Ruby Fever EPB, page 24
Revulsion hit me.
The beast stared at us. The quills on his back snapped upright.
Nausea swirled deep in the pit of my stomach and blossomed into fear. The urge to run gripped me, overwhelming my common sense. My body knew on a basic animal level that this thing was wrong and awful and the only way to survive was to run as fast and as far as I could.
Prime Nathan Sanders. A metamorphosis mage out of Alberta. Powerful, experienced, and nasty in a fight.
We had fought a metamorphosis mage before. Her name was Celia. Neither my magic, nor the bullets from the handguns Alessandro had summoned, worked on Celia after she’d transformed. My memory served up Alessandro splattered with blood, slicing a beast in half with a chainsaw. It had taken that chainsaw, a sword, and the world’s most powerful hunting revolver shot into her mouth to take her down. Later we found that Celia happened to be Nathan’s cousin.
A low growl sounded from my right. A larger version of the baboon lion waited under a tall oak. This one on all fours, bigger, thicker, with paws the size of dinner plates and claws like steak knives.
A third beast perched in the branches of the oak to Alessandro’s left, smaller than the largest monster but larger than the one on the fountain. Its fur was a dark, dirty red mottled with black, its face more cat than baboon, its body completely quadrupedal. It gripped the branch of the tree with all four feet, its black claws hooked into the bark like sickles. A reddish mane framed its head and thick neck. If it had the ability to transform into a human shape, no signs of that remained.
Luke and Gabin. Sanders had brought his sons.
Alessandro slid the screen off his shoulder and unfolded it calmly. I sent my magic twisting to Nathan on the fountain. His mind was completely opaque, inert without any humanity left. The lights were on, but nobody human was home. Nothing I did to this consciousness would have any effect. House Sanders were holos-metamorphs. Once they changed shape, only the prey drive remained. They locked on a target as if their life depended on it, pursued their prey with single-minded ferocity, and didn’t stop until they ripped them apart.
The beast on the fountain opened his mouth, showing us huge conical fangs.
I flicked my sword. The blade unfolded, snapping into shape. The sword generated its own null field. It would cut through anything as long as you fed it magic, but it burned through your power reserve in seconds. I had to use it sparingly.
The muscles on Luke, the largest beast, bunched. He gathered himself like a lion before a sprint. On the other side, catlike Gabin rose on the branch. The red mass around his neck, which I had mistaken for a mane, snapped upright like the hood of some crimson cobra.
Alessandro dropped the unfolded screen to the ground in front of me. I sent a pulse of magic through the blade. The organometallic inlay sucked it in, glowing, feeding off my power like a leech.
“I love you,” Alessandro said.
“I love you, too. Take the sword.”
“Keep it.”
Nathan flexed and leaped off the fountain, a veiny, flesh-colored membrane popping open along his arms. Alessandro lunged left, while I dodged right. Orange sparks burst above Alessandro’s hands, coalescing into a shotgun. The Mossberg thundered in a three-shot burst.
Boom-boom-boom!
The slugs hit the simian beast in midair. Nathan screeched, dropping, his trajectory aborted.
Luke charged toward us from my right.
I lunged into his path, feeding a wallop of magic into my null blade.
Alessandro spun toward Gabin still perched in the tree on the left and fired again.
Boom-boom-boom!
Luke barreled at me, fast, eyes shining with malice. I spun out of the way half a second before he would’ve hit me and sliced at his side as he tore past me. The null sword carved through ribs, muscle, and gristle like they weren’t even there. The beast screamed, an eerily human sound coming from an animal’s throat, and kept running, ignoring me.
Boom-boom-boom!
Alessandro sank a three-round burst into Nathan as he twitched on the ground, spun, fired toward Luke, and dashed to the side, as Gabin pounced on him. Alessandro backed away, dodging the claws like he knew where Gabin would strike before he even aimed. The cat’s shoulder bled. Alessandro must have grazed it with that second burst.
Luke missed Alessandro and clumsily turned around. I had wrecked his insides with my slash. Even with the insane healing powers of the metamorphosis mages, it would slow him down.
