Chapter 28 - Anson
28
ANSON
“There you are,” Dre says as I open my eyes, grinning down at me. “You had us worried there for a while.”
A while? Shit. Ameera.
I jerk upright and my head spins like I’m drunk. “Whoa,” I mutter, then fall back onto the soft grass beneath me.
“Easy,” Dre says as he presses a hand to my chest to keep me flat. “The spell knocked you out cold. Give yourself a little time to recover.”
Time? I don’t have any fucking time. “Is it midnight yet?” I ask, my voice rough. Probably from all the screaming when I thought I was dying.
Dre glances at his watch and grimaces. “Not yet.”
“We need to call Ameera,” I say as I clutch Dre’s wrist. “Tell her we’re gonna be late.”
“Can’t,” he replies. “That blast of magic fried our phones.” He points off to the side, and I glance over to see a pile of cell phones lying in the grass a few yards away. They’re all partially melted and still smoking. “I had to fish yours out of your pocket before it burned the shit out of you.”
Fuck. “Did the spell work?”
“You tell me,” Dre replies with a shrug.
I nod and close my eyes, reaching inside myself for the familiar power I hope like hell is there. And what I find is nothing short of miraculous and unlike anything I’ve ever felt before.
Oh, there’s magic alright, but it’s on a level far surpassing anything I ever had as a human, and it’s as humbling as it is exhilarating.
My aura is now bound to the ley lines beneath me in a way that no human mage could accomplish, let alone use without burning themselves out. The magic from the large ley line beneath me hums inside my head, and I can sense the other smaller ley lines that branch from it and scatter outward in every direction as if they were an extension of me. I can tap into them at will now, without needing a human mage’s aura as a conduit. Not only that, but I now have more power at my disposal than I ever have before, and it’s no wonder I feel giddy and drunk from it. But I don’t have time to revel in it. Ameera needs me.
I open my eyes, and Dre squints and jerks his head back.
“Holy shit,” he says. “I’ve never seen your eyes glow that bright before.”
“Sorry,” I say, then rein my magic in until Dre can meet my gaze again.
This is going to take some getting used to. I sit up and ride out the wave of vertigo as Dre grips my shoulder to steady me. I glance around and don’t see my father.
“Where’s Dad?” I ask as panic raises its ugly head to threaten my control.
“He passed out after the spell,” Dre replies as he hands me my knife. “Aydin carried him into the house to put him in a guest room.”
“Is he okay?” I tuck my knife back into its sheath under my pant leg.
He nods. “Wai Lin is going to stay with him while he recovers.”
Thank God. I let out a breath of relief. “We need to go,” I say as I struggle to get to my feet.
I manage it with Dre’s help, then lean heavily against him as the world spins on its axis. If I were human, I think I might’ve barfed my guts out. I take a step and almost face-plant on the ground, but Dre catches me and hauls me upright again. Then we move across the yard toward the house, our progress far too slow for my liking as I stagger along. My patience is wearing thin by the time Aydin appears at our side.
“My car is the closest,” he says as he motions toward the driveway that’s seems like far too much distance for me to handle right now.
He comes up next to me and drapes my free arm over his shoulders, and then the three of us make quick work of getting to his car. Aydin leads us to a sleek silver Alfa Romeo sedan and Dre loads me into the plush leather passenger seat, then clambers into the back as the vampire, who’s already behind the wheel, starts the car. He zips down the driveway, where the guards open the gate for us, then out onto the road, where he opens up the engine and roars down the street toward Haven Hall.
If I thought Ameera was an aggressive driver, then I was wrong because I’ve never seen anyone drive so fast. Something tells me she learned it from him. He goes even faster when he hits the freeway and the sheer torque of the car flattens me into the seatback as he takes us over one hundred and fifty miles an hour in mere seconds.
I glance over at Aydin as Dre blurts out an expletive from the back seat. “What the hell kind of engine is in this thing?” I ask as I grip the oh-shit-handle.
Aydin grins as he whips past a car and cuts off a semi with only inches to spare. “The Ferrari kind.”
“Nice,” I reply, grateful for the car’s speed and agility, even if Aydin’s driving scares the shit out of me. There’s no time to lose getting to Ameera as the clock creeps closer to midnight.
I close my eyes, trusting Aydin to get us there in one piece, and pull my palm stone out of my pocket. I clasp it tight to ease my anxiety as much as to act as a focal point, then focus inward on my magic. It’s only been two weeks since I lost my powers, but it feels like it’s been an eternity when I’ve never gone a day without using it for most of my life. Add the fact that the source of my magic is so different now, and there’s a good chance I could screw up any spell I conjure. I need to make sure I have a handle on things before I get to the club and face the Executor. I decide to start with the simplest of spells, the one I learned first.
