Swift (Strangetown Magic Book 1) (16 page)

The fracture lines spread and moments later the wraith was criss-crossed with the cleansing energy Levick poured in through fingers he had made as dead as the wraith. And then it kind of burst apart, fractal fragments of a tortured soul vanishing as they blew to nothingness.

Levick sank back into his chair, face pale, slick with sickly sweat. I ran over to him but dared not touch him. His eyes were wild and his arms were still nightmarish. He grunted and they took solid form again but they were horribly raw looking, a mass of burst capillaries just beneath the surface. He was gonna pay for that for a long time.

"There's... more... of them," he panted, and in a panic I turned again to the door, then ran to it and saw death flying down the hall, half a dozen elf wraiths heading straight for us.

"Let's go, now," I shouted at him and ran back in and grabbed his arm at the elbow. He screamed in pain, but it was better than being dead so I dragged him out the door and down the hall, away from the angry creatures intent on revenge for the destruction of one of their own.

"You've got some serious explaining to do, Levick, and it better be the best explanation you have ever given. Just what have you got us involved in here?"

"I'll tell you, if we survive."

"We'll survive, you just have to know how to deal with them properly." I put out a mental call to Mack and with a clear image of what I had in mind he was there, inches behind us, body fitting to accommodate the small space then growing as he morphed to regular size, walls pushed aside, ceiling raining down on us as the upper story broke and beams fractured.

As we made it to the end of the corridor and the wraiths howled in frustration, giving us a few seconds grace as Mack disrupted the flow of their matter by his presence, we got to a door and kept on running as office furniture crashed down from above.

Mack wouldn't be able to fight them, demons can't interfere in human affairs like that, but Mack was becoming more human so the call had worked—it may have been the difference between life and death so it was better than nothing.

I sent a mental apology to Mack as I knew this would take more from him than I had the right to ask, but all our lives were at risk unless I got answers from Levick. I needed him alive. For now.

"My hands really hurt. I haven't had to use magic like that for... Since I don't know when."

"What are you caught up in, Levick? How is this possible?" I felt like I was asking the same damn questions over and over, and not once getting an answer.

We twisted and turned through the corridors, making it to the front and out the door, heat hitting hard after the cool interior.

Levick looked worse in the light but he stopped for a moment, knowing as well as I did that the wraiths didn't stand a chance outside in broad daylight. At least I hoped they didn't.

"The elves are everywhere, Swift, and I knew whatever orders I gave you they would follow and intercept. They're monitoring everything and there is no way to stop that. So I sent you after Pumi hoping you would figure things out and you did."

"I saw you turn into an elf."

He looked puzzled for a moment, then understood. "Ah, well, two can play at their game. I had to get inside, not that it did me any good. I couldn't hold the Pool steady enough to stay looking like one of them, so I had to leave. They're getting ready. There's something coming, and I've been trying to find out what. I have failed, but this is important, so I teamed you up with Pumi."

"You risked both our lives so we would meet? Are you out of your mind?"

"There was no choice. If I'd arranged it openly then it would arouse suspicion. We don't talk, we email, text, that's how it is."

"We're talking now," I pointed out.

"Yes, I know, that's why they are here." Pumi nodded down the steps and at the street.

"Hell!"

"Now do you believe me? They've come for both of us. We have to stop them."

"Stop them, I don't even know what they're doing. Who killed the girl? It wasn't Pumi, I know that much."

"They did, of course. She was an annoyance to one of them, a little bit of sport, so they killed her. You know they don't care, don't like us, and her innocence, her purity, it really riles them up. I think she saw something they did that caught their attention, maybe just going to ground zero like I have, but I'm not certain and it's too late now anyway. I used it to get you involved, I'm sorry."

"You bloody well should be. What now?"

"Now we do what we have to do. We run."

"Wait!" It was too late, Levick was down the steps and heading away. Elves tore after him, long bodies eating up the distance easily as they gained on him. Not all of them, though, some were coming for me.

