Fairy Magic (21 page)

He stopped a breath’s distance from her lips. “What’s holding you back, Naomi? You are no shying violet. You are a tiger lily.”

He was so close she could almost taste him. Her head swam with a dozen dirty desires, each one better than the last. His hands closed on her, following every dip of her curves. He stood, pulling her to her feet. He turned her around and leaned in, his chest hard against her back. His mouth traced a burning trail of kisses up her neck, even as his hands stroked lower, peeling the lower edge of her tank top from her body. Desire—piercing, primal desire—burned inside of her, consuming every thought, every breath.

She pulled against his hold even as her body betrayed her. “No.” Her protest was a soft moan.

His hands stopped, but his magic continued to pour down her like liquid fire, searing every nerve in her body. She could hardly stand, let alone fight the building waves of his pulsing magic. It was so wild, so dangerous. So overpowering. Like staring up at a beautiful, deadly dragon as he breathed out the fire of your demise.

“How many men have you seduced, my lovely fairy?” he whispered against her ear.

“Too many to count.”

“Hundreds?”

“Yes.”

“They all wanted you very much.”

She tried to joke her way out of this delicious trap. “I’m a good lay.”

He chuckled. “Yes, I imagine you are. You are unbelievably stunning.” His mouth brushed against her neck, sending a streak of heat pouring down her spine.

Her lips trembled.

“You made them lose control,” he said, pulling her against him. “But did they ever make you lose control?”

“I…”

“No, they didn’t. But I will,” he breathed into her ear.

“Makani,” she protested, her body quaking. How was this happening? He’d hardly even touched her, and she was teetering at the brink of total abandon.

He backed up. “What happened?”

“What?”

“What happened to you? Who hurt you? Was it this man you mentioned before? The one who betrayed your family?”

“Cloud and I…well, we didn’t date, but I was intimate with him. He betrayed me and my family to the people kidnapping the children for Darksire.”

“I’m sorry,” he said. “Darksire has a way of making people lose themselves. But I am not Cloud.”

No, he was someone much more dangerous. Cloud had never made her lose herself.

Makani’s lips brushed her neck softly, then he just walked away, leaving her strung up like a ball of tightly coiled lightning.

“Come, let’s eat,” he said, sitting down at the table with infuriating calmness. “And we should discuss the plan for getting through Valin’s forces.”

He’d just pillaged her body with magic, bringing her to the precipice of no return, and now the bastard wanted to discuss battle tactics? She glowered across the room at him.

“Is something the matter, my lady?” His eyes sang with victory.

She knew that all she had to do was ask him to come back and pick up where they’d left off, and he’d do it. He was just waiting for her to ask. She folded her arms across her chest. Well, she wasn’t going to do it. She might have been ten turns behind and missing half of her pieces, but she was not going to let him win this game of seduction.

“No,” she said, smiling at him as she joined him at the table. “Nothing is the matter.” She grabbed a handful of dates from the bowl.

“This need for control goes back further than Cloud,” he said, watching her chow down on dried fruit.

“I thought you wanted to talk about the upcoming fight against Valin,” she reminded him.

“We can talk about both.”

“My OCD is irrelevant here.”

“Actually, it’s not,” he said. “It’s affecting your magic. If you want to master it, you need to let it go.”

“Thanks for the advice, Elsa.”

His brows scrunched together in confusion. They obviously didn’t have movies in hell.

“Never mind,” she said, grabbing a plum.

They ate in silence for a few minutes, then he spoke again. “You lost someone.” It wasn’t a question. “That’s what happened to you. That’s why you have to control everyone and everything.”

“Wow, that’s rich coming from the Prince of the Pacific, lord of dragons, and commander of armies. Tell me, Your Majesty, have
you
ever not been in control, even for one second?”

He flipped a date between his fingers. “We’re not discussing me.”

“Well, isn’t that convenient.”

He didn’t respond. He let the magic show of smoldering fire and lightning in his eyes do the talking for him. She withstood the storm for a few seconds before folding.

“My father,” she said. “I lost him to demons. So you see, I want to take them out every bit as much as you do.”

“I saw the spark in your eyes when you grew wings. For a sliver of a second you gave up control. How did it feel?”

