Fireborne, p.23
Fireborne, page 23
part #1 of Raven Cursed Series
“Elizabeth,” Mephisto snapped uselessly, Elizabeth’s focus staying on the unlit map.
“Mistress,” Arius soothed.
Mephisto shot Simeon a look. Whatever their past was, Simeon lacked confidence that it mattered and it showed in the tentative way he approached her. “Elizabeth,” he soothed. “Liz.” He knelt next to her. Glassy-eyed, she rested against him. He was as gentle with her as he was with Pearl, stroking her skin softly, whispering words of affirmation.
“They are stronger than I am,” she admitted.
Watching her succumb to the frailty of her magic, to grudgingly accept defeat, was disheartening. It was an awakening for me. I fully accepted the situation. The curse couldn’t be removed from the Immortalis. They were strong, cunning, and flexing their power.
The power that emanated from Elizabeth wasn’t luring or inviting. It was a blast of a water hose into my face. I shuffled away from her.
“I can nullify all the ipsimus.” She lifted her eyes to meet Mephisto’s, then she met everyone’s eyes for mere seconds, and I knew why we had come to her. She had power like no other. I doubted my magic senses now. Maybe she wasn’t just a simple wielder of magic. What she was and possessed transcended fae, witch, mage, and whatever the hell the Others were.
“It will not be without consequences. All ipsimus will no longer work.”
“Can it be reversed, once you do it?” I asked.
“No.”
Class five objects didn’t necessarily mean that they would be used for evil. The Enclave, the supernatural prison, used them for security. Some had been used for healing both in the human and supernatural world, and they could be used for protection spells, to undo chaos spells, and to counter dark magic. I’d criticized the STF for vilifying all objects that could cause harm when compiling their list of illegal objects, so I couldn’t turn around and do the same.
“Give us a day,” I blurted. I turned to Simeon. “How sure are you that they’ll try to remove the curse during the Blood Moon?”
“Nothing is ever a hundred percent, but if I were them, knowing this could be their one shot, I’d want it to be under perfect conditions.”
There had to be another way. We needed to exhaust all options. Elizabeth nodded in agreement. She knew the consequences.
Desperation had us back at Victoria’s, scouring the home, being less discriminating about the items we chose to attempt to track her: clean hairbrush, clothing, tweezers, and pretty much anything that she came in contact with.
In her kitchen, I took inventory of the items Clayton and Kai had stacked on the island.
Kai moved with quiet self-assurance in the space. A magical signature placed subtle differences in their magic. Traces of aged cognac. Intense, powerful, and different enough from the others to pique my interest. Clayton’s had a spicy signature, but his magic wasn’t as tightly wound as Kai’s.
It wasn’t until their attention turned to me that I realized I wasn’t just watching—but staring. It was an effort to look away. I couldn’t seem to stop eyeing Kai, whose magic pulsed like a malfunctioning electrical outlet. I desperately wanted to know what the hell they were.
There were too many similarities in their magic for them not to be the same. Their familiarity with each other suggested they’d known each other for a long time, maybe even a familial bond. Their appearances didn’t lead to them being related, but there was a sameness to their movements, their magic, the intensity of their gazes, as if the world looked different to them.
Clayton appeared darkly amused by my attention, but Kai was disconcerted. I could see why; it was probably creepy as hell.
“You’re staring,” pointed out Kai, Captain of the Obvious.
“Your magic reminds me of the elves.”
Kai stopped moving, his skin flushing ever so lightly. There was a notable shift in his demeanor, which became guarded. He looked at me with reservation.
“How so?” Clay’s sepia eyes lit with a dark curiosity and narrowed on me.
“Their magic is just as strong as yours and not like anyone else’s.”
“When was the last time you were around an elf?” Kai asked.
