Magic Kingdom (Dragon Born Alexandria Book 3) (20 page)

Nova was cracking up. Her laughter filled Alex’s head.
You showed her,
she told her.
 

Was it too much?

Still laughing, Nova said,
No way. It was just right. Miss Bodysuit looked like she’d choked on your sword. God, her outfit looks ridiculous.

I have a bodysuit too.

Yours is leather. That’s way cooler.

Are you sure you’re not just saying that because you’re biased?
Alex asked.

Of course I’m biased. Two hundred percent biased. But I’m still right. Draw your sword.

My sword? Why?

So that we can kick her ass in front of Logan. It will be fun. Come on, come on, do it, do it,
Nova chanted.
Do it.

I don’t think that would be a good idea.

It’s the perfect idea,
Nova told her.
She’s trying to invade your territory. Such a challenge cannot go unanswered.

You’re trying to make me do something reckless.

I will neither confirm nor deny that. All I will say is: attack! Knock her on her back. With those heels, she’ll have trouble getting up again. We can watch her squirm like a turtle knocked onto its shell. It will be fun. We can even pop some popcorn.

You make it very difficult for me to fight my reckless side,
Alex told her.
You
are
my reckless side.

I’d like to think of myself as your witty, charming side, but whatever.

Alex turned her eyes forward. Zinnia’s hair was bouncing like she was walking through a shampoo commercial.

It’s fake,
said Nova.

What?

The hair. It’s fake. Real hair does not defy gravity like that. I bet it’s a wig.
Nova grinned.
Want to burn it and find out?

I really shouldn’t.

But you really want to.

Doing what I want to tends to get me into trouble.

Nova laughed.

They had stopped walking. Zinnia was holding up a piece of equipment—a magic detector—and prattling on about the decay rate of the various magic signatures. It was so boring.

She is such a nerd,
commented Nova.

Alex glanced at Logan.
So is he.

But he’s a sexy nerd.

Alex sighed.
He’s interested in what she’s saying.

Do not even go there,
Nova told her.

Go where?

Logan loves you, Alex. There’s no way he would be happier with her.

Get out of my head,
said Alex.

If only I could,
replied Nova, a bite to her voice.

Sorry,
Alex said quickly.
I didn’t mean that. We’ll get you a body. There has to be something in the Dragon Born book about it.

Nova grinned inside her head.

Zinnia appeared to be done with the long-winded techno babble. Or at least she was at the summary. “According to my equipment’s magical decay readings, the people out here were all grabbed at roughly the same time. The person in the bathroom was grabbed earlier.”

“Just like I said,” Alex declared.

Zinnia shot her an annoyed look. So did Logan. What reason did he have to be annoyed? It’s not like Alex had kissed her ex in front of him.

Zinnia cleared her throat. “As I was saying, Margery Kensington was grabbed first. I found these particles next to where her magic disappeared.” She held up a glass vial. “Residue.”

Alex watched the tiny glittery magic bits swirl around inside the vial like tiny snowflakes. Sure enough, a hint of magic hummed within them. Dark fairy magic. Alex hadn’t picked up on that magic when she’d checked out the restroom.

“I’ve never heard of magic residue,” she said.

Zinnia’s eyebrows lifted in surprise. “Oh? I thought you were supposed to be an expert.”

Alex gritted her teeth.

“It’s all right, dear,” Zinnia said in a sugar-sweet patronizing tone. “You are more of a fighter than a thinker, aren’t you?”

Before Alex could think of a comeback—or set that evil witch’s hair on fire like her dragon was chanting into her mind—Zinnia continued speaking. “I had to expose the residue with dark fairy magic,” she said. “The magic in the air clumped together into solid particles. See? It’s a setting on my device.” She showed them a lever on the side of the handheld magic vacuum cleaner.

“Necromancy is a branch of dark fairy magic,” Marek said.

“Yes, it is. It appears a necromancer has abducted Margery Kensington. Zinnia tapped the glass vial with her manicured fingernails. “I just need to get these back to my lab, and I’ll see if I can figure out a way to track the necromancer.”

Logan and Marek looked impressed. With Zinnia. They were impressed with Zinnia. Alex growled inside. Those two only ever agreed on anything when it annoyed her.