I tap into the well of magic the ley line left inside me, then exert my will upon it and it responds the same as if it had come from my own aura. I grin at the familiar and pleasant tingle that prickles along my skin. No matter where it came from, magic feels like magic, and this is no different. I apply more of my will, molding and influencing the magic, and when it reaches its height, I lift a hand with my palm facing up, then open my eyes and release the spell.
“Lumino,” I murmur, speaking the word aloud to ensure the spell’s success.
A fraction of a second later, I’m rewarded by the little ball of radiant white light that sparks into life and floats just above my palm.
“Hell fucking yes,” Dre says from the backseat.
“Congratulations,” Aydin says with a grin, squinting against the bright light of my spell.
“Thanks,” I say as I release the spell, then tuck my palm stone back in my pocket. The sense of rightness that falls over me with my success feels like coming home. I feel like myself again for the first time since being turned.
A few moments later, Aydin exits the freeway so fast that when he reaches the end of the off ramp, the tires squeal as he turns onto the street. We’re only a few miles from Haven Hall now, but we’ve already run out of time. The clock on the dash hits midnight and the triumph of a few minutes ago drains away in the wake of my terror. Ameera has to face the Executor alone now and every moment that passes from here on out could mean she’s already dead.
“Aydin…” I say in a choked voice, unable to get any more words past the lump in my throat.
He glances at the clock and frowns. “I know,” he says and speeds up in his haste to get me to Ameera.
It’s well past midnight by the time we get to Haven Hall. I take my knife out of its sheath as we skid to a halt in the alley next to the side door, then fling myself out of the car and rush to the door, grateful to not be staggering like a drunk anymore. I yank the door open and enter the building, then sprint down the hallway toward the main room of the club, already summoning my magic for whatever spell I’ll need to join the fight.
I burst into the room and my attention goes straight to Ameera, who’s unarmed and leaning back against the bar with the Executor’s sword swinging toward her neck. I fling my hand outward without a conscious thought and hurl a shielding spell toward Ameera. It stops the blade mere inches from her neck in an explosion of vivid white sparks.
Both women turn to gape at me, and I fling my hand out again, this time using a kinetic spell to send the Executor flying sideways through the air toward the stage. I rush toward Ameera, not giving a shit where the other vampire lands, and catch her before she slumps to the floor. I set her on her feet again and note all the blood on her clothes and on the floor before registering just how pale her face is and that her heart isn’t beating. I touch her aura and find it just as weak as her body.
She needs to feed, but there’s no time for that. So I try the next best thing I can come up with and extend a tendril of magic toward her to see how she’ll react, and her aura sucks it down like a starving animal. Good. I give her more of my power, because Lord knows I have plenty to spare right now, and her color improves in seconds right along with her strengthening aura. I don’t know how or why it’s working, but I don’t care as long as it helps her. I stop once her cheeks flush with color, since I won’t risk burning out her aura with too much magical energy, then greet her warm smile with one of my own.
“You got your magic back, zem?r,” she says, her eyes wide with wonder.
I open my mouth to respond when movement in my peripheral vision captures my attention. It’s the Executor leaping down off the stage and striding toward us. Yeah, it was too much to hope my kinetic spell had somehow eliminated her. I throw another kinetic spell at her while shoving Ameera toward her abandoned sword a few yards away. But the ancient vampire leaps out of the way with incredible speed, rolling sideways and up onto her feet again, her sword at the ready and a maniacal grin on her face made more so by the black makeup smeared across her eyes.
“This fight just got interesting,” she says as she whirls her sword in the air, her eyes flicking to Ameera, who’s just come up next to me with her sword in her hand now. “You didn’t tell me your consort was a vampire mage.”
“Surprise,” I say, then throw a ball of UV fire at her.
I’m rewarded with a scalded hand and singed face as the spell races toward the Executor. Duh, you’re a vampire too, dumbass. It hits her square in the chest, and the ball of light fizzles out as it strikes. Shit, her chain mail must be enspelled to negate magic. Metal works great for that kind of spell. I extend my magical senses outward and find that I’m right. Great. Just fucking great. Who knows when or where she got the damn thing, but it makes this fight more difficult.
“You’re not the only one with surprises,” she says with a smirk.
If she’s trying to bait me, it’s not going to work. I’m pretty sure she doesn’t know what I know. That enspelled chain mail of hers can only take so many hits before it fails. It’s just a matter of surviving long enough to find out how many it takes. And since there’s no time to lose in this situation, I respond to her taunting by winging a ball of fire at her with a snarl of rage to let her think I’ve lost my cool. It’s not a UV fireball, but it does the trick and doesn’t burn the shit out of me. She lets it hit her in the chest again without any attempt to avoid it, which only confirms my theory. She has no clue about the chain mail’s limitations. That’s what you get for acquiring a magical item from someone who I can only assume was an unscrupulous mage looking for a fast buck.