Most people didn’t like to lie, but it was an occupational necessity sometimes, and I counted this as one of those times. Before I could tell him that it had been a couple years, Mephisto entered and handed me his haul. It seemed like everyone was grateful for the interruption. I didn’t have to come up with a plausible lie, and they didn’t have to deflect or avoid giving me any information.
The search yielded three bags of items that I promptly took to Cory’s.
CHAPTER 24
My body melted into the sofa, one arm over my eyes to block the sunlight that streamed in through a small opening in the drapes. Apparently, Dr. Sumner decided that the curtains still needed to be drawn when I came because I was too distractible. But in his haste to close them, he left an opening. Not enough to see anything, but the light that peeked through was a distraction.
I’d called him to make the appointment, so obviously I wanted to talk to him. Seeing him would fulfill the obligatory session, serve as a distraction from thinking about Cory attempting a location spell on the bags, and allow me to unburden myself. But instead of venting, I found myself wondering what type of quack could get me in within half an hour of me calling. Didn’t he have other patients? If not, why not?
He wasn’t a quack. I was a case study, a person he’d reform and once again he’d be hailed for his therapy brilliance. I was a priority. That was why he made space for me.
“Erin,” he said, his voice low and soothing. I guessed I should say something since it had been ten minutes since I last spoke. I’m not sure why I didn’t speak, or why I had the overwhelming need to be in his office, around him, soaking up his non-magic-ness. It was a wonder why he was the safe space, a placid place that made me feel like I was floating on a lazy river. Victoria, Veil, Immortalis, class five objects, and gods, for an hour, were pushed from the forefront of my mind.
I closed my eyes and let the nothingness of his office wash over me. There had to be a happy medium for my life. Right now, I was living in a sea of magic and potentially life-changing problems and it was too much.
“What did you speak to Dr. Wilmer about?” I asked. Apparently they were meeting quite often.
“Why did you want to see me today, when you’ve done nothing but lie on the sofa?” He allowed a small smile to feather over his lips in an effort to compensate for his tone.
“It’s been a rough couple of days,” I admitted.
He probably saw this as a breakthrough, and maybe it was. I just wanted to say it out loud. Take the power out of it and make the situation seem less dire. The other day, the world appeared to be opening up to me. I had two possibilities: Mephisto and the Mystic Souls. Those options seemed less certain now—at least Mephisto. Learning what I had of the Veil, who was in it and how the Immortalis would use it, going into the Veil seemed too dangerous. The Mystic Souls had been iffy from the start. The damn raven was still on my arm. Born of fire, I had immersed it in cold water, hoping it would disappear. It hadn’t. Just got fainter.
The Raven—how was that different from Raven Cursed? What was the look the Others gave each other when their marks faded and mine remained?
“Let’s discuss the incident that brought you here.” Sumner’s tone had softened, and removing his glasses did exactly what he wanted it to do. It endeared me. Softened the walls I’d erected between us and made him and this situation seem less formal.
“I don’t remember what happened,” I whispered, sitting up to face him.
Under the scrutiny of his gaze, I stilled. Moments ticked by, the serene silence becoming airless and uncomfortable.
“What do you mean, you don’t remember?”
“There are pieces of that night I don’t remember.”
“Do you remember taking the magic?” His voice lowered to match my quiet confession.
I nodded. “I remember almost everything about that, it’s just fragments of that day are missing. I took the magic, left the room, and I remember sitting down to practice some spells. Then there’s a gap. Like minutes were taken from me…” I trailed off, seeing the doubt in his face that he quickly mastered. He slipped his glasses back on.
“Maybe it was the spell you were working on. Is it possible it did something to you?”
I regretted telling him, but the past couple of days had opened my mind to possibilities. I wasn’t without fault—I wanted to take magic and wasn’t particularly concerned about the trail of bodies I’d leave behind if there wouldn’t have been consequences. But I would get caught. With so few death mages in the world, it would simply be a process of elimination.
I hated missing that piece of time. Not being aware of the nudge my body gave me to return the magic.