I did the only sensible thing and ran too, in the other direction, back home.

"Wait for me," came the unmistakable voice of Mack, barging through the door, a few wraiths shoved out ahead of him, breaking apart and vanishing as they hit daylight, too slow to move back inside.

"Hurry. Things are about to get dangerous."

Mack caught me up. He was covered in dust and there was a chair impaled on one of his horns. "Let's get medieval on their asses," he said, grinning.

"Mack, not now, please. And you can't interfere anyway, not enough to fight them off."

"Fine, but at least I got to say it. I've always wanted to. Did you know..."

I ran faster, wondering what would happen when a gang of very angry dark elves caught us. And Levick, what about him? He was old enough, and ugly enough, to look after himself.

The die was cast. Things were getting real.

Quick Stop-off

Mack visibly shrank as we ran, magic leaving him as though he had a leak. If we kept going much further he'd disappear entirely. Coming to my aid had cost him dearly and I knew he was hurting bad but what choice was there?

Through the front door, I slammed it shut after us and with no time to lose said, "Elves, coming here. Now!"

Pumi jumped up, clothes shredding as he morphed into something despicable. Robin uncrossed her legs gracefully, her eyes fixed at groin height, round as saucers, then tore them away and stood, slim arms tensing and body brimming with potent magic so strong it was hard to watch.

Zeno, knowing what this would mean for us all, nonetheless came to my side and said, "We will fight."

I nodded. "Everyone ready?" Stupid question, I know.

Nobody spoke, we knew what needed to be done. If the elves are after you you have two choices—run and hope you get away, or fight and make certain you win.

We went to fight.

To the Streets

Back out the door, Mack now useless and already asleep on the floor, half his true size, we ran down into the middle of the road and stood in a line, watching as the elves came for us.

"Sis, this will get nasty unless I can think of something. You up for this?" I didn't want her to get hurt. This was my fight, mine and Pumi's, and this really wasn't her thing.

"If they're after you, they're after me." She pulled more magic in, face hardening. She was ready.

Pumi, or the monster that was Pumi at any rate, was breathing hard, utterly lost to the anticipation of battle. I could tell just by looking at him that nothing else mattered, nothing was as important or as exciting. This creature was born to fight and it didn't look like a lot would stop it. But that's the problem. It was still just a creature, not something that could wield magic in such a state and stop dark elves intent on destruction.

The elves slowed as they approached, cautious and wanting to ensure they could deal with us. Closer, they fanned out across the street, too many of them to beat unless we got lucky or they were weak as kittens really and just looked like homicidal creatures brimming with magic from another realm.

So, we were screwed.

"Here goes nothing," I said, and let myself be taken over by something that is me but not me, a thing inside that thankfully usually stays hidden. That inhabits me, my darkness, my cruelty, my vengeful nature and my ruthlessness. My true, terrible Justice.

I ran, we all ran, and I feared for my friends, my family, for myself, but then I was lost to the rage and bloodlust of battle.

Thick corkscrews of unstoppable magic fractured the air as I sent them to eradicate the elves. One managed to deflect it with a sudden shield and two more were hit head on. As I ran, I saw the magic twist deep through their abdomens, the fatter end pushing more magic inside until they were history.

Robin used her own unique twist on magic and beautiful snowflakes fell as she focused her attention above. A loud clap of thunder split the air and the fiery beauty landed on their heads. Each one it touched was screaming as the fractal magic sliced like razor wire through their flesh and bone and they too succumbed to our efforts.

But these were no weaklings and magic shot back at us, nearly killing Robin, saved only as I changed my focus and put up a quick protective shield that nonetheless allowed a little damage to seep through. Robin faltered for a moment, almost losing her footing.

Distracted, I had no time to see Pumi enter the fray, but it was impossible to miss now. He was certainly no ordinary shifter. Magic pummeled him but his hide soaked it up like energy and he grew larger and faster and more terrifying the harder they assaulted him.

