Blood Magic (Dragon Born Alexandria Book 2) (27 page)

“What are you, a doctor?” Darin shot her leather-and-steel ensemble a dubious look.

“No, an exterminator,” she replied, allowing a undercurrent of menace to echo beneath her words. “I’m the person people call when a mage goes from run-of-the-mill prick to all-out psycho. So, yeah, I know the difference. Which brings me back to my original question.” She glared at them. “Are you out of your minds?”

They blinked at her like she’d sprouted bunny ears.

“You must be crazy because only a pair of first-rate morons would pick a fight with a first tier mage of Marek’s caliber,” she told them.

Darin stiffened. “We are first tier mages as well.”

“Yeah, I know. I recognized that familiar brew of self-entitlement and narcissism. I nearly choked on the stench as I came down the hall. At least Marek tries to tone it down. You two are screaming it from the rooftops.” She smirked at them. “And yet you still can’t come anywhere close to Marek’s magic level. He would crush you in a fight. So, like I said, morons.”

Darin turned to Edric. “I like her. She has bite.”

“Keep your fantasies to yourself,” replied Edric. “And your hands. She looks like she might just cut them off.”

“I am a perfect gentleman.”

“That’s not what Bianca Holloway told me.”

“Why is my ex-girlfriend telling you tall tales?”

“She is my ex-girlfriend too.”

“She was my ex-girlfriend first.”

“Not the second time.”

“Now, this is the perfect time to press onward. They will be at it for quite a while,” Marek whispered to Alex. The elemental disaster had faded from his hands.

But his bickering brothers stopped and held out their hands when Alex tried to move past them.

“We cannot allow you in front of our mother armed like that,” Edric told her. His gaze slid back to Logan, who, as always, was wearing ten times as many knives as she was.

“I’ve been attacked a dozen times in the last three days. I’m keeping my weapons,” Alex replied coldly.

Logan didn’t bother to speak. The look he gave them said it all. Assassins might have been a stony-faced bunch, but they sure did have a lot of nonverbal ways to tell you they were going to kill you.

“We must insist,” said Darin, looking at Alex, not Logan.

“Rules are rules,” added Edric.

“Stop talking rubbish,” Marek told them. “She is a first-tier mage. She can sear the eyebrows off your faces. Confiscating her sword is pointless, you twits.”

“You know Mum doesn’t like it when you speak like that, Marek,” Edric chided him.

“That was the polite version. Care to hear the other?”

“That will not be necessary.”

A woman stood just past the doorway. Between her silk skirt, pale pink sweater, and floral scarf tied into an elegant knot around her neck, she looked like everyone’s favorite aunt. Her aura was hidden behind the scent of roses with a hint of cookies, but Alex could feel her magic simmering below the surface. That telekinetic spark was impossible to hide. It popped against her senses, cunning and dark. Those rosy cheeks and her tight salt-and-pepper bun didn’t fool Alex. This woman was one hundred percent deadly. She might have been even more powerful than Marek. She was certainly more dangerous. It wasn’t often that a first tier telekinetic came around whose intellect was as sharp as her magic. It was no wonder she was one of the Magic Council’s most respected members.

“Why are you making my guests late for their meeting with me?” she demanded of Marek’s brothers.

They exchanged glances, then Darin said, “They refused to disarm. The Paranormal Vigilante was particularly obstinate.”

Aww, they knew her nickname. How sweet.

“As Marek so vividly expressed, they have magic,” Margery Kensington said. “Now, stop tormenting your brother and do your job before I find a less comfortable way for you to fill your idle hours.”

Edric and Darin looked like they’d been shot. Ha!

I think I love her,
Alex’s dragon said.
Ok, I know we’re supposed to hate her, but I also kind of love her.

Margery Kensington motioned for them to enter the room. “Please, excuse my sons’ rudeness.”

Alex and the others followed her into a sitting room that screamed old money. None of the furniture was under a hundred years old, and yet every piece looked as pristine as the day it had been made. Margery Kensington lowered with regal elegance onto an armchair that looked like a throne, while Alex, Logan, and Naomi sat on the long sofa on the other side of the tea table. Marek chose a similar seat right beside his mother’s. The relevance of that choice wasn’t lost on Alex. He was placing himself on her side, not theirs.

