Casted (Casted series) (31 page)

“We’ll figure it out. But for now, no more book magic. Okay?” Edge squeezed my hand as if urging me with his touch to agree to his terms.

“Fine. For now we do it your way, but don’t be surprised if she balks at it.”

I let Edge think I was in complete agreement, but I would be talking with the woman in the book very soon. I needed to find out why her book was acting on spells before I was ready to use them. I needed to know how to cast the spells on my terms, not the book.

I excused myself and trudged back up the stairs. I needed some down time. I sunk into the mattress and shoved a pillow under my head.

“You have questions?” the woman said before her form appeared.

“Yes, I need your help.”

“Very well then, what help do you seek?” she said, settling in to sit on the book.

“I’ve tried using the magic in the book, but it’s casting the spell before I’m ready to cast it myself. Why does it do that?”

“Powerful magic comes with a price, young one, and you haven’t paid the due needed to wield the magic, therefore making the magic erratic and dangerous.”

“Paid the due?”

“Oh, yes. Magic such as this,” she said, sliding her hand along the pages, “is very old, very strong.”

“What do I have to do to use it?”

“You ask for permission and then you pay your due.”

I thought about that for a minute. I had access to the spells but the book wanted more. Hadn’t the book given me permission when it showed me all of the spells? Now I had to pay a due to use the book the right way?

“I ask the book or you for permission?”

“I’ve already given you my permission. You just failed to get it from the book.”

Great, now I was going to have a conversation with a book?

“How do I ask for the books permission?”

She huffed out a long breath. “You young ones have no concept what real magic is like. Such a pity.” She waved her thought off and grabbed my hand. Her cold fingers dug into my wrist, pulling me closer to the book. When my fingers touched the page, it began to vibrate. The woman let out a maddening laugh. “It likes you, young one.”

Everything in my body felt like it was bouncing – almost as if my molecules were trying to realign themselves. Sparks flew through my veins pinging off organs and bone. I began to sweat as an inner heat built to the point of boiling my insides. Then, cold, so cold. I shook, afraid that my body would shatter like an ice cube on a tile floor. What was happening to me? I tried to pull away but my hand was wielded to the book.

The woman snapped her fingers in front of me to get my attention. She was holding a small knife in one hand and my wrist in the other hand. Her brow quirked before she brought the knife down with a slash. My skin numbed and I watched as thick drops of crimson welled up and flowed over, dotting the pages. Each drop was absorbed by the book. My vision became fuzzy, my head light. I was losing way too much blood. Would I survive this? Was it really happening? Technically, I was still dreaming.

I slumped onto the table, her wispy body sliding around me, fingers touching my face as she spoke. “The book has granted you permission and accepts your payment. You are in control now. It’s time to wake up.”

Edge was shaking my shoulder, his voice piercing my slumber. “Wake up, Jade, damn it, wake up!”

I blinked the spots from my vision and watched as Edge held a thick towel that was once white around my arm.

“Hurry up, Rainy!” Edge hollered. I could hear feet pounding up the stairs.

“Okay, I’m here. Stop yelling.” She gasped when she saw me.

“What happened, Jade?” She began panicking.

“I need you to stitch her up. But I can’t let go of her arm or she’ll lose more blood.”

Rainy nodded and a medical bag appeared by her feet. “I have to at least see what I’m working with. Take your hand away for just a second please.”

The funny thing is that I didn’t feel bad. I felt fine. Well, besides looking at all the blood I’d lost.

“Jade? Jade can you hear me?” Rainy asked as she got close to my face.

“I’m fine.” My words came out sluggish.

“Is she in shock?” Edge asked.

“She’s lost a lot of blood. How did this happen?” Rainy pulled the towel away from my arm and frowned, “Where is she cut?”

“What do you mean where is she cut? It’s a huge gash on her wrist!” Edge snapped.

“There’s nothing there,” Rainy said, prying the towel out of Edge’s grasp.

It dropped to the floor as Edge grabbed my arm, twisting and turning it like the wound had moved on him.

