Heartless (Blue Fire Saga) (8 page)

A burning sensation like a powerful electric shock shot through her body, reaching from the tips of her toes to the top of her head. For a searing instant she was completely paralyzed, and then the pain disappeared as quickly as it had arrived. She had no idea what had just occurred, but she didn’t feel like she had been injured at all, so she returned to the business at hand and set about dropping her fangs again.

Unbelievably, nothing happened. The familiar pleasure of extruding her fangs was nowhere to be found. She let go of the human with one hand and reached for her mouth, trying to feel the points of her incisors, to no avail. Her teeth were smooth and even all the way across. She had no idea what was going on—such a thing had never happened to her before. She wondered if it was related to the burning pain she had felt moments ago.

Jones’ grin widened. “Looking for these?” he asked as two curved fangs extended down from his upper jaw.

Leah stared incredulously at the guy’s fangs, wondering how she had failed to sense that he was a vampire. And even if he was a vampire, what had he done to her to affect her powers? She did not understand any of this. One thing she knew, though—whatever was going on, she had to get away from here, right now.

She tried to bound away, but her muscles seemed to have lost their vampire strength. What should have been a leap of twenty feet turned instead into one short, stumbling step. This could not be happening! She would have fallen, unbalanced by the unexpected change, but Jones grabbed her by the arm. She attempted to pull free, but his grip was like steel.

“You’re not going anywhere, vampire,” Jones said, his voice dripping with menace.

“Who…what are you?”

“I am the one who is going to hurl you into the abyss, which is exactly where all your kind belong.”

Leah tried once more to pull away, but it was hopeless. The man was much too strong. She looked into his eyes, hoping for some sign of mercy, but saw only her own reflection. Suddenly, she understood what had happened. Somehow, he had drained her of her powers and taken them for himself. Those were her fangs in his mouth, her strength in the grip of his fingers. She sagged in his grasp, knowing she was lost.

“Do what you must,” she said, surrendering to the inevitable the way many had surrendered to her over the centuries.

“That is exactly what I intend to do.”

Jones resisted the urge to sink his teeth into the tender white flesh of her neck. Absorbing an enemy’s powers also meant absorbing their appetites and desires—appetites which he had to fight to suppress, lest he become no better than those he sought to destroy. Still, he was tempted to indulge himself in other ways, but reminded himself that his comrades were waiting for him. There would be time for enjoyment later, he hoped, if their investigation at the college bore fruit.

He closed his mouth and grabbed Leah by both sides of her head. With a sharp twist and a yank, he ripped her head from her neck. Black ichor spewed from the stump of her neck as he carried her carcass and her head deeper into the trees. Using his newfound vampire strength, he quickly dug a hole and tossed her remains into it. After pushing the dirt back on top of her and stamping it down, he leaned against a nearby tree and waited, calming himself before returning to the diner to join the others.

When he did, he was smiling.

11. XENORIANS

S
hortly before noon on Saturday morning, Leesa and Cali walked out of the dorm together. Yesterday’s storm had blown out to sea, leaving a blue sky dotted with giant cotton ball clouds and temperatures that had climbed into the low fifties. The warmer air was carried by a stiff breeze out of the southwest. Leesa was wearing her grey sweatshirt with SAN DIEGO written in dark blue script on the chest, while Cali had donned a black and white striped knit sweater that had big purple streaks zigzagging down across the front. Both girls were wearing jeans.

Dominic would be coming by in a little while and Leesa wanted to intercept him before he entered the dorm. She didn’t know that the BSI agents had been outside her dorm last night, nor did she know how close she and Cali had come to running into them on the way back from the library. Even so, she did not want to take the chance the agents might come around when Dominic was there. She had no idea how sensitive the Rome woman’s magic detecting power might be and did not want to risk her sensing Dominic’s magic. Cali had said Rome needed to touch a person to know whether he or she had magic, but Leesa didn’t know if that was true in all cases, especially with a wizard as powerful as Dominic.

