Minor Magic, page 15
part #7 of Xoe Meyers Series
I didn’t bother to mention that we’d found the hideout by sheer happenstance. The dream world would have been the last place I looked, even knowing there was another demon who could create portals.
“Ah, so you didn’t figure it out?” he asked, gazing intently at my expression, which had apparently given me away.
Crap. I really needed to work on my poker face.
He laughed. “I even instructed Nix to let you spot her at the RV park, so you’d know we’d been in the dream realm to fetch her. It really wasn’t very nice of you to leave her there, by the way.”
I glanced at the armed men. They’d been pointing their guns at me for a while. I really didn’t want one of them to get jumpy and pull the trigger.
Ignoring his jibe, I glared at him. “You know if you kill me here, you won’t be able to frame me with the demon council. You won’t inherit my place in demon society.”
He smirked. “On the contrary, placing you here is all part of the set up. We couldn’t very well link you to the facility if you’d never been here. The demon council has dreamers. Once we clean up shop, we’ll lead them here to you, where you’ll be locked in a warded cell, betrayed by the people you hired to kidnap all of the wolves.”
“And my motivation for kidnapping the wolves?” I inquired curiously, hoping for more information.
He glanced at the fridges full of blood. “A lucrative side business. One I will be benefitting from, once you’re out of the way.”
I glanced at the fridges warily, waiting for him to go on, then turned back in time to see his satisfied smile.
“Werewolf blood is worth a fortune,” he explained. “Demons and witches can use it in their rituals and alchemy, and vampires will buy it. They’re often looking for something with a little extra kick.” He glanced past me to the room beyond where we’d killed the witches and sneered. “Unfortunately it looks like I’ll need to hire new pawns to distribute the blood to the human world.
So he’d taken the extra wolves to sell their blood, and had hired a network of witches and vampires to sell it. He was going to get rich off their deaths.
Devin stepped forward and half the guns moved to point at him. He raised his arms in an I’m harmless gesture, but he was also covered in the blood of the gunmen’s comrades, so the act fell a little short.
Art chuckled. “Kill everyone except Alexondra,” he ordered.
“Wait,” I said quickly.
He held up an arm to delay the gunmen, then raised a dark eyebrow at me. “Yes? Would you like to say your final goodbyes to your friends.”
“No,” I muttered, looking down at my shoes and acting cowed. I was about to take a huge risk, but I saw no other choice.
Art waited for me to continue.
Without warning, I quickly threw multiple fireballs at the fridges full of blood. They exploded, spewing red liquid and shards of glass everywhere. Taking advantage of the distraction, I used all of my remaining energy to create a dome of fire around me, Chase, Devin, and Lucy. I’d done it once before to protect some of us from my grandmother’s ghostly attacks. I wasn’t positive it would work on bullets, but if it could keep out pure balls of energy, it should work against more mundane attacks.
Shots fired, but the bullets didn’t penetrate. They disintegrated into nothing as they hit the wall of flame. I huffed a sigh of relief.
A frustrated shout drew my attention away from the incoming bullets. Art was looking down at the remaining werewolf blood as it dripped out of the ruined carcasses of the refrigerators.
“Kill them all!” he shouted, turning his attention to us.
A shower of bullets reached the barrier and disappeared.
Art lifted an arm to cease the gunmen’s fire, then approached my barrier, rage clear on his face. “Hide in there as long as you please,” he said through gritted teeth. “We’ll go and kill the rest of your friends in the mean time.”
I tried to feign confidence, but knew he’d caught my nervous eye flick toward the door that led to the stairwell.
He smiled cruelly, and began to walk away.
There was a sudden bang as the door in question flew open, slamming against the wall. “Her friends are already here,” a voice said a moment later. I caught a flash of Abel’s grin, then white-clothed werewolves flooded into the room, followed by several who’d assumed wolf form. In the rush I caught sight of Dorrie, her sparkly white skin speckled with blood.