“I don’t understand. It was right there.” He dropped my arm and sat down on the bed, making my body bounce. It was like flipping a switch and I had my movement back. I shot up and ran my hands along my arm as I searched for the same missing mark Edge was freaking out about.

“Jade, what the hell is going on?” Edge asked, pulling me into his lap.

“I’ll be able to use the book now, Edge.” I sobbed into his shirt. How much more was the woman going to put me through to get what she wanted?

He pulled me back to look at me. “What exactly do you mean by that?”

“I spoke to her and the book required a payment, to use it without consequences.” I slid off his lap.

“You were bleeding. I don’t understand. What sort of payment did it take?” As he said the words, understanding dawned on him quickly, because he shot to his feet started yelling, “Blood! You let the book have your blood. I can’t believe…of all the stupid…damn it, Jade, do you know what you’ve done?” His fist slammed into the wall. “Did you ever think of the consequences to that? Did you?” He was stalking back towards the bed to tower over me. “Why? Why did you do this without asking someone first?”

“I didn’t do it on purpose. I spoke to the woman and she told me why the book wasn’t working for me, why it was casting the spells before I was ready. She told me the book requested a due to be paid. How the hell was I supposed to know that she could do that to me inside my head? And I’m sorry that you’re angry, but I’m angry too, Edge! I thought she was going to kill me when she sliced my wrist wide open.”

He grabbed me and wrapped his arms around my body, pulling me close. “We’ll figure this out. But I want you to understand that binding yourself to a source of magic is dangerous. Don’t ever offer your blood for anything.”

Rainy tossed the towel into a trash bag and tied it. “I’m going to get rid of this. What do we tell everyone?”

“We tell them that Jade figured out how to get the book to work for her. But please, let’s keep the whole blood thing between us for now.”

“Why? Don’t they deserve to know the truth?” I asked.

“You don’t want them knowing this,” Edge said.

“It’s dark magic, using blood, Jade.” Rainy bit her lip while she looked between Edge and I. “I won’t say a word.” She slipped out the door before either of us could say any more.

“Dark magic?” I’d bound myself to dark magic?

“That’s what it’s referred to now. When someone uses blood for any kind of spell, it’s frowned upon. Back in the time of the Originals, blood was used for the more complex and powerful spells. Too many power hungry people used that type of magic, creating a bad name for it. When the Original Coven turned their back on the type of magic, they labeled it dark, since that was usually the outcome for the creator of the spell.”

“Does that mean I now have dark magic in me?”

“Jade, you’ve always been a balance of dark and light because of your parents. It’s probably why the book was able to choose your bloodline to continue on its path of retribution against the Triad.”

“I don’t understand though. If my mother was the one who had the book before me, does that mean one of her parents were of the Triad too?”

“Not necessarily. Your mother was of the Original Coven bloodline and your father of the Triad, making you half of each. Maybe that’s what the book has been waiting for all along.”

“That’s a long time to wait for a person to be born of both dark and light.” We let silence fill the air, both lost in out own thoughts.

I jumped at the sound of the emergency alarm going off. Edge pulled me along down the stairs as Dagger and Jessa were running to the door. It slammed closed behind them and the monitors began going crazy with information. The alarm went off again sending Matheson, Rainy and Julie out the door. Seconds later, the alarm went off yet again and Edge was gone.

“Bastards are up to something, I can just feel it,” Jude grumbled as he switched between three monitors. Details spilled from his lips and I relayed them.

Jude swore under his breath. “You’re going the wrong way…oh shit, four more just showed up.” He grabbed the head set from me and started speaking a warning to Edge. Edge wasn’t replying. “Damn it, answer me. You have four coming in from the east and two more from the North…reply damn it!”

I shot up from my chair and grabbed the little earpiece I’d seen the others shove in their ears and ran for the door. “Going in!” I shouted before the door slammed.

Jude’s voice crackled in my ear. “Edge is going to have both of our asses for this.”

“We’ll worry about that when we get back,” I whispered, as I entered into an alleyway between two brick buildings.

“My super hero,” he chuckled. “Okay, let’s do this,” he said, as he started to bark out orders. “Go right.”

