Magic Strikes (40 page)

Authors: Ilona Andrews

Tags: #Fantasy, #Fantasy fiction, #Fiction, #General, #Fiction - Fantasy, #Science Fiction And Fantasy, #Occult fiction, #Contemporary, #Magic, #Werewolves, #Fantasy - Contemporary, #Georgia

BOOK: Magic Strikes

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He came for me. I couldn’t believe it.

He came for me.
Into a flying palace full of thousands of armed rakshasas in the middle of a magic jungle.

Oh, you stupid, stupid idiot man.
What was the God damn point of saving him only to watch him throw his life away?

Behind Curran an enormous beast charged into the room. Shaggy with dark fur, a huge muzzle gaping black, the beast roared and rammed the crowd. Giant paws swiped, crushing skulls. Mahon, the Bear of Atlanta.

A hellish creature thrust into the gap made by Mahon. She was corded with muscle, sandy brown and covered with spots. Her hands were armed with black claws. Fangs jutted out of her round jaws. She was grotesque and mind-numbingly terrifying. The beast howled and broke into an eerie hyena cackle.

Every hair on the back of my neck stood on end.

Curran ripped his way to me. Cuts and wounds dotted his frame. He bled, but kept going, unstoppable in his fury and still roaring. His roar slapped your senses like a clap of thunder, shaking you to your very core. The rakshasas were too many. His only chance lay in panicking them into flight, but even panic wouldn’t last long—sooner or later they would do the math and figure out that a couple hundred to three were pretty good odds, but as long as he kept blasting them with his roar and throwing them around, they couldn’t think properly.

Mart thrust himself between my cage and Curran, his sword in his hands. The rest of the rakshasas pulled back, but Curran barely noticed. He lunged at Mart.

Blades flashed, impossibly fast. Mart spun out of the way and sliced deep into Curran’s back. The Beast Lord whipped about, oblivious to pain, and raked his claws across Mart, ripping his robes. Red blood swelled on Mart’s golden skin. They collided. Swords struck, claws rent, teeth snapped. Mart sank his short blade into Curran’s side. Curran growled in pain, wrenched free, dropped down, and swiped his leg under Mart, knocking him off his feet. Mart leapt straight up off the floor, both swords in his hands, and met Curran halfway. Dumb-ass move. The Beast Lord hammered a punch into Mart’s face. The rakshasa flew across the chamber, slid across the floor, and rolled to his feet. Curran chased him.

Mart spun like a dervish. His blades became a lethal whirlwind. Curran lunged into them, cuts blooming across his pelt, and grabbed at Mart. The rakshasa leapt straight up, soaring above the crowd.

Curran tensed. The monstrous muscles on his tree-trunk legs contracted like steel springs. He launched himself into the air. His claws caught Mart in midleap, hooking his leg. Mart struggled up, but Curran hung on, ripping chunks out of the rakshasa’s flesh as he climbed up his body. The warped leonine mouth gaped and Curran bit Mart’s side. They dropped like a stone and crashed to the floor a few feet from me. Mart slid free, slick with his own blood. His gaze fastened on the Wolf Diamond, still sitting on its pedestal. He lunged for it. His bloodied fingers grasped the topaz. He backed away and bumped into my cage.

I thrust through the bars and stabbed Livie’s knife into the base of his throat, between his left shoulder and the column of his neck. The puddle of my blood shivered, obedient to my will, and bit into his back with a hundred spikes.

The gem slipped out of his fingers.

I locked my arms on his neck, trying to choke him out, but I didn’t have the strength.

Curran swept the Wolf Diamond off the floor, clamped his huge left hand onto Mart’s shoulder, and smashed the topaz into Mart’s face.

The rakshasa screamed.

Curran pounded him, hammering the gemstone into Mart again and again. Blood flew. The blows crushed Mart’s perfection into bloody pulp. The sword fell from his fingers. Curran struck for the last
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time and ripped him from the cage, snapping my blood spikes, which dissipated into black dust. He twisted Mart’s neck, snapping the spinal column, and shook the lifeless body at the crowd of rakshasas with a deafening roar.

