Ancient Magic: a New Adult Urban Fantasy (Dragon's Gift: The Huntress Book 1) (14 page)

“Thank you.” Gratefully, I took the steaming cup from Claire and sipped it.

Warmth and strength flowed into me. Not enough to repair me fully, but I felt a bit better.

“Brought you one of the same,” Connor said as he handed a cup to Aidan. “You don’t look as beat as Cass, but you could probably use it. “

“Thanks,” Aidan said.

“And some pasties.” Connor put the plate of savory treats on the little table in front of our chairs. His apron was dusty with flour, but the rest of his clothes—jeans, a t-shirt, and Converse—were spotless.
 

“You’re the best.” I grabbed one, not caring that it was hot, and bit into it. My stomach was suddenly cavernous. I vaguely remembered being famished after I’d used my magic in the past. The pasty was so good I almost groaned.
 

“What’s got you looking like you were dragged through a harpy nest?” Claire asked.

“Job gone wrong,” I said around a bite of pasty. “We’re looking for a tracking spell now.”

“You can’t get a read on something?” Connor asked.

I swallowed hard, the pasty suddenly a lump in my throat. Time to lie. They also thought I was a Seeker. I hated lying to my friends, but it protected them. They could get in trouble for knowingly harboring a FireSoul. If I were an actual good person, I’d probably stay away from them.

But I was weak. I liked my friends. And as long as I was careful, I could keep my secret and keep them safe.

“Yeah, this one is tough,” I said. “Don’t know why. Maybe the guy is using a concealment charm. Do you know anyone strong enough to make a tracking charm off a bit of blood?”

Connor and Claire looked at each other. They both had different contacts given that Connor stuck to potions and baking for a living, and Claire hunted bad guys and only occasionally helped out at P & P, but their circle of friends was wide.

“What about Mordaca?” Connor asked. “She’s a Seeker, right?”

“The one you have the hots for?” Claire asked.

“That’s the one.” Connor grinned.

“She’s scary, but yeah, she could probably do it.” Claire met my gaze. “I’ve got one friend I can call. Give me a sec.”

She got up and moved to the window, then pulled out her phone.

“Mordaca?” I asked Connor as Claire made the call.

“Yeah. Sexy Blood Sorceress with some Seeker talent like you. Bit scary like Claire said, but she could probably use her sorcery to make you a charm.”

“Sounds perfect.”

Claire returned a second later. “All right. She’s in LA tonight, but she’ll be back by morning. She said she should be able to make you a charm, but it’ll cost you.”

I glanced at Aidan, but I figured he was good for it.

He nodded once. “Thank you.”

“Can’t we meet her tonight? We can fly to LA.”

“She insisted she was busy,” Claire said.

“And you need to rest,” Aidan said.

“I’m fine.”

“Actually, you look like you’re melting into a puddle,” Claire said.

I glanced down at myself. Okay, yeah, my posture was so slumped that I might look like I was about to pass out. That coffee hadn’t fixed me as much as I’d thought.

I turned to Aidan. “What if the guy who stole the scroll reads it?”

“For one, he might not be able to read old Irish. And if he did and poses a threat, we’ll kill him.”

The threat in his eyes was so real that I believed him. And he was right, I could barely walk. Without sleep, I’d be worthless. “Fine. We’ll wait.”

“Why are you so interested?” he asked. “You seem to be taking this more personally than a normal job.”

My heart jumped into my throat. He couldn’t be onto me. “I take all my jobs personally. That’s why I’m the best.”

“Uh huh,” Aidan said, suspicion still in his eyes. He turned to Claire. “When do we meet Mordaca?”

“She said to meet her at eight at the Apothecary’s Jungle in Darklane.” Claire glanced at her cellphone. “I’ve got to run. A client is waiting on me.”

“I thought you just finished a job?” I asked, glancing at her hair.

“Yep. Nasty Sorabug infestation at a rich guy’s house over in Enchanter’s Bluff.”

“Ew.” Sorabugs were gross. They were the size of ponies—hence the reason for hiring a mercenary instead of an exterminator—and had giant pincers. Even the nicest neighborhood in town wasn’t immune to their gross invasions. Fortunately they stuck to magical cities or else humans would think aliens had invaded.

“Yeah, this job should be better. Protection detail for a visiting aristocrat,” she said.
 

