Magic Edge (6 page)

A shiny red door waited at the other end of the cavernous room. A painted dragon covered most of that wall. Red and orange flames spilled out of its mouth. Steam rose from the lake. Houses, trees, and people had caught on fire. The artist had spent a lot of time painting the tortured looks on their faces. They looked almost lifelike.

“That’s Radiance’s work there,” Logan said. “He goes all around Europe, painting scenes like this. Dragons killing humans. Mages killing humans. Vampires killing humans. Do you sense a pattern?”

She nodded. Most humans revered magic; they even thought that if they were just lucky enough, they’d someday gain the power of magic too. The Magic Council had done an excellent job of propagating that myth. Of course it didn’t work that way, but this little lie kept the majority of the human population from turning against them. Funny how those things worked.

But then there were those humans who feared and hated supernaturals, no matter what. Obviously, Radiance was firmly in this category and believed everyone else should join him at Camp Hate.

“You chained me up inside the Rote Fabrik?” Alex said as they stepped outside.

She looked up at the layers of red bricks that made up the former factory. There were always a bunch of musical and cultural events going on in some part or another of the large building, most of them supernatural.

Dust, a fairy bar located there, was probably the most famous. A couple weeks ago, Alex had visited it with Marek while tracking down a herd of lost unicorns. How could anyone lose a herd of two dozen unicorns? The answer was ancient teleportation glyphs, forgotten magic that even Marek hadn’t known about. They’d learned about it the hard way: by being teleported into the lake, where they’d had to fight free of a sea monster living there. Fun times.

“Sure. Why not? The walls are stable and no one even blinks if you carry chains in there.”

“That is really disturbing. Just so you know.”

“Carrying in chains?”

“That too,” she agreed. “Where are we going?”

“Just to a little place I know nearby.”

“For information on the Orbs?”

“Yes.”

Logan wasn’t lying when he said his ‘little place’ was nearby. They hadn’t been walking for more than a few minutes when he stopped in front of a cute two-story house. It had a slanted red roof and wood details framed around the windows and crisscrossed along the front face. A perfect Swiss chalet—in the city. On the top level balcony, two fairies lay on reclining lawn chairs, bathing in the morning light. Below them, right beside the front door, hung a wooden sign that read ‘Honor Among Thieves’ in a swirly cursive script.

“I don’t like the look of that,” Alex said.

“The fairies’ sign?”

“The name of this establishment.”

“You wanted to figure out who’s after the Orbs. There’s no better place to start than at a bar full of professional thieves.”

“Professional thieves. It sounds better than pickpockets.”

“These are the best in the business, Alex,” he told her. “They won’t take on a job worth less than six figures, which generally means something supernatural. If anyone knows who’s after the Orbs, these fellows will.”

“Ok.” She rolled back her head, stretching out the stiffness. A stream of pops scraped across her neck. “Damn it, Logan. I’m stiff all over from sleeping in those stupid chains. I’m going to have to do yoga for at least an hour when I get home tonight.”

His eyes lit up. “Can I watch?”

“No, you may not.”

“Participate?”

“Absolutely not,” she said, brushing past him to enter the building.

The interior was surprisingly well-lit for a bar full of scoundrels. An assortment of tasteful hanging lamps dangled from the ceiling: orange and red frosted glass cylinders, pale blue cubes, and a few yellow mesh boards that resembled kites sewn together in triplet bundles. The floor was made of glossy red tiles, which blended beautifully with the warm tones of the cherrywood bar and the other furniture in the room.

There were only eight people in the room, which was eight more people than you’d see in any other bar in the city at this early hour. A blue-haired fairy with enormous breasts and a tiny waist stood beside the bar, wiping down the tabletop in sensual strokes. When she saw Logan, she winked, then turned so he could have a better view of her ass as she caressed the bar with that silly pink dishtowel.

A pair of male mages sat at a nearby table, sipping nectar and munching on peanuts. They were bent over a large sheet of paper spread out between them, but every so often, one of them would steal a look at the Blue Fairy. Bah, men.