More shots fired, but the gunmen were no match for the oncoming hoard. I let down my barrier and dove for Art, hoping to catch him off guard, but there was one thing I’d forgotten. Someone there could make portals. I found out a second later that the someone was Art.
His arms snapped around me and we were propelled upward. I had no time to react. A moment later we touched down on soft green grass. I could tell by the feel of the place that we were somewhere else in the dream world. That was the only thought I had before Art punched me square in the jaw.
I fell to my back in the grass, stunned. I glimpsed a cheerful blue sky, then a boot heel stomped down on my stomach, doubling me over in pain. I curled up on my side, but couldn’t move any further.
“Your friends will never make it out of the dream realm!” he shouted, then kicked me in the ribs. “The only ones who can release them are you and I!”
Swallowed in pain, I could barely breathe. I tried to form a fireball, but he kicked me again and I went rolling through the grass. I heard him running up for another kick, then closed my eyes and travelled in a wash of red smoke, reappearing behind him on my feet.
I threw a fire ball at his back, but he turned and dodged it. “Of course you can travel and make portals,” he growled as he began to stalk toward me.
I coughed and came up with blood. I spat a red glob into the grass and smiled weakly. “So what? You can make portals too. What do you have to complain about?”
A gentle wind ruffled the grass around us. The place would have been incredibly peaceful if there wasn’t a demon trying to kill me.
Art sneered. “Don’t pretend to know how difficult my life has been, and Nix’s. She should be the one in your place with the nice house in the demon city, with no one attacking her to snuff out what little power she has.”
I laughed, though it nearly doubled me over in pain. “You think I’m not attacked? That’s rich.”
He rushed me and I launched another fireball. It hit him in the chest, but he kept going, tackling me to the ground. Since he was a demon, I couldn’t burn him by touch, so I tried to travel away.
He held on as I barely managed to dissipate, but it was too weak, and we ended up in the grass again. I’d already been on the verge of collapse back at the hidden compound, but I managed to travel one more time, though the attempt was futile. He came along for the ride again, forced me to the ground. His hands wrapped around my throat.
I flailed my arms weakly, trying to summon another fireball, but I couldn’t get the correct angle to hit him. My vision began to go black as I stared at the snarling face above me.
I heard a growl, but it sounded distant, probably because of the lack of oxygen. Probably just a hallucination. My arms fell weakly to my sides. I was only seconds from passing out for good.
Suddenly the weight on top of me disappeared. My vision slowly came back in stages. I tried to move. I needed to take this opportunity to defend myself from Art, but my limbs ached with exhaustion. I’d used too much power, and now I was paying the price.
Something warm and wet slid across my face. My eyes slowly tilted to the side to see black and white fur, flecked with red.
“Were you aware your dog can make portals?” a voice asked.
I forced my head to turn to the voice, my cheek smashed on the grass. Chase was there, slumped on the ground. Alexius barked, preferring my attention to be on him.
“What?” I muttered, still feeling like I might be on the brink of death.
Chase lifted his head enough to meet my eyes. Art’s prostrate form was sprawled in the grass beside him.
“Alexius. He came into the room with Abel and the others,” Chase explained. “As soon as Art took you, Alexius began to fade from sight. Realizing what was happening, I dove for him and came along for the ride.”
I tried to smile, but my face didn’t seem to be working. I couldn’t even feel where Art had punched me, which let me know I either had other more severe injuries, or I was in shock.
“Can you come over here?” I asked weakly.
He smiled apologetically. “Not quite sure I can move yet. That last burst of adrenaline was all I had.”
Alexius yipped to get my attention. I turned my head toward him and he licked me straight on the lips.
“Ach!” I groaned, wanting to lift an arm to wipe away the slobber, but not wanting to exert the energy. I turned my face away to see Chase slowly crawling toward me. His visible skin was a mess of scrapes and bruises.
“You look like you’ve been tortured,” I joked.
He stopped crawling, his gaze heavy upon me.
I raised my eyebrows in question. “Have you?” I asked finally.