He grabbed elves and ripped off limbs, using them to batter their comrades' heads in, only discarding them when the flesh was pulp and ineffectual.

He tore through them like paper, grabbing bodies and swinging one around by the feet, head slamming into the others, scraping across the floor as the elf screamed until his face was gone.

Zeno watched, aghast, as a small group came for him, but his resolve hardened and he too summoned magic I knew was not of his liking—he's a lover, not a fighter. But that innate beauty was corrupted for a while as he battled with his own kind, swapping specialized skills with foes that hated him as much as the rest of us. Zeno did well, body becoming a blur as he fought with hands and feet imbued with deadly force that literally went right through his opponents when he got a direct hit.

He was battered and bloodied but still going as the odds evened and Pumi rampaged through the remaining elves with utter abandon and no mercy whatsoever.

In the end we merely stood and watched as all focus was on him, the elves trying to stop their comrades falling but their assistance futile as Pumi grew ever more dangerous the more they tried to stop him.

With an unholy cry that sent shivers up and down my spine and made Robin clutch my hand tight, frowning at her clothes now covered in blood and bits of another species, we watched, unable to turn away as Pumi shot a misshapen arm out and grabbed a terrified looking elf's throat. With his free hand, calloused and clawed, he punched into its mouth, teeth shattering, then pulled hard on the upper jaw, while the other hand ripped away flesh and tendons at the neck. The head came off, and he stomped down hard on it, bone shattering like a fresh egg, and then it was over.

We stood there, Pumi a thing apart, massive chest heaving, naked and covered in gore. The thing looked around at the destruction then at us, and it bowed its head in shame.

I don't believe I have ever witnessed, or ever will, anything so sad in my whole life.

He changed back to the broken man he was and we went to him, all of us, and held him as he cried and we cried too, for our part in what had happened and for ourselves. For what we had done, what we had been made to do, to be, but mostly we cried for Pumi, the monster that had saved us all but lost himself a little more in the process.

"We need to end this now. There will be more of them and things are going to get out of control."

"What happened?" asked Robin. "Why were they after you?"

"I went to see Levick. He said he's being watched, that the elves killed the girl, just because she was pure, and that he had to follow along, pretend like it was Pumi so I would meet him and uncover the truth."

"What is the truth?"

"That's the problem, he left because they were after him so he never said. But you can bet it's big and you can bet it's happening soon if this is how they react to him saying anything. My guess is they wanted Pumi out of the way, which isn't surprising after this. They know what he's capable of, but clearly didn't know how he deals with magic. Hell, I didn't even know that was possible."

"I did," mumbled Pumi, looking deranged and still dangerous as hell.

"Come on, let's get cleaned up, quick, and then we'll go ask my mother." The thought turned me cold, but I was out of ideas, and if one person could get to the truth it would be her. I couldn't even remember the last time I had voluntarily gone to see her, usually it was a summons, and it never, ever, ended well.

"No, Sis, anything but that."

"We've got no choice. She needs to know and she might have answers. She'll feel things we never will, and that means she knows more than we do."

"Your mother? How would she be able to help?" asked Pumi, body still way too pumped up and virile after the berserker episode. I tried not to look. Robin did, and she nudged me.

"Because she's the Queen."

"Oh."

"Yeah, oh."

Avoiding the Queen

Robin and I are only a few years apart in age, and she is the eldest, but I always feel like it's me that is the one that takes charge of situations, although she probably thinks the same thing.

We differ in personality, though, that's for sure. She's bubbly and outgoing, I'm... just me, I guess. I can't do the crazy flirting she does, I can't bring myself to wear flowery clothes as I can get a call for work at any time and never feel right chasing down bad guys in a polka dot dress, and she annoys the hell out of me, and I her, and we love each other dearly.

Yes, we bicker, even argue ferociously at times, but for five centuries we have remained in contact, usually even lived in the same part of the world give or take a few decades, and have this connection that runs so deep it's scary.