Pain tore at my mind. The flexible shell of my magic blocked most of it, but what filtered through slashed me like a white-hot buzz saw. Kaylee.
I cut off the magic flow to the sword and strained, sending more vines to wrap around my mind. Her range was longer than mine. I could barely sense her to my right, somewhere in the house. I needed a boost to take her on. The mat was four feet away.
The PDX machine gun materialized in Alessandro’s hands.
Kaylee struck at me, her magic a torrent of hatred. The world turned scalding white. The tatters of my magic slithered, trying to close the gap Kaylee had torn open. I went blind.
Gunfire erupted.
I kept moving, taking tiny steps in the direction of the mat. She tore at my shell, gouging chunks in my vines.
My foot nudged the edge of the mat. I took a big blind step onto it and stomped. A dry crunch announced the hidden reservoir on the underside of the mat breaking. The bottom part of the mat melted as the two chemicals mixed, and the liquefied plastic slipped between the pavers, anchoring the mat in place.
Kaylee cut through my shell. Pain scalded me. I wrapped more vines over the wound, pulled the chalk out of my pocket, crouched, and drew a perfect circle around my feet on pure muscle memory.
A short guttural grunt came from the left. Alessandro. He was hurt.
Kaylee hit me again. A burst of agony exploded in my mind. I gritted my teeth and added another circle to the main one.
She pounded on my mind. Cutting hadn’t worked, so she’d resorted to brute force, raining blows onto me. Like trying to draw while someone smashed the back of your head with a baseball bat. I moved faster, the chalk gliding across the mat. The shell over my mind was paper-thin. A few more hits and I was done.
Punch. Rage sparked inside me.
Punch.
Punch.
You fucking bitch. You want my attention, I’ll give you some.
I finished the last line, not knowing if it connected, straightened, and sank a pulse of my power into the circle. A geyser of pure magic burst through me, surging through my veins, purging pain, uncertainty, and fear. Only power remained, streaming through me like the current of a great river. I sent another pulse, and the circle responded. There was so much magic, I was drunk on it.
My vision cleared and I saw everything at once: the house in front of me, Kaylee grinning on the Juliet balcony, and Alessandro to my left, tossing an empty gun at Gabin. The feline monster and Nathan had boxed him in. Luke was limping over, trailing blood and pieces of his guts. Alessandro was trapped between them, and his back was red with blood.
The furious thing inside me howled, trying to break free and screech its fear at the world. They’d hurt him! They’d hurt him and I had to hurt them back! I would kill them. I would rip their pitiful minds to shreds.
I felt Kaylee gathering her power for another blast, her mind a brilliant white star.
Inside me dark wings flailed, straining, trying to emerge, their tips glowing with ruby red. They wanted to rip open my body and mind and burst forth like a butterfly from a chrysalis. They wanted to punish, kill, and protect.
No. I was in charge. I would decide.
The thing inside me clashed with my will, screeching to be let free. I grasped it and held it firmly.
I would not screech.
Wings opened at my back and for a torturous moment my feathers were a muddy grey.
I would not screech.
This was my magic. Mine. I didn’t answer to it. It answered to me.
I opened my mouth and sang. Color burst through my feathers, bright vivid green and gold.
Gabin saw me and faltered from sheer surprise.
I held out my sword, drew more magic from the circle, and let the melody rise out of me. It was a beautiful song full of promises and forgiveness. It spread from me like a wave, washed over Kaylee’s mind, and swept away her meager defenses. She knew how to attack but she had no idea how to defend herself.
Alessandro sprinted between two beasts with unearthly grace. His hand brushed mine, I let go of the sword, and he caught it.
My song soared, higher and stronger, spreading through the house.
The three beasts bore down on us, Gabin in the lead, his father right behind him, and Luke still staggering a few yards behind.
On the Juliet balcony, Kaylee wept like an overwhelmed child.
Alessandro slashed through Gabin’s leg, whipped around, carved through Nathan’s deformed skull, and then buried the blade in Luke’s barrel chest. Nathan collapsed. Luke sagged onto his knees. Gabin ran, jerkily, picking up speed despite bleeding from the stump of his left paw.
