The Alchemist and an Amaretto: The Guild Codex: Spellbound / Five

by Marie, Annette

  I slipped the spare magazine into a pocket in my belt that was the perfect size for it. And the funny-shaped loop I’d always wondered about was probably a holster for the pistol. Something told me the guys had gotten my belt made with this gun in mind.

  “Ready?” Splitting his pole-arm into two matching blades, Ezra faced the door. “Let’s go.”

  Pistol in hand, I reached past him, unbolted the lock, and threw the door open.

  He shot out first and I followed, shutting the door behind me. He cut left down a paved path that wound toward a cluster of mature spruce trees. My sharp breath filled my ears, our footsteps the only sound.

  Then I heard it: the thud of paws, drumming against the ground in a rapid beat. The raspy huff of canine panting, drawing closer.

  I pumped my legs, but the wolves were far faster. They appeared out of the darkness in a deadly rush, closing in on all sides with the moonlight gleaming on their bared fangs.

  Ezra’s blades flashed and a band of wind hit the nearest wolves, throwing them back. “Keep running!”

  As I sprinted past him, a dark shadow leaped out of the trees ahead of me. I whipped my new gun up. The first pull of the trigger snapped loudly as it opened the CO2 canister that powered the weapon. A yellow paintball burst between the wolf’s eyes. I fired two more shots, then dove sideways as the shifter wheeled drunkenly past me and slumped onto its snout.

  Ezra jumped over it, racing for the building peeking through the trees, and I chased after him. He kicked the door, adding a blast of wind for extra force, and the door flew inward. Automatic lights blazed, illuminating six sleek cars that ranged from the luxury sedan Sin and I had ridden in to two low-riding, aggressively styled, fire-red expensive-mobiles.

  As I faced the doorway, my pistol aimed at the two wolf shadows prowling cautiously closer, Ezra grabbed a set of keys off the rack beside the door. The black sedan beeped and flashed its lights.

  “Tori!” He tossed me the keys and I caught them, surprised. “Get in.”

  I holstered my pistol and yanked open the driver’s door. As Ezra slid into the passenger seat, I started the engine. He prodded the garage button and the overhead door began sliding upward.

  A wolf rammed its head into my window.

  I screamed. The shifter withdrew from the cracked glass and set its feet to headbutt the window again. I slammed the gear selector into drive and hit the gas. The car shot forward under the still-opening door, and metal shrieked as it dragged across the vehicle’s roof.

  “Oops,” I gasped as I wrenched the wheel, spinning the car toward the manor. The east wing whipped past, then we blew under the carriage porch. The front door, which Valerie had bolted and sealed with magic, hung off one hinge. Multiple ground-floor windows were broken.

  I swallowed back my terror for Kai and Valerie. “I can’t believe I didn’t even suspect Brian. He seemed so—so harmless.”

  “None of us thought of him,” Ezra said tersely. “Kai was investigating Kelvin, but he didn’t even look at Brian. Take a right here.”

  I hit the brakes, took the corner so fast Ezra grabbed the handle above his window, then floored the gas pedal. The pavement flew toward the headlights and vanished under the car’s nose. It had taken almost half an hour to reach the apothecary earlier this week. I was going to do it in half that.

  “Investigating Kelvin?” I repeated in disbelief, resuming our conversation.

  “He’s a transmutation expert. When he was struggling to figure out the transmutation, Kai and Aaron wondered if he was pretending to be stumped.”

  “Or maybe Brian was sabotaging his master’s work to hide his tracks.”

  Ezra nodded.

  I glanced at the clock on the dash. 11:02. Sin’s exorcism was supposed to happen at midnight, meaning we had less than an hour to rescue Sin and get her to the druidess. This was going to be tight.

  The twisting road sped beneath us. Ezra directed me, familiar with the area from his many holiday visits to the academy. We scarcely spoke, our attention on the road—and our fears. Sin. Aaron and Tobias. Kai and Valerie. Every moment we were gone meant we couldn’t help Aaron and Kai fight. How long could they last against a pack of full-moon-empowered, mutated werewolves?

  When the apothecary’s small community appeared around a bend, I almost blasted right through it. I slammed the brakes, throwing Ezra into his seat belt. The vehicle slid to a stop, my door perfectly aligned with the apothecary’s storefront.