Dr. Sumner relaxed back. He was scribbling, and the placid silence was welcome until I felt the shift. The toxins in the air, the pressure in the room changing. Fuck.
“Get in there!” I commanded, pointing at the closet. “Now!” I barked when he didn’t move.
It wasn’t until I retrieved the knife sheathed at my leg that he moved to the closet. I took inventory of the room: Visible to my right was the extinguisher. Good. I might need it. I dumped out my bag, looking for anything that could be used as a weapon. I was relieved when the flask tumbled out, but I didn’t have a lighter. What little vodka was in it, I drank earlier. It had been a rough day. I snatched up the Taser that fell out with it. Fire extinguisher, Taser, and knife were all I had when the Immortalis Wynded in next to the couch.
It was the one who’d bested me before. His overly confident smile fell quick when pressurized CO2 hit his face. I targeted his eyes and he blindly expelled magic. Immortal didn’t mean exempt from the fragility of a human—or human-like—body. With his compromised vision, I easily ducked and weaved around the indiscriminate magic he hurled. When he brought his hand to his face to work his magic on it, I smashed the extinguisher into him. The second thrash of the metal made him lose his footing. I dropped the extinguisher and went for my knife. I slashed his wrist, blood pooled, then I jammed the knife into his arm, coating it with his blood. Blood that could be tracked.
Shuddering, he made an attempt to Wynd. His body flickered and became partially translucent before returning to corporeal. A growl of determination followed his next attempt. Shudder and a flash, nothing. Another quick shake. Partial disappearance and then nothing.
Good. My gaze swept the room. Nothing I could use to bind him. I guess it would be weird if Dr. Sumner had anything like that. It didn’t stop me from looking. When I spotted the extension cord in the corner, the Immortalis propelled a silver ball of magic at me that I barely dodged. It punched into the wall but didn’t cause any damage. It wasn’t an attempt to kill me, but retaliation.
His face was now clear of the CO2. He shuddered hard. One of the wounds I’d inflicted meshed, leaving a light line, but other than that, there were no signs that he’d been cut. This time his Wynd was successful.
“Sumner,” I yelled. He peeked from the closet and I glanced at the metal in his hand. A gun that he had trained on where the Immortalis had been standing.
“We should go,” I said, using my shirt to dab up some of the Immortalis’s blood and ignoring Dr. Sumner’s grimace of disgust. Despite the claims he made of his knowledge of the supernatural world, he was still ignorant about a lot. Or, me dabbing up blood added credence to my score on the personality test. From his perspective, it couldn’t be a good look.
“I need it to track him,” I explained.
He nodded, but there was a true lack of comprehension in his eyes.
He followed me, his back to me and his gun trained, while I kept an eye on anything they could Wynd in front of, and stayed alert to any change in the air that would indicate more coming.
Outside the building, I thought Sumner would interrogate me, but he didn’t. He stared at me, his face blank, eyes dulled. In a flat voice, he said, “We’ll need to reschedule this appointment.” As I moved closer, he tensed.
“Are you okay?” I asked. I started to touch his arm but stopped after seeing his apprehensive look. Face stolid, he blinked once, turned on his heels, and headed for the parking lot.
The car was the safest place because it couldn’t be Wynded into. The last thing a person needed was to be driving and have someone just pop into the car. I tried not to think about the Immortalis coming after me. I wasn’t convinced he’d wanted to hurt me, but to take me. And I had no idea why. Did my magic make me an added bonus to their objective? Dammit, I hated not having answers.
CHAPTER 25
Excitement, shock, astonishment were emotions I was prepared for, but when I walked into his home, Mephisto spent the first few minutes scanning me for injuries. It made me wish Cory was my first call. In hindsight, Cory should have been my first visit, but Mephisto persuaded me to go to him. Cory was relieved when I let him know about the blood. It had to be demoralizing spending the day doing location spells that were likely to fail. Now that I had a blood sample, the next one he did wouldn’t.
