Fairy Magic (5 page)

She turned onto the wide circle drive in front of the imposing Gothic castle. Naomi’s friend Alex had just stepped out of the door. Her eyes looked tired, like she’d survived as many battles as Naomi had tonight.

Naomi parked behind the long, black Maserati that belonged to Alex’s boyfriend. An assassin by trade, he’d spent years killing evil warlords for seven-figure paychecks, but lately he’d been killing leagues of monsters with Alex instead. He’d declared the work ‘messy’, but he did it anyway. That was true love. With a heavy sigh, Naomi stepped out of her car.

“Yum,” she said to Alex, holding up the stack of pizza boxes. The sweet, warm aroma of tomato sauce, cheese, and pizza crust wafted up from them. “I haven’t eaten since breakfast. Did you know the only food in the whole house is a jar of beef jerky?”

“Eva told me,” Alex said, brushing her long dark hair off her shoulders.

Eva was Naomi’s cousin. She and her boyfriend Marek were staying in the house too. Considering the imminent arrival of Sera, Kai, and the commandos, it was a good thing they’d thought to rent a castle.

“She’s back from her date with Marek?” Naomi asked Alex.

“Yes, monsters attacked the restaurant.”

“Stupid monsters.”

“Yeah.”

“I trust this brilliant idea was your doing?” Naomi asked, indicating the pizzas.

Alex took the boxes from her. “Of course. Though Marek thinks I’m crazy for ordering so much pizza.”

“In fact, you should have ordered more. I’ve brought company.”

“A date?”

“Yeah, three of them. Here they come,” she said, pointing her remote at the gate.

The metal gate slid aside, and the commandos’ big, black SUV drove through, snarling like a wild beast. It turned onto the circle drive and parked behind Naomi’s car. The engine expelled one final growl before shutting down. The doors swung open, and Dal, Tony, and Callum hopped down from their SUV.

“Alex,” Naomi said, unable to contain the grin spreading across her lips. “I want you to meet the commandos.”

Alex’s brows arched in obvious approval. “I didn’t know you could hire your own personal G.I. Joe squad.”

“They do make great backup,” agreed Naomi. “But, alas, they’re not my commandos. That’s Dal. Tony. And Callum.”

Alex’s gaze followed Naomi’s hand as she introduced the commandos. She inhaled deeply, as though trying to sniff their magic. The ability to sense magic—to pinpoint exactly what powers any supernatural possessed—wasn’t a common skill among mages, but it was one of the cornerstone abilities of the Dragon Born mages. Dragon Born mages like Alex and her twin Sera. The world considered their kind abominations—their existence punishable by death—so the sisters had spent their whole lives hiding their true magic. But they weren’t abominations. Not at all. Naomi called them friends. She loved them like sisters, and she would take their secret to her grave. She would take anyone who tried to move against her friends to their grave too.

“You’re
the
commandos,” Alex said, her gaze panning from Dal to Tony to Callum. “You work for Kai Drachenburg. Sera has told me all about you.”

They grinned, obviously pleased with the nickname Sera had given them.

“And you’re Sera’s sister Alex,” Tony said.

“We’ve heard stories,” added Dal.

Callum nodded eagerly. “And we’d love for you to hang out with us.”

“Work first,” Tony told him, his gaze shifting to the stack of pizza boxes in Alex’s hands. “We’re going to need more pizza.” He drew his phone from his jacket like it was his weapon of choice. Considering that he was essentially Kai’s number two, the person responsible for making sure everything always ran smoothly, a phone was the perfect weapon for the job.

Alex handed over the boxes to Callum. Then she watched Tony play the Wizard House Pizza ordering game. The goal was to navigate a fleet of flying pizzas into the delivery truck, avoiding angry bakers, holes in the floor, greedy animals, and a myriad of other obstacles. Naomi wasn’t very good at the game—and it always made her hungry. Her stomach growled in agreement.

“You’ve played this game before,” Alex commented to Tony.

“Oh, yes. I’m still trying to beat Sera’s high score, but I fear that’s impossible.”

“Sera’s good, but she has her weaknesses,” Alex told him. “Have her order a bunch of salami pizzas, and you’ll see what I mean.”

The beginning of a nefarious plan gleamed in Tony’s eyes. “Salami, you say?”

“Yes. She can’t handle the silly smiling salamis. They keep jumping off the pizzas.”

Tony roared with laughter. “Good tip. You know, I still haven’t decided if I love this game because it’s fun or hate it because it’s completely and addictively manipulative.”

