Natural Dual-Mage

“Wow. So pleasing to watch, but so incredibly ruthless.” I turned and braced myself, knowing what I would see.

Sure enough, a line of mages, spaced out, looked back at us. Slow to start, but fast once they got going, they ran toward us with spells curling in their hands. Something compelled me to glance the other way, and I’d never been more relieved to see a fireball. It blew through the air, swallowing a few mages, and then a swat of air squished them to the ground for good measure. Reagan had made it down and, without all the prying eyes, was using her full power in quick economy.

She waved at me to run with her, heading toward the huge ward that formed a sparkling dome around the whole Guild compound.

“I got this,” Cahal said. He stepped away from Emery, raised his bow, and fired a stream of arrows faster than I could think. Draw, release, draw, release—the fletchings bloomed in chests and one in a neck.

“Thank you for choosing my side,” I said as I took off for the ward. “Thank you, strange gift giver, whom I may or may not end up owing my soul to after this.”

“Darius is going to call everyone to us,” Reagan said as she met me. “The attacking vampire host wasn’t as big as he feared, but they are at least middle tier and experienced. The elder in charge clearly wants the Guild to stay in control of this compound.”

“I’m sure there are more; they just haven’t worked around to this side of the compound yet.” I looked through the shimmering ward, a collection of complex spells laced over that simpler ward that had protected the compound during our prior attack. My old friend, the watcher sitting up in the sky at the top of the ward, was still there. Its feet reached down through the ground, anchoring it. It hovered over everything, creating a hollow in the middle.

Now that I knew something about magic, I could put knowledge to my gut feelings. And the watcher emanated a feeling of deadness. Absence.

“Magic can’t thrive in a place with no life,” I said, losing the thread of the conversation, and my focus on the people around me and whatever was waiting on the other side of the ward. All I saw and felt was that big, looming beast, cutting the compound off from all the natural elements, and perpetrating the death and rot inside. “No wonder the mages are going crazy. They are magically suffocating. The lack of freshness, of magical wonder, is twisting their minds. They’re shut up in there with no idea what they are doing to themselves in the name of defense.”

“That’s a poetic way of saying they screwed the pooch, and now they have to pay for their sins.” Reagan put her palms up next to the ward, feeling. “Wow. This is a beast.”

“Let’s go,” Emery said urgently.

I felt the shifter and vampire magic draw closer. I also felt other spells rise, called into creation.

The phone in Emery’s pocket chimed. He pulled it out and studied the screen.

“They are looking for a report,” he said. “How could they not know we’ve already made it this far?”

“I’m sure they know.” Reagan sidestepped, still feeling out the ward. Her magic wound through the air. “If nothing else, they know that we’re some distance in. We killed everyone we came across. It’s hard to check in when you’re running for your life. Or when you have claws.”

“Hopefully the mages inside think we’re all fighting the vampires.” I closed my eyes and sank into Reagan’s magic before fitting it with the ability I hadn’t intended to blindly rob from the goblin. Then I mixed in Emery’s and mine, working at the pieces like a puzzle. The trick was in creating the right blend.

“What are you doing?” Emery asked me quietly.

“She’s not working on this beast of a ward, that’s what she’s not doing,” Reagan said.

“I’m trying to work all of our magic together to quickly erode this abomination and, if possible, point us to whoever masterminded it,” I said. “I can’t imagine a mage stupid enough to put it up without immediately realizing they needed to take it down again.”

My phone vibrated in my hand. I sighed, momentarily distracted, before passing it on.

“Good shot, Cahal,” Reagan said, clearly watching the show and not participating like she should. “Holy hooker stockings, Batman, you’re a freaking machine.”

“From your mother,” Emery said. “Watch out.”

“Oh good, yeah. Super helpful.” I pushed away the sound of my phone vibrating again. Pushed everything away. It was just me and nature. The wind at my back. The packed earth at my feet. The soft moisture in the air, silkily petting my cheek and frizzing my hair.

I drew in a sweet breath, letting the life vibrate through me. Letting the magic I’d collected lead the way, moving within my energy.

Electricity singed my awareness, like a storm on the horizon. Emery.

Cold froze the air before swirling into flame. Reagan.

A calm breeze moving a single leaf across a still pond. Me.

The pyramid of power.

“Use the roots,” Emery said at my ear. “Use the roots to anchor you.”

I was already there, moving on to the next swirl of magic, solid and steadfast, ancient and fixed. A man trapped in a destiny he didn’t choose. A magic that masked the obvious, but uncovered the hidden. Cahal. The druid.

I sucked in another breath as it all mixed together, around and around, finding a way to mingle. To coexist.

I touched Reagan’s shoulder, knowing her hands were feeling out that ward, that her magic was worming through the fabric, trying to find a way to break it down. Emery’s rough hand took mine, giving me a greater zing of his magic.

“Why is everyone touching me?” Reagan said, trying to scoot away.

“The vampires and shifters are here,” Cahal said, and then his hand was on my shoulder, his fingers curling around my bones and digging in.

“Hey, guy, I’m breakable,” I said, wiggling my shoulder. I didn’t think he was in touch with his own strength. Immediately, he loosened up.

I felt Reagan’s power climbing upward along the dome. I branched it off and nudged it down to reach into the earth.

“Who’s in charge here, me or you?” Reagan asked. It wasn’t rhetorical; she honestly wanted to know.

“You. You’re more experienced. Unless I see something, then I’ll just take over.”

“I miss working alone,” Reagan said on a sigh.

A roar shook my bones and made me grit my teeth.

“Steve has a great roar,” Reagan said, and I could hear the smile in her voice.

“Steve is such a mundane name for a roar that size,” Emery said.

Reagan started laughing, and though her concentration seemed to waver, her magic spread out quicker, covering more ground and feeling out the spell in a way I hadn’t realized was possible. It crawled along like a live thing, tracing the seams and digging into the holes. She was identifying all the weaknesses.

“Smart,” I said, accidentally peeling an eye open as Cahal jerked me.

A vampire lashed at him, its jowls loose and hanging, fangs dripping blood.

Cahal didn’t take his hand from me. He snatched a knife out of who knew where and slashed it across the vampire’s throat. Another claw came up, and I couldn’t help but react. Taking my hand from Reagan’s shoulder, I sent out a pure pulse of dazzling white.

The magic hit the vampire center mass, knocking it back and opening it up. Black sludge oozed out of its middle as it hit the ground.

Emery fired off another shot behind us, and my phone buzzed in his hand. He glanced at it.

“‘Hurry up,’” he read.

“That isn’t very helpful, Mother,” I said through clenched teeth, shooting off a complex though one-handed spell that ended up a bit cock-eyed but worked just fine.

Another vampire broke free, running at us. I called up magic, but before I could get it off, a massive lion (probably Steve) leapt forward from outside my line of sight. He slammed into the vamp, taking the scraggly, leanly muscular body to the ground. Steve’s incredible jaws locked over the vampire’s neck and he wrenched, taking off the head.

“Wow. That is freaking gross.” I squeezed my eyes shut and turned back to Reagan.