Death Match (A Magic Bullet Novel Book 2) (12 page)

"Maybe he'll meet someone at the gala," I said. In between identifying and eliminating potential threats.

"Maybe
you'll
meet someone at the gala," Farah said. "Don't forget, Mix has had sex way more recently than you have."

"I'd rather not think about it at all, thanks," I said, trying to erase the thought of Mix and Paulette from my mind.

Farah stepped out of the dressing room and threw her arms wide. "Ta da!"

"You look incredible," I said. The glittering gold dress stopped mid-calf and accentuated her hourglass shape. "Like a petite goddess."

She winked. "Let's hope someone decides to get down on his knees and worship me tonight."

I didn't need to ask whether she wanted her hair up or down. She was a Hinn; her red hair was her glorious mane to toss over her shoulder and draw male attention. Farah had it down to a science.

Farah blew a kiss at her reflection. "Suck it, mage bitches."

"Take it down a notch. We're not in competition with them," I said.

"Of course we are," she said, a hand on her hip. "There's going to be a room full of sinewy muscle."

"What about Rocco's sinewy muscle?" I asked. I thought he had more paunch than punch, but who was I to judge?

"He knows we're not exclusive. I told him I was too young to commit to one genitalia."

"Well, at least you were ladylike about it."

She bumped me with her hip. "We are gonna rock this gala."

"We're not going to rock anything. We're going to blend in, get information, make sure no one gets killed, and leave unscathed. That's the plan. Got it?"

She tossed her hair over her shoulder and laughed. "Alyse Winters, when has that ever happened?"

T
he stylish Marriott
was on 12th and Market Street, not far from Laser Guy's exploits. The loss of innocent lives so close by made me feel uncomfortable in my glamorous attire.

Mix and Farah entered the ballroom first and I trailed behind them, scoping the area for potential threats.

Mix looked surprisingly at ease in his traditional tuxedo and he'd even combed back the shaggy hair that tended to obscure his vision. If we got through the evening unscathed, maybe he would meet a nice mage girl in a pretty dress. As long as she was registered with the Enclave and not secretly plotting to take over the colony, I didn't have a problem with Mix taking another dip in the mage pool.

You are a vision this evening, Miss Winters
.

Reed, you do not get special permission to be in my head just because it's a compliment
.

He appeared in front of me, smiling gently. "You are a vision this evening, Miss Winters."

So was he, but I made sure to block the thought. No need to inflate his Naphil ego. He generated more than enough female interest in plain clothes. A perfectly tailored tuxedo that accentuated his tall frame and hard muscles would send them over the edge.

"Thank you, kind sir." I extended my elbow and he looped his arm through mine. "Seen anything interesting?"

He clucked his tongue. "Straight to business, huh?" He pretended to be mildly disappointed. At least, I assumed he was pretending.

"That's why we're here."

"In that case, Pinky's over there."

I followed his gaze to the dance floor where Pinky was in the arms of an attractive male. At first I mistook him for a Hinn because of the bulging biceps and alpha vibe, but quickly dismissed the notion. He had to be another mage. Oscar would never allow one of his prized team members to dance with the competition.

Pinky looked far more sophisticated than eighteen in a hot pink gown with a ruched bodice. Her blond hair was piled on top of her head in loose curls.

Despite the gorgeous guy dancing with her, Pinky didn't look happy. I watched as her gaze swept across the room and landed on—of course, Oscar.

"She looks very, uh, mature tonight," Reed said.

I was barely listening, still focused on the scene playing out in front of me. Oscar was dancing with the mage from the Enclave headquarters. The one with the clipboard and a chip on her shoulder. I tried to remember her name. Sheena? Nina? No, Gina. The way her fingers were toying with the collar of his shirt, she seemed very intent on keeping him close. Interesting.

"Gina's not on the team, is she?" I asked. I didn't recall seeing her name on Joey Eagle's sheet.

Reed glanced at me. "Gina Akron? No, I don't think so."

"Do you know her?"

"Not well. I've met her on Protectorate business a few times because of her position in the Enclave."

Her position as the Official Clipboard Holder.

The music changed to a more upbeat tempo and couples drifted away from the dance floor. Pinky spotted me and waved.

"She waves like a toddler," I said. "Her fingers curl over. I find it oddly endearing."

I cast a sidelong glance at Reed to find him grinning. "I'm sure some people say the same about you."

"That I act like a toddler?"

He cleared his throat and looked straight ahead. "I meant oddly endearing."

Was he flirting with me? I wasn't sure. It was possible he was just being friendly. I wasn't convinced the Nephilim knew how to flirt.

"Check out that dress," Pinky cooed as we approached. "I didn't realize you were so pretty, Alyse."

