Blood Craft: The Shadow Sorceress Book Two (16 page)

A
ir rushed in my lungs
, pain and the overwhelming urge to eat the biggest burger I could get my hands on.

“Breathe, goddamn it!” Nic’s voice filtered down to me and my heart sank. Was I still possessed? Was that why it sounded as though I was buried at the bottom of a well?

Fighting my way to the surface, I surged upwards. Every inch of my body felt as though it had been well and truly abused and beaten. And maybe, in a way, it had. Pressing my hand to my side, my fingers came away warm and sticky. That bit hadn’t been a part of my imagination.

“Where is he?” I said, struggling to sit up against Nic’s arms.

“He ran when you went demonic…,” There was no hint of laughter or sarcasm in Nic’s voice, and I waited for him to smile, but it never came.

“What do you mean when I went demonic?”

“I mean full on black eyes, deep voice, the full exorcist…. For a second, I thought maybe I was going to have to….” Nic trailed off and dipped his gaze toward the floor.

“You’d have done what needed to be done,” I finished for him as I crawled onto my hands and knees and then pushed up from the floor.

“We need to get him. There’s no way he can be allowed to get away with what he’s done. And anyway, there’s still all of that to deal with,” I said, gesturing to the horde that was now wandering around outside the locked door.

Sirens split the air and I spotted the telltale black Elite vans as they pulled up outside the casino. Trust Jon to trace my call.

Stumbling forward, I paused next to Dex, who was sprawled across the floor unmoving.

“He’s still alive, just utterly out for the count,” Nic offered, as though he knew what I was thinking.

“We still need to find Victoria.” I didn’t wait for any answer; instead, I moved forward, the wound in my side burning like a son of a bitch with each step I took.

Pushing through the double doors that led into the main casino floor, I paused. Victoria lay on the stage near the front of the room and Zeck stood over her. From my position, I couldn’t tell if she was alive or not; all I knew for sure was that she wasn’t moving.

“Freeze!” I said as Zeck lifted his blade into the air. The tip of it glistened red in the fluorescent lights overhead.

He didn’t look at me, bring the knife down towards Victoria, his arm moving in a blurred arc. Without thinking, I raised my own arm, power flooding the room like warm water. It crackled along the edges of my skin and I could just make it out as it danced along the tips of my fingers. Calling my power had never been this easy before; something had clearly changed, but I had no idea what it was, and considering it was now my power holding Zeck’s arm suspended above his head and preventing it from plunging the blade into Victoria’s chest, I wasn’t going to question the change too closely.

“You should be dead,” Zeck called over his shoulder.

“Yeah, well, I don’t die that easy,” I answered, using the time I’d bought to close the distance between me and the stage.

Zeck strained against my magic, pushing and pressing as though testing my limitations. I could feel him brush it against it, much the same way a cat could wind its way around my legs, all soft fur and warm purrs. It was a front. Whatever power Zeck possessed wasn’t soft and gentle, I was certain of that; I’d felt it when he’d plunged the blade into me….

Maybe it wasn’t Zeck at all. Was it possible that the power all came from the blade? I wouldn’t know until I got closer, but there had to be a reason Lily wanted it.

Reaching the edge of the stage, I tried to split my concentration between Zeck and Victoria. She lay on her back, her eyes shut, with thick, black thread criss-crossing her lips and eyes.

Hopping up onto the stage, my gaze darted up to Zeck and he smiled at me, a cruel twisted grin that told me just how much he was truly enjoying the situation.

“What have you done?” I said, reaching down and placing my hand on Victoria’s neck. Her pulse beat a tattoo against her delicate skin—or, at least, I hoped it was her heartbeat and not something incubating inside her.

“She’s the perfect gateway, immortal and strong….” Zeck’s words made no sense and I took a small thread of my power and pushed it into Victoria.

There was nothing but a black, sucking void, and I planted my hands on the stage, as though physically anchoring myself to the spot could stop me from falling headlong into whatever dwelled inside her.

The sound of ripping fabric filled the air and I gathered my power back around myself as Zeck’s arm dropped to his side, the blade dropping from his grip. That was the problem with being human and losing circulation.

Victoria’s eyes opened the stitches tearing away, but what looked up at me wasn’t human, the eyes were black and glassy. She blinked up at me and I expected to see nothing but the blank stare of one of the possessed staring back at me. Instead, I was met with recognition.

“No, no, no, you can’t do this, it’s not how it works!” Zeck said, backing up across the stage as Victoria pushed up onto her feet.

She moved with a grace I hadn’t noticed before, her joints rolling as though held together with pure magic. She shivered, a complete rolling of her skin and her black hair shimmered down her back in a long wave. I watched her skin turn blue before it ran with purple lines that reminded me of a tattoo of vines. She glanced over her shoulder and her eyes were still completely black, not a hint of white, just a bleak darkness that seemed to extend all the way down into my very soul.

