Faerie Magic (24 page)

I had five seconds to be thoroughly flattered, then all hell broke loose.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

Several other mages ran out of the building alongside us. Smoke filled the air, bringing the smell of burning grass. Fire imps ran screaming through the garden, hurling fireballs which mostly bounced off the wards on the manor’s front. Nobody attempted to catch them, because all the mages were clustered around the main path, where several figures brawled. I grabbed the nearest imp and tossed it headfirst into the fountain.

Who the hell had brought down the wards outside the mages’ headquarters? They were even more sophisticated than the ones on my flat. I moved quickly along the path, cursing these blasted heels. The crowd parted a little, showing me one of the fighters.

Ralph.

The mages’ guard writhed and yelled, punching and kicking anyone who came near. His opponent, a wiry teenage half-faerie with green hair, fought alongside a female half-faerie who I vaguely recognised as one of the eliminated contestants. Plainly, Ralph had left the gates unlocked and started a fight on the doorstep.

Vance, undeterred, swept the crowd aside with a wave of his hand and pinned the three brawling part-faeries to the pavement in three seconds flat. Even held in place by the strength of the Mage Lord’s magic, they continued to struggle.

“Knock them out,” he said through clenched teeth. “Somebody knock them out.”

Apparently it cost him a lot of power to hold down three people at once. Several other mages ran over, hauling two of the squirming half-faeries upright. One was Ralph, who continued to flail, hands clawing, spit flying from his mouth.

“Bring him in,” said Vance to the mage holding him. “As for the other two—” He moved to grab the third half-faerie, locking an arm around his throat—“We’re taking them with us.”

Two mages restrained the second half-faerie, while the one Vance held slumped into unconsciousness under the pressure Vance’s arm put on his windpipe.

“What’re you doing with them?” I’d started to severely regret wearing heels. Not to mention leaving my sword behind.

“Taking them back home.”

I swore. “To the half-faeries’ territory? I want to come with you, but I’m not going dressed like this.”

Vance handed the half-faerie over to another waiting mage. “I’ll take you home.”

“Wait—”

Too late. Vance’s hand took mine, and the manor disappeared.

I stumbled down my own hallway, cursing. “You can’t leave me out of this, Vance—” Before I’d got the words out, he’d vanished.

“Fucking hell.” I added a number of other expressive curses.

The flat door opened. “Whoa.” Isabel blinked at me. “What happened?”

“Faeries.” I kicked off my heels, carrying them into the flat. “Of course, the bloody faeries ruined everything.”

I ran into my room, changed in twenty seconds, and grabbed my sword, shrugging on my jacket. “I’m going in there as Ivy, not in disguise. This is Calder’s work, and that bloody over-confident Mage Lord is probably walking into a trap.” I considered calling him using the mage mark, but I’d planned to go to half-blood territory either way.

“Hang on,” said Isabel. “Fill me in. He’s where?”

“Half-blood territory, carrying a pair of drugged idiots who started a fight outside the manor.” My phone vibrated in my jeans pocket.
It’s him.
I tugged out the phone and stared, heart sinking. “Oh, fuck.”

“What?”

I looked at her. “The Chief of the half-faeries is missing.”

We’d been stupid. Of course Calder wouldn’t restrict his plotting to within the time the Trials took place. We’d let our guards slip and now Calder had struck right where he wanted to. With no leader, the half-faeries would turn to the next available person.

Especially when he offered them their wildest dreams.

Screw the disguise. Calder knew I was alive. There was no point in pretending.

“Please stay here.” I backed towards the door. “I’ll meet Vance.” My hands raced across the on-screen keyboard.

A muffled scream made us both spin around. The piskie Isabel had trapped beat at the sides of its glass prison with its tiny fists. Screams followed, setting Erwin off, too.

“Isabel,” I said. “I know it’s a long shot, but if you can figure out how to counteract the drug, it might save lives. Calder’s probably used it on the half-faeries’ Chief.” Or killed him and taken the leadership. Either way, we were screwed.

She dipped her head. “Yeah. I actually asked the coven for ideas on how to calm the piskie down.” She indicated the raving piskie’s container. “I’ve been testing all our usual anti-spell solutions, but none have worked so far.”

“Tell the coven,” I said. “If Calder’s not already out in the open, he will be. Everyone should know about that drug.”

Isabel nodded again. “Ivy…
please
be careful.”

My phone buzzed with Vance’s reply. “He’s outside. I—you be careful, too.” We hugged briefly, then I turned my back on the screaming piskies and went to meet Vance.

“What happened?” I asked immediately, closing the door behind me.

Instead of responding, Vance took my arm. In a flash, we stood outside half-blood territory.

“Hey—wait.” I stared ahead at the deceptively quiet-looking grounds. “Do they know?”

“They suspect,” he said. “A number of other half-faeries are also missing. There are rumours.”

“Crap,” I said. “I should have known Calder would strike us where we least expected. Isabel’s looking into making an antidote for the drug. If Calder uses it on a lot of people at once, though…” I shrugged helplessly. “What’s the plan?”

“Calder has left no traces,” said Vance. “Apart from those two addresses, and they turned out to be dead ends. Unoccupied houses.”

“Your mages looked into it?”

“They’re patrolling half-blood territory.” He indicated the street ahead. “There’s one place left to look, but I wanted it to be your choice.”

One place. I nodded, swallowing my fear. “Back to the Trials.”

I’d been a fool to think Calder would wait until the final round of the contest to strike. He might have offered the drug up to the winners, but the Trials were a means to an end. And that end… was most likely opening the veil.

“I wish I knew where I saw him in the vision,” I said. “It looked like a field in a park, but the details were blurry. He summoned the hellhounds there. It must be near the Ley Line, wherever it is.”