“I want a vial of those particles too,” Alex told Zinnia.

“Of course.” Smiling, she slid one of the vials from her belt. “I have enough to share.” She extended it to Alex, then paused. “But I wonder what you could possibly do with it. Forgive me, but you don’t seem like the type to have a state-of-the-art magic lab at your disposal.”

“I don’t.”

“Then what will you do with the vial?”

“I am my own magic lab.”

Zinnia’s saccharine smile faded into a perplexed frown.

“Alex can sense magic,” Logan explained.

“Oh, I see,” said Zinnia, smiling again. “How very useful.” She handed over the vial.

Alex smirked at her. “I’m better than a machine.”

Zinnia smiled back. “But then you didn’t sense this residue, did you?”

She’s nasty,
Nova commented.

But is she right?
Alex asked.
Sera would have sensed that residue. Zinnia’s machine sensed it. Why couldn’t I?

You’ve just been distracted lately. You have too much on your mind. Busy minds lead to things slipping through the cracks.

“How about this? I’ll analyze the magic residue in my lab to figure out where the necromancer is,” Zinnia said. “You try to do the same using your…well, whatever method you use.” Zinnia arched her brows at Alex. “Then we’ll see who finds the necromancer first. A friendly challenge, if you will.”

“I accept,” Alex said immediately.

“Fantastic.” Zinnia clapped her hands together. “But first, I’m famished. I haven’t caught a decent meal today. So very busy.” She batted her artificially long eyelashes at Logan and said, “Logan, dear, it’s been forever since we’ve had a chance to catch up. How about you take me to lunch?”

To Alex’s enormous annoyance, Logan dipped his chin in agreement.

* * *

There was a small cafe across the street from the summit hall. They served fat sausages, fries, and beer. In other words, really healthy food. Logan opened the door for Zinnia. She giggled, then stepped inside, swinging her hips as she moved. Logan looked at Alex, but she just shook her head.

“I have to make some calls first,” she told him. “I’ll be there soon.”

Nodding, he went inside. Alex pulled out her phone and dialed Sera’s number. She got Sera’s voicemail instead.

“Hey, Sera. The thief responsible for all the chaos last night and today is a necromancer. And it seems that necromancer was the one who kidnapped Margery Kensington. I could use your help sniffing for his magic later, if you get the chance. Be careful out there. There are a lot of psychos roaming the city right now.”

Then Alex hung up and called Naomi. Her phone went straight to voicemail too. Where was everyone right now?

“Hi, Naomi,” she spoke into the phone. “When you’re done infiltrating the nymphs’ palace, I could use your help. Marek’s mother has disappeared. We think it was the necromancer. There were some other Magic Council members who went missing too. Do you know anything that can trap a ghost? There’s one trapped right now, kidnapped from the Magic Council summit. Marek mentioned an old fairy spell might be able to hold ghosts captive. Any idea on how to release one?”

Finished with her calls, Alex slid her phone inside her leather jacket and headed inside. It was past lunchtime, so the place wasn’t too full. There was a table of male mages who were gawking at some female fairies a few tables over. The only other customers were Logan and Zinnia. They were sitting at a table with a soft bench on one side. Zinnia had squeezed up beside him on the bench. There was no space for Alex except on the hard chairs on the other side of the table. Nice. She growled under her breath and headed across the room to them, her boots clicking in time to her pulsing fury.

As she stopped in front of the table, Zinnia was saying, “Do you remember that heist in Rome? The one with the organization of seven-hundred-year-old vampires?”

“How could I forget?” There was a spark of excitement in his eyes.

Zinnia fed that spark. “They had the most intricate security system either of us had ever seen.” She grinned at him. “You bested it.”

“And you bested the hellhounds.”

She shrugged. “It was nothing.”

False modesty was dripping off of her like a cheap perfume. Surely, Logan noticed it. He had to have noticed it. He was supposed to pick up on things like this. He always did. But instead he was watching Zinnia and laughing like she was the most amazing person in the world. He never looked at anyone like that—no one but Alex.

You shouldn’t have left him alone with her,
Nova said.

I had to make some calls. I was trying to be responsible.