Reed stifled a laugh.

"Pinky, if you were any other girl, I'd say that was a backhanded compliment," I said.

Pinky wrinkled her nose. "You've never seen me play tennis. My backhand sucks."

"Who's your friend?" I asked with a nod toward her companion.

"Cyrus," the macho guy said and squeezed Reed's hand like a vice. To his credit, Reed didn't flinch.

"Nice to meet you, Cyrus," Reed said. "Are you competing?"

"Sure am." He flexed for us. "These muscles were designed for competition."

He knows it's not a weightlifting contest, right?

Reed arched an eyebrow.
You can't let me in your head when it suits you. Be consistent.

"Captain Reed is a Protector," Pinky said.

"Cool," Cyrus replied and gave a respectful nod. Then he turned his attention to me. "And how about you, pretty lady? Are you a Protector, too?"

Pretty lady? Was he serious? At least he didn't compare me with a toddler.

Neither did I. I said oddly endearing.

Get out!

"I'm definitely not a Protector," I said to Cyrus. I didn't elaborate.

"She's my partner," Pinky said. "Alyse Winters."

Cyrus took a step backward and his face reddened. "Oh, sorry. I didn't realize."

Pinky looked confused so I stepped in. "Not that kind of partner, Cyrus. We work together, not sleep together."

His eyes brightened. "Oh, got it. Cool." He rubbed his stomach. "I'm starving. Anyone else fancy a bite to eat?"

"That's okay," Pinky said. "You go ahead."

He chuckled. "That's right. Girls don't eat, do they? Gotta squeeze into those skintight dresses somehow. Am I right, Captain?" He raised his palm in an effort to high-five Reed.

Reed gently tapped his hand. It was the most awkward high-five I'd ever seen and I'd seen Ifrits without hands attempt to do it.

Another guy approached Pinky from behind and wrapped his arms around her waist, lifting her into the air.

"Hi Sam," Pinky said with a roll of her eyes.

"Wow, I didn't know you had eyes in the back of your head," I said.

Sam set her down and grinned at me. "She doesn't. It's just that I do this to her all the time."

"And it never gets old," Pinky said, completely poker-faced. Man, Pinky did sarcasm like no teenager I'd ever met.

"You're with the Enclave, too?" I asked.

Sam nodded. "I've known Pinky since she was a kid."

His name sounded familiar and then I remembered why.

"You're competing," I said and he nodded like an eager Labrador retriever.

"Sam was Oscar's protégé," Pinky said.

I glanced at Sam. "But not anymore?"

"I outgrew him," Sam said with a mild shrug. "It happens."

I'd never been a protégé. I'd had guardians, sure, and Jamie, but never a real mentor. I often felt like I missed out.

"Alyse is my mentor," Pinky said, surprising everyone, including me.

"Is that so?" Sam asked, assessing me. "I didn't know we could have non-mage mentors."

"I think it's important to think outside the box," Pinky said. "Enclave members all practice the same spells. Follow the same rules. I like that Alyse is different."

I was practically beaming. "Thanks, Pinky."

"Don't let Oscar hear you say that," Sam warned. "He thinks you're his girl."

Pinky blushed at that.

"You two should dance," Pinky said, gesturing to Reed and me. "It's meant to be a fun night."

"Not for us," I said. "We're on the hunt."

I grabbed Reed's arm and pulled him away before she convinced him to drag me onto the dance floor.

"You seem really desperate not to dance with me," Reed said with a trace of amusement. "Is this because of me or because you can't dance?"

My heels skidded to a halt. "Can't dance? Me? Didn't you see my moves at Viper Pit?" Viper Pit was a huge club in an old shoe factory on the outskirts of the city.

"No, I saw you lurking at a crime scene."

"Lurking?" My voice rose an octave and I realized from the entertained expression on his face that he was baiting me. Well, I refused to bite.

"Make a deal with me," he said. "One dance before the end of the night." His dark eyes pleaded with me and I thought there wasn't a woman on earth who could've resisted them.

"There are plenty of beautiful women here tonight. Most of them with far less baggage than me. Why not save yourself the trouble and dance with one of them?"

"Because it wouldn't be nearly as much fun."

"What wouldn't be as much fun?"

I froze at the sound of my psychotic ex-boyfriend's voice.

I whirled around, ready to pounce. "Flynn!"

The sight of Tessa on his arm stopped me. She looked like a Renaissance painting in her sophisticated burgundy dress that highlighted her creamy skin and cinnamon curls. She was a regular human. How did she get through security?

"Flynn," I hissed. "Why would you bring her here? It isn't safe."

"She's with me," he said, snaking a protective arm around her waist. "It's perfectly safe."

"And how did you swing an invitation?" I asked.