Still paranoid that the Bureau could somehow be eavesdropping on her calls, she had decided the simplest thing was just to come outside early and meet Dominic before he reached the dorm. She had brought Cali along so Cali could tell Dominic exactly what had happened when the agents had questioned her.

They waited on the sidewalk in front of the dorm—to anyone watching, just two girls enjoying some fresh air and chatting happily. They did not see anyone who didn’t seem to belong here, but you never knew. Government agents could be very tricky—at least they were on television and in the movies. Every few moments, Leesa or Cali would take what they hoped seemed like an innocent glance up or down the sidewalk, looking for Dominic.

Leesa spotted him first, when he was still almost a block away from the dorm.

“He’s here,” she said softly to Cali.

They turned and headed casually down the sidewalk to meet him.

Dominic smiled as they drew nearer. When they were still a few steps apart, Leesa spoke.

“Keep walking,” she told him without breaking stride. “Cross the street and go around the block. We’ll meet you there.”

A brief flash of surprise lit Dominic’s eyes, but that was his only reaction to her instructions. He walked past Leesa and Cali without saying a word.

Leesa resisted the urge to turn around and look back as she and Cali continued on to the end of the block and crossed the street. She was confident Dominic had understood her instructions and would meet them around the next corner, out of sight of the dorm.

“What’s going on?” Dominic asked when they came together on the sidewalk near the middle of the block.

“Some government people have been poking around our dorm asking questions about the zombie attack,” Leesa said. “One of them can detect magic, so I thought it would be safer if you didn’t show up there.”

“Good thinking.” Dominic stroked his pointy beard with his fingers. “Tell me more.”

“I haven’t seen them, but they talked to Cali. They even checked to see if she had magic.”

Dominic looked at Cali and then back to Leesa, a questioning look on his face. Leesa had not yet had the chance to tell him that she had let Cali in on her secret.

“I told her everything about my magic,” Leesa explained. “I trust her. I hope you don’t mind.”

Dominic smiled. “If you trust her, I trust her. In fact, I think it’s good for you to have someone to talk to about all this, since Rave and I are not around as much as we would like to be.”

“Yeah, it is good. She comes with me when I practice, which is a lot more fun than doing it alone, especially with my magic so weak.”

Dominic’s eyes narrowed. “You are still practicing? Even after these people have been around?”

“Not in the dorm anymore,” Leesa assured him. “Cali showed me a great place to do it, not far from here. I was thinking we could go there now, and she could tell you what happened.”

“Good. I want to hear every detail.”

Up in the stacks, the three of them sat around the old table, Leesa and Cali on one side, Dominic on the other, facing them.

Dominic leaned forward and folded his hands atop the table. “So, Cali, tell me what happened. Everything you can remember, whether you think it’s important or not.”

Cali recounted the details of the BSI agents’ visit, trying to remember everything they said and did. Dominic listened intently, interrupting her only once to clarify a minor point.

“They warned me not to talk about this with anyone,” Cali said when she finished her story. “But of course I told Leesa as soon as I got the chance.”

“I was going to call you,” Leesa added, “but since it’s a government agency, I didn’t know if they might be able to listen in. I thought it best to wait until you came by.”

“You both did great,” Dominic said. “I’m glad you stopped doing magic in your dorm, too.” He gazed at the shelves full of books surrounding them. “And I think you found the perfect place to keep up with your practice.”

“With midterms almost here, our coming to the library every day shouldn’t arouse any suspicions, either,” Cali said.

“Do you know anything about this Supernatural Investigations thing?” Leesa asked Dominic.

Dominic shook his head. “Not really, and certainly not by that name. I’m not very connected to any media, remember.” His voice turned extra serious. “But I’m pretty sure I know something about this Rome woman, and maybe some of the others.”

“Really?” Leesa asked. “Who is she?”

“If everything Cali said is true about her ability to search out magic, I believe the woman is probably a xenorian.”

“A what?” Cali asked.

“A xenorian. They are an ancient sect whose goal is to ferret out and stop all things magical.”

