Vampire Mage 3: An Urban Fantasy Harem (The Vampire Mage), page 12
My head fell back, and my eyelids dragged closed. I was conscious, but just barely, just enough to hear them continuing to talk, though their voices sounded like they were coming from underwater.
“The new powers,” Stephana said. “Just learning all of these abilities so quickly is exhausting him. That final piece of magic was too much for him. Get him into the back seat. Aurora, you drive.”
I tried to open my eyes, to say something to them, but I couldn't move. My body hung helplessly in their arms as they pulled me out of the front seat and pushed me into the back. My head dropped down into Stephana's lap, and the soothing feeling of her fingers running through my hair was the last thing in my mind before sleep finally took me.
The deep peacefulness lasted only a few minutes before the jolt of the car coming to an abrupt stop woke me up. Enough energy had returned to my body for me to open my eyes and sit up, and I realized we were back at Stephana's house.
“I'll go in and get them,” Aurora said.
“You're not going in there alone,” Stephana told her. “Bex can you... oh…. no.”
The shock and horror in her voice was enough to cut through the rest of the tiredness and I turned my attention to the front seat. The former spy was leaned back, his eyes squeezed closed as his hand pressed against his stomach. I realized none of us had paid attention to any of the other ones when we are getting back into the car, it hadn't occurred to me that anybody might have been injured in the fight.
“What happened?” I asked.
“Aurora, go in and get the men. Quickly,” Stephana said. “Get them out here as fast as you can. We need to get away from here.”
“Bex, what happened?” I asked again.
He turned his head toward me and opened his eyes weakly. His hands moved away from his stomach and I saw a massive open wound through his gut. The edges glowed faintly, telling me this wasn't just the injury of a normal weapon.
“This is very serious,” Stephana said.
“What do we need to do?” I asked.
“The wound needs to be covered,” Stephana said.
I quickly grabbed a handful of clothes from the back of the car and started ripping them into pieces. I shook them to make sure there were no pieces of glass embedded in them and pushed them on to the man's stomach. He grimaced at the pressure, but I didn't let up. The blood needed to stop.
“Is he going to be all right?” I asked.
“I don't know,” Stephana admitted. “The wound is extremely severe.”
She kept her voice low, like she didn't want Bex to hear her, but he gave her the smallest hint of a smile.
“It's all right,” he said. “It's fine. I know I might not survive this. But I'm not afraid. If I don't get through this, I will be happy to have made the sacrifice for the future of our existence. If that's what it takes, I am willing to do it. Maybe in some way it will make up for all the bad things I've done.”
I shook my head and pressed down on the bandages harder.
“No,” I said. “You made up for that already. You've given enough. You don't need to give your life too. We're going to get you through this.”
The back doors to the car opened, and Jaxxim leaned in.
“How are you doing?” I asked.
“It doesn't matter,” he said. “We need to get going.”
“Let's use my car,” Stephana said. “It's not quite as big as this, but it's not going to be as obvious going down the road.”
We moved as quickly as we could, piling the clothes and other supplies Jaxxim and Ty had packed into the car, then squeezing into the seats.
“Where are we going?” Aurora asked from behind the wheel.
“To my house,” Jaxxim said. “That's going to be the safest place now. It's not too far.”
“Just hang on,” I said to Bex. “There's so much more for you to do. Just hang on.”
17
“I seriously need to know what's going on here,” I said as we made our way down the road. “This is all coming at me way too fast, and I don't know which way I'm supposed to go at any given minute. At this point I think I've gone way past needing a manual. There might be a whole textbook series in this. Maybe a couple books on tape. I could listen to them while I work out.”
My body was fighting to drag me back down into sleep, but I wouldn't let it. I needed to be awake for this. Stephana was obviously getting weaker again, and Ty hadn't spoken a single word since we got to the house. At the moment, though, my greatest concern was for Bex. Though not as roomy as the SUV, Stephana's car was big enough to fit us if we squeezed into the seats in a particularly uncomfortable and decidedly illegal configuration. This forced me to turn my back against the door beside me, so I could support the fallen man's body and keep the pressure on the wound in his stomach. Occasionally, he would open his eyes and look up at me, almost like he was confirming to both of us that he was still alive. When his eyes were closed too long, I would shake him and tell him to open them. As long as he could do that, I still had hope.
“I really don't know what happened,” Ashe said. “I was at Solomon's Fang, just like I told you I would be. I was waiting for you to call me and let me know you had gotten to Stephana, so we could plan to meet back up. And trying to clean up the ever-loving mess all of you left, by the way.”
“We couldn't really help it,” I said. “There's a little bit of an incident there, as you can imagine. Did you make sure to lock all the doors? Not let anybody else inside?”
