SPELL TO UNBIND, A

by Laurie, Victoria

  Finn’s eyes grew black with desire, and I’m sure mine mirrored his. He lowered his lips to my throat, and when I felt their touch, I whimpered.

  With trembling hands, I began to reach up to twine my fingers into his hair, dying to feel the touch of those black locks. I was intensely aware of the nearness of the bed. I wondered if we’d even make it the three feet to it.

  The second my hands touched his scalp, Finn reached around my waist and pulled me against him. My eyes rolled up and my lids closed, the sensation of falling into a deep, deep hole making me feel unsteady on my feet. I was aware that I was trembling. I was aware of the heat of his skin against mine, the taut muscles of his chest, the bulge at my thighs. I was aware of the building tension in the energy around us, mixing with the air, curling its way through every pore and crevice of the room—a thousand volts alive like serpents, ready to strike …

  A sudden and jolting alarm cut through my muddled thoughts and without even thinking, I took hold of Finn around the waist, and using every ounce of strength I possessed, I pulled him sideways with me five steps before throwing both of us to the floor on the other side of the bed.

  KABOOM!—came the explosion, even before we hit the floor.

  Debris blasted in all directions, furniture splintered, stuffing erupted, glass shattered, and clothing flew. I landed awkwardly, half under Finn, my body twisted and tense, attempting to brace against the worst of the detonation.

  I heard him grunt when we hit the floor—hell, I heard myself grunt too, and then I felt his arms wrap around me as he rolled over and tucked me underneath him while shielding me from the worst of the carnage.

  As debris settled onto the floor all around us, I clung to Finn with my eyes squeezed shut, selfishly grateful he was shielding me from the downpour of rubble and debris.

  And even while the air around us clouded with a dusty haze, Finn pressed up on all fours, lifting himself off of me and twisting himself side to side to shake off what he could.

  I looked up at him, his hair now white, completely coated in dust, and his hazel eyes ablaze with fury.

  In a singular move, he was on his feet, whirling around to face the aggressor, but the smoky haze in the room was too thick to see through.

  With effort, I also got to my feet. My ears ringing loud enough to block out all other sound. I saw Finn’s lips move; he was saying something, but I couldn’t make out what. He waved his hand in front of him, and the air around us began to clear. And then Finn formed his hands in the shape of a ball, splaying his fingers and creating a bright blue pulse of energy that emanated out from his palms as raw power gathered between his hands, and he readied himself for battle.

  Forgetting all about Lunatrabem strapped to my back, I stepped up next to him, also taking up a defensive stance. Focusing my own essence, I too formed a circle with my hands, infusing the air between my own palms with a green ball of energy.

  By trade I’m more escape artist than soldier, however I’ve been known to be fairly scrappy when cornered, and there was no way I was abandoning Finn in this fight—not after seeing what the mystic did to all his other victims.

  So I tensed and made myself ready for the attack I knew was sure to come while I watched Finn’s lips move as he spoke some magical words to clear the foggy air. It was then I noticed that the thick cloud surrounding us wasn’t solely created from dust and debris, but rather seemed to have a magical quality to it, intent on obscuring our view.

  Finn also seemed to recognize this because his left hand came away from the ball of energy he was forming, and he waved it at the thick cloud while repeating the clearing spell again with more earnestness.

  But the obscuring cloud remained. And rather than being battled back, whomever was behind the cloud began to charge the air with electricity again. My eyes widened. I had a feeling we were at the center of the bull’s-eye and there was no way we could survive a direct hit.

  With mounting panic, I dropped my hands, the ball of my essence winked out, and I grabbed Finn by the arm, tugging him sideways as hard as I could, away from the center of the gathering energy. Surprised, he stumbled for a step, and I kept pulling. The energy all around us continued to charge, and I could feel my hair stand up on end, and all the nerves along my skin were alight and tingling. Our attacker was drawing any energy they could out of the atmosphere to create a deadly bomb that would explode in our faces at any moment.