Leesa did not like the sound of that at all. “I don’t understand? Why are they against all magic?”

“They believe all magic must eventually grow evil, and so must be stopped before that can happen.”

“That’s not true, is it?” Leesa asked. “All magic can’t end up evil.”

Dominic sighed. “If you had asked me that question a hundred years ago, my answer would have been ‘of course not.’ But after what happened with my brethren—so many of them turning to black magic—I’m not so sure anymore.”

“But you’re not evil,” Leesa said. “And what about the volkaanes? They’ve been around for ages, right? And they show no signs of becoming evil.”

“I know. And there are other examples as well. I’m afraid I let my bitterness toward my former comrades cloud my answer a moment ago. What really matters, though, is that the xenorians believe it to be true.”

“Do you have any idea why?” Cali asked.

“No. Perhaps ages ago something happened to them similar to what happened to the waziri, and they became determined that nothing like that should ever occur again. Or maybe they started out hunting only evil magic, but eventually morphed into what they are today. They usually work behind the scenes, joining organizations that already hunt or persecute magic. There were xenorians in the Spanish Inquisition, and some were behind your own Salem Witch Trials. It’s said that the psychic who advised Adolf Hitler was a xenorian, and that is why he tried to exterminate the Gypsies, because of their supposed magic.”

“Ugh. All those things were so horrible,” Leesa said, beginning to feel a little sick to her stomach. Her fingers began dancing in her hair. “And you think these BSI agents might be a part of something like that?”

“It’s just a guess on my part, but yes. It’s one reason why we waziri kept such a low profile for so many centuries. The xenorians are zealots. And like most zealots, they are ruthless in following their beliefs. They do not care how many innocent people suffer in their quest to destroy anyone with magic. They have killed far more ordinary humans than they have people with magic, but to the xenorians that is simply the cost of what they seem to think of as a holy quest. They are totally heartless in their zeal.”

“This is way worse than I thought,” Cali said. “The woman was totally creepy, for sure, but I never expected anything like this. Maybe you and Leesa need to get away from here, at least until we know Smith, Jones and Rome are gone.”

Leesa watched anxiously as Dominic pondered the idea. She did not want to leave, especially with Rave gone. With no means to contact him, how would he ever find her when he returned? It was bad enough now, missing him so keenly, but at least she knew he would return when he could. If she left, there was no telling when she would see him again. They’d had little enough time together recently as it was.

“I do not think we need to do anything just yet,” Dominic said finally. “Other than continuing to be very careful, of course.”

Leesa realized she had been holding her breath waiting for Dominic to speak, so she exhaled. The wizard smiled at her.

“Besides,” Dominic continued, “I’m not sure I could drag Leesa away from here without Rave.”

Leesa returned his smile. Dominic had read her mind once again. She guessed it was not very difficult to do when it came to Rave.

“I’ll definitely be extra careful,” she promised. “No magic at all anywhere around the dorm.”

“Speaking of magic,” Dominic said, “as long as we are here in this most excellent hiding place, why don’t we get a bit of practice in?”

Leesa certainly did not mind that idea. She had been looking forward to practicing with Dominic for days.

“I’d love to,” she said.

Dominic leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms. “Let’s see what you have learned, then,”

Leesa took a moment, thinking about where to start. She decided to show him something he had not seen from her before, so she turned and looked at Cali.

“Oh, no,” Cali said, grinning. A moment later, the hair on the right side of her head puffed out away from her scalp.

Dominic chuckled as Cali patted her hair back into place.

“Very imaginative,” Dominic said approvingly. “Magic and imagination make a good combination.”

Leesa ran through the rest of her powers and repertoire of spells for Dominic. She thought she was performing each one of them—except for the air shield spell—slightly better than she had been recently. She didn’t know whether it was because she was trying harder tonight in order to make Dominic proud of her or whether maybe his powers were augmenting hers a little bit. She just knew that her illumination spell seemed a bit brighter, the heat beam a bit warmer, and she was moving things a little more easily.

“Well done,” Dominic said when she finished her last spell, the heat beam.