The Nightshade Guild: Half-Blood Mage, page 6
They didn’t dive into pecks or nibbles, just dueling tongues and the clash of lips. The rough calluses on his palms against her neck and the way he massaged her as they engaged flooded her body with heat. Add in the delicious scent emanating from her skin and he grew a bit dizzied and drunk on her. When she finally pulled away on a groan, her hair was fully white, eyes flashing.
“Shit.” She stepped back, and he let her go.
His arm pain roared back to life as she put distance between them. They were both breathing heavy.
“You’ve still got a mouth I can’t get enough of,” he said, swiping at his fangs with his tongue and chasing her elusive taste as if he could hold onto it forever.
She twisted on her heel, her face suddenly a blank mask, and moved to the door. “And you’re still dangerous. How about you go get the stuff? Ameria and I will be packed and ready to leave when you come back. That kiss might have cost us our edge.”
Chapter Seven
Adrian pulled the van into an empty parking spot closest to the front of door of a small-town bar called… Bar. In this tiny town of two churches, a grocery store, a pharmacy, and a Main Street strip no more than two blocks wide, the best idea they could come up with for a name was Bar.
The building reflected all the stereotypical aesthetics on the outside, a neon sign that buzzed and blinked, a dusty gravel parking lot, and country music filtering in. A small gathering of motorcycles signaled some sort of biker gang was inside, and the motif was wooden mixed with metal framework.
He’d done all the hunting and gathering for the vehicle, the holy water, the weapons—a few were unconventional, but desperate times—and food supplies. All he needed was someone to feed on and a phone.
The best place to get those at nine o’clock at night was the town bar. Everything else had long since closed, and he required somewhere to operate inconspicuously without drawing added attention. He’d spent the last couple hours on his mission reliving the damn kiss he’d shared with Demi. The memory kept the pain at bay and replaced the agony with a little hope.
Enthusiasm fell short at the idea of having to use his glamour to convince someone to part with their phone and their blood. He’d much rather feed from Demi, but that wasn’t an option.
Upon walking into the bar, the problem grew even worse because the only women he saw were working behind the bar or waitressing tables. He wasn’t biased on feeding on a certain gender, but it would look suspicious if he disappeared with one of the staff.
Have to try though.
Demi was right about one thing; he’d be useless without his strength, and he grew weaker each passing hour. He could feel his abilities leeching away, falling prey to the bind. Though it wasn’t as if he’d had a choice or even the option ask questions. As soon as he’d arrived, the queen had her guard attack him, subdue him, and force this poisonous tattoo on him. The bind left him at the queen’s mercy, to do her bidding and ensure he wouldn’t survive if he ran off on her. He’d been the best choice, an expendable vampire who shunned his kind and operated as a gun for hire.
He’d been the best tracker, and the queen had requested him because of his reputation for doing questionable jobs. No one except a few mercs knew he’d changed since Demi. She’d made him far more aware of his conscience and the mark his actions left.
Approaching the bar, he slid onto a stool, taking in the smell of sweat, booze, and cheap cologne.
“What can I get you?” A buxom redhead called out with a singing voice, pouring beer into a pitcher from a tap.
He sighed and moved the bowl of bar nuts away from him. “What’s local?”
A round of laughter came from two grizzled, potbellied men in trucker hats sitting on either side of him, the bikers huddled around two pool tables, and even the bartender.
Truck hat guy on the left asked, “You one of those hipsters who likes craft brews?”
“Nope, just someone who enjoys a little more flavor than piss.”
The laughter died, and the redhead came to a stop in front of him. She was feisty and gave him a good look over, paired with a wink. “I haven’t seen you before.”
Might as well try. “That’s because I’m new. Just passing through and looking for something good… to drink.”
He let the poisonous flavor of his words flow to her, the glamour passing invisible through the air. His magic would infect her like it did every human he used the ability on. Thoughts went with the words, insidious, lustful things designed to tantalize a human brain to do the unthinkable.
“What’s your name?” She asked on a breathy sigh and clutched her throat. The glaze in her green eyes was already present.
“Adrian. What’s yours?”
A heavy hand touched his shoulder. “None of your business, city slicker.”
Adrian glanced at his newfound friend, a six foot plus, jean overall, trucker hat fool with a beard that probably hid a week’s worth of meals.
“We can let the lady decide what she’s interested in.”
“I think you need to leave.” The grip on his shoulder tightened, but Adrian didn’t budge underneath the pressure. In fact, he decided to stand, forcing the territorial beard dude to let up or fall over.
“Maybe we should take this outside.” He turned the glamour on the beard dude. If he couldn’t get the waitress, he’d settle for whomever he could obtain.
“Uh…we should.” With the hazy look to this one’s eyes, he was a little hard to control.
“Earl,” his companion piped up.
Earl waved his friend away. “I’ll wipe the ground with him. Stupid city slicker.”
The glamour would make any desire a reality in their mind, and already, he could see Earl was hell bent on punching him. Too bad he won’t get the chance.