“They wanted me to use my ghosts to lure you into a trap,” he explained. “I refused.”
He resumed crawling. Reaching me, he placed his hand in mine, then slumped to the ground on his back beside me. “Think you can take us back?”
I thought about it, but really wasn’t sure. “Is Art dead?” I asked, turning my gaze up to the blue sky.
“Yeah,” Chase muttered, sounding on the verge of sleep.
I closed my eyes and thought of the hidden compound, but for some reason, with the comforting sun on my face, I just kept thinking of the beach that was near it.
Moments later we ended up in the warm sand.
“This is nice,” Chase muttered as Alexius appeared beside us, having traveled of his own volition.
“Good dog,” I whispered. This seemed like a good place to go to sleep, but I needed to check on everyone else.
I heard footsteps in the sand a moment before a figure cast a shadow across my face. I looked up, but the sun was at the person’s back, silhouetting their form in brightness. All I could make out was that the man wore a suit and sunglasses, and had dark hair.
“Alexondra Meyers?” he questioned.
“Mmhmm?” I answered. I was pretty sure Chase was unconscious beside me.
“You’re a hard woman to find,” the man commented.
I frowned. “Care to help me up? I need to check on my friends.”
“They’re fine,” he assured. “You, on the other hand . . . ”
At some point my eyes had drifted closed. “Is that a threat?”
He chuckled. “No, simply an observation.”
“Who are you?” I asked, seriously wondering if he was a figment of my delusional imagination.
I opened my eyes a sliver as he crouched beside me. “I’m a dreamer employed by the demon council,” he explained. “I was sent here to investigate an organization called The Association, though they seem to have recently disbanded.”
My lips formed an ‘oh’ of understanding. “Am I under arrest?”
“Should you be?” he asked.
“Nope,” I muttered. “It was all a set up.”
“Yes,” he mused. “There’s a troupe of blood spattered werewolves who I imagine will back up your story.”
I heaved a sigh of relief. If he’d seen the werewolves, that meant they were probably alright.
“Rest for a while,” he instructed. “You’ll need your strength to transport this many people back to the human world.”
“You can’t do it?” I mumbled, slurring my words.
He chuckled. “I’m just a dreamer, here in an observatory capacity.”
I’m pretty sure at that moment I called a member of the demon council a useless waste of space, then I slumped into comfortable oblivion.
Chapter Sixteen
I awoke to the smell of smoke, and numerous presences gathered around me. The sun was just beginning to set, casting the beach and surrounding jungle in shadow. I sat up in the sand to see the surviving werewolves and Sam, Allison, and Jason, all patiently waiting for me to take them back to the human world. Behind them stood everyone else, including Dorrie and Cynthia.
The nearby compound was on fire. Good riddance.
Chase slowly sat up beside me. “Is it over?” he asked.
I looked over Allison and Lucy to meet Jason’s eyes. He nodded.
“Yep,” I replied. “Who wants to go home?”
Everyone raised their hands, and I took a moment to count the survivors. On one side stood Jason, Lucy, Allison, and Sam. On the other were Devin, Abel, Lela, Dorrie, Cynthia, and Jessica. No Iva, or Chris. There were a few others I didn’t know, but just judging by the numbers, many had died in the fight for freedom. I swallowed a lump in my throat. So many had died.
I wasn’t sure if I could bring the entire group in a portal at once, but I was about to try. I wanted to get the hell out of there, now more than ever.
“Gather around me,” I instructed. “We’ll all need to huddle together. Make sure everyone is holding onto someone who’s holding onto someone else.”
Everyone huddled around me, including Chase and Alexius. I closed my eyes, then opened them, wondering where I should take everyone.
As if sensing my predicament, Abel tightened his grip on Devin, then said, “Take us back to Shelby. We can all make our ways home from there.”