Her black hair flowed around her as though it had a life of its own and she stalked toward Zeck, each step deliberate; the movements of a predator.

“Wait,” I said, calling out to her, whatever “she” was, because I was completely lost.

“Wait?” She rolled the word around her tongue as though it was a foreign concept.

“We need to bring him in alive, we need to know what he was up to, how many others there are.”

Victoria seemed to weigh my words and then shook her head. I caught myself staring at the mass of hair that shimmered across her shoulders and back. Dragging myself back from the edge, I blinked hard; the sound of Zeck choking made it easier for me to snap free of the glamour she’d used to distract me.

Whipping out with my power, I let it slap into her, but she barely even registered the hit, the full extent of her intention focussed on Zeck as she lifted him into the air as though he was nothing more than an inconvenience.

“You can’t kill him,” I repeated.

“I can and I will; if I don’t, he will expose us both, and that is something neither of us can tolerate, Amber.” Her voice was strange, deeper, huskier, and it raised goose bumps across my arms.

“We can’t do it for selfish reasons….”

She glanced at me from over her shoulder. Staring into her eyes, I saw a combination of pure innocence and utter evil. Neither good nor truly bad, she had the kind of eyes you could fall into and go completely insane within. It was her eyes that reminded me of the grey-coloured spirits, neither good nor evil; a perfect balance of the two.

The sound of Zeck’s neck as it snapped brought the world rushing back in a punishing wave. Victoria let his body drop to the stage before turning to face me once more. She shuddered, her skin shifting back in a wave, the black bottomless eyes the last thing to disappear.

“What have you done?” I said, racing across the stage to where Zeck lay dead.

“I killed him. He needed to die, Amber.”

“That wasn’t your choice to make, that’s not what we do!”

“It is when the choice is between your certain death or survival. Look at all the lives he ended; can you honestly say the world won’t be a better place without him?”

She was right, the world was far better off without him, but that didn’t mean I had to like it.

“What are you? What were those things?”

“Changeling. He was using the spirits of the Fae who had crossed over, trapping them in limbo and twisting them so they became the destructive, possessing force.”

“But why?”

The sound of shouting in the hall cut me short.

“Amber, I’ll keep your secret if you keep mine. No one can know what I am.”

I stared down at Zeck’s broken body. He was the reason Graham was on life support…, “Fine, but you owe me an explanation.”

Victoria nodded as the main door into the casino burst open and Anthony strode in, the wide grin on his face telling me that the threat outside was no more.

“Cavalry’s here, ladies, no need to panic….”

Victoria shot him a withering look and hurried down from the stage, leaving me to explain everything that had happened. Crouching down next to Zeck, I scooped up the blade and hid it in my weapons belt along with my athame. What the Elite didn’t know couldn’t hurt them, and I needed time to contemplate Lily’s offer.

“What happened to this guy? Did you and the newbie combine your awesome girl power to kick his ass?” Anthony asked as he climbed up onto the stage.

“Trust me when I say you really don’t want to know…” I said, exhaustion washing through me, my shoulders drooping as I picked my way over to the edge of the stage.

“Hey, don’t go too far, going to need statements from everyone present…,”

I didn’t answer him. I already knew the drill; it would be hours before I could escape, go home, and lick my wounds in the quiet of my own apartment. Stalking away from the stage, I tried to control my thoughts and everything I’d learned. The time to digest would come later—for now, I would have to console myself with the knowledge that my secret was still mine to keep.

For now, at least.

S
itting
on the side of the road, I watched the Elite mill around. The forensic team had already arrived and I’d spotted Callum heading into the casino. Part of me wanted to see his reaction when he realised it was Zeck, but I was too tired to bother moving.

My cell phone buzzed and I tugged it free. Graham’s number flashed across the screen. Scrambling with the phone, I nearly hung up before I could get it to work properly.

“Graham?”

“Amber, what have you done?” He was hoarse, but it was him; the censure in his voice wasn’t something Lily could master.

“Nothing, yet…” I said.

“She was here babbling about some blade; she wants it…. It’s the only reason I’m awake. The doctors are all hailing it a miracle.”

I laughed, the sound bubbling up from the back of my throat, causing my shoulders to relax. He was alive; she’d kept her word.

Of course, that meant I’d have to keep mine, and the voice in the back of my head told me that would be one giant mistake.

“Graham, you have no idea how close you came; it’s a miracle….” My voice cracked and the sound of Graham sighing filtered down the line.

“We can discuss it another time. I just wanted you to be the first to know I was awake….”