Alex stared at Margery Kensington. She wasn’t that far away, the woman responsible for her father’s death. Alex could cross that distance and strike her down before anyone knew what had happened. Logan’s hand touched down on hers, stopping her from drawing the weapon she hadn’t even realized she was reaching for. Alex dropped her hand. She really had to pull it together.

“Do not allow your brothers to intimidate you,” Marek’s mother was telling him. “Show them you are no longer that little boy. Edric too often favors fire spells. Use water to drown his flames. Darin will try to drop everything in sight on you. Fight him inside one of my buildings, and he’ll be too afraid of damaging my property to fight properly. Most importantly, however, ignore their insults. They are simply jealous that you’re my favorite.”

“You say that to all your children.”

“Yes, but I actually mean it when I say it to you. Now, take a biscuit, dear. You’re looking rather thin. If you’re going to hunt beasts, it is imperative that you take good care of yourself.”

Marek looked appeased. He took the proffered cookie bowl and began to eat them one-by-one.

She’s not like the Evil Queen,
Alex’s dragon commented.
She really cares about her son.

Yes,
Alex agreed.
Still, that doesn’t absolve her of what she did. And would she be so nice if she knew Marek was still in love with the woman she told him to dump? That he was planning to beg her to take him back?

“What’s wrong with Alex?” Naomi muttered. “She looks like she wants to murder someone.”

Did she? Alex tried to tone down the murderous glare.

“We just found out that it was Marek’s mother who hired Nightshade, the assassin who killed her father,” he whispered.

“Oh.” Naomi’s eyes widened. “That would definitely do it.”

Logan leaned in and kissed Alex on the cheek. “You can’t kill Margery Kensington.” His words scraped against her face. “We need her support and resources to take out the Convictionites.”

Alex knew she couldn’t kill Marek’s mother, and not just because of that. She didn’t want to hurt Marek. Plus, she’d never be able to make the kill and get out of there—or at least not get all of them out of there. Marek’s brothers were standing right outside the room, and there were more guards patrolling the halls and the park too.

So Alex wouldn’t make a move—at least not today. She wasn’t making any promises about tomorrow. If Margery Kensington came after her or her family, she would take her out. Marek or no Marek.

Finished with her pep talk to Marek, Margery Kensington turned to the rest of them. “I trust you all know what is happening between supernaturals and the humans?”

“We saw the news,” Naomi said. “The fighting has spread to the rest of the world.”

Margery Kensington nodded crisply. “Yes. Tension is high. The peace between us and the humans is crumbling.” Her blue eyes were as hard as diamonds. “You have fought the Convictionites. You know of their weapons and tactics. You know how to counter them.”

Alex didn’t mention how miserably they’d recently failed at countering the Convictionites. The Magic Council hadn’t fared any better.

“I have been following your sister for some time. Kai Drachenburg speaks highly of her. And Marek speaks highly of you.”

Alex glanced at Marek, who winked back.

“As does Gaelyn. You have the Magic Council’s respect. I need your help. The Council needs your help. We must act now, before it is too late,” Margery Kensington finished.

Well, that was just a face full of irony right there. The Council respected two Dragon Born mages and wanted their help. Margery Kensington would have peed her prim little panties if she’d known that. It was almost worth telling her just to see the look on her face. Except that would be stupid. And maybe a tad rash.

“This fight won’t be won with might,” Alex said. “It won’t be about who has the bigger weapon. The Convictionites will only feed on that hate, using it to turn more humans to their cause. And there are a whole lot more humans than supernaturals.”

Margery Kensington watched her for a moment, as though she didn’t quite know what to make of her. Then she said, “You are very wise for someone with such an impressive reputation for recklessness. Will you help us?” She rose, extending her hand to Alex.

Alex rose too. She shook her enemy’s hand. “I might not yet be wise, but I’m definitely working on being less reckless.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

Blood is Magic

“WELL, AT LEAST he’s not bleeding out everywhere this time.”