“Protection from what?”

“That’s the thing—I’m not sure. And I don’t like that.”

It was that wariness that kept my friend alive. Claire was one of the best mercs in Magic’s Bend. Mercenaries were hired for all kinds of jobs—not just killing. Though she did that too, as long as she thought the client deserved it. No kids or innocents. Our world was full of all kinds of dangerous jobs you could hire a mercenary for. It was Claire’s selectiveness that kept her alive.

“Be safe,” I said.

“Always.” She grinned, then headed out the door, straightening her ponytail as she went.
 

A pair of pink-haired old ladies walked in after she left, no doubt out for a day of antiquing at the shops down the street from my own. Those antiques had no magical charms, however.

“Good luck with your tracking spell,” Connor said as he went to help the women with their order.

I turned to Aidan. “I’m beat. I’m going to go get cleaned up and hit the hay. I’ll see you tomorrow morning?”
 

“We have more to talk about.” His voice was commanding.
 

“Not now, we don’t.” I stood, trying my damnedest not to sway. The last thing I needed was him carrying me down the street.
 

Aidan surged to his feet and put a steadying hand on my shoulder. “Fine, not now. Go rest. I’ll see you later.”

“Pick me up at seven.” Though I wanted to try to beat him to Mordaca, it was highly unlikely that I could afford her fee.

We parted ways outside P & P. I had to insist that he not carry me back to my apartment, but by the time I walked in front of Ancient Magic, I was about ready to fall over. The door weighed a hundred pounds as I pushed inside.

Nix looked up from behind the counter. “Whoa, you look rough.”

I leaned against the door. “I feel it. Will you help me up to my place?”

“Yeah. It’s almost five. I’ll just close up.”

It only took her a second to grab her phone and her book, then she was at my side, her arm wrapped around my ribs.

“No luck with the scroll?” she asked as she locked the door. I leaned against the wall as she ran her hands around the edge, triggering the enchantment that would protect the shop from thieves while we were away.

“Not yet. I’ll tell you about it up at my place.”

The walk up the three flights of stairs felt like climbing the monks’ island mountain again. By the time I got to the top, my lungs burned and my thighs ached.
 

“What the heck is wrong with you?” Nix asked as she dumped me on the sofa. “You’ve never been this weak. Did you get hit by something?”

“No spells. Unless you count my own.”

“What do you mean?” Her eyes widened.

“I used my magic.”

“What?” she gasped. “You’re joking. Did Aidan see you?”

“Yeah.” I buried my head in my hand. “I was an idiot.”

Nix paced my small living rom. “No. You weren’t. You haven’t used your magic in ten years. You’re careful. You must have had a good reason.”

Her support warmed me. “I thought Aidan was going to die.”

“That’s a pretty good reason. Was he?”

“Yeah, maybe a sixty, seventy percent chance. Though it felt like more at the time. I freaked out.” The memory of the rock hurtling toward him still gave me the shakes.

“You like him.”

There was no question in her voice. To protect my
deirfiúr’s
secret, I would let someone I didn’t care for die—I’d kill to protect their secret. It was my secret too, but like with most things that involve a threat to oneself, it didn’t feel quite as real. But the threat to them felt very real.

Apparently I cared enough for Aidan to try to save his life, even though it meant possibly revealing what we hid.

“I’m sorry,” I said. My throat tightened with tears. I never cried. Not much was worse than waking up in a field as a kid with no memories and no parents. After that, tears seemed a bit silly.

“Don’t be. We can take care of ourselves. And I have a good feeling about Aidan.”

“Really? Because I don’t.”

“Yeah, you do.” Nix looked at me like I was an idiot. “You saved him. You obviously have a good feeling about him.”

“I did. But he knows something’s up with me. He’s suspicious of why I don’t use my powers. And when I finally did use them, I overdid it. He knows I’m powerful. I’m afraid he’s going to keep digging until he figures things out.”

“He might, yeah. Just keep your guard up.”

Easy for her to say; she wasn’t faced with hanging out with him all the time. She didn’t have to watch him fight or resist his kisses. I did, and it was hard to remember why I shouldn’t like him.
 

Especially since I didn’t want to live a life of secrets and lies. For once, I’d like to be honest with someone besides my
deirfiúr
. I loved them, but it wasn’t the same.

“So you didn’t find the scroll?”

