New Spark (Dark Magic Enforcer Book 3) (2 page)

The move to the country had been exactly what Kate and I had needed. More than anything though, we needed each other.

The Black Spark was back. He felt so good he even talked about himself in the third person for no reason. I was whole again, and, if I'm honest, I was going a little stir-crazy.

I'm an enforcer. I deal with miscreants and abusers of this dark magic those we call Hidden have claimed as their own, and I'd turned down every job Rikka, my boss, had offered me since the vampire incident.

Which is why it came as somewhat of a relief when one of Rikka's vehicles skidded to a halt while I unsuccessfully tried to intimidate a chicken.

An Interruption

"I've got a job for you," shouted Rikka. "Is that a chicken?"

"Soon to be a dead one unless it behaves," I said, frowning at it one last time then walking away before either it or I exploded.

"Fine, whatever," said Rikka. "Forget the chicken, we have a problem."

I smiled, felt the familiar tingle of excitement tinged with fear. One thing you can say about Mage Rikka, head of the UK Dark and Hidden Councils, is he is the master of understatement. If he said there was a problem it probably meant demons had terrorized Cardiff, the de-facto center for all things magical in the United Kingdom and where Kate and I had lived until the move to the chicken-infested countryside.

I said nothing to Dancer, just gave him a nod to tell him our little bit of business was taken care of. He nodded back. One favor down, one more to go.

"What is it? Zombies? Ghouls? Vampires? Ah, I bet it's the goblins, isn't it? Damn menaces are always causing trouble."

"No, it's worse than that, Spark," said Dancer, smiling in that weird way he does, before ignoring me and trying his best to ingratiate himself with Kate. "Hello, Kate, you look lovely. Like the hat."

Kate, my girlfriend—that still sounds weird—vampire, and all round super-hot and sexy lady I had lusted over ever since we first met, smiled back at Dancer and Rikka. "Thanks. Cup of tea anyone?"

"Yes please," said Dancer, still trying to smile and failing miserably.

"That would be lovely, Kate," said Rikka. "And no, Spark, it's not the goblins. The trolls have got smart."

"Huh?" One thing trolls could never be accused of was being smart. Most of them were called Brick, or Boulder, or if they were being really inventive maybe Stone, or Pebble.

"The trolls have been given something, or done something, and they are smart. It's chaos in the city, Spark. Can you imagine? We've got scores of nine foot walking mountains all trying to organize everyone and take an interest in things. They stormed the Hidden Council meeting yesterday, and it did not go well. They want to be in charge. They're talking about rights and stuff, reckon they are more intelligent than us and we need to step back to let them do things properly. Mad!" Rikka waved away the very idea.

"Hey, Spark, got any more of that stuff you call compost?" asked Intus as the two inch tall imp appeared on my bare shoulder in a puff of noxious fumes I tried to waft away in vain. "The kids have gone nuts over it and they're doing my head in."

"Hey, Intus," I managed to say through the smoke whilst tilting my head as far away from her as I could manage. My ear hurt terribly, but she never tones it down—imps have one volume, loud. Their deep baritone is enough to deafen you if you aren't prepared.

"Oh, hello, Mage Rikka, Mr. Dancer. Lovely hat, Kate." Imps are always polite and pride themselves on their manners, although, to be honest, Intus forgets most of the time. "So, Spark, about this stuff. Got any? Eh? Eh?" Intus tried her best to smile, but it just looked like her pointy teeth were ready to rip something apart.

"Intus, I already told you. It's not for eating, it's for making things grow."

"Tell that to the kids. We've got forty of the little buggers, er, delights now. Shall I bring them here, for a visit?" she asked hopefully.

"No. Absolutely not." We'd never have a matching pair of socks again if that happened.

"Forty?" said Kate.

Intus nodded sadly. Last time I'd seen her, less than a week previous, I think the total was thirty or so. But imps are true Hidden, purely magical creatures, and in their world time is different to ours. That's what happens when you're immortal, I guess—I never can work out exactly how they live, certainly not how they manage to have so many kids so quickly.

"Spark, about the trolls," said Rikka.