But unfortunately, Earl’s efforts to delay an audience didn’t succeed. Others, including the bikers gathered in the booths across the room, were interested in the goings on. They all headed for the front door. This would never work. He could fight and bleed all of them but...
Killing over a dozen random people wouldn’t be right.
They were almost to the threshold when Demi walked in with Ameria strapped her chest. “Where the hell have you been?”
Adrian stopped dead in his tracks, and the others did too. Even Earl glanced at Demi then back to Adrian.
“I wanted a drink.”
“Leaving me to care for our daughter… typical man, thinks he can just walk off and abandon his responsibilities.”
Adrian almost lost his look of shock for a smile at Demi’s performance. Despite the way she avoided emotions most of the time, she could play the role of offended spouse pretty well.
The bartender spoke up, “He was just looking for a beer and a break.”
The glamour was still working on her, and Demi scoffed. “Oh, I see exactly what kind of break too.”
She stomped over to him, hauled back, and slapped him. Adrian wanted to laugh because Demi didn’t refrain from hitting him full force, and damn if he didn’t wish she got jealous on the regular. He liked the pain she could dish out. The room’s occupants let out a collective, “ooh.”
“You’re leaving with me, right now.” Demi grabbed his arm, and he followed while rubbing at his poor, stinging cheek.
There were out front when Adrian whispered. “You could have eased up a bit.”
“Oh no, I wanted them to believe I’m an angry wife. Besides, the redhead? Really?”
Adrian grinned at Demi’s snippy tone. “I like you jealous. Yes, that would’ve been the easiest option, but it was going to be good ol’ beard dude Earl until you showed up.”
“You were about to have an entire bar watch you drain a fool. You should be thankful. Besides I had to get a move on. The air is shifting. I can feel it, like a change in the electrostatic energy around the town. Something is coming, and we can’t stay here.”
Adrian frowned. “You hoofed your way into town?”
That was a two mile walk at least. She could have easily been tracked or picked off.
“A nice trucker on the highway gave us a lift, with a little persuasion, of course. If I had known how much resistance you experienced here, I would have kept him around for feeding. At this rate, we might be better off stopping at a random farm on the way.”
He often forgot how similarly their powers worked, but where he put thoughts into people minds with his words that made them want to be close to him, Demi could literally force people do things with a singsong cadence. They would recoil in fear but were unable to withstand her commands.
He compelled them to want to do the things he needed while she made them act against their will. The difference between a vampire and a demon.
“Yum, I love the taste of cow’s blood.” He didn’t try to hide his sarcasm, more frustrated at how things were working out for them.
She put her hands on her hips, and even Ameria frowned. “We’re out of time to complain about options. Are we going to keep arguing or will you kindly point out which vehicle you went with? And don’t tell me it’s a motorcycle or I’ll strangle you.”
Adrian pointed at the gray van. “Will the soccer mom transport stay your hands from violence?”
“For the moment. Keys?”
He reached into his pocket and tossed them to her. Demi preferred driving, which was fine. He could keep his eyes peeled for potential trackers or worse, the demons that might already be here.
There was a car seat already in the back because well… he’d stolen this one from a family house. Nothing was right about what they were doing anyway. As Demi got Ameria into the seat, Adrian stopped short to watch her progress.
“I hate these buckle things. I hope she’s secure because the hell if I know what I’m doing.”
Adrian started to laugh. “She’ll be sliding to the floor in a heartbeat. Scoot over.”
Demi stepped back as Adrian moved in beside her and took over. It wasn’t hard to figure out the snaps, just took an extra minute or two to make sure the pieces were right.
“A car seat is just like a jacket, Demi. You match everything up, align them, and work from top to bottom.” He could feel her eyes boring daggers into his skull.
“I haven’t spent a ton of time around kids. Myra never had me help with this part either. So… just stuff it.” She marched over to the driver’s side of the vehicle, and Adrian slid the side door shut.
“Yeah, well, neither have I, but I figured things out just fine. You need to have a little more patience.”
Wrong thing to say—her eyes were going yellow.
“Remember, we have to remain calm.”
“Maybe after this is done, we’ll have a good sparring session instead of a bedroom romp. I think you deserve a good ass kicking.” Demi strapped on her seatbelt and twisted the key in the ignition.
The engine fired up, and Adrian scrambled into his own seat, locking himself in. “Whatever you want. I can do one, the other, or both. I’ll be happy just to have you stick around.”
She put the van in reverse and carefully backed out. “Don’t do that.”
“What? Tell you what I’d like for the future? I’m definitely not going to hold back because I want my expectations clear.”
A pull on the shift lever, a foot to the gas pedal, and the van started a smooth forward momentum. “You know we can’t—"
“If your plan goes well, then your mission will be over. With your father dead, we can be together. That was the reason you gave before… your revenge was holding us back from forever.”
He kept a watchful eye on the road, sweeping his gaze from side to side and looking for anything unusual—a flash of light, a wisp of wind, a spark of fire. They were in the wide open now. Kansas was fields of nothing—a double endless nothing stretching on and on. Anyone could sneak up in a vehicle from above or from the sides. This was a horrible plan. If he’d bothered to feed, maybe he could’ve flown them out. Even still, flying would’ve meant leaving the supplies he gathered behind.