  Finn tried to shake me off, and I screamed a warning at him. Yanking hard on his arm I pulled him with me away from that bullseye, but he was so focused on the foe in the room that he barely acknowledged me. Desperate, I let go, twirled around to his front, and tackled him around the middle, shoving him back.

  Caught off guard again, Finn stumbled and I felt him grunt when his back hit the wall. The pitch of the energy gathering around us had reached a note that was so intense, I thought my already belabored eardrums might pop.

  In the moment that I thought we were surely about to perish, I encircled my arms around him, hugging him tightly and that’s when I heard him yell something, the sound of his voice barely resonating above the ringing in my ears and the piercing buildup of energy. But then there was a sudden whoosh of air, he lurched the both of us sideways, and the world went dark as we once again fell to the floor.

  I panted for air twice, maybe three times, before there was another KABOOM!, but this time I felt only a slight percussion, as if something had blocked the most violent aspect of the blast.

  Underneath me, Finn moved. I felt the rumble from his chest under my fingertips and knew he was speaking, but I didn’t know if he was speaking to me or uttering a spell. Taking a few more deep gulps of air, I managed to say, “I can’t hear you. The blast … I can’t hear.” I could only hope his ears weren’t as affected as mine.

  His hands came up to gently cup my face, lifting his forehead to rest it against mine. It was a whole other level of intimacy between us, and the absurdity that it was formed in the immediate aftermath of our nearly being blown to bits didn’t feel nearly as insane as it should have.

  For a long moment we both just lay there, gasping for air. Then finally Finn wrapped his arms around me again and sat up slowly, carrying me with him. He spoke again and a light came on, illuminating an enclosed and obviously blast-proof room, absolutely chock-full of treasure.

  “Whoa,” I said, sitting up a little taller to take it all in, my thieving nature already making scoundrel plans.

  Finn cupped my face again and turned it toward his. Don’t even think about it, he mouthed.

  I grinned. In spite of everything going on in that moment, a bit of levity managed to sneak through.

  Finn moved me off his lap, got gingerly to his feet, and held out his hand for me. I took it and allowed him to help me up as well. By now the ringing was lessoning, and I could almost hear him when he began swearing at the closed door in front of us.

  It took me a moment to realize that he wasn’t swearing at the door, but rather the mystic beyond it.

  “I told you,” I said, hearing my own voice as a muffled thing, reverberating inside my skull. “I told you what this mystic is capable of. This is the same thing he did to Bree’s apartment.”

  Finn turned to look meaningfully at me. You did, he mouthed with a nod.

  “Do you know who it is?”

  He shook his head and appeared troubled. The mystic had caught the both of us off guard, but I wondered—even if Finn had been prepared—would he have been a match for this violent intruder?

  The kind of power the mystery person was exhibiting was enormous. It was the kind of power that could be generated by only the most talented among us, and to have it unleashed against me—twice now—was enough to take stock of the risky nature of my mission. Facing Elric without having secured the egg was perhaps not quite the worst-case scenario I’d thought it to be.

  “We need to get out of here, Flayer,” I said, the ringing in my ears finally quiet enough to hear above it. “The
floor of your penthouse is probably unstable and the whole building could come down.”

  Finn shook his head. “I own the building. I had the penthouse’s floor reinforced just in case the place met a catastrophic event.”

  I stared at him in wonder. “You were expecting that?”

  He shrugged. “I’m Petra’s lieutenant. It’s my job to expect the worst-case scenario.”

  I shook my head then looked around. “What do we do now?”

  Finn pointed toward the back of the large room before stepping past me in that direction. I walked behind him, trying my best not to eye the merchandise. (I failed miserably, of course.)

  When we got to the back of the room, Finn swept a hand over the wall and a doorway appeared, revealing nothing of the darkened room beyond. He bowed slightly at the hip in an “after you” gesture.

  I didn’t move.

  “It’s safe,” he said.

  I waved at the opening. “Then you go first.”