“As far as I know,” she said. “But I didn't get a chance to leave on my own accord. I had cleaned up as best I could, and decided I was going to call it a night and get started again in the morning. I locked the doors. I even remembered what you said about not going down into the basement, which I'm going to need more information about as soon as you can give it to me, and I went outside into the alley to make sure the side door was locked. I checked over the entire bar and I went upstairs to go into my apartment. I already called everybody to make sure the other bartender and the waitresses didn't come into work that night, and to spread the word that the bar was closed so none of the patrons would show up. But that's why I thought it was really strange when I thought I heard voices coming from down the hallway.”
“Near the suites?” I asked.
“Yes,” she said. “It almost sounded like there were people in there already. I have to admit, part of me was hoping you had told me not to go down into the basement because you were down there waiting for me, and you and Aurora had snuck up into one of the suites.”
“I don't really do surprises,” Aurora said.
Ashe’s eyes narrowed at Aurora, and for the first time in days, I remembered the two of them had a history that started before I got to the Underworld. I still didn't know much about it, but I had to take that away. It wasn't important right now. Half my crew was creeping toward death, and I had to do anything I could to defend them. I couldn't stand the thought of any of the men or Stephana dying as a result of the magic doled out to them because of me. No one ever told me that one of the very few vulnerabilities of the vampires here were these magical attacks. Finding out only made the looming war and the ones behind us that much more terrifying.
“I'm aware,” Ashe said bitterly. “But if you haven't noticed, there's a lot that's changed since Hayden got here. Besides, I thought I heard his voice. I started walking in the hallway, calling out to the two of you. At one point, I heard my name, and I could have sworn it was Aurora's voice. It was coming from the suite at the very farthest back point of the hallway. I pushed the door open, and it was completely dark in there. I didn't see anyone, and as soon as I stepped inside, something grabbed me.”
“Who?” I asked.
“I don't know,” she said. “I couldn't see anything, and they must have done something to me, because the next thing I was aware of, I was waking up in a creek. The water rushing over me is what brought me back to consciousness. If I'd been there much longer, I probably would have drowned. I got to my feet, and immediately three men started chasing me. They were running in the water, coming at me from either side, and I didn't know what to do, so I ran. I had no idea where I was, so I didn't know which direction I was supposed to go. I just kept going wherever they weren't.”
“They were guiding you,” Aurora said.
“I think so,” Ashe said. “They were trying to get me to run exactly where I was going, and that's how I ended up at the waterfall.”
“What waterfall?” Aurora asked.
“I don't know,” she said. “I have no idea where I was or how I got there. I just saw this huge waterfall in front of me, and I ran for it, hoping I'd be able to get away from the men who were chasing me by going through the water. The creek was getting too deep, and I had to get out and run along the side. It was getting wider and faster, and the waterfall fed into a huge pool. I was hoping there was going to be some way I'd be able to get down onto the edge of the pool and go behind the water or into the mist and not be as visible anymore. It was so incredibly loud. I've never been near an actual waterfall before, and I wasn’t expecting the water to sound that loud. As I got closer, it sounded like screams; I slipped on one of the rocks and tried to catch myself, but I fell into the water and got caught up in the force of it going down into the pool. It tumbled me around a bit, but I managed to swim out of it. I hadn’t gone far when everything went dark again.
“You went through the portal,” I said.
“I must have,” Ashe said. “That's the only thing that could have happened. When I realized what was going on again, I was in the river. Here in Solan City. I got out and there was a car. It was just sitting there, like it was waiting in that specific spot for me to climb out. As soon as I hit the ground, the car started and I had to run. I ran until I got here.
“That was my group,” Bex said with as much volume and strength as he could muster. “I didn't actually think they'd ever do something like that.”
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“You already know I used the black-market portal to get to the other side,” he said. “My group has a fairly extensive knowledge of where the portals are and how to use them, but rumors have spoken about portals so dangerous they are almost never used. The only times I've ever heard of them being used is as a means of torture. They were for people who weren't actually expected to get into the Underworld alive. Instead, they were chased or lead to them, and allowed to die on the way so only their corpse made it into our world.”
“That is officially the worst Welcome Wagon I have ever heard of,” I said.
“That's what I thought, too,” Bex said with a slight laugh. “It sounded so horrible I thought it was just them talking a big game. I never thought they would actually do it.”
“So, you're telling me the Dragon didn't lure her here? They didn't somehow transfer her through the shadows?”
“No,” Ashe said. “That's not what happened.”
At least that's good news, I said.
“They just put me through the spin cycle,” she said.
“I'd rather that than think they had a way to move from world to world through the shadows,” I said. “Them being able to go through the black-market portals is difficult enough. That puts them at enough of an advantage. But at least then they actually have to travel, and there are steps they have to take to use the portals.”
“What was the price?” Aurora asked.
“What?” Ashe asked.
“The price to use the portal,” Aurora said. “You were using a black-market portal, which means there was some sort of price.”
“Not that one,” Bex said. “That one is fully controlled by Lunaris. It was passed to the group by a demon a long time ago. The price is the strong possibility of death for anyone who doesn't know the proper way to use it or is forced through.”
