Ancient Magic: a New Adult Urban Fantasy (Dragon's Gift: The Huntress Book 1) (2 page)

“Are you okay?” one asked.

“Yes.” I pushed thoughts of parents away and focused on surviving. “If we use our dragon sense, we have to be careful.”
 

If we were caught, we would be thrown in the Prison for Magical Miscreants. It was a cold, dark, terrible place, I remembered that. A shiver ran over me. My own personal bogeyman. In the corner of my mind, it felt like someone had once threatened me with that prison, but when I poked at the memory, the blinding pain came again. Why didn’t I learn? I needed to quit poking at my personal past.
 

“We need names,” I said.

“Yes. I hate not having one,” said the dark-haired girl.

The green-eyed girl looked up at the sky. “I will be Phoenix. After the constellation. Call me Nix.”

I liked that. Naming ourselves for something bigger gave me hope. I looked up too. A cluster of bright stars caught my eye. I didn’t know what in my past had taught me the constellations, but I was grateful for it. “I’ll be Cassiopeia. Call me Cass.”

The green-eyed girl looked up and sighed. “You took the best ones.”

I giggled, the sound surprising me.

“I’ll take Delphinus,” she said finally. “But it’ll be Delphine. And you can call me Del.”

“Okay. Del and Nix.” They both looked so different. Panic gripped my throat as I realized that I didn’t know what I looked like. I pulled my hair around. Red. “We look nothing alike. I don’t think we’re related by blood, even though we’re all FireSouls.”

They were rare from what I remembered, but I didn’t recall the gift being genetic.

“We’re sisters now,” Nix said. “Because we’re all we’ve got. I don’t remember my parents.”

“Me neither.” Del sniffed back tears.

“We’ll find them.” I closed my eyes and focused on the idea of parents. I wanted them more than anything, so I should be able to find them.
 

But the magical string didn’t tie itself around my middle. I thought harder, reaching into my mind, pretending it was a book I could flip through.

Agony pierced my skull.

I retreated, gasping.

“I tried to find them,” I said. My parents were lost to me. My throat tightened and tears burned. “I don’t think I know enough about them. I could imagine food and find that. But people are harder, I think.”

“We’ll find them somehow,” Del said.

I nodded, trying to hope but finding it hard.

“We can only use our dragon sense to find food and other things we need,” I said. “No killing for other powers.” I didn’t want to be a murderer, no matter how much power it got me.
 

Nix nodded. “I don’t want to be a monster.”

“Me neither,” said Del.
 

“If another supernatural asks how we can find things, we say we are Seekers,” I said.

The green-eyed girl smiled. “That’s a good idea. Camouflage ourselves.”

“Exactly.” Seekers were a type of supernatural who could find things. As long as we didn’t kill and steal powers, we could use our ability to find treasure and just say that we were Seekers.
 

“Do we have other powers we can use?” Del asked.

“I don’t know,” I said. If it was about me directly, I couldn’t seem to remember. “FireSouls can be other types of supernaturals as well. You both feel magical to me.”

Nix closed her eyes. I felt her power surge against me like water lapping at my skin. The taste of vanilla burst on my tongue, and her flower scent filled my nose. Her hands began to glow. She cupped them in front of her.

Eventually, a small match appeared in her palms.

“You’re a conjurer,” I said as my power swelled within me.

“Not a very good one,” Nix said. “I wanted to conjure a fire for warmth.”

I listened with half an ear as the power in my chest grew. It felt like it was in response to hers, spurred on by what she had. I embraced it, though I didn’t understand it, and held my arms out. The magic pulsed within me, roaring to be released. I raised my palms to the sky and let it go.

An enormous fireball shot from my palms, throwing me back onto the ground as it roared into the sky. It burned away the tops of the trees and exploded into the night. Orange flames surged through the air, burning my skin.

Panic rose in my chest as I scrambled to my feet. We were trapped. Del and Nix looked at me with horrified eyes.
 

“I don’t know what happened!” I said. The sky above me continued to burn, though the forest around us was untouched. “People will see the flame! We have to hide!”

Del lunged for me. She enveloped me in her arms and grabbed Nix, pulling her into the hug. A second later, the ground fell out from under me.

We collapsed to the ground a moment later. It was colder here, the wind stronger. I climbed to my feet. We were on a mountain looking down on the field below. Fire roiled in the air above it, a beacon of magic. But at least it wasn’t lower. The animals and the people would be safe.

“We were in a valley,” I said as I turned to Del. “And you can transport.”

Del’s wide eyes met mine. “Apparently. It was instinct. I followed it. And thank magic for it. What did you do down there?”

I looked down at the field that was lighting up the night. It would draw people. We were fine on the mountain for a little while because we were so far away, but we needed to get out of here soon.
 

“I didn’t mean to light it all on fire,” I said. “When Nix conjured the match, I felt like I could create a match too. So I let my power out.”

“You’re a Mirror Mage,” Nix said. “You borrowed my conjuring power.”

“A strong one,” Del said.

“Too strong. I couldn’t control it.”
 

Mirror Mages weren’t rare or very dangerous, from what I recalled. They could reflect back the magic of any supernatural that they were with. But it was just temporary, and the other supernatural got to keep their powers the whole time. From what I remembered, if Mirror Mages didn’t use the borrowed gift right away, they could use it later. But it was a one shot deal. I could have held on to the conjuring gift I’d borrowed from Nix, but I’d only have been able to use it once.

In a way, Mirror Mages were a tiny bit like FireSouls because they used the powers of others. But they weren’t very dangerous because they couldn’t keep the magic or replicate it more than once.

I turned toward the valley. The fire was starting to dissipate, but it was still an unnatural spectacle, the sky alight with flame.