Nix’s words jerked me to attention. “No. And it’s worse than that. Demons took it. The same kind of demon who called me a FireSoul the other day.”

Nix abruptly stopped pacing. “What? Did they say anything else?”

“No. I tackled one and demanded that he tell me what he knew, but he just looked at me.”

“There might not be a link. Just because they’re the same species doesn’t mean they all know about us. That other demon might have known because he was ancient and could sense it.”

“Yeah, maybe,” I said. “But we haven’t stayed alive this long by assuming things are coincidences.”

“True.”

“There was also a man there. A Magica. But he didn’t give a crap about me. Grabbed the scroll and left.”

“Well that’s good.”

“Yeah. But we have our concealment charms, so maybe that’s why.”

“At least they’re still working.”

“They’d better be,” I said. “They cost a freaking fortune. But we need to call Del. Warn her to keep her guard up. Just in case.”

“I’ll do it. You need to rest.”

“Yeah. I think I might go talk to Dr. Garriso. He could know more about that kind of demon.” There were hundreds of kinds. I didn’t know them all—or even most of them. Half the time I made up names for them based on what they looked like. I called these ones shadow demons because they were gray. Not very clever.

“I can do it. You really do look like you’re about to pass out.”

“No, I want to. I can describe them best. I’ll do it after I take a nap.”

“Fine. And tomorrow you’ll find the scroll and destroy it. We’ll deal with your nightmare man when the time comes. We’ve always known we were on the run. Eventually, we’ll get caught.”

“Then we fight.”

“If we have to, yes.”

“But how do we do that without magic?”

“I don’t know.” Distress was thick in Nix’s voice. “We’ve repressed most of what we have to stay safe. But if there’s a bigger threat out there than the Prison for Magical Miscreants, we’re screwed.”

“Then you think we should practice our magic?” Practicing would mean I wouldn’t feel like hell after using it, but that wouldn’t do me any good if I got caught.

“I don’t know. Is this scroll—and whoever is looking for us—a bigger threat than being thrown in prison?”

“We’re digging into our past with this scroll. Maybe this whole thing will lead us to our parents.” Hope flared in my chest, though I knew it was stupid. They were probably dead. Or they were the ones we were running from.
 

I hated not knowing.

“I don’t want to hope for that,” Nix said. “We’ve made a good life for ourselves here. I want to look to the future.”

I nodded. Though I’d love to find my parents, I agreed. Our first five years on the run had been horrible. We’d laid low out of fear, sticking to back alleys and abandoned farms, stealing only what wouldn’t be noticed. If we’d been any less afraid, we might have used our magic more and been caught.

As it was, we’d gotten ourselves tangled up in some ugly messes. But we’d made it out. We’d survived and learned about the world. Found our way to Magic’s Bend and built our shop.

I had to find this scroll and destroy it. We couldn’t lose the life we’d worked so hard for.

Nix rubbed my shoulder and got to her feet. “Get some rest. I’m going to call Del.”

“Thanks,” I said as she left.

When the door shut behind her, I flopped back onto the couch and stared at the ceiling. Sweat and dust covered my skin. It itched.
 

I should get up and shower.
 

Instead, I slowly careened over onto the couch.

Sometime later—hours or minutes, I had no idea—the sound of rain on the windows woke me. I scrubbed my eyes with the heel of my hand and squinted into the dark night. The clock by the door indicated that it was past nine.

My mouth tasted like a rodent had died in it, and I was still as gross as ever.
 

Excellent.
 

But when I stood, I felt better. Like I’d just recovered from a bad case of the flu, but at least I could walk to the shower.
 

Careful not to rub any of the dried blood off my daggers, I took them into the bedroom. Normally I stored them on my bedside table, but the blood on Righty was the only link to the Magica who’d stolen the scroll.

That made it the most valuable thing I owned. And valuable things belonged in the trove, hidden away from all but me.
 

I laid my hand on the hidden door in my bedroom. The enchantment unlocked at my touch, and I pushed the door open.

I flicked on the light, a sense of calm flowing over me as the golden light reflected off the leather and metal stacked neatly on shelves and hung from racks. It was like a library, shelves and aisles of the things I valued most. Though part of me coveted gold whenever I saw it, I thought that was more of a knee-jerk reaction, because whenever I had money to spend, the first things I looked for were leather goods and weaponry.