“Terrifying.”

“And?”

“Wonderful,” she admitted, adding quickly, “But that was flying.”

“You need to let go, Naomi. Only then will you truly be free. You can’t control everything.”

She smiled at him. “I’m just a fun girl.”

“No,” he told her. “Ok, yes, you are fun.” A smile tugged on his mouth. “But you are also tormented. We both have our inner demons. And our external demons.”

“Let’s tackle the external ones first,” she said.

“That is the easier battle,” he agreed.

“Ok, I answered one of your questions,” she said. “Now you answer one of mine.” She hovered her hand over the tattoos on his arm. “Tell me about these.”

“They are spirit spells from someone I knew long ago.”

“Who?”

His eyes hardened into pools of molten gold. “Someone who has been dead for centuries.”

“I know this one,” she said, brushing her finger across the tattoo on his triceps. “It’s an old fairy tale rhyme.”

“Yes, it has the power to—” He stopped suddenly, jumping up to his feet. “Something is wrong. Ghosts are coming. They have entered my cave.”

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

The Labyrinth of the Lost

“I THOUGHT THIS cave was protected,” Naomi said.

Makani’s jaw stiffened. It looked hard enough to crack diamonds. “They shouldn’t have been able to see it. Unless…”

He hurried to the dresser and pulled out a small jade stone, about the size of a pea. He grabbed her hand, waving the stone across the length of her arm. A shimmering coat of silver glitter sparkled against her skin.

“Shit,” he swore, setting down the stone. The sparkles faded. He quickly began putting on his shoes and weapons.

Naomi did the same. “I’ve been marked.” She pulled the Midnight Cape over her shoulders.

“Yes,” he said, packing up some small items from the dresser drawers. “That ghost must have done it when it passed through you. I should have remembered that spell. Now any spirit, ghost, or other otherworldly in the area will be able to track us.”

She met his eyes. “Break the spell on me.”

“I can’t break the spell without breaking your magic too, which will knock you out. If you’re sleeping, you won’t be running. And we need to get to Valin.”

The house shook, rattling the shelves and everything on them.

“The ghosts have broken through another layer of protection,” he said, continuing to pack the pouches hanging from his belt.

“How many layers are there?”

“Not enough.”

She glanced at the cabinet. “What potion supplies do you have?”

“All the usual suspects,” he said. “Why?”

She swung open the doors and began sorting through vials.

“What are you doing?”

“Mixing something to deal with the ghost mark,” she said.

“There are only two ways to silence it: breaking its magic or waiting for the spell to fade.”

“It will take too long for the mark to fade, especially here where the spirits and ghosts are strong,” Naomi said. “Which is why I’m going with option number three. I might not be able to remove the mark, but I can mute its signal.” She tossed a few ingredients into a beaker, then began to mix it around.

The stone walls thumped with magic.

“The magic binding this place is slowing the ghosts down, but it won’t take them long to break through.” Makani looked at the ingredients she was swirling together. Inside the beaker, the solution had turned pale blue. “We don’t have time for this.”

“We don’t have time to not do it,” she said. “If I don’t mute the mark, the spirits will be able to track us anywhere.”

She quickly added a few drops of Fire Mint, and the blue solution sizzled purple. She poured the whole potion into a small glass bottle, then sucked up a few drops with an eyedropper.

“Are you sure you know what you’re doing?” he asked, giving the bottle a dubious look.

“No, I enjoy dancing on death’s doorstep.” She rolled her eyes. “Of course I know what I’m doing. Didn’t we just finish discussing what a control freak I am? Do you honestly believe I’d put something into my body if I didn’t know exactly what it would do?”

“I suppose you have a point,” he said as she dripped a few drops of the potion onto her tongue. “Though, just for the record, we are not finished discussing your control problem.”

“Your protest has been duly noted, Your Majesty. We’ll shelve the matter until the point at which people are not trying to kill us.”

His mouth hardened into a thin line. “This is a trick statement. You know very well that such a time will never come to pass.”

She laughed. “And here I thought dragons had no sense of humor.” She grabbed the stone from the tabletop, waving it over her skin. The sparkling had faded out.

“Then you were mistaken,” he said. “Dragons are the epitome of magic, strength, and culture.”