I nodded, then closed my eyes again, thinking of the woods near my home. Moments later we landed, and I felt ready to pass back out again. It was nighttime, and that was all I was able to discern. I had created multiple portals, fireballs, and a shield. The last time I’d made a shield I’d been ready to pass out from that alone. I was getting stronger, but not strong enough to withstand a physical beating after using so much energy. I slumped down onto the loamy earth and couldn’t move.
Someone gathered me into their arms and stood, cradling me like a child. I doubted it was Chase since he was in even worse shape than I, but I knew it was at least an ally, not an enemy. All of the enemies were dead.
I watched the moon through the canopy of pine trees as I was carried. I felt more like I was floating. My mind drifted over all that had happened. Art had organized other demons to lure me in, and to sell werewolf blood on the side. Vampires and witches had been involved too. Most of them were probably dead, though there were likely others in the human world that would need to be hunted down, and Nix was still in the dream realm. They were all a worry for another day. We were home, and we were alive . . . most of us anyway.
I felt suddenly guilty for not caring more about the other deaths. I did feel bad, but part of me was glad that no one close to me had been taken away. Chase, Lucy, Allison, Jason, Dorrie, and Lela were all still alive. My mind flitted to Dorrie and the fact that I’d brought her to the human world, but that was as far as my thoughts went. The moon shone her soft light down on me, coaxing me back to sleep. Though I’m prone to arguments, I wasn’t about to argue with the moon herself, that would just be silly.
I woke gasping for air as someone dragged me out of bed. A hand clamped over my mouth. I swatted against them, but was still too weak to do anything else. I registered that I was in my room at my mom’s house, but if that was the case, who the heck was dragging me toward the open window?
I collapsed my knees to hinder our progress, but whoever had me didn’t seem to notice. I reached out for my power and was answered with only a dull echo.
“Ergh,” my captor gasped in pain.
It hadn’t been much, but I’d managed to burn his arm where it wrapped around my chest. In his surprise, he dropped me and I was able to turn around and look up at him.
“Eric?” I questioned as the moonlight streaming in through the window hit his face.
His eyes were red-rimmed and puffy. He scowled at me. “Where is Iva? You said you’d bring her back with you. I drove all night and day to get here.”
I froze, not knowing how to deliver the bad news.
“You said you’d save her!” he rasped, then lunged forward. He grabbed me around my neck and pushed me to the carpet. My body screamed in protest from the bruises inflicted by Art. Eric’s hands compressed, squeezing my airway shut.
The door burst open and slammed against the wall. A white shape plowed into Eric, shoving him off me. I slowly regained my senses and skittered away to flip on the light. After a moment of painful blindness as my eyes adjusted, I was able to focus on Dorrie, holding Eric aloft by his throat. He sputtered, attempting to pry her fingers away, but even a vampire’s strength couldn’t match Dorrie for pure fury.
“She has been through enough,” Dorrie growled into Eric’s face.
I stumbled forward, sensing that Eric didn’t have long to live. “Don’t kill him,” I rasped, still trying to catch my breath. “He’s just upset because his girlfriend is dead.”
Dorrie retracted her hand and Eric crumpled to the ground. He hunched over and curled into a little ball. At first I thought he was trying to catch his breath, then I realized he was crying. “You said you’d save her,” he sobbed, pressing his face into his hands.
A fine trembling overcame my body, an odd mixture of retreating adrenaline, exhaustion, and guilt. I felt a presence at my back and turned to see Chase. He must have been sleeping downstairs on the couch. He peeled his gaze away from Eric to look at me, then shook his head. There was nothing we could do for the mourning vampire.
Dorrie approached and placed a hand gently on my arm.
I jumped at her touch.
“I’ll watch him,” she said softly. “Maybe you two should go back underground. Just don’t answer the door if the demon council comes back.”
My eyes widened and I sucked in a breath, realizing I hadn’t told anyone about my encounter with the demon council dreamer. I was pretty sure Chase had been unconscious for the exchange, so unless the dreamer had spoken with the blood-spattered werewolves he’d referred to, no one else knew about the meeting.