“I thought the whole purpose of the Dragon was to prevent things like this,” I said. “Lunaris is supposed to be trying to protect the Underworld, not some sort of terrorist organization. And I thought the Dragon was all-powerful. I thought they could do anything, and everyone essentially bowed down to them.”
“I tried to tell you before,” Bex said. “The Dragon is just a subsect of Lunaris. It's just one subsect that has been in power for a long time, but whatever small amount of unity had existed within the group has been fracturing for some time now. The longer the division between the species and vampire rule exists, the more divided Lunaris becomes. The original intention, and the intention for years, has been to have a united front, but that doesn't always work. There are so many different conflicting ideas and beliefs, and thoughts of how to handle the situations that keep coming up. There was bound to be some divergence within the group, but lately it's gotten to the point of splintering. I trusted the group I joined up with. I thought they were the ones who were seeing the conflict in the most realistic way and were going to do what needed to be done. I knew they were intense and that their ideas were severe, but nothing was getting better.”
“What do you mean?” I asked.
I was trying to keep him talking. The more he said, the longer his eyes were open, and I could hear his voice, the longer I knew he was alive and fighting to keep going. If he could stay this way, he had a chance of getting to Jaxxim's house and getting help. I needed to know everything I could about what was going on and what brought him into our fold, but he needed to say it just as much. Not just to stay alive. Not just to keep breathing. He needed it to remind himself of his true motivations and that even though he got off-track and started down the wrong path, he was still fighting for the same thing.
“There might not have been any big battles or huge events that brought everyone's attention,” he said, “but that doesn't mean things in the Underworld weren't deteriorating. As the anniversary of your disappearance got closer and the Prime continued to eliminate people in his opposition in ways that were subtle enough to be missed, the tensions were growing. The hatred was simmering just below the surface, and it wasn't going to be long until it completely erupted.”
“But isn't that exactly what your group planned to happen?” I asked. “You told me your group wanted to spark the war between the vampires and the warlocks.”
“Yes,” he said, drawing in a breath and pausing for a moment, wincing as a wave of pain seemed to course through him. He got control of himself and let out the breath slowly. “Yes. That was the plan. But it was meant to be fast and permanent. The way things were crumbling, it would lead to war, but one that would linger on and cause suffering for countless years. The group I joined didn't want that. They considered themselves complete separatists and believed in a solution that is intense, fast, and final. With their plan in place, the war would be horrific, but short. The destruction would be extensive, but there would be the potential for a future.”
“And you believed that?” Stephana asked.
“For a time,” he said. “I watched the brutality of what was happening from an angle few get to, and I couldn't take it anymore. It reached a point where a few weeks of bringing the Underworld to ash seemed preferable to what could happen if it kept going that way. But I know that's not the only way now. I believe there can be a more peaceful future.”
“If that group considered themselves separatists,” I said, “why are they still aligning with the rest of Lunaris? Why didn't they break off and make themselves known?”
“It's easier to continue to work within the networks and connections available through Lunaris,” Bex explained. “Staying largely hidden from view allowed us to set more plans into place without detection. But that's what makes all of this so difficult and complicated. It's no longer as easy to know who is friendly and who isn't.”
18
Throughout the drive I was vigilant of the street around us, waiting for someone else to come after us. I knew the Lunaris fighters who had chased Ashe wouldn't be appearing anytime soon, but that didn't discount the warlocks who had disappeared from my parent's house or any of the other members of Lunaris and its subsidiaries who had decided to paint a target on my back. The drive was thankfully uneventful, giving me the chance to focus on keeping Bex going. Finally, we got to Jaxxim's house and unfolded ourselves from the car. We followed him into the narrow door leading into his apartment and stood behind him as he unlocked it. Rather than stepping inside, he remained at the threshold.
“Holy shit,” he muttered.
“What's wrong?” I asked.
I stepped up beside him and looked into the apartment.
“Holy shit,” I said.
“Yeah,” he said.
The entire apartment in front of me had been destroyed. Everything beyond the door had been trashed, seemingly ripped to shreds. It didn't look as though there was a single item or surface that hadn't been touched. Even the curtains were shredded into long strands that resembled the bandages keeping Bex alive.
“What happened?” Aurora asked.
“I don't know,” Jaxxim said. “I haven't been here in a while. Usually I stay in the Shade quarters at the palace. The only times I really came here where when you are away from the palace for a long time, and your father didn't have another set position for me.”
Aurora looked at him strangely.
“What do you mean another set position for you?” she asked. “You were one of the Guard. I don't understand why he wouldn't just assign you to other roles. Couldn't you have just gone along with the other Shade when they were on assignments?”
“I don't know,” Jaxxim said. “There were times when he would send me on other assignments with them, but there were others when I would just be at the palace for days at a time without any work. That's the time if I asked what I should be doing, he would just tell me to stand by, to wait for my orders. That's when I started spending more time here. I knew if you really needed me, he could get in touch with me, and I could get to the Palace quickly. I haven't been here as often recently, but I spent a few days here before Hayden arrived.”