They fled. They streamed out of the chamber through the arched doors, trampling one another in their hurry to get away.

Curran wrenched the cage bars apart.

“You suicidal moron,” I rasped. “What are you doing here?”

“Repaying the favor,” he snarled.

He pulled me out of the cage and saw the wound in my stomach. His half-form face jerked. He pressed me against his chest. “Stay with me.”

“Where would I . . . go, Your Majesty?” My head was spinning.

Behind us the taller of the nightmarish beasts swept the petrified Livie from behind the cage. “It’s all right,” the monster told her, clamping her with one hand and holding the Wolf Diamond with the other.

“Aunt B’s got you.”

At the opposite end of the chamber someone was fighting the current of fleeing rakshasas. A sword flashed and I recognized Hugh d’Ambray, with Nick at his heels. He saw us and shouted something.

“What is he doing here?” Curran growled.

“He’s Roland’s Warlord. He’s here for me.” He was here for the woman who had broken his master’s blade.

“Tough luck. You’re mine.” Curran turned and ran, carrying me off. Hugh screamed, but the current of fleeing rakshasas pushed him out of the chamber.

I lay cradled in Curran’s arms as he ran through the vimana. Others joined us, tall, furry shapes. I could no longer distinguish the different faces. I just rested in his arms, nearly blind, every jolt sending more pain stinging up my spine. Soft darkness tried to engulf me.

“Stay with me, baby.”

“I will.”

It was a dream or a nightmare, I could no longer decide. But somehow I stayed with him all the way, even as the vimana careened, even as we leapt out of it and saw it crash behind us into the green hills. I stayed with him all during the mad run through the jungle. The last things I remembered were stone ruins and Doolittle’s face.

THE BERKLEY PUBLISHING GROUP

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This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the authors’

imaginations or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental. The publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party websites or their content.

MAGIC STRIKES

An Ace Book / published by arrangement with the authors

PRINTING HISTORY

Ace mass-market edition / April 2009

No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the authors’ rights. Purchase only authorized editions.

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375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014.

eISBN : 978-1-101-02529-1

ACE

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a division of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.,

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ACE and the “A” design are trademarks of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.

http://us.penguingroup.com

To Anastasia and Helen

PRAISE FOR THE KATE DANIELS NOVELS

Magic BURNES

“Fans of Carrie Vaughn and Patricia Briggs will appreciate this fast-paced, action-packed urban fantasy full of magic, vampires, werebeasties, and things that go bump in the night.”

—
Monsters and Critics

“With all her problems, secrets, and prowess both martial and magical, Kate is a great kick-ass heroine, a tough girl with a heart, and her adventures . . . are definitely worth checking out.”—
Locus

“[
Magic Burns
] hooked me completely. With a fascinating, compelling plot, a witty, intelligent heroine, a
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demonic villain, and clever, wry humor throughout, this story has it all.”

—
Fresh Fiction

“A new take on the urban fantasy genre, the world Kate inhabits is a blend of gritty magic and dangerous mystery.”

—
The Parkersburg Sentinel

“The sexual tension Kate emits has me gritting my teeth.”

—
SFRevu

Magic BITES

“Treat yourself to a splendid new urban fantasy . . . I am looking forward to the next book in the series or anything else Ilona Andrews writes.”

—Patricia Briggs, #1
New York Times
bestselling author of
Bone Crossed

“Andrews’s edgy series stands apart from similar fantasies . . . owing to its complex world building and skilled characterizations.”—
Library Journal

“A perfectly paced supernatural mystery with bits of dark humor and—if you’ll forgive the pun—a fair amount of bite.”

—Rambles.net

Ace Books by Ilona Andrews

MAGIC BITES

MAGIC BURNS

MAGIC STRIKES

Table of Contents

Title Page

Dedication

Acknowledgements

CHAPTER 1

CHAPTER 2