Don’t do that. Let the assassin be the responsible one,
Nova told her.
You pull Miss Bodysuit up by her collar and throw her out of your seat. Frankly, I’m surprised you didn’t do that already.

“It was going all right until that giant came.” Zinnia laughed. “How did they even fit a giant down there in those tunnels?”

“The giant stepped on some of the hellhounds on his way to trample us,” Logan remembered.

“We would have been done for if we hadn’t ran into that room.” She giggled, her boobs bouncing almost as much as her hair. “And there we found two busy vampires.” The way she looked at him left no question as to what those ‘busy vampires’ had been doing.

Logan glanced up at Alex. “Please sit.”

“Yes, do join us,” said Zinnia with a wide, dazzling smile. She was clearly enjoying being magnanimous.

There was nowhere to sit but across from Logan and Zinnia, leaving them alone on that bench. A fact Zinnia was well aware of. Alex forced a smile onto her face and sat down on the chair. It was hard and hurt her butt.

Zinnia returned her batting eyelashes to Logan. “After we dispatched the vampires, we managed to get a little distracted ourselves, I remember.”

Alex imagined burning a hole through Zinnia’s head with her magic. It would feel so good.

Zinnia winked at Alex. “You haven’t sinned until you’ve sinned in a church.”

Die, die, die.

“Just like that time in Chicago.” Zinnia’s tongue slid across her lips in slow relish. “Now that was divine.” Her voice was as soft as crushed velvet.

Alex wanted to rip that velvet to shreds and then set the tattered remains on fire for good measure.

I bet you’re now wishing you’d thrown her out of your chair,
said Nova.

Zinnia’s magic was snapping in delight.

Alex looked at her. “What are you?”
Well, besides a demon.

“I beg your pardon?”

“You have fairy, mage, and vampire magic.”

But her mixture was not like Logan’s mix of those three things. His was subtle. Hers was obvious. Ostentatious. Kind of like that stupid outfit she was wearing.

“I was born a fairy-mage hybrid,” Zinnia said. “I was later attacked by a vampire on my way home.”

“A three-way hybrid?”

Zinnia nodded.

“So I’m not the only one who passed out on the street from a vampire bite.” Alex couldn’t help but feel a little victory in that.

Until Zinnia spoke again. “I was thirteen.”

The victory bubbling inside of Alex sizzled out.

Zinnia’s big lips quivered. “I was walking home from school when a huge man cornered me in the street. I thought he was just a common thug. But then I saw his fangs. The vampire grabbed me. As he held me still, he said, ‘This will only hurt for a while.’ I was terrified, which only aroused him more. His fangs sank into my neck. He drank and drank. My vision got splotchy. I nearly passed out.

“Then a vampire hunter shot him with a bolt through the heart. The vampire growled in anger and tossed me down. My head hit a stone flower box on the side of the street. When I woke up, a kind face was holding me, whispering soothing words.” A small smile broke her lips. “The vampire hunter. A headless vampire lay behind him. The head of the vampire who attacked me was bobbing around inside of a water fountain.” Zinnia sniffled.

Logan patted her back. “You’re safe now. That vampire is dead. He can’t hurt you.”

Zinnia leaned against Logan, enormous tears sliding down her cheeks. But when she peeked up at Alex, triumph shone in her eyes. Her magic was raised in triumphant song too.

What happened to Zinnia was horrible, but it’s no excuse for her trying to swoop in and wreck what Logan and I have. I am not going to feel sorry for Logan’s former flame.

She is using her story to try to seduce Logan,
said Nova.
That woman is low. As though she’s the only one who has suffered in her life
.

Alex had lost her father to the assassin who’d come to kill her and her sister, and she hadn’t turned out to be a sociopath. At least she was trying hard not to be.

Zinnia sat up. She dabbed her eyes with a silk handkerchief. “Thank you, Logan.” Smiling at Alex, Zinnia set her hand on his arm and began to stroke circles across it.

Alex was about to jump up when Logan caught her arm, displacing Zinnia’s. “Are you hungry?” he asked.

Alex looked at the tray of sausages and fries. She shot him a sweet smile. “Do they have milkshakes?”

The perfect gentleman that he was, Logan stood and said, “I’ll see what I can do.”

Alex had a feeling that even if they didn’t have milkshakes on the menu, they soon would.