  Flashing Ezra a part proud, part apologetic, part terrified smile, I cut the engine and unbuckled my seatbelt. “Time to find Sin.”

  Silvery moonlight streaked down, the serene luminescence accentuating the eerie quiet. The apothecary was more like a converted house than a store, and we crept alongside the building and into the backyard without issue. Though the apothecary was dark and silent, a faint light glimmered through the trees across the long backyard.

  Ezra gestured toward it and I followed him across the grass. The soft glow leaking through thick spruce boughs brightened. We slipped into the trees and I winced as a twig snapped under my ballet flat. You’d think I could walk more quietly in these than my steel-toed hiking boots, but nope.

  Ezra stopped so suddenly I collided with his back.

  “Something moved up ahead,” he whispered.

  A moment of quiet.

  “Oh, so it’s you,” a gruff male voice called. “I was hoping you would come.”

  Ezra tensed, then started forward again, moving swiftly instead of quietly. Ahead, a much smaller lawn preceded a ranch-style home, its front window glowing brightly. A man with tangled black hair waited for us in front of the house, and my jaw clenched when I recognized him.

  He licked his lips as his gaze fixed on me. “And you brought the feisty girl too.”

  Busy scanning for more werewolves, I didn’t bother returning verbal fire. No others in sight, but that didn’t mean they weren’t nearby.

  Ezra pulled me hard against his side and I gasped in surprise. When he pressed his mouth against my ear, I had to give myself a mental “pay attention!” slap as my stomach did an entire circus’s worth of acrobatics.

  “I’ll take him head-on,” he breathed almost soundlessly so the werewolf’s supernatural hearing wouldn’t pick up his words. “Stay back. If you have a clear shot, take it, but only if you’re certain you won’t hit me.”

  I twitched my head in the tiniest nod. Keeping his pole-arm in baton mode, he strode onto the lawn. The wolfy creep walked forward to meet him, cracking his knuckles like a club bouncer.

  I slipped my brass knuckles out of my pocket and onto my left hand, then withdrew my Queen of Spades and pinched it between my lips. Finally, I unholstered my paintball pistol. Four shots left in this magazine, and I had to make them count. Who knew what else I might need to shoot later.

  Giving no warning, Ezra flung a howling gust into the werewolf, then launched forward.

  The werewolf barely stumbled from the wind attack. He caught Ezra’s pole-arm on the palm of his hand with a loud smack. Anyone else would’ve broken their arm trying to stop a strike from Ezra when he put real muscle into it, but the shifter’s hand barely dipped under the force.

  Ezra wrenched his pole-arm free, then tossed it away. It flew end over end and landed in the grass, well out of reach. My heart crammed into my throat. Ezra didn’t want to chance the shifter taking control of his weapon. He would rely on his steel-plated fists instead.

  As they circled each other, I crept out of the trees and circled them.

  The man sprang. Faster than before, he rammed into Ezra. Limbs blurred as they tangled, then air boomed—Ezra’s fist smashing into the shifter’s chest. The man flew backward but landed on his feet, gasping.

  “You hit hard.” The shifter grinned as he rubbed his sternum. “Harder than a mage should hit.”

  I kept moving. I needed to get in the werewolf’s blind spot.

  Ezra extended his hands out to either side, palms facing upw
ard and fingers curling. The night air came to life. Swirling gusts leaped at his command, rushing around him, whipping leaves and dirt into a spiral.

  He and the shifter lunged. Wind burst outward as they crashed together. Ezra was damn near unstoppable in a one-on-one fight, but not against this opponent, his mutant strength boosted by the full moon. They grappled, fists thudding against flesh. Unleashing his demonic magic could turn the tables in an instant, but Ezra used Eterran’s power only as a last resort—and considering we were in a residential area where witnesses could appear at any moment, it might not be an option.

  I slid closer, watching carefully. I’d been ogling Aaron and Kai during sparring for weeks and I’d gotten an idea of the flow of combat. If I could time it right …

  Pulling the Queen of Spades from my teeth, I whispered, “Ori repercu …”

  Ezra smashed his steel knuckles into the werewolf’s head, blood spattering on impact. The shifter slammed into Ezra, knocking him backward into the ground.