My magic surged through the mansion, finding the bright sparks of other minds. I sang to them, promising safety, and kindness, and love.
Orange magic swirled around Alessandro. The Winchester appeared in his hands. He sighted the fleeing mage and fired. The three-legged creature dropped like a stone.
The front door opened, and people walked out, their gazes fixed on me. Elias, and an elderly couple, moving slowly, three middle-aged men, and one woman. Kaylee climbed over the iron rail and jumped to the pavers below. Her left leg snapped like a twig. She tried to stand, fell, and crawled toward me.
I needed to separate her from them. As long as I held her mind, she wasn’t a threat.
Alessandro was walking toward me. His shirt hung in shreds, red gashes crossing his chest.
Black pulsed through my wings. I wrestled the control back, forcing the green to wash away the jet feathers, and kept singing.
A deafening metal groan rolled through the air. I turned toward where it came from and saw a giant metal cylinder rise above the treetops. It was thirty feet long and eight feet wide. It hovered in the air for a moment and spun. Blades slid out of the shaft.
The Grinder. Connor’s House spell. Except this wasn’t my brother-in-law, because Connor’s Grinder had three cylinders, not one.
I had to get those people out of here. Where was safe? The Scarab wouldn’t stand up to the Grinder. The house wouldn’t either. If the Grinder didn’t cut or crush us, the debris from the house would end us. We had to scatter, except everyone was bound to me. If I tried to run, they would just follow me like baby ducks and if I yanked my magic away, they would collapse.
The Grinder dropped, rolling forward. The trees between it and us snapped like toothpicks and behind them Xavier stood in the middle of a basketball court, a complex arcane circle glowing around him. He wore headphones. A deranged grin lit his face.
I reached toward him.
Too far.
Alessandro spun, snapping the Winchester to his shoulder. A shot cracked. Xavier laughed without making a sound.
Alessandro didn’t miss. Xavier’s circle had created null space. Our reality ended at that outer chalk line. The bullet didn’t penetrate. Nothing would penetrate, not even a missile launch. As long as his magic lasted, he was invulnerable. The only way to survive was to get out of his range and line of sight.
Kaylee’s elderly grandparents stared at me with adoration. They had no idea they were in danger. I had sung to them and promised them that everything would be all right. I could run away, but Xavier would kill everyone I’d beguiled.
The bladed metal cylinder rolled forward, spinning through the air three feet above the ground. Alessandro lunged to me.
The Grinder froze. It was still spinning, it just wasn’t moving forward.
Xavier strained, his face a grimace.
The Grinder stayed where it was.
The trees on our right snapped and fell. Mad Rogan stood in the middle of a simple amplification circle drawn on the road. Nevada stood next to him. Behind them a tactical team sighted Xavier through the scopes on their rifles.
Mad Rogan’s face looked like it was carved from granite.
Now was my chance. I stopped singing and smiled. “Come here.”
They did, tripping over their own feet, trying to cluster around me.
“It would make me happy if you went to the bus,” I told them.
They moved as one.
Alessandro picked the elderly woman up and carried her to the Scarab. Julian ran out and held out his arms. Alessandro handed the elderly woman to him, turned around, and walked back to where Kaylee was still clawing her way across the driveway.
The Grinder still spun in place. Alessandro walked six feet from it, unhurried, scooped up Kaylee into a fireman’s carry, and leisurely strolled back.
Xavier let out a silent scream.
Alessandro gave Mad Rogan a wave and deposited Kaylee at my feet. She hugged my legs, her eyes shiny and bottomless. “I love you so much, I’m so sorry. For everything. So sorry. Do you still like me?”
I patted her hair.
Alessandro hugged me to him like I was his greatest treasure.
Xavier’s nose was bleeding. He clenched his fists, every muscle in his body rigid, straining. His mouth opened. He must’ve howled at the top of his lungs.
The Grinder didn’t shift an inch.
