Hidden Spark (Dark Magic Enforcer Book 6) (19 page)

"Whatever you say." Mithnite wasn't listening, I knew. He was already dreaming of fighting monsters and blasting the dark arts like yours truly on a good day.

"Okay, let's eat." I rattled around in the kitchen, making my speciality—beans on toast with melted cheese and runny eggs, about all I can make—and we wolfed it down in no time then sat around drinking coffee.

"That was great. Nice eggs," said Mithnite.

"My pleasure. Now, let's think about what—"

The tiled floor began to vibrate, the table wobbled, and then a massive hole opened beneath our feet and the three of us, complete with table, chairs, and dirty dishes, plunged into chaos.

I should have stayed in bed.

Now That's a Hole!

"Use your magic," I shouted as steam hissed and flames belched up like we were falling into a volcano. For all I knew that was precisely what was happening, as below us all I could see was what looked like an orange lake of lava. Maybe it was.

The flame engulfed us and I shrouded myself in magic as my clothes burned and my hair singed yet again, the magic aura protecting my body but not my clothes, the heat so intense that I had to focus on only what was important.

I saw our furniture burn to ash in a flash—Kate would be pissed about her table, she really liked it.

Kate screamed as the flames licked around her and she disappeared behind the fierce inferno. I watched as Mithnite fell beneath us, clothes stripped frantically from his body as they burned. So much for them both looking snappy in their new outfits.

As Mithnite wrapped himself in a silver cocoon of magic like me, the lesson we had both clearly taken to heart—when it's temperatures this hot you protect your flesh, not your clothes, as that's wasted magic you need to stop from frazzling to a crisp—he too disappeared as another belch from below sent heat as hot as the sun up to greet us.

Then the flames retreated and I saw to my horror that Kate's body was blackened by the flames, her skin burning. She was stripped naked just like us, hair gone from her head, flesh peeling away. No, anything but that. I'd gladly give myself in her stead. Not my beautiful Kate. I had to get close so I could protect her, my magic wasn't up to making a shield large enough at such a distance.

But then she turned and smiled a sweet smile through half gone lips and I relaxed as my vampire girlfriend morphed before my eyes, hair growing centimeters a second, ruined skin shedding only to reveal her perfect pale skin in its place, flawless and even more beautiful than ever.

"Guess the sunbathing was a waste of time," she shouted, laughing in what seemed a rather manic way. I guess getting consumed by fire can have that effect on you.

"You're beautiful," I shouted, reaching out my hand and she took it. As we plummeted toward the molten lava below, and I kept her safe with protective magic, I felt as if everything was right in the world.

"And you're gonna save us," she whispered as she pulled herself close to my ear and pointed at a rocky outcropping off to one side.

Honestly, I'd had enough of the old plunging down tunnels thing the first time, now I was just sick of it.

I nodded, and just before another eruption sent flame to greet us, I wrapped my magic tighter around Kate, two becoming one, and once I knew she was safe, and finding it hard to focus as her naked flesh pressed against mine, our legs entwined around each other's, I shot out my arm and blasted the rock with a bolt of magic that split the ledge off. Then all was red death.

A moment later, we were low and out of the flames. I could see Mithnite below, flailing around and panicking as he headed straight for the lava. He turned to look for us and I pointed at the massive lump of rock that was hitting the lake.

He nodded, and the long practice of falling down the dwarven tunnel came into its own as he flipped his body horizontal and moved an arm out to alter his direction.

Kate and I moved apart a little, holding hands tight, and we did the same, her moving with a fluid grace I can only assume comes from being vampire, or maybe she'd done skydiving and had just never said.

We changed course, I'm sure more through luck than any real skill, and as the rock and the pool of lava came to greet us, I slowed our decent by expanding out the magical force field until it hit the rock and softened our fall to one that just hurt like the time a troll fell on me rather than one where every bone in our bodies was broken beyond repair.

Mithnite had hit harder, although he'd done a good job of keeping up his force field for so long, just not enough to escape a few bruises. Considering what was going on he'd done amazingly well.