They needed every edge they could get.
“It’s seventy-five through here. You know that right?” Adrian despised the deeper pitch of his voice along with the way he gripped the door handle, but he feared the loss of her in a battle they weren’t prepared for.
“Yes, and I have a kid in the car. If something does drop in from nowhere, I won’t do us much good wrecking at those speeds.”
Truth.
“I know I said before the reason was the mission, but honestly… I was afraid of losing you. Like I lost my mom. Like I might lose Myra.” The gravity of her words hit him right in the solar plexus. Demi didn’t often confess to feeling anything, and the fact she vocalized these thoughts to him meant more than any admittance of love or declaration. He’d wanted this for so long, for her to be honest.
He reached out and covered one of her hands that gripped the steering with his own. “I get that. I suffer from the same worries, but I realize being without you is more of a punishment. The possibility of loss is too true every day. Why spend the time miserable?”
“I definitely don’t want to be. I do miss you, and we make a great team. Back there at the bar was a good example.”
Hope and pleasure bloomed in his chest at her words, the idea that she’d thought of him in the years apart. His longing wasn’t one-sided, and even though he suffered now for other reasons, her confession buoyed him.
Adrian pulled his hand back and gave a self-deprecating chuckle. “Right, the big bad demon hunting mage saving her poor vampire from a bar fight. I don’t know if I fit this team material. I’d have to be a badass or something.”
“You are. Always. Besides, team members are supposed to lift up the others when they’re struggling. I’d say we do that pretty well.”
Adrian risked a glance at her then, seeing the easy smile and the relaxed set of her shoulders. For all the mess they were in, she seemed happy here with him. Sure, they bickered, but they always had. It wouldn’t be them if they didn’t get into a debate or give each other a hard time.
She was right too… they did make a decent team. But teammates didn’t lie to each other, and he needed to come clean.
Rip off the Band-Aid and tell the truth. Even if the honesty costs me.
Chapter Eight
Demi felt the change in the air within the car, similar to how the atmosphere around town had altered. Her body sensed the arrival of evil because it was a part of her, deep inside. Within the vehicle, she perceived a shift in Adrian overriding the malicious air outside. He was going to say something. He was tense and eager all in the same instant.
Getting him out of that bar seemed to be the best choice at the time—they did make a good team. But she was afraid now. She didn’t want him to ruin whatever tenuous peace existed between them.
“Demi, I —"
Then lightning flashed all around them, six successive strikes on either side of the road. Demi slammed the brakes, bringing them to a halt. Ameria cried from the backseat, but Demi didn’t dare comfort her. A dark figure approached, walking the center yellow line. The sky was already dark, backlit by lightning darting across the horizon.
They’d been found.
“Who is that?”
“I don’t know,” Demi replied as she unbuckled her seatbelt. “Tell me about the weapons you grabbed.”
“I took a couple guns and some knives. Had time to etch runes on them, so everything should do some sort of damage.”
“The water?” She couldn’t use holy water now, but to fight her father, it was essential.
“I got plenty, even some extra.”
The figure grew closer with each passing second, though Demi was starting to make out the individual. A woman, and not Myra. No, the long straight black hair flowed as if possessed. Snakes. Anguis Noir.
“Shit. We’ve got a bigger problem here. I need silver or iron.”
Adrian frowned. “Neither of those were available at the local hardware store. Testing for iron is damn near impossible. Just ask for magic next time.”
Demi reached into the pocket of her pants and pulled out the next best option. “Good thing I’ve got this with me.”
The pendulum swung from its small chain as she dangled it in the air between them. She often kept the solid silver piece on her for location spells and geology magic. Demi rarely found herself in the position where she’d need to use it as a weapon.
Adrian smiled. “Haven’t seen one of those in years. Almost forgot you carried one.”
“Haven’t required it so far this trip, but now… this little thing might just save our asses.” She carefully wrapped the chain around her hand, positioning the flat end of the pendulum between her fingers, the point sticking outward.
“No, wait a minute.” Adrian reached for her hand and the pendulum, wrapping his fingers around hers. “I don’t think you should be doing the fighting. If something happens, you can contact the other mages, and you’re the one who can track your father. I’m expendable.”
“And you’re at a disadvantage. You didn’t feed.” She hated that in every other aspect he was right. He was a weak link compared to her, a sad truth because personally she believed both of them were essential.
The best scenario was that they both got out of here alive.
“I can still fight a demon.”
Demi shook her head. “This isn’t a demon, not in the sense you’re used to. That’s an Angus Noir, a snake-like creature with venom and a persuasive tongue. It’s ability is a lot like mine but more potent. In close combat, they can move outside the norms of what humans and even vampires can do. Think of a Noir as a human-looking snake with moldable limbs, bones… they can switch position on you without a second thought.”
Adrian’s look of confidence bled away, replaced by a frown of concern. “Then you’re definitely not going out there.” He gripped her hand tighter. “Give me the pendulum. I’ll bring the battle to her.”
He released his hold on Demi’s hand, and she seized the moment.
