Magic Kingdom (Dragon Born Alexandria Book 3) (7 page)

“Something much worse,” Logan said, then knocked him over the head.

Alex looked down at the five humans on the barn floor. “We’re going to have a hell of a time explaining this to the Magic Council. We weren’t supposed to touch them.”

Logan arched an eyebrow at her.

“Yes, it’s ridiculous, I know.”

“Like most mandates that come from the Magic Council.”

She sighed. “Yes.”

“Why are we helping them, Alex?”

“To defeat the Convictionites.”

“We could do that ourselves.”

“We tried that already. And look how marvelously it turned out.”

He watched her closely, his eyes speaking the words his lips did not. She didn’t say it either. He wanted them to just pack up and disappear. Alex knew it grated on his nerves to take orders from the Council who would kill her if they found out what she was, but what choice did they have? They needed to work together—not just she and Logan and the Magic Council, but all supernaturals and all humans too. If they didn’t, the world would burn beneath the flames of hate and war.

“Come here,” Logan said with a tortured smile, wrapping his arms around her. His lips brushed softly against hers. A flare of bottled frustration popped through their bond.

“You don’t need to worry about me,” she told him.

“But I do. Alex, I see where this path will lead, and it isn’t pretty. The Magic Council is not a council of heroes. Even now, even not knowing what you are, they are using you. To them, you are an expendable weapon they can throw at their Convictionite problem.”

“Not all of them are like that.”

“No, but most of them are exactly like that. I have killed for them. I’ve seen enough of their organization to know exactly what kind of people they are.”

“If we can find the good people among them,” she said. “Maybe we can win some allies. Maybe we can change things.”

“Change the world?”

“Yes,” she said stubbornly. “It’s about time someone did.”

A soft laugh hummed in his chest. He pulled her in closer, folding his arms around her in a tight embrace. “This is why I love you.”

“Not for my wicked wit?”

“You play the tough mercenary, but inside you’re all soft. You see the best in people, even jaded assassins.” He squeezed her to him.

“Logan,” she protested. “I’m getting garlic all over you.”

He glanced down at her garlic-scented jacket. “I’m afraid it’s already too late for that, love. So we might as well enjoy this.”

She dropped her head to his chest. He was right. Who knew when they’d be hurled into the next catastrophe. Sometimes, you just had to take a moment to be happy—before it was over.

“Alex, I—”

Something hard hit her, slamming her to the ground as the walls of the barn exploded.

CHAPTER SIX

Melting Magic

ALEX CRAWLED OUT from the pile of debris that had been a perfectly nice barn just a few minutes ago. A shifting mass of wood splinters spread across the muddy field like a tattered blanket, simmering with plumes of dark smoke. The thick, lingering tang of explosives burned her nose. Whoever had blown up the barn was not pulling any punches. If Logan hadn’t shielded her, she probably wouldn’t have survived. He stood beside her, glaring down at the debris.

“It’s a good thing you’re as resilient as a vampire,” she told him with a smile.

He inhaled deeply. “They used explosives to take down the barn.”

“How many?”

“Not many. It doesn’t take much to bring down an old wooden barn.”

“They tried to kill us,” she said.

The glare in his eyes burned hotter. “Yes.”

“And we’re not allowed to kill them back.” She kicked a pile of debris.

“The people who cornered us inside are dead, crushed by the falling barn.”

“They were just puppets, distractions to keep us inside while someone else brought down the barn.” She turned, staring across the empty expanse of sleeping farm fields. There was no one around. “That someone is long gone. They had others sacrifice themselves, not telling them they would die. I could see it in their eyes. Those thugs inside were not the sort to sacrifice their lives. They thought they were just taking down supernaturals, not throwing themselves into the flames.”

Anger burned through her veins. She kicked the pile of wood again. That coward had gotten away.

“Do you want me to track him?” Logan asked.

Alex’s phone buzzed. Another alert. They just couldn’t catch a break. The city had gone positively mad tonight. She glanced at the screen.

“A building has been…melted?” She looked up at Logan. “How is that even possible?”