With the heat utterly insane, everything around us fire and bubbling death, we stayed close and I kept the protection in place, drawing it back until all three of us were wrapped up tight in a cocoon of safety that would see us roast if the magic faltered.

"You okay?" I asked Kate.

"Ugh, I think so. Damn, what is going on?" Kate stared around her, suitably freaked, and I did likewise.

"Mithnite, good job. Lower your own force field or you'll be no good for anything. I've got us, okay? You gonna be all right?"

"I'm okay, I think. What's happening?"

"That's what I'd like to know."

Far up above was the tiniest of holes that led to our kitchen. The space was vast, edges lost to the heat haze, and I figured we genuinely were in a volcano. A gigantic pool of lava bubbled and popped, massive eruptions occurring regularly, sending flame and molten lava high into the air only to rain back down and splash into the scalding surface.

Random islands of rock broke the surface, pieces of the volcano's walls breaking off and bobbing around until they became unstable and sank.

Our island shifted, almost upending, and we huddled close, moving to the opposite end, away from the lava to try to right the platform. It stabilized and I tried to get some focus, to figure out what was happening, and why.

Nothing made sense, nothing was as it should have been. One minute we were drinking coffee and having an impromptu fashion show, the next we were plunging to the bowels of the earth.

Oh, and we were all naked.

Mithnite seemed to realize he was without clothes and I swear he turned redder than we already were—funny the things you get concerned about even when it's pretty certain you'll be dead any moment.

"Don't worry about it. It's nothing any of us haven't seen before. Right, Kate?" I turned to her and she was trying to cover herself with her hands, not doing a very effective job of hiding the well-rounded goodies.

"Speak for yourself. Mithnite's not meant to see me naked!"

"And you're not meant to see me naked. Ugh." Mithnite tried and failed to ignore Kate's naked body, and then I understood. He'd never been naked in front of a woman, and certainly had never seen a naked woman in the flesh before.

"Look, just forget about the clothes. We have more important things to worry about," I roared, all of us having to shout loud to be heard above the horror of the exploding lake.

The island shifted again, seemingly moving on a current, and we spun in a lazy circle as we drifted, making us dizzy and even more disorientated than we already were.

"There. A tunnel!" I screamed, pointing to the opening now only twenty feet or so from us. "When we get closer we'll have to jump." It was about five feet above the island's level so if we could get there we'd be safe, or safer, anyway.

"We can't jump up there. We'll fall, and we'll burn," Kate shrieked, eyes manic, looking terrified now we had a moment to understand what was happening.

I put my hands on Kate's shoulders and made her look me in the eye. "Kate, I'll jump first, then Mithnite, then you come straight after. We'll be there to grab you. Okay?"

"Don't be stupid, you muppet. Sorry, I lost it then for a moment. I'm a vampire. I'll jump it like I'm Superwoman and I'll help you weaklings. Haha." Kate was close to hysterical, but she did have a point. Her enhanced strength and speed meant she was much stronger, faster, and agile then us men.

"Fine, but you better be quick, we're almost as close as we're gonna get." I watched a small piece of semi-solid lava, crusty and steaming, sail past the opening, then take a sharp turn away as the current dragged it back out into the open.

We stayed close, swaddled in magic, naked bodies almost touching, the platform wobbling, along with all the best bits of Kate, and suddenly the rock lurched beneath us and we spun fast, speed increasing, heading toward the edge of the lake and the crumbling walls.

The tunnel was now just three feet away and I said, "Kate, as soon as you jump, get ready to help Mithnite. Mithnite, you have to protect Kate with your magic the second you land, otherwise she'll burn and won't be able to keep regenerating, okay?"

"Okay, but I'm losing it, Spark. I can't keep this up."

"I know, neither can I. But we'll do our best to make it out of here. Okay, get ready, Kate. Now!"

I changed the magical cocoon that held us together and she sprang up into the air like a gazelle, all animal instinct, wild and free, naked and glorious. Even as she began to blister I smiled at the sight of her retreating behind, unable to help myself.

Kate landed with the grace of an athlete on the tunnel lip, turned and grinned as her body blackened, but she gritted her teeth and forced the blood magic inside her to rebuild what was being destroyed.