  No, too soon. I waited a beat, then began again. “Ori repercu …”

  Ezra threw an arm up to shield his throat and the shifter sank his human teeth into the aeromage’s forearm, tearing through the fabric glove.

  Not yet, not yet. “Ori repercu—”

  With a jab of his fist, Ezra unleashed a maelstrom of wind to throw the man off. Yes, now!

  As the werewolf was lifted into the air, I thrust my card out. “—tio!”

  Ezra’s wind attack reversed direction and blasted the shifter forward. As he landed on his hands and knees, my pistol was already aimed, and I pulled the trigger.

  Pop pop pop.

  Three yellow balls hit him square in the ass, bursting on impact. Hell yes. I was a way better shot than I was a throw. I mean, I was only ten feet away, but still. Bullseye!

  “Yeah!” I yelled. “Take that, you—”

  The shifter shoved up, teeth bared furiously. In three leaping strides, he was on me.

  He hit me like a battering ram. I slammed down, pain ricocheting through my back. The pistol flew out of my hand. Baring his teeth, stained with Ezra’s blood, he lunged to bite me—and Ezra appeared, grabbing him by the hair before his teeth reached my skin.

  “Ori amplifico!” I shouted as I smashed my fist into the man’s nose.

  He was hurled backward in a spray of blood. So was Ezra. They hit the ground with a thump.

  “Sorry, Ezra!” I gasped, sitting up.

  Ezra rolled away as the shifter writhed in agony—then greenish light spilled out of him. His limbs contorted and fur sprouted all over his body. The monstrous wolf scrambled onto four paws, bloodied snout ridged as he snarled furiously.

  Ezra was on his feet, hands spread wide, wind swirling around him. Man against wolf. Shit.

  I bolted away from them. Aaron had needed his sword for the extra reach—and Ezra needed his pole-arm. As snarls filled the air, I rushed across the lawn, skimming the dark grass. Where was it? Where? Where—there!

  I snatched it out of the grass, turned, and hurled it.

  Ezra caught the spinning weapon out of the air an instant before the wolf slammed into him. He went down under the massive beast, vanishing beneath black fur and powerful canine muscles.

  A flash of silver blade.

  The wolf heaved backward, then collapsed, two matching hilts protruding from his chest. Ezra extracted himself from beneath the dying shifter, breathing hard.

  I rushed to his side as he wrenched his blades free. “Are you okay?”

  He nodded. “You?”

  “Fine.” I scanned him for injuries, then located my paintball pistol and Queen of Spades card in the grass. “Three shots wasn’t enough.”

  “Not on this one,” he agreed grimly. “Let’s keep moving.”

  He strode toward the house. Following, I ejected the near-empty clip from my pistol and loaded the next one. My Queen of Spades was back in its pouch, but the brass knuckles stayed on my hand. They could be useful even when the spell was recharging.

  We slipped around the back and paused. Light from the house’s two rear windows illuminated the treed backyard, and faint clattering came from inside. This was the right place.

  “Over there,” Ezra whispered, pointing not at the house, but at a toolshed nestled among spruce trees at the far end of the lawn. We sprinted for the cover of the foliage. He hesitated in front of the shed, then pulled on the handle. The door swung open, revealing a huge steel cage with bars as thick as my wrist.

  “Sin!” I gasped.

  She lay on the shiny metal floor, her teal hair splayed around her pale face, and didn’t stir at my call. I rushed to the bars and rattled the door. It was bolted shut with a heavy-duty lock.

  “Shit. Can you break that?”

  Ezra took his pole-arm in both hands and smashed the end into the lock with an ear-splitting clang. Three more times he rammed it, but the lock didn’t even bend.

  Lowering his weapon, he shook his head. “We need the key.”

  “What ya wanna bet Brian has it?” I growled.

  I hated leaving Sin behind, but until we could get the cage open, we had no choice. We exited the shed, raced across the lawn to the house, and positioned ourselves on either side of the back door.

  “I can sense him moving around,” Ezra murmured. “He’s to the left, about fifteen feet away.”

  I lifted my pistol. “I can hit him.”

  Ezra nodded and turned the door handle. It rotated easily, unlocked. “I’ll be right behind you. Be careful.”