“I could have killed us if I hadn’t pointed my hands to the sky,” I whispered. “I’m dangerous.”

“I think you need to practice,” Del said.

“Or not use my power at all.” Tears pricked at my eyes. Why was I like this?

“Let’s not worry about that now,” Nix said. “We should get out of here. Let’s find food and shelter.”

I nodded and blinked the tears away. “Okay. Let’s go.”

We set off along the mountain ridge, following the magical string tied around our waists. I was tired and scared, but at least I had my
deirfiúr
. My sisters.
 

But as I walked, the most horrible thought occurred to me. Had I been born a Mirror Mage, or had I killed someone for this gift?

CHAPTER ONE

Ten Years Later

Temple of Murreagh

Deep Beneath Western Ireland

“Cass! Answer me, damn it. Are you hurt?” Nix’s voice echoed quietly from the pendant around my neck.

“Gimme a sec,” I wheezed as I shoved the huge rock off my leg and scrambled behind a big boulder. Pain radiated from my shin, but nothing felt broken, thank magic. I didn’t have time to deal with it anyway. A nasty looking shadow demon was currently trying to blow my head off. As long as my limbs were mostly functional, I was good to go.

A blast of magic blew apart the stone over my head.
 

I ducked and rubble bounced off my shoulders.
 

Damn demon!
 

When it stopped, I peered over the boulder at the demon who guarded the altar in the middle of the underground temple. It’d taken me nearly six hours to get through the enchantments that led to the temple. Fire charms, moving rocks, an awful riddle—the whole lot. Real Indiana Jones stuff, but I didn’t have the cool hat.

After all that, it seemed like it should be smooth sailing. But no, this treasure was protected by a shadow demon. Who was apparently very displeased with my presence.

His skin was dark gray, his powerful body clad in simple pants and a shirt. He was basically human-shaped, except for the exceptionally bulky arms and the narrow black horns that came out near his temples and ran back along his skull. Dark eyes glinted maniacally through the dust in the air.
 

Though big, he was dwarfed by the subterranean temple that housed the Chalice of Youth, my current assignment. The chalice sat on an altar behind the demon, gleaming gold. Graceful columns supported the soaring stone ceiling, each carved in the shape of a different long-forgotten goddess. The only light came from eerie torches that lined the walls. The air was stagnant, permeated by the scent of smoke that wafted from the shadow demon.

“Do I send backup?” Nix asked through static.

“No. I’ve got this.” I didn’t usually need my friends to step in and save my butt on a job, but it gave me the warm fuzzies to know they were willing. “You’re breaking up, Nix. Too much magic from the demon. I’m turning you off now.”

Strong magic, like the kind the demon was throwing, usually interfered with the comms charm that hung around my neck. Something about the magical signature overpowering the puny charm that fueled my necklace.
 

I usually worked alone, but sometimes—okay, always—a riddle enchantment stumped me. At that point, Nix was there to back me up via a quick call through my comms charm. But now that she’d gotten me through the riddle that had opened the main door to this temple—Why does a dragon cross the road?—I no longer needed her help.
 

“Fine, don’t—” More static broke up Nix’s voice.
 

“If I’m not out in an hour, remember that I hate lilies,” I said. “Worst funeral flower.”

“But—”

I touched the silver charm around my throat, and its magic went dormant. Only the sound of the shadow demon’s breathing echoed in the chamber.
 

It was time to get this over with. I was starving, and this was my last gig before the long weekend. My leg screamed as I pushed myself to my feet.
Breathe through the pain. It’s just bruising.
 

 
I drew my obsidian blades from the sheaths strapped to my thighs and stepped out from behind the boulder. Torchlight reflected wickedly off the black volcanic glass. Lefty and Righty, I called them—not nearly regal enough names for their power—but I’d never been good at clever names.

“Time to go back to hell, fella,” my voice echoed in the stone chamber. “The devil says he’s missin’ ya.”

The shadow demon laughed, his dark gray skin absorbing the light. Fine, it was a little corny, but I was tired.

The demon raised his hand to throw another blast of magic at me. I flung Righty at him, dodging the whoosh of magic that he managed to get off before my blade sunk into his arm.
 

Perfect hit. Ten points
.

He roared in pain as heat seared my shoulder through my leather jacket.
 

Oh, so he wanted to play that way? With heat as well as wind? I thought wistfully of blasting him back with a reflection of his own power. His magic manifested as burning smoke. I’d give him a flaming tornado.
 

Except that was the problem. My magic was too powerful for me to control. I just blew shit up if I tried. I didn’t want to draw attention to myself, so I didn’t use my power. But I didn’t hide that I was a Mirror Mage—strong supernaturals could tell I had magic. If I didn’t use it often, my magical signature appeared weak to those strong enough to sense others’ powers.
 

So I’d gotten really good with weapons.

I pricked the back of my hand with Lefty before immediately throwing the blade at the demon’s heart. My blood ignited a spell that would call its twin back to me.

As Lefty hurtled toward the demon, Righty pulled itself out of the demon’s arm and flew through the air toward me. As long as I was quick—which I usually was—I always had a dagger at hand.
 

I reached up and snagged Righty as I kept an eye on the dagger that zoomed toward the demon. He used magic to blast it away.

“That’s all you’ve got?” he roared.

I dove behind the nearest column, a stone warrior woman in a flowing cloak, both of her hands gripping swords.

A guardian. Of me, I decided.
 

I swiped my dagger over the small amount of blood welling on the back of my hand so that my other blade returned to me.
 

The demon roared again, his muscles bulging beneath his thin shirt as he drew his arms back to throw twin blasts of magic at me. All supernaturals had different gifts and his seemed to be throwing blazing blasts of smoke that blew things apart like a grenade.