"Now, Mithnite. Jump!"

Mithnite ran to the edge of our shrinking island and launched himself across the bubbling gap, but I could tell in an instant that he'd mistimed it and wasn't going to land beside Kate.

As he began to fall, just a little short of the tunnel, Kate reached out with her hand, grabbed Mithnite around the wrist, and swung him up beside her like he weighed nothing.

Shocked, terrified, and surprised to find himself still alive, Mithnite nonetheless expanded his force field and they were both lost to a white haze that shimmered and pulsed erratically—he was almost depleted, too tired and stressed out to draw enough magic from the Empty to keep up the protection for much longer.

I readied myself, but already I was moving away, taken by the current. It was now, or never, so I dug deep down inside, called forth the new strength I now owned, and felt my body expand, felt my hands grow and my legs stretch like I was on a torturer's rack. I willed my body to elongate, and then I ran.

As I leapt into emptiness, I roared the primeval roar of ancient man, for I was part of that world now, always would be.

I caught the lip of the cave mouth with my oversized hands, forced my feet deep into the semi-molten rock beneath me as my body bent almost double to avoid the lava and I pushed up with powerful legs, sprang up, and into the waiting arms of my lover and my lodger.

With magic spreading to encompass us all as Mithnite's protection waned I said, "Let's go. Run and don't stop unless you have to."

We ran, and we didn't stop, and then we were lost to darkness, only our magic allowing us to see. The magic of an apprentice wizard, a vampire, and a jaded, and rather surprised dark magic enforcer.

This job was definitely overkill. Who the hell has ever heard of volcanoes in Cardiff?

No Time to Rest

I moved to the front as we ran, Mithnite in the middle and Kate at the rear. If we came across anything then I'd be there to try to deal with it. Although, what exactly I was expecting I had no idea. But when you plummet into a volcano your expectations get somewhat muddled.

The air cooled the further we got from the lava pool, until it felt comfortable, rather than burning, and as soon as I thought it safe I released the waning magic bubble that was now doing a rather ineffective job anyway.

Letting the magic recede meant an emptiness took me. Not the old comedown, just a feeling of losing a friend, a loved one, part of me missing without the familiar comfort of the Empty. How had I managed without it for so many years? Such a joy to have it wrapped tight around my body. My savior, my first true love.

Mithnite screamed and cried out in pain but he kept on moving—I understood only too well just how hard that would be. Heck, the best of us curl up in a ball and pray for death when the comedown hits, but the massive adrenaline surge kept his legs moving while he paid his dues but never gave in to it. He was going to be a formidable wizard, and I was sure he would master the Empty in just a few years if he kept learning like he obviously had been.

The tunnel was cramped. I could almost touch the sides if I spread my arms wide, but at least it wasn't full of lava. It must have been an old overflow, formed when an underground river ran through the rock and carved out a path. But where did it lead? To another pool of hell, or to freedom?

And where on earth, or not on earth, were we anyway? And how had any of this happened? So many questions, not a single answer.

Were we in the dwarven realm, or was this a hell we should never have access to? As I ran, getting a stitch in my side as I was unused to such exploits after a hiatus with a lot of gardening and a distinct lack of running away from nasties, all I could think of was that this was Dragon's doing somehow. He must have set a trap, used his powerful magic to eliminate the problem that was me.

Maybe this was an act of revenge for standing in his way. Could he do that? Sure, he was the pioneer, but there had to be limits, didn't there?

Conjecture was getting me nowhere. We would just have to keep moving and find out for ourselves where this all led. I just knew it wouldn't be to anywhere nice.

As we ran, feet padding against smooth rock, the way became brighter and I let the final wisps of magic leave me, easing away slowly and carefully, testing my body as it left, ensuring I wouldn't pay a terrible price for overextending myself to protect us all. Nope, it was all good, nothing but a wistful ache, now half a man. Just a human being, not a man possessed of magical powers.

I felt alive then, truly alive. Master of magic and defeater of fiery hell. A euphoria hit, as if I was something above and beyond merely human, even as I settled down into my body and relaxed and kept up the pace unaided by stolen magic.