"And you still owe me two favors, Spark," said Dancer, face serious, looking like he'd come to collect. I guess he thought he was being clever, but it just made him sound suspicious. He may as well have started whistling.

"What about the chicken?" moaned Kate. "Faz, you have to catch it."

"Spark, where's the compost?" said Intus.

My vacation was over.

Welcome to my world. I'm a wizard, a scowler at chickens, lover of a sexy vampire, friend to excitable imps, and in well over a century of life I have dealt with more humans involved in magic, and encountered more true Hidden, than I can recall, but I had never fought a chicken before, let alone lost to one, until then.

"Let's go have a cuppa," I said, giving up even thinking about the peace Kate and I had reveled in for months.

Time to go back to work. But smart trolls? Yeah, right!

Rest and Recuperation

Magic isn't all glittery and energizing. For our species it hurts like hell to use and leaves you sick, wasted, and in agony as it does its best to return to the Empty where it belongs.

It's not our birthright. We steal it. Take it and make it do our bidding if we are lucky, but there is always a price to pay.

For true Hidden, creatures born solely of magic, then there is no payback—it's what they are. Every job I go on, every time I summon this addictive power, I pay with pain. Nine months ago, I'd been involved in a serious job, followed less than a week later by even more trouble, resulting in my house getting wrecked by an ancient vampire, my boss Rikka, and me, as we fought.

Events spiraled further, resulting in the vampire headquarters being gutted by fire, Rikka losing almost two hundred pounds of body fat because he used a spell to escape a sticky situation, while I was left victorious but broken.

My body turned on me. I wasted away for months no matter how much food I consumed or how much rest I got.

As promised, Rikka signed over the deeds to the lovely house in the country I moved into after just a few days staying at Kate's. She's the hot vampire with sweet-smelling blond-brown hair, blue eyes, and the love of my life. She also has a very nice bottom.

We'd dallied around our feelings for each other for years, ever since I saved her from death after a vampire attack, and although she fights the inevitable it has changed her. But I love her, and thankfully the feeling is mutual.

To our utter surprise, we found ourselves moving in together, somehow even making a go of it. A dark magic enforcer and a young vampire, definitely the odd couple and with bells on, but you take your gifts when offered, and Kate is more than I deserve.

Slowly, I recovered, her too. After all, a vampire usurper had almost killed us both at her old home, and without each other I don't know what would have happened.

Life settled down, I got better, got stronger and was happier than I have ever been, ever thought I would be.

But my old life called to me, and I missed it. It's who I am, what I do. I help Rikka and a few others deal with those that abuse the power they have obtained. My special skill makes me hot property. I can suck the dark magic right out of Hidden and send them screaming back to their old life, a Regular, no magic remaining. Just a person, same as almost everyone else. For true Hidden it gets more complicated, but I can weaken them, and they are seldom the same again.

This is my life. My people are the Hidden. We walk amongst you but you will never know us. We have this tiny bit of magic always shrouding us. I'm the no-man, the person you look at but forget in an instant. Nobody in the Regular world knows me—I'm a ghost, entirely forgettable. True Hidden have something similar. So a troll may look like an overweight man wearing a bad tracksuit to you, an imp may appear to be a rather odd looking cat, a gang of goblins like rather scrawny and mean people in tight fitting and out-of-date fashion, but to me they appear as they truly are.

Me, I like smart suits, and after an "accident" I now have short and fading bleached-blond hair, which I kind of dig now I've got used to it. I've kept it short, foregoing my old style of long and black like I'd had for a century.

I've always loved Cardiff, the capital of Wales, the sticky out bit to the left of England, a place that is out of the way but the center for the Councils, and it sees more action than you can imagine. It's small, easy to navigate, and although it's gone through some serious regeneration it still maintains its history and integrity.

I was out of the loop, though there was little choice. I had to recover, lie low, and besides, I was too caught up in my blossoming relationship with Kate and our battle with the acre that came with the house to care much about the world I used to live in.

However much I tried, I still missed it though. I'm drawn to the magic like an imp to Marmite, and it called me like I'd run out without paying the bill—incessant, nagging, something missing from my life even though I'd been given the chance at happiness I ached for.