“It could be another trap.”

“Yeah,” Alex said, dialing Monster Cleanup.

Violet answered after three rings.

“You need to send Disposal here to clean up a barn that’s been blown to pieces,” Alex told her.

“You blew up a barn?”

“No, someone blew it up while we were inside.”

Silence hissed from the other end of the line.

“Violet?”

“We’re still behind, but I’ll do what I can.”

“Thanks,” Alex said, then hung up her phone. “Are you ready to investigate a melted building?
If
it’s even melted.”

“If it’s not, we’ll kill whoever is setting a trap for us.”

Alex headed toward the car. You had to love the pragmatism of an assassin.

* * *

They arrived at the scene to find a destroyed shell of a building. Its street-facing wall looked like a block of chocolate that had melted then hardened again.

“This isn’t a trick,” Alex commented as they stepped out of the car.

“But it could be a trap,” Logan said, drawing his knives.

“I guess we’ll see soon enough.”

An odd residual magic hung in the air. It smelled of burning bleach and scraped against her senses like a metal saw. They stepped over a ruined concrete wall that had melted down to a nubble of rock. As soon as they crossed into the broken building, the magic in the air went silent.

“Something has scorched the magic from this building,” Alex said. “What can burn away a magic signature?”

“Perhaps the same thing that can burn a concrete building,” replied Logan. “That shouldn’t even be possible. Concrete does not melt like that.”

“Logan, we fight monsters and face the impossible every day of our lives. Magic plays by different rules. It makes the impossible possible.”

Alex squatted down to get a better look at the melted walls. It wasn’t just the front wall. A line of melted walls extended from the entrance straight through to the core of the building. Warped almost beyond recognition, at this point they more closely resembled candle wax than concrete. They looked like they’d been at the wrong end of an elemental mage’s fiery fury. It would take an enormous amount of fire magic to melt concrete, though. More than she’d ever seen from a single mage.

That’s not completely true,
Nova said.
Dragon fire could do it.

So you think another Dragon Born mage did this?
One who could actually control their dragon fire, unlike her.

I don’t know. I just said that dragon fire burns hot enough to do that.

“Something was taken from here,” Logan said from a few layers deeper in the building.

Alex rose out of her knees. “How can you tell with all this damage?”

“Come here, and I’ll show you.”

She stepped over the melted walls one-by-one until she reached him.

“There,” he said, directing her attention to a hollow block of warped metal that had partially melted into the floor.

“Is that a safe?” she asked.

“It used to be. Whoever is responsible for these melted walls headed straight for this safe—straight through these walls. This isn’t random arson. Our perpetrator knew what he wanted and where it was being kept.”

“I wonder what he took.”

Normally, she’d just find out who owned the building and do an inventory of what was taken. Maybe she still could do that, but based on all the piles of ashes and warped metal peppered in splotches across the floor, she had a feeling that this was the vault room and their thief had burned everything to cover his tracks. He didn’t want anyone to find out what he’d stolen, and he’d destroyed a room full of valuables to make sure they didn’t.

“This is different than all the other things that have happened tonight,” Alex said. “This wasn’t about monsters going wild or mages losing control. It was planned.”

“Yes,” Logan agreed. “And the monsters were planned too.”

“You think someone released all of these monsters tonight? On purpose?”

“Yes, as a distraction. For this.” He indicated the melted vault.

“What kind of supernatural could even do all of this?”

“Whoever he was, he’s gone now,” Logan said. “And he didn’t leave a trail to follow. I can’t pick up any scents over the scorched concrete and melted asphalt.”

Alex looked over the walls of the roofless building. Above, a full moon shone brightly in the night sky, a beacon of light in the darkness. This was a quiet street. All the surrounding buildings were either abandoned or shuttered up for the night. All except one. A coffee shop stood across the road, its sign lit up in welcome. A few of its patrons stood outside, steam wafting up from their coffee cups as they gawked at the ruins.

“Come on,” Alex said, heading back over the melted walls.

“What are you doing?”

“I’m going to question those witnesses.”