“And modesty,” she muttered.

He flashed her a wicked grin. “We have a fantastic sense of humor.” He glanced at her non-sparkling skin. “It worked.”

“Try not to sound so surprised,” she replied, tucking the jade stone into the pocket of her running pants. She stuffed the bottle of ghost mark remedy into the other.

Makani stared down at the bulge in her pants. His lower lip twitched.

“Don’t say a word,” she warned, pushing her finger in his face.

He coughed. “I wouldn’t dream of it.”

Naomi brushed down her cloak. “I sure wish this thing came with pockets.”

Makani settled his final batch of knives into place, then turned to her. “With the mark muted, the ghosts won’t be able to track us if we put enough distance between us and them.”

“Is there another way out of this cave?”

“Follow me.”

He hurried down the hall she’d taken to the toilet in the floor. They squeezed into the tiny bathroom, then shut the door behind him. He touched the wall above the hole. The stones in the wall slid apart, opening up a narrow passage.

Makani waved her forward. “Come on. Hurry. I can feel the last barrier of magic breaking. The ghosts will be upon us soon.”

Naomi squeezed inside of the dark space. Makani followed, sealing the opening behind him. They ran as fast as they could down the cramped hallway. At the end, Makani touched the wall again to open an exit, and they spilled out into the street.

“This way,” Makani said. And then he started running.

Naomi pushed herself to keep up, the desire to prove herself to him only slightly overshadowed by the panicked, half-baked notion of what would happen if the ghosts and the soldiers running close behind caught up with them. Makani led her around a corner—and right onto a street that dead-ended in a mountain.

“End of the road,” she said.

“No.” He pointed at an opening in the rocks, so narrow it was almost invisible.

They ran into the labyrinth inside the mountain. Thick, lumpy walls of dark stone stretched out high and imposing.

“Wow,” she gasped. “What is this?”

“The magic of the spirit realm warps the natural world. This mountain became a labyrinth. The Labyrinth of the Lost.”

“That sounds foreboding.”

“The path is always shifting. People usually die in here before they can find their way out.”

“Great,” she said, looking up. “Can we fly out?”

“No. The labyrinth’s magic prevents flying over it. Or out of it. It’s the perfect hiding place. Even the ghosts don’t like it in here. The walls bounce magic.”

“But you know the way out of here, right?”

He didn’t answer.

“Don’t tell me you led us into a death trap,” she said.

“I can find the exit,” he told her. “There is a slow drip of magic out of it.”

“But?”

“But that doesn’t mean this place isn’t teeming with nefarious magic.”

Of course not. It wouldn’t be hell without a little nefarious magic.

He pulled her hand, jerking her around the corner. The entourage of ghosts and soldiers streamed past, plunging deeper into the maze. It looked like they were hellbent on finding Naomi and Makani, Labyrinth of the Lost or not.

“We don’t even need the exit,” he said. “Use your magic to break through to the first circle.”

“There’s no gateway here.”

“It’s close enough. Just break through the veil.”

“I can’t do that,” she told him.

“You have the cloak. It extends your range.”

“Yes, which is how I was able to move from the earth to the first circle without a gateway. And how I was able to use the gateway to the second circle at all.”

“You’re weak.” He didn’t sound amused or even judgmental, just resigned.

“I’m sorry, but no one ever told me I even had these powers,” she snapped back.

“I will help you, Naomi, but you have to trust me.” He pressed his palm to hers. “Right now, though, we don’t have time. We have to run. I can feel more ghosts coming closer.”

They ran deeper into the labyrinth. She hoped Makani knew what he was doing, and that he was actually bringing them closer to the exit. They couldn’t keep up this pace forever. A frown crinkled his face. He grabbed her hand and pulled her into another passage, but it was already too late. A band of vampires came around the corner in front of them, blocking their path.

* * *

Vampires weren’t the friendliest of people in any realm, but these four looked absolutely hellish. At the front of the group stood a male and female pair, each with identical platinum hair. They were dressed in skimpy leather outfits. The woman wore a bikini top, tiny skirt, and knee-high boots. The man wore a pair of leather pants slid inside his boots and a leather vest, which he wore open to expose his chest. The two of them looked like siblings.