  “I’ve got this.”

  He pushed on the door and it swung silently open. Paintball gun held in both hands, I stepped inside.

  Whatever this room had been before, it was now an alchemy lab. A long counter ran along one side, and shelving units occupied the other end, sticking out in the room instead of flush with the wall. A table in the middle, its surface permanently etched with circles, was laden with glass vessels, bottles, and bins of ingredients.

  Everything was a mess. Bottles had been knocked over, papers scattered across the floor, ingredients spilled on the counter. Urgent rustles and clatters came from between two freestanding shelves, and on the floor was an open duffle bag filled with alchemy paraphernalia. Either Brian knew he’d been found out or he wasn’t taking his chances. He was running for it.

  The shelves blocked my view of him—and prevented me from getting a clear shot. I tiptoed into the room and Ezra followed a few steps behind.

  A quiet, angry mutter, then a hand appeared, throwing a grimoire into the duffle bag. Six feet away now. Half crouching, I crept two more steps, then leaped forward, swinging my gun into the gap between shelves.

  Orange mist burst through the air.

  I reeled back, gun wavering as I squinted through the haze. A scent filled my nose—sweet with a hint of almond.

  “Drop your gun, Tori.”

  I opened my hand. The pistol tumbled away from my fingers and hit the floor with a clang.

  Wait, what? Why the hell had I done that?

  Panic shot through me, but before I could stoop to grab my gun again, Brian stepped out of the colored fog, a weird-looking rifle in his hand, the butt against his shoulder and the long barrel pointed at my chest.

  “Don’t move,” Brian warned sharply. “Either of you.”

  Three steps away, Ezra held his position. The mist dispersed, the sweet, nutty scent fading—but the damage was done. I’d dropped my gun at his command and now I was unarmed.

  Brian’s right eye twitched nervously, his blond hair tangled and his white dress shirt stained. “Don’t make me shoot. My shifter serum won’t do nice things to a human body.”

  Ah, his rifle looked funny because it was a dart gun. Somehow, I wasn’t all that comforted by the knowledge that I might die from a lethal injection rather than a lethal bullet.

  Brian adjusted his aim, pointing the barrel at my throat. Twitchy fear radiated off him, and that made him dangerous. A scared man was unpredi
ctable.

  “What’s your plan, exactly?” I asked in a conversational tone, ignoring my building panic. “Shoot me? Ezra will snap your neck by the time you pull the trigger, so … maybe not a great plan.”

  Brian stepped out from between the shelves, keeping his gun on me. As he sidled around the table, putting it between him and Ezra, the aeromage inched closer again, now almost directly behind me.

  A low snarl rumbled into the room. A hulking gray wolf prowled through the open door, its milky eyes fixed on me. Two more wolves crowded into the threshold behind the first, their teeth bared and drool dripping from their fangs.

  Well, that answered my question about Brian’s plan.

  My heart raced, speeding faster and faster as though it could outrun this nightmare. Ezra and I, cornered in a room, with three super-werewolves and a psycho alchemist. Not good.

  “My friends are very loyal,” Brian said, tense but triumphant. “And on the full moon, they’re all but invincible.”

  Yeah, I’d noticed that.

  The alchemist’s gaze snapped from me to Ezra and back. “I’ll never get to show Compton what I’ve achieved, but I’ve already surpassed his greatest accomplishments. I’ve created a transmutation that can transcend the flesh and alter a spirit.”

  “Congratulations,” I muttered, my mind spinning through my options. Except I had no options.

  Brian’s chest rose as he took a deep breath and held it. His expression hardened. Muscles tensed. Pupils dilated. Physiological warnings, Kai and Aaron had taught me. The subtle signs of an enemy about to strike.

  I knew what was coming, but I was too slow to react.

  Brian pulled the trigger—and Ezra’s arms snapped around me, one across my throat and the other my chest, shielding my most vulnerable spots. We pitched toward the floor and slammed hard on our sides.

  I lurched out of his arms, my panicked gaze sweeping across him, terrified of what I’d see.

  The dart full of serum, its fuzzy yellow top like a beacon, stuck out of Ezra’s forearm—the one he’d used to shield my neck. He plucked the metal syringe out, but the damage was done.