Natural Dual-Mage

“They’re running already,” she said, jumping and kicking the mage in the back. She landed on her feet and put on a burst of speed, dodging a tree trunk and running through the reaching branches.

“How does Darius possibly keep that woman a secret?” Emery said as we reached the corner of the house and curved around.

Growls and hollers permeated the scene as shifters lunged or chased mages, having ambushed them out of nowhere. Regardless of Cahal not helping us with the actual attack, he’d done us a big favor by getting rid of all the Guild’s lookouts. They hadn’t seen us coming.

“Let’s check on Callie and Dizzy,” Emery said as Reagan caught up with us again.

“It’s like the zoo opened its doors and said ‘good riddance,’” Reagan said with a grin.

“Why you constantly torment them, I will never know.” I shook my head.

“The Heir was born to rule,” Cahal said, out for a leisurely jog by our side. “She will assert her dominance in many ways. This is but one.”

“I don’t think I like having him around,” Reagan said.

Callie and Dizzy were walking along the side of the house, creating spells and firing them off with quick economy and obvious experience. Three trees were flattened, one was on fire, and a sort of magical dog had set upon a mage and was licking it with what looked like an electric tongue. It didn’t seem pleasant.

“How’s it going?” Emery said as Reagan darted into the trees again, probably to make sure everyone was gone. Or maybe to get away from Cahal.

“They tried to stand and fight for a little bit, but as soon as they saw the shifters, they took off,” Dizzy said.

“It was a buzzkill.” Callie put her unused ingredients back into her satchel.

“We’ll have plenty to do later, hon. It’s better this wasn’t as intense as it could’ve been.” Dizzy wiped his forehead.

Reagan sauntered back out of the trees. A wild boar and a panther followed her before moving off to the side. They stopped, looking at Emery for orders, since their Alpha was still down below.

“Make sure the grounds are clear,” Emery commanded in a hard, clear voice. “Then hang tight. We need to get the vampires out. I don’t want any surprises.”

The shifters loped off in different directions.

“In your element, huh, Emery?” Reagan asked when she returned.

“He’s a natural.” Callie motioned at him. “He was born to lead.”

“Well I guess that makes two of us, huh, Cahal?” Reagan stalked off to the house. “Let’s see if Darius is in there fretting like a mortal.”

He wasn’t. Not even remotely. In fact, no one was even awake. The vampires were snug in their beds with the sunproof shades drawn or tucked into the basement in their bunks, getting a final burst of sleep before they had to head to battle.

Once they were all awake, they crowded into the safe places in the house, two dozen hard-eyed vamps in sweats, knowing their fancy clothes wouldn’t shift with them at the Guild.

Reagan stood at the edge of the living room with her hands on her hips and a grin on her face. She watched Darius stride toward her in slacks and a button-up shirt (he apparently wouldn’t be caught dead in sweats, pun not intended) before shaking her head.

“Not a care in the world for your safety, huh?” she asked. “Or did you guys all run down to your beds as soon as you knew we were coming in?”

Darius slipped his hand around her waist, more open about his affection than usual around his vampire underlings. He looked down at her face. “This house is protected by the best mages in the world. It would take the Guild a month to break in, if they ever did.”

“What about explosives?” she countered. “What if they blew the house up and exposed you to the light?”

“On the ground floor, I’d likely be covered in enough rubble to protect me, but if I’d thought they had physical explosives at their disposal, and not the incompetent magical explosion they tried, I would’ve simply headed down to the basement, which was turned into a bomb shelter years ago.”

She stared at him for a moment. “This house has a bomb shelter?”

“Of course.” He looked at her like she was mad. “We’re in hostile territory. It is important to be prepared. That’s why I had us stay here even though the possibility of my informant leaking this house’s location was strong.”

Her eyebrows lowered. “It is a wonder that I am finding all this out for the first time, what with our pact to openly share information. Remember that pact? The one we’ve made several times?”

He ran his thumb across her lips, and her eyes softened. “I didn’t think you’d be so dense as to miss the obvious, mon coeur. But please, let’s soak in our last few moments of peace before we move on to the next thing. Vlad is mobilizing and the rest of my people are on their way to the meetup location. We have but a scant few minutes.” He pulled her a little closer.

“I’ll be careful,” Reagan said quietly, and I knew he must’ve communicated with her through silent means. “But I can’t stay home. You know that. This is my fight as much as it’s Penny’s, and even if it weren’t, I protect those in my inner circle. She’s my bra.”

“Nope.” I shook my head, kicked out of that nice little moment by her choice in words. Emery barked out laughter. “Not your bra. That’s not the right term.”

“No, I mean like, my bro, but a girl.”

“Some people excel at creativity,” Dizzy said somberly. “Sadly, you are not one of them. You should just stick with what you know.”

Emery laughed harder as Reagan rolled her eyes. “Fine. My girl-bro.”

“No. Friend,” I said. “Friend works. Everyone will know you mean me.”

“Penny is right,” Dizzy said. “You have so few, we’ll all get the relevance.”

Emery was laughing in deep body chuckles.

“Let’s all take a moment,” Darius said as Emery calmed down. “Let’s take a moment to appreciate the bonds we have formed. Soon we will draw heavily on those bonds, and rely heavily on our trust for one another.”

Heavy raps sounded at the door. “Why is this locked?” my mother shouted through the wood. “Come on. We have to get a move on.”

I heaved a sigh. “We really should’ve known that was coming. We really should’ve.”

“At least your mother’s strange antics are expected,” Emery said quietly, pulling me tightly against his chest. “From now on, I have a bad feeling that nothing else will go as expected. They’ve had months to prepare for intruders. Months to watch us and make adjustments. We’re going into the snake pit blind.”

30

As the night stole the light from the sky, Reagan, Emery, Roger, and I stood in a thick grouping of trees, waiting for Darius and Vlad to leave their vehicle safe haven and join us. Darius had been prepared, only needing to call in the big work vans that would transport his people to the meeting site. His other people were already en route. The rest of us had climbed back into our stolen cars, adding to our fleet with the cars stationed at Darius’s house.

I took a deep breath and tried to slow my racing heart. A dangerous presence poked at my awareness, and I remembered, for the umpteenth time, that Cahal stood with us as well. It was just hard to see him, given that he stood at a slight distance, swathed in shadow and perfectly still. He could teach the vampires a thing or two.

“They’re coming,” Reagan said, her voice subdued.

I rubbed my sweaty palms on my leather pants (Reagan had made me change at the house) before patting the compartments in my utility belt that held the power stones. Mr. Happy-Go-Lucky was strangely quiet, since we were not more than two miles from the Guild compound. This was as close as Darius and Vlad’s people had been able to go without running into magical traps and tattletales.

“How is it you talk to Darius without words?” I asked to fill the silence.

Reagan grazed her finger along her temple. “Telepathically. Compliments of the bond.”