A few tables over, a pair of fairies dressed like they were ready to raid an Egyptian tomb were flipping through pictures on a phone screen. One of them, who looked like the male equivalent of the Blue Fairy, shot the mages an icy glare. He must have been her brother. His female companion wore twin pink braids beneath her sable fedora.

But not all the thieves here were supernatural. Three human men stood in front of a cork board tacked full of jobs. One of them pointed at a square card with a crimson border.

“A job from the vampires,” Logan told her. “The jobs are all color-coded. Crimson for vampires, gold for mages, green for humans, blue for fairies, and silver for the otherworldly.”

“The otherworldly? What could ghosts and phantoms possibly want to steal?”

“Usually things that were once theirs, back when they were alive, but they’ve lost track of since. Sometimes, they just want to steal from people living in their former houses. Or from another otherworldly they despise.”

“What a bizarre way to spend eternity,” she said. “Do you think whoever wants the Orbs put up a notice here? There was one up at Impulse.”

“Yes, a notice with a black border.” He walked toward the wall with the board. “Black means whoever is paying wants to remain anonymous.”

“Is that a common color?”

“Not really. Often enough people who want something stolen also want the victim to know who it was that stole from them. It’s all part of the game.”

“What game?”

“The game for power,” he replied. “Black borders are a lot more common on the assassin boards.”

“There are assassin boards?”

“Of course.”

“Where would I find one?”

“You don’t. They’re secret.”

Too bad. Alex could prevent a lot more vicious killings if she knew they were coming. Then again, maybe it was for the best. She’d probably find herself on that board. She’d made her share of enemies since coming to Zurich. Last night, one of them had even tried to poison her. How long would it be before someone else made a move on her?

“Slayer,” one of the human thieves said as she and Logan stopped in front of the board.

“Brigand.” Logan returned the manly nod, then pointed at the Orbs notice. “Say, have you heard anything about this job?”

“Two million,” the thief read, letting out a low whistle. “That’s a pretty prize there. But I hear two of the Orbs have already been stolen. A bit late to the game this time, aren’t you, Slayer?”

His companions snickered. Logan stared at them until their chortles dissolved into coughs.

“Do you know who put up the reward?” he asked.

Brigand looked at the others, who both shook their heads. “No.”

Not one of them looked like they gave a hoot who it was either. They all looked scared of Logan, though.

“So are you going after those Orbs yourself, Slayer?” one of them asked.

Logan flashed the thief a deadly smile. “Why, yes I am.”

The thief gave him a jerky nod, then retreated to the bar. Brigand cleared his throat.

“Ok,” Alex said slowly, her words cutting through the uncomfortable silence like a dull butcher knife. “Let’s try asking the other—”

Logan slammed her against the wall. A ball of silver lightning sizzled past, narrowly missing them. Logan spun around, launching two knives across the room as he turned. The two mages lashed out with whips of lightning magic, flicking the knives away.

“Are you all right?” Logan asked Alex.

“Fine.” She drew her sword. “Let’s take these bozos down.”

CHAPTER EIGHT

Magic Breaker

DESPITE THEIR FLASHY opening, the mage brothers didn’t put up much of a fight. Alex and Logan had them pinned to the notice board within the first minute. It was what happened next that was the problem.

The human thieves charged as one at Logan, tackling him to the floor. And while Alex was trying to get them off of him, the mages broke free and summoned a thunderstorm inside the bar.

“Idiots,” Alex muttered, looking up at the dark storm clouds swirling against the ceiling.

Glass shattered, the fuse popped, and every single light in the room went out. Overhead, pink and purple lightning snapped and sizzled over the constant hum of the clouds, casting the room in an eerie magical light. Keeping low, Alex crept toward the mages, who had created a protective bubble of sparkling silver energy around themselves. It sure looked pretty, but more importantly it looked potent enough to knock out most supernaturals on contact.

It was a good thing Alex wasn’t most supernaturals.

“Not another step, assassin!” one of the mages shouted over the storm.

Logan ducked, and the blast of lightning meant for him crackled against the tabletop and bounced up to the ceiling. The other mage launched a fireball. The table Logan was using as a barrier burst into flames.