  He dipped his chin. “And leave you here with all this temptation? Not likely.”

  Damn. He’d read my mind. “There’s a lot of stuff here that could probably help us,” I said.

  Finn pointed over my shoulder to the sword strapped to my back.

  “Oops,” I said, pulling it out of the scabbard to hold it aloft in front of us. It glowed that same white moonlight, and I marveled at its power once again. “I’m not used to having a weapon like this handy. My usual tactic is to make a run for it.”

  “No judgment here,” Finn said. “Whoever that is out there caught me by surprise too.”

  Finn continued to stand next to the exit, waiting for me to cross the threshold. With a sigh, I sheathed Lunatrabem and stepped forward into an area about fifteen-by-fifteen which was very dimly lit, but which also appeared to be the landing to a staircase leading straight down. Turning back to Finn to ask where it led, I watched him snap his fingers and the doorway disappeared, leaving me all alone on the landing. “Son of a bitch!” I yelled, moving to it to pound on the brick wall.

  I stopped pounding real quick when I heard a deep, menacing growl reverberate up from the stairwell.

  Whipping around, I pulled out Lunatrabem, plastered my back against the door, and held the sword aloft. Its glow helped chase away the fear of whatever it was that was obviously readying for an attack.

  From the stairwell, there was a loud whump somewhere below, maybe two flights down, the noise very much like something heavy plopping onto one of the steps. A moment later, another whump sounded, and the floor under my feet vibrated from the impact of something very big and very heavy.

  Shaking my head in frustrated fury I muttered, “Fuck you, Flayer. I will soooo get even with you for this.”

  The glow from my sword wasn’t bright enough to illuminate the staircase beyond about the fifth step. With the back of my heel, I kicked the wall behind me out of both anger and frustration, but no magic doorway appeared with Finn to back me up. “I am gonna kill him,” I vowed, gripping the sword with both hands and readying for battle.

  Another whump sounded, and a whole new series of growls followed. There was nothing for me to do but wait, Finn’s betrayal burning a hole in my chest. It was stupid, I know, but goddammit, I’d started to develop some true feelings of kinship for the asshole, and again he’d tossed me into an enclosure with a ferocious and probably hungry monster before slamming the door behind me to lock me in.

  “Asshole!” I spat.

  Whump! came another footstep. This one far closer than I thought it should’ve been.

  And then right below my sightline, something sparkled in the light.

  Or rather, two somethings.

  Like eyes.

  I flexed my knees, ready for some gymnastics and fencing, and watched as the two eyes rose very slowly, but all around them it was black, and I wasn’t able to see the creature clearly.

  But it saw me.

  It began to growl again, and I felt the hairs on the back of my neck stand up on end. My mouth went dry when I realized the eyes were about seven feet off the ground. Whatever it was, the creature was massive.

  The rumble from the beast’s throat continued, and then I saw that it must have black fur or skin, because its fangs and front teeth suddenly appeared in a snarl as if black lips had pulled back to reveal them.

  I swallowed hard and didn’t move, still holding my glowing sword out in front of me and praying that the beast recognized the weapon as something dangerous to itself.

  Another whump sounded on the staircase, and the beast inched into the dim light of the room and my sword.

  “Easy, boy,” I whispered as it began to reveal itself. I squinted into the darkness, trying to discern its features. Standing at least ten feet tall, it seemed to be a cross between a hyena and a bear, covered in thick, black fur, with a square snout and very large teeth. Big, beady amber eyes bored into mine, and I also sensed a keen intelligence there.

  The growls stopped as it sniffed the air—probably looking for the scent of fear, but the sword was giving me courage and the beast would find no scent of fear here. Meanwhile the hairy creature inched its way up another step.

  More of it came into the light, and I could tell I was in for a battle. Gigantic paws as big as dinner plates planted themselves on the staircase. They were attached to long limbs and powerful hindquarters.

