer. “She’s the immortal hunter. All you can do is die at her hands and give her your magic.”
Ryan saw a flash of something behind Kalina’s eyes. He gave her fingers a squeeze. “She’ll probably leave you alone now that you’re with me and training.”
Her gaze shot to his. “So, you do know her?”
He tightened his hold when she tried to pull away. “Yes, I know her. But she and I have been around for a long time. We were bound to run into each other.”