Chapter 53
Chapter Fifty-Three
SEBASTIAN
I can see clearly on April’s face that she struggles to accept the fact we are dealing with a mage. Why this out of all things bothers her so much I don’t know. Many emotions cross her expressive face, from disbelief to incredulity, until they finally settle on doubt. I can work with that.
“We already talked about this.” She opens her mouth to answer but just shakes her head, sending her hair flying around her shoulders. “Why is it so hard to accept this, my redemption? Out of everything you have seen, of what you know that we are, magic is what tops the glass?”
“Stupid, I know.” Chuckling uneasily, she turns to watch the last of the humans disappear through the doors.
“I know you said the Council used a mage and magic when they killed me, or that version of me, centuries ago, and I must say that’s easy to believe.
Like fairytales, magic used so long ago is easier to accept than the fact that someone is using it now. ”
“Go see for yourself.” Keeping to the shadows, I creep along the wall, getting closer to a hole in the wall the size of a chair. “Stay hidden, we don’t know how many are out there.”
“They flying on brooms or something?” Murmuring, April leans on the wall, her fingers gripping it tightly when she bends to peek through the broken bricks.
I move along with her, her back pressed to my chest, so I can snatch her away if she is seen.
There is a movement on the other side of the barricade we made around the hotel.
My body hums with power, pebbling April’s skin where I grip her upper arms. She tilts her face, sniffing the air experimentally.
I can feel where the magic is brewing from the left side across the street.
She, on the other hand, ignores that, but keeps flaring her nostrils.
“Do you smell that?” mumbling under her breath, she cranes her neck to look at me. “What is that spiciness in the air?”
She did this earlier in the kitchens with the mole.
Keeping my face calm, I search her eyes for anything that will tell me this is indeed something in the air from the blasts and not some unheard of development that I never expected.
I know we can feel things like lies, or magic, but only through our senses, bonds, or instincts.
. To be able to smell it…I’ve never heard of that before.
It’s not a trait of a vampire, that much I know.
“What does it smell like?” Inhaling, I sort through the scents that assault my senses, trying to pinpoint what got her attention.
“I don’t know, it’s like breathing in sharply while standing on top of a…” she yelps when I throw us both to the side, covering her body with my own.
“…fire.” She finishes her sentence, the words muffled in my chest.
Luckily, she was pointing in the direction that whatever she was smelling was coming from.
I saw the ball of fire hurled at the place we were watching a second before it collided with the wall, sending sparks all over the lobby.
April can smell magic. I stay on top of her, incredulity warring with my rational brain. She can smell, not feel things.
“Get off me.” At the stifled command, I roll to the side, taking her with me.
“Where else do you smell the strange scent?” Waving a hand at one of the crouched Guardians, I watch her keenly. “Can you tell without getting too close to the open areas?”
April doesn’t answer. Her eyebrows pull tightly in concentration when she closes her eyes and lifts her face in the air.
A shiver passes through my body at how animalistic her behavior is, even compared to a predator like me.
Her nostrils flare, and her head moves from side to side before her eyes snap open, focusing on me.
“It’s faint, a lot less noticeable than when I was at the hole over there.” Waving a hand at the destroyed wall, she glances warily at the Guardian that answered my call. “But I can smell it coming from the exact opposite side too.”
“Send the humans to check,” I address the Guardian, not taking my gaze from hers.
“Is it magic?” She snorts and slaps a hand over her mouth. “Sorry, I know it’s not funny, but I can’t help it. Anyway, is it magic I’m smelling?”
“It would appear so, yes.”
“Can you smell it?” With an arched eyebrow, she jams her hands on her hips.
“No.”
“Great! A freak among monsters.” Shaking her head, she turns around in a circle before stopping and facing me again. “Will this trait help to stop the asshole before he brings the hotel down on top of our heads?”
Two more hits rock the walls, sending bricks and furniture flying in the air around us.
Ignoring the daylight streaming through the gaping holes that are rapidly growing, I grab April in my arms and bolt for the stairway.
Clouds of smoke bellow around us, even after I push us both in the blessed darkness.
“Oh, my God, you are smoking.” April frantically pats my chest and arms, making me wince when her fingers touch the tender skin trying to heal from the sun’s rays. “What the hell is the matter with you?” Grunting, I can’t hide the shock when she punches me right in the sternum.
“I will not have you harmed.” Growling at her, I catch her fist in my hand when she swings at my head.
“I can walk in the sun, you idiot.” Seething, she is trembling in rage. “You, on the other hand, will turn into a lump of roasted meat!”
“I didn’t know you cared so much.” Smirking at her, I hide how her words spread warmth through my chest.
“I don’t.” Snapping, she yanks her hand back. “I’d just rather deal with your know-it-all ass than the Council right now. That’s all.”
“Right.” Chuckling, I wink at her, making her bristle. She’s beautiful when she’s angry.
“Oh, you…”
Her angry words are cut off when two explosions shock the hotel, and the building collapses on top of us.