  The more the beast came into view, the more of a resemblance to a hyena it showed. Mentally I sorted through the contents of my pockets, trying to recall if I had any kind of a treat I could throw at it to distract it for the second or two it would take for me to take a running leap past it to the bottom of the staircase … where I didn’t know what else may lay in wait. For all I knew, the now-hidden doorway behind me was the only entrance or exit.

  The beast came up another step to rest one paw on the landing. “Easy there, big fella,” I said. “You don’t want to tangle with me. I’m far too thin to offer you much of a meal, and you’re likely to get hurt if I prick you with this sword.”

  The beast’s eyes narrowed, and I swore it understood some of what I said. As if to tell me what I could do with my threats, it put the other front paw on the landing.

  By now it was only fifteen feet away, and I could smell the thing clearly. It was a musky scent but not unpleasant. Also its fur glistened, as if it’d been well cared for even given the darkened environment.

  The beast’s jaws opened when it emitted another growl, and I spied a pink tongue and molars the size of my thumbs. “Come on, buddy,” I said in what I hoped was a coaxing tone. “I don’t wanna hurt you.”

  The beast hardly seemed deterred but probably thought it was cute that I was worried for his safety.

  He did pause the menacing growling routine for a bit as he came all the way up onto the landing, inching forward cautiously to give me a few good sniffs. “That’s it,” I encouraged. “See? I’m harmless. We could be buddies, right?”

  The beast lifted his head away from me and rose up to his full height. By now he was practically towering over me, and I raised my sword accordingly. Whatever the outcome between us, it was bound to be messy.

  His eyes narrowed again, and now I could see the full scope of his predatory instincts.

  “So be it,” I told him, bracing for the battle about to unfold. Gripping the sword as tightly as I could, I held it aloft and opened my own mouth, ready to emit a battle cry, when the wall behind me abruptly disappeared and I fell into Finn’s arms.

  Straightening me up again, he put a hand on my arm and snapped, “Hey! Put the sword away!”

  I jerked my arm away and moved as if I’d trained with a sword all my life. I whirled in a circle, twirling the sword away from Finn, spinning around to raise it aloft again as I faced both him and the mammoth beast on the steps. “Where the fuck did you go!” I shouted.

  The beast’s growl reverberated loudly, and it lowered itself down into a crouch, ready to spring itself at me and gobble me up in one bite.
<
br />   Finn moved quickly to get between me and the beast. “I had to secure the door from the bedroom and pick up a few things,” he said calmly, his hands splayed out in front of him to show me he meant no harm.

  Meanwhile the beast continued to crouch and growl, and we had ourselves a little standoff.

  “Boris,” Finn said loudly, as he turned his head to glance over his shoulder. “It’s okay, buddy. She’s a … friend.”

  I wanted to roll my eyes but thought it wasn’t a good idea to take my gaze off the big, bad, beastly Boris.

  “What is he?” I asked, nodding toward Boris. “Some kind of bear-hyena hybrid?”

  “He’s mostly hyena,” Finn said. “But a little bear curious.”

  I offered him a heavy-lidded expression.

  Finn chuckled and relaxed the tense set of his shoulders. Behind him Boris stopped growling but remained crouched and continued to glower at me.

  “He’s a bearena,” Finn explained. “You’ve never heard of them?”

  “Nope,” I said, irritated that he was making jokes when I’d nearly been a hyena/bear-curious appetizer.

  “His name is Boris and he’s harmless,” Finn said.

  “He doesn’t look harmless.”

  “Well, he is. At least to anyone who means me no harm and has no intention of stealing my treasure.”

  “Ah,” I said, suddenly nervous about the scoundrel thoughts I’d had earlier. “So he’s your pet.”

  Boris stopped glowering at me and looked at Finn, and I swear his expression said, “Is she serious?”

  “No,” Finn said, glancing over his shoulder at Boris again. “He’s definitely not a pet. He’s a companion and a protector.”

  I continued to hold my sword defensively. “How about I lower my weapon as soon as he stops looking at me like a late-night snack.”