His answer was typically vague. "I have friends."

Friends. Right. "You paid off a security guard," I said.

Anger flashed in his blue eyes and I knew I'd nailed it. Flynn didn't have friends. He had associates.

"Everyone looks so amazing," Tessa said, her face shining brightly. "I've never been to anything like this."

"I guess not."

Flynn lifted her hand and brushed his lips across her knuckles. "Care to dance, my sweet?"

Her eyelashes fluttered. "I would love to."

He gave me a triumphant look over his shoulder as he escorted her to the dance floor. Big deal. His girlfriend agreed to dance with him. Whoopty doo. Part of me was tempted to sneak a peek and see if she was a better dancer than me. I forced myself to turn back to Reed.

"Shall we take a tour of the room?" Reed asked, sensing the ants in my pants.

"How very Jane Austen of you."

We plastered on our fake smiles and networked our way through the room. No sign of Dragon Mage, Ghuls, or any other immediate threats. In a room full of powerful beings, though, you could never be too sure. The room was a pressure cooker of egos and white-hot tempers. I noticed three Hinns by the bar with their chests puffed out. I couldn't tell whether they were set on intimidating each other or the nearby trio of mages. The Hinns had a row of shot glasses in front of them, while the mages had long-stemmed wine glasses in their hands and appeared deep in conversation. There was a woman in the middle of the mage trio, tall and elegant with a face like a surly supermodel. If the Hinns were trying to get her attention, it wasn't working.

The biggest of the Hinns, about six feet of carved marble, moved closer and tapped the woman on the shoulder. She gave him a look of contempt and said something. Not a Hinn fan. The dark-haired mage next to her set down his wine glass on the counter and replied. The Hinn leaned down and bumped his forehead against the mage's.

Uh oh. This was not going to end well.

"Reed, we have a situation." I didn't know why 'we' had a situation since, technically, we weren't part of the official security team. Reed's Boy Scout vibe was rubbing off on me.

"Already noted."

As we moved toward the bar, the mage's face began to glow with a reddish hue. I heard the low growl of the muscled Hinn as his forehead began to sizzle. Whatever spell the mage was doing, it was cooking the Hinn's skin. Unable to take the heat, the Hinn jumped out of the kitchen with a primal yell. If this escalated, there would be a bloodbath.

The Hinn's two friends joined him. Although the caste wasn't known for its summoning skills, I had a feeling these guys were willing to try.

The woman tried to pull back her mage friend, but he stood firmly rooted in place. He held up a threatening hand and it glowed with the same reddish light as his forehead.

Take a step back
, I warned the Hinn, not that he could hear me.

He took a step forward.

The mage placed the glowing hand on the Hinn's shoulder and he shot backward across the room like a cannonball. Before he hit the far wall, he managed to shift to mist and avoid the impact.

"I've not seen a mage do that before. What spell is he using?" Reed asked.

"Don't ask me. I'm a djinni, remember? We don't use spells." It didn't seem like the mage had used a spell either. It presented more like raw, internal power. More like djinn magic.

The mage didn't seem content to just eighty-six a single Hinn. He wanted to teach a lesson to the friends, too. That wasn't typical mage behavior. My gut told me he hadn't possessed these impressive magical abilities for very long. He was itching to show them off.

The Hinns surprised me by reacting in a reasonable manner. They shifted to mist and got the hell out of the danger zone. Their friend, however, decided he didn't like being thrown across the room. He reformed behind the mage with—oh, goody—a sledgehammer. So he was aiming for blunt. Message received.

I was desperate to summon a whip, anything to wrench the sledgehammer out of the Hinn's hand before he did something we all regretted.

"Reed, freeze him or something," I said.

"I control fire, not ice," he said. There was a note of concern in his voice.

The mage took matters into his own hands—literally. As the sledgehammer came crashing down, the mage grabbed the handle and more red light burst from his palm. The sledgehammer disintegrated before it could do any damage. The Hinn stared at the empty space where the sledgehammer had just been.

"What the...?"

The mage flashed a smug smile as security fought their way through the crowd that had fanned out around them.

"Hope we meet on the field, big guy," the mage sneered.

I doubted the Hinn felt the same way. This was a different kind of magic and I was certain the Hinn was as surprised by it as I was.

The mage began to laugh as security guards swarmed them. His laughter grew louder and deeper as his whole body began to vibrate. Something wasn't right. The guards sensed it, too, because they backed away slowly. The Hinn bent the light and disappeared.

The mage's body began to rattle and shake like a can of nails. It was unsettling.

"What's happening?" Reed asked.

I had no response. We stood side by side, unable to tear ourselves away from the oncoming spectacle. I unsheathed my yantoks and noticed Reed's sword already in his hand.