The circle under Xavier’s feet winked out like candle blown out by a draft. Xavier had exhausted his magic. There was no more power to fuel the circle.
He gaped at the Grinder in pure horror.
The Grinder turned, smoothly, as if it weighed nothing.
Xavier just stared.
The cylinder spun into a blur and streaked back toward Xavier. He threw his hands out in a futile attempt to stop it. It rolled over him.
There was no sound. No scream. Just red blood on the blades.
Chapter 14
I sat on the bed with my laptop in front of me. My wet hair spilled over my shoulder.
We’d come home an hour ago. Alessandro showered, and Dr. Patel treated two wide gashes on his back and the scratches on his chest. The wounds had bled all over the place but were relatively shallow. A couple of years ago the sight of them would’ve made me panic and now I was just grateful they weren’t worse.
Konstantin was waiting for him outside the infirmary when we came out. I let them talk and went to our house. I was spent.
I’d yanked my magic from Kaylee quickly enough to stun her mind but not so fast that her psyche would suffer permanent damage. She would be sleeping for the next three days, possibly longer, which was fortunate, because I had no idea what to do with her. I needed to buy some time. Detaining her wasn’t an option due to her power level. Normally Linus did whatever it was, and the National Assembly came and took charge of the criminal Primes. He didn’t quite pass that part of the job down to me. For now, we stuck her in the infirmary. If the hostilities dragged on, we would have to induce a coma.
Before I broke free, Kaylee told me everything I wanted to know. Arkan had made her into a Prime. She had enjoyed her new power for almost four months when her mother came to her and told her they needed to kill Linus. Luciana had set up a meeting. They walked right into Linus’ office, where Kaylee was supposed to attack Pete while her mother planned to pacify Linus with her halcyon powers so they could kill him too.
Except Linus never gave them the chance. The moment Luciana began building her magic, Linus took off. Her initial assault had barely grazed him.
Pete managed to pull out his gun, but Kaylee killed him before he could do anything with it. Luciana told Kaylee to run, picked up the gun, and went to hunt down Linus. Kaylee took off, and a few minutes later her mother carefully walked out of the house and joined her.
Pete’s gun finally made sense. Luciana had picked it up and planned to shoot Linus with it, but she didn’t count on the vault, and Linus, who was reeling from the mental assault, must’ve been slower than usual trying to get down those stairs, lock himself in, and activate the defense systems. It bought Kaylee just enough time to escape. Sometimes we overlooked the simplest explanations. Kaylee got out alive because she could sprint like a rabbit.
Untangling my power from the rest of the Caberas and their staff members took a lot longer and by the end of it, I was drained, both magically and physically. We had gotten most of the story out of them in the process. Kaylee had taken her grandparents hostage, killing two of their employees when they tried to intervene. When Elias arrived, she had lashed his mind as well. The only reason he was alive was because he had expected an attack and fortified himself. For all of her raw power, Kaylee had no idea how to fully penetrate the defenses of an experienced and well-trained mage like her uncle. He took a single blast and played dead.
The two Cabera brothers collected their parents and their staff, and Julian took everyone back to the Cabera mansion in River Oaks, while Elias stayed to supervise the cleanup of his parents’ house and to make funeral arrangements. Neither of them expressed any desire to take possession of Kaylee. They would likely draft her excision documents the moment they got home.
When I went into our house, Linus’ USB waited for me on the table. Bern or Runa must’ve brought it by.
Linus was still unconscious. It should’ve depressed and worried me, but I was too numb.
I had taken a shower, which made me feel a bit better, put on a long T-shirt and a fresh pair of underwear, and climbed onto the bed with my laptop. And then I stared at it for about five minutes.
I wasn’t sure why I hesitated. I wasn’t afraid. I was . . . weary and wary. Both.
Nothing good ever came from ignorance. I slid the USB into the slot, accessed it, and fast-forwarded the video to the point I remembered.
“Very shortly you’ll be facing a crisis, if you aren’t already. You’ve concentrated on only one aspect of your powers, but your magic is more complex than you realize. The black wings are the first manifestation of the problem, and it will become worse in times of emotional distress.”