A nearby glass candle cover exploded. A splattering of tiny—and a few not-so-tiny—shards sank through Alex’s jacket into her arm. Hot fire burned from the wounds, flooding her body. She swore under her breath, then quickly blocked out the pain. There was no time for first aid now. She had a duo of mages to fry.

Alex inched toward the shiny barrier, reaching out with her hands. There were times when being an abomination came in handy, and this was one of them. No one could break magic like a Dragon Born. She slid her fingertips across the invisible film outside the barrier, an elastic layer that held the magic together.

“And here’s a nice April blizzard for you!” one of the mages shouted at Logan.

Alex pushed their raving threats out of her head and focused on the barrier. Her finger caught on a loose edge and she pulled. Harder and harder, she tugged on the unraveling thread. The barrier was weakening, its tautness dissolving into melting jelly. Close enough. She punched her fist through the outer rim. The barrier shook—then all the mages’ spells popped and came gushing down, dissolving into smoky wisps before they could hit the ground.

Their magic broken, the mages fainted like the lightweights they were. Alex rose and looked over the scene of burning tables and scorched walls. Cracked glass shifted beneath her boots as she joined Logan beside the bar.

Two of the human thieves lay unconscious at his feet, ropes binding their ankles and wrists. The third man was unconscious too, and from the looks of the nasty bump on his head, he wouldn’t be waking up anytime soon. Logan pulled out another pair of ropes and made quick work of him.

“Forgot your chains?” Alex asked him.

His lip twitched, but he didn’t smile. “I have something better in mind.”

* * *

That ‘something better’ was stringing all five napping thieves from the ceiling to replace the lamps they’d broken. They looked more like hanging meat at the butcher’s shop than lights, especially dangling upside down from their ankle bindings. Logan sure knew how to make a statement.

Speaking of the assassin, he was lying reclined on a sofa against the wall, his head in the Blue Fairy’s lap. Ostensibly, she was tending to his wounds—he had a nasty cut on his lip—but in reality, she just wanted an excuse to make bedroom eyes at him while pushing her cleavage in his face. There wasn’t enough fabric in her shirt to sew together a pair of panties.

“Slayer, you fought so valiantly,” she cooed, patting the corner of a wet towel to his lip. “But my poor bar. It’s absolutely ruined.”

The noise from the fight had caught the attention of the two sunbathing fairies from the upstairs balcony; they’d come down for drinks. They gave Blue sympathetic looks.

“Those misfits will pay for the damages. I’ll make sure of it,” he assured her.

“Oh, I know you will.” She batted her magically-extended eyelashes at him. “You are such an honorable man. And so strong,” she added, giving his bicep a sensual stroke.

Alex tried not to gag, but a dry cough escaped her lips.

The Blue Fairy threw a dismissive look over her shoulder. “Say, where did you find your new apprentice, Slayer?”

Alex folded her arms across her chest and glared at the blue strumpet.

“You mean Alex?” Logan said, sitting up. “She’s not my apprentice. She’s a mercenary working for Gaelyn.”

“Mercenary,” the fairy repeated, her nose bunching up like she didn’t care for the smell of the word. “That certainly explains things.” She smirked at Alex. “Especially the questionable fashion sense.”

Alex wanted to punch her in her pretty little face.

“But we can’t really blame her, I suppose. If I spent most of my time hacking apart monsters… No, who am I kidding?” She let out a breathy giggle. “I’d still do it in style.”

Yeah, that would last long. Basically, up until her stilettos got stuck in a pile of goo, and the monster who’d made it munched her down for dinner.

“Do you know anything about what Drake has been up to lately?” Logan said quickly, shaking his head.

The movement was so subtle that she almost missed it. She didn’t miss the stern gleam in his eyes, though. The assassin, the man who
killed
people for a living, was reminding her to behave herself. Like she would punch the snooty fairy, even though Blue totally deserved it. Alex could control herself for five minutes.

“Drake? The vampire elf? Yeah, he was in yesterday morning. Said he had a big job, then would head over to the range afterwards to practice,” Blue Fairy told him.

“Range?”

“The shooting range, of course. He’s competing in the supernatural tournament this afternoon.”

“Right, Supernatural Steel,” he said. “I’d forgotten all about it.”