The Executor charges at me. I throw my knife up along with a shield spell, and her blade strikes it and sends a shower of sparks into the air. Then Ameera attacks, her sword swinging at the other vampire’s head, but she ducks at the last second and rolls away as Ameera presses her attack. The Executor leaps to her feet and blocks Ameera again, then retaliates and the two of them exchange blows back and forth in an impressive blur of clanging swords. Damn, I really need to learn how to use a sword after all this.
I circle around the two combatants, looking for an opening to send another fireball at the ancient vampire’s chain mail, but can’t get a clear shot without hitting Ameera, too. Fuck. She doesn’t know what I’m trying to do and I can’t explain the situation to her without giving away our advantage. So instead I switch to a kinetic spell, and fling it at the Executor as Ameera dodges a brutal lunge aimed at her heart.
The ancient vampire goes flying as my spell hits her and when Ameera attempts to go after her, I thicken the air in front of her to halt her in her tracks. She tosses a confused glance my way as the Executor slams into the wall on the other side of the room. I give her a meaningful stare as the other vampire lands in a heap. I turn my attention back to the Executor as she rises to her feet, then send another ball of fire straight at her chest. Once again, the magic fizzles out, but this time it takes a minuscule longer to do its thing. Then I glance at Ameera again to see if she noticed, and her almost imperceptible nod tells me everything I need to know. We’re on the same page now.
“You mages are all the same,” the Executor says as she strides closer with that damn smirk on her face again. “Using your magic like a crutch when more expedient methods will suffice.”
She spins her sword to emphasize her point. She’s one to talk, considering the magical item she’s wearing. Hell, she probably used another magical item to make sure all the nearby street cams weren’t working when she shot Ameera the other night. What a hypocrite.
I shrug. “Good thing I’ve got her with me then,” I say as I jab a thumb toward Ameera as she comes up next to me.
“And together, we’re more than enough to defeat you,” Ameera says as she lifts her chin in that defiant way of hers I love.
“We shall see about that,” the Executor says with an eager smile before she charges at us again.
Ameera meets her halfway and engages with her sword while I circle around behind the other vampire, looking for an opening for my magic or my knife if need be. I may not know how to wield a sword, but my father made sure I knew how to fight with a knife. “Magic can’t solve all your problems, son,” my dad used to say, and I took it to heart when I learned how to use a knife.
I move in close at the first opportunity I see and thrust my blade toward her armpit where the chain mail doesn’t reach, aiming for the large axillary artery that supplies blood to the arm. She won’t die like a human would if I sever it, but the massive blood loss will weaken her enough to give us an advantage.
Unfortunately, she’s fast enough to block my attack while not losing a step in fending off Ameera’s sword. She even takes a swipe at me, but I block it with the magical shield I had at the ready, then retreat to a safe distance. She whirls back to block Ameera’s swinging sword, and I fling a fireball at her back. The chain mail absorbs the magic, but not its momentum this time. The Executor stumbles toward Ameera, who takes the opportunity and opens up a long slice along the vampire’s right hip just below the chain mail.
The ancient vampire’s eyes flash toward me, and widen the moment she realizes what’s happening. Her only defense against my magic is failing, and she knows it now. Well, there went that advantage, but it changes nothing. The end results are still going to be the same. We’re going to kill her. It’s just a matter of time.
Ameera takes advantage of the other vampire’s distraction and lunges for her. Once again, I send another blast of fire at her unprotected back, this time adding an extra kick of power. This one does the trick, scorching away her leather armor and heating the metal links of her chain mail until the entire thing glows white hot and burns into her skin. She screams in agony and drops to her knees, and Ameera disarms her with a flick of her wrist that sends her sword skidding away across the floor.
I throw another spell at the Executor, this time thickening the surrounding air to hold her in place and stifle her screams as I circle around to Ameera’s side. I meet the ancient vampire’s eyes and instead of the anger or fear I expected to find, I’m met with a peaceful expression that stuns me. Her gaze flits between Ameera and me, and she tries to speak, despite the spell keeping any air from entering her lungs.
“Let her speak,” Ameera says, and I release my magic enough for the Executor to take in a breath.
“It has been an honor doing battle with both of you,” she says with a wistful smile, her voice even despite the agony she still has to be suffering. “Valhalla has awaited me long enough,” she continues. Then she lifts her chin, exposing her neck, and closes her eyes.
“I hope you find the peace you seek there,” Ameera says, then swings her sword in a powerful arc that decapitates the Executor in one swift and fluid motion.
Her head flies through the air in a geyser of red, then hits the floor and tumbles away as her body slumps to the hardwood floor amid a spreading pool of blood. And when her severed head finally rolls to a stop nearby, she’s still wearing that same peaceful expression she did in the last moments of her life.