“And you don’t know how glad I am.”

“So, this is where you’re hiding out.” Nic’s voice cut through my conversation and I stared up at him as he towered over me.

“I’ve got to go, Graham, but as soon as I’ve washed the crime scene off me, I’ll come in to see you.”

“Right, you take care, Morgan, and don’t do anything until we’ve discussed it.” The line went dead. Utterly typical of Graham; having a near death experience hadn’t changed his inability to end a call with “goodbye”.

“Graham’s awake and I’m just waiting to get a lift back to the city,” I said, turning to face Nic.

“That’s great, but why aren’t they taking you to the hospital,” he said, dropping down next to me, concern etched into his face.

“Nah, it’s just a flesh wound….”

“Amber, did you show it to anyone? It didn’t look like a flesh wound earlier, it looked a hell of a lot more serious than that….” He tugged at the edge of my shirt, dragging it up to reveal the ragged-edged cut that was rapidly healing. It seemed the bone blade Zeck had cut me with was more than just a weapon.

Wincing, I dragged my shirt back down, covering the mark up. “I really don’t want to go to hospital, it’ll be fine. I promise….”

“You know you’re a fool, right?” He said, anger colouring his words.

“Really? I’m the fool?”

“Yeah, and we both know it. A little common sense would tell you to get it seen to. Who are you trying to prove how tough you are to? Because whoever it is doesn’t deserve it.”

Pushing up onto my feet, I bit back my whimper of pain as I started back towards the cars.

Nic’s hand wrapped around my wrist, jerking me back around to face him. “You’re one of the most infuriating women I’ve ever met—why won’t you listen to anything I’m saying? Why is everything some major suicide mission?”

“Don’t be ridiculous…” I started to say, but Nic dragged me in against his body, his lips crashing down on mine as his kiss took me by surprise.

My body responded to his, unbidden, my arms lifting to twine around his neck as he traced his tongue along my bottom lip, before he sucked it in between his teeth. This time, I didn’t bother to keep my whimper to myself; I moaned and deepened the kiss, crushing my body against his rock-solid chest.

I broke the kiss first, my mind whirling into action, throwing out every possibility and way this could end in tears. He stared down into my face, his eyes heavy with lust as he searched my face.

“I care about you, Amber, I….”

Jerking out of his grip, I raced across the dry road and signalled to Anthony, who was packing up one of the Elite trucks.

“You heading back into the city?” I asked.

“Sure, need a ride?” Anthony asked, tossing the last gear bag into the back.

I didn’t answer him, choosing instead to simply climb into the truck and slam the door behind me. Anthony climbed in next to me, some of the other members of the clean-up crew jostling around in the back, their gentle teasing of each other making it easier to take my mind off what had just happened.

This kiss hadn’t been like the one in Sanctuary.

“Drop you at your apartment?” Anthony asked.

I nodded and stared out the window, purposefully staring in the opposite direction of where I’d stood with Nic. I didn’t want to witness his anger; I needed time to think, and I wouldn’t be able to do that if I couldn’t get the thought of his lips against mine out of my head.

“
T
his do you
?” Anthony asked, pulling the truck to a halt at the bottom of my street. I nodded and pushed open the door, climbing down without a backwards glance. The ride back into the city had been blissfully silent.

I slammed the door and started the walk back up the street. Night had closed in and the street lights flickered on and off as I picked up my pace. A sense of unease rolled down my spine and I paused as someone stepped out of the darkness up ahead.

“Elite bitch … you need to be taught a lesson. You don’t just kill one of our pack and walk away scot-free.” The voice melted out of the darkness, gruff with the promise of violence.

“He went rogue, you know the law….” I took a step forward, but something slammed into the back of my shoulders, sending me sprawling to the ground.

Laughter followed, lots of different voices, and the first real tendrils of terror spread up through my core. There were a lot of them; a few, I could take, but not this many….

Crawling forward, I searched my surroundings for a heavy weapon I could use, but there was nothing. My Glock was gone, taken as evidence after Anthony and the rest of the clean-up had arrived.

“We don’t need to do this…” I said, biting down on my tongue as someone wrapped their hands into my hair jerking my head back.

“Yes, we do,” the first voice spoke again, and the first kick landed in my side. Claws ripped at me, kicks and punches rained down on my head. They moved fast, their blows coming so hard and fast that I didn’t even have the chance to call on my magic.

Instead, anger and rage spread through me as I struggled to get away. I wasn’t a victim, I wasn’t helpless, but I was outnumbered and they were shifters, their strength and speed far beyond that of a normal human’s.

Darkness rolled through me, fire burned in my veins, and my demon mark stirred, spreading through my limbs as my vision went black and I was lost to the blissful ignorance of unconsciousness.