That was how Daisy Goldcast, pixie and Zurich’s foremost authority on magical artifacts, greeted Alex and Logan when they rang her doorbell. It was nine in the morning on a Sunday, which meant her nosy vampire neighbor from the house next door was still snoozing. Daisy, on the other hand, looked like she’d already been awake for hours. She wore a freshly-pressed apron over a fuzzy purple cardigan. The sweet liquid scent of baking chocolate chip cookies wafted through the open grate in the garage door. Yum.

“We parked in Bloody Bob’s spot,” Alex told her, hitching her thumb over her shoulder to indicate Logan’s Maserati. “He shouldn’t wake up until this afternoon, though, right?”

“That busted blood vessel only thinks it’s his spot,” Daisy grumbled. “Even so, you’d best drive into the garage. You know how territorial vampires can be. He might be sleeping, but he put up a motion sensor on the spot last week. Any movement sets off his alarm. The bastard threatened to eat my cat when she sat there to catch some sun yesterday.”

“With all that is going on in the world right now, he could at least try to behave himself,” Alex said.

“Vampires aren’t known for their stellar social skills, love,” Logan said, kissing her cheek. “I’ll go move the car before Daisy’s cat gets eaten.” He walked off toward the car.

“Much appreciated, Slayer,” Daisy said with a sweet smile. She had the face of an innocent teenage girl, but her eyes were older. Much older.

She flicked her hand toward the garage door, and the mass of vines covering it slithered back. She flicked it again, and the door slid up. Alex followed her inside.

“You’ve been holding out on me, Alex,” Daisy said as Logan slid the car smoothly into the garage after them.

“What do you mean?”

“You didn’t tell me you and Slayer were so close. The last time you two were here, you looked like you wanted to throttle each other. Now, you’re practically attached at the hip.”

“It allows for some creative moves on the battlefield,” Alex said.

“And the bedroom. If I had a man who looked at me like that, I’d never let him leave.”

Alex smiled at her.

“Come on,” Daisy chuckled, waving her hand to close the garage door after them. Like all pixies, she had a way with metal.

Logan was already out of the car, his face carefully neutral. He was pretending he hadn’t overheard their conversation. As Daisy sat down in the living room inside her garage, Logan closed up beside Alex.

“You’re flushed,” he whispered against her ear.

Alex held back a shudder. “It’s hot in here.”

“No, that’s not it,” he replied, his lips brushing against her skin with deliberate slowness.

Then he turned and sat down on the sofa opposite Daisy. Alex sat down beside him, doing her best to ignore the pounding heart in her chest—and the smug assassin next to her.

“I’m going to get you for this,” she hissed at him as Daisy turned to grab a bowl of candies from the table behind her chair.

“Oh, I very much hope so, darling,” he purred back.

“Now, then,” Daisy said, taking a candy for herself before setting the crystal bowl down in front of them. “What can I do for you?”

Alex turned her glare away from Logan to look at Daisy. “Have you looked at the device I brought you last month?”

“The one you said you stole from the Convictionite boat on Lake Zurich? Yeah, I looked at it. Or what was left of it, at least. It’s little more than a tangled mass of wires and melted metal.”

“We short-circuited it.”

“I could see that. You’re very rough with machinery, Alex.”

“I’m rough with monsters too.”

“Yes.” Daisy used her tongue to shift the candy around inside her mouth. “So, your device. It looks like some kind of magic remote control, sort of like the Orbs of Essence. But instead of being keyed to a general type of supernatural, it’s keyed to one specific person.” She watched them closely. “And you don’t look all that surprised by this information. Who are the Convictionites trying to control?”

“Me,” Logan said.

Alex sighed.

“We had to tell her eventually if we want her to help us break their control,” he told her.

“You have magic?” Daisy asked.

“The Convictionites infused me with magic before I was born. I have the physical abilities of vampires, including strength and rapid healing. I also possess the stamina of mages and the magic resistance of fairies.”

Daisy didn’t miss a beat. “Well, that would explain all the magic brownies you’re able to eat. Your aura is very unique, like no other?”

“So I’ve been told.”

“And the Convictionites can control you with the device?”

“Or with mages.”

She nodded. “Yes, it’s very much like the Orbs of Essence. But how do we use this knowledge to break their control?” Her eyes drifted up in thought.

“The Orbs don’t work on all supernaturals,” Alex said.

Daisy’s gaze shot to her. “What do you mean?”