Yeah, I know, I should count myself lucky. But that's the point, isn't it? Magic is my world, the only life I have ever known, and my body craved it. Anyway, I couldn't even deal with a chicken, so I had to get back in the game before I lost my unique set of skills.

I'm beyond mere enforcer, anyway. Often I'm more detective than wielder of magic, and I hoped that Rikka's job would be more cerebral than physical. Wishful thinking, but if nothing else I am a positive kind of guy.

Intus brought me back to reality with a tap on my nose with her very sharp claws. "Eh? What?"

"Hello? Anybody home? I said, have you seen any fae lately?" Intus glanced around the kitchen nervously. The last time we'd met one, things had not gone well. I can still see her ears. Oh, those lobes, they make my insides go funny. I want to lick them and tickle them and... Let's just say faery ears are nice, and leave it at that.

"Sorry, I was miles away." Everyone was staring at me, as if I had a chicken on my head or something—no, I didn't pat my hair, although I was tempted.

"I said," Rikka gave me one of his "looks." That's nine hundred-year-old mages for you. "Are you up for it? Or do you need even more time to rest?"

Dancer snickered like a kid. I turned to him and said, "You do know I'm going off you again, don't you?" He wobbled his head—a strange mannerism—but I knew he liked the fact we were something akin to friends now. I never would have imagined it, but he'd shown himself in a different light the previous year. Even Kate had grown fond of him.

"Of course I'm up for it. I'm Black Spark, Dark—"

"Spare me, please." Rikka held up slender fingers, something I'm still not used to, even now. Ever since I was a child, he was fat, incredibly obese, so seeing him as a slim man, apparently in his early forties with long brown hair and looking, I hated to admit it, great, was freaky as hell. It just wasn't right. He even had a chin. I'd never seen his chin in my life, and it has been a very long life so far.

"What about..." The question was left hanging and an awkward silence filled the airy kitchen, the sweetly scented breeze wafting in from the herb garden Grandma had helped us perfect.

I was at a loss. "What? What's going on?"

"They mean me, Faz," said Kate, looking cross as hell.

"Okay, spill it you guys. What's Kate got to do with this?"

Dancer and Rikka exchanged glances and Dancer smiled. Intus paused her licking of the open Marmite lid—I didn't even see her put it on the table—and piped up, "They want to know if you have permission to go out with the boys, haha."

It dawned on me. I hadn't even thought about it to be honest. I'm an Alone, I work best solo, can't handle groups of people for too long, and do my best work when functioning on my own. But now there were two of us, living together, and it was great. But I hadn't considered needing to ask if I could go on a job. Did I have to? No, I was an enforcer, and I didn't ask permission of anyone, for anything.

"Um, can I?" Okay, I bottled it. Do not judge me, this was all rather new.

"Lightweight," said Dancer.

"Under the thumb," laughed Rikka.

"Big girl's blouse," said Intus.

"Hey, you're a girl. Well, female anyway," I protested.

"So. At least I'm my own boss. Anyway, it's not sexist, I'm an imp."

"What's that got to do with it?"

"Um, not sure, but don't go trying to squirm your way out of this." Imps, you can never win.

"Faz, I know now isn't the time, what with us having company, but you don't have to ask. This is who you are." Kate enjoyed watching me suffer, I could tell by the twinkle in her eye and the smile on her gorgeous lips.

Me, Black Spark, sat there in my grubby vest, muscles actually bulging—okay, my boiled egg biceps were slightly less like fried eggs—ink covering my body, able to call dark magic at will, feeling abashed at having to ask to go out to play. Look, relationships are complicated, don't tell me you wouldn't be the same.

"Um, right. Thanks. Er, so, I can go?" Damn, I really was losing it. Time for action.

"Yes," said Kate, exasperated. I got the feeling maybe she would be happy to have some time to herself.

"Now that's settled," said Rikka, rising and finishing his tea. "Let's go."

"What, now? I'm not ready. I have to deal with the chicken, and my clothes are all dirty."

"I'll deal with the chicken," said Kate.

"Guess I'll have a quick shower and get changed then."

"Don't be long," warned Rikka. "The trolls are getting seriously out of hand."