Vance gave me a sharp look. “The Line’s under close watch, too, as is necromancer territory. I’ve alerted Lord Evander, but he insists hellhounds aren’t his area.”

“They will be if they tear his throat out.” Would
nobody
in this town take some damned responsibility? Aside from Vance and the Mage Lords, of course.

“No activity is currently reported on the Line,” said Vance. “If there was, I’d suspect Calder waited for us there.”

“No, he’ll be in the arena. Dramatics. Like father, like son. I think you’re right. We should go there first. Kill him, take care of the mess he left behind later.”

“Kill him.” Vance’s tone told me how very much he wanted to bury a blade in the half-faerie’s throat. But I trusted he’d let me deal the killing blow.

Vance’s icy cold hand gripped mine, and then we were in the alley, hellhounds on either side.

“Shit,” I said, eloquently.

My sword came out as the nearest hellhound’s teeth snapped at my face. Vance’s blade sliced into it, stopping the momentum before the beast tore my head off. I swore and hit out with my own weapon, catching its throat and spilling arterial blood down my arms. Damn. My new jacket had lasted all of five minutes without acquiring bloodstains.

I spun around to help Vance and found he’d caused a pile-up, sending three hellhounds crashing into one another. Two swords whipped through the air, delivering killing blows and reappearing in Vance’s hands.

“Bastard’s brought half the Wild Hunt,” I muttered.

A spray of blood darkened the brick walls. I stabbed another hellhound, moving closer to the back way into the arena. The doors lay open, screaming,
this is a trap, Ivy.

Yeah, I knew. I also knew that unless I killed Calder, asap, he’d unleash his magical drug and tear the city to pieces.

My speed quickened, magic flooding my veins. Wait—could I feed on the hellhounds’ pain? I’d never tried it on a non-human. My sword cut into a hellhound’s flank, and I envisioned the pain flowing through to me. Nothing happened. Maybe my sword blocked it.

Or maybe Avakis’s ability only worked on mortals.

My hesitation damn near cost me a limb. Cutting the offending hellhound’s throat, I caught sight of a familiar flash of blue inside the opening to the stairs. Taunting me to come inside.

Calder. I knew it.

“Vance,” I said, out of the corner of my mouth, “he’s in there.”

Vance finished off the hellhound he was fighting, kicking its heavy body aside. “He is?”

“I can see his magical signature,” I said. “It’d throw off his game if we set the whole building on fire.”

Vance’s expression showed no amusement. His hands and wrists were coated in black scales around the twin blades he held, but his gaze was steady. “I suspect the building is warded.”

“Maybe.”

Vance walked past me, towards the open door. I moved in behind, heart thudding. “Hold on—”
It should be me,
I would have said, if Vance hadn’t stopped dead at the top of the stairs.

“Bastard,” he said through clenched teeth. Damn. The place was warded, all right.

“Let me…” I trailed off, heart sinking to my feet. The air above the stairs shimmered blue. Like my magic did, when I turned it into a shield. Only visible to people with the Sight. “Dammit. He wants me to fight him alone.” I held Irene up, willing my hands to stop shaking. “I’m going in.”

A pause. Vance watched me, eyes unblinking.

“Don’t argue with me,” I said. “Seriously. Go back, help Isabel with the cure for the drug. Or just throw knockout spells at the half-faeries causing the most damage. Stop them. I’ll kill—”

He cut my words off, leaning in and covering my mouth with his.

Oh.
Oh.
His tongue touched mine, his lips surprisingly soft. His hands were rough, cold, but the way they held mine said more than words could. “Be careful, Ivy.”

“Same to you.” My voice was barely a whisper, and the pain when I turned away from him turned into a physical ache. I took one step towards the entrance, then two. No barrier blocked my path. Only people with faerie magic could pass through here.

The darkness closed in on me. A clunk behind me told me the doors closed of their own accord.

The faint glow of magic lit my way downstairs, through the corridor. At their end, the doors to the arena opened, revealing a room cloaked in shadows. The ground had turned to earth, while tall trees surrounded the outskirts of what had turned into a wide clearing the size of the arena.

“Impressive.” The echo of my voice bounced down the corridor. “How long did it take you to set up?”

No answer. I held Irene up, magic suffusing the air and lighting up the gloom. Not enough to see the creature in the shadows until it pounced at me. I ducked, and a bundle of snarling, spiked green fur leaped past my head. I spun around, blade in hand. The creature had disappeared.

Crap. This was Chameleon—my next opponent, and presumably controlled by the magic drug. Or just coerced. No doubt Calder didn’t have to try hard to garner obedience. He’d dangled immortality in front of the half-faeries, and they’d taken the bait. Hell, maybe even the Chief had, in the end.

I had to kill Calder’s minion to get to him, then. So be it.

Rather than waving my sword around like an idiot, I used my magic to light up the area around me. Calder was probably hiding somewhere. If he was even here. I didn’t put it past him to set up a trap and then leave… but I’d got the impression he wanted to kill me in person.

Bring it.

Magic cloaked me in shimmering blue. I’d do better to use it as a shield to keep from being jumped, at least until I figured out where the creature was hiding. Problem was, then I’d be stuck crouching here until it made a move.

Go on the offensive.
A little tricky when I couldn’t
see
the enemy. I moved forward, right into the centre of the arena, and risked a look up at the balconies. No sign of Calder up there, either.

A shuffling sound. I glanced down and saw a patch of grass running along the floor.
Aha.
If I stood here, nothing would be able to sneak up on me without making a noise. Taking a deep breath, I let my shield of magic drop, flowing to the fingertips of my free hand, and lashed out with my blade, hitting thin air. The shapeshifter faerie wouldn’t be able to come near me without reacting to the iron.