“He attacked you?”
“No, well…I don’t know. I didn’t give him a chance to attack me. I went on the offensive when he popped in.”
“Only one?” he asked for the third time. Rolling my eyes, I blew out a breath and recounted the entire situation play by play while he listened carefully.
“The Raven,” he whispered. His thumb trailed over his lips as he continued his annoying pacing. “The Immortalis are Malific’s creations, her soldiers. A magical army, powerful, immortal beings. If they wanted you dead, you would be. So, what do they want with you?”
“M,” I said, trying to get his attention.
“Don’t call me that.”
You’re okay with me calling you Satan and Lucifer, but M is where you draw the line? Strange.
“We can track them. We need to go get Victoria,” I redirected him. My curiosity about me being The Raven and my link to the Veil was still there, but I needed to get Victoria and prevent the Immortalis from releasing Malific.
He stared at the bloodstained knife and shirt in the sealed bag for a minute before he pulled his attention from it to me. Dark, unwavering eyes stayed on me for such a long time that it made me uncomfortable. Not the intensity of the look, but the bewilderment and hints of aversion that were now present.
“What’s the matter?”
“I don’t know what they think you are,” he admitted with the troubled look of someone who typically had the answers.
“Victoria first, and worry about that later,” I urged. “Cory can do the locating spell, unless you can do it?”
“I’d rather have Cory do it. Locating spells leave a footprint.”
That answered that question. Never leave a footprint or enough information that could identify his magic.
“Can you do wards?” I asked, taking out my phone to text Cory. He placed his hand over mine to prevent me texting. His head barely moved into a nod. I made a mental note.
“We have to wait,” he said.
“Wait? We can’t wait.”
“What if they can detect that a locating spell is being done? You have the blood of one of them. We’ll locate where he is but not all of them. They’ll all be present when they attempt to remove the curse. There’s no guarantee Victoria will be with them right now, but tomorrow during the moonrise, she will be. And we will, too. The only way to truly protect her and prevent this happening again is to wait. One day.”
I nodded. “Get her and destroy the object so it can’t be used again.”
His lips pursed and he offered a reluctant nod. Hmm, clearly I’d have to get to the object first to destroy it, because it appeared Mephisto wanted to add it to his collection.
Tactically, his plan was the best course of action, but it didn’t sit well with me. I needed to be proactive. Do something, but there wasn’t much I could do.
Mephisto glanced at his watch. “It’s getting late and I just received some Léoville Las Cases and red Bordeaux.” All I heard was blah, blah, blah, Bordeaux, but he sounded happy. “Would you care to have dinner with me and try it?”
I could try it, but I doubted I’d appreciate it any more than a ten-dollar bottle of wine from the grocery store. The appreciation of the legs, the aromas primary or tertiary, the exquisite taste would be lost on me. He waited as I contemplated the motives of his dinner and expensive wine invitation. I didn’t mean to be so cynical, but it was hard not to be. Mephisto didn’t do anything without an ulterior motive.
Eyes narrowed on him, I took in his appearance again. His appeal was hard to deny and as far as bad decisions went, this was the worst.
“Are you trying to seduce me?” I asked.
His riotous laugh filled the room, and when he finished, his full lips twisted into a bemused smirk. “You would know if I were seducing you, Erin Katherine Jensen.” My name spilling from his lips in a velvety lilt made me think I was right.
“And how would I know that?”
“Because if I were, you’d be waking up with me,” he said confidently. “And I’d never try to seduce you over dinner and wine, it’s so cliché. And if I ever decide to seduce you, I don’t want alcohol or anything else to detract from your full enjoyment of the experience.”
“I like your confidence. You’ll go far with it. Not with me, but a lot of women find that type of arrogant confidence sexy,” I said brightly.
His rich laughter boasted a confidence that nothing I said could diminish it.
“Will you join me?” he asked.
I nodded and followed him to the empty kitchen.