I followed Jude’s directions that led me straight to where Edge was. I stuck to the shadows as I got closer to the group that was closing in on Edge. It looked like he was unaware they were approaching, which was weird because he was standing in the middle of the street facing them. I couldn’t understand why he was just standing there. It made no sense to keep still while you could see the enemy coming for you, unless, of course, he was trying to lure them in.

I connected with the book, ready to back up Edge, even if he hadn’t requested it.

I thought about using a spell to knock them out. The book fluttered open to a stunning spell. I casted it and the two men collapsed to the ground. Edge didn’t move. What was going on?

“Two down,” I whispered, fearful of drawing any unwanted attention my way.

“Copy that. You got three more approaching from a side street to the east. Stay low. I’ll keep you posted.”

“Copy,” I replied.

“They’ve changed course, watch for them across the street. They’re coming fast.” Jude’s warned.

Before I could answer Jude, three men shot out of the darkness and barreled towards Edge.

I thought about their bodies falling into a pit, the pages flipped. I let the spell go and the ground rumbled, sucking two of the three men into the hole I’d created. The third man skirted the pit and kept running towards Edge. The knife he carried was drawn and ready to strike.

I stepped out of the shadows and could see Edge better now. His eyes were darting all over the place, but his body wasn’t moving. I wanted to be there, right in front of him. I wanted my body in front of his to protect him from the bite of the knife that would surely kill him if I couldn’t stop it. The book flipped open and I was gone.

My body slammed into Edge’s, just as the knife-carrying Enforcer was slashing it down at Edge’s chest. I slammed my shield in place and the blade connected with it, sending a shockwave along my body. The shield flickered and I was exposed. The Enforcer smiled wickedly.

“We knew you’d show up eventually,” he leered.

It had been a trap and we’d fallen right in to it. I had to get Edge out of here immediately. I could feel him trying to get into my thoughts, but it was like trying to hear someone talk underwater. Someone had frozen Edge in place. The book fluttered in my mind and a spell to unbind the magic holding him appeared. I cast it, but nothing happened. I tried again and still nothing happened. Why wasn’t it working? My wrist throbbed as the Enforcer rushed at me, grabbing me by the hair. He swung me against a brick wall, my bones crunching from the impact. I needed to get my shield back up, fast.

I felt my energy returning along my skin as the Enforcer went to grab for me again. The book flipped open and I sent the Enforcer tumbling across the street into a dumpster.

My wrist kept throbbing as the book flipped back to the unbinding spell. It wanted blood–my blood to complete the spell. I searched the ground for the knife the Enforcer had dropped. I found it a couple of feet in front of Edge. The blade hissed along my palm in a shallow cut. I grabbed Edge’s arm and cast the spell.

“Jude, I have Edge,” I said, as Edge hauled me against him.

“Let’s get the hell out of here,” Edge said as he cast a wary look around.

Jude shouted in my ear. “Help is on the way.”

Dagger came barreling out of the same side street I’d used to get here. He slid to a stop in front of us. “Where are they,” he said, looking around for the Enforcers.

“Two are in there,” I said, pointing at the pit. “One there,” I pointed to the dumpster. “And then two over there,” I pointed to the pair I’d stunned.

“That was close, Edge. I didn’t think you’d get them all in time before she showed up.”

“I didn’t get them. Jade did.” Edge jerked his thumb in my direction.

Daggers eyebrows shot up in surprise. “Oh, well, good job, Jade,” he said, before barking out orders to everyone.

Julie hauled up the Enforcer on the ground and wove a spell around him. His body curled in on itself leaving a husk that turned to ash. I didn’t want to think about where he went, or what had just happened to him. Matheson went to handle the two in the pit. I kept my back to him after witnessing what Julie had just done.

“I’ll grab this one in the dumpster and then we can go,” Dagger said.

Edge hugged me tight. “We will talk about you putting yourself in danger for me later, but for right now, I’m just going to breathe a sigh of relief that you recklessly did come and save my ass. That was a close one. They spelled me and made it look like they were surrounding me. I heard them say they were waiting for you to show up.”