“You might want to put away your deranged smile for that.”

She resettled her face. “Better?”

Logan looked at her for a moment, then said, “Maybe I should question them.”

“Funny.”

The corner of his mouth twitched. The man did love to amuse himself.

“Yeah, because assassins aren’t scary at all,” she said.

“They don’t know I’m an assassin.”

“You’re wearing black and are covered from head-to-toe in knives. They won’t think you’re Santa Claus.”

“All right, Alex. We’ll go together.” He swung in front of her as they crossed the street. “Good evening,” he greeted the crowd outside the Magic Bean coffee shop.

The witnesses gave them a wary look, their eyes widening. They were obviously taking in the black leather and steel. Or maybe it was the wood splinters in Alex’s hair. A few of the people began whispering to one another. Someone at the back of the crowd commented on the garlic smell.

“We are with Monster Cleanup.”

As soon as the words left Logan’s mouth, the crowd noticeably relaxed. The whispers died out.

“Did any of you see what happened over there tonight?” Logan asked them.

Most of the people shook their heads, but a man in a hooded sweatshirt and jeans stepped forward. He didn’t look older than twenty, the light stubble of hair on his face almost disappearing against his skin. He held a slim computer in one hand and a cup of coffee in the other.

“I did,” he said. “About half an hour ago, some guy in a dark cloak walked up to the building and melted the walls with some crazy green fire. Then he disappeared through the hole he’d made.”

“When did he come out again?” Alex asked.

“He didn’t.”

A few of the people nodded.

“So what you’re telling us is that this cloaked, green-fire fellow burned a hole straight through solid concrete and then just disappeared into thin air?” asked Alex.

“Yes.”

“Monster Cleanup thanks you for your assistance,” Logan told them, then walked off quickly.

“This is ridiculous,” Alex muttered as they returned to the melted building.

“He wasn’t lying,” Logan said.

“Are you sure your lie detection powers are infallible?” she asked. “Because that story was pretty ridiculous.”

“He wasn’t lying,” Logan repeated. “He believes he saw what he described to us.”

“And what do you believe?”

“That I’ve never heard of green fire,” he said. “But that doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. Do you know anything about green fire?”

“No. And I’ve never seen magic that could do that.” She pointed at the ruined building.

“I’ve seen something like that recently.”

“You mean dragon fire. That was a bit different. For one, the fire was purple.”

“The color might be different, but the results are the same. We’ve seen the impossible, Alex,” he said. “Maybe this was dragon fire or maybe not. All I know is that there’s a thief going around who can do that. We’re in for a world of trouble.”

“Yeah, a person who can melt buildings and disappear into thin air. Fun times.”

“Who knows if the thief can really disappear. People think I disappear into thin air,” Logan said. “In reality, I’m just really good at blending into the shadows.”

“And modest too.”

“Modesty is a hard-earned skill.” He glanced at her. “Like subtlety.”

“Somehow, I have a feeling that our thief hasn’t learned either.” Her pocket buzzed. Again.

“You’re popular tonight,” Logan commented as she pulled out her phone.

“I wonder why Monster Cleanup never messages you.”

“Because I made it clear to them that I’m here to help you, not them. I won’t go on any job without you.”

“So you’re working for free?”

“I didn’t say that. I’m not a charity.”

She grinned at him. “Of course not. Well, I guess this explains why you’ve been hanging around so much.”

“You mind?”

“I didn’t say that. You make some nice eye candy.”

“This isn’t funny, Alex.”

“Sure it is.”

He took her hand. “An assassin tried to kill you in London.”

“And I killed him first.”

Logan kept going. “Sooner or later, we both know the people you’re working for will try to kill you too. I’m going to make that as difficult as possible for them.”

Alex leaned into him. “Thanks,” she said against his lips. The phone in her hand buzzed again. “What do you want to bet they’re not calling to tell me I get the rest of the night off?”

“I’m not taking that bet.”

She kissed his cheek. “See, that’s why I love you.” She winked at him. “You’re smart.”

She swiped her finger across her screen to read the message. As expected, it was another monster alert.