“Both?” Alex suggested.

“I think you’re right about that,” Tony said as he flew the final pizza into the delivery van.

“Six more pizzas? Just how many of you are coming to crash my castle?” Alex teased.

“You mean Naomi didn’t tell you?” said Dal.

“Tell me what?”

“I was still getting to it,” Naomi said, bubbling with excitement. She paused for a moment. “Sera and Kai are coming. They’ll be here any minute.”

As if on cue, twin headlights peered out from beyond the gate. Like the eyes of a gigantic monster, they grew larger and brighter—and ever closer. Naomi pressed the remote to open the gate, and a glossy black SUV even bigger than the commandos’ car slid onto the driveway. Apparently, the city’s narrow streets were no match for Kai Drachenburg. He parked behind the smaller SUV, and the two front doors opened. Sera and Kai jumped down.

It was hard not to look at Kai. He had the kind of magnetic charisma, blended with a hint of darkness, that was common to dragons and corporate executives. For some reason, watching him now, Naomi’s mind flashed back to the man she’d met in hell. There was just something undeniably dragon about that prince. His dark, ancient magic—a volcano of explosive potential wrapped inside a body as delicious as his aura… Wait, since when had she been able to sniff out magic? Naomi inhaled deeply, trying to drink in the magic around her. Her senses came back blank. Apparently, that was a power she possessed only in the spirit realm. Or only in her head?

Naomi shook off the tingles of her underworld adventure. She looked at Sera. Her friend looked…well, good. She was dressed in a tight crimson top with a plunging neckline and a pair of jeans that hugged her curves. The outfit definitely swayed toward the vixen end of the sexy scale. Just a few months ago, Sera would never have worn anything like that. Kai was definitely a good influence on her.

Her dark hair bounced as she walked. As her gaze met Alex’s, that trademark smirk curled her lips.

“I’ve missed you.” Sera hugged her sister. “It’s been far too long.”

“Absolutely. Look at all the trouble you’ve been getting into without me.” Alex’s blue eyes twinkled as they settled on Kai. “He looks even better than the magazine photo.”

Naomi laughed, and Sera joined in. Behind her, Kai did his best to exude menace. With a hard smile, he folded his muscular arms across his chest.

“You have to excuse Kai,” Sera told Alex. “He did that Mages Illustrated magazine photo shoot because he lost a bet. He had no idea it would become their most popular cover, and he’s just peeved that because of it people aren’t as scared of him as he thinks they should be.”

Alex smirked at Kai. “I’m trembling,” she told him, then extended her hand to him. “I’m Alex, the wicked sister.”

Naomi snorted.

“You and Sera are a lot alike,” Kai said, shaking her hand. His lip twitched.

“A fantastic sense of humor?”

“No sense of self-preservation,” he said.

“Oh.” Alex laughed. “Well, what fun would that be?”

Tony’s eyes widened as he looked from Sera to Alex. “Good God, now there are two of them,” he gasped.

“So, this is Alex,” Kai said, a gleam of amusement dancing in his blue eyes. “I got your message.”

Sera looked at Alex. “You didn’t tell me you and Kai were pen pals.”

“Naomi and I sent him an SMS from London.”

“A pair of drunk mages from Drachenburg Industries tried to hit on us,” Naomi explained, smiling at the memory. Those guys hadn’t had a clue what they were getting into.

“
Tried
to hit on you?” Sera asked.

“We hit them instead,” Alex told her. “After they tried to force the issue. Like Naomi said, they were drunk. After we knocked them out, Naomi took a photo of them sleeping on the sidewalk, and we sent it to Kai. We thought your honey would appreciate seeing what his employees did in their spare time.”

“What did you do?” Sera asked Kai.

“Nothing you wouldn’t do.”

She chewed on her lip. “You’re being unnecessarily cryptic.”

“Actually, it is very necessary, sweetheart,” he told her.

“I take it that means you did something bad to them.”

“He sent them to sensitivity training.” Tony’s lips buzzed with chuckles he wasn’t even trying to contain. Apparently, sending employees to sensitivity training was the funniest thing ever. Ok, admittedly the idea of Kai Drachenburg, badass dragon, sending his employees to sensitivity training was pretty amusing.

“Really?” Sera asked him. “I didn’t think you were so…so…” She waved her hands, grasping for the right words.

“Forward-thinking?” Alex suggested.

“I was going for something a bit more diplomatic,” Sera said.

“Diplomacy to the old magic dynasties means dungeons and iron chains,” Alex said, grinning at Kai.

He laughed out loud. “That sounds about right.”

“Come on inside,” Alex said, pushing open the enormous front doors. They groaned in protest. “Let’s get this pizza to where it’s warm.”

“You said the magic word,” Sera said, linking her arm in Alex’s. “Come on. I’m starving.”

“You had pizza on the plane,” Dal said as they made their way down the long corridor lined with stained glass windows that displayed a timeline of supernatural scenes throughout history.

“Yeah, well that was on the plane, and this is here,” Sera told him. “Pizza doesn’t taste as good in the air as it does on the ground.”

“That’s Sera logic for you,” Callum said, laughing.

“And yet she’s so right,” Alex said.

The hallway spilled into an enormous living room. Half a dozen throw rugs lay in patterned patches across the cool stone expanse of ink-black tiles. The rest of the room consisted of three matching bright red sofas, a cozy fireplace, and a whole lot of open space. Naomi’s cousin Eva sat on one of the sofas with her boyfriend Marek. Her hair shone as brightly as the flames crackling in the fireplace. His hair was as black as the floor tiles. And as glossy too. As always, Marek’s hair was swept up into an array of gelled peaks.

Alex’s boyfriend Logan stood with his back to one of the walls, watching their caravan stream into the living room. His eyes flickered across each of their faces with cool detachment—until they locked on Alex. When she grinned at him, his mouth softened into a smirk with enough attitude to rival her own. If an assassin could fall in love, maybe there really was still hope for the world.

“You brought back more than pizza,” Logan said as Callum set the pizza boxes down on the coffee table.

“I told you we’d need more than four pizzas,” Alex told Marek as the commandos sat down.

“Your power of foresight is truly magical.” He watched the commandos grab one pizza box each. “If only you had foreseen that we would need more than six.”

“Oh, don’t worry. More pizzas are on the way,” she assured him. “Marek and Eva, the friendly guys sitting across from you are Dal, Tony, and Callum. They work for—”

“Kai Drachenburg,” Marek said, sweeping to his feet with polished grace. He extended his hand to Kai. “I’m a big fan of your work.”

“I wonder if he saw that Mages Illustrated issue too,” Naomi muttered to Sera.

Sera nudged her in the side, but Naomi couldn’t hold back the smirk breaking her lips. Alex chuckled. Her sister held out for a few seconds before joining in.

“You’re Margery Kensington’s son,” Kai said as he shook Marek’s hand. “I understand you can summon dragons.”

“Yes,” replied Marek, standing a bit taller.

There were three groups of dragon mages in the world. The first were the dragon shifters like Kai, mages who used magic to shift into a dragon. The second were the dragon summoners like Marek. Those mages wove strands of shining magic into the form of dragons, beasts they summoned as their companions in battle. The most powerful of them could summon dragons as large as buildings. The weakest mages’ dragons were no larger than their hands.

And then there was the third kind of dragon: the Dragon Born. They were the real dragons. Dragon Born mages were always twins, siblings connected by magic. A Dragon Born mage had a mage and a dragon side, both inside the same body. Alex and Sera each said they spoke to their dragon side in their mind. They were still trying to figure out a way to allow their dragon side to take corporeal form. The legends said it was possible, but since the Dragon Born had been hunted to near extinction, the sisters didn’t have anyone to teach them how.

“Ok. So, you know Kai. And this is my sister Sera,” Alex told Marek.

“A remarkable resemblance,” he replied.

Eva nodded. “It’s almost like seeing double. Twins?”

“Yes,” Alex said.

“Well, it’s nice to meet you, Sera,” Eva said, shaking her hand.

“Yes,” Marek agreed.

“Logan, Kai.” Alex smiled slyly at them. “I believe you know each other.”

“Slayer,” Kai said, using the assassin’s professional name. He glared coldly at Logan. Whatever had happened between the two of them still irked Kai.

Sighing, Alex grabbed a pizza box to share with Naomi and Sera. Mmm, extra cheese. For the next few minutes, everyone ate in silence, too busy enjoying their dinner to speak.

* * *

From the sound of it, Sera and Alex were having as hellish of a time as Naomi. There was unfortunately no shortage of madmen in the world. After the sisters shared their tales of the impending apocalypse, the conversation turned to their younger brother Riley.

“We could have really used Riley on